© koninklijke brill nv, leiden, ���7 | doi �0.��63/�5685330-� �34�30� Vetus Testamentum 68 (2018) 73-93 brill.com/vt Vetus Testamentum Das JHWH-Heiligtum am Garizim: ein archäologischer Befund und seine literar- und theologiegeschichtliche Einordnung Benedikt Hensel Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz henselb@uni-mainz.de Abstract No later than the midst of the 5th century the recently discovered sanctuary on Mt.Gerizim was the cultic center of the Samarian YHWH-worshippers, later known as the Samaritans. The sanctuary was in every way comparable to its counterpart in Jerusalem. The author investigates the question why there is so little mentioning of the sanctuary in the Bible at all; only the location “Mount Gerizim” is mentioned a few times in the Tora. Albeit its obvious absence in the texts, there seem to be several, enciphered mentions of the Samaria sanctuary in the later part of the ( Judean) canon (Ketubim and Nebi’im). Altogether they criticize the cult on Mt.Gerizim in this very indirect way. The author explores the texts 2 Kön 17,24-41 and 2 Chr 13 as examples for this enciphering and outlines the character of these polemics and the ideological- theological interest of the Judean authors. Keywords Samaritans – 2 Kings – Chronicles – Second Temple period – Mt.Gerizim – Shechem – cult centralization – ancient Judaism Einführung Das samarische JHWH-Heiligtum auf dem Garizim dürfte auch zwei Dezennien nach seiner Auffindung noch als forschungsgeschichtliche Sensation gelten, denn immerhin scheinen sich in unmittelbarer Nähe zueinander in nach- exilischer Zeit zwei JHWH-Heiligtümer mit vergleichbarem Einfluss und