People can become infected with ‘summit-ism’—that is, for some reason, their thinking is that Abraham must have sacrificed on the summit, Araunah (Ornan) must have had his threshing floor on the summit and, the temple must have been on the summit! The problem with this is twofold; the Bible does not say that and secondly, it’s not actually the summit!
Read the Genesis 22 text very carefully, trying not to read assumptions and hearsay back into it…
Verse 2, ‘…go the the land (or region) of Moriah and offer him…on one of the mountains I will show you.’
Verse 3, ‘…arose and went to the place (ha makom) of which God had told him.’
Verse 4, ‘…Abraham lifted his eyes and saw the place (ha makom) afar off.’
Verse 9, ‘Then they came to the place (ha makom) of which God had told him.’
Verse 14, ‘…Abraham called the name of the place (ha makom) The-Lord-Will-Provide’
Also note that the latter part of verse 14 is properly translated ‘in the mountain of the Lord…’
Ha Makom—THE PLACE (the definite article, say some rabbis, was used for a reason) was later visited by Jacob who, we are told, ‘encountered the place (ha makom)’ as the sun was setting (Genesis 28:11 note, not any place, it is THE PLACE), which he went on to name Bayth-El ‘House of God’.
Notice that stricter translations of 2 Chronicles 3:1 speaking of where Solomon began to build the temple, also say ‘in Jerusalem in Mount Moriah’ (eg., Youngs, KJV, Webster’s, ERV, AKJV, Douay-Rheims, Jubilee, JPS Tanakh 1917).
As indicated the traditional Temple Mount site is not at the ‘summit’. It is at an elevation of about 740 meters and just a little further north the ground rises to 774 meters or more, near the Damascus Gate. There is a very useful map at http://en-au.topographic-map.com/places/Jerusalem-8956805/ which allows you to both enlarge and to click at any point to see the elevation.
So, if you’re going to argue that Abraham headed for a summit and Araunah sited his threshing floor at a summit and the temple was built on a summit, it is just not so!
The truth seems to be that it was ‘within’ the Mount Moriah complex that these events occurred. Abraham was directed first to a region and then to a specific place (The Place, ha makom) within that region. It is the site that became known throughout scripture as ha makom, see my book ‘THE PLACE, where Jerusalem’s temples stood.’
THE PLACE was part of the City of David near the Gihon (‘Gushing Forth’) Spring, some 200 meters south of what became a favorite traditional site. Part of the reason for this was that the ‘summit’ idea somehow became embedded in people’s thinking.
The pictures illustrate what the enclosure, jutting into the Kidron Valley from the City of David to protect the Gihon Spring, looked like.
Read the Genesis 22 text very carefully, trying not to read assumptions and hearsay back into it…
Verse 2, ‘…go the the land (or region) of Moriah and offer him…on one of the mountains I will show you.’
Verse 3, ‘…arose and went to the place (ha makom) of which God had told him.’
Verse 4, ‘…Abraham lifted his eyes and saw the place (ha makom) afar off.’
Verse 9, ‘Then they came to the place (ha makom) of which God had told him.’
Verse 14, ‘…Abraham called the name of the place (ha makom) The-Lord-Will-Provide’
Also note that the latter part of verse 14 is properly translated ‘in the mountain of the Lord…’
Ha Makom—THE PLACE (the definite article, say some rabbis, was used for a reason) was later visited by Jacob who, we are told, ‘encountered the place (ha makom)’ as the sun was setting (Genesis 28:11 note, not any place, it is THE PLACE), which he went on to name Bayth-El ‘House of God’.
Notice that stricter translations of 2 Chronicles 3:1 speaking of where Solomon began to build the temple, also say ‘in Jerusalem in Mount Moriah’ (eg., Youngs, KJV, Webster’s, ERV, AKJV, Douay-Rheims, Jubilee, JPS Tanakh 1917).
As indicated the traditional Temple Mount site is not at the ‘summit’. It is at an elevation of about 740 meters and just a little further north the ground rises to 774 meters or more, near the Damascus Gate. There is a very useful map at http://en-au.topographic-map.com/places/Jerusalem-8956805/ which allows you to both enlarge and to click at any point to see the elevation.
So, if you’re going to argue that Abraham headed for a summit and Araunah sited his threshing floor at a summit and the temple was built on a summit, it is just not so!
The truth seems to be that it was ‘within’ the Mount Moriah complex that these events occurred. Abraham was directed first to a region and then to a specific place (The Place, ha makom) within that region. It is the site that became known throughout scripture as ha makom, see my book ‘THE PLACE, where Jerusalem’s temples stood.’
THE PLACE was part of the City of David near the Gihon (‘Gushing Forth’) Spring, some 200 meters south of what became a favorite traditional site. Part of the reason for this was that the ‘summit’ idea somehow became embedded in people’s thinking.
The pictures illustrate what the enclosure, jutting into the Kidron Valley from the City of David to protect the Gihon Spring, looked like.
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