Moriah

Meaning: the chosen of Jehovah

Some contend that Mount Gerizim is meant, but most probably we are to regard this as one of the hills of Jerusalem. Here Solomon's temple was built, on the spot that had been the threshing-floor of Ornan the Jebusite (2 Samuel 24:24, 25; 2 Chronicles 3:1). It is usually included in Zion, to the northeast of which it lay, and from which it was separated by the Tyropoean valley.

This was “the land of Moriah” to which Abraham went to offer up his son Isaac (Genesis 22:2). It has been supposed that the highest point of the temple hill, which is now covered by the Islamic Kubbetes-Sakhrah, or “Dome of the Rock,” is the actual site of Araunah's threshing-floor.

Here also, one thousand years after Abraham, David built an altar and offered sacrifices to God. (See Jerusalem; Numbering of the People.)

More information

• Zion
• Gerizim