Mount Moriah

Location

Mount Moriah is the ridge on which the Old City of Jerusalem was later built. 2 Chronicles 3:1 identifies it explicitly as the mountain of the binding of Isaac and the ground of Solomon's temple. Today the temple mount (Haram al-Sharif, about 35 acres) stands over it.

Biblical importance

Moriah is named in only two Old Testament passages: Genesis 22 — the binding of Isaac — and 2 Chronicles 3:1 — the site of Solomon's temple. The two together are the pivot of the whole Bible: the mountain of the substituted ram and the mountain of the sacrifices that pointed to Christ; and (per Christian tradition and the topography of first-century Jerusalem) very close to the mountain of Golgotha where the true Lamb was offered.

Important biblical events

• Genesis 22:2 (KJV) 'Get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of.'
• Genesis 22:14 (KJV) 'And Abraham called the name of that place Jehovahjireh: as it is said to this day, In the mount of the LORD it shall be seen.'
• 2 Samuel 24:18-25 (KJV) David buys the threshingfloor of Araunah on the same ridge.
• 2 Chronicles 3:1 (KJV) 'Then Solomon began to build the house of the LORD at Jerusalem in mount Moriah, where the LORD appeared unto David his father, in the place that David had prepared in the threshingfloor of Ornan the Jebusite.'

Related People

• Abraham — who offered here.
• Isaac — who was bound here.
• David — who bought the threshingfloor.
• Solomon — who built the temple here.
• Christ Jesus — the true Lamb of Moriah's neighbouring ridge.

Connected Places

• Jerusalem — the city built on and around it.
• Golgotha — the neighbouring rise where Christ was crucified.
• Mount of Olives — across the Kidron Valley to the east.
• Hebron — where Abraham lived when he was called to Moriah.

Christian tradition

• Read at every Easter Vigil (Genesis 22).
• The 'mount of the LORD' theme (Genesis 22:14; Isaiah 2:2; Micah 4:1) runs through Christian eschatology.
• Depicted in Christian art from the catacombs onward as the mountain of substitution.

Household reflection

Moriah teaches the household to trust that 'in the mount of the LORD it shall be seen' (Genesis 22:14) — a promise that God provides at the very last moment, not before.

The two great biblical acts on this ridge — Abraham's offering of Isaac and Solomon's building of the temple — both point forward to the offering on the neighbouring ridge, and to the temple that is Christ's own body (John 2:19-21).

Room connections

Where this entry meets the household in the wider house of CrossAIHub.

• Read (Library) — Read Genesis 22 and 2 Chronicles 3:1 side by side.
• Pray (Chapel) — Pray 'Jehovahjireh — the LORD will provide' for the household's greatest needs.
• Family (Kitchen Table) — On Good Friday morning, read Genesis 22 aloud.
• Sing (Choir Room) — Sing 'The God of Abraham Praise' (Thomas Olivers, 1770).
• Learn (Workshop) — Study the topography of the temple mount and its relationship to Golgotha.

Further reading

Genesis 22 and 2 Chronicles 3:1 in the KJV.

Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews I.13, on the site of the binding.

Any good study of the temple mount's biblical topography.

Elsewhere in the Atlas

• Abraham
• Isaac
• Jerusalem
• Golgotha
• Genesis 22
• Solomon — builder of the temple on Moriah
• Return to the atrium — the Atlas's main room.