MORIAH
(Mo·riʹah) [possibly, Jah provides].
The name of the rocky eminence on which Solomon built a magnificent temple to Jehovah. Earlier his father David had purchased the site from the Jebusite Araunah (Ornan) in order to erect an altar there, as this was the divinely indicated means for ending a scourge resulting from David’s sin in connection with the taking of a census.—2 Sam. 24:16-25; 1 Chron. 21:15-28; 2 Chron. 3:1; see ARAUNAH.
Ancient Jewish tradition links the temple site with the mountain in the “land of Moriah” where Abraham, at God’s command, attempted to offer up Isaac. (Gen. 22:2; see Antiquities of the Jews, Book VII, chap. XIII, par. 4.) This would make the “land of Moriah” the mountainous region around Jerusalem. It was to the “land of Moriah” that Abraham traveled from the vicinity of Beer-sheba, and, on the third day, he saw from a distance the divinely designated place for the sacrifice. (Gen. 21:33, 34; 22:4, 19) This could be said regarding Mount Moriah. The trip of some fifty miles (80 kilometers) from Beer-sheba to Mount Moriah would conceivably have taken more than two full days. As to the visibility of Mount Moriah from a distance, The International Standard Bible Encyclopædia (Vol. III, p. 2082) notes: “Moriah at Jerus[alem] can be distinctly seen from the old caravan road about 9 miles on the way to Hebron, and again from a hill just north of Hebron. Moreover from the place 9 miles distant, it is Moriah that is visible and not the greater mount, now called Zion.”
Mount Moriah evidently was a sufficient distance from the Salem of Abraham’s time so that the attempted sacrifice of Isaac did not take place in full view of the city’s inhabitants. There is no record that these witnessed the incident or tried to interfere. That the site was somewhat isolated centuries later may be inferred from the fact that in David’s day there was a threshing floor on Mount Moriah. However, no mention is made of any buildings on the site.—2 Chron. 3:1.
Today the Mohammedan mosque known as the Dome of the Rock (or, Mosque of Omar) is situated atop Mount Moriah.