2 Chronicles 3:1

Context

2 Chronicles 1–9 covers the reign of Solomon, centering on the building of the Temple in Jerusalem. Chapter 2 describes how materials and craftsmen were secured with the help of Huram king of Tyre; 3:1 then identifies the place where construction began. Verse 2 dates the work to the second month of the fourth year of Solomon's reign.

The verse identifies the temple site in three ways: "mount Moriah" in Jerusalem, the place "where the LORD appeared unto David," and the place David had prepared "in the threshingfloor of Ornan the Jebusite." The latter two phrases refer to the events of 1 Chronicles 21. As punishment for David's sin in numbering the people, a pestilence fell on the land, and the plague was stayed at the threshing floor of Ornan. David bought the land, built an altar there, and declared, "This is the house of the LORD God" (1 Chronicles 22:1). In the parallel account in 2 Samuel 24, Ornan is called Araunah.

Interpretation

• Reading in scholarship on the historical books: In the Old Testament, the place name Moriah appears only in this verse and in Genesis 22:2 ("the land of Moriah"). Scholars hold that the Chronicler superimposed the temple site on two other locations: the place where Abraham was about to offer Isaac, and the place where David's sacrifice brought the plague to an end. In this way, it is argued, the Chronicler sought to show that the temple stood on the site chosen by God. The parallel passage in 1 Kings 6 does not mention the name Moriah.
• Jewish traditional reading: On the basis of this verse, Judaism has long identified the Temple Mount with the site of the binding of Isaac.
• Christian typological reading: Typology is an interpretive approach holding that Old Testament persons and events prefigure Christ in the New Testament. From this perspective, preachers across many denominations read three elements as a single continuous thread: the ram offered in Isaac's place on Moriah, the sacrifices offered in the temple, and the atonement accomplished on the cross. Some also claim that Golgotha lay within the Mount Moriah area, but this is merely a traditional association, and its geographical basis is uncertain.

Questions Concerning Application

There is no significant doctrinal dispute among denominations over this verse. Nevertheless, several questions have been raised:

• Scholars are divided over whether the "land of Moriah" in Genesis and "mount Moriah" in 2 Chronicles are in fact the same place, or whether the Chronicler identified the two places theologically.
• Because the word order of the Hebrew text is awkward, translations render the phrases "where the LORD appeared" and "the place that David had prepared" in slightly different ways.
• Some sermons apply this verse directly to the construction of church buildings today. Others point out that because the New Testament regards believers themselves as the temple of God (1 Corinthians 3:16), the Old Testament temple should not be equated with a church building.

In the Korean Church

The verse is often cited as a text concerning the temple site in sermons at groundbreaking services for church construction and at church dedication services.

Related Passages

• Genesis 22:2
• Genesis 22:12–14
• 1 Chronicles 21:18–22:1
• 2 Samuel 24:18–25
• 1 Kings 6:1