Moriah

Biblical Text

The name Moriah appears twice in the Bible.

• Genesis 22:2: God commands Abraham, "Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah," and there offer him as a burnt offering upon one of the mountains that God would show him. A burnt offering is a sacrifice in which the offering is burned whole. Abraham reaches the place on the third day (Genesis 22:4). When he has laid Isaac on the altar, God stops him, and Abraham offers a ram in his son's place. Abraham names the place "Jehovah-jireh" (Genesis 22:14). This event is treated in detail in the article The Burnt Offering on Mount Moriah.
• 2 Chronicles 3:1: Solomon "began to build the house of the LORD at Jerusalem in mount Moriah." The text explains that this is where the LORD appeared to David, the place David had prepared on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite. In 2 Samuel 24, Ornan is called Araunah.

Background

Genesis speaks only of "the land of Moriah" and does not specify its location. Only 2 Chronicles associates the name with a mountain and identifies it with Jerusalem.

The meaning of the Hebrew name is uncertain. Some connect it with the verb "to see" or "to provide" and interpret it as "the LORD sees (provides)," but this view has not been established as a consensus. Some ancient versions did not render the word as a proper place name but translated its sense instead: the Septuagint renders it "the high land," and the Vulgate "the land of vision."

Significance in Scripture as a Whole

The account in 2 Chronicles links the place where Abraham was to offer his son with the site of the Temple in Jerusalem. Read this way, the place where a life was spared through a substitute offering later becomes the center of Israel's sacrificial worship.

The place name Moriah does not appear in the New Testament. However, Hebrews 11:17–19 describes Abraham's faith in offering Isaac as faith in God, who raises the dead. Many interpreters hold that the phrase "spared not his own Son" in Romans 8:32 echoes "thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son" in Genesis 22:12, 16.

Interpretations and Debates

• Location: Jewish tradition and many Christians identify the Moriah of Genesis with the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. Samaritan tradition has identified it with Mount Gerizim. Scholars are also divided over whether the two texts refer to the same place, and no location has been confirmed archaeologically.
• Connection with Golgotha: Some Christians regard Moriah as the same mountain as Golgotha, where Jesus was crucified, or as part of the same hill country. This is not stated directly in the biblical text but is a later interpretation or tradition. Typological interpretation, which reads Isaac's carrying the wood up the mountain and the ram offered in his place as a picture foreshadowing Christ's atonement, is widely used in preaching across many Protestant denominations. Typology is a method of interpretation that sees Old Testament persons or events as prefiguring New Testament realities. Others urge caution, holding that the historical meaning of the text should be respected first.
• Islamic tradition: In Islam, the son who was nearly sacrificed is generally understood to be Ishmael. This tradition differs from the biblical text.

In the Korean Church

In the Korean church, Moriah is discussed mainly in connection with preaching on Genesis 22. Such sermons often develop the themes of obedience amid testing, the confession of "Jehovah-jireh" (that God provides in advance), and the love of God, who gave His only begotten Son. Some churches and prayer meetings also include "Moriah" in their names.