Editing Moriah

{{Short description|Location in the Book of Genesis}}
{{About|the biblical location}}
[[File:Height 743 section Jerusalem map, scale 10,000 scale, 1st edition, Survey of Palestine, Jaffa, August 1925, Ordnance Survey Offices, Southhampton, 1926.png|thumb|Map of Jerusalem in 1925, showing the location of Mount Moriah according to Jewish sources]]
[[File:שכם ליד הר גריזים צילום- ליאו קאהן 1912 - i וגנרi btm782.jpeg|thumb|The area around [[Mount Gerizim]] is identified by the [[Samaritans]] as the "land of Moriah", or "Moreh".]]
'''Moriah''' {{IPAc-en|m|ɒ|ˈ|r|aɪ|ə}} ([[Hebrew language|Hebrew:]] {{Script/Hebrew|מוֹרִיָּה}}, ''Mōrīyya''; [[Arabic]]: ﻣﺮﻭﻩ, ''Marwah'') is the name given to a region in the [[Book of Genesis]], where the [[binding of Isaac]] by [[Abraham]] is said to have taken place. Jews identify the region mentioned in Genesis and the specific mountain in which the near-sacrifice is said to have occurred with "Mount Moriah", mentioned in [[Books of Chronicles|the Book of Chronicles]] as the place where [[Solomon's Temple]] is said to have been built, and both these locations are also identified with the current [[Temple Mount]] in [[Jerusalem]].<ref>Brant Pitre, John Bergsma. [https://books.google.com/books/about/A_Catholic_Introduction_to_the_Bible.html?id=px5tDwAAQBAJA ''A Catholic Introduction to the Bible: The Old Testament''], p. 415.</ref> The [[Samaritan Pentateuch|Samaritan Torah]], on the other hand, transliterates the place mentioned for the binding of Isaac as Moreh, a name for the region near modern-day [[Nablus]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Bible Gateway passage: Deuteronomy 11:29–30 - New International Version |url=https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Deuteronomy%2011%3A29-30&version=NIV |access-date=2022-01-15 |website=Bible Gateway |language=en}}</ref> It is believed by the [[Samaritans]] that the near-sacrifice actually took place on [[Mount Gerizim]], near Nablus in the [[West Bank]].<ref name="JewishEncyclopedia2">{{cite encyclopedia |title=Moriah |encyclopedia=[[Jewish Encyclopedia]] |url=http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=799&letter=M |access-date=2008-07-14 |last=Jacobs |first=Joseph |author2=M. Seligsohn}}</ref>

Many [[Muslims]], in turn, believe the place mentioned in the first book of the Bible, rendered as [[Safa and Marwa|Marwa]] in Arabic in the [[Quran]], is actually located close to the [[Kaaba]] in [[Mecca]], [[Saudi Arabia]]. There has been a historical account of rams' horns preserved in the Kaaba until the year 683, which are believed to be the remains of the sacrifice of [[Ishmael in Islam|Ishmael]] – the first son of Abraham, who most Muslims believe was the son Abraham tied down and almost sacrificed, and not Isaac.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.al-mawrid.org/index.php/articles/view/the-great-sacrifice-3 | title='The Great Sacrifice' (3) | publisher=Al-Mawrid | date=November 1, 1995 | access-date=December 5, 2015 | author=Imam Farahi, Hamiduddin }}</ref>

==Biblical references==
In the [[Hebrew Bible|Jewish Bible]], ''Moriyya'' and/or ''Moriah'' ({{langx|he|מוֹרִיָּה}}) occur twice, with differences of spelling between different manuscripts.<ref name=":0">Jože Krašovec, "Transliteration or Translation of Biblical Proper Names", ''Translation Review'', 67:1  (2004), 41–57 (pp. 50–51); {{doi|10.1080/07374836.2004.1052385}}.</ref> Tradition has interpreted these two as the same place:

* [[Book of Genesis|Genesis]]:<ref>{{bibleverse-nb||genesis|22:2|HE}}</ref> "Then God said, 'Take your son, your only son, whom you love—Isaac—and go to the region of Moriyya. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on a mountain I will show you.{{'"}}
* [[Books of Chronicles|2 Chronicles]]:<ref>{{bibleverse-nb|2|chron|3:1|HE}}</ref> "Then Solomon began to build the temple of the {{Lord}} in Jerusalem, on Mount Moriah, where the {{Lord}} had appeared to his father David. It was on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite, the place provided by David."

==Speculation and debate==
Whereas the mention of Moriah in Genesis could be referring to any mountainous region, the [[book of Chronicles]] says that the location of [[Araunah|Araunah's threshing floor]] is on "Mount Moriah" and that the [[Solomon's Temple|Temple of Solomon]] was built over Araunah's threshing floor.<ref name="eastons">{{cite encyclopedia |encyclopedia=[[Easton's Bible Dictionary (1897)|Easton's Bible Dictionary]] |title=Moriah |url=http://www.ccel.org/ccel/easton/ebd2.html?term=Moriah |access-date=2008-07-14 }}</ref> This has led to the classical rabbinical supposition that the Moriah region mentioned in Genesis as the place where Abraham almost sacrificed Isaac was in Jerusalem.<ref name=":0" />
[[File:Opere di Filippo Biagioli Libri d'Oro Ebraici Abramo.jpg|alt=Jewish Golden Books by Filippo Biagioli, dedicated to Mount Moriah and Abraham|left|thumb|Jewish Golden Books by [[Filippo Biagioli]], dedicated to Mount Moriah and Abraham<ref>{{Cite web |last=Ancillotti |first=Sofia |title=Libri d'Oro Ebraici |url=https://www.filippo-biagioli.com/libri-doro-ebraici/}}</ref>]]
In consequence of these traditions, [[Classical Rabbinical Literature]] theorised that the name was a (linguistically corrupted) reference to the Temple, suggesting translations like ''the teaching-place'' (referring to the [[Sanhedrin]] that met there), ''the place of fear'' (referring to the supposed fear that non-Israelites would have at the Temple), ''the place of [[myrrh]]'' (referring to the spices burnt as [[incense]]).<ref name="JewishEncyclopedia">{{cite encyclopedia |last=Jacobs |first=Joseph |author2=M. Seligsohn |encyclopedia=[[Jewish Encyclopedia]] |title=Moriah |url=http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=799&letter=M |access-date=2008-07-14 }}</ref> On the other hand, some interpretations of a biblical passage concerning [[Melchizedek]], king of [[Salem (Bible)|Salem]], would indicate [[Jerusalem]] was already a city with a priest at the time of [[Abraham]], and thus is unlikely to have been founded on the lonely spot where Abraham tried to sacrifice Isaac.<ref>[[Peake's commentary on the Bible]].</ref>

There is also debate as to whether the two references to Moriyya/Moriah (Genesis 22:2 and 2 Chronicles 3:1) are correctly understood as the same name. Ancient translators seem to have interpreted them differently: whereas all ancient translations simply transliterated the name in Chronicles, in Genesis they tended to try to understand the literal meaning of the name and to translate it. For example, in the Greek [[Septuagint]] translation, these verses are translated as:

* Genesis 22:2: "And he said, Take thy son, the beloved one, whom thou hast loved—Isaac, and go '''into the high land''' ([[Koine Greek]]: {{lang|grc|εἰς τὴν γῆν τὴν ὑψηλὴν}}), and offer him there for a whole-burnt-offering on one of the mountains which I will tell thee of."<ref>[http://www.ecmarsh.com/lxx/Genesis/index.htm English Translation of the Greek Septuagint Bible (Genesis)]</ref>
* 2 Chronicles 3:1: "And Solomon began to build the house of the Lord in Jerusalem '''in the mount of Amoria''', where the Lord appeared to his father David, in the place which David had prepared in the threshing-floor of Ornan the Jebusite."<ref name=marsh>[http://www.ecmarsh.com/lxx/Genesis/index.htm English Translation of the Greek Septuagint Bible (2 Chronicles)]</ref>

Moreover, other ancient translations interpret the instance in Genesis in different ways from the Septuagint:<ref name=":0" /><ref name="JewishEncyclopedia"/>
* The [[Samaritan Pentateuch]] spells the name differently from the Hebrew-alphabet text, giving {{"-}}’ereṣ hammôrā’āh", which seems to interpret the name as coming from the root ''rā’āh'' ("to see"), and accordingly means "the land of vision". Correspondingly, [[Symmachus (translator)|Symmachus]]'s Greek translation renders the Genesis place-name as "tês optasías" ("into the land of appearance/manifestation") and [[Jerome]]'s Latin Vulgate similarly says "in terram Visionis" ("into the land of Vision"). Forming a religion closely related to [[Judaism]], [[Samaritans]] disagree with the Jewish view that the binding of [[Isaac]] took place in the [[Temple Mount]] in Jerusalem, claiming instead that it happened in [[Mount Gerizim]] in the [[West Bank]].
* [[Targum Pseudo-Jonathan]] interprets the name as ''land of worship''.

Some modern biblical scholars, however, regard the name as a reference to the [[Amorites]], having lost the initial ''a'' via [[aphesis]]; the name is thus interpreted as meaning ''land of the Amorites''. This agrees with the [[Septuagint]], where, for example, 2 Chronicles 3:1 refers to the location as {{lang|grc|Ἀμωρία}}.<ref name=marsh />  Some scholars also identify it with [[Givat HaMoreh|Moreh]], the location near Shechem at which Abraham built an altar, according to Genesis 12:6. Hence a number of scholars believe that the "{{Script/Hebrew|מוריה}}" mentioned in Genesis actually refers to a hill near Shechem, supporting the [[Samaritans|Samaritan]] belief that the near-sacrifice of Isaac occurred on Mount [[Gerizim]] – a location near [[Shechem]].<ref name="JewishEncyclopedia" />

==See also==
* [[Mount Zion]]

== Notes and citations ==
{{reflist}}

* {{JewishEncyclopedia|title=Moriah |url=http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/11018-moriah |first=Max |last=Seligsohn}}
* {{eastons|Moriah}}

[[Category:Hebrew Bible mountains]]
[[Category:Sacred mountains of West Asia|Moriah]]
[[Category:Tabernacle and Temples in Jerusalem]]
[[Category:Temple Mount]]
[[Category:Vayeira]]
[[Category:Mount Gerizim]]
[[Category:Isaac]]
[[Category:Abraham]]