Land of Moriah in Smiths Bible Dictionary

(chosen by Jehovah). 1. The land of Moriah --On "one of the mountains" in this district took place the sacrifice of Isaac. Ge 22:2 Its position is doubtful, some thinking it to be Mount MOriah, others that Moreh, near Shechem, is meant. [See MOUNT MORIAH] 2. Mount Moriah. --The elevation on which Solomon built the temple, where God appeared to David "in the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite." it is the Eastern eminence of Jerusalem, separated from Mount Zion by the Tyropoeon valley. The tope was levelled by Solomon, and immense walls were built around it from the base to enlarge the level surface for the temple area. A tradition which first appears in a definite shape in Josephus, and is now almost universally accepted, asserts that the "Mount Moriah" of the Chronicles is identical with the "mountain" in "the land of Moriah" of Genesis, and that the spot on which Jehovah appeared to David, and on which the temple was built, was the very spot of the sacrifice of Isaac. (Smith, Stanley and Grove are, however, inclined to doubt this tradition.)