Today's Scripture Reading (October 2, 2022): 2 Samuel 24
It would be easy to suggest that the Temple in Jerusalem should
be built somewhere other than on Temple Mount. After all, churches move all the
time. Even I have proposed that the answer to the problem of an occupied Temple
Mount might be to place a new Tabernacle somewhere else, waiting in preparation
for the day that it once again becomes possible to build a Temple on Temple
Mount in Jerusalem. But that suggestion possibly misses the incredible importance
of Temple Mount, a place that many hold to be Mount Moriah of the Hebrew Bible.
To understand the importance of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, you must
understand the story behind the mountain. It is not just a piece of real estate
in the Old City of Jerusalem; the story makes this piece of real estate
important.
The story of Mount Moriah begins with the travels of a father
and son riding. The pair were traveling away from home to make a sacrifice to
their God. The father was Abraham, and the son was Isaac. And what Abraham knew
that Isaac didn't know was that God had instructed Abraham to sacrifice his
only son to prove his trust in his God. It must have been the worst camping
trip in history. But just as Abraham was about to sacrifice his only son on a
crude altar he had built for his God, God stopped him. A ram was caught in a
thicket close by, and it was the ram that lost its life that day, not Isaac.
The Mountain, Mount Moriah, became the place where death stopped. It was a
place of life and joy because Isaac lived and went home with his father. I can't
imagine the depth of despair as Abraham went up on the mountain to carry out
the sacrifice of his promised son. And I can't imagine the height of joy as
Abraham and Isaac both came off the mountain alive at the end of that day.
Time passes, and the children of Abraham and Isaac eventually
leave the area. The nation of Israel sprang from the descendants of Abraham,
Isaac, and Jacob, descendants who were not born in Canaan but rather in slavery
in Egypt. But eventually, they escape their slavery and return to the land God
had promised to them. The land is inhabited by different peoples who had built
cities that did not exist when Jacob and his sons had left the land. Mount
Moriah still existed, but it was found within the walls of the city of Jebus,
the home of the Jebusites. We know Jebus by a different name, Jerusalem. David
conquerors the city of Jerusalem, and he makes it his capital.
But David's disobedience near the end of his life almost caused
him to lose his city. God sent a plague to Israel as punishment for the King's
sin. And Jerusalem was not supposed to be spared. I love the translation the
NIV uses of this verse in 1 Chronicles. "And God sent an
angel to destroy Jerusalem. But as the angel was doing so, the Lord saw it and relented concerning the disaster" (1 Chronicles
21:15). It is just a short phrase, one that is missing in Samuel; God "saw
it." What exactly was it that God saw? According to the story, the
threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite was what God saw. And that threshing
floor was at the top of a very familiar mountain, Mount Moriah. Is it possible
that as the angel moved into Jerusalem, God saw a memory of a man who had come
to this mountain to sacrifice his son? I think David thought so. And so, death
stopped here on this mountain for a second time, at the top of Mount Moriah.
As David began to put the story together in his
mind, something else became apparent. David had always wanted to build a Temple
for his God. The plans had probably been a little vague up until this point.
But now everything was coming together. David would buy this spot off of
Araunah, and this would be the place where the Temple of Jerusalem would be
built – at the place where death stopped not just once but twice.
When you know the story, it isn't hard to understand
Temple Mount's meaning for the Jews. It is much deeper than just the place where
they worshiped in ancient times. It is the place where death stops—a place
where from the beginning time, God was glorified. And that made Mount Moriah important
to two of Israel's great men of faith, Abraham and David. So why would the
children of Israel not want to worship there? That is a question with which we
still struggle today.
Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: 1 Chronicles 28
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