1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Moriah

by Robert Alexander Stewart Macalister

MORIAH, an obscure place-name of ancient Palestine with apparently two distinct connotations. (1) A land entirely unknown, on a mountain in which Abraham offered Isaac (Gen. xxii. 2). The text is probably corrupt: some have suggested “land of the Amorites,” others “land of Midian.” The etymology of the word is equally obscure. Traditionally, of course, “the land of Moriah” is identified with the site of the Temple at Jerusalem,^[1] except by the Samaritans and a few western scholars (such as Dean Stanley) who accept their belief that the mountain was Gerizim. (2) The upper part of the hill of Ophel, the threshing floor of Araunah, upon which Solomon erected the Temple, is once called Mount Moriah (2 Chron. iii. 1). Whether this name be derived from the corruption in Genesis or not cannot be definitely decided; it very likely is. The testimony of Josephus, who often names the temple hill “Moriah,” is of course not original, and of no weight.  (R. A. S. M.) 

1. Some of the sects transfer the scene of the sacrifice to the “Chapel of Abraham” in the precincts of the Holy Sepulchre Church.