Meaning of MORIA

(a) Region surrounding the mountain where Abraham went to sacrifice Isaac. This is probably the country where a hill, also called Moria, later became the site of the Temple (Gen. 22:2; Ant 1:13, 1 and 2).

The Samaritans, and some modern scholars (Bleek, Truch, Stanley) have identified More, near Shechem, with Moria, and place Abraham's sacrifice on Mount Gerizim (cf. SAMARITAN PENTATEUCH).

The identification of the Samaritans undoubtedly rests on the fact that Abraham had erected an altar at More (Gen. 12:6, 7); Above all, this identification shed some religious light on the country of the Samaritans, but the etymology of More does not correspond to that of Moria.

(b) Hill where the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite was located. David bought it and built an altar there. Solomon built the Temple on that site (2 Sam. 24:18; 2 Chron. 3:1). The primitive appearance of this mountain has been greatly modified by the hand of man, with part of it having disappeared due to embankments and constructions.

However, his old profile has been determined. Mount Moriah rose between the Kidron and Tyropaeon. Its summit rose in front of the ravine that formed the western branch of the Tyropeon.

To the north, a slight depression separated the Moria from the narrow spit of land that connected it to the main plateau. A precise assessment of the dimensions of early Moria is difficult to achieve.

Plausible estimate: from north to south, around 180 m.; from east to west, 90 m. According to Warren, the summit reached 746 m. above the level of the Mediterranean. Other terraces, with very steep eastern and western slopes, are around 740 and 737 m.