Moriah

(vision) (Gen. 22:2)—by this name was understood a mountain located northeast of Jerusalem and originally separated from Acra by a valley which, according to Jewish historians, was at that time filled with inhabitants called the Asmoneans. In the days of David, Mount Moriah did not form part of the city, but constituted part of the cultivated land of Ornan the Jebusite, whom David bought it from (2 Sam. 24:16, 25). On this site Solomon afterward built the Temple (2 Chron. 3:1). This mountain was artificially raised more than 700 feet and surrounded by a square stone wall.

On this mountain, as is known, Abraham offered his sacrifice (Gen. 22:2). On this same mountain King David, at the time of the plague, saw the appearance of the Angel and offered to God a propitiatory sacrifice (2 Sam. 24:16–25). In the center of the said mountain there now stands a mosque, built by Omar in the seventh century after Christ, and considered second only to the one at Mecca in size and magnificence. Formerly no Christian was permitted to enter not only the mosque but even its enclosure, but in recent times this prohibition has lost its binding force, and present-day travelers are sometimes permitted to view it.