Moriah
MORIAH, an obscure place-name of ancient Palestine with .pparently two distinct connotations, (i) A land entirely unuiown, on a mountain in which Abraham offered Isaac (Gen. xii. 2). The text is probably corrupt: some have suggested ' land of the Amorites," others " land of Midian." The etymoogy of the word is equally obscure. Traditionally, of course, ' the land of Moriah " is identified with the site of the Temple at erusalem, 1 except by the Samaritans and a few western scholars such as Dean Stanley) who accept their belief that the mountain vas Gerizim. (2) The upper part of the hill of Ophel, the hreshing floor of Araunah, upon which Solomon erected the Temple, is once called Mount Moriah (2 Chron. iii. i). Whether .his name be derived from the corruption in Genesis or not cannot be definitely decided; it very likely is. The testimony of Josejhus, who often names the temple hill " Moriah," is of course not original, and of no weight. (R. A. S. M.)
Note - this article incorporates content from Encyclopaedia Britannica, Eleventh Edition, (1910-1911)
