Editing Moriah (section)

==Speculation and debate==
Whereas the mention of Moriah in Genesis could be referring to any mountainous region, the [[book of Chronicles]] says that the location of [[Araunah|Araunah's threshing floor]] is on "Mount Moriah" and that the [[Solomon's Temple|Temple of Solomon]] was built over Araunah's threshing floor.<ref name="eastons">{{cite encyclopedia |encyclopedia=[[Easton's Bible Dictionary (1897)|Easton's Bible Dictionary]] |title=Moriah |url=http://www.ccel.org/ccel/easton/ebd2.html?term=Moriah |access-date=2008-07-14 }}</ref> This has led to the classical rabbinical supposition that the Moriah region mentioned in Genesis as the place where Abraham almost sacrificed Isaac was in Jerusalem.<ref name=":0" />
[[File:Opere di Filippo Biagioli Libri d'Oro Ebraici Abramo.jpg|alt=Jewish Golden Books by Filippo Biagioli, dedicated to Mount Moriah and Abraham|left|thumb|Jewish Golden Books by [[Filippo Biagioli]], dedicated to Mount Moriah and Abraham<ref>{{Cite web |last=Ancillotti |first=Sofia |title=Libri d'Oro Ebraici |url=https://www.filippo-biagioli.com/libri-doro-ebraici/}}</ref>]]
In consequence of these traditions, [[Classical Rabbinical Literature]] theorised that the name was a (linguistically corrupted) reference to the Temple, suggesting translations like ''the teaching-place'' (referring to the [[Sanhedrin]] that met there), ''the place of fear'' (referring to the supposed fear that non-Israelites would have at the Temple), ''the place of [[myrrh]]'' (referring to the spices burnt as [[incense]]).<ref name="JewishEncyclopedia">{{cite encyclopedia |last=Jacobs |first=Joseph |author2=M. Seligsohn |encyclopedia=[[Jewish Encyclopedia]] |title=Moriah |url=http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=799&letter=M |access-date=2008-07-14 }}</ref> On the other hand, some interpretations of a biblical passage concerning [[Melchizedek]], king of [[Salem (Bible)|Salem]], would indicate [[Jerusalem]] was already a city with a priest at the time of [[Abraham]], and thus is unlikely to have been founded on the lonely spot where Abraham tried to sacrifice Isaac.<ref>[[Peake's commentary on the Bible]].</ref>

There is also debate as to whether the two references to Moriyya/Moriah (Genesis 22:2 and 2 Chronicles 3:1) are correctly understood as the same name. Ancient translators seem to have interpreted them differently: whereas all ancient translations simply transliterated the name in Chronicles, in Genesis they tended to try to understand the literal meaning of the name and to translate it. For example, in the Greek [[Septuagint]] translation, these verses are translated as:

* Genesis 22:2: "And he said, Take thy son, the beloved one, whom thou hast loved—Isaac, and go '''into the high land''' ([[Koine Greek]]: {{lang|grc|εἰς τὴν γῆν τὴν ὑψηλὴν}}), and offer him there for a whole-burnt-offering on one of the mountains which I will tell thee of."<ref>[http://www.ecmarsh.com/lxx/Genesis/index.htm English Translation of the Greek Septuagint Bible (Genesis)]</ref>
* 2 Chronicles 3:1: "And Solomon began to build the house of the Lord in Jerusalem '''in the mount of Amoria''', where the Lord appeared to his father David, in the place which David had prepared in the threshing-floor of Ornan the Jebusite."<ref name=marsh>[http://www.ecmarsh.com/lxx/Genesis/index.htm English Translation of the Greek Septuagint Bible (2 Chronicles)]</ref>

Moreover, other ancient translations interpret the instance in Genesis in different ways from the Septuagint:<ref name=":0" /><ref name="JewishEncyclopedia"/>
* The [[Samaritan Pentateuch]] spells the name differently from the Hebrew-alphabet text, giving {{"-}}’ereṣ hammôrā’āh", which seems to interpret the name as coming from the root ''rā’āh'' ("to see"), and accordingly means "the land of vision". Correspondingly, [[Symmachus (translator)|Symmachus]]'s Greek translation renders the Genesis place-name as "tês optasías" ("into the land of appearance/manifestation") and [[Jerome]]'s Latin Vulgate similarly says "in terram Visionis" ("into the land of Vision"). Forming a religion closely related to [[Judaism]], [[Samaritans]] disagree with the Jewish view that the binding of [[Isaac]] took place in the [[Temple Mount]] in Jerusalem, claiming instead that it happened in [[Mount Gerizim]] in the [[West Bank]].
* [[Targum Pseudo-Jonathan]] interprets the name as ''land of worship''.

Some modern biblical scholars, however, regard the name as a reference to the [[Amorites]], having lost the initial ''a'' via [[aphesis]]; the name is thus interpreted as meaning ''land of the Amorites''. This agrees with the [[Septuagint]], where, for example, 2 Chronicles 3:1 refers to the location as {{lang|grc|Ἀμωρία}}.<ref name=marsh />  Some scholars also identify it with [[Givat HaMoreh|Moreh]], the location near Shechem at which Abraham built an altar, according to Genesis 12:6. Hence a number of scholars believe that the "{{Script/Hebrew|מוריה}}" mentioned in Genesis actually refers to a hill near Shechem, supporting the [[Samaritans|Samaritan]] belief that the near-sacrifice of Isaac occurred on Mount [[Gerizim]] – a location near [[Shechem]].<ref name="JewishEncyclopedia" />