Israel and Humanity - Mount Moria and the sacrifice of Abraham
IV.
Jerusalem in the patriarchal history and mosaic.
§ 1.
MOUNT MORIA AND THE SACRIFICE OF ABRAHAM.
Between the time of Melehisédek and Moses, it is easy to find facts that confirm the choice of Jerusalem as the seat of Judaism and which prove that the Israelites in their [1] reverence for this city only followed the example of their ancestors.
Jewish tradition relates that Mount Moriah, on which, according to the Chronicle, the Temple had been built, was the place where Abraham was prepared to sacrifice his son Jacob who later had his famous vision. It may be objected that these are legends after the establishment of Jerusalem as its capital and they have been invented to enhance the sanctity of this relationship in him creating a past worthy of its high destination. But this requires further exalt a city already become famous is by itself quite significant after the silence of Scripture observes him. Should we see, however, that pure legends of places in this match? The identity of Mount Moriah, celebrated by the sacrifice of Abraham, and the location of the Temple of Jerusalem is attested on one side by the book of Genesis and the other by the Chronicle, and the tradition was so well established here that Josephus himself it echoed in his Jewish Antiquities.
The story of the race to which God subjected the Hebrew patriarch bears visible traces of the holiness of the place prior to this one which went in obedience to the divine order. "The third day, says the sacred text, Abraham looked up and saw the place afar [2] ". How then recognized it? Raschi said in a cloud covering the summit. It is easier to admit that Abraham knew this place earlier as a pilgrimage destination where people went to offer sacrifices. The proof is language that takes the servants accompanying him: "Stay here with the donkey," he said, me and the child, we will go yonder and worship, and we back to you [3] ". These two nice words to imply they do not belief that this was a holy place was already widespread? We do not claim that the shrine therein may be reared in this time the chamber was chosen by Abraham to sacrifice his preparation, because in this case the text would not say that the patriarch built there an altar . By building a private altar, Abraham, who could not enlist under the banner of any existing religions, prelude perhaps somehow this occasion to [4] Jewish separatism. But it is nonetheless true that for him as for the Gentiles, his contemporaries, this link was holy and that's where he went to sacrifice. So if there is already famous for its sanctity, was witness to this memorable event in the history of their ancestor, it is highly probable that the Israelites were to choose to establish a preference for the seat of divine worship.
There is a verse of that chapter of Genesis, which deserves special attention, it is where Abraham gave a name to this place where he has just proved his heroic obedience to the Lord, "Abraham called this place the name of 'Avay-Jire (or the Lord will provide). And the scripture says: That is why we say today: "A mountain Avaya-Jera (the Lord is seen, is manifested) [5] ". This simple change in the Masoretic punctuation of the last word is of high significance. He said the new destination than expected for this mountain, that of a public sanctuary. Previously it was, indeed, a link to where God Holy saw everything and provided for all (Avaya-Jire), but in future it will be his residence even where the worshipers flock, whether we translate the end of verse as we have just done: "A mountain of Avaya Jera (Jehovah is seen) or because it separates the two last words, which would read:" A mountain of Avaya we will see where we will show ( Vera ), because in any event the presence of the believer is involved. Is not it curious that the same expression is used in the Pentateuch specifically prescribing the triple annual visit to the Temple: "Three times a year, every male will be seen, show (Vera) to the Lord, the Lord [6] "? And tradition plays on the word, a kind of reminiscence of the old name given by Abraham Jire (he sees) to waive that visit those who are deprived of an eye. Luzzatto was seen in the substitution of liabilities ( Vera ) in assets ( yiré ), a variant introduced later to escape the idea of anthropomorphic see God . But this is not such a scruple which produced this change is change of place of destination, Jerusalem has become a public sanctuary where the people would worship God and the second appointment ( Vera ) added a sense of dependency, [7] of tribute, like the servant who made note of appearance before his master. The philological study of three texts in which the expression is found without any further assumption.
The name of Mount Moriah, where Solomon built the Temple [8] and the tradition designates as the place of Abraham's sacrifice, justifies this identification, because we also discover the idea of vision . Gesenius, based on Symmachus, on Jerome, the Samaritans, held on the etymology of Hebrew itself, it derives from two words pond-ya "the one who shows that manifests God" . On their side, the rabbis say: "It is called Moria, because that is where the doctrine was out Cite error: Closing </ref> missing for <ref> tag ".
