In Genesis 22 the story of God's requirement of Abraham to offer Isaac is recorded.
There are some phrases in that passage that stand out to me, now that I have seen the topography of the land for myself.
In 22:2 God tells Abraham to go "the Land of Moriah" to "one of the mountains that I will tell you about." I had mistakenly remembered that Isaac was offered on Mt. Moriah, but that is not exactly what the text says.
What would you tell someone about a mountain that would enable them to know that they were in the right place? This question led me to believe that there was something visibly remarkable about the mountain that Abraham would recognize upon first sight of the area described. (22:4 Abraham saw -- and recognized the place -- "afar off."
22:3 says that Abraham "went unto the place of which God had told him." A specific, particular place that Abraham could go to and not doubt that he had arrived. Why couldn't Abraham have performed this sacrifice near his home? What was unique and different about the place that Abraham was taking Isaac to that would be significant?
The descriptive revelatory conversation is not recorded in the Bible. But God obviously spoke to Abraham as he traveled and camped along the three day journey from Beersheeba to the Land of Moriah. He told him something that would allow him to locate the particular spot for the sacrifice.
As Abraham traveled from the south at Beersheba, I believe that he followed the Jordan rift, circumvented the Land of Moriah on the West and approached the mountains from the North. Even when Abraham was miles away from Moriah I believe that this is what he saw in the distance:
This is a photograph taken on the northern face of the Moriahan mountain range in the year 1900. It has eroded over the centuries. How hideous and terrible the sight of this laughing human skull must have appeared to Abraham 2000 years ago as he made his way to perform the most tragic deed of his entire life.
God might have spoken to Abraham in his journey, "Abraham, you will know that you have found the place of sacrifice and death when you see a mountain that I have purposefully shaped into the image of death itself. There is where you will offer your son."
Abraham, no doubt grieved every step of his journey. And the very thought of this deadly image mockingly calling out to him caused his heart to ache. How his heart must have fallen when he caught first glimpse of place of the skull.
We know that God did not permit Abraham to follow-through with his commitment to obedience to God's command --- but the event was a foreshadowing of when God DID give HIS Son --- on this very mountain.
You see, it was on one of the mountains of the Land of Moriah that the city of Jerusalem would be built. Muslims have built one of their most sacred mosques upon the site that they believe is the location of the very stone upon which Abraham offered Isaac (The Dome of the Rock, on the Temple Mount).
But there is nothing visibly remarkably or topographically unusual about the Temple Mount or the site of the mosque.
In 1882 Charles George Gordon, on an expedition to the land of Israel, and the city of Jerusalem in particular was show a place that was known by the Jews as beth has sekilah or "The house of stoning" and revered by many as Jeremiah's Grotto. There was evidence that this location was described in the first century as "Golgotha" Aramaic for "The Place of the Skull." The Romans described it as "Calvary" (latin for "skull hill")
I took the photograph below in April of 2008 of the place that is described today as Gordon's Calvary. A place that many believe today was the hill upon which Jesus was crucified. Even after 2000 years the image of the skull is still apparent.
There are some phrases in that passage that stand out to me, now that I have seen the topography of the land for myself.
In 22:2 God tells Abraham to go "the Land of Moriah" to "one of the mountains that I will tell you about." I had mistakenly remembered that Isaac was offered on Mt. Moriah, but that is not exactly what the text says.
What would you tell someone about a mountain that would enable them to know that they were in the right place? This question led me to believe that there was something visibly remarkable about the mountain that Abraham would recognize upon first sight of the area described. (22:4 Abraham saw -- and recognized the place -- "afar off."
22:3 says that Abraham "went unto the place of which God had told him." A specific, particular place that Abraham could go to and not doubt that he had arrived. Why couldn't Abraham have performed this sacrifice near his home? What was unique and different about the place that Abraham was taking Isaac to that would be significant?
The descriptive revelatory conversation is not recorded in the Bible. But God obviously spoke to Abraham as he traveled and camped along the three day journey from Beersheeba to the Land of Moriah. He told him something that would allow him to locate the particular spot for the sacrifice.
As Abraham traveled from the south at Beersheba, I believe that he followed the Jordan rift, circumvented the Land of Moriah on the West and approached the mountains from the North. Even when Abraham was miles away from Moriah I believe that this is what he saw in the distance:
This is a photograph taken on the northern face of the Moriahan mountain range in the year 1900. It has eroded over the centuries. How hideous and terrible the sight of this laughing human skull must have appeared to Abraham 2000 years ago as he made his way to perform the most tragic deed of his entire life.
God might have spoken to Abraham in his journey, "Abraham, you will know that you have found the place of sacrifice and death when you see a mountain that I have purposefully shaped into the image of death itself. There is where you will offer your son."
Abraham, no doubt grieved every step of his journey. And the very thought of this deadly image mockingly calling out to him caused his heart to ache. How his heart must have fallen when he caught first glimpse of place of the skull.
We know that God did not permit Abraham to follow-through with his commitment to obedience to God's command --- but the event was a foreshadowing of when God DID give HIS Son --- on this very mountain.
You see, it was on one of the mountains of the Land of Moriah that the city of Jerusalem would be built. Muslims have built one of their most sacred mosques upon the site that they believe is the location of the very stone upon which Abraham offered Isaac (The Dome of the Rock, on the Temple Mount).
But there is nothing visibly remarkably or topographically unusual about the Temple Mount or the site of the mosque.
In 1882 Charles George Gordon, on an expedition to the land of Israel, and the city of Jerusalem in particular was show a place that was known by the Jews as beth has sekilah or "The house of stoning" and revered by many as Jeremiah's Grotto. There was evidence that this location was described in the first century as "Golgotha" Aramaic for "The Place of the Skull." The Romans described it as "Calvary" (latin for "skull hill")
I took the photograph below in April of 2008 of the place that is described today as Gordon's Calvary. A place that many believe today was the hill upon which Jesus was crucified. Even after 2000 years the image of the skull is still apparent.
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