Abraham looked up and there in a thicket he saw a ram caught by its horns. He went over and took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son. So Abraham called that place “The LORD will provide.” And to this day it is said, “On the mountain of the LORD it will be provided.” Genesis 22: 13, 14, NIV.
Dear God, as we come before You this day, we come in full assurance that what we are needing, You will provide. Please speak to our hearts as we study Your holy Word. In the name of Your Son, Jesus, the Christ, we pray. Amen.
Our text is taken from a very familiar story in the Bible, the call of God to Abraham, to sacrifice his son. Today we are not going to deal with the trauma, that such a command may have caused Abraham, or even with his obedience to God’s command. Rather, we are going to concentrate on the site, or location, where the incident took place. God told Abraham to go to the top of Mount Moriah to offer his son Isaac, as a sacrifice. Later, this site would become known as the “threshing floor of Ornan” (Hebrew), or Araunah.
When king David sinned against God, by numbering the people of Israel, and God sent Gad, the prophet, to give him a choice of three punishments: three years of famine; three months of warfare waged against him by his enemies; or, three days of pestilence; “David said to Gad, ‘I am in deep distress. Let us fall into the hands of the LORD, for his mercy is great; but do not let me fall into the hands of men’ ” (2 Samuel 24: 14, NIV). As a consequence, seventy thousand individuals died between Dan and Beersheba, a distance of approximately 144 to 150 miles! At that time David lifted up his eyes to the threshing floor of Ornan, and God opened his eyes, so that he saw the angel of the LORD with his hand outstretched, ready to destroy Jerusalem. David confessed his sin; asking that the people not be punished for his wrong doing, but that he, and his family, be punished instead. But God had already given the angel orders to cease the destruction (16, 17).
Then God commanded David, through the prophet Gad, to go up to the threshing floor of Ornan, (or Araunah) the Jebusite, and build an altar to the LORD. David did as the LORD commanded him. Ornan was willing to let David have the threshing floor free of charge. David’s response was profoundly touching, “But David replied to Araunah, ‘No, I insist on paying the full price. I will not take for the LORD what is yours, or sacrifice a burnt offering that costs me nothing’ ” (1 Chronicles 21: 24, NIV, emphasis provided). Our offerings to God, are, indeed, a reflection of what we think of Him!
“Then David said, ‘The house of the LORD God is to be here, and also the altar of burnt offering for Israel . . . . Then Solomon began to build the temple of the LORD in Jerusalem on Mount Moriah, where the LORD had appeared to his father David. It was the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite, the place provided by David” (22: 1; 2 Chronicles 3: 1).
The house of the LORD is a place where people come to deal with the problem of sin, and its consequences, in their lives. It is in this place that, God will provide what we need to be cleansed from our sins. Let us never forget this!
We will continue this conversation tomorrow.