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Let us read Vs 2 one more time. See how the LORD spoke to Abraham,
“Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.”
Abraham was in Beersheva, in the south of Israel, but God told him to go north, to the land of Moriah. Where is this land of Moriah? This is when the text really opens up for us. The land of Moriah is where Jerusalem is, at the very place where the Temple was built. The second and last time we read of Moriah is in 2Chronicles 3:1 when Solomon built the Temple in Jerusalem. This is where Abraham was asked to sacrifice his son, at the same place where and for hundreds of years so many sacrifices were offered at the Temple, pointing to one common objective, pointing to the final sacrifice, the Messiah, the Lamb of God. What then is the meaning of the name Moriah? When you consider the depth of that word, a kaleidoscope of beauty unfolds and when putting them altogether, it points in one direction; to the Messiah.
Let us ask the rabbis and see what they come out with. First, let us list all the meanings they gave to this mount. Some said that Moriah was the place of teaching because the word moreh is found there, being an allusion of the Temple where we may learn of God. Others said that Moriah is the place of the fear of God since they see the world yirah in that name. Another said it is the place of light, since the word orah, light is found here. Another said that the word provide is there, in that the word roueh (to see) leads us to see, by faith the provisions of God before we even have them.
And this is my favorite one, that this is the place of myrrh, since the world moor, or myrrh in the Hebrew is contained in the word Moriah. And the rabbis refer to Song of Songs 4:6 which reads,
Until the day breaks And the shadows flee away, I will go my way to the mountain of myrrh And to the hill of frankincense. For them, the mount of myrrh and the hill of frankincense is the Temple of God. The magi brought the gift of myrrh which is a symbol of death and sacrifice. Yeshua was the final sacrifice on the Mount of Myrrh, on Mount Moriah. Nicodemus also brought myrrh to embalm the body of the Messiah. And so, Moriah is all of these things. It is the place of learning, the place of the fear of God, the place of light, and the place of myrrh and the place of provision. All these point to the role and accomplishment of the Messiah.
Click Here for the Teaching on The Akedah: The Binding of Isaac