When the Jebusite King’s Altar became King David’s Temple Mount
I Chronicles.21.21
Even while war cannons roar, it’s on us who still believe in peace to stand in solidarity with all suffering, and to also protest injustice, moral decay and betrayal of our most cherished values.
Hermeneutics of Suspicion, a concept developed by philosophers including Leo Strauss, urges us to read political texts—especially those that are polemical or morally troubling—with a highly alert and skeptical eye.
The access to this information hands us a responsibility.
This is the same approach for reading sacred texts that include some details and obscure others.
Some of these are high velocity.
Like this one that shows up in today’s chapter of Chronicles:
Why was the Jerusalem temple built on this particular hilltop and what is the troubled history of this sacred location?
With the Temple Mount being such a contested holy site with the potential to blow up the world over disputes - this seems particularly relevant right now.
Heres’ the backstory, as it shows up in today’s chapter which is almost similar to the version found in Samuel - with some subtle but significant changes that strengthen our suspicion that the text covers more than it tells.
David demands a census of the land, most likely to know how big his manpower is before the next battle. This is not a popular move for several reasons including the fact that it’s forbidden by YHWH. But David insists, and Yoav, his general, unwillingly, goes out to count the men. He comes back with the count - over a million men 20 and up, but the price tag for disobeying God is going to be costly. Gad the Prophet, on behalf of the divine, gives David three options: Three years of famine, three months of war, or three days of plague.
David chooses the plague.
70,000 people die in three days, all over the land.
But on the third day, just as the angel of death arrives in Jerusalem, bloody sword in outstretched hand - YHWH relents, and David sees a vision that will change the course of history:
וַיִּשְׁלַח֩ הָאֱלֹהִ֨ים ׀ מַלְאָ֥ךְ ׀ לִֽירוּשָׁלַ֘͏ִם֮ לְהַשְׁחִיתָהּ֒ וּכְהַשְׁחִ֗ית רָאָ֤ה יְהֹוָה֙ וַיִּנָּ֣חֶם עַל־הָרָעָ֔ה וַיֹּ֨אמֶר לַמַּלְאָ֤ךְ הַמַּשְׁחִית֙ רַ֔ב עַתָּ֖ה הֶ֣רֶף יָדֶ֑ךָ וּמַלְאַ֤ךְ יְהֹוָה֙ עֹמֵ֔ד עִם־גֹּ֖רֶן אׇרְנָ֥ן הַיְבוּסִֽי׃ וַיִּשָּׂ֨א דָוִ֜יד אֶת־עֵינָ֗יו וַיַּ֞רְא אֶת־מַלְאַ֤ךְ יְהֹוָה֙ עֹמֵ֗ד בֵּ֤ין הָאָ֙רֶץ֙ וּבֵ֣ין הַשָּׁמַ֔יִם וְחַרְבּ֤וֹ שְׁלוּפָה֙ בְּיָד֔וֹ נְטוּיָ֖ה עַל־יְרוּשָׁלָ֑͏ִם וַיִּפֹּ֨ל דָּוִ֧יד וְהַזְּקֵנִ֛ים מְכֻסִּ֥ים בַּשַּׂקִּ֖ים עַל־פְּנֵיהֶֽם׃
God sent an angel to Jerusalem to destroy it, but as he was about to wreak destruction, YHWH saw and renounced further punishment and said to the destroying angel, “Enough! Stay your hand!” The angel of YHWH was then standing by the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.
David looked up and saw the angel of YHWH standing between heaven and earth, with a drawn sword in his hand directed against Jerusalem. David and the elders, covered in sackcloth, threw themselves on their faces.
I Chronicles.21.13-16
Why does the angel stop at the threshing floor belonging to one of the local Jebusites who survived David’s occupation of their land? Who is this man whose land becomes the site of salvation and what are threshing floors all about?
Jaime L. Waters is a biblical and historical scholar and her research shows that
“In the minds of biblical writers, threshing floors served purposes beyond their agricultural functionality.. in ancient Israel threshing floors were not only agricultural spaces but were regarded as sacred spaces..locations under divine control and locations for human-divine contact.”
What is known about the owner of this floor? Araunah is named here Ornan, and he may have been the local leader, or even king. The word araunah, mentioned in Samuel but not in Chronicles, is not a personal name, but a title meaning "the lord" in Hurrian, which was borrowed into several languages of the ancient Near East. That’s likely why Chronicles drops the title and changes the name.
Once David rises from bowing low before the angel of death and the ominous sword, he proceeds to purchase the property for the sum of 600 shekels, despite long protests by Ornan who wants to give it to the king for free, with whatever is on the property.
Why would the Jebusite leader who had to watch his kingdom be taken over by this other king want to give it all away? Or is this story trying hard to legitimize the legacy of this sacred site and gloss over whatever happens when one culture conquers another?
There is one word in this version of the story that hints at what may have been the real sentiments of the Jebusite leader:
וַיָּבֹ֥א דָוִ֖יד עַד־אׇרְנָ֑ן וַיַּבֵּ֤ט אׇרְנָן֙ וַיַּ֣רְא אֶת־דָּוִ֔יד וַיֵּצֵא֙ מִן־הַגֹּ֔רֶן וַיִּשְׁתַּ֧חוּ לְדָוִ֛יד אַפַּ֖יִם אָֽרְצָה׃
David came to Ornan; when Ornan looked up, he saw David and came off the threshing floor and bowed low to David, with his face to the ground.
I Chronicles.21.21
Rabbi Meir Gruzman explores this story and esp. the verb ‘looked up’ that is ascribed here to Ornan/Arvana’s recognition of the new reality. In the last chapter of 2 Samuel, this local king looks at the scene and the Hebrew word used is a loaded term - ‘Va’Yashkef’. It is often associated with scenes of stress, anger, and violence - a fierce gaze. In Chronicles the verb is ‘Va’Yabet’ - a much more natural and neutral look. What does this tell us?
“Aravnah’s ‘willingness’ to give everything to the king is nothing more than an expression of anger and rage. As if he were saying in despair: ‘You are the ruler—take whatever you see, take it all! Can I prevent you from doing so? You came to take—so take!’ The verse, ‘See, the oxen for burnt offerings, and the threshing sledges and the yokes of the oxen for the wood—all this Aravnah the king gives to the king,’ sounds more like a wretched cry of defeat than a declaration of generosity and helpfulness. A farmer does not readily, in the middle of his work in the threshing floor, give everything away: to slaughter, dismantle, chop down, uproot, burn, and leave. If he does this, he does so under duress, coercion, and certainly out of despair. Therefore, Aravnah’s words should be seen as defiance and anger—not as generosity or noble-heartedness.
David surely recognized this tone of anger, and therefore responded with appeasement—both with words and with money. And this appeasement achieved its purpose: David purchased the site, and Aravnah took no action against him. But that does not erase the malicious thoughts that may have passed through Aravnah’s mind during the conversation with David. The word ‘vayashkef’ (he looked on) alludes to this.
Now we can explain the parallel account of this event as it appears in 1 Chronicles 21:21. There, the word ‘vayabet’ (he looked) appears instead of ‘vayashkef’.
This substitution is not coincidental. In light of what was said above, one may propose that the Chronicler deliberately altered the wording and chose a ‘softer’ term, wanting to imply that, in the end, the ‘vayashkef’ (a gaze charged with suspicion or ill will) became ‘vayabet’ (a more neutral or even respectful look). In other words: the desire to harm or resist was not actualized, and the malicious thought that Aravnah had ultimately dissipated. David’s conciliatory words and the payment he offered had their effect, and Aravnah’s threshing floor came into David’s possession.”
And that is how the sacred site of the Jebusite people was sold - or so the story goes - to become the new sacred site of the Judeans. It will be David’s son who will transform it into the famous temple but this text wants us to give David the credit for the foundational purchase - with an attempt to obscure, but not fully hide, the indigenous origins, and even the mysterious story of the census, plague and angel’s sword that specified this spot that would change many hands over generations and be a shrine to many deities.
The establishment of the Temple on this site—later designated Haram al‑Sharif/Temple Mount—carries deep modern political significance.
For Palestinians and many Israelis, control of this hilltop involves competing historical narratives: Jewish claims rooted in Davidic purchase and sanctified geography, versus Palestinian and Muslim narratives emphasizing uninterrupted continuity since the Muslim presence and the designation as an Islamic holy site.
Contested ownership here echoes the halakhic insistence on “proper purchase”, used both to legitimize and to challenge sovereignty—be it a biblical king buying grounds, a modern nationalist settling Jewish land, or Palestinian resistance to what they define as occupation. Israeli settlement on East Jerusalem, including Temple Mount, is frequently portrayed by critics as echoing the narrative arc from David’s acquisition to today's expansion of control in the name of religious-national entitlement.
So what do we do with this info? We begin by paying attention, suspicious and curious, attentive to the layers that remind us to look closer and pay attention to multiple narratives.
Strauss famously wrote:
“The facile delusions which conceal from us our true situation all amount to this: that we are, or can be, wiser than the wisest men of the past. We are thus induced to play the part, not of attentive and docile listeners, but of impresarios and lion-tamers.”
The story continues in the following chapter; no circus act, but a saga that goes on and on, inviting us to pay attention.
Image: David and Araunah making offerings at the altar (circle of Lambert Jacobsz, 17th century)
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