The Jebusite who owned the threshing floor on Moriah
Aussi appelé : Arauna, Ornan, Orn
Le royaume uniLandownerJebusitec. 1000 BC
Aravna, who is called Ornan in the Chronicles books, was a Jebusite living in Jerusalem after David had conquered the city. He owned a threshing floor on Mount Moriah that became decisive in Israel's history. When a devastating plague struck the land as a result of David's census, the Lord's angel stopped at this threshing floor. At the prophet Gad's command, David went up to buy the place and build an altar. Aravna showed great generosity and offered to give the entire property with oxen and tools to the king without payment, but David firmly refused: he would not bring the Lord a sacrifice that had cost him nothing. This attitude expresses a fundamental biblical principle that true worship requires dedication and personal cost. David paid for the place, built the altar, and presented an offering, and the Lord stopped the plague. The site is identified in Jewish and Christian tradition with Mount Moriah, where Abraham was once willing to sacrifice Isaac. It later became the place where Solomon built the Lord's temple, thus linking Aravna's threshing floor together with the patriarchs' faith, the Davidic kingdom, and temple worship into one continuous line of salvation history.
Événements clés
The Plague over Israel
After David had sinned by conducting a census, God sent a plague upon Israel. The angel of the Lord stood at Araunah's threshing floor when the plague was stopped.
16When the angel stretched out his hand to destroy Jerusalem, the LORD relented from the disaster and said to the angel who was destroying the people, "Enough! Stay your hand now." The angel of the LORD was then at the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.
17When David saw the angel who was striking down the people, he said to the LORD, "I am the one who has sinned; I am the one who has done wrong. But these sheep—what have they done? Let your hand fall on me and on my father's house."
15And God sent an angel to Jerusalem to destroy it. But as he was destroying, the LORD saw and relented concerning the disaster, and said to the destroying angel, "Enough! Now stay your hand." The angel of the LORD was standing at the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.
18Then the angel of the LORD told Gad to say to David that David should go up and build an altar to the LORD on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.
When David came to buy the threshing floor, Araunah offered it along with oxen and tools to the king free of charge, but David refused to accept it without paying.
21Araunah said, "Why has my lord the king come to his servant?" David answered, "To buy your threshing floor, so that I can build an altar to the LORD and the plague on the people may be stopped."
22Araunah said to David, "Let my lord the king take whatever pleases him and offer it up. Here are oxen for the burnt offering, and the threshing sledges and the ox yokes for the wood.
22David said to Ornan, "Give me the site of this threshing floor, so I can build an altar to the LORD on it. Sell it to me for the full price, so that the plague on the people may be stopped."
23Ornan said to David, "Take it. Let my lord the king do whatever seems good to him. See, I give you the oxen for the burnt offerings, the threshing sledges for wood, and the wheat for the grain offering. I give it all."
David insisted on paying for the threshing floor because he did not want to offer to the Lord anything that cost him nothing. According to 2 Samuel, he paid fifty shekels of silver for the threshing floor and the oxen, while 1 Chronicles states six hundred shekels of gold, likely for the entire larger area that later became the temple site.
24But the king said to Araunah, "No, I insist on paying you for it. I will not offer to the LORD my God burnt offerings that cost me nothing." So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver.
24But King David said to Ornan, "No, I insist on paying the full price. I will not take for the LORD what is yours, or offer a burnt offering that costs me nothing."
David built an altar to the Lord on Araunah's threshing floor and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. According to the account in 1 Chronicles, the Lord answered with fire from heaven on the altar of burnt offering, and the plague over Israel was stopped.
25David built an altar to the LORD there and offered burnt offerings and fellowship offerings. Then the LORD answered his prayer for the land, and the plague on Israel was stopped.
26David built an altar to the LORD there and offered burnt offerings and fellowship offerings. He called on the LORD, and the LORD answered him with fire from heaven on the altar of burnt offering.
Araunah's threshing floor was later chosen as the place where Solomon built the temple of the Lord in Jerusalem, giving this location lasting significance in Israel's history and worship.
1Then Solomon began to build the house of the LORD in Jerusalem on Mount Moriah, where the LORD had appeared to his father David, at the place David had prepared, on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.