The lesson ends with David buying a flat patch of rock from a farmer named Araunah and building an altar on it. That patch of rock became one of the most important places in the whole Bible.
The temple site. When Solomon built the temple, the Bible tells us exactly where: “Now Solomon began to build the house of the Lord at Jerusalem on Mount Moriah, where the Lord had appeared to his father David, at the place that David had prepared on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite” (2 Chronicles 3:1). Ornan is another spelling of Araunah. The temple went up on the very ground where the angel stopped.
A name we have heard before. Moriah is where God sent Abraham long before. God said, “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” (Genesis 22:2).
God will provide. On the way up, Isaac asked where the lamb was. Abraham answered, “My son, God will provide for Himself the lamb for a burnt offering” (Genesis 22:8).
A ram instead. At the last moment God stopped Abraham. “There behind him was a ram caught in a thicket by its horns,” and Abraham offered it “instead of his son” (Genesis 22:13). He named the place The-Lord-Will-Provide (22:14).
Judgment stopped. Centuries later an angel of judgment stopped on that high ground. King David bought it and built an altar, and the plague ended (2 Samuel 24:16-25).
The temple. Then Solomon’s temple stood there. For hundreds of years Israel’s sacrifices were offered on that spot, morning and evening.
Three times, one hill. The same thing kept happening on that hill: something died so that someone else did not have to.
The Lamb God provided. When John the Baptist saw Jesus, he said, “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29). Jesus was crucified just outside the walls of Jerusalem. He is the Lamb Abraham was waiting for.
The same God. The God who provided the ram for Abraham, stopped the angel for David and filled the temple for Solomon is the same God who sent Jesus for you.
What we learn. God planned His rescue long before any of us were born. On that hill He kept showing His people that He would provide a substitute, and in Jesus He did.
What to do. This week, thank Jesus for taking your place. Tell someone in your family what God provided on the hill of Moriah.
Our lesson talks about a threshing floor, and most of us have never seen one. Here is what David bought.
A flat, bare rock. It was not a building. It was a flat patch of hard rock or packed earth, up high and out in the open. Farmers chose the spot with care. It had to be hard so the grain stayed clean, flat so the work was even, and high up where the wind blew.
First came the threshing. Farmers spread cut stalks of wheat across the floor. Oxen dragged a heavy wooden sledge over them, round and round, until the grain came loose from the husks. Araunah offered David “threshing implements and the yokes of the oxen for wood” (2 Samuel 24:22). He was offering to burn his own farm tools.
Then came the winnowing. Workers tossed the whole mixture into the air with a fork. The heavy grain fell straight back down. The light, useless husks, called chaff, caught the wind and blew away. Without wind, there was no sorting.
John the Baptist’s picture. John said that the One coming after him would hold a winnowing fan in His hand. He would clean out His threshing floor, gather His wheat into the barn and burn up the chaff (Matthew 3:12). Every farmer listening knew exactly what he meant.
A place of sorting. A threshing floor is where things get separated. The angel of judgment stopped on one. David built an altar there, and the temple was raised on that spot.
From sorting to saving. The place where things were separated became the place where sacrifice was made. Jesus is the Judge who will one day sort the wheat from the chaff. He is also the Savior who was sacrificed so that we would not be swept away.
Other threshing floors. Ruth met Boaz at a threshing floor at night, and Boaz promised to redeem her (Ruth 3). Gideon threshed wheat in a winepress so that raiders would not see him (Judges 6:11).
What we learn. Everyone will stand before Jesus one day. The safe place to stand is with Him, trusting the sacrifice He made. “Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God” (1 Peter 3:18).
What to do. The next time you see the wind blowing leaves, thank God that Jesus keeps everyone who trusts Him safe.
Complete all sections to finish!
Read each section and answer the questions correctly.