(Top) Drawing by: John H. Bishop Vincent {PD} Wikimedia Commons. (Bottom left0 Photo by author. (Bottom right) Photo credit: American Colony, Jerusalem {PD – Library of Congress}Wikimedia Commons

Post 12 – The threshing floor of Ornan (Araunah) the Jebusite, this week in #weeklybiblereadingarcheology. Early in King David’s reign, the large hill to the north of the City of David (Mount Moriah), was still devoid of buildings. At that time it is owned by Ornan who used it for threshing grain (Top). Ornan offers to give the land along with the bulls for a burnt offering and the threshing sledge as wood for the fire. However, David insists on buying the land (1 Chronicles 21:24). His son Solomon will build Jehovah’s Temple here (2 Chronicles 3:1). Today the site is occupied by an Islamic shrine called the Dome of the Rock (Bottom right). This rock may well represent a piece of the original threshing floor (it-1 pg. 147). #biblereadingarcheology #biblereadingarchaeology