Araunah is the name given by the Books of Samuel to a Jebusite who owned a threshing floor that was purchased by David and turned into an altar. The Book of Chronicles, a later text, renders his name as Ornan. The Books of Samuel (Hebrew: Sefer Shmuel ספר שמואל), are part of the Tanakh (part of Judaisms Hebrew Bible) and also of the Old Testament (of Christianity). ... According to the Hebrew Bible the Jebusites (Hebrew יְבוּסִי, Standard Hebrew Yəvusi, Tiberian Hebrew Yəḇûsî) were a Canaänite tribe who inhabited the region around Jerusalem in pre-biblical times (second millennium BC). ... David and Goliath by Caravaggio, c. ... The Book of Chronicles is a book in the Hebrew Bible (also see Old Testament). ...

Biblical narrative

The narrative concerning Araunah appears at 2 Samuel 24, as the final member of a non-chronologically ordered group of narratives, which together constitute the appendix of the Books of Samuel. In the narrative, Yahweh incites David to punish the Israelites by imposing a census upon them, an order which Joab reluctantly carries out. Yahweh regarded David's action as a sin, and so punished him, sending Gad (a prophet) to offer David the choice of punishment; Gad gave David three options: It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Tetragrammaton. ... 1870 US Census for New York City A census is the process of obtaining information about every member of a population (not necessarily a human population). ... Joab (יוֹאָב The LORD is father, Standard Hebrew Yoʾav, Tiberian Hebrew Yôʾāḇ) was the nephew of King David, the son of Zeruiah in the Bible. ...

• seven years of famine (the Book of Chronicles states that it was only three years of famine)
• three months of fleeing from an invader
• three days of plague

David, according to the narrative, chose the three days of plague, and so an angel was sent to spread the plague through the land. However, when the angel reached Jerusalem, Yahweh changed his mind and ordered the angel to stop; at this point the angel was at Araunah's threshing floor, which David noticed. Gad instructed David to build an altar at Araunah's threshing floor, so David purchased the location from Araunah, even though Araunah offered it to him freely. According to the Books of Samuel, David paid 50 silver shekels for the location, but in the Book of Chronicles it states that David paid 600 gold shekels. A famine is a social and economic crisis that is commonly accompanied by widespread malnutrition, starvation, epidemic disease and increased mortality. ... The 1944 Invasion of Normandy An invasion is a military action consisting of armed forces of one geo-political entity entering territory controlled by another such entity, often resulting in the invading power occupying the area, whether briefly or for a long period, and sometimes permanently. ... Look up plague in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Silver half-shekel struck in the Greek Colony of Taras, during the Punic occupation. ...

Yahweh's punishment of David for doing something that Yahweh had incited David to do seems somewhat unjust; in the version of the narrative presented by the Book of Chronicles, it is Satan, not Yahweh, that incites David to make the census.

The census

In the Books of Samuel, the census is said to indicate that there were 1,300,000 men fit for military service, suggesting a general population of 6 or 7 million. The Book of Chronicles states that the figure was 1,570,000 men fit for military service. These figures are, however, somewhat implausible; there are only about 1,080,000 military personel in late 20th century North Korea, a much larger country, and one of the most heavily militarised in the world; there were only about 500,000 soldiers in the entire Roman Empire. The Roman Empire is the name given to both the imperial domain developed by the city-state of Rome and also the corresponding phase of that civilization, characterized by an autocratic form of government. ...

Joab's reluctance to complete the census is thought by some scholars to have been due to a religious belief that the people belonged to God, and hence that only God should know how many there were^[1]. However, other scholars believe that a more mundane motive is the reason - that the knowledge gained from a census would enable David to impose more accurate taxes and levies, and thus the census would be unpopular with the people who were at risk of higher taxes or levies^[2].

Identity of Araunah

Though as a Hebrew name Araunah would mean agile. However, as Araunah is clearly indicated to be a Jebusite, an ethnic group that most scholars believe refers to the Hittites, since the discovery of the Hittite language it has been known that, as a Hittite word, Araunah means the lord, and is not a personal name but a title^[3]. At one point in the narrative, Araunah is explicitely referred to as a king : ... Araunah the king gave to the king [ie. David] ...^[4], and several biblical scholars believe that he may have simply been the (Jebusite) king of Jerusalem at that time^[5]. Some scholars believe that Adonijah (whom the Bible portrays as a son of David and rival of Solomon) is actually a disguised reference to Araunah, the ר (r) having been corrupted to ד (d); this position stems from the reverse conjecture originally proposed by Cheyne, before the Hittite language was fully known. Hebrew redirects here. ... Relief of Suppiluliuma II, last known king of the Hittite Empire The Hittites were an ancient people who spoke an Indo-European language, and established a kingdom centered at Hattusa (Hittite URU) in north-central Anatolia from the 18th century BC. In the 14th century BC, the Hittite empire was... The Hittite language is the dead language once spoken by the Hittites, a people who once created an empire centered on ancient Hattusa (modern BoÄŸazköy) in north-central Anatolia (modern Turkey). ... Adonijah is a Hebrew name, meaning YHVH is my lord. A number of characters in the Bible bear this name. ... Artists depiction of Solomons court (Ingobertus, c. ... Resh is the twentieth letter of the Phoenician and Hebrew alphabets. ... Dalet - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia /**/ @import /skins-1. ...

The threshing floor

Threshing floors would usually be in places likely to catch the wind - so that the wind would assist the separation of wheat from chaff, and hence it is plausible for the threshing floor to have been located on a high hill. The narrative of the Book of Chronicles claims that the altar built by David on the site became the Temple of Solomon, and that the site had formerly been Mount Moriah; the equation of the Temple of Solomon with mount Moriah is viewed as dubious by many scholars, though David's altar being the same site as Solomon's temple is seen as plausible^[6]. Species T. aestivum T. boeoticum T. compactum T. dicoccoides T. dicoccon T. durum T. monococcum T. spelta T. sphaerococcum References:   ITIS 42236 2002-09-22 For the indie rock group see: Wheat (band). ... Chaff is the seed casings and other inedible plant matter harvested with cereal grains such as wheat. ... Solomons Temple was the first Jewish temple in Jerusalem which functioned as a religious focal point for worship and the sacrifices known as the korbanot in ancient Judaism. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards and make it more accessible to a general audience, this article may require cleanup. ...

The entire narrative is considered by most scholars to be more aetiological than historic - that it exists to explain why the site was regarded as a place of holiness by the Israelites^[7]. In an earlier narrative - the genesis narrative concerning Melchizedek - it is clear that Jerusalem (which is what most scholars think is meant by Salem) had a priesthood in pre-David times, and hence that it must have had some sort of sanctuary, probably at a high location^[8]. Some scholars have proposed that this pre-existing sanctuary, probably dedicated to Zedek rather than Yahweh, is what became Solomon's Temple, and that the Araunah narrative is an attempt to provide a Yahweh-related origin for it; connected with this proposal is the theory that Zadok is actually a priest from this earlier sanctuary, his Aaronid genealogy being a later fiction^[9], with Zadok possibly being identical to Araunah himself^[10]. Etiology (alternately aetiology, aitiology) is the study of Greek words aitia = cause and logos = word/speech) is used in philosophy, physics and biology in reference to the causes of various phenomena. ... Genesis (Greek: Γένεσις, having the meanings of birth, creation, cause, beginning, source and origin) is the first book of the Torah, the first book of the Tanakh and also the first book of the Christian Old Testament. ... Meeting of Abraham and Melchizedek — by Dieric Bouts the Elder, 1464–67 Melchizedek or Malki-tzédek (מַלְכִּי־צֶדֶק / מַלְכִּי־צָדֶק, Standard Hebrew Malki-ẓédeq / Malki-ẓádeq, Tiberian Hebrew Malkî-ṣéḏeq / Malkî-ṣāḏeq), sometimes written Malchizedek, Melchisedec, Melchisedech, Melchisedek or Melkisedek, is a figure mentioned by the Hebrew Bible, in the Book of Genesis... Zedek or Tzedek, West Semitic for Justice, was probably the name of the chief god of the Jebusites, and possibly of other Canaanite people. ... This article is being considered for deletion in accordance with Wikipedias deletion policy. ... Aaron (אַהֲרֹן, a word meaning bearer of martyrs in Hebrew(perhaps also, or instead, related to the Egyptian Aha Rw, Warrior Lion), Standard Hebrew Aharon, Tiberian Hebrew ), was one of two brothers who play a unique part in the history of the Hebrew people. ...

Notes and citations

1. ^ New American Bible, footnote
2. ^ Peake's commentary on the Bible
3. ^ Biblical Archaeology Review, Reading David in Genesis, Gary A. Rendsburg
4. ^ 2 Samuel 24:23
5. ^ Biblical Archaeology Review, as above
6. ^ Peake's commentary on the Bible
7. ^ ibid
8. ^ ibid
9. ^ Peake's commentary on the Bible
10. ^ Biblical Archaeology Review, as above

This article incorporates text from the 1901–1906 Jewish Encyclopedia, a publication now in the public domain. In 1970, the New American Bible (NAB) was first published. ... The Biblical Archaeology Review (illuminating archaeology and the Bible) is the organ of the non-denominational Bible Archaeology Society which has been combining the excitement of archaeology and the latest in Bible scholarship since 1974 [1]. The Societys founder and editor-in-chief is Hershel Shanks. ... The Jewish Encyclopedia was an encyclopedia originally published between 1901 and 1906 by Funk and Wagnalls. ... The public domain comprises the body of all creative works and other knowledge—writing, artwork, music, science, inventions, and others—in which no person or organization has any proprietary interest. ...