Dictionary Home / A

Araunah

biblical_person theological_term standard

Araunah was the Jebusite landowner from whom David bought the threshing floor where an altar was built to the Lord after a plague on Israel.

At a Glance

Araunah is the Jebusite landowner who sold David the threshing floor where David built an altar to the Lord after the census judgment.

Key Points

Description

Araunah appears in the account of David’s sin in numbering the people and the Lord’s mercy in stopping the resulting plague (2 Samuel 24). He is identified as a Jebusite and owned the threshing floor where David, following prophetic instruction, built an altar to the Lord. David insisted on paying for the site and the sacrificial materials rather than receiving them without cost, emphasizing that true worship should not be offered cheaply. In the parallel account of 1 Chronicles 21, the same figure is called Ornan, a spelling variation that likely reflects the same person. The location is later connected with the temple site in Jerusalem (cf. 2 Chronicles 3:1).

Biblical Context

Araunah is introduced in the closing narrative of 2 Samuel as part of the aftermath of David’s census and the resulting plague. The Lord’s judgment is stayed, David sacrifices, and the plague is halted, showing both divine holiness and mercy.

Historical Context

Araunah is described as a Jebusite, indicating a pre-Israelite resident of Jerusalem. His threshing floor was on elevated ground in the city, a location that later biblical writers associate with the temple mount.

Jewish and Ancient Context

Later Jewish and Christian readers associated this site with the future temple area, which heightened the passage’s importance in Jerusalem’s sacred geography. The name variation between Araunah and Ornan is best understood as a textual or orthographic variation rather than a different individual.

Primary Key Texts

Secondary Key Texts

Original Language Note

Hebrew personal name. The Chronicles parallel commonly uses the form Ornan, while Samuel uses Araunah; both refer to the same Jebusite owner of the threshing floor.

Theological Significance

Araunah’s account highlights repentance, substitutionary sacrifice, and the principle that worship offered to the Lord should not be treated as costless or trivial. The passage also helps explain the sacred significance of the Jerusalem temple site.

Philosophical Explanation

The narrative contrasts expediency with reverence. David will not offer to God what has cost him nothing, reflecting the moral seriousness of worship and the weight of leadership before God.

Interpretive Cautions

Do not overstate the passage beyond what Scripture says. The exact archaeological identification of the site is not required to grasp the biblical point, and the name variation Araunah/Ornan should be treated as a legitimate parallel form rather than a contradiction.

Major Views

There is little doctrinal dispute about Araunah himself. Discussion usually centers on the name form and the precise relationship of the threshing floor to the later temple site.

Doctrinal Boundaries

This passage supports reverent worship and costly obedience, but it should not be turned into a rule that God only accepts materially expensive offerings. The text’s main point is the heart of obedient sacrifice before the Lord.

Practical Significance

Believers are reminded that repentance should be sincere, worship should be reverent, and obedience to God is not meant to be casual or cheap.

Related Entries

See Also

Data

Machine-readable JSON for Araunah

↑ Top