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The last chapter of Samuel (24) describes King David's sin of counting the Jewish people and the resulting epidemic in which 70,000 Jews were killed. At the end of the account, the prophet describes how the angel administering the epidemic came to the threshing floor of Arvana (or Ornan as he is called in Chronicles) at the entrance to Jerusalem and pauses there before striking Jerusalem. King David buys the threshing floor and offers sacrifices to God there, after which the epidemic ends. In Chronicles 1,22 the story continues that King David prepared the place to be the site of the future Temple, and in Chronicles 2,3,1 it states that in fact King Solomon built the Temple there.

My question then is - what is the significance of the fact that the Temple was built in the place where the epidemic caused by King David's sin of counting the Jews ended? Why did God choose this place specifically as the site of the Temple?

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  • "On Mount Moriah because the Holy One, blessed be He, appeared to David in the threshing floor of Ornan when the plague stopped, and that is Mount Moriah, David’s place." - Rashi's commentary on 2 Chr. 3:1
    – Shmuel
    Commented Jul 29, 2022 at 10:45
  • @Shmuel i don't see how that addresses the question
    – Jewels
    Commented Jul 29, 2022 at 11:57
  • Why do you think that the epidemic ending was a cause for the temple to be there, instead of the fact that the temple was going to be there was the cause for the epidemic ending?
    – Chatzkel
    Commented Jul 29, 2022 at 16:06
  • That spot was also the place of the akeida and Yaakov dream
    – Chatzkel
    Commented Jul 29, 2022 at 16:06
  • It is also the place of Even Shisiah so it would definitely seem that the sacrifices offered in this place is what caused the epidemic to stop
    – Chatzkel
    Commented Jul 29, 2022 at 16:10

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