Araunah

Arau´nah, or Ornan, a man of the Jebusite nation, which possessed Jerusalem before it was taken by the Israelites. His threshing-floor was on Mount Moriah; and when he understood that it was required for the site of the Temple, he liberally offered the ground to David as a free gift; but the king insisted on paying the full value for it (2Sa 24:18; 1Ch 21:18).

A Jebusite, residing on Mount Moriah after the Jebusites were dispossessed by David, 2Sa 5:6 24:18. In 1Co 16:24, he is called ORNAN. The divine choice of his land for the temple site, 2Ch 3:1, and his readiness to give it freely for this purpose, suggest the probability that he was a convert to the true religion.\par

Arau’nah. (ark). A Jebusite who sold his threshing floor on Mount Moriah to David as a site for an altar to Jehovah, together with his oxen. 2Sa 24:18-24; 1Ch 21:25.

ARAUNAH or OMAN. A Jebusite, at whose threshing floor the plague sent for numbering the people was, at David’s intercession, stayed. Be offered the area as a site for Jehovah’s altar, and only by constraint accepted David’s pay (50 shekels of silver, 2Sa 24:18-24; 600 shekels of gold, 1Ch 21:25. As 50 silver shekels is far too low a price for the whole land, if there be no transcriber’s error here, which is possible, probably the 50 silver shekels were paid for the small floor, the oxen, and wood of the yokes only; the 600 gold shekels for the whole hill on which David afterward built the temple). Contrast his kingly spirit, "Behold, here be oxen for burnt sacrifice and threshing instruments for wood," with the groveling excuse of the man invited to the king’s banquet (Luk 14:19).

But compare Elisha’s similar spirit when called of: God’s prophet (1Ki 19:21). Self sacrifice raises one from degradation low as that of the accursed Jebusites to be in Israel a "king and a priest unto God" (compare 2Sa 24:23 with Exo 19:6; 1Pe 2:5; 1Pe 2:9; Rev 1:6; Rev 5:10; Rev 20:6). "These things did Araunah (as) a king give" hardly warrant the guess that he Was of the royal Jebusite race. Keil translates "all this giveth Araunah, O king, to the king," which suits the fact that Araunah gave it in intention, but his offer was not accepted (compare Mat 8:11-12; 1Co 1:27). Josephus (Ant. 7:13, sec. 9) says Araunah was one of David’s chief friends, and spared by him when he took the citadel (v. 7). Probably he made his friendship when fleeing before Saul, when also he made that of Uriah the Hittite, Ittai the Gittite, etc.

(Heb. Aravnah’, אֲרִוְנָה, 2Sa 24:16-24 [2Sa 24:16 אֲוִרְנָה, 2Sa 24:18 אֲרִנְיָה, perhaps another form of Ornan; Sept. Ο᾿ρνά) or Or’nan (Heb. Ornan’, אָרְנָן, nimble; 1 Chronicles 21; 2Ch 3:1; Sept. Ο᾿ρνα), a man of the Jebusite nation, which possessed Jerusalem before it was taken by the Israelites. The angel of pestilence, sent to punish King David for his presumptuous vanity in taking a census of the people, was stayed in the work of death near a plot of ground belonging to this person, used as a threshing-floor, and situated on Mount Moriah; and when he understood it was required for the site of the Temple, he liberally offered the ground to David as a free gift; but the king insisted on paying the full value for it (50 shekels of silver according to 2Sa 24:18, but 600 shekels of gold according to 1Ch 21:18). B.C. cir. 1017. SEE DAVID. Josephus, who calls him Oronna (Ο᾿ρόννα, Ant. 7, 13, 4), adds that he was a wealthy man among the Jebusites, whom David spared in the capture of the city on account of his good-will toward the Hebrews (Ant. 7, 3, 3). SEE MORIAH.

Araunah (a-rau’nah), ark? a large ash or pine. A Jebusite, it has been supposed of royal race, from whom David purchased a threshing-floor as a site for an altar to the Lord. 2Sa 24:18-25. In 1Ch 21:18-28, and 2Ch 3:1, the name is Oman. There is an apparent discrepancy in the two accounts in respect to the price paid by David. According to the author of Samuel it was 50 shekels of silver; whereas in Chronicles we and the sum stated to be 600 shekels of gold. But we may suppose the floor, oxen, and instruments purchased for the 50 shekels; the larger area, in which the temple was subsequently built, for 600. Or, the first-named sum was the price of the oxen, the last of the ground.

[Arau’nah]

The Jebusite from whom David purchased the place on which to build the altar of the Lord. 2Sa 24:16-24. Called ORNAN in 1Ch 21:15-28. In Samuel it is stated that David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver. He there built an altar, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings, without anything being said of his building a house for the Lord on the spot: whereas in Chronicles David gave to Ornan 600 shekels of gold by weight for the place. In 2Ch 3:1-2 we learn that the threshing floor was on Mount Moriah, and that the site was prepared by David for the temple, which was built by Solomon. Doubtless therefore ’the place’ included a much larger area than was needed for David’s altar, and perhaps included the homestead of Araunah. This no doubt formed a part of what is now called the Temple area, or Mosque enclosure, in the S.E. of Jerusalem, but on what part of that area the temple was built is not known.

By: Morris Jastrow, Jr., J. Frederic McCurdy

A Jebusite whose threshing-floor in Jerusalem was pointed out to David by the prophet Gad as a fitting place for the erection of an altar of burnt offering to Jehovah after the great plague had been stayed, since it was there that the destroying angel was standing when the pestilence was checked (II Sam. xxiv. 16 et seq.; I Chron. xxi. 15 et seq.). David then went to Araunah, and for fifty pieces of silver bought the property and erected the altar. It is remarkable that Chronicles give the form Ornan for the Jebusite's name. A conjecture by Cheyne, founded on the slight emendation of ר to ד, makes the true form of the name to be Adonijah. According to I Chron. xxi. 31, Hebr.; xxii. 1, A. V., the threshing-floor must have been Mt. Moriah.

ARAUNAH (2Sa 24:18; called in 1Ch 21:15, 2Ch 31:1-21 Ornan).—A Jebusite who owned a threshing-floor on Mount Moriah. This spot was indicated by the prophet Gad as the place where an altar should he erected to J″ [Note: Jahweh.] , because the plague, which followed David’s numbering of the people, had been stayed. David bought the threshing-floor and oxen for 50 shekels of silver. The price paid is given in 1Ch 21:15 as 600 shekels of gold—a characteristic deviation from the earlier account.

a-rô´na (ארונה, ’ărawnāh, 2Sa 24:16, 2Sa 24:20; ארניה, ’ăranyāh 2Sa 24:18, and ארנן, ’ornān, 1Ch 21:15; 2Ch 3:1, all from a Hebrew root meaning “to be strong”): A Jebusite from whom David at the request of the prophet Gad bought a threshing-floor located upon Mt. Moriah, as a site for an altar of the Lord at the time of the great plague (2Sa 24:15; 1Ch 21:15), upon which Solomon later erected the temple (2Ch 3:1).