The verse in Vayera, Genesis 22:9 states "אֶת־הַמִּזְבֵּ֔חַ", (et-ha-mizbei-ach) "the altar", deploying the absolute noun.
וַיָּבֹ֗אוּ אֶֽל־הַמָּקוֹם֮ אֲשֶׁ֣ר אָֽמַר־ל֣וֹ הָאֱלֹהִים֒ וַיִּ֨בֶן שָׁ֤ם אַבְרָהָם֙ אֶת־הַמִּזְבֵּ֔חַ וַֽיַּעֲרֹ֖ךְ אֶת־הָעֵצִ֑ים וַֽיַּעֲקֹד֙ אֶת־יִצְחָ֣ק בְּנ֔וֹ וַיָּ֤שֶׂם אֹתוֹ֙ עַל־הַמִּזְבֵּ֔חַ מִמַּ֖עַל לָעֵצִֽים׃
They arrived at the place of which God had told him. Abraham built the altar there; he laid out the wood; he bound his son Isaac; he laid him on the altar, on top of the wood.
The 13th century commentator Chizkuni states: 'את המזבח', 'the altar'. The Torah wrote: 'the altar' with the prefix letter ה which meant that it was the altar that had previously served such a purpose. According to our tradition, Adam, Abel, Noah and his son, had all offered offerings to G-d on that same altar.
Why would Abraham have to have built an altar if this verse refers to the altar by absolute noun? Every altar is established on a bedrock foundation, a plinth, which later became requirement under Jewish law. The bedrock plinth supported boulders and stones assembled on it. The plinth or foundation constituted bedrock with boulders together constituting "the altar" on which a sacrifice would be offered. So, where is this altar?
Ronny Reich the longest serving lead archaeologist at Jerusalem's CIty of David opened his recent work "Excavations in the City of David" with a chapter; "A moment in which to be born", by explaining that the spring, east of the City, was never called Gihon, as it is known today, instead the Bible called it En Shemesh (Sun Spring). I completely agree. But, the spring was also classified as a gihon meaning a perennial, intermittent gusher, resembling a pump, sometimes gushing, other times flowing, appropriately and descriptively a gihon (meaning; bursting forth or gushing in Hebrew).
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| Morning sun shines on En Shemesh |
Ronny related En Shemesh to sun worshippers of Jeremiah 8:2 and "horses...of the sun abolished by Josiah" (2 Kings 23:11) and that "perhaps at that time the name En Shemesh (Sun Spring) was abolished" along with idolatry that adored the sun. Well Ronny, that is entirely possible, but equally unnecessary because the morning sun still shines on that spring, to this very day and its name "En Shemesh" does not necessarily associate it with idolatry.
Having said all this, Ronny used En Shemesh to reconcile a difficult Biblical passage describing the intersect, critical to the altar, on the northern boundary of tribe Judah with the southern boundary of Benjamin. Why is this important? Because the first and second temples did not comply with this map, but a recently discovered rock-cut-temple and its altar foundation or plinth, on the eastern slope of Mount Moriah, at the compliant location does. Could this be Akeida?
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| Map from Excavations in the City of David by Ronnie Reich and Eli Shukron |
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| Looking South Kidron Valley |
The Gemara (Zevachim 53b) asks: What is the reason that there was no base on the southeast corner of the altar? Rabbi Elazar says: Because it was not in the portion of land of the one who tears, i.e., the tribe of Benjamin, as he is described in the following manner: “Benjamin is a wolf that tears apart; in the morning he devours the prey, and in the evening he divides the spoil” (Genesis 49:27). As Rav Shmuel, son of Rav Yitzḥak, says: The altar would consume, i.e., occupy, one cubit of the portion of Judah. The part of the altar in Judah’s portion was the southeast corner of the base, and therefore there was no base on that corner.
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| SE corner of the altar base or plinth. Dotted line marks the boundary of Judah and Benjamin |
In addition, there are numerous important Kabbalistic or mystical concepts and references to the southeast. But, here Ronny Reich conclusively resolved that the only portion of Judah's land that can possibly intersect the southeast corner of the altars' plinth was recently found at the rock-cut-temple, in the City of David and that was used at the time of the patriarchs. Further, the only water system at this site, an essential requirement for frequent temple sacrifices, was last used in 1535 BCE, during Jacob or Israel's last 30 years in the region before their immigration to Egypt. Here Chizkuni is critical because there is no prefix associated with 'the' altar King David designated further up the mountain, on the area of the Temple Mount.
The 12th Century commentator Rashi, rendered the the altar base:
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| North (right), this image and the image above |
Strikingly, the first and second temple altars on the Temple Mount summit of Mount Moriah did not qualify with the southeast. Four corners of those altars fell entirely in Benjamins territory. No portion of those altars touched Judah's territory as per Joshua's boundaries and Ronny Reich's map above and as stated in the Gamara. Anecdotally, given the geography of ancient Jerusalem an approach from the south or east would exclusively constitute going up to the altar.
The fundamental and indigenous, tribal right to a permanent temple on tribal land, belonged to Benjamin. Why? Because, Benjamin did not participate in the sale of Joseph. But, it was never made clear to the leaders of tribe Benjamin whether the temple would be built on their southern or northern boundary and that opened grounds for the fiercest tribal competition. Ephraim (Joseph's son) demanded it be on their southern border with northernmost Benjamin, Judah demanded it be on their northern border adjacent to Benjamin's southernmost border.
After Israel returned from Egypt, during the first 300 years of resettlement, a tragic plague ravaged the nation. To stop it, on Prophet Gad's advice King David repented and built 'an altar', on the summit of Mount Moriah at a location entirely inside Benjamins land, which opposed the ancestral claims of Ephraim. It was close to the border with Judah, but none of its corners fell within Judah's territory. The language difference for 'altar' used in Tanach is startling - מִזְבֵּ֔חַ (miz-bei-ach) without the ה (ha) prefix; not 'the altar', but he built 'an altar':
2 Samuel 24:18
וַיָּבֹא־גָ֥ד אֶל־דָּוִ֖ד בַּיּ֣וֹם הַה֑וּא וַיֹּ֣אמֶר ל֗וֹ עֲלֵה֙ הָקֵ֤ם לַֽיהֹוָה֙ מִזְבֵּ֔חַ בְּגֹ֖רֶן (ארניה) [אֲרַ֥וְנָה] הַיְבֻסִֽי׃
Gad came to David the same day and said to him, “Go and set up an altar to the LORD on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.”
David's altar was not described using the absolute noun because it was his personal altar, built on a threshing floor where no altar had previously existed. The preceding tragedy had coalesced the nation, all the tribes agreed with David's altar and they contributed to acquisition of the land. David's son Solomon built the First Temple on the summit of Mount Moriah, Jerusalem.
Searching for the place of the original Akeida altar was abandoned, lost for more than 3500 years. Now that we have found it, we are compelled to build the altar, for the Third Temple, at the location of this bedrock plinth on the boundary between Judah and Benjamin that will once again intersect the original altar's South East corner.
