Ornan
Summary
Ornan (also called Araunah) was the Jebusite whose threshing floor David purchased to build an altar, which later became the site of Solomon's temple.
☩The Threshing Floor
When a plague struck Israel following David's census, the destroying angel stood at the threshing floor of Ornan (called Araunah in 2 Samuel) the Jebusite. God commanded David through the prophet Gad to build an altar there. Ornan, who had seen the angel and hidden with his four sons, offered to give David the site along with oxen for sacrifice and wheat for the grain offering. However, David insisted on paying full price, saying he would not offer to the Lord that which cost him nothing. He paid Ornan six hundred shekels of gold for the site.
☩Temple Site
The significance of Ornan's threshing floor extends beyond David's altar. Solomon later built the temple on this very site, Mount Moriah, where God had appeared to David and where the plague had been stopped. Jewish tradition identifies this location with the place where Abraham had offered Isaac. Thus Ornan's threshing floor became the most sacred site in Israel, the place where heaven and earth met in Israel's worship for generations.