So David gave to Ornan for the place six hundred shekels of gold by weight.
David gave ... for the place six hundred shekels of gold. At first he bought only the cattle and the threshing instruments, for which he paid 50 shekels of silver (2 Samuel 24:24); afterward he purchased the whole property, mount Moriah, on which the future temple stood. Although gold is frequently mentioned in the early books of Scripture, it is only as jewels and ornaments. It was not used as a medium of trade or commerce. The purchase of Araunah's threshing-floor is the first transaction in which it is recorded that gold was used as money. -High in the center of the mountain platform rises a remarkable rock, now covered by the dome of 'the Sakrah.' It is irregular in its form, and measures about 60 feet in one direction and 50 feet in the other. It is the natural surface of mount Moriah, and is thought by many to be the rock of the threshing-floor of Araunah, selected by David, and continued by Solomon and Zerubbabel, as 'the unhewn stone' on which to build the altar (Bartlett's Walks about Jerusalem;' Stanley).