Then Solomon began to build the house of the LORD at Jerusalem in mount Moriah, where the LORD appeared unto David his father, in the place that David had prepared in the threshingfloor of Ornan the Jebusite. Mount Moriah, where the Lord appeared unto David. These words seem to intimate that the region where the temple was built was previously known by the name of Moriah (Genesis 22:2), and do not afford sufficient evidence for affirming, as has lately been done (Stanley's 'Sinai and Palestine,' p. 248), that the name was first given to the mount in consequence of the vision seen by David. The literal translation is, 'Solomon began to build the house of the Lord at Jerusalem, on the mount of Moriah, where (the vision) was seen by David his father, in the place which David prepared (established).' Dean Stanley refers the origin of the name to the vision of David after the pestilence. 'Solomon began to build the house of the Lord in (on) the mount of the appearance of the Lord, where He appeared unto David his father.' [The words, bªhar (H2022) ha-Mowriyaah (H4179), on the hill of the region Moriah, are not susceptible of being rendered, on the mount of the appearance of the Lord; nor does Dean Stanley give this as the translation.
But he is of opinion that it brings out the allusion, which he supposes is contained in the passage to the introduction of the name, in the word, Mowriyaah (H4179) to nir'aah (H7200), was seen.] But there is undoubted evidence that the name Moriah was in existence centuries before the reign of Solomon, (see the notes at Genesis 22:1-24) In fact, this derivation forms the basis of that passage; and although he hints that the name was probably given in the patriarch's time from its being seen afar off, and he refers to the Samaritan version, which in that passage of Genesis reads Moreh, instead of Moriah, the testimony of that people is very suspicious, from the interest they had in fixing the scene of Abraham's sacrifice of Isaac to Gerizim, and cannot be received in opposition to that of all manuscripts which have Moriah, 'the Lord shall see' (see Hengstenberg's 'Pentateuch,' 1:, pp 275-277. Mount Moriah was one summit of a range of hills which went by the general name of Zion. The platform of the temple is now, and has long been, occupied by the Haram, or sacred enclosure, within which stand the three mosques of Omar (the smallest), of El Aksa, which in early times was a Christian Church, and of Kubbet el-Sakhara, 'The dome of the rock,' so called from a huge block of limestone rock in the center of the floor, which it is supposed formed the elevated threshing-floor of Araunah, and on which the great brasen altar stood.
The site of the temple, then, is so far established; because an almost universal belief is entertained in the authenticity of the tradition regarding the rock el-Sakhara, and it has also been conclusively proved that the area of the temple was identical, on its western, eastern, and southern sides, with the present enclosure of the Haram. 'That the temple was situated somewhere within the oblong enclosure on mount Moriah, all Topographers are agreed, although there is not the slightest vestige of the sacred fane now remaining; and the greatest diversity of sentiment prevails as to its exact position within that large area, whether in the center of the Haram or in its southwest corner' (Barclay, p. 109; Robinson's 'Biblical Researches,' 1:, pp. 393, 413-416; 'Handbook of Syria and Palestine,' pp. 96, 97, 357).
Moreover, the full extent of the temple area is a problem that remains to be solved; for the platform of Mount Moriah being too narrow for the extensive buildings and courts attached to the sacred edifice, Solomon resorted to artificial means of enlarging and levelling it, by erecting vaults, which, as Josephus states, rested on immense earthen mounds raised from the slope of the hill. It should be borne in mind at the outset, that the grandeur of the temple did not consist in its colossal structure, so ranch as in its internal splendour and the vast courts and buildings attached to it. It was not intended for. the reception of a worshipping assembly, because the people always stood in the outer courts of the sanctuary.