The Story of Abraham
For the word of the cross is foolishness to those being lost, but to us being saved it is the power of God. 1 Corinthians 1:18
Foolishness – The greatest example of faith in the Old Testament is found in Genesis chapter 22. It is the story of the sacrifice of Isaac. When God asks Abraham to please take his son, his only son, up to the mountain to offer him as a totally-consumed, burnt sacrifice, Abraham obeys. After years of ups and downs in his trust of God, Abraham shows a depth of faith that few of us know. Everything Abraham hopes for, all of his dreams and legacy, are to go up in smoke. And yet, without knowing why, Abraham obeys.
We would have asked for explanations. We would have wanted a game plan. We might have refused, claiming that no good and compassionate God could have ever asked such a thing. We would have negotiated. Abraham had faith. We have beliefs.
There is an amazing little trivial connection here that would go completely unnoticed unless you read Hebrew and Greek. God asks Abraham to take Isaac to a “place that I will show you.” He takes Abraham to Moriah, the place of his foolishness. In Greek, the word for “foolishness” is moria. Accidental? Abraham becomes God’s fool, taking his son to this irrational place, where all that seems logical is to be set on fire. He binds his son Isaac to the wood, the foolish father giving away the life of the obedient son. And none of it makes any sense at all . . . until the angel of the Lord provides another sacrifice, a substitute given by God Himself.
That sacrifice, thousands of years before the Father’s foolishness gave up the Son for a world that hated Him, is the insanity of the cross. How can God die? How can God be sacrificed for an apostate world, filled with rebellious people? How can the solution to my sin be the death of God’s only Son? It is all foolishness. It is all divine madness, and perfect insanity.
Today tradition tells us that Moriah is the location of the temple in Jerusalem. But I wonder. Do you suppose that the foolishness of God is found in the temple, or is it found on Golgotha, where the obedient Son became the foolish spectacle of a God Who loved me more than life itself? Is moria Moriah?
What kind of moria do you allow in your life? Is it the kind that takes you to Moriah?
I have seen archaeological evidence that tells us that the valley between Golgotha and the Temple Mount was dug out of Moriah by Solomon to provide the stones for the temple. So, yes, Golgotha was once the side of Moriah.
If you are further interested in the location of Golgotha see below. As you may know, it means, place of the skull.
One theory is that it was named as such because that is the place where David buried the head of “Goliath” after he cut it off and took it back to Jerusalem. And if Christ was coincidentally crucified at the same spot, there may be some connection to the prophecy of Gen 3:15
And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.
Another theory places it near the top of the Mount of Olives.
Mat 27:51 And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent . . .
:54 Now when the centurion, and they that were with him, watching Jesus, saw the earthquake, and those things that were done, they feared greatly, saying, Truly this was the Son of God.
Only from the Mount of Olives, which is east and immediately across the steep but narrow valley outside the gates of the city, would the centurion have a perfect view of the Temple and its curtain facing east. From there everyone could feel the earthquake crack the lintel and see it tear the curtain in half.
Another theory is that the Mount of Olives was a natural choke point when entering the city (from that side) and as such it was a good place for doing the census, or “head” count and “pay the ransom”. See this website for an interesting explanation.
Facebook DOT com/notes/jim-staley/the-hidden-meaning-of-golgotha/1937932296428051
There was also the “Red Heifer Bridge” that went across the valley from Temple Mount to the Mount of Olives, which made access easy to the Temple (God) but controlled it.