The Story of the Bible

Then David and the men of his court went out from Mount Zion, where the city was standing, and walked up the side of Mount Moriah. They found the man who owned the rock on the top of the mountain threshing wheat upon it, with his sons; for the smooth rock was used as a threshing-floor, upon which oxen walked over the heads of grain, beating out the kernels with their feet. This man was not an Israelite, but a foreigner, of the race that had lived on those mountains before the Israelites came. His name was Araunah.

When Araunah saw David and his nobles coming toward him, he bowed down with his face toward the ground, and said, "For what purpose does my lord the king come to his servant?"

DAVID GETS THE THRESHING-FLOOR

"I have come," said David, "to buy your threshing-floor, and to build upon it an altar to the Lord, that I may pray to God to stop the plague which is destroying the people."

And Araunah said to David, "Let my lord the king take it freely as a gift, and with it these oxen for a burnt-offering, and the threshing-tools and the yokes of the oxen for the wood on the altar. All this, O king, Araunah gives to the king."

"No," said King David; "I cannot take it as a gift; but I will pay you the price for it. For I will not make an offering to the Lord my God of that which costs me nothing."

So David gave to Araunah the full price for the land, and for the oxen, and for the wood. And there, on the rock, he built an altar to the Lord God, and on it he offered burnt-offerings and peace-offerings. The Lord heard David's prayer and took away the plague from the land.

And on that rock afterward stood the altar of the temple of the Lord on Mount Moriah. The rock is standing even to this day, and over it a building called "The Dome of the Rock." Those who visit the place can look upon the very spot where David built his altar and called upon the Lord.

Solomon on David's Throne

I Kings i: 1 to 53.

During the later years of David's reign he laid up great treasure of gold, and silver, and brass, and iron, for the building of a house to the Lord on Mount Moriah. This house was to be called "The Temple," and it was to be made very beautiful, the most beautiful building, and the richest, in all the land. David had greatly desired to build this house while he was the king of Israel, but God said to him:

"You have been a man of war, and have fought many battles, and shed much blood. My house shall be built by a man of peace. When you die, your son Solomon shall reign, and he shall have peace, and shall build my house."

So David made ready great store of precious things for the temple, also stone, and cedar to be used in the building. And David said to Solomon, his son:

"God has promised that there shall be rest and peace to the land while you are king; and the Lord will be with you, and you shall build a house, where God shall live among his people."

But David had other sons who were older than Solomon; and one of these sons, whose name was Adonijah, formed a plan to make himself king. David was now very old, and he was no longer able to go out of his palace and to be seen among the people.

Adonijah gathered his friends; and among them were Joab, the general of the army, and Abiathar, one of the two high-priests. They met at a place outside the wall, and had a great feast, and were about to crown Adonijah as king, when word came to David in the palace. David, though old and feeble, was still wise. He said, "Let us make Solomon king at once, and thus put an end to the plans of these men."

So, at David's command, they brought out the mule on which no one but the king was allowed to ride, and they placed Solomon upon it, and with the king's guards, and the nobles, and the great men, they brought the young Solomon down to the valley of Gihon, south of the city.

And Zadok the priest took from the Tabernacle the horn filled with holy oil that was used for anointing or pouring oil on the head of the priests when they were set apart for their work. He poured oil from this horn on the head of Solomon, and then the priests blew the trumpets, and all the people cried aloud, "God save King Solomon."

All this time Adonijah, and Joab, and their friends were not far away, almost in the same valley, feasting and making merry, intending to make Adonijah king. They heard the sound of trumpets and the shouting of the people. Joab said, "What is the cause of all this noise and uproar?"

A moment later Jonathan, the son of Abiathar, came running in. We read of him in Story Fourteen as one of the two young men who brought news from Jerusalem to David at the river Jordan. Jonathan said to the men who were feasting: