Sacredness Of Jerusalem Research Paper

Although the sacredness of Jerusalem is mostly defined through the time of David in this paper, it wasn’t the beginning of it in Jerusalem. Before David’s time, Abraham, one of the first three patriarchs of Judaism, experiences an appearances of hierophany through his son. The biblical text of Abraham’s story serves as the beginning of sacredness in the city of Jerusalem. Through the biblical text from Genesis, we learn that Abraham was asked by God to sacrifice his only son. Although God initially orders for the sacrifice, just as Abraham is about to perform the order, an angel comes and stops Abraham, saying, “‘Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your
When Abraham demonstrates his true faith of God by showing his willingness to sacrifice his son for the name of God, he satisfies God who tells Abraham “I will indeed bless you, and I will make your offspring as numerous as the stars of heaven and as the same that is on the seashore” (Genesis 22:17). The fact that God chose St. Moriah as the space where one of his wishes occurs reveals the importance of that space, while acknowledging St. Moriah as a sacred space. At the mountains, Abraham and his son Isaac experience hierophanies as they were visited by an angel of God, through whom God saves Isaac from getting killed by his father as a form of sacrifice. God’s message through the angel resembles to hierophany as both Abraham and his son feel the presence of God, which also makes St. Moriah an axis mundi with the occurrence of the hieophany. Since St. Moriah is located in Jerusalem, one can consider Jerusalem as a holy city where God’s appearance can be felt though the images of St. Moriah mountains. Just like David, Abraham is blessed by God for his loyalty to him, as “For the Lord is righteous; he loves righteous deeds; the upright shall behold his face” (Psalm