Mountains for Places of Worship

When Abraham was being tested by God, the testing was associated with a certain mountain.

“He said, “Now take your son, your only son, whom you love, even Isaac, and go into the land of Moriah. Offer him there for a burnt offering on one of the mountains which I will tell you of.””
Gen 22:2 WEB

Then when it is talking about the blessing of God which will come to His own, it says,

“Abraham called the name of that place Yahweh-jireh.a As it is said to this day, “In Yahweh’s mountain it will be provided.””
Gen 22:14 WEB

And it was on that mountain where Abraham symbolically was sacrificing his very own son,

“accounting that God is able to raise up even from the dead. Figuratively speaking, he also did receive him back from the dead.”
Heb 11:19 WEB

And that also had later associations and became God’s special mountain.

“Then Solomon began to build the house of Yahweh at Jerusalem on Mount Moriah, where Yahweh appeared to David his father, which he made ready in the place that David had appointed, in the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite. ”
2Chron 3:1 WEB

It is common, very natural, to associate Mountains
with high and exalted worship

Many talk about feeling so close to God when they worship on some high mountain viewing much of the earth in the distance. Mountain are often referred to as if a religious blessing.

“ The blessings of your father
Have prevailed above the blessings of the ancient mountains,
Above the bounty of the age-old hills.
They will be on the head of Joseph,
On the crown of the head of him who is separated from his brothers.”
Gen 49:26 WEB

Then when God came to call Moses

“Now Moses was keeping the flock of Jethro, his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the back of the wilderness, and came to God’s mountain, to Horeb.”
Ex 3:1 WEB

God’s instructions then were to come back to this very same mountain.

He said, “Certainly I will be with you. This will be the token to you, that I have sent you: when you have brought forth the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain.””
Ex. 3:12 WEB

And that is what they did.

“Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, came with his sons and his wife to Moses into the wilderness where he was encamped, at the Mountain of God.”
Ex 18:5 WEB

And God came to Mount Sinai

“Moses went down from the mountain to the people, and sanctified the people; and they washed their clothes.”
Ex 19:14

And God came to Sinai.

“Yahweh came down on Mount Sinai, to the top of the mountain. Yahweh called Moses to the top of the mountain, and Moses went up.”
Ex 19:20

If you take the entire context of Scripture, it is easy to see the associations between mountains and religion.

WEB is the World English Bible, a copyright free revision
of the original ASV American Standard Version 1901

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