Araunah

Meaning: agile.

This was the name of man, also called Ornan (1 Chr. 21:15), who was a Jebusite who lived in Jerusalem before it was taken by the Israelites. The destroying angel, sent to punish David for his vanity in taking a census of the people, was withheld from his destruction near a threshing-floor belonging to Araunah which was on Mount Moriah. Araunah offered it to David as a free gift, together with the oxen and the threshing equipment; but the king insisted on purchasing it at its full price (2 Sam. 24:24; 1 Chr. 21:24-25), for, according to the law of sacrifices, he could not offer to God what cost him nothing. At this same place, Solomon later erected the temple (2 Sam. 24:16; 2 Chr. 3:1).