For the source text click/tap here: Zevachim 54
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According to the straightforward reading of Sefer Shmuel (II: Chapter 24), King David was directed to that place by Gad, the prophet, who instructed him to build an altar to God that would end the plague from which the people were suffering. The Gemara on our daf offers a much more detailed description of the long-term planning that went into arriving at this decision.
Rava quotes a passage from Shmuel Aleph (19:18-19) where we find Shmuel the prophet sitting with David in Nayot in Ramah. This pasuk is difficult since Nayot and Ramah are two different places, so Rava interprets this homiletically as meaning that they sat together in Ramah and discussed noyo shel olam – the beauty of the world – i.e., the Temple. It is clear that the Temple was supposed to be among the highest places in Israel, since the commandment to visit the Temple on the pilgrimage holidays states ve-kamta ve-alita – that people must “go up” to the place chosen by God (Devarim 17:8).
We explore the role of Doeg and the way our daf makes use of pesukim to describe the facts of history.