Hebron #21

Hebron is an ancient city in the hill country of Judah, roughly 19 miles (30 km) south of Jerusalem and about 3,000 feet above sea level. In Genesis it is also called Kiriath-arba (Genesis 23:2), and it lies near the oaks of Mamre, where Abraham pitched his tent and built an altar to the Lord (Genesis 13:18). Few places in the Bible tie together as many generations of Israel’s story: the patriarchs who lived and were buried there, the conquest under Joshua, and the beginning of David’s reign.

Biblical Significance

When Sarah dies at Kiriath-arba, Abraham negotiates with Ephron the Hittite and pays four hundred shekels of silver for the field and the cave of Machpelah, the first piece of the promised land that he owns (Genesis 23:1-20). Abraham himself is later buried there, as are Isaac, Rebekah, and Leah, and Jacob asks to be laid in the same cave (Genesis 25:9-10; 49:29-32; 50:13).

When Moses sends twelve spies into Canaan, they go as far as Hebron, where they see the descendants of Anak, and the text notes that the city was built seven years before Zoan in Egypt (Numbers 13:22). After the conquest, Caleb reminds Joshua of the promise made to him and receives Hebron as his inheritance, driving out the Anakim (Joshua 14:6-15). It later becomes a city of refuge and a Levitical city (Joshua 20:7; 21:11-13).

Hebron is where David’s public career as king begins. After Saul’s death David goes up to Hebron and is anointed king over Judah (2 Samuel 2:1-4), and some years later the elders of all the tribes come to him there and anoint him king over Israel. He reigns seven and a half years in Hebron before moving to Jerusalem (2 Samuel 5:1-5). Abner is killed at Hebron during the struggle with Saul’s house (2 Samuel 3:27), and Absalom later launches his rebellion from the city (2 Samuel 15:7-10).

Today

Modern Hebron, called al-Khalil in Arabic (“the Friend,” a reference to Abraham), is a large city in the West Bank. The ancient town is generally associated with Tell Rumeida on the hill west of the old city, where excavations have found remains from the Bronze and Iron Ages.

Tradition locates the cave of Machpelah beneath the Ibrahimi Mosque, known to Jews as the Cave of the Patriarchs. The massive rectangular enclosure above it, built with large finely dressed stones, is generally dated to the reign of Herod the Great, in the late first century BC. The caves below have never been fully explored, so the link between the enclosure and the burial place described in Genesis rests on long-standing tradition rather than excavation. The site is revered by Jews, Muslims, and Christians alike, and its administration remains a sensitive and contested matter.