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Easton's Bible Dictionary
portion; double cave, The cave which Abraham bought,
together with the field in which it stood, from Ephron the Hittite, for a family
burying-place ( Genesis 23 ). It is one of those Bible localities about the identification
of which there can be no doubt. It was on the slope of a hill on the east of Hebron,
"before Mamre." Here were laid the bodies of Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebekah,
Jacob and Leah ( Genesis 23:19 ; 25:9 ; 49:31 ; 50:13 ). Over the cave an ancient
Christian church was erected, probably in the time of Justinian, the Roman emperor.
This church has been converted into a Mohammedan mosque. The whole is surrounded
by the el-Haram i.e., "the sacred enclosure," about 200 feet long, 115 broad,
and of an average height of about 50. This building, from the immense size of
some of its stones, and the manner in which they are fitted together, is supposed
by some to have been erected in the days of David or of Solomon, while others
ascribe it to the time of Herod. It is looked upon as the most ancient and finest
relic of Jewish architecture.
On the floor of the mosque are erected six large cenotaphs as monuments to the
dead who are buried in the cave beneath. Between the cenotaphs of Isaac and Rebekah
there is a circular opening in the floor into the cavern below, the cave of Machpelah.
Here it may be that the body of Jacob, which was embalmed in Egypt, is still preserved
(much older embalmed bodies have recently been found in the cave of Deir el-Bahari
in Egypt, see PHARAOH), though those of the others there buried may have long
ago mouldered into dust. The interior of the mosque was visited by the Prince
of Wales in 1862 by a special favour of the Mohammedan authorities. An interesting
account of this visit is given in Dean Stanley's Lectures on the Jewish Church.
It was also visited in 1866 by the Marquis of Bute, and in 1869 by the late Emperor
(Frederick) of Germany, then the Crown Prince of Prussia. In 1881 it was visited
by the two sons of the Prince of Wales, accompanied by Sir C. Wilson and others.
(See Palestine Quarterly Statement, October 1882).
Hitchcock's Dictionary of Bible Names
double
Smith's Bible Dictionary
(double, or a portion). [HEBRON]
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
mak-pe'-la (ha-makhpelah, "the Machpelah"; to diploun,
"the double"):
The name of a piece of ground and of a cave purchased by Abraham as a place of
sepulcher. The word is supposed to mean "double" and refers to the condition of
the cave. It is translated "double cave" (to diploun spelaion) in the Septuagint
in Genesis 23:17. The name is applied to the ground in Genesis 23:19 ; 49:30 ;
50:13 , and to the cave in Genesis 23:9 ; 25:9. In Genesis 23:17 we have the phrase
"the field of Ephron, which was in (the) Machpelah."
1. Scriptural Data:
The cave belonged to Ephron the Hittite, the son of Zohar, from whom Abraham purchased
it for 400 shekels of silver (Genesis 23:8 - 16). It is described as "before,"
i.e. "to the East of" Mamre (Genesis 23:17) which (Genesis 23:19) is described
as the same as Hebron (see, too, Genesis 25:9 ; 49:30 ; 50:13). Here were buried
Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebecca, Jacob and Leah. (Compare however the curious
variant tradition in Acts 7:16, "Shechem" instead of "Hebron.")
2. Tradition Regarding the Site:
Josephus (BJ, IV, ix, 7) speaks of the monuments (mnemeia) of Abraham and his
posterity which "are shown to this very time in that small city (i.e. in Hebron);
the fabric of which monuments are of the most excellent marble and wrought after
the most excellent manner"; and in another place he writes of Isaac being buried
by his sons with his wife in Hebron where they had a monument belonging to them
from their forefathers (Ant., I, xxii, 1). The references of early Christian writers
to the site of the tombs of the patriarchs only very doubtfully apply to the present
buildings and may possibly refer to Ramet el-Khalil (see MAMRE). Thus the Bordeaux
Pilgrim (333 AD) mentions a square enclosure built of stones of great beauty in
which Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were buried with their wives. Antonius Martyr (circa
600) and Arculf (698) also mention this monument. Mukaddasi speaks (circa 985)
of the strong fortress around the tombs of the patriarchs built of great squared
stones, the work of Jinns, i.e. of supernatural beings. From this onward the references
are surely to the present site, and it is difficult to believe, if, as good authorities
maintain, the great buttressed square wall enclosing the site is work at least
as early as Herod, that the earlier references can be to any other site. It is
certain that the existing buildings are very largely those which the Crusaders
occupied; there are many full references to this place in medieval Moslem writers.
3. The Charam at Hebron:
The Charam at Hebron, which present-day tradition, Christian, Jewish and Moslem,
recognizes as built over the cave of Machpelah, is one of the most jealousy guarded
sanctuaries in the world. Only on rare occasions and through the exercise of much
political pressure have a few honored Christians been allowed to visit the spot.
The late King Edward VII in 1862 and the present King George V, in 1882, with
certain distinguished scholars in their parties, made visits which have been chiefly
important through the writings of their companions--Stanley in 1862 and Wilson
and Conder in 1882. One of the latest to be accorded the privilege was C.W. Fairbanks,
late vice-president of the United States of America. What such visitors have been
permitted to see has not been of any great antiquity nor has it thrown any certain
fight on the question of the genuineness of the site.
The space containing the traditional tombs is a great quadrangle 197 ft. in length
(Northwest to Southeast) and 111 ft. in breadth (Northeast to Southwest). It is
enclosed by a massive wall of great blocks of limestone, very hard and akin to
marble. The walls which are between 8 and 9 ft thick are of solid masonry throughout.
At the height of 15 ft. from the ground, at indeed the level of the floor within,
the wall is set back about 10 inches at intervals, so as to leave pilasters 3
ft. 9 inches wide, with space between each of 7 ft. all round. On the longer sides
there are 16 and on the shorter sides 8 such pilasters, and there are also buttresses
9 ft. wide on each face at each angle. This pilastered wall runs up for 25 ft.,
giving the total average height from the ground of 40 ft. The whole character
of the masonry is so similar to the wall of the Jerusalem Charam near the "wailing
place" that Conder and Warren considered that it must belong to that period and
be Herodian work.
The southern end of the great enclosure is occupied by a church--probably a building
entirely of the crusading period--with a nave and two aisles. The rest is a courtyard
open to the air. The cenotaphs of Isaac and Rebecca are within the church; those
of Abraham and Sarah occupy octagonal chapels in the double porch before the church
doors; those of Jacob and Leah are placed in chambers near the north end of the
Charam. The six monuments are placed at equal distances along the length of the
enclosure, and it is probable that their positions there have no relation to the
sarcophagi which are described as existing in the cave itself.
4. The Cave:
It is over this cave that the chief mystery hangs. It is not known whether it
has been entered by any man at present alive, Moslem or otherwise. While the cave
was in the hands of the Crusaders, pilgrims and others were allowed to visit this
spot. Thus Rabbi Benjamin of Tudela, writing in 1163 AD, says that "if a Jew comes,
who gives an additional fee to the keeper of the cave, an iron door is opened,
which dates from the times of our forefathers who rest in peace, and with a burning
candle in his hand the visitor descends into a first cave which is empty, traverses
a second in the same state and at last reaches a third which contains six sepulchres--those
of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and of Sarah, Rebecca and Leah, one opposite the
other. ... A lamp burns in the cave and upon the sepulchre continually, both night
and day." The account reminds us of the condition of many Christian tomb-shrines
in Palestine today.
It would appear from the description of modern observers that all entrance to
the cave is now closed; the only known approaches are never now opened and can
only be reached by breaking up the flags of the flooring. Through one of the openings--which
had a stone over it pierced by a circular hole 1 ft. in diameter--near the northern
wall of the old church, Conder was able by lowering a lantern to see into a chamber
some 15 ft. under the church. He estimated it to be some 12 ft. square; it had
plastered walls, and in the wall toward the Southeast there was a door which appeared
like the entrance to a rock-cut tomb. On the outside of the Charam wall, close
to the steps of the southern entrance gateway is a hole in the lowest course of
masonry, which may possibly communicate with the western cave. Into this the Jews
of Hebron are accustomed to thrust many written prayers and vows to the patriarchs.
The evidence, historical and archaeological seems to show that the cave occupies
only the south end of the great quadrilateral enclosure under part only of the
area covered by the church.
See HEBRON.
LITERATURE.
PEF, III., 333-46; PEFS, 1882, 197; 1897, 53; 1912, 145-150; HDB, III., article
"Machpelah," by Warren; Stanley, SP and Lectures on the Jewish Church; "Pal under
the Moslems," PEF; Pilgrim Text Soc. publications.
E. W. G. Masterman
Tags:
abraham, bible commentary, bible history, bible reference, bible study, burying-place, cave, charam at hebron, define, diploun spelaion, double, grave, machpelah, tomb of abraham
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