. F. STENNING.
MACHNADEBAI (‘37222 ; B Μαχαδναβού, Maxva- δααβού, τὰ ᾿Αχαδναβού, Luc. καὶ Nadafov).—One of the sons of Bani, who had married a foreign wife, Ezr 10%. G. Buchanan Gray (Expos. Times, Feb. 1899, p. 232f.), partly upon the strength of the above readings in B and δὲ, argues that the latter element in the word is the divine name Nebo. He thus obtains the form 123720, which he would further change (7 and Ἢ being often confused) into ἸὩ2Σ 120 -- “possession of Nebo.’ In the same article, which is well worthy of study, Mr. Gray argues that the same species of compound is found in the name Barnabas, which would thus be=‘son of Nebo.’
J. A. SELBIE.
MACHPELAH (2327, always with the article). —The name of the spot where was the piece of ground and cave bought by Abraham fora burying-
lace. The name is not met with outside Genesis ; ut though the meaning is uncertain, authorities generally concur in one rendering. Gesenius (Lex.) gives ‘a doubling.’ The LXX, Vulgate, Targum of Onkelos, and Pseudo-Jonathan, render it ‘double.’ The place is mentioned twice (Gn 23° 25°) as ‘the cave of Machpelah’ (ἘΠ myp), once (23) as the ‘cave of the field of Machpelah’ (‘oa my mwy>), once (50") as ‘the field of Machpelah’ (‘on m7), once (49%) as ‘the cave which is in the field of Machpelah’ (‘23 ποῦ 798 yD), and once (2317) as ‘the field of Ephron, which was in Mach- velah’ (‘o> ᾽ν prey my). In this latter case the
XX render ‘Machpelah’ as the ‘double cave,’
* Of., on the expression, above, vol. li. p, 535%, n. f.
198 MACHPELAH
and in Gn 49” render ‘in the cave which is in the
field of Machpelah’ by ἐν τῷ σπηλαίῳ τῷ διπλῷ, thus leaving out ‘field’; this takes place again in Gn 50%, The Syriac in Gn 50%, on the other hand, leaves out ‘ cave,’ and renders the passage as the ‘double field.” It may be noted that all the passages in Genesis belong to P.
Stanley (Lectures on the Jewish Church, p. 488) considers the name ‘the Machpelah’ to have be- longed to the whole district or property, though applied sometimes to the cave and sometimes to the field, and that the ancient versions used it almost always as if applied to the cave. The matter is of some interest, because the traditional cave is supposed to be in two parts. Dillmann on Genesis says, ‘We learn from him [A, te. P] that (Machpelah}] was the name of a locality in Hebron in which lay Ephron’s land with the cave in it. It and Ephron’s field lay on the front side, i.e. east of Mamre. Mamre was therefore west of it.’
“So Abraham acquired possession of the piece of land in Machpelah, which lies before Mamre, with the cave in it, and all the trees on it’ (Gn 2317), This transaction accentuates the fact that Abraham was a stranger and a sojourner in the land pro- mised to his seed, and that the burying-place he bought in Machpelah was his sole landed posses- sion in the land of Canaan. Abraham at this time was dwelling at the oak of Mamre, to the west of Machpelah. In this cave, that is, in the field of Machpelah, which is before Mamre, in the land of Canaan, they buried Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebekah, Jacob and Leah (Gn 49% 5018).
There is nothing further in the Bible concerning the burying-place of the patriarchs, except that in the speech of St. Stephen (Ac 718), by a singular variation, the tomb at Shechem is substituted for that at Hebron. It is not mentioned in the visit of the spies to Hebron, in Caleb’s conquest, or in Dayid’s reign there (Nu 13, Jos 15%, 28 5°). The only possible allusion is in the account of Absalom’s vow of a pilgrimage to Hebron when absent in Geshur (2S 157). During the struggles of the Maccabees many battles were fought around Hebron, which had become one of the northern towns of Idumea, and was taken and burnt by Judas Maccabseus ; but no mention is made of the burying-place of the patriarch, or of the monu- ments erected there (1 Mac De)!
The priests at the temple, as they looked for break of day, used often to say, ‘The face of all the sky is bright even unto Hebron’ (Talm. Joma, ch. 3). Not a few believed that Adam was buried there in like manner [as Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and their wives]. ‘Adam said, After my death they will come, perhaps, and, taking my bones, will worship them ; but I will hide my cofiin very deep in the earth, in a cave within a cave. It is therefore called the Cave, Macpelah, or the doubled Cave,’ Juchasin, fol. 63. 1 (Lightfoot, ii. 47). A tradition concerning the death of Esau is noticed in the Talmud (Sofa i. 13). A quarrel occurred at the burial of Jacob, between his sons and Esau, concerning their right to sepulture in the cave. Huskin, son of Dan, cut off Esau’s head, and left it in the cave, his body being buried else- where. Jelal ed-Din repeats this story, and the vrave of Esau is still shown at Siar, north of Hebron (PHFSt, 1882, 208). Josephus (Ané. 1. xiv. 1) tells us of the purchase of the field of pbren at Hebron by Abraham, and that ‘both Abraham and his descendants built themselves tombs (μνημεῖα) in that place’ (Ané. I. xxii. 1). In speaking of the death of Isaac he relates his burial at Hebron, ‘where they had a monument (μνημεῖον) belonging to them from their forefathers.’ Josephus states (BJ Iv. ix. 7) that ‘ Abraham had a habitation at Hebron, whose monuments (μνημεῖα)