Within the church, adjoining its northern wall, in a line between the tombs of Abraham and Isaac, is a perforated stone (at point E on plan) which rises above the floor of the church. The perforation is 2 circular hole, a little more than 12in. in diameter, leading by a shaft into a chamber below, the bottom of which is about level with the roadway outside to west. The chamber (as seen by the light of a lamp lowered down) seems to be square, about 12 ft. either way, with vertical walls covered with plaster. Towards the south-east a square-
headed doorway can be seen in one of the chamber | The plaster on the walls prevents it being |
walls.
ascertained whether they are of rock or masonry,
but the mouth appears to be in part at least of |
rock, like that of a cave or cistern, while in the south-east corner a piece of rock appears to pro- ject across the angle of the chamber. The fioor of this chamber is thickly strewed (1882) with sheets of paper (Moslem supplications), and it has been suggested that as they do not seem to be old, and that as the whitewash on the walls of the chamber is white, clean, and apparently of no great age, it may be inferred that the chamber, whence there is an entrance to the cave, is periodi- cally visited and cleaned by the guardians of the mosque, and that entrance can be obtained by removing the perforated stone from the pavement. The sheikh of the mosque describes the cave as being double, in accordance with the tradition.
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HARAM ENCLOSURE, HEBRON. (By kind permission of P.E. Fund).
There are two other points where there are supposed entrances to the cave as shown by the sheikh of the mosque in the royal visit of 1882. At A (on plan), at the south end of the church close to the pulpit, where there are stone slabs cased with iron, and a small cupola Bayportas on four slender pillars: this entrance is said to lead to the western cave, where, or in the inner cave, the actual tombs of the patriarchs are reputed to exist. At B (on plan), near the tomb of Rebekah, is the supposed entrance to the eastern cave. [Ὁ is closed with flagging, forming the floor of the church From these two points A and B it is supposed that staircases lead down into the cave, but practically only the entrance at C (as described) is known for a fact. At the point Ὁ, outside the Haram wall, close to the steps of the southern entrance gate way, there is a hole through the lowest course of the masonry, on a level with the street. It ex tends some distance, and is said to admit of the whole length of a lance being passed through the wall, and probably communicates with the western
cave. Through this Jews were allowed to look
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and to stand and pray, as they were not permitted to enter the Haram enclosure.
All those who have written on the subject nape to concur in supposing that the double cave did not extend beyond the limits of the floor of the church, and that there is no cavity, but made earth, under the floor of the inner court, where are the cenotaphs of Abraham, Sarah, Jacob, and Leah, and that there was originally an entrance on ἃ level with the street to the west, and that the old portal is concealed by the buildings known as Joseph’s tomb. Some also think that there was a Byzantine church in the interior before the arrival of the Moslems.
There is another view, however, that may be taken of the matter, viz. :—That originally there was no doorway or entrance to this massive en- closure, and that the first opening through the wall was made by the Moslems in the 10th cent. The Israelites in early days had no reverence for sacred graves or tombs, and the general feeling of the people appears to have been averse to memorials to ihe dead There is nothing known of the tombs of Moses, Joshua, Samuel, Elisha, etc., and even the site of the tombs of the kings is lost. Abraham’s desire was to ‘let me bury my dead out of my sight.’ But the cave of Machpelah, being the resting-place of the patriarchs in a well-known position, could not be hidden away: it may seem, then, that the massive wall built round the cave without any entrance or means of ingress was the most effectual method that could be adopted to prevent the place being used as a sanctuary. It is suggested that this continued until the Moslem occupation in the 7th cent., and that as they developed their desire for Makdms and sacred places, they eventually (in A.D. 918) pierced through the wall and built in the interior, and also opened a door into the cave from the north-west corner, to enable the vestibule of the cave to be cleared of the offerings, etc., put through the opening in the floor of the mosque ; and that the first Chris- tian building inside was erected in the 12th cent.