He'bron (Heb. Chebron', ''i~i'2Tl, a community; Sept. XE/3pwi'), the name of an important city and of several men, also (in a different Heb. form) of a smaller town.
1. A ])lace in the south of Palestine, situated 20 Ro- man miles south of Jerusalem, and the same distance north of Beersheba (Eusebius, Onom. s. v. 'ApKw) ; and still extant, 18 miles south from Jerusalem, in 31° 32' 30" N. lat., 35° 8' 20" E. long., at the height of 2664 Paris feet above the level of the sea (Schubert). It is one of the most ancient cities existing, having been built " seven years before Zoan in Eg\T)t," and being mentioned even prior to Damascus (Numb. xiii,22 ; Gen. xiii, 18 ; comp. xv, 2). Its earlier name was Kirjath- ARBA, that is, the city o/Arba, from Arba, the father of Aiiak and of the Anakim who dwelt in and around He- bron (Gen. xxiii, 2 ; Josh, xiv, 15 ; xv, 3 ; xxi, 1 1 ; Judg. i, 10). It appears still earlier to have been called 3Iam- RE, probably from the name of Abraham's Amoritish ally (Gen. xxiii, 19 ; xxxv, 27 ; comp. xiv, 13, 28) : but the "oak of JMamre," where the patriarch so often pitch- ed his tent, appears to have been not in, but near He- bron. (See below.) The chief interest of this city arises from its having been the scene of some of the most remarkable events in the lives of the patriarchs. Sarah died at Hebron, and Abraham then bought from Ephron the Hittite the field and cave of Machpelah. to serve as a family tomb (Gen. xxiii, 2-20). The cave is still there, and the massive walls of the Haram or mosque, within \vhich it lies, form the most remarkable object in the whole city. The ancient city lay in a val- Isy, and the two remaining pools, one of which at least
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existed in the time of David, sen-e, with other circum- stances, to identify the modern -with the ancient site (Gen. xxxvii, U;"2 Sam. iv, 12). Much of the life- time of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob was spent in this neighborhood, where tliey were aU entombed, and it was from hence that the patriarchal family departed for Egypt by the way of Beerslieba (Gen. xxxvii, 14 ; xlvi, 1)." After the return of the IsraeUtes, the city was taken by Joshua and given over to Caleb, who expelled the Anakim from its territories (Josh, x, 36,37; xiv, 6-15; XV, 13-14 ; Judg. i, 20). It was afterwards made one of the cities of refuge, and assigned to the priests and Le- vites (Josh, xx, 7 ; xxi, 11, 13). David, on becoming kmg of Judah, made Hebron his royal residence. Here he reigned seven years and a half, here most of his sons were born, and here he was anointed king over all Israel (1 Sam. ii, 1-4, 11 ; 1 Kings ii, 11 ; 2 Sam. v, 1,3). On this extension of his kingdom Hebron ceased to be suffi- ciently central, and Jerusalem then became the metrop- olis. It is possible that this step excited a degree of discontent in Hebron which afterwards encouraged Ab- salom to raise in that city the standard of rebellion against his father (2 Kings xv, 9, 10). Hebron was one of the places fortified by Rehoboam (2 Chron. xi, 10) ; and after the exile, the Jews who returned to Palestine occupied Hebron and the surrounding villages (Nch. xi, 15). Hebron is not named by the prophets, nor in the New Testament ; but we leani from the Apocrypha, and from Josephus, that it came into the power of the Edom- ites, who had taken possession of the south of Judah, and Avas recovered from them by Judas Maccabasus (1 Mace. V, 65 ; Josephus, A nt. xii, 8, 6). During the great war, Hebron was seized by the rebel Simon Giorides, but was recaptured and burnt by Cerealis, an officer of Ves- pasian (Joseph. War, iv, 9 ; vii, 9). Josephus describes the tombs of the patriarchs as existing in his day ; and both Eusebius and Jerome, and all subsequent writers who mention Hebron down to the time of the Crusades, syicak of the place chiefly as containing these sepulchres. In the course of time, the remarkable structure enclosing the tombs of Abraham and the other patriarchs was called the " Castle of Abraham ;" and by an easy transi- tion, this name came to be applied to the city itself, till in the time of the Crusades the names of Hebron and Castle of Abraham were used interchangeably. Hence, as Abraham is also distinguished among the IMoslems by the appellation of el-K/niHl, "the Friend" (of God), this latter epithet became, among them, the name of the city; and thej' now know Hebron only as el-KhidU (Eoljinson's Researches, ii,456). Soon after the Crusa- ders had taken Jerusalem, Hebron also appears to have passed into their hands, and in 1100 was bestowed as a fief upon Gerhard of Avenues ; but two years after it is described as being in ruins (Wilken, Gesch. der Krenz. ii, 44; Saewulf, /"f 7T/7?-iM. p. 269). In 1167 Hebron was raised to the rank of a bishojiric (Will. Tyr. xx, 8), and the title of bishop of Hebron long remained in the Rom- ish Chiurch, for it occurs so late as A.D. 1365. But it was merely nominal ; for after the capture of Jerusalem by Saladin in 11 87, Hebron also reverted to the Moslems, and has ever since remained in their possession. In the modern history of Hebron, the most remarkable circum- stance is the part which the inhabitants of the town and district took in the rebeUion of 1834, and the heavy ret- ribution which it brought do\\n upon them. Tliey held out to the last, and gave battle to Ibrahim Pasha near Solomon's Pools. They were defeated, but retired and intveiuhcd tliemselves in Hebron, which Ibrahim car- ried by storm, and gave over to sack and pillage. The town has not yet recovered from the blow it then sus- tained. In the 14th century )ii]grims passed from Sinai to Jerusalem direct through the desert bj' Beersheba and Hebron. In the following centiuy this route seems to have been abandoned for that by Gaza ; yet the pil- grims sometimes took Hebron in their way, or visited it from Gaza. The travellers of that period describe as existing here an immense charitable establishment, or