THE NEW SCHAFF-HERZOG
concurrence of tradition makes it possible that Hebron was the oldest of the southern cities of Judah. Its situation in a defensible location and in a comparatively fruitful region makes the tradition of its age still more probable, and to this is added that its site was on the principal roads which traverse the region, making it a center of commerce also. Hommel would connect the name Hebron with the Habiri of the Amarna Tablets (q.v.) as originally Habiran, i.e., town of the Habiri. According to Josh. x. 36 it was conquered by Joshua when at the head of all the people after the campaign against the five kings, but Judges i. 10 ascribes its conquest to the tribe of Judah alone. It was the home of the Calebites, and the narrative in Josh. xv. 13-19 attributes to Joshua the gift of the region to them. The later history of Hebron is little known. It became the home of David and his company, where he was sought by the Judahites, and was his capital until the capture of Jerusalem, after which it lost its importance. The rebellion of Absalom began there, Rehoboam fortified it, in the time of the exile the Edomites reduced it and held possession of it till Judas Maccabeus took it in 164 B.C. The priest code made it one of the cities of refuge and the Chronicler regards it as Jewish at the time of Zerubbabel. The place on the site now identified as that of Hebron is called al-Halil or Halil al- Rahman, " Friend of the Merciful," in memory of Abraham, whose tomb is still pointed out in the neighborhood. According to Gen. xxiii. 9 sqq., the tomb was in a cave in Machpelah " before Mamre," and Mamre is identified with Hebron in Gen. xxiii. 19; consequently the cave was to the east of the city. But this does not correspond with the present situation, since the greater part of the city is to the east of the tomb. But there are clear evidences that a hill to the west of the present city was in early times thickly populated, and that would correspond with the old Mamre. The tomb is said to have received the bodies of Sarah, Abraham, Isaac, Rebecca, Leah and Jacob. Josephus speaks of a monument of the Abrahamic family in Hebron, of marble and beautifully worked, while the tomb was hewn out of the rock — a description which agrees well with the Genesis account of the cave. The Pilgrim of Bordeaux (c. 333 a.d.) mentions a monument there, Antoninus Martyr (570 a.d.) notes a basilica with a court in the middle, which in the seventh century passed into the possession of the Mohammedans, the haram of the present city, the lower walls of which are old and built of large stones. The entrance is on the east, and between the inner and outer walls are two octagonal chapels in which stand the cenotaphs of Abraham and Sarah. The mosque itself measures some ninety feet by sixtyeight, and is divided into three aisles with nine vaults, the middle one containing the monument of Isaac and Rebecca. The cave in which were the graves of the patriarchs is asserted to be under the mosque, and it is regarded as double in form and has two entrances. The northern part of the haram area contains a number of modern grave monuments, and one of them contains the cenotaph of Jacob and Leah. What is called the tomb
of Joseph is in an addition built against the encircling wall at some time later than the crusades. The description of the interior is gathered from the observations of notables to whom the privilege of entrance has in recent years been granted through the special favor of the sultan, since admission to " unbelievers " is refused by the fanatical Moslems of Hebron. This favor was granted to the Prince of Wales (1862), the Marquis of Bute (1866), the Crown Prince of Prussia (1869), and Prince Albert Victor and Prince George of Wales (1882). The report based on examination next preceding that of these later observations was made by monks of the Latin Church in 1119 a.d., and stated that there were chambers under the mosque. The oldest part of the entire structure is the splendid encircling wall, and De Vogue remarks upon the resemblance of the stones which compose it to those of the south wall of the haram in Jerusalem, rightly attributed to Herod the Great; the Pilgrim of Bordeaux knew such a wall, though Josephus says nothing about it. Some of the capitals of the columns have a Byzantine character and the inclusion of old parts in what is evidently more modern agrees with the statement of Samuel bar Simson (c. 1210 a.d.) to the effect that the sanctuary at Hebron was built 600 years before his time. The present Hebron, divided into seven quarters, has a population of some 19,000, of whom 1,500 are Jews having three synagogues, and the rest Moslems who display a specially fanatical spirit against all foreigners. The immediate region is fruitful, and some industries and considerable commerce are conducted there.
In connection with the Mamre of Abraham are mentioned oaks or terebinths where the patriarch built an altar (Gen. xiii. 18); if Mamre is a location opposite the tombs of the patriarchs (Gen. xxiii. 19, xxxv. 27), there is a connection with a holy place. Gen. xiv. 13 speaks of Mamre as a man, an Amorite
_ „„ and brother of Eshcol and Aner. Esh-
5. Mamre. , . ,. , , /vr „
col is mentioned as a place (.Num. xm.
23 and elsewhere), possibly the modern Iskahal six miles northwest of Hebron. This representation in Gen. xiv. is now regarded as that of a later and special source, and is taken as less reliable than those which make these names apply to places and not individuals, especially as Aner is identified with the hill Na'ir in West Hebron and Mamre with Nimra in the northern part of the city. Yet it must be said that these identifications are uncertain and do not fit the data of the Old Testament. The Septuagint of Gen. xiii. 18 uses the singular in speaking of the oak, and this agrees with Josephus, Ant. I., x. 4, though the latter suggests the weaving of a myth about the place, and in Josephus, War, IV., ix. 7, mention is made of a large terebinth as old as the world situated six stadia from Hebron. Echoes of this sacred tree with its sanctuary come from the times of Hadrian and of Constantine; possibly the tree was destroyed under the latter emperor, as Jerome says that it was in existence while he was still a youth. A place which corresponds well is mentioned in itineraries, and this agrees with the present Ramat al-Halil (" Rsmah of Abraham ") two miles north of Hebron east of the road to Jerusalem, where ruins suggest