Cave of the Patriarchs


The Cave of the Patriarchs or Tomb of the Patriarchs, known to Jews by its Biblical name Cave of Machpelah and to Muslims as the Ibrahami Mosque, or Sanctuary of Ibrahim, is a series of caves situated in the heart of the Old City of Hebron in the West Bank, south of Jerusalem. According to the Abrahamic religions, the cave and adjoining field were purchased by Abraham as a burial plot. The site is considered a holy place in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.
Over the cave stands a large rectangular enclosure dating from the Herodian era. During Byzantine rule of the region, a Christian basilica was built on the site; the structure was converted into the Ibrahimi Mosque following the Muslim conquest of the Levant. By the 12th century, the mosque and its surrounding regions had fallen under Crusader-state control, but were retaken in 1188 by the Ayyubid sultan Saladin, who again converted the structure into a mosque. In 1119 CE, a monk found bones inside the cave, believing them to be the bones of the patriarchs.
During the Six-Day War of 1967, the entire Jordanian-ruled West Bank was seized and occupied by the State of Israel, after which the mosque was divided, with half of it repurposed as a synagogue. In 1968, special Jewish services were authorized outside the usual permitted hours on the Jewish New Year and Day of Atonement.

Etymology of "Makhpela"

Amoraic">Amoraim">Amoraic proposals

The etymology of the Biblical name for the site, Me'arat haMakhpela, is uncertain. The word Me'arat means "cave of" and haMakhpela may mean "doubled", "multiplied" or "twofold", so a literal translation would be "cave of the double". Two hypotheses are discussed by the Talmud in b. Eruvin 53a:
The cave of makhpela:
Abba Arikha and Samuel of Nehardea ; one said, "It is two chambers, one behind the other", and one said, "It is two chambers, one above the other."
The position that the chambers are stacked is satisfactory—this is makhpela. However, according to the position that one is behind the other, what is makhpela? That it is doubled in couples:
"And Jacob came to his father Isaac, Mamre, the 'City of the Four' which is Hebron...". Isaac the Smith said, "The City of the Four Couples: Adam and Eve, Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebecca, and Jacob and Leah".
According to b. Bava Batra 58a, Abba Arikha and Samuel of Nehardea agreed that the two chambers, whatever their layout, shared identical dimensions. Genesis Rabbah 58 gives a third hypothesis:
"And Epron's field which was in the makhpela...". This teaches that it universally "doubles" the renown of those , as whoever is interred within is believed to have earned a very great reward .

Later scholarship

and Abraham ibn Ezra believed it referred to a "cave within a cave". Another hypothesis, supported by Samuel b. Meir, Moses b. Nachman, Obadiah Sforno, Moses Mendelssohn, Ernst Rosenmüller, and Samuel David Luzzatto, holds that makhpela isn't an adjective describing the cave but rather is a proper noun describing the tract of land on which it sits. This hypothesis is supported by the phrasing of some Bible verses, such as, "the cave in the field of the Makhpela..." The question over the right interpretation of makhpela has been discussed extensively in various Biblical commentaries.
Strong's Concordance derives makhpela from kaphal, a verb meaning “to double”.

Biblical origin

According to, Abraham's wife Sarah dies in Kiryat Arba near Hebron in the land of Canaan at the age of 127, being the only woman in the Bible whose exact age is given, while Abraham is tending to business elsewhere. Abraham comes to mourn for her. After a while he stands up and speaks to the Biblical Hittites. He tells them that he is a foreigner in their land and requests that they give him a burial site so that he can bury his dead. The Hittites flatter Abraham, call him a Lord and mighty prince, and say that he can bury his dead in any of their tombs. Abraham doesn't take them up on their offer and instead asks them to contact Ephron the Hittite, the son of Zohar, who lives in Mamre and owns the cave of Machpelah which he is offering to buy for "the full price". Ephron slyly replies that he is prepared to give Abraham the field and the cave within it, knowing that it would not result in Abraham having a permanent claim to it. Abraham politely refuses the offer and insists on paying for the field. Ephron replies that the field is worth four hundred shekels of silver and Abraham agrees to the price without any further bargaining. He then proceeded to bury his dead wife Sarah there.
The burial of Sarah is the first account of a burial in the Bible, and Abraham's purchase of Machpelah is the first commercial transaction mentioned.
The next burial in the cave is that of Abraham himself, who at the age of 175 years was buried by his sons Isaac and Ishmael. The title deed to the cave was part of the property of Abraham that passed to his son Isaac. The third burial was that of Isaac, by his two sons Esau and Jacob, who died when he was 180 years old. There is no mention of how or when Isaac's wife Rebecca died, but she is included in the list of those that had been buried in Machpelah in Jacob's final words to the children of Israel. Jacob himself died at the age of 147 years.
In the final chapter of Genesis, Joseph had his physicians embalm his father Jacob, before they removed him from Egypt to be buried in the cave of the field of Machpelah. When Joseph died in the last verse, he was also embalmed. He was buried much later in Shechem after the children of Israel came into the Promised Land.

Extra-biblical parallels

In the Ugaritic texts, three out of the six real estate contracts discovered were for the sum of 400 silver shekels, and the terms of sale in them parallel the Biblical description of the sale of Machpelah. Apparently 400 shekels was a common price for Canaanite real estate transactions in this period.

History

According to the Abrahamic religions, the cave and adjoining field were purchased by Abraham as a burial plot, although most historians believe the Abraham-Isaac-Jacob narrative to be primarily mythological.

First and Second Temple period

The time from which the Israelites regarded the site as sacred is unknown, though some scholars consider that the biblical story of Abraham's burial there probably dates from the 6th century BCE.
Between 31 and 4 BCE, Herod the Great built a large, rectangular enclosure over the cave to commemorate the site for his subjects. It is the only fully surviving Herodian structure from the period of Hellenistic Judaism. Herod's building, with stone walls made from stones that were at least tall and sometimes reach a length of, did not have a roof. Archaeologists are not certain where the original entrance to the enclosure was located, or even if there was one. The Herodian building stands on an earlier structure possibly built during the Hasmonean dynasty.
In 2020, Israeli archaeologists led by David Ben-Shlomo dated pottery from the caves to the 8th century BCE. The different origins of the shards, from various areas around Hebron and Jerusalem, suggest the site may have been a pilgrimage site as early as this date, according to the study authors.

Byzantine Christian period

Until the era of the Byzantine Empire, the interior of the enclosure remained exposed to the sky. Under Byzantine rule, a simple basilica was constructed at the southeastern end and the enclosure was roofed everywhere except at the centre.
During this period, the site became an important Christian pilgrimage destination. The Pilgrim of Bordeaux, c. 333, reported "a monument of square form built of stone of wondrous beauty, in which lie Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Sara, Rebecca, and Leah". The Piacenza Pilgrim noted in his pilgrimage account that Jews and Christians shared possession of the site.

Arab period

In 614, the Sasanid Persians conquered the area and destroyed the castle, leaving only ruins; but in 637, the area came under the control of the Arab Muslims and the building was reconstructed as a roofed mosque.
The Muslims permitted the building of two small synagogues at the site.
During the 10th century, an entrance was pierced through the north-eastern wall, some way above the external ground level, and steps from the north and from the east were built up to it. A building known as the qal'ah was also constructed near the middle of the southwestern side. Its purpose is unknown but one historic account claims that it marked the spot where Joseph was buried, the area having been excavated by a Muslim caliph, under the influence of a local tradition regarding Joseph's tomb. Some archaeologists believe that the original entrance to Herod's structure was in the location of the qal'ah and that the northeastern entrance was created so that the kalah could be built by the former entrance.

Crusader period

In 1100, after the area was captured by the Crusaders, the enclosure once again became a church and Muslims were no longer permitted to enter. During this period, the area was given a new gabled roof, clerestory windows and vaulting.
When the Crusaders took control of the site Jews were banned from using the synagogues.
In the year 1113 during the reign of Baldwin II of Jerusalem, according to Ali of Herat, a certain part over the cave of Abraham had given way, and "a number of Franks had made their entrance therein". And they discovered " of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob", "their shrouds having fallen to pieces, lying propped up against a wall.... Then the King, after providing new shrouds, caused the place to be closed once more". Similar information is given in Ibn al Athir's Chronicle under the year 1119; "In this year was opened the tomb of Abraham, and those of his two sons Isaac and Jacob.... Many people saw the Patriarch. Their limbs had nowise been disturbed, and beside them were placed lamps of gold and of silver." The Damascene nobleman and historian Ibn al-Qalanisi in his chronicle also alludes at this time to the discovery of relics purported to be those of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, a discovery that excited eager curiosity among all three communities in the southern Levant, Muslim, Jewish, and Christian.
Towards the end of the period of Crusader rule, in 1166 Maimonides visited Hebron and wrote, "On Sunday, 9 Marheshvan, I left Jerusalem for Hebron to kiss the tombs of my ancestors in the Cave. On that day, I stood in the cave and prayed, praise be to God, for everything."
In 1170, Benjamin of Tudela visited the city, which he called by its Frankish name, St. Abram de Bron. He reported: