“And the LORD appeared to him by the oaks of Mamre, as he sat at the door of his tent in the heat of the day.” (Ge 18:1)
Abraham settled in Hebron after he had separated from Lot and God renewed the promise to him that he would inherit the land. Abraham built an altar there to the LORD there.
“So Abram moved his tent and came and settled by the oaks of Mamre, which are at Hebron, and there he built an altar to the LORD.” (Ge 13:18)
It was at this very place that the LORD Himself physically appeared to Abraham and promised him that Sarah would conceive and give birth to the son that would become his heir. No wonder that this was the place where Abraham later chose to bury his wife.
“After this, Abraham buried Sarah his wife in the cave of the field of Machpelah east of Mamre (that is, Hebron) in the land of Canaan. The field and the cave that is in it were made over to Abraham as property for a burying place by the Hittites.” (Ge 23:17-20)
Abraham buried his wife Sarah in the field of Machpelah, “east of “, or in Hebrew “before”, Mamre, on the very spot where God physically had appeared to him and given him the promise of a son. Abraham was so eager to buy this field that he was willing to pay an enormous price for it. The Scripture says that Abraham had to pay ”four hundred shekels of silver, according to the weights current among the merchants” (v. 16).
These specific silver coins were called ”centenaria”. According to the famous Jewish commentator Rashi, they were worth 2500 regular silver coins. That means that Abraham bought the field for 1 million silver coins. Today, it would be an amount equivalent to between 5.5 and 80 million dollars. It was the only place in the Promised Land that Abraham came to own. All the Patriarchs and their wives, except for Rachel, are buried in this place.
Hebron is mentioned specifically in the story of the twelve spies who came to spy out the Promised Land. They brought back a cluster of grapes from the valley in this area called “the Valley of Eshcol”. Eschol, which means “cluster”, was the brother of Mamre (Ge 14:13). The cluster of grapes from “the Valley of Eshcol”, which was so large that it had to be carried by two men on a pole, symbolized the Promised Land. (Nu 13:22-23) It was also in Hebron that David began to reign as king.
The enemy has not been able to hinder the return of the Jewish people back to the Promised Land in our day, but he is doing all he can to remove the most sacred places from them. The cave of Machpelah in Hebron is the most holy place for the Jewish people after the Temple Mount in Jerusalem.
This past week UNESCO ruled that Machpelah in Hebron and the Tomb of Rachel outside of Bethlehem are Muslim holy places. The Palestinians also tried to have the UN declare that even the Western Wall in Jerusalem is part of the Al Aqsa Mosque and therefore a Muslim holy place, where no Jews are allowed. It is written in Ezekiel:
“Thus says the Lord GOD: Because the enemy said of you, ‘Aha!’ and, ‘The ancient [sacrificial] heights have become our possession,’ therefore prophesy, and say, Thus says the Lord GOD: … Surely I have spoken in my hot jealousy against the rest of the nations and against all Edom, who gave my land to themselves as a possession with wholehearted joy and utter contempt, that they might make its pasturelands a prey. … Behold, I have spoken in my jealous wrath, because you have suffered the reproach of the nations. … I swear that the nations that are all around you shall themselves suffer reproach. But you, O mountains of Israel, shall shoot forth your branches and yield your fruit to my people Israel, for they will soon come home.” (Ez 36:2-3,5-8)
Let us continue to pray in line with God’s Word for the restoration of Israel in our day in order that the LORD’s Name will be hallowed in all the earth!
“I will vindicate the holiness of my great name, which has been profaned among the nations, and which you have profaned among them. And the nations will know that I am the LORD, declares the Lord GOD, when through you I vindicate my holiness before their eyes. I will take you from the nations and gather you from all the countries and bring you into your own land. … Thus says the Lord GOD: This also I will let the house of Israel ask me to do for them: to increase their people like a flock.” (Ez 36:23-24,37)
