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machpelah

machpelah


  2  definitions  found 
 
  From  Easton's  1897  Bible  Dictionary  [easton]: 
 
  Machpelah 
  portion;  double  cave,  the  cave  which  Abraham  bought,  together 
  with  the  field  in  which  it  stood,  from  Ephron  the  Hittite,  for  a 
  family  burying-place  (Gen.  23).  It  is  one  of  those  Bible 
  localities  about  the  identification  of  which  there  can  be  no 
  doubt.  It  was  on  the  slope  of  a  hill  on  the  east  of  Hebron, 
  "before  Mamre."  Here  were  laid  the  bodies  of  Abraham  and  Sarah, 
  Isaac  and  Rebekah,  Jacob  and  Leah  (Gen.  23:19;  25:9;  49:31; 
  50:13).  Over  the  cave  an  ancient  Christian  church  was  erected, 
  probably  in  the  time  of  Justinian,  the  Roman  emperor.  This 
  church  has  been  converted  into  a  Mohammedan  mosque.  The  whole  is 
  surrounded  by  the  el-Haram  i.e.,  "the  sacred  enclosure,"  about 
  200  feet  long,  115  broad,  and  of  an  average  height  of  about  50. 
  This  building,  from  the  immense  size  of  some  of  its  stones,  and 
  the  manner  in  which  they  are  fitted  together,  is  supposed  by 
  some  to  have  been  erected  in  the  days  of  David  or  of  Solomon, 
  while  others  ascribe  it  to  the  time  of  Herod.  It  is  looked  upon 
  as  the  most  ancient  and  finest  relic  of  Jewish  architecture. 
 
  On  the  floor  of  the  mosque  are  erected  six  large  cenotaphs  as 
  monuments  to  the  dead  who  are  buried  in  the  cave  beneath. 
  Between  the  cenotaphs  of  Isaac  and  Rebekah  there  is  a  circular 
  opening  in  the  floor  into  the  cavern  below,  the  cave  of 
  Machpelah.  Here  it  may  be  that  the  body  of  Jacob,  which  was 
  embalmed  in  Egypt,  is  still  preserved  (much  older  embalmed 
  bodies  have  recently  been  found  in  the  cave  of  Deir  el-Bahari  in 
  Egypt,  see  {PHARAOH}),  though  those  of  the  others  there 
  buried  may  have  long  ago  mouldered  into  dust.  The  interior  of 
  the  mosque  was  visited  by  the  Prince  of  Wales  in  1862  by  a 
  special  favour  of  the  Mohammedan  authorities.  An  interesting 
  account  of  this  visit  is  given  in  Dean  Stanley's  Lectures  on  the 
  Jewish  Church.  It  was  also  visited  in  1866  by  the  Marquis  of 
  Bute,  and  in  1869  by  the  late  Emperor  (Frederick)  of  Germany, 
  then  the  Crown  Prince  of  Prussia.  In  1881  it  was  visited  by  the 
  two  sons  of  the  Prince  of  Wales,  accompanied  by  Sir  C.  Wilson 
  and  others  (See  Palestine  Quarterly  Statement,  October  1882). 
 
 
  From  Hitchcock's  Bible  Names  Dictionary  (late  1800's)  [hitchcock]: 
 
  Machpelah,  double