Our journey through the heart of Israel continues,
As we travel south from Mount Gerizim, we arrive at the ancient city of Hebron. This remarkable place is steeped in biblical history and cultural significance, though it's also a city marked by modern-day divisions and controversies.
Hebron became an important city due to its location along the major North South road that ran through Israel. Hebron can be found in the Judean Mountains, a short distance of about 30 km away from Jerusalem. Hebron sits at the junction of the roads coming up from the Negev desert, and because it is at the highest point above sea level in the South – Hebron offers a fertile region of iron rich soil, that provides excellent growing of grapes, olive trees, fruit and terraced land for growing wheat and barley.
Although Hebron shares in some of Israel’s ancient beginnings, the city is also a reflection of some of the intense challenges that the Jewish people have had to overcome to claim heritage of their land. Herein itself lies much controversy. Hebron is mostly a Palestinian city, home to about 250 000 Arabs, with a small Jewish community of about 800, living in the old city in the centre.
The city is divided into 2 areas, namely H1 (controlled by the PA) and H2 (controlled by Israel), but we will leave the geopolitical views for another time.
Biblical Timeline through Hebron:
The city features prominently throughout many Biblical narratives:
First mentioned in Genesis 13:18 as Abram's (later Abraham) destination after parting with Lot.
Abraham purchased the Cave of Machpelah here to bury Sarah (Genesis 23).
Abraham, Isaac, Rebecca, Jacob, and Leah were all buried in Hebron (Genesis 25:10, 47:29-30, 49:30-32).
It was the first city encountered by the Israelite spies (Numbers 13:22).
Joshua gave the surrounding land to Caleb (Joshua 14:13).
Hebron was designated a city of refuge (Joshua 20:1-7).
King David ruled over Judah from Hebron for seven years (2 Samuel 2:1-4).
David's son Absalom plotted against his father from Hebron (2 Samuel 15:7-9).
Cave of Machpela/ Cave of the Patriarchs
When looking at the Bible, we can find Hebron’s existence dating back to Genesis 23, where Abraham purchases the cave as a family burial site for 400 shekels of fine silver. Remember in the first part of this blog we briefly mentioned the controversy regarding purchased land?
The cave is the oldest building in the world that is still functioning 2000 years later. The forefathers of our faith, Abraham and Sarah, Isaac, Rebecca, Jacob and Leah were buried here. Visiting the Cave of Machepelah can be quite the experience as it is shared by both the Jewish and Muslim authorities. Half of it (with the tombs of Isaac and Rebecca) is a mosque and the other half (with the tombs of Jacob and Leah) is a synagogue. The tombs of Abraham and Sarah stand in the middle. Every year during holidays both Muslims and Jews “rent” the structure to each other. This has become more complicated as the conflict and political status of Israel changes.
King David
David’s time in Hebron was an important time of preparation for all Israel’s national future and significant to him personally, as many of his children were born here.
He reigned here for the 7 years when he was King over the tribe of Judah. When he was made king over Israel, he moved to Jerusalem.
While Hebron was the place God asked Abraham to settle, the location of the tombs of the patriarchs, the city that intimidated the Israelite spies, and the initial place of David's reign, it did not hold magical ability to bestow power or success to Absolon or anyone else for that matter. And as mentioned before, although Hebron sat at an important crossroad on the trade route, a town’s success depends on God’s favour (Ps 127:1, Job 12:23 and Acts 17:26). There is therefore nothing that was inherent to Hebron that makes it extra significant, other than it being a place that God chose to bring a blessing. Abraham saw the Promised Land from there, Caleb inherited that land, and David began his reign in this city, but it was the faith and obedience of these men that God rewarded—not their mere presence at this location, as proved by Absalom's defeat.
May we trust and obey the Lord no matter our location.
Blessings,
Marili
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