What is the significance of Hebron in the Bible?

City and district in which Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob dwelt, about twenty-two miles south of Jerusalem. There also Sarah died, and was buried in the cave of Machpelah, as were also Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Rebekah, and Leah. Gen. 49:31. The city was built seven years before 'Zoan in Egypt' and had been formerly called KIRJATH-ARBA It was thus one of the most ancient cities known in the world. It was possessed by the Canaanites, until conquered by Joshua, and the city given to Caleb, in the portion of Judah. It afterwards became a city of refuge. David reigned in Hebron seven and a half years. Gen. 13:18; Gen. 23:2, 19; Num. 13:22; Joshua 10:36; Joshua 20:7; Judges 1:10, 20; 2 Sam. 2:11, etc. There is still a large town on the spot, with some 18,000 inhabitants, called el Khulil, 31 32' N, 35 6' E. Also a mosque, said to be built over the cave of Machpelah. This is strictly guarded, very few being allowed to see the tomb.

We find, then, firstly, Hebron closely associated with the faith and strangership of the patriarchs, who died in faith and desired to be buried there, having no present portion in the land of promise except a grave. Secondly, the actual possession and reward of such as believed in God and overcame the enemies and drove them out. "This is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith." Thirdly, when the man of God's choice had been manifested to a people not yet ready to receive him, Hebron became the centre and the rallying-place for all those in Israel who were true to God and His king. They formed a great host, "like the host of God." If challenged as to why they had come, they would reply, "Thine are we, David, and on thy side, thou son of Jesse; peace, peace be unto thee, and peace be unto thine helpers; for thy God helpeth thee" (1 Chron. 12:18). So, too, the disciples of the Lord, the true David — "To whom shall we go? Thou hast words of eternal life. And we believe and are sure that thou art the Holy One of God" (John 6:68-69). David's men were "men of war that could keep rank," they "came with a perfect heart to Hebron to make David king over all Israel, and all the best also of Israel were of one heart to make David king. And there they were with David three days eating and drinking: for their brethren had prepared for them … for there was joy in Israel" (1 Chron. 12:38-40); it was the hour of David's triumph and of Israel's joy.

In 1 Chronicles 2:9-16 — in fact this is the main thrust of that chapter — we have met with the genealogy of David, descended from Judah, and going back through the ages down via Jacob, Isaac, Abraham, Shem, and Noah to Adam. 1 Chronicles 3 presents the descendants of David until just a few generations before Christ. Here, this line of descent begins at Hebron, the place where the tribes first acknowledged the kingship of the son of Jesse. Chronicles passes over David's history and afflictions as the rejected king in complete silence. It sets forth David as the object of God's counsels regarding the kingship, counsels which will be fully accomplished in Christ, the Son of David. Yet, while omitting his sufferings, Chronicles shows us Hebron as the starting point of his glory. Hebron was above all the place of death, for it was there that the tombs of Sarah, Abraham, Jacob, and of the patriarchs were. From this same place Joseph, a type of Christ in rejection, went forth to seek his brothers. Hebron then became a city of refuge from the avenger of blood, prefiguring the cross which shelters a guilty people. Lastly, it was the principal dwelling place of the priests, the sons of Aaron, types of that priesthood which now makes Christ's death the focus of its praises. Therefore this place speaks in a striking way of the cross as the foundation of royal glory and as the basis for all our blessings. Caleb chose it as his residence. Caleb's career culminated at Hebron; David's career begins there.

In Numbers 13 the twelve men sent by Moses, having reached Hebron, thence proceed to Eshcol to carry back from that spot the magnificent fruits which are to prove the beauty of the country. But it was not, as one might have thought, Eshcol which arrested the gaze and captivated the heart of Caleb, his faith reached on to something better. Hebron, whereon his feet had trodden, is given to him. (Joshua 14:9) From that moment its name was graven on his heart during forty-five years, until the day when he should appear before Joshua to claim "this mountain whereof the Lord spake" as his everlasting possession.

This spot nevertheless was not lacking in celebrity — to the flesh, in truth, it could not but inspire terror — the formidable Anakims dwelt there, those giants whose name alone made the heart of the people to melt. But what a powerful reminder the place of the sepulchre of the fathers was for Caleb's soul! Rich in memories, it was to become the reward of this man of God. There, when Lot preferred the cities of the plain, Abraham, the father of the people, chose his abode (Gen. 13:18); there he built an altar to Jehovah and received the promise of God (Gen. 18:1); but, more than all, Hebron is pre-eminently the place of death, and to Abraham first. It was there that Sarah died (Gen. 23:2), there that she was buried, and Abraham too (Gen. 25:10); also Isaac (Gen. 35:27-29); and then Jacob and the patriarchs. Yes; Hebron is indeed the place of the sepulchre, the scene of death, the end of man. What is there in it to attract? Nothing for the natural man, everything for faith. There is one supreme spot where the believer learns the end of himself: it is the cross of Christ. Again it is from Hebron that Joseph sets forth in search of his brethren. (Gen. 37:14) Later (Joshua 21) it becomes a city of refuge and the property of the Levites. Yet more, it is the starting-point of David's kingdom (2 Sam. 2:1-4), for it is in virtue of His death that Jesus has been raised and crowned with glory, and that He will wear on His head the diadem of royalty. Finally, it is there that all the tribes of Israel acknowledge their king and come to do him homage. (2 Sam. 5:1)

1910 51 The references to Hebron in Scripture are brief and scanty, but they are concise enough to give the place a typical value hardly exceeded by any other city mentioned in Scripture. Abraham purchased it, and there Sarah died; Caleb conquered it, and there too David reigned for seven years. The name of its builder is not revealed to us. Nor does the statement that "Hebron was built seven years before Zoan in Egypt" (Num. 13:22) throw much light upon its history; yet to the believer, the reference is not without significance. The world's wisdom and learning ("the princes of Zoan are become fools," Isa. 19:13) are indeed baffled by the simple faith that takes God at His word, and finds its triumph in the proved impotence of nature.*

Both a field and a cave which Abraham bought of the children of Heth for a burying place. It was near Hebron; Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Rebekah, Jacob and Leah were buried there. Gen. 23:9, 17, 19; Gen. 25:9; Gen. 49:30-31; Gen. 50:13. The manner in which the purchase was accomplished is exactly the way bargains are to this day arranged in the East by the Bedouins. See HEBRON.

In chapter 23 the death of Sarah is recorded. Abraham buys the field of Ephron, to be the cemetery of the faithful, and this is all that he ever acquired as a true possession on the earth. Sarah disappears, and an entirely new figure comes upon the scene — Rebekah, the bride of the dead and risen Isaac.

The details as to the burial of Sarah take up the whole of this chapter, and we may be inclined to wonder why the story should be given us at such length. We believe it to be with the object of impressing us with the fact that Abraham was truly a stranger and a sojourner in this land which was to be his according to the promise of God. In verse 4 Abraham claims to be this, and makes it his plea, supporting his request for a burying-place in the land.

God had revealed Himself to Abraham as the Almighty, and as the God of resurrection, and had assured him that the land wherein he was a stranger — all the land of Canaan — was given to him for an everlasting possession (Gen. 17:8). All was his by promise, though not yet in possession. In the faith of God's promise he was careful to lay the body of Sarah to rest in the Promised Land. In the land of Canaan she had lived with Abraham as a stranger and a pilgrim; "in the land Of Canaan" she had died; and "in the land of Canaan" she was buried (vv. 2, 19). In the same faith, at a later date, the sons of Isaac bury their father at Hebron, in the land of Canaan (Gen. 35:27-29). So, too, in due time, Jacob, though he dies in Egypt, is buried in faith by his sons in the land of Canaan, in the cave of Machpelah (Gen. 50:13). In the like fine faith, Joseph when he came to die, takes an oath of the children of Israel that they shall carry his bones from Egypt to the land of Canaan (Gen. 50:25-26; Ex. 13:19).

In Genesis 23, as we have said, the vessel of promise, Sarah disappears, to make way for Rebecca, the son's bride; but with it, while Abraham has no portion in the land and must buy his sepulchre, he has the sure pledge that he will hereafter have it He buries his dead there.