Machpelah

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Exterior view with an Israeli guard

The Machpelah ( Hebrew מערת המכפלה, Me'arat HaMachpela , translated "cave of the double graves "), also cave of the patriarchs or tomb of the patriarchs , is according to the Tanach , the Hebrew Bible , the family grave of the ancestors of the Israelites : Abraham and Sarah , Isaac and Rebekah , Jacob and Leah was buried. The place is on the outskirts of Hebron and is significant for the three Abrahamic religions Judaism , Christianity and Islam .

Herod the Great (37-4 BC) had the place walled around the assumed tomb. Emperor Justinian I had a basilica built inside the fortress in the 6th century , which Muslims converted into the Abraham's mosque in the 7th century . In 1976 a neighboring synagogue was added. Israel has been administering the building complex since the Six Day War in 1967, granting tourists and believers access.

history

Archaeological evidence

It is not known since when today's Machpelah was regarded as the family tomb of Israel's ancestral parents. The Torah attests to a grave cave of this name several times and locates it according to Gen 23.19  EU and 25.27 EU in the Mamre grove , which there is equated with Hebron. According to Gen 13.18  EU , Mamre was near Hebron, but was not identical with the locality. This is the basis for the assumption that the burial cave was near Hebron. Since Herod the Great (37-4 BC) the burial cave was located under the Haram el-Halil , which was built at that time . The neighboring hilltop settlement, which belonged to the Edom (Idumea) area during the Hellenistic period, was also moved there . It has been known since around 1900 that there were indeed old graves under the Herodian building. Today these are partly dated to the Middle Bronze Age (2000–1500 BC) and partly to the Iron Age (from 1200 BC). Machpelah may have been located near Hebron a long time before Herod, as the biblical information about Mamre also applies to the older settlement of Hirbet Nimra nearby.

Literary findings

The Machpelah complex over Hebron, 1865

In the Tanakh the name Machpelah denotes both a field with a cave, which Abraham bought from the Hittite Efron as a tomb for his wife Sarah (Gen 23:19; 49:30; 50:13), and the cave itself (Gen 23 , 9; 25.9). The name always appears with a specific article ("die Machpela"). The Septuagint translated it as “the double cave”, thus derived it from the Hebrew word stem kpl for “to put double”.

Sara's death and burial:

1 Sarah was one hundred and twenty-seven years old 2 and died in Kirjat Arba - that is Hebron - in the land of Canaan . Then Abraham came to lament and weep for them. 3 Then he rose from his dead and spoke to the Hittites, saying: […] 8 Efron the son of Zohar prayed for me, 9 that he would give me his cave in Machpelah, which is at the end of his field; he give it to me for money as much as it is worth, for an inheritance among you. 17 So Efron's field in Machpelah east of Mamre Abraham was confirmed as his property, with the cave in it and all the trees in the field, 18 in the sight of the Hittites and all who were gathered at the gate of his city. 19 Then Abraham buried Sarah his wife in the cave of the field in Machpelah east of Mamre, that is, Hebron, in the land of Canaan. 20 So the field and the cave in it were confirmed by the Hittites for a hereditary burial to Abraham. "

- 1 Mos 23,1-20  LUT

Abraham's death and burial:

8 And Abraham died and died in a good old age, when he was old and full of life, and was gathered with his fathers. 9 And his sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him in the cave of Machpelah in the field of Efron the son of Zohar the Hittite, which is east of Mamre, 10 in the field which Abraham had bought from the Hittites. Abraham is buried there with Sarah, his wife. "

- 1 Mos 25,8-10  LUT

Jacob's death and burial:

29 And Jacob commanded them, and said to them, I am gathered to my people; bury me with my fathers in the cave in the field of Efron the Hittite, 30 in the cave in the field of Machpelah, which is east of Mamre in the land of Canaan, which Abraham bought together with the field of Efron the Hittite for hereditary burial. 31 So they buried Abraham and Sarah his wife. They buried Isaac and Rebekah his wife there too. Since I also buried Leah 32 in the field and the cave that is purchased from the Hittites. "

- 1 Mos 49,29-32  LUT

12 And his sons did as he commanded them, 13 and brought him into the land of Canaan and buried him in the cave in the field of Machpelah which Abraham had bought with the field for the burial of Efron the Hittite opposite Mamre. "

- 1 Mos 50,12-13  LUT

The earliest mention of the cave can be found in the Book of Jubilees , where it says in 36:21: “His wife Lea died in the fourth year of the second week of the year on the 45th anniversary and he buried her in the double cave near his mother Rebekah, left from the tomb of Saras, the mother of his father. ”According to the Talmud Yeruschalmi , the tombs of the patriarchs are arranged in the form of a feast. The most famous person is positioned at the head of the board.

According to Gen 23.19  EU , Abraham bought the field and the Machpela cave not far from his place of residence Mamre after the death of his wife Sara as a family grave for 400 silver shekels . The seller was a Hittite named Efron. That the Efron mentioned was actually a Hittite (from Anatolia ) has not been proven. In addition to historical evidence , the historicity of Abraham, as with many prehistoric and religious figures, has not been proven. Its lifetime is estimated to be around 1900 BC. BC.

According to tradition, after Sarah, Abraham himself was also buried there, later his son Isaac and his wife Rebekah and their son Jacob with his first wife Leah.

In the New Testament Machpelah is not found. Instead, localized Acts 7.16  EU the Erzelterngrab in Shechem : "They were taken to Shechem and buried it in the grave which Abraham from the sons of Hamor in Shechem had bought for silver money."

The Jewish historian Flavius ​​Josephus mentioned in his work Jewish antiquities (94) the tombs of the heirs, but not the name Machpelah and also not Abraham's purchase of the field with the cave, his later grave. This is considered an intentional omission. So Josephus left out other details from the narrations of the archpelagic narrations of the Book of Genesis, which he undoubtedly knew, the details of which were obviously unimportant to him.

The Herodian building

Entrance stairs

The Herodian building was initially just an uncovered walled podium, which was intended to mark the local tradition of the archduke graves. According to literary sources, this local tradition seems to have existed since around 300 BC. To adhere to the place of Ḥaram el-Chalīl. The choice of this place could also have been influenced by the Bronze Age and Iron Age tombs, the remains of which were found in the caves under the Ḥaram.

The current buildings were built under King Herod and were expanded under the Crusaders in the 12th century . The Herodian building is architecturally reminiscent of the Herodian Temple in Jerusalem, which dates from the same time , of which only parts of the surrounding wall with the wailing wall remain.

Further expansion

Christian pilgrimages to Machpelah have also been documented since the 4th century. The first extensions took place in the 6th century, among other things to separate Jewish and Christian pilgrims from one another. By the early 10th century at the latest, a mosque was built in the complex, including a mihrab in the southeast wall. By the end of the century at the latest, all six graves were covered.

St. Abraham's Cathedral

During the First Crusade , Machpelah was conquered by Godfrey of Bouillon in 1100 and placed under the rule of the Crusaders and an Augustinian monastery was established.

In 1119, the bones of the patriarchs were found under the pavement of the Herodian court and then placed in reliquaries . Shortly thereafter, the Crusaders built a church of St. Abraham in the southern part of the complex , which was elevated to the cathedral of the re-established diocese of Hebron .

The Jewish traveler Benjamin of Tudela described the site in the 12th century:

“There is a great sanctuary in Hebron called St. Abraham , which used to be a synagogue. The locals erected six tombs here and tell strangers that they were those of the patriarchs and their wives, and ask for money to visit them. If a Jew pays the overseer an additional fee, the overseer opens a door from the time of our forefathers and the visitor can descend into the cave by candlelight. He crosses two empty caves, and finally sees six graves in the third, on which the names of the three patriarchs and their wives are written in Hebrew script. The cave is full of barrels filled with human bones that were brought to this sacred place. At the end of the Machpelah field stands the house of Abraham and in front of him is a well. "

Machpelah under Islamic rule

Interior of the Abraham Mosque
Entrance area; on the left is the women's prayer room

The Egyptian sultan Saladin captured Hebron in 1187, confiscated the cathedral and declared it a mosque. Jewish and Christian pilgrims were initially allowed to continue to pray in the shrine, but one of his successors, the tyrant Baibar I , destroyed non-Islamic life in Hebron in 1266. Jews and Christians were banned from entering their holy place.

1318-20 a second mosque was built in the northeastern part of the complex. In 1382–99 extensive alterations and renovations were carried out. Access to the cave was forbidden at the end of the 15th century.

Until the end of the 19th century, no Jews or Christians were allowed to visit the sanctuary, even after that only a few exceptions were made for famous Europeans. Jews still had no access. They were only allowed to stay outside the building, up to the seventh step of the access stairs, and pray. 67 of the approximately 500 people in the Jewish community were victims of a massacre by violent Muslims in 1929 . The survivors fled to Jerusalem. Returnees who lived in Hebron again from 1931 had to be brought to safety by British colonial troops on April 23, 1936 from renewed acts of violence by the Arabs.

Israeli control since 1967

Army patrol at the entrance to the building

Under Ottoman , British and Jordanian rule, Jews and Christians were forbidden from entering the Machpelah. During the Six Day War , Israel conquered and occupied the city ​​of Hebron, which had been under Jordanian control since 1948, on June 8, 1967, and made it accessible to Jews again. The Chief Rabbi of the Military Rabbinate and General Schlomo Goren is considered to be the first Jew in 700 years to be able to enter Machpelah. Goren had already been involved in conquering the Western Wall the day before.

Machpelah today

Visitors to the sanctuary are searched for weapons by the army before entering
Entrance for Jewish pilgrims

Jews have been living in Hebron again since 1967. Despite Israeli rule, Muslims retained free access to the Machpelah complex and continue to use the Gothic Crusader Church as a mosque, which is under the Jerusalem Waqf Authority . However, they now share Machpelah again with the Jewish pilgrims, for whom a synagogue was built in the northern area .

Machpelah is now located in Israel-administered Zone H2 in the urban area of ​​Hebron. The tomb of the Patriarchs and the city of Hebron as a whole are a particular point of contention in the Middle East conflict . In order to maintain Jewish life in the second holiest city in Judaism, several hundred Jewish settlers live in the middle of the old town among the otherwise Arab population. Conflicts regularly arise between the Israeli and Arab residents. The high point of the violence was a massacre by the settler Baruch Goldstein in 1994 , in which 29 Palestinians were killed. The tomb of the patriarchs is now under heavy guard by the Israeli army . The administration, like that of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, is in the hands of an Islamic foundation, a Waqf .

In February 2010, the announcement by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that Machpelah would be declared a Jewish cultural heritage led to violent clashes between the Israeli military and Palestinian youth in Hebron.

The construction

Blueprint

The sanctuary essentially consists of a large rectangular complex, the corners of which point in the four cardinal directions. The al-Jawiliyya Mosque (1318-20) and the tomb of Joseph, built in the 10th century, are on the northeastern outside . The outer appearance of the sanctuary is dominated by the well-preserved Herodian enclosing wall. There are minarets on the western and eastern corners .

The interior consists of three parts, each containing the cenotaphs of a pair of patriarchs. In the central room are the tombs of Abraham (west) and Sarah (east), which date from around 1000. In the southern part are the cenotaphs of Isaac and Rebekah from the 12th century and the mosque in the earlier church. The northern part is the one used by the Jews, which is entered via a separate staircase on the outer building. Here you will find the tombs of Jacob and his first wife Lea, a synagogue and the entrance to the tomb of Joseph.

literature

  • Detlef Jericke: Abraham in Mamre: Historical and Exegetical Studies on the Region of Hebron and on Genesis 11: 27-19, 38. Brill, Leiden 2003, ISBN 9004129391

Web links

Commons : Tomb of the Patriarchs  - collection of images

Coordinates: 31 ° 31 ′ 27 ″  N , 35 ° 6 ′ 40 ″  E

Individual evidence

  1. Detlef Jericke: Abraham in Mamre , Leiden 2003, p. 4
  2. Detlef Jericke: Abraham in Mamre , Leiden 2003, p. 18 and fn. 19-26
  3. Detlef Jericke: Abraham in Mamre , Leiden 2003, p. 106 and fn. 48
  4. a b Detlef Jericke: The location information in the book Genesis: A historical-topographical and literary-topographical commentary. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2013, ISBN 978-3-525-53610-0 , p. 156f.
  5. Encyclopaedia Judaica, Volume XIII (LIF-MEK), 2nd ed., Keter Publishing House, 2007, p. 325
  6. Anniversary Book or Little Genesis on Wikisource
  7. Encyclopaedia Judaica, Volume XIII (LIF-MEK), 2nd ed., Keter Publishing House, 2007, p. 325
  8. ^ Jewish Encyclopedia: Machpelah
  9. Sean A. Adams, Zanne Domoney-Lyttle: Abraham in Jewish and Early Christian Literature. T&T Clark, 2019, ISBN 0567675521 , p. 103
  10. a b c d sacred-destinations.com: Tombs of the patriarchs, Hebron
  11. "Travel Report", ed. Asher, pp. 40-42, Heb. Translated to
  12. a b c Ariel Natan Pasko: Israelis Against Israel  ( page no longer available , search in web archivesInfo: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. FrontPageMagazine, May 30, 2003@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.frontpagemag.com  
  13. More Clashes over Israeli Claim to Shrine International Herald Tribune, February 25, 2010