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Bible Dictionaries
Hebron
People's Dictionary of the Bible
or Hebron (hç'bron), friendship. An ancient town of Palestine, about 20 miles south of Jerusalem, first called Kirjath-arba, or city of Arba. Joshua 21:11; Joshua 15:13-14; Judges 1:10. It lies about 3000 feet above the level of the sea, and is one of the oldest towns in the world and mentioned before Damascus, Genesis 13:18; Genesis 14:13; and was built 7 years before Zoan, or Tanis, in Egypt, Numbers 13:22. Hebron is named about forty times in the Old Testament, but nowhere in the New. Abraham pitched his tent under the oaks of Mamre, near Hebron, Genesis 13:18, and he bought the cave of Machpelah, as a burial-place. Genesis 23:17-20. Hebron was taken by Joshua, Joshua 10:36-37; Joshua 12:10, and the region given to Caleb, Joshua 14:13; was rebuilt and made a Levitical city and a city of refuge, Joshua 20:7; Joshua 21:11; was the royal residence of David, 2 Samuel 2:1-14; 1 Kings 2:11; became the headquarters of the rebellious Absalom, 2 Samuel 15:10; was fortified by Rehoboam and repeopled after the captivity. 2 Chronicles 11:10; Nehemiah 11:25. A pool is still shown over which tradition says that David hung the murderers of Ishbosheth, and the tomb of Abner and Ishbosheth is also pointed out within an Arab house, and the mosque is known to conceal the noted cave of Machpelah, the burial-place of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and their wives except Rachel. The mosque is closed against visitors and guarded with the strictest care by the Moslems.
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Rice, Edwin Wilbur, DD. Entry for 'Hebron'. People's Dictionary of the Bible. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/rpd/h/hebron.html. 1893.
