Machpelah

Al-Haram al-Ibrahim) is a cave in Hebron, Palestine, in the Palestinian Authority, which, according to the Old Testament, bought the patriarch Abraham to bury his wife Sarah (cf. Gn 23, 1-20).

She was originally owned by Efron Hittyty, and Abraham bought her for 400 silver shekels. Although the tribes of the Hebrews were certainly unknown to the tribe of the Hebrews, the tribal shrines were originally unknown; the memory of Sarah's burial place was still alive among the Israelites. In the Egyptian captivity, according to the Book of Genesis, they never ceased to mention the place where their ancestors rested. They were buried in the cave: Abraham himself, Isaac with his wife Rebekah and Egyptian deceased.

Due to the graves of the Patriarchs in Makpela, King David chose Hebron as his first capital. After the destruction of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar, Hebron and Makpela became the property of the Idumans. The Jews returned to Makpela after being released from Babylon. The cave name and town of Hebron are never mentioned in the New Testament. The cave (tomb) is commonly identified with Mearat ha-Machpel, located in today's Hebron, under a mosque in the Muslim shrine of Haram al-Chalil. The sacred building, which still protects the cave with the graves - Haram al-Chalil - was built on the orders of Herod the Great. The Byzantines built a church inside it, then converted into a mosque by Muslims. The interior of the Mosque was decorated with cenotaphs commemorating the patriarchs and their wives. In this way a Muslim shrine was built, around which tradition was born, connected with one of the stages of Mohammed's night journey. Muslims allowed the Jews to bring their synagogue to the synagogue to honor the patriarch of Abraham. The Crusaders found the building in a mournful state. They restored it and turned it into a church. The city of Hebron became the seat of the bishop, changed its name to St. Abraham. There are medieval sources for finding the relics of the holy patriarchs in the cave of Makpal. They were to be worn in a solemn procession through the streets of Hebron.

The Egyptian Saladin Sultan, after the capture of Hebron, forbade descent to the cave itself. The ban still applies today to followers of Islam. The Mamelucci added to the existing patriotic Cenotaphs one more commemorating Joseph's son Jacob's patriarch - Jewish tradition finds his grave in the vicinity of present-day Nablus, ancient Shechem.

In 1267, Baybars forbade Christians and Jews from entering Haram al-Chalil. The ban was valid until 1967, when Hebron was captured by the Israelis.

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