The Cave of Hebron: Tomb of the Patriarchs?

The first books of the Bible are deeply intriguing for those inclined to try to pick apart history from mythology. For many, the key issue is simply where to draw the line. 

Most would look to the reign of King David as that key moment in the Biblical narrative when historical fact, albeit heavily massaged, replaces tradition and history which is half legend, half retroactive fiction.

Whether David himself falls on the “history” or “legend” side of things is perhaps the most interesting question left to archaeologists looking to site the Bible in reality. But David himself lived (if indeed he lived) around 1,000 BC, and there is an awful lot of Biblical narrative which comes before. 

Is it objectively fair to throw all of this narrative out as so much fiction? The consensus is largely that, whatever facts may exist wrapped in the mythos, they are impossible to find now. To try to chase after legends such as the flood, let alone look for literal truth in clear allegories such as the Garden of Eden, is a fool’s errand.

Not that this deters people from trying. Candidates for the flood, Noah’s Ark, and even a literal Garden of Eden are routinely advanced, generally from the less rigorous end of the archaeological world and generally from people with a religious agenda which may compromise their objectivity.

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The truth is, we don’t know where Mount Ararat is, or Mount Sinai: these are later naming conventions. We do not know if Moses existed, or why it took him 40 years to cross the modest desert from Egypt to the Holy Land. We know essentially nothing about these early stories

But occasionally a tradition breaks through the archaeological deadlock. Dotted across the world are sites which claim a link between Old Testament mythology and the modern world.

One such is the Cave of Hebron, claimed to be the resting place of the Patriarchs.

The Tomb of the Founding Fathers

Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the three Patriarchs of the Bible, are essentially the founding fathers of Judaism, and through that Christianity and Islam. Abraham is no less than the guy who first agreed to a “special relationship” with capital “G” God, kicking off millennia of monotheism in His name.

Abraham’s son Isaac is perhaps the least interesting of the three. He is almost killed by his father on the instructions of their God, but once this is averted he kind of fades away, living for ages but not really advancing the narrative.

Jacob however is an essential connector between myth and Iron Age history. Isaac’s son is himself a father of twelve sons, each of which goes on the found one of the twelve tribes of Israel which form the probably mythological origins of the Jewish people. 

For anywhere to lay a claim to be the resting place of such important figures is bold indeed. And yet, that is exactly what one site in Hebron, 30 km south of Jerusalem, does.

Most would consider this revisionist fakery in the same vein as the various candidates for the Holy Grail or the Spear of Longinus. It is certainly extremely valuable to control something of such religious importance, and if you don’t it is often tempting to make something up.

And the fact that all we know about the Cave of Hebron comes from the Book of Genesis makes it even less straightforward. The text tells us that Abraham bought it and that the three patriarchs are buried there, but there is much we do not understand. We don’t even know the meaning of its original name:  Me’arat haMakhpela is usually rendered as “the cave of the double” but who knows what that is supposed to mean.

So, is this site in Hebron just another example of a later invention, seizing on a key aspect of a religion to anoint the locality with importance, attracting pilgrims in the hopes of enriching the area? Strangely, this is not so easy a conclusion as all that.

Firstly, this site has been important for a very, very long time. Under the mosque which currently encompasses the site, and under the Christian church beneath lies an enormous, monolithic structure dated to the time of Herod, some 2,000 years ago. 

Pottery recovered from the site suggests it was centuries old even at that point, dating back to the 8th century BC. People have been coming here since before the Babylonian Captivity during the 6th century BC, when Iron Age jews in Persia first drafted the Old Testament: this is a site whose importance predates the Bible itself.

Nor is it obvious why they would travel to this location. If the tradition associated with this site comes from the 6th century then why were people visiting this cave system earlier? There is nothing here to see.

Then there is the story of the Cave of Hebron in Genesis. It is the first time a transaction is mentioned in the Bible and seems weirdly practical and even prosaic in the midst of the grand narrative. Abraham’s wife Sarah’s burial here is the first burial in the Bible, too. There is no grandiose metaphor in these events, and their inclusion is odd unless there is some truth to them.

Why was this strange piece of patriarchal bookkeeping included in Genesis? There is no grandiose metaphor in these events, and their inclusion is quirky unless there is some truth to them.

Finally, the structure built by Herod bears mentioning. Herod’s structure appears to have had no doors or entryway of any kind. Whatever the truth of the caves here, by this point they were certainly believed to be of singular importance, and also sacred.

Access to the caves, which certainly contain tombs of varying ages, remains extremely restricted. It is possible that there are graves within of the right provenance and date. And if there, are, with the weight of tradition then their very existence and age must lend legitimacy to the claim.

Somebody was buried in these caves at the dawn of the Biblical story. As to whether the occupants are truly the three patriarchs and their wives, this is essentially another question about the truth of the early Bible.

If Abraham and his family existed, they must have ended their days somewhere. And there is no better candidate, nor one as long-lived, as the Cave of Hebron.

Top Image: The Cave of Hebron today. Do the Biblical Patriarchs truly lie buried beneath? Source: Djampa / CC BY-SA 4.0.