HEBRON (Hebrew: Hebrōn «Union, league»; Septuagint: Χέβρων). - A city situated in the mountains of Judah, 37 km. south of Jerusalem. In ancient times it was called Kiriath Arba ("city of the four").
The Masoretic tradition (Josh. 15:13) holds Arba to be "the father of the Anakim," the Septuagint "the metropolis of the Anakim," which leads scholars today commonly to hold that they were four confederated cities. St. Jerome (Onomasticon, 84, 10) had instead seen in the name an allusion to the four patriarchs buried in H. The name H. is already mentioned in Gen. 23:2; 35:27, and in Josh. 20:7. At present it is called el-Halil ("the friend," understood of God) because of the appellation given to Abraham already in antiquity, as in Jubilees, 19:9.
According to Num. 14:23, H. was rebuilt 7 years before Tanis, one of the capitals of Lower Egypt. Abraham settled nearby and purchased the cave (v. MAKHPELĀH) as a family tomb. Moses sent the spies there (Num. 13:23) and when the Israelites, under the leadership of Joshua, occupied Palestine, H. was taken, its king Oham killed and the population exterminated or dispersed (Josh.
10:3, 36-39; 12:10) and then repopulated with Calebites (Josh. 14:12). It later became a city of refuge, and David, who had found shelter there while persecuted by Saul, chose it as his capital, remaining there seven and a half years (II Sam. 2:1-3:11; 5:1-5; I Kings 2:11; I Chron. 29:27). Absalom made it the center of the revolt against his father (II Sam. 15:7-10) and Rehoboam refortified it. During the exile it fell into the hands of the Edomites, from whom Judas Maccabeus retook it (I Macc. 5:65). In the Jewish war it was burned by Cerealis, Titus's lieutenant, and in the Byzantine period it had little importance. Occupied instead by the Arabs in 634, it became one of their four holy cities because of the memory of Abraham. The Crusaders erected there a Praesidium or Castellum sancti Abrahae, elevating it, in 1168, to the rank of episcopal see. Having returned 19 years later into Muslim hands, it has remained there down to our own days.
The city is situated for the most part in a fertile basin rich in springs. In 1948 it had about 20,000 inhabitants, but now it has more, having taken in several refugees from the territories occupied by the Jews. No excavations have been carried out there, but on the hill of er-Rumejdeh the ruins of el-Arba'in are visible, which recall the ancient name of the city, in which potsherds of Bronze III and Iron II have been observed. Jar stamps with "lè-melekh, H." are known.
Bibliography2 works
Bellarmino Bagatti