HEBRON (he'bron). /. (Heb.r;,p, kheb-rone', a community; alliance).
(1) Location. It was situated in the south of Palestine and in the tribe of Judah, 18 miles south from Jerusalem, in 31 deg. 32 min. 3o sec. N. lat., 35 deg. 8 min. 2o sec. E. long., at the height of 2664 Paris feet above the level of the sea (Schu bert). It is one of the most ancient cities existing, having, as the sacred writer informs us, been built 'seven years before Zoan in Egypt,' and being mentioned even prior to Damascus (Num. xiii: 22 ; Gen. xiii :18 ; comp. xv :2).
(2) Ancient Names. Its most ancient name was Kirjath-arba, that is, 'the city of Arba.' from Arba, the father of Anal( and of the Anakim who dwelt in and around Hebron (Gen. xxiii :2 ; Josh. xiv :15; xv :3 ; xxi:11; Judg. i :to). It was peculiarly a Hittite city, although the Hittites and the Amorites were mingled together within its confines. It appears to have been also called Mamre, probably from the name of Abraham's Amoritish ally (Gen. xxiii :9; xxxv :27 ; comp. xiv :13, 28).
The name of Hebron has the same origin as that of the Khabiri who appear in Ebed-Tob's letters by the side of Labai, Babylonia, and Naharaim as the assailants of Jerusalem and its territory. (See, TELL AMARNA, TABLETS OF.) COBSUlt Sayee, Patriarchal Palestine, pp. t46-7.
(3) Early History. The ancient city lay in a valley ; and the two remaining pools, one of which at least existed in the time of David, serve, with other circumstances, to identify the modern with the ancient site (Gen. xxxvii:14; 2 Sam. iv :12). Much of the lifetime of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob was spent in this neighborhood, where they were all entombed ; and it was from hence that the pariarchal family departed for Egypt by the way of Beersheba (Gen. xxxvii :14; xlvi After the return of the Israelites, the city was taken by Joshua and given over to Caleb, who ex pelled the Anakim from its territories (Josh. x : 36., 37; xiv :6-15; xv :13-14; Judg. i:2o). It WaS afterwards made one of the cities of refuge, and assigned to the priests and Levites (Josh. xx :7; xxi 13). David, on becoming king of Judah, made Hebron his royal residence. Flere he reigned seven years and a half ; here most of his sons were born ; and here he was anointed king over all Israel (I Sam. ; Kings ii :1 ; 2
Sam. v :1, 3). On this extension of his kingdom Hebron ceased to be sufficiently central. and Jeru salem then became the metropolis. It is possible that this step excited a degree of discontent in Hebron which afterwards encouraged Absalom to raise in that city the standard of rebellion against his father (2 Kings xv :9, to). Hebron was one of the places fortified by Rehoboam (2 Chron. xi: io) ; and after the exile the Jews who returned to Palestine occupied Hebron and the surrounding villages (Neh. xi:25).
Hebron is not named by the prophets, nor in the New Testament. Hebron is now called el-Khulil er-Rahman. We learn from the first book of Mac cabees, and from Josephus, that it came into the power of the Edomites, who had taken possession of the south of Judah, and was recovered from them by Judas Maccahmus Macc. v:65; Joseph. Antiq. xii:8, 6). During the great war, Hebron was seized by the rebel Simon Giorides, hi.: was recaptured and burnt by Cerealis, an offiar of Vespasian (Joseph. De Bell. Ind. iv:9; vii :9). Josephns describes the tombs of the patriarchs as existing in his day; and both Eusebius and Jerome and all subsequent writers who mention Hebron down to the time of the Crusades, speak of the place chiefly as containing these sepulchers.
Among the Moslems it is still called by the ap pellation of el Khztlil, 'the Friend' (of God), the name which they gave to Abraham. The full name given above, el-Khulil-er-Rahman, means 'the Friend of the Merciful (God).' (4) Under Moslem Rule. Since the capture of Jerusalem by Saladin in 1187, Hebron also ye verted to the Moslems, and has ever since re mained in their possession. In the modern history of Hebron the most remarkable circumstance is the part which the inhabitants of the town and district took in the rebellion of 1834, and the heavy retribution which it b'rought down upon them. They held out to the last, and gave battle to Ibrahim Pasha near Solomon's Pools. They were defeated; but retired and entrenched them selves in Hebron. which Ibrahim carried by storm, and gave over to sack and pillage. The town has not yet recovered from the blow it then sustained.