Page 23 - HaMizrachi #14 2019 Chayei Sarah USA

possessions and the souls that they had which Abraham had bought from the Hebron the greatest royal dynasty that
acquired in Haran... and they came Hittites. Israel ever had.
to the Land of Canaan. And Abram
passed through the Land until the Before Jacob died in Egypt, after going The city of Jerusalem, which became in
place Shechem... and G-d appeared to down there to see his son Joseph, he the course of time – from the crowning
Abram and said, “Unto your children made his sons promise to bury him of David until our own days – not
shall I give this Land.” There Abram with his fathers “in Hebron in the cave, merely the most precious and Holy
built an altar to G-d who had appeared in Ephron the Hittite’s field, where were City in the Land of Israel, but one of the
to him, and Abram continued his buried Abraham and his wife Sarah, most revered cities in the world, is not
journey southward... and Abram made Isaac and his wife Rebecca and where mentioned at all in the Five Books of
his camp and came and settled in the I buried Leah” (Genesis 49:29, 31). And the Torah.
Plains of Mamre that are in Hebron that is what Joseph and his brothers Further, after the reign of David, who
and he built an altar to the Almighty.” did. It is thus clear that only the three captured the city Jerusalem from the
(Genesis 12). Patriarchs and the three Matriarchs of
the Jewish People were buried in the Jebusites and made it the eternal capital
HEBREW HISTORY BEGINS IN HEBRON Cave of Machpela. of Israel, and his son, King Solomon,
built the Beit HaMikdash (Temple)
In Hebron... there arose the first However, the importance of Hebron within it. After Solomon died, the
Hebrew armed force, which battled is not merely its role in the lives of people of Israel came to crown his
with four great kings... because they the Patriarchs and Matriarchs of son Rechavam, not in Jerusalem, but
had captured Abram’s nephew Lot and our nation. After Saul, the first King in Shechem. And of the 40 years of
his property. of Israel fell upon his sword in the David’s reign, he ruled seven and a half
war with the Philistines, so that he in Hebron, while Jerusalem, though
When Abram heard this in Hebron, might not be taken captive, and David not mentioned at all in the Torah, was
he immediately mobilized 318 of his replaced him as King, David inquired made by Israel’s greatest king into the
followers and pursued the four kings of G-d: “Shall I go up to one of the cities city of holiness.
up to Dan in the north, where he of Judah?” And G-d answered: Go up!”
attacked at night and destroyed them, And David said: “Unto where shall I go However, don’t forget: the beginnings
and rescued all the property and his up?” And G-d answered” “To Hebron.” of Israel’s greatest king were in Hebron,
nephew Lot, the women and the rest And David went up there... and the the city to which came the first Hebrew
of the captives. This was the first war men of Judah came and anointed about 800 years before King David, and
in Jewish history, which ended not David there as King of Judah” (Samuel we will make a great and awful mistake
merely with victory, but also with a 2,2:4). Finally, after the death of Abner, if we fail to settle Hebron, neighbor
demonstration of Abram’s breadth of commander of Saul’s army, “and all and predecessor of Jerusalem, with
spirit... the tribes of Israel came to David in a large Jewish settlement, constantly
Hebron and proclaimed: “Behold we growing and expanding, very soon.
When Sarah died in Hebron at the age are of the bone and flesh, and so it was This will also be a blessing to our Arab
of 127, Abraham turned to the Hittites yesterday and the day before, while Saul neighbors. Hebron is worthy to be
to grant him a burial plot. After was king over us, it was you who was Jerusalem’s sister.
prolonged and devious negotiations by the leader of Israel; and the Almighty
the Hittites, Abraham paid 400 silver has said, “You shall shepherd my people
shekels to Ephron for his field and all Israel and you shall be prince of Israel.”
the trees surrounding its boundaries, And all the elders of Israel came to the
and it became his. And when Abraham king in Hebron, and King David made SDE BOKER
died 38 years later, he was buried by a covenant with them in Hebron over 18 SHEVAT 5730
his sons Isaac and Ishmael in the cave Israel” (Samuel 2, 5:1-3). Thus arose in JANUARY 25, 1970

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