Hebron
You may have heard of it before. It might ring some
distant memory, but you’re not sure why. This city happens to be rather
important. It’s just a little harder to find out the reasons it’s important.
There is no concise paragraph in the Bible telling us all about Hebron. You
have to dig in and find little snippets to put together a full understanding of
its importance.
Allow me to lead you through the Bible to discover Hebron.
There will be several references that we will explore.
Gen 13:18
After Abraham
separated from Lot, he settle in Hebron and built an alter there.
Gen 23:2, 17-20
Sarah died in
Hebron and Abraham purchased a field from Ephron. In the
field was a cave that Abraham used as a family tomb, and buried Sarah there.
Gen 35:27
When Abraham died,
he was buried in the cave with his wife.
Joshua 14:13
Joshua gave Hebron
to Caleb, the other faithful spy, as his inheritance. It was given to him
“because he followed the LORD God of Israel fully.” Before the city was Hebron,
it was called Kiriath-arba. Arba was the greatest man among the Anakim. 21:11
says that Arba was the father of the Anak.
Now I find the Anakim fascinating and more than just a
little hard to understand.
Numbers 13:28 Is part of the report given to Israel by the
twelve spies. They said that the people are strong and the cities are fortified
and large. You can almost hear their exasperation when they exclaim, “We even
saw the sons of Anak. They are huge!” (My paraphrase)
It is the origin of the Anakim that I have no idea what to
think about.
Numbers 13:33 Is still part of the spies report. They said that
they saw the Nephilim, whom the sons of Anak are part of. They compared
themselves to grasshoppers next to the Nephilim. Seeming to indicate that these
were the giants in the land.
Now the Nephilim are mentioned, by that name, only one other
place in the Bible. I think that this is one of the most bizarre events int he Bible, and I write fantasy. Gen 6:4 I’m just going to quote it here: “The Nephilim were
on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to
the daughters of men and they bore children
to them. Those were the mighty men who were
of old, men of renown.” NASB
Go ahead and say it, “What?!” Exactly. When I studied Gen.
our group discussed this and came to no conclusion. I mean, how is that even
physically possible? We discussed the theories, and I don’t think we can say
how it happened. It’s one those things that we may not ever understand. And
really when you think about it, do you really want to know? Gives me shivers up
my spine.
Joshua 21:8-13
Here we are told
that the actual city was given to Aaron’s sons and one of the families of the
Kohathites, all sons of Levi. But the fields of the city and its villages were
given to Caleb. Aaron made Hebron a city of refuge. A city of refuge was a safe
place to run to if you accidentally killed someone. If you made it to a city of
refuge before the victim’s family found and killed you, you would have to state
your case to the elders of the city and they would take you in and
give you a place to live. If the family tracked you to a city of refuge, the
elders would not hand you over to them. Nice to know if you’re ever in a tight
spot.
2 Sam. 2:1, 11
When Saul died,
the kingdom of Israel was split. God had chosen David as the next king, but
Abner, Saul’s general put Saul’s son, Ish-bosheth, on the throne in Gibeon.
However, the tribe of Judah anointed David king and he ruled over them for
seven and a half years. David ruled from Hebron.
It helps to know the significance of the city that David
ruled from. Hebron was an interesting city to say the least. While it’s not a
city we talk about much, it sure played a big role in the establishment of
Israel as a nation.
