MAMRE

MAMRE (Heb. מַמְרֵא), oak grove near *Hebron which was one of the favorite dwelling places of Abraham (Abram; Gen. 13:18); it is also the name of one of the clans of Hebron which was an ally of Abraham (14:13, 24). At Mamre, Abraham learned of the captivity of Lot and received the three angels (14:13; 18:1). It is described in Genesis 23:17 as having Machpelah "before" it; elsewhere, it is identified with Hebron (23:19; 35:27). In the time of Josephus, a tree some distance north of Hebron was assumed to be the "terebinth" of Abraham (Ant., 1:186; Wars, 4:533). In the Mishnah (Ma'as. 5:2), the site appears as Elath, one day's journey from Jerusalem, and in the Talmud (tj, Av. Zar. 1:4, 38d) and the Midrash (Gen. R. 47:10) as Butnah (Butnan), the site of a famous trade fair where Hadrian sold the captives of the Bar Kokhba War into slavery. Later Christian sources refer to the site as a place of prayer; Constantine built a church there (which is shown on the Madaba Map). Jews, Christians, and pagans worshiped together there until the Arab conquest. The site is now identified with Rāmat al-Khalīl, 2 mi. (3.2 km.) north of Hebron. E.A. Mader, excavating there in 1926–28, cleared a Herodian enclosure wall, some blocks of which measure 14 × 4 ft. (4.3 × 1.2 m.). At its southwest corner was a well into which pilgrims threw gifts and money. In the eastern part of the enclosure, Constantine built a basilica measuring 60 × 50 ft. (19 × 16 m.), with a double narthex, a nave, and two aisles. Pottery from the ninth and eighth centuries b.c.e. indicates that the site was inhabited under the kings of Judah.

bibliography:

E.H. Mader, Mamre, 2 vols. (1957); D. Winton Thomas (ed.), Archaeology and Old Testament Study (1967), index.

[Michael Avi-Yonah]