And after this, Abraham buried Sarah his wife in the cave of the field of Machpelah before Mamre: the same is Hebron in the land of Canaan.
Abraham buried Sarah. Thus, he got possession of Machpelah, and deposited the remains of his lamented partner in a family vault, which was the only spot of ground he owned. It is said that the cave of Machpelah was 'at the end of the field'-before, i:e., over against, Mamre, the same as Hebron; and all writers, from Josephus downward, who have described this interesting sepulchre, represent the spot as at, or in Hebron, not near it (see list of them in Robinson's 'Biblical Researches,' vol. 2:, pp. 435-9). It is now covered by a colossal structure, in the form of a parallelogram, called the Haram, erected by Jewish hands, long before the destruction of the nation-as early, according to some, as the time of the monarchy under Solomon or David; and others even go so far as to maintain that the huge compact stones in the quadrangle may be remanent portions of the monuments which, according to Josephus, Abraham himself reared. Thus the Jewish, Christian, and Mohammedan possessors of the land have all united in preserving the identity of the sacred tomb, which, there is every reason to believe, is at present concealed by the superincumbent edifice of the Haram, but the interior of which, with its venerable relics, it may be confidently expected, will be ere long opened for the inspection of the Christian world, (see further the note at Genesis 50:13.)