MACHPELAH, or Macphela. This Word in Hebrew signifies double; and the Author of the Vulgate has taken it in this Sense, speaking of the Cave that Abraham bought of Ephron, in the Territory of the City Hebron, wherein to bury his Wife Sarah. But others with more Probability are of Opinion, that in this Place Machpelah is the Name of the Plain wherein this Cave was situate, and that therefore we should translate Gen. xxiii. 9. The Cave which is at Machpelah: And Verse 17. The Field of Ephron, which was in Machpelah; [as in the English Translation.] A Person of good Skill in the Arabick Tongue has informed us, that in this Language Machpelah signifies shut up, or walled up. He believes that the Cave called Machpelah, was a Tomb hewn into a Rock, and exactly closed up, or walled up, that no one might enter therein, or that Thieves might not make it a Place of Retreat; or that it might not be violated or prophaned in any Manner. Tombs thus shut or walled up, are still to be seen in the Eastern Countries. This Conjecture is at least very probable; so that it might be translated, the Cave that was shut up, instead of the Cave of Machpelah.
Library / Calmet's Dictionary of the Holy Bible, Complete and Unabridged
Volume II · M
Machpelah
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Augustin Calmet, O.S.B., “Machpelah,” in Calmet's Dictionary of the Holy Bible, Complete and Unabridged, English translation, Mind of the Church, https://mindofthechurch.com/works/calmet-dictionary/m/machpelah/.