Holy Land Prints  
by Hugh Campbell III

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Facts on Cave of Machpelah

• Located at Hebron, one of four holy cities of Israel
• Hebron has the claim of being the oldest continuously inhabited unwalled city of the world
• It is the tomb of the Patriarchs: Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob
• Holds distinction of being equally important to all three monotheistic religions: Judaism, Christianity and Islam because of Abraham
• Herod the Great originally build the building
• David was anointed King of all Israel at Hebron, not Jerusalem

     Hebron has had a long history of violence.  The Roman government under General Titus destroyed the city.  The fortress-like mosque (Cave of Machpelah) was destroyed several times, but never completely.  The Crusaders, Mamelukes, and Moslems added to it. Consequently, some of the huge stones at the base are the original  stones that Herod had placed there from the beginning.  Abraham and Sarah; Isaac and Rebekah; Jacob and Leah are all buried there.  Cenotaphs (commemorative monuments) are built over the inaccessible graves.  It is a beautifully decorated building with inlaid wood, intricate mosaic walls featuring a 700 year-old stain glass window.

     In Hebrews 11:10 a man (Abraham), "looked for a city which hath foundation whose builder and maker is God."  In Gen: 23: 2-4, 9, 19, one reads that Abraham buried his beloved wife Sarah in a cave of a field of Machpela before Mamre.  "By Faith" Abraham when he was called, "obeyed", Heb. 11: 8 is probably one of the most important scriptures of the Bible for it is here we realize the significance of our faith in God.  By faith, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob believed.  So be it with all man kind.  
      The original painting was in pastel and the lithograph is a perennial favorite.