The Kansas City sun. (Kansas City, Mo.) 1908-1924, 1915-01-23

1T palace OF Solomon, where he received the
uee u SheDa' Is a building concerning which
80 interest is naturally felt. 1t was built of
e oeuar OF Lebanon" When the stories of Her.
ous palace are unearthed 1t is not improbabl that
oeneath these may be found the cedars of Solo
mon building, for in those times they had a habit
Vi oullulng on the ruins of their predecessors
"A hotaole instance of a Biblical site of extraor.
uAary interest from which investigators are en-.
urely excluded is the tomb of Abraham and tbo
hebrew patrlarchs at Hebron in Palestine. 1t was
mere that Abraham, the forefather of all the israel.
ties, dwelt with his family, as the book of Genesis
tells US.
Before he died Abraham bought the rave n,
Machpelah from Ephron the Hittite as a burial
place for himself and his family Genesis 10. The
site OF the cave of Hebron has been known from
ume 1t was known in early Chris.
tan times, and in the days of the Savior. No con.
1uslon has ever arisen as to its position, such as
has occurred in the case of other Bible sites.
The cave Of Machpelah is situated within an
Enclosure called the Haram, formed by a gigantic
Herodian wall. Above the cave stands a church
built by the crusaders in 1887, but since converted
into a mosque and for many centuries in the pos
session of the Turks.
In the cave were buried Abraham, his wife, Sa.
rah; his son, Isaac; the latter's wife, Rebekah;
Jacob, son of Isaac; Leah, wife of Jacob, and Jo-
seph, son Of Jacob and Rachel. In the mosque
above the cave are monuments in the form Of
tombs to Sarah, Isaac, Rebekah, Jacob, Leah and
Joseph, but they do not inclose the actual bones.
These are presumably in the cave below. The
Mohammedans venerate the Hebrew patriarchs,
although they Cypress their descendants.
Ordinarily Christians and Hebrews are not
even allowed to enter the Haram surrounding the
mosque. Occasionally Christians of great infu-
ence, such as the king of England's heir, have
been permitted to enter the mosque.
Recently photographs we're taken for the
first time OF the six cenotaphs or memorial tombs
of the patriarchs within the mosque. These are
reproduced in a recent report of the Palestine
exploration fund, which gives some very inter
esting information about the building.
in the church pavement" says the Rev. A. B.
Grimaldi in this article, "are three movable slabs
which give access by ladder or rope to the cave.
But two are fastened up, and not even Moslems
are allowed to enter by the third. 1t is used to
throw down written petitions to Abraham; and,
looking down, the floor is seen to be covered as
with snowfakes.
when King George v (then prince of Wales)
visited the mosque a light was let down, and the
rocky sides we're seen and a doorway entering
out of this a~ntechamber into the tomb cave itself.
With the granting of freedom to the inhabi-
tants of Palestine the representatives of religion
and science will be able to enter this mysterious
cave and disclose its contents to the world.
Around Hebron center all the interesting
events of the patriarchal age recorded in the
Bible. Here Abraham prepared to sacrifice his
own son, Isaac, in obedience to the will of God,
Jacob labored seven years for Rachel, and Esau
sold his b~irthright for a mess of pottage. From
here Joseph started on his fateful journey to
Egypt.
A remarkably interesting relic affected by the
war is the monastery of 81. Catherine, on Mount
Sinai, shown in one of the accompanying photo
graphs. This occupies the traditional spot where
the Lord delivered the ten commandments to
Moses.
In the library of this monastery was recently