<= = = Mr. Comfort, if Abraham was buried in a cave, and this is the spot, it does not look like a cave, it looks like a building. What's up with that?
It is a building, a building with a lot of history. It is the oldest site in Jewish history, but like the temple mount, we are denied. Do you know that Jews can only enter Ohel Yitzhak ten days a year? It is under Muslim control to some extent, but we regained access in 1967. Today there are areas for both Muslim and Jewish worship.
< = = = Who built the building?
None other than Herod the Great, it is actually the best condition Herodian building still standing. Herod simply enclosed the cave, there was no roof. Today it is most commonly called the cave of the Patriarchs as all but Rachel are buried there.
< = = = Is it a thin place?
No. I'm sure it wants to be, but with the striving for control with multiple religious, it, like the Temple Mount is rather thick. Anyway, let's finish this last story in the life of Patriarch Abraham.
Abraham lived for 175 years, and he died at a ripe old age, joining his ancestors in death. His sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him in the cave of Machpelah, near Mamre, about half way between the Dead Sea and the Mediterranean in the field of Ephron son of Zohar the Hittite. All of the Patriarchs and Matriarchs are buried there except Rachel, who was buried near Bethlehem. This was the field Abraham had purchased from the Hittites, at full price, where he had buried his wife Sarah.
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