- published: 21 Dec 2015
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Mamre ([pronunciation?]; Hebrew: מַמְרֵא), full Hebrew name Elonei Mamre ("Oaks/Terebinths of Mamre"), refers to a Canaanite cultic shrine dedicated to the supreme, sky god of the Canaanite pantheon, El.Talmudic sources refer to the site as Beth Ilanim or Botnah. it was one of the three most important "fairs", market place or caravanserai, in Palestine. It lies approximately half way between Halhul and Hebron, (heading north from Hebron to Halhul at the intersection of the Halhul/Hebron road and the 3507, one turns right on to the 3507 towards Jericho [away from Bayt Jibrin] and Mamre is to be found some 500 yards further down, on the left).
Bronze age pottery shards found at the site may indicate that the cultic shrine was in use from 2600-2000 BCE. Mamre, in the biblical account, was the site where Abraham came to set up his tents to camp, built an altar, and was brought divine tidings, in the guise of three angels, of Sarah's pregnancy, while elsewhereit is called 'the Terebinths of Mamre the Amorite'. Mamre being the name of one of the three Amorite chiefs who joined forces with those of Abraham in pursuit of Chedorlaomer to save Lot. (Gen. 14:13,24) The discrepancy is often explained as reflecting the discordance between the different scribal traditions behind the composition of the Pentateuch, the former relating to the Yahwist, the latter to the Elohist recension, according to the documentary hypothesis of modern scholarship.