Mamre

Mamre, a place near Hebron where Abraham lived and built an altar to the Lord (Genesis 13:18; 18:1).

Mamre was a location near Hebron in Canaan, closely associated with the life of Abraham. It was at Mamre that Abraham pitched his tent and built an altar to the Lord (Genesis 13:18). Abraham's allies, Mamre, Eshcol, and Aner, lived in this area (Genesis 14:13, 24). The Lord appeared to Abraham at Mamre, accompanied by three men, and promised that Sarah would bear a son (Genesis 18:1-15). The cave of Machpelah, which Abraham purchased as a burial site for his family, was located in the field of Ephron the Hittite, near Mamre (Genesis 23:17-19; 25:9; 49:30; 50:13). Abraham, Isaac, and Israel (or 'Jacob') all lived at Mamre (Genesis 35:27).

The name of the place in the neighbourhood of Hebron (q.v.) where Abraham dwelt (Gen. 23:17, 19; 35:27); called also in Authorized Version (13:18) the “plain of Mamre,” but in Revised Version more correctly “the oaks [marg., ‘terebinths’] of Mamre.” The name probably denotes the “oak grove” or the “wood of Mamre,” thus designated after Abraham’s ally.

This “grove” must have been within sight of or “facing” Machpelah (q.v.). The site of Mamre has been identified with Ballatet Selta, i.e., “the oak of rest”, where there is a tree called “Abraham’s oak,” about a mile and a half west of Hebron. Others identify it with er-Rameh, 2 miles north of Hebron.