Bible Dictionary
Sepulchre
A sepulchre is a burial place or tomb. Scripture refers especially to the family tomb purchased by Abraham and later associated with the burial of the patriarchs and their wives.
Definition
A sepulchre is a burial place or tomb. In the biblical account, Abraham purchased the cave of Machpelah from Ephron the Hittite as a family burial place for Sarah, and it became associated with the burials of the patriarchs and their wives.
Biblical Usage
The sepulchre is connected with the burial of Sarah, Abraham, Rebekah, Jacob, and Leah. Acts also speaks of the fathers being laid in a sepulchre bought from the sons of Emmor, a passage for which a proposed reconciliation with Genesis is supplied.
Historical Background
The sources distinguish the purchase of Machpelah from a later purchase by Jacob in the region of Shechem as a possible explanation of the apparent difference between Acts and Genesis.
Scripture References
Related Figures
Historical Bible Dictionaries
Easton's Bible Dictionary
First mentioned as purchased by Abraham for Sarah from Ephron the Hittite (Gen. 23:20). This was the “cave of the field of Machpelah,” where also Abraham and Rebekah and Jacob and Leah were burried (79:29-32). In Acts 7:16 it is said that Jacob was “laid in the sepulchre that Abraham bought for a sum of money of the sons of Emmor the father of Sychem.” It has been proposed, as a mode of reconciling the apparent discrepancy between this verse and Gen. 23:20, to read Acts 7:16 thus: “And they [i.e., our fathers] were carried over into Sychem, and laid in the sepulchre that Abraham bought for a sum of money of the sons of Emmor [the son] of Sychem.” In this way the purchase made by Abraham is not to be confounded with the purchase made by Jacob subsequently in the same district. Of this purchase by Abraham there is no direct record in the Old Testament. (See TOMB.)
Smith's Bible Dictionary
[Burial, Sepulchres]
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (ISBE)
<p>sep'-ul-ker (2Ch 21:20; 32:33; Joh 19:41 f; Ac 2:29, etc.).</p><p>See BURIAL; JERUSALEM, VIII.</p>