Cave

There are numerous natural caves among the limestone rocks of Syria, many of which have been artificially enlarged for various purposes. The first notice of a cave occurs in the history of Lot (Gen. 19:30). The next we read of is the cave of Machpelah (q.v.), which Abraham purchased from the sons of Heth (Gen. 25:9, 10). It was the burying-place of Sarah and of Abraham himself, also of Isaac, Rebekah, Leah, and Jacob (Gen. 49:31; 50:13). The cave of Makkedah, into which the five Amorite kings retired after their defeat by Joshua (10:16, 27). The cave of Adullam (q.v.), an immense natural cavern, where David hid himself from Saul (1 Sam. 22:1, 2). The cave of Engedi (q.v.), now called Ain Jidy, i.e., the "Fountain of the Kid", where David cut off the skirt of Saul's robe (24:4). Here he also found a shelter for himself and his followers to the number of 600 (23:29; 24:1). "On all sides the country is full of caverns which might serve as lurking-places for David and his men, as they do for outlaws at the present day." The cave in which Obadiah hid the prophets (1 Kings 18:4) was probably in the north, but it cannot be identified. The cave of Elijah (1 Kings 19:9), and the "cleft" of Moses on Horeb (Ex. 33:22), cannot be determined. In the time of Gideon the Israelites took refuge from the Midianites in dens and caves, such as abounded in the mountain regions of Manasseh (Judg. 6:2). Caves were frequently used as dwelling-places (Num. 24:21; Cant. 2:14; Jer. 49:16; Obad. 1:3). "The excavations at Deir Dubban, on the south side of the wady leading to Santa Hanneh, are probably the dwellings of the Horites," the ancient inhabitants of Idumea Proper. The pits or cavities in rocks were also sometimes used as prisons (Isa. 24:22; 51:14; Zech. 9:11). Those which had niches in their sides were occupied as burying-places (Ezek. 32:23; John 11:38).

or CAVERNS. The country of Judea, being mountainous and rocky, is in many parts full of caverns, to which allusions frequently occur in the Old Testament. At Engedi, in particular, there was a cave so large, that David, with six hundred men, hid themselves in the sides of it, and Saul entered the mouth of the cave without perceiving that any one was there, 1 Sam. xxiv. Josephus tells us of a numerous gang of banditti, who, having infested the country, and being pursued by Herod with his army, retired into certain caverns, almost inaccessible, near Arbela in Galilee, where they were with great difficulty subdued. “Beyond Damascus,” says Strabo, “are two mountains, called Trachones, from which the country has the name of Trachonitis; and from hence, toward Arabia and Iturea, are certain rugged mountains, in which there are deep caverns; one of which will hold four thousand men.” Tavernier, in his “Travels in Persia,” speaks of a grotto between Aleppo and Bir, that would hold near three thousand horse. And Maundrel assures us, that “three hours distant from Sidon, about a mile from the sea, there runs along a high rocky mountain, in the sides of which are hewn a multitude of grottoes, all very little differing from each other. They have entrances about two foot square. There are of these subterraneous caverns two hundred in number. It may, with probability, at least, be concluded that these places were contrived for the use of the living, and not of the dead.” These extracts may be useful in explaining such passages of Scripture as the following: “Because of the Midianites, the children of Israel made them dens which are in the mountains, and caves, and strong holds,” Judges vi, 2. To these they betook themselves for refuge in times of distress and hostile invasion:--“When the men of Israel saw that they were in a strait, for the people were distressed, then the people did hide themselves in caves, and in thickets, and in rocks, and in high places, and in pits,” 1 Sam. xiii, 6. See also Jer. xli, 9: “To enter into the holes of the rocks and into the caves of the earth,” became with the prophets a very proper and familiar image to express a state of terror and consternation. Thus Isa. ii, 19: “They shall go into the holes of the rocks, and into the caves of the earth, for fear of the Lord, and for the glory of his majesty, when he ariseth to shake terribly the earth.”