Mamre was both the name of a person as well as a place. Both the person and the location are associated with the same geographical region, and it is a matter of debate whether the name of the one was derived from or otherwise dependent on the other.
The Person: Mamre is mentioned 4x in Genesis as the Amorite on whose land Abram pitched his tent and who later became his ally, together with Eshcol and Aner, in the rescue of Lot when the latter was taken captive in the wars between the king of Shinar and his rebellious vassals (Gen 14).
CONCORDANCE:
Gen. 13:18 — So Abram went to live near the great trees of Mamre at Hebron, where he pitched his tents. There he built an altar to the Lord.
Gen. 14:13 — A man who had escaped came and reported this to Abram the Hebrew. Now Abram was living near the great trees of Mamre the Amorite, a brother of Eshkol and Aner, all of whom were allied with Abram.
Gen. 14:24 — I will accept nothing but what my men have eaten and the share that belongs to the men who went with me—to Aner, Eshkol and Mamre. Let them have their share."
Gen. 18:1 — The Lord appeared to Abraham near the great trees of Mamre while he was sitting at the entrance to his tent in the heat of the day.
The Place: The location about 3km from modern Hebron where, most famously, Abraham entertained the Lord in the three men who came to him and prophecied that Sarah would soon become preganant (Gen 18:1). Isaac eventually made his home there (35:27). Nearby also was a small village called Machpelah and there Abraham had purchased a field and buried his wife Sarah in a cave there (Gen 23:17 & 19); here too was Abraham buried when he died (25:9), as well as Jacob and Leah (49:30).
CONCORDANCE (NIV)
Gen. 23:17 — So Ephron's field in Machpelah near Mamre—both the field and the cave in it, and all the trees within the borders of the field—was deeded
Gen. 23:19 — Afterward Abraham buried his wife Sarah in the cave in the field of Machpelah near Mamre (which is at Hebron) in the land of Canaan.
Gen. 25:9 — His sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him in the cave of Machpelah near Mamre, in the field of Ephron son of Zohar the Hittite,
Gen. 35:27 — Jacob came home to his father Isaac in Mamre, near Kiriath Arba (that is, Hebron), where Abraham and Isaac had stayed.
Gen. 49:30 — the cave in the field of Machpelah, near Mamre in Canaan, which Abraham bought along with the field as a burial place from Ephron the Hittite.
Gen. 50:13 — They carried him to the land of Canaan and buried him in the cave in the field of Machpelah, near Mamre, which Abraham had bought along with the field as a burial place from Ephron the Hittite.
Mamre, manliness. (1.) An Amoritish chief in alliance with Abraham Ge 14:13,24 (2.) The name of the place in the neighbourhood of Hebron (q.v.) where Abraham dwelt Ge 23:17,19 35:27 called also in Authorized Version Ge 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.
Mamre An ancient Amorite. Gen. 13:18, "the plain (rather the oaks or terebinths) of Mamre"; Gen. 14:13,24, brother of Eshcol, friend and ally of Abraham. The chieftain had planted the terebinths, or was associated with them as his tenting place; so "the oak of Deborah" (Judg. 4:5). Mamre was less than a mile from Hebron (Josephus, B. J. 4:9, section 7); but Robinson makes it two Roman miles off, now the hill er Rameh. Constantine, to suppress the superstitions veneration to the terebinths, erected a basilica or church on the spot. That it was on an elevation appears from the record that Machpelah faces it (Gen. 23:17-19; 25:9). Abram resided under the oak grove shade in the interval between his stay at Bethel and at Beersheba (Gen. 13:18; 18:1; 20:1; 21:31). If Machpelah be on the N.E. side of the Hebron valley, then Mamre as "facing it" must have been on the opposite slope, where the governor's house now is. (See HEBRON.)
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