The City of the Four: Where Giants Dwell and Promise Awakens

There is a place in the land of Canaan whose very name whispers of strength and sorrow, of ancient giants and a covenant yet unfulfilled. The name is Qiryath Arba, appearing nine times in the sacred scrolls, a city that bears the weight of a father’s legacy and the hope of a patriarch’s tears. It is called “the city of Arba,” or as the sages teach, “the city of the four”—a name that speaks not merely of a man but of a mystery woven into the letters of the Hebrew tongue. The paleo-Hebrew letters of קִרְיַת (Qiryath) picture a meeting place, a walled gathering, while אַרְבַּע (Arba) carries the sound and shape of the number four. This is no ordinary town; it is a threshold where the old world of the Nephilim meets the new world of God’s promise.

The Naming of a Giant: A Father’s Shadow Over Hebron

The ancient writings of Israel tell us that Qiryath Arba was named after Arba, the father of the Anakim, a race of giants who filled the land with fear (Joshua 14:15). The name itself is a memorial—a city of four, perhaps for the four sons of Anak, or as the rabbis of old observed, for the four great figures buried in its soil: Adam, Abraham, Sarah, and Isaac. Yet the primary meaning is rooted in a man whose stature loomed over the hills of Hebron. Arba was not a king in the common sense; he was a progenitor of terror, a name that made the hearts of Israel’s spies melt like wax. The city was his fortress, his legacy carved into stone. But the Lord God, who sees the end from the beginning, had another purpose for this place. The very name that spoke of human strength would become the stage for divine faithfulness.

Abraham’s Tent and the Covenant of the Four

Before the city was called Hebron, it was Qiryath Arba, and here the father of faith pitched his tent. It was in this valley of the giants that Abraham built an altar to the Lord (Genesis 13:18), a place where heaven touched earth. The sages teach that the number four in this name hints at the four covenants God made with Abraham: the promise of land, the promise of seed, the covenant of circumcision, and the binding of Isaac. Each covenant was a stone laid in the foundation of redemption. When Sarah died, Abraham purchased the cave of Machpelah in Qiryath Arba as a burial plot (Genesis 23:2). This was no mere transaction; it was a declaration of faith. He buried his beloved in the city of the giants, planting the seed of promise in the very ground that seemed to defy it. The city of the four became the city of the patriarchs, a place where death itself was swallowed up in the hope of resurrection.

The Spies and the Fear That Paralyzed a Generation

When Moses sent the twelve spies into the land, they came to Qiryath Arba and saw the sons of Anak (Numbers 13:22). The name of the city was a taunt to their faith. They saw the giants, and their hearts failed them. “We are like grasshoppers in our own sight,” they cried, “and so we were in their sight” (Numbers 13:33). The ancient Jewish wisdom holds that the fear of the four—the four directions of the earth, the four winds of heaven—was a fear of being scattered and consumed. The city of Arba represented the strength of the world arrayed against the people of God. Yet Caleb, whose spirit was different, stood alone. He knew that the city of the four was also the city of the covenant. He remembered Abraham’s altar. He trusted that the God who promised the land was greater than any giant who occupied it.

The Conquest: Caleb’s Inheritance and the Slaying of Giants

Forty-five years later, Caleb stood before Joshua and asked for the mountain of Qiryath Arba (Joshua 14:12-14). He was eighty-five years old, but his strength was undiminished. The sages observe that Caleb did not ask for an easy inheritance; he asked for the place of greatest resistance. He drove out the three sons of Anak—Sheshai, Ahiman, and Talmai—and renamed the city Hebron, a name meaning “association” or “fellowship.” The city of the four became the city of communion. This is the pattern of the Kingdom: where giants once ruled, fellowship with God now dwells. The early church understood this as a picture of the Messiah, who would enter the stronghold of death and cast out its rulers. Qiryath Arba was not destroyed; it was redeemed. Its stones were washed in the blood of conquest, and its name was changed to speak of peace.

The Gematria of 983: The Fullness of the Promise

The numerical value of Qiryath Arba is 983, a number that carries deep significance in the Hebrew mind. The rabbis of old would meditate on such numbers, seeking the hidden threads of Scripture. The number 983 can be understood as 900 (the letter Tsade, meaning righteousness) plus 80 (the letter Pe, meaning mouth) plus 3 (the letter Gimel, meaning to lift up or to nourish). Together, these letters whisper of a righteous mouth that lifts up the weary. In the Tanakh, the number 983 also shares a connection with the phrase “the blessing of the Lord” (ברכת יהוה), for the gematria of those words aligns with this total. Qiryath Arba, the city of giants, is also the city of blessing. Its number teaches that the place of greatest opposition is the place where God’s provision is most abundant. The four corners of the earth, the four winds, the four living creatures—all speak of the fullness of creation being brought under the blessing of the Most High.

Messianic Fulfillment: The True Son of Arba and the Conquering King

How does Qiryath Arba point to Yeshua? The letter of the law tells of a city named for a giant; the Spirit reveals the Son of God who conquers all giants. Yeshua walked the hills of Hebron, the city once called Qiryath Arba, and He knew the stories of Abraham and Caleb. In the Gospels, we see Him confronting the strongholds of sin and death with a word of authority. The early church saw in Caleb a type of the Messiah—one who enters the land of the enemy and claims it for the Kingdom. But Yeshua did more than drive out giants; He became the seed of Abraham buried in the cave of Machpelah in a spiritual sense, for His body was laid in a tomb and on the third day He rose. The city of the four, where four generations of patriarchs were buried, now points to the One who opened the graves of the righteous. The sages say that the number four also recalls the four letters of the divine Name, Yod-He-Waw-He, the Name that cannot be spoken but is present in every corner of creation. Yeshua is the living embodiment of that Name, the One who dwells in the city of fellowship—Hebron—and invites all who are weary of giants to come under His wing.

Your Inheritance Awaits in the City of the Four

Beloved reader, you have stood at the gates of Qiryath Arba many times without knowing it. Every giant you face—fear, doubt, the memory of past failure—is a son of Anak in your promised land. But you are not a spy sent to scout the land; you are a Caleb, called to take possession. The Lord God has given you a mountain, and its name is fellowship with Him. Do not let the height of the walls or the size of the enemy make you forget the altar Abraham built there. You have a covenant sealed in the blood of the Lamb, and the city of the four is being renamed in your heart. Walk forward, for the blessing of the Lord goes before you, and the number of your inheritance is complete. Shalom.