It was a great indignity for a corpse to remain unburied and become food for the beasts of prey (2 S 21"'- ", 1 K 13-» 14" 16* 21", 2 K 9'», Jer 7** 8' gsj 1416 164, Ezk 295, Ps 79^, Rev IP), and uncovered blood cried for vengeance (Ezk 24'"-; cf. also Ezk 39"'"), — the idea being the same as among other peoples, that the unburied dead would not only mflict trouble upon his family, but bring defile- ment and a curse upon the whole land. Even malefactors, as we have seen, were allowed the privilege of burial (Dt 21"- ^) ; and the denial of it to the sons of Rizpah gave occasion for the touchin" story of her self-denying care of the dead (2 S 2110.11) j(; ^vas an otligation binding upon all to bury the dead found by the way (To 1'' 2").
The dead body was carried to the grave upon a bier or litter — Heb. mittak, a bed (2 S 3", cf. Lk 7'* and 2 K 13"). The bier was a simple flat board borne on two or three staves by which the bearers carried it to the grave. Coffins were unknown among the Israelites, as they are among the E. Jews to this day; the coffin in which the embalmed remains of Joseph were preserved being the only one mentioned in Scripture (unless Asa's bed, 2 Ch 16", be another), and being in conformity, not with Jewish but Egyp. usage (Gn 50* ; cf. Ex 13'", Jos 24*"). A procession of mourners, with professional mourning women leading the way, followed, who made the air resound with their lamentations (Ec 12', Jer 9", Am 5". See MOURNINO). A funeral procession among the Jews at the present day always moves swiftly along the road, because there are supiiosed to be innumerable Sfu'dbn, or evil spirits, hovering about, and desirous to attack the soul, which is considered to be in tlie body until interment takes place and the corjise is covered with earth. When the body is let down, the bier ia withdravNTi, and a heap of stones is piled over the shallow grave to preserve the dead from the depre- dations of hya;nas and jackals. It was the belief of the Jews that the dead did not cease to be. There was a gathering place of the departed, commonly called Sheol among the Jews, and known also to the Greeks and Babylonians, where a kind of family life was preserved in the under-world. In accord-
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BUKST, BURSTING
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ance with that belief, tlie dead were buried Ln the sepulchres of their lathers when it was at all possible Machpelah was the family buryingplace of Abraham and Sarah and their descendants and connexions (Gn 25'° 49^' 50"), although there were notable exceptions — Rachel being buried where she died on the way to Ephrath, which is Bethlehem (Gn 35" li) ; and Joseph in Sheeheni, the parcel of ground which Jacob bought of the sons of Uamor (Jos 24'-). Among the Israelites, all who possessed any land, or who could allord it, had their family tombs hewn out of the rock in the hillside, each sepulchre containing many niches for the reception ot bodies. Many generations of a family could thus be placed in the ancestraJ tomb, and countless numbers of such tombs are to be found all over the country. Of this Machpelah is the first example (Gn 2,3). Joshua was buried in the border of his inheritance at Timnath-serah (Jos 24**). Samuel was buried in his house at Ramah (1 S 25'). Joab was buried in his o^vn house in the wilderness (1 K 2*^). In the days of the kingdom special mention is made of the burial of kings. Manasseh, king of Judah, was buried in the garden of his own house, in the garden of Uzza (2 K 21'*) ; and of Amon, his son, it IS said that he also was buried in his sepulchre in the garden of Uzza (2 K 21*). Josiah seems to have been buried in the same tomb as his father and grandfather (2 K 23*"). At the burial of some of the kin»3 (Asa is singled out by the Chronicler for special notice, 2 Cli 16'*) there was burning of aromatic wood and fragrant spices (Jer 34°) ; but there were exceptions in the case of unpopular and wicked kings, of whom Jehoram, the son of Jehoshaphat, is specially mentioned (2 Ch 21"). Of Jehoiakim it was prophesied that there would be none to lament for liiin, and that he should be buried with the burial of an ass (Jer 22"), his dead Imdy simply drafted out of sight and left to decay « liere it lay.
The graves of the dead were variously made. They were sometimes simply dug in the earth, as in this country, and as, in fact, they are among the E. Jews at the present day. Sometimes natural caves or grottoes were used as graves. And often they were hewn out in the roc\, and provided, as we have seen, with galleries and chambers. In times of oppression fugitives found shelter in these rocky tombs (Jg 6», 1 S 13», He W) ; and in the time of our Lord poor creatures possessed with demons took up their abode in them (Mk 5"-'). The hills and valleys around Jems, were honeycombed with these rock-hewn sepulchres of the dead. To the rnouth of the sepulchral cave a stone was rolled to protect the remains deposited within from the ravages of wild beasts (Jn U**, Mt 28'). Tombs were sometimes very spacious. In Joseph's tomb, where Jesus was laid, there was room for several persona (Mk 16'"'). It is quite in accord;inco with this that we find in a famous passage of K/.k (ch. 32), Sheol represented as a vast burying-place, not of individuals, but of nations. The place of liurial in NT times was outside the cities and villajjes (Lk 7'", Jn ll"), and the instinct that seeks a quiet grave and the shade of trees for the resting-place of our dead influenced the choice of a burying-place in the earliest times (Gn 2;j" 35«, 1 S 31'', Jn 19*'). There was public provision made for the burial of strangers (ilt 27') ; and there was at Jerus. in the closin" days of the monarchy a public burying- ground (Jer 20^), probably where it is to this day, between the city wall and the Kidron Valley.