Besides the heaping of stones on ordinary graves for protection, stones and pillars were set up as memorials of the dead (Ezk 39", 2 K 23", wtiere RV reads, ' What monument is that which I see ? ' Mid the reference is not toa titleoi inicriplion, but to
a sepulchral pillar). Jacob set a pillar upon Rachel's grave (Gn 35-"), and Rachel's tomb is a monument of her pathetic story to this day. On the road from Engedi to Petra, on the crest where the tirpt view of Mount Hor is obtained, is a conspicuous cairn, which we are told marks the burying-place of Aaron. There is no express mention of the Pj-ramids of Egypt in Scripture, but it is possible that ' the desolate places ' said by Job to have been built by kings and counsellors of the earth (Job 3'*) refer to them. Absalom's grave in the wood of Ephraim had a heap of stones raised over it (2 S 18") ; but this, as in the case of Achan (Jos T"), was not for honour, but for contumely.
There is no religious service at funerals among the Jews of the E., and there is no indication that there was any in Bible times. There is little in their burial customs to indicate belief in a resurrection ; but the belief of a resurrection, as well as of a future life, obtains Avidely among the Jews in every land. At this hour thou.saiids of Jewish graves on the sides of the Valley of Jehoshapliat, where the Jews have come from all lands to be buried, bear witness to the belief that associates the coming of the Messiah with a blessed resurrection. They hold that Messiah will descend upon the Mt. of Olives, and will pass throutrh these resting-places of the dead as He enters in glory the Holy City.
LrmaATTTRl. — Ketl, Bib. Arek. II. 109 ff. ; Nowack, Hfb. Arch. L 187 fl. : Artt, BrgrdhnLsg in HerzO(?, RE, and Riehm'a liih. Lex. ; * Burial 'and 'Tomba' in Kitto,6'yc/., and Smith, DB; White-house, Primer o/ Upb. A ntiq. ; Tlioniaon, Land and Book (S. Pal. and Jeru8., Bee ' Funerals ' in Index) ; Tristram, E. Cugtortw in Bible Land9 ; Mackie, Bible Mannerg and Ctutomt ; Sayce, Social Life among Assyr. and Bab. ; Series of art. in JQR' on * Death and Buri&l Customs among the Jews,' by A. P. Bender, 1694^ 189«. T. NiCOL.
BDRIER, a very old word for grave-digger, is found in Ezk 39" 'till the buriers have buried it in the Valley of Hamon-gog,' where it was introduced by the Wyclilito version of 1382. J. Hastings.
BURNING.— See Burial, Cremation, Crimes, Sacrifice.
BURNING BUSH.— In the account of the call of Moses, given by the prophetic narrative of the Pent. (JE), the Angel of J" is represented as appearing to Moses ' in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush,' Ex 3'"*. The word for bush in the original (.ijc) is found only in this passage and in the reference thereto in Dt 33'°. Its derivation is unknown, and we have no means of ascertaining what species of shrub is referred to. See IJusii.
The expression used by our Lord in the parallel passages Jlk 12-", Lk '20^' {vl toO (t-^s) pirov, illus- trates the then current method of referring to passages of the Scriptures, the reference in this ca.se being to the section of the Torah or Pent, in which the incident of the burning bush is related (cf. Bo IP 'in Elias'). Hence the RV rendering : ' in the place concerning the bush.'
A. R. S. Kennedy.
BURNT-OFFERING See Saciuficb.
BURST, BURSTING.— 1. Of the death of Judas it is .said (Ac 1'") that ' falling headlong, he burst asunder in the midst.' The verb tr'' * b. asunder ' (\iaKuj) is always in classical Gr. (this is its only occurrence in NT or LXX) used of making a loud noise, ' to crack ' ; here it is bursting accompanied with noise. 2. In Pr 3" ' thy presses shall b. out with now wine ' (pj, RV 'overflow'), ' h. out' is used ' liyperbolically, as a strong exi)re.ssion for to be exuberantly full,' ace. to Ox/. En(j. Diet., which has found only another exam|>le (without 'out') — tfomi/t«* (1663) ' thy presses shall b. with
new -nTne.' But cf. the common phrase ' ready to b.,' and Sir 19'" ' If thou hast heard a word, let it die with thee ; and be bold, it will not b. thee.' 3. Bursting in Is 30", ' there shall not be found in the b. of it a sherd to take fire from the hearth,' has the obsol. sense of ' breaking into fragments' (Heb. 'in/^;03 'in the breaking up,' abstr. for concr. ; Vulg. de fragmentU ejiis ; RV •among the pieces thereof). Cf. —
• You will not pay for the glasses you have burst T *
ShokB. Tain, qf the Shrew. ^ Indue. I. 8.
J. Hastings.
BUSH (njp sfneh, piroi, ruhus). — The etymology of this word sheds no light on the kind of bush in which J" appeared to Moses (Ex 3^' '■ *, Dt 33"). It undoubtedly refers to a thorny shrub. Geseniua seems to imply that there is a connexion between it and senna. This is, however, not so, as the senna plant is not thorny, and is too insijfnifi- cant a bush (not more than 2 to 3 ft. high) to liave been chosen for the theophany. The translation ^c1to5, in the LXX, ^ves the opinion of the scholars of that time m favour of the bramble (Rubus, blackberry). Rubus discolor, W. et Nees, grows everywhere in Pal. and Syria. R. tomen- tosus, Borckh., grows in Syria and northward ; its var. collinus, Boiss. , grows along the coast of Pal. and Syria, and in the lower mountains. A bush of this has been planted by the monks of the convent of St. Catherine in Sinai, in the rear of the chapel of the Burning Bush, and testifies to their opmion that this was the bush in question. But Rubus has not been found wild in Sinai, which is south of its range, and climatically unsuited to it.