* Recent excavations in Palestine have thrown considerable light on Troglodyte dwellings, see PEFSt, 1903, jip. 20-23.
t Wetzstein, Reiseherieht iiber Hauran und die Trachonen, p. 44 ff.
J Nowack, Bebrdische Archdologie, i. 136.
§ Conder, Tent Work in Palestine, p. 145.
II PEFSt, 1903, p. 31.1.
11 Jewish Encycl. iii. 634.
*• See PEFSt, 1902, pp. 347-356 ; 1003, pp. 14-20 ; 1904, pp. 18-20, 113, lU.
tICf. also Tobler, Bethlehem in Paldstina, pp. 145-159; Palmer, ' Das jetzige Bethlehem ' in ZDP V' xvii. p. 89 ff.
5J 0^). ci'(. p. 145.
bling the Eethlehem grotto. Such stables I have planned and measured at Tetoa, 'Aziz, and other places south of Bethlehem, and the mangers exist- ing in them leave no doubt as to their use and character.' It seems, therefore, not unreasonable to accept the ancient tradition that Christ was born in a cave. See art. Bethlehem.
Rock-hewn tombs, or caves for burial, were of four distinct kinds: (1) tombs which were cut down into the rock, in the same way in which graves are dug at the present time in European countries ; the body was let down into these ; (2) tombs cut into the face of the rock, into which the bodies were pushed ; (3) tombs, somewhat like the last class, excepting that within, against the wall, there was a kind of step, about two feet high, upon which the body was laid ; (4) tombs which were little more than a shelf cut into the rock, just long enough and high enough to hold the body. The first three of these classes varied very much in size ; in the case of the first, the top', which was level with the ground, was covered with a stone slab ; the others were closed by means of a stone slab which could be pushed aside (Mt 27™), or else a small door was fixed at the entrance. Tombs were not infrequently furnished with an antechamber, from which one entered into an inner space, the tomb proper, through a low door- way. As a rule, a raised shelf ran round the burial-chamber, and upon this the body was laid ; that part on which the head rested was slightly higher.* See BURIAL, TOMB.
The data to be gathered from the Gospels are not numerous; see Mt 27«'', Mk 15*^ Lk 23^^', Jn Ips 201-12.
LrreRATmiE.— Guthe in ZDPV, ' Ziir Topographic derGrabcs- kirche in Jerusalem,' xiv. 35-40 ; Schick mZDPV,' Neu aufge- deckte Graber,' xvi. 202-205, where a verv interesting plate is given ; T. Tobler, Bethlehem in Paldstina, pp. 124-227, S. Gallon, 1849 ; Badeker, Palestine and Siiria^, p. cxi «., Leipzig, 1898 ; the references, given aboie, in PEFSt. See also W. R Smith, PS 197 f., and the ' Index of Subjects ' in Hastings' DB, Extra Volume. "W. O. E. OesTERLEY.
CELIBACY.— According to the ordinary Jewish view, marriage was of universal obligation (cf. for instance, Ycbamoth vi. 6 ; Kctlutboth v. 6, 7 ; Gittin iv. 5). There does not appear to be evi- dence whether exceptions were recognized as pos- sible because of some special vocation, as that to particular forms of the prophetic office. In the time of Christ the Essenes in general eschewed marriage, though one section of them practised it (Josephus, Ant. xvill. i. 5; BJ u. viii. 2). The teaching of Christ does not contain any explicit reference to this ditt'erence between the Essene practice and the ordinary Jewish view. His teach- ing about divorce and His reassertion of the primi- tive law of marriage (Mt S^'- ''- 19"-^ Mk 101-'=, Lk 16") imply not only that He was dealing with mar- riage as an existing Jewish institution, but also that He contemplated it as a permanent element in Christian life. It is not unnatural to draw a similar inference from His presence at the mar- riage at Cana (Jn 21-").
St. Matthew records a saying of Christ in which it is contemplated that by a special vocation some are called to celibacy. Christ's prohibition of divorce led the disciples to say that, without free- dom to divorce, 'it is not expedient to marry.' Our Lord in His reply recoL;nized that there are some for whom this 'saying' of the disciples is true, but only those 'to wlioiii it is given.' He explained that there were three classes who might be regarded as having tlie vocation to celibacy: — (1) ' Eunuchs which were so born from their
•NoTack, Hcb. Arch. i. 191; Benzinger, Heh. Areh. pp. 325-227 ; Latham, The Ptsen Master, pp. 3211., 87, 88, and see the twoUlu ■
CKLtDACY
CELLAR
mother's womb,' i.e. tliose ^vhose physical consti- tution unfitted them for marriage ; (2) eunuc Us which were made eunuclis by men, i.e. those who bv actual physical deprivation or compulsion froni men are prevented frM>n „::n,v,n. (Alford); 3) ' eunuchs wliich made ll.. -:>- l^ - . ■,nuclis for the kingdom of heaven's sak. , ,. . t!.u~u who by volun- tary self -sacrifice abstaiiRd liom uiairiage in order that they might be ('() more faithlul citizens ot the kingdom of heaven in tlieir own personal life, or (b) more eiiective instruments for the strength- ening or expansion of the kingdom of heaven. He then repeated in a ditierent form 'He that is able to receive it, let liim receive it' (Mt 19« "), the previous statement that the ' saying of the dis- ciples, to which He had thus given a higlier and deeper meaning, was not a maxim for all His tol- lowers, but only for tliose who, having the Divine call to the celibate life, had Avith it the Divine gilt of power to obey the call. Tins pat luiilur >a> m'j. is not recorded by any of the l.i airji li-l - \" I'l St. Matthew. Thereisaconne.t .1 Inn -i t l,o,i::i,i . liowever, in ^vords recorded I .y '^'- '^''';'V,,l; .,, i Lk 18^-™ (also in Til and RVm ot JNlt IJ- aii'i in TR of Mk 10'-') a wife is mentioned among those relatives whom Christ contemplates His disciples as leaving for the sake of the langdom of God (Lk.), or for His name's sake (Mt ), oi for His sake and the sake of the gospel (Mk.) ; and it is promised that those who make such acts ot selt- sacrifice shall receive great rewards in the present time and shall hereafter inherit eternal life. In Mt 19^ and Mk 10" the warning that many tha,t are first shall be last ; and the l\\t first ^s a/^""" ated with this promise ; and in Mt 20"= the par- able of the Labourers in the Vineyard is added to illustrate that maxim.