W. J. Henderson. TOLL.— See Publican, and Keceipt of Custom.
TOMB, GRAYE, SEPULCHRE.—
The terms ' tomb ' and ' sepulchre ' are used in AV in- differently to tr. fj.vYiiJ.uo'i, u.riiij.a,, and ru^oi. ' Grave ' is used 8 times (Mt 2752. 53, Lk 11«, Jn 528 1117. 31. 38 1217) as rendering of /xr/i/zet/>v. This last is by far the most frequent Greek word, f/.viifMx. occurring only in Mk 53.5 1546, Lk 82? 2353 241. The usage of the RV is as follows. ' Sepulchre ' is reserved as tr. of rxfo; (lit. ' burying-place ') : Mt 2327. 29 2761. 64. 66 281 [all the Gospel occurrences of tki^oj]. In all the other passages ' tomb' is substituted for ' sepulchre,' or retained where AV already has it, as tr. either of /*v»i^£7«» or fj.iii>fx.ec. ' Grave ' thus dis- appears entirely in RV.
The forms of sepulture that a people adopts depend partly upon religious belief, partly upon climate, partly upon the geological structure of the country. Among the Hebrews, while the con- ception of a personal resurrection arose only after the return from the Exile, the belief in Sheol as a place where the soul after death remained in some sort of connexion with the body did much to determine the disposal of the corpse and the nature of the tomb. Early in Hebrew history the burial customs became stereotyped. Between the days of Abraham and Jesus they underwent no essential modification.
1. Religious belief demanded (a) that the body should be buried (see Burial). The soul of the unburied person was su2)2)osed to have no rest, and even in Sheol the souls of such lurked in the corners (Is 14^^, Ezk32^3). Any one, therefore, who discovered a dead body was under a sacred obliga- tion to bury it. The soul of the body left un- buried was regarded as almost under a curse ( 1 K 14" le-* 2P% {b) That members of the same family should be buried, if possible, in the same tomb (Gn 47^^-^" 492»-3i, 2 S 19=*', 1 K W\ Neh 2^). For this reason the family tomb was often situated upon the family property. It was this dread of being buried apart from one's kith and kin that was one of the elements of the Hebrew's hatred of the sea (Rev 21^). (c) That, except under very exceptional circumstances, the family sepulchre should be reserved for the burial of members of the one family. There are no Hebrew monumental inscriptions ; but from Aramaean inscriptions calling down curses on any who should intrude their dead upon the dead already lying there, Ave can measure the intensity of feeling on this point. To allow a stranger to be buried in the family tomb was a sign of the very greatest magnanimity
and love (Mt 27s", Gn 23«). (d) That no body should be burned except as part of the jjunish- ment of the most odious of crimes (Lv 20^^ 2P, Jos 7-^). To burn the body of a foe Avas to do something that jjassed all the rights of belli- gerents (Am 2').
2. Climate demanded that interment sliould take place as soon as jDossible after death (Mt 923, Ac 5«- 1« 82).
3. The geological character of the country con- ditioned to a large extent the particular form of sepulture. The country is one long limestone ridge, and almost everyAvhere the hills are natur- ally terraced, Avhile the soft rock is easily AA'orked. But the simplicity of the HebreAv burial customs should be noticed. It is not a little remarkable that a people living betAveen tAvo such civilizations as those of Babylonia and Egypt, in Avhich the cult of the dead played so large a part, should have remained uninfluenced by such ornate and imposing ceremonial. The Jcavs did not embalm their dead. They raised no elaborate sepulchres over them ; indeed, the building of a sepulchral chamber was an innovation based on the practices of Greece. While this may have been due in some degree to the lack of artistic capacity in the Hebrew, it Avas due also to spiritual vicAvs of death, and to the dread of idolatry that had ahvays characterized the Semitic race. Wher- ever, in Syria or Arabia, Greek or Roman civiliza- tion has left some representation of the human body, the traveller finds that the face at least has been disfigured by the nomads.
The forms of sepulture Avere these : — (a) The simplest, though not the commonest, form Avas an excavation in the rock surface, roughly correspond- ing to the shape of the human body, and covered Avith a slab of stone countersunk till it Avas Ica'cI Avith the ground. All over Syria these primitive graves are to be met Avith. The Jcavs Avere most careful to keep the stone AvhitcAvashed, lest any should uuAvittingly Avalk over the grave and so incur ceremonial defilement. This kind of burial is referred to in Lk 1 1** ' Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for ye are as graves Avhich appear not, and the men that walk over them are not aAvare of them.' (b) A chamber Avas excavated in the limestone rock-face, and long narroAv recesses, perhaps six feet by tAvo, Avere cut into the rock at right angles to the face. The bodies, covered Avith the simplest of grave-clothes (Mt 27^9, Jn ll'M), Avere thrust into these. The recesses Avere knoAvn as kokim, and were fre- quently made of double Avidth, intended for the reception of tAvo bodies. Sometimes, but very rarely, a chamber Avould have only one recess ; generally it had several. It might, as in the case of the Tombs of the Kings and the Tombs of the Prophets, have one chamber opening ott' another, each chamber having many kokim. Three other forms of sepulture are in reality only modifica- tions or combinations of these tAvo main modes already mentioned, (c) Shelf tombs. Inside the chamber the recess for the body, instead of running in at right angles to the Avail, was simply cut parallel Avith the wall, and formed a shelf on Avhich the body Avas laid. The notable thing about many of these shelves is their narroAvness. (d) The .shelf Avas sometimes excavated so as to form a trough in Avhich the body Avas laid, (c) In the floor of the chamber itself, or in the passage leading from one chamber to another, a grave might be cut, as in («), and covered Avith a slab.