(2) Chambers with rectangular recesses called kokim, or loculi, for receiving the body. These were usually secured by means of slabs which were plastered and ceih^l. Some were cut in the face of the rock lengthwise. They are known as shelf- tombs ; others were cut at right angles to the sur- face of the wall, to a depth of 5 or 6 ft., the body being laid in with the feet towards the opening. The recesses were usually low, almost on a level with the floor of the chamber. It was probably in a shclftomb that our Lord was buried (Mt 27'°, Mk 15«, Lk ■23''-', Jn '20'-). Over the shelf, ledge, or trough, as the case might be, arches were usually cut. This ko/cim kind of sepulchre was
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SEPULCHRE
tlie family type. Sometimes double chambers were made, witli a rock-cut passage- way leading from one into the otlier. The so-c'alled 'Tombs of the Kin^;s' and 'Tombs of the Prophets' at Jerusalem are of this type. The Greeks built such sepulchres from '200 B.C. onwards. A heavj' stone door swinging in a socket, or a large rolling stone-disk, jirotected the entrance against robbers and other wilful violators (Mt 27*", Jn W). Curses were often invoked on those who would disturb the dead (cf. the inscription on Shakespeare's tomb at Stratford-on-Avon, 'And curs'd be he who moves my bones'). No outsider was allowed to bury in a private family sepulchre, because such tombs were holy ground. If unused and empty, they mi"ht be, indeed often were, occupied by outcasts and homeless ones who took refuge in them (Mk 5-). Chamber-tombs frequently had porches, vesti- bules, or antechambers. Even the single tomb might have its antechamber as well as its chamber proper. C. M. Doughty describes sepulchres of this type as existing in Arabia {Travels in Arabia Deserta, 1888, i. 108).
(3) Tombs built of stones. Masonry tombs are all of later date. Some of them, however, carry us as far back as the Greek Age. Certain very interesting antique examples still exist at Kadesh- Naphtali, Tell Hum, Malal, Teiasir, and 'Ain el- B'anieh. The one probably best known to the student of the Bible is the so-called Tomb of Rachel at the fork of the road leading to Beth- lehem. At Palmyra the most remarkable masonry tombs are to be seen. They are known as 'sepul- chral towers.' One stands 59 ft. high and contains a tomb-chamber 27 by 20 ft. in size. Other tombs built of masonry are to be found at KaVjbath Amnion, and formerly at Modin, the home of the Maccabees. In certain cases limestone sarcophagi, ornamented and higldy polished, received the dead. Not infrequently such tombs are revered by the Arabs as sacred, being regarded as the sepulchres of saints and heroes. The Arabs make pilgrim- ages to them, call them inakAins, and carefully guard them against all possible profanation. Religious services are frequently held at them, and votive oll'erings are repeatedly brought and placed on the walls under the saint's protection. Clothing, implements of agriculture, and other such peasant belongings are considered perfectly safe when deposited by a saint's tomb ; for, if they are injured or stolen, the act incurs the saint's wrath. Even the .Jews perjietuate the memory of certain celebrated Rabbis by honouring their tombs through the building of synagogues over them, which in turn have become centres of pilgrimage ; that of the celebrated Talmudist Rabbi Meir, near Tiberias, is an illustrious example.
3. NT passages. — There are but live passages in apostolic history which speak of tombs or sepul- chres: (1) Ac 2-', in which Peter says, 'Brethren, I may say unto you freely of the patriarch David, that he both died and was buried, and his tomb (t6 fivritia. avTou) is with us unto this day.' The Apostle's argument is that, in spite of the fact that David was a patriarch and the founder of a royal family or clan, and wrote Ps 16'° (' For thou wilt not leave my soul in Sheol,' etc.), he never- theless himself came to the grave and was buried ; therefore, he must have had in mind One greater than himself. According to 1 K 2'°, David was buried 'in the city of David.' Nehemiah (3'*) mentions 'the sepulchres of David.' To buy oil' Antiochus Epiphanes, Hyrcanus opened one of the chambers of David's sepulchre and took out 3000 talents ; Herod the Great rilled another in the time of Hadrian (cf. Josephus, Ant. VII. xv. 3, XIII. viii. 4). David's tomb is said to have fallen into ruins. Its site was probably within the city
walls. F. deSaulcy erroneously identifies it with the ' Tombs of the Kings,' which are of Roman origin {Jdiirney round the Dead Sen, new ed., 1854, ii. mil'.). Jerome, writing in the 4tb cent. A.D. to Marcella, expresses a hope that they might pray together in the mausoleum of David (Ep. xlvi.).
(2) Ac 7", ' And they [the fathers] were carried over unto Sliechem, and laid in the tomb (iv rif nr/i/j-an) that A))rahani bought for a price in silver of tlie sons of Hamor in Shechem.' Stephen here seems to have confused OT statements with ancient Jewish tradition. According to Gn .50", Jacob was buried in Hebron ; and, according to Jos 24''-, Joseph was buried in Shechem. Jewish tradition adds much to these facts: e.g. Josephus {Ant. II. viii. 2) regards all the patriarchs as buried in Hebron. The Book of Jubilees (ch. 46) speculates about the bones of Joseph's brethren, declaring that they were buried in Shechem. This is possible. There is nothing to prevent our suppos- ing that the bodies of all twelve of the sons of Jacob were removed to the Promised Land. Shechem was more central than Hebron. It was there that Abram lirst settled when he came into Canaan ; there he built an altar to Jahweh (Gn 12''- ') ; and it is only reasonable to suppose that he also purchased the ground on which it stood ; otherwise it would have been exposed to desecra- tion and destruction. ' The purchase of the ground on which an altar stood would therefore seem to follow as a kind of corollary from the erection of an altar on that ground ' (cf. R. J. Knowling, EGT, 'Acts,' 1900, in loe.). This does not pre- clude the possibility of Jacob's purchase of the field of Shechem from the sons of Hamor (Gn 33'*, Jos 24^-). Stephen, accordingly, only enlarges upon the statements of the OT in keeping with both tradition and possibility. To-day the tomb of Joseph is shown a few hundred yards to the N. of Jacob's well, and the same distance almost due E. from Shechem. Tradition fixed upon this location, as early as the 4th cent. A.D., as the place where Joseph was buried. The present tomb, which was restored in 1868, has the usual appear- ance of a Muslim wSli. On the other hand, the HarCtm, or sacred area, which encloses the Cave of Machpelah in Hebron marks the place where Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebekah, Jacob and Leah were buried. Few Europeans can boast of having been permitted to enter it ; the present writer had this privilege in April 1914.