(3) Ac 13^, 'And when they had fulfilled all things that were written of him, they took him down from the tree and laid him in a tomb' (fi's ixv-qiidov). St. Paul here treats of Christ's burial with a freedom analogous to that of St. Peter when speaking of David's (Ac 2-'). The motive of both was the same, namely, to prove the reality of the death, and, therefore, of the resurrection from the dead. Unlike Enoch and Elijah, Christ had died and been actually buried ; hence His death was a reality, and because He had risen from the tomb His resurrection was an indisputable fact. But did the Jews bury Jesus? The Gospel of Peter says that they did (21-24). And surely Joseph of Arimathsea and Nicodemus were both Jews and members of the Sanhedrin. Where is His tomb to be located? Certain authorities are unwilling to commit themselves ; but the present writer is free to acknowledge that the traditional place, marked as it is by the Cathedral of the Holy Sepulchre, despite all that is repulsive and idolatrous about it, best satisfies him as the approximate site. Eusebius {Ononi., ed. P. de Lagarde, 1870, pp. 229, 248) favours this opinion (cf. H. Gutlie, art. ' Holy Sepulcher,' in Schatt'-Herzog, v. [1909] 328-331).
(4) Ro 3", 'Their throat is an open sepulchre' {rdtpoi). These words are quoted from the LXX
SEKGIUS PAULUS
SEKJEANTS, LICTUKS
471
version of Ps 5'°. The Psalmist is describing enemies whose fnlse and trcacliero)is lanjiua^e threatened ruin to Israel. .lust as a jj;rave stands yawning to receive the corpse, and ^'ives forth foul and pestilent vapours, so the throat of the wicked is open to besmirch by slander and malice some one's fair name. The modern custom of secreting tomb cavities and re-openini; them to make fresh interments all'ords a partial illustra- tion of what the Apostle means.
(5) Rev IP, 'And from among the peoi)les and tribes and tongues and nations do men look ujmn their dead bodies three days and a half, and sulVer not their dead bodies to be laid in a tomb' {eh liiiTJiia). The picture drawn here by .lohn is that of a degenerate Church refusing to allow tlie bodies of its true witne.sses the rite of liurial. To the apostles, such a s)iirit was paralleled only by pagan malice. For the enemies of the Church to be will- ing not only to see the bodies of the faitliful lie exposed in the open way, but to invite the world to the spectacle, and to celebrate the event with holiday joy and the exchange of gifts (v.'"), was the climax of insolence and contumely.
IjiTERATURK. — Compare the artt. * Burial,' * Toinli,' 'Grave,' 'Sepulchre,* in the various Dictionaries of the Bil»le and Re- lipous Encvclopaidias : also R. A. S. Macalister, PHFSt xxxiv. [1902], xli. (1900) ; F. J. Bliss and R. A. S. Macalister, Exca- vatix^is in PaU'Stinf. duriiuj the ijears IS'.'S^l'.mO (PEF, 1!)0^); J. P. Peters and H. Thiersch, Painted 7'ombs oi the -Vt-cro- polis of Marissa (PEF, llio.i); R. E. Briinnow and A. v. Domaszewski, Die Proiniiria Arabia^ i. and ii. [1904-05] ; G. Dalman, Petfa undseine Fei>^heifi(itit}iier, 190S ; E. Robinson, Biblical Researchii", 1856 ; K. Mommert, GuUji'lha und das hcili'je Grab zu Jerusalem, 1900 ; Baedeker-Benzinger, Pnifs- tilieand Syria, 1912; Zeitschrift des deutschen Palafntiiia- Vereins, 1878 ff. ; Sliltheilungen und Xaehriehten des deutschen Pataestina-Vereins, 1895 £f. ; ItB. 1882 tf.
George L. Robinson.
SERGIUS PAULUS. — Seigius Paulus is men- tioned in Ac 13"''-, where he is described as the proconsul in Cyprus, ' a man of understanding ' who ' called unto him Barnabas and Saul, and sought to hear the word of God.' With Sergius Paulus was Elymas the sorcerer who sought ' to turn aside the proconsul from the faith.' St. Paul's power brought blindness upon Elymas. ' Then the pro- consul, Avhen he saw what was done, believed, being astonished at the teaching of the Lord.'
The Sergii were a Roman patrici.an gens who furnished more than one consul. Two possible references to Sergius Paulus occur outside the NT. A Sergius Paulus is mentioned in the Index of Authors to Pliny's Natural Histury, as an authority on bks. ii. and xviii., which give special information about Cyprus. A Greek inscription from the N. coast of Cj'prus is dated ' in the pro- consulship of Paulus,' who is probably the same governor.
NT references, though incident.al (for the interest of the story centres in tlie duel between St. Paul and Elymas), describe a triumph for the Christian preachers. It was customary for a high Roman oHicial to have in his train of comites not only personal friends and attaches, but also ' pro- vincials, men of letters or of scientilic knowledge or of tastes and habits that rendered them agree- able or useful to the great man' (W. M. Ramsay, St. Paul the Traveller, p. 77). Sergius I'aulus is described as (rmerds — a man of understanding, or of keen intelligence. This description does not favour the idea that he was weakly under the inllucnce of a mountebank. Elymas was evidently a powerful exponent of a subtle theosophical system ; and as a man of unusual intelligence, with a religious bent, the governor encouraged the ])resence and enjoyed the company of such scientists and philo- sophers. For the same reason he sent for liavnabas and St. Paul, when news reached him of their work in Cyprus. These travelling teachers were summoned to Court. The governor listened to