2. Rites. — On this subject we should remember that our impressions, as derived from the Old Test., are those of the burial of persons of rank or public eminence, while those gathered from the New Test, regard a pri- vate station. But in both cases " the manner of the Jews" included the use of spices where they could com- mand the means. Thus Asa lay in a " bed of spices" (2 Chron. xvi, 14). A portion of these were burned in honor of the deceased, and to this use was probablj' destined part of the one hundred pounds' weight of "myrrh and aloes" in our Lord's case. On high state occasions the vessels, bed, and furniture used by the deceased were burned also. Such was probably the "great burning" made for Asa. If a king was unpop- ular or died disgraced (e. g. Jehoram, 2 Chron. xxxi, 19; Josephus, Ant. ix, 5, 3), this was not observed. In no case, save that of Saul and his sons, were the bodies burned, nor in that case were they so burned as not to leave the " bones" easily concealed and transported, and the whole proceeding looks like a hasty precaution against hostile violence. Even then the bones were in- terred and re-exhumed for solemn entombment. The ambiguous word in Amos vi, 10, lE'^D^, rendered in the A. V. " he that burneth /u"/»," possibly means "the burner of perfumes in his honor," i. e. his near relation, on whom such duties devolved; rather than, as most think, " the burner of the corpse." For a great mortal- ity never causes men to burn corpses where it is not the custom of the country; nor did the custom vary among the Jews on such an occasion (Ezek. xxxix, 12- 14). It was the duty of the next of kin to perform and preside over the whole funereal office ; but a com- pany of public buriers, originating in an exceptional necessity (Ezek. loc. cit.), had become, it seems, custom- ary in the times of the New. Test. (Acts v, 6, 10), The closing of the eyes, kissing, and washing the corpse ((ien. xlvi, 4; 1, 1 ; Acts ix, 37) are customs common to
SEPULCHRE
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SEPULCHRE
all nations. Coffins were but seldom use<i, and, if used, wore open ; but fixed stone sarcophagi were common in tombs of rank. The bier, the word for which in the Old Test, is the same as that rendered bed [see Bkd], was borne by the nearest relatives, and followed by any who wished to do honor to the dead. The grave-clothes (o^ouia, ii'Tctipia) were probably of the fashion worn in life, but swathe and fastened with bandages, and the head was covered separately. Previ- ously to this being done, spices were applied to the corpse in the form of ointment, or between the folds of the linen; hence our I^ord's remark that the woman had anointed iiis body Trpoc TO tvTCKpia^Eiv, "with a view to dressing it in these ivrci(pia ;" not, as in the A. V., "for the hurial." For the custom of mourners visiting the seji- ulchre, see Moukn; for other usages, see Funeral.
3. The Site. — A natural cave enlarged and adapted by excavation, or an artificial imitation of one, was the standard type of sepulchre. This was what the struct- ure of the Jewish soil supplied or suggested. A distinct and simple form of sepulture as contrasted with the complex and elaborate rites of Egypt clings to the re- gion of Palestine, and varies but little with the great social changes between the periods of Abraham and the captivity. Jacob and Joseph, who both died in I'jgypt, are the only known instances of the Egyptian method applied to patriarchal remains. Sepulchres, when the owner's means permitted it, were eommonl}' prepared beforehand, and stood often in gardens, by roadsides, or even adjoining houses. Kings and prophets alone were probably buried within towns (1 Kings ii, 10; xvi, 6, 28; 2 Kings x, 35; xiii, 9; 2 Chron. xvl, 14; xxviii, 27; 1 Sam. xxv, 1; xxviii. 3). Sarah's tomb and Ra- chel's seem to have been chosen merely from the acci- dent of the place of death ; but the successive inter- ments at the former (Gen. xlix, 31) are a chronicle of the strong family feeling among the Jews. It was the sole fixed spot in the unsettled patriarchal life; and its purchase and transfer, minutely detailed, are re- markable as the sole transaction of the kind, until re- peated on a similar occasion at Shechem. Thus it was deemed a misfortune or an indignity, not only to be deprived of burial (Isa. xiv, 20 ; Jer. passim ; 2 Kings ix, 10), but, in a lesser degree, to be excluded from the family sepulchre (1 Kings xiii, 22), as were Uzziah, the royal leper, and Manasseh (2 Chron. xxvi, 23; xxxiii, 20). Thus the remains of Saul and his sons were re- claimed to rest in his father's tomb. Similarlj-, it was a mark of a profotmd feeling towards a person not of one's family to wish to be buried with him (Kuth i, 17; 1 Kings xiii, 31), or to give him a place in one's own sepulchre (Gen. xxiii, 6 ; comp. 2 Chron. xxiv, 16). The head of a family commonly provided space for more than one generation ; and these galleries of kindred sepulchres are common in many Eastern branches of the human race. Cities soon became populous and de- manded cemeteries (comp. TroXvavSpiov, Sept. at Ezek. xxxix, 1.5), which were placed without the walls; such a one seems intended by the expression in 2 Kings xxiii, G, "the graves of the children of the people," sit- uated in the valley of the Kedron or of Jehoshaphat. Jeremiah (vii, 32; xix, 11) threatens that the eastern valley, called Tophet, the favorite haunt of idolatry, should be polluted by burying there (comp. 2 Kings xxiii, 16). Such was also the " potter's field" (Jlatt. xxvii, 7) which had, perhaps, been wrought by digging for clay into holes serviceable for graves. See Ce.mk-