and the ornamental form of their doorways where tliey are architecturally adorned, it is evident, except in this one instance, that they could not have been closed by stones rolled across their entrances; and consequently it seems only to be to the closing of the loculi that these expressions can refer. But until a more careful and more scientific exploration of these tombs is made than has hitherto been given to the public, it is difficult to feel quite certain on this point.
Although, as we have seen, the Jews were singularly free from the pomps and vanities of funereal magnifi- cence, they were at all stages of their independent exist- ence an eminently burying people. From the time of their entrance into the Holy Land till their expulsion by the Romans they seem to have attached the greatest importance to the possession of an undisturbed resting- place for the bodies of their dead, and in all ages seem to have shown the greatest respect, if not veneration, for the sepulchres of their ancestors. Few, however, could enjoy the luxury of a rock-cut tomb. Taking all that are known, and all that are likely to be discovered, there are not probably 500, certainly not 1000, rock-cut loculi in or about Jerusalem; and as that city must in the days of its prosperity have possessed a population of from" 30,000 to 40,000 souls, it is evident that the bulk of the people must then, as now, have been content with graves dug in the earth, but situated as near the holy places as their means would allow their obtaining a place. The bodies of the kings were buried close to the Temple walls (Ezek. xliii, 7-9), and, however little they may have done in their life, the place of their burial is carefidly recorded in the Chronicles of the Kings, and the cause why that place was chosen is generally pointed out, as if that record was not only the most important event, but the final judgment on the life of the king.
3. Tiilmudical Statements. — The Mishnic description of a sepulchre, complete according to Rabbinical notions, is somewhat as follows, and serves to illustrate the above plan : a cavern about six cubits square, or six by eight, from three sides of which are recessed longitudinally several vaults, called D'lDlD, each large enough for a corpse. On the fourth side the cavern is approached through a small open covered court or portico, ~i!in, of a size to receive the bier and bearers. In some such structures the dicmoniac may have housed. Tlie entry from the court to the cavern was closed by a large stone, called pbl5, as capable of being rolled, thus con- firming the Evangelistic narrative. Sometimes several such caverns, each with its recesses, were entered from the several sides of the same portico (Mishna, Baha Bathru, 6, 8, quoted by J. Nicolaus, De Sepulchris I/e- hrceoi-um). Such a tomb is that described in Bucking- ham's Travels in Arabia (p. 158), and those known to tradition as the " Tombs of the Kings" (above referred to). But earlier sepulchres were doubtless more simple, and, to judge from 2 Kings xiii, 21, did not prevent mutual contact of remains. Sepulchres were marked sometimes by pillars, as that of Rachel, or by pyramids, as those of the Asmonaeans at Modin (Josephus, A nt. xiii, 6, 7), and had places of higher and lower honor. Like temples, they were, from their assumed inviolability, sometimes made the depositories of treasures (De Saul- cy, ii, 183). We find them also distinguished by a "title" (2 Kings xxiii, 17). Such as were not other- wise noticeable were scrupulously " whited" (Matt, xxiii, 27) once a year, after the rains before the Passover, to warn passers-by of defilement (Hottinger, Cippi Ilehr. p. 1034; Rossteusch, De Sepul. Cake Notat. in Ugolino, xxxiii).
III. Iftsforical Notices of Hebrew Sepulchres, Illus- trated from certain Antique Jetcish Tombs still Extant. — 1. Sepulchres of the Patriarchs and other Early Per- sonages.— We find that one of the most striking events in the life of Abraham is the purchase of the field of Ephron the Ilittite at Hebron, in which was the cave of Machpelah, in order that he might therein bury
SEPULCHRE
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SEPULCHRE
Sarah, his wife, and that it might be a sepulchre for himself and his children. His refusing to accept the privilege of burying there as a gift shows the im- portance Abraham attached to the transaction, and he insisted on purchasing and paying for it (Gen. xxiii, 20), in order that it might be "'made sure unto him for the possession of a burying -place." There he and his immediate descendants were laid 3700 years ago, and there they are believed to rest now ; but no one in modern times has seen their remains, or been al- lowed to enter into the cave where they repose. A few years ago, Signor Pierotti says, he was allowed, in com- pany with the pasha of Jerusalem, to descend the steps to the iron grating that closes the entrance and to looii into the cave. What he seems to have seen was that it was a natural cavern, untouched by the chisel and unaltered by art in any way. Those who accompanied the prince of Wales in his visit to the mosque were not permitted to see even this entrance. All they saw was the round hole in the floor of the mosque which admits light and air to the cave below. The same round opening exists at Nebj' Samwil in the roof of the reputed sepulchre of the prophet Samuel, and at Jeru- salem there is a similar opening into the tomb under the dome of the rock. In the former it is used by pious votaries to drop petitions and prayers into the tombs of patriarchs and prophets. The latter having lost the tradition of its having been a burying-place, the opening now only serves to admit light into the cave below. Unfortunateh-, none of those who have visitiMl IIel)r()n have had sufficient architectural knowl- edge to be able to say when