Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

BURIAL

Dolmen at Khirbet Umm el-Ghozlan near Wadi el-Yabis, E of the Jordan River. Prominent from the Chalcolithic through Early Bronze I periods, some tombs in the area were reused into the Roman and Byzantine periods and later (Jonathan Mabry/Gaetano Palumbo, the Wadi el-Yabis Project)

Terms for burial in the Bible may refer to the burial preparation process, the interment of the body, or the place of burial. Biblical texts tend to be brief descriptions of burial practices rather than lengthy prescriptions of burial rites. Among most peoples of the ancient Near East, burial was an especially sacred act; a disturbance or desecration of the burial place was considered a heinous act. Even in times of war, conquering armies allowed for the proper disposition of the dead.

Locations

In the OT era people were buried in natural caves, rock-hewn tombs, shaft tombs, rock cairns, or cemeteries. Families of higher economic stature procured facilities for the proper disposal of themselves and their ancestors (cf. Gen. 23:3-20). Numerous Middle and Late Bronze Age examples have been excavated at sites such as Jericho, Gibeon, Tell en-Naṣbeh, and Hazor, which provide undistinguishable Canaanite parallels to the biblical practice. In these multiple usage facilities, the previously buried bodily remnants were moved to the rear of the cave-tomb, and the new corpse was laid in the primary position. Each was accompanied by grave goods necessary for proper treatment of the body or for some perceived use in the hereafter.

Only Rachel among the early matriarchs was not buried at Machpelah due to her untimely death in giving birth to Benjamin. Instead Jacob entombed her just north of Ephrath along the journey to Kiriath-arba, and memorialized the site with a stone pillar (Gen. 35:19-20). This description may reflect the rock cairn known among nomadic groups during the Bronze Ages, where the body is interred within or beneath a mound of stones. Others were buried adjacent to distinctive landmarks, as was Rebekah’s nurse Deborah under an oak below Bethel (Gen. 35:8) and the cremated bodies of Saul and his sons in Jabesh-gilead under a tamarisk tree (1 Sam. 31:11-13).

In the era of the judges (Iron I), burial sites were often markers to establish or safeguard a claim to tribal territory. Family burials for multigenerational use within those tribal regions seem normative (e.g., Judg. 8:32; 16:31). The bones of Joseph were brought from Egypt in the Exodus and buried near Shechem, in the plot of ground purchased by Jacob from Hamor (Gen. 33:19-20; Josh. 24:32), and Joshua was buried “in his own inheritance” at Timnath-serah in the hill country of Ephraim (Josh. 24:30).

During the Israelite monarchy (Iron II), the kings of Judah and Israel generally were buried in royal tombs in the capital city or ancestral burial sites. The Judahite kings from David to Ahaz were buried in the ancestral royal tombs in the city of David (e.g., 1 Kgs. 2:10; 11:43). Manasseh and Amon were buried in the garden of Uzza (2 Kgs. 21:18, 26). The Omrides were buried at Samaria (e.g., 1 Kgs. 16:28; 2 Kgs. 10:35; 13:13).

After the fall of the northern kingdom, Assyrian bathtub coffins and jar burials were introduced. But rock-hewn bench tombs continued to be utilized by prominent families in Jerusalem. Examples have been excavated at St. Etienne and the Ecole Biblique in the northern part of the city, along the scarp of the Hinnom Valley and its vicinity, and along the Kidron in Silwan opposite the Ophel. The latter contained an inscription naming the owner, possibly Shebna (Isa. 22:15-16), and pronouncing a curse upon any intruder. In many of these tombs a charnel pit for collecting the bones of earlier deceased family members was hewn in a special chamber or beneath the benches upon which the most recent corpse was laid. The burials of the poor were probably in accessible natural caves or in simple cemeteries, resulting in poor preservation. As in the Bronze Age, infant children were occasionally buried beneath the floor of the house.

During the Persian and Hellenistic periods shaft tombs and pit graves were common in Judea. The shaft tombs consisted of a vertical or sloping entry into the burial chamber, some of which contained perpendicular niches (kokhim) for placement of individual corpses. Examples of Greek and Phoenician shaft tombs are common along the coastal plain and the western edge of the Shephelah, at sites such as Achzib, Dor, Gezer, Lachish, and Mareshah. Shallow pit graves were common along the lower classes of Palestine.

In the intertestamental and NT eras several new types of burial are found. Some of the very wealthy had tombs of the arcosolia type, with elaborate memorial structures built adjacent to the entry or above it. Well-known examples include Jason’s tomb in southwestern Jerusalem and the so-called tombs of Absalom and Zechariah in the Kidron Valley. A second tomb type was the loculi, with a large central chamber and branching niches (kokhim) on three sides. The entryway to some tombs of the Herodian era, as with that of Jesus of Nazareth, were guarded by a rolling stone (1.2-1.5 m. [4-5 ft.] in diameter) set in a subterranean slot. Examples have been found in Jerusalem along the western slopes of the northern extension of the Hinnom Valley, and at the so-called Tombs of the Kings, N of the Damascus Gate.

Many bodies were also placed in large stone sarcophagi (“flesh eaters”), often inscribed with the identity of the individual or etched with symbolic faunal, floral, or geometric designs. Excellent examples have been excavated at Beth-shearim, Kedesh in Galilee, Jerusalem, and the region of Tsefat. Wooden coffins, which were deposited in rock-hewn loculi, have been uncovered around Jericho. Those of women and children often contained grave goods such as bowls, beads, and leather sandals. Later secondary burial in ossuaries (bone depositories) was utilized; after the decay of the body in the loculus, the bones were placed in a carved stone box for safekeeping.

Rites and Practices

Several descriptive phrases are used in the Bible to describe the death and burial of leading individuals. In Genesis the patriarchs generally “died and were gathered (or ‘removed,’ Heb. ʾāsap) to [their] fathers” (e.g., 25:8; 35;29; 49:33). In Kings and Chronicles the common formula describing the burial process for the kings of Israel and Judah was “X lay (šāḵaḇ) with his fathers, and they buried him in Y,” Y denoting a place such as the city of David, Samaria, or a specially prepared tomb (e.g., 2 Kgs. 10:35; 2 Chr. 16:13-14; 1 Kgs. 2:10; 11:43; 14:31). The rare exceptions to the common practice include the desecration of the bodies of despised individuals such as Jezebel (2 Kgs. 9:37).

Preservation of the body and the person’s identity by embalming, an Egyptian practice which involved treating the body with special fluids and wrappings for 70 days or more, is described only for Jacob and Joseph (Gen. 50:2-3, 26). Joseph’s body was subsequently placed in a coffin, a rare practice until the Second Temple period. People were buried as soon as possible after death, a practice afforded even criminals and dead bodies discovered along the road or in a field (Deut. 21:1-9, 22–23; 1 Kgs. 13:24-30).

The inclusion of accompanying grave goods is interpreted as provision of needs for the afterlife, symbolic of such need, or indicative of the life and status of the individual. Pottery wares such as bowls, cooking pots, juglets, vases, and jewelry are among the examples uncovered, and an increasing number of metal objects such as bowls, mirrors, and bracelets from the Persian period on have been found.

The NT descriptions of burials include the treatment of the body with spices and incense for purification and odorific purposes (Luke 23:56; John 19:40), the wrapping of the body in cloths, and the placement of a special face cloth (John 11:44). The body was placed on a bench (miškāḇ, “resting place”), often with a specially carved headrest.

Lamentation rites were essential to familial respect for the deceased (Jer. 9:17-22[MT 16-21]) and included mourning and wailing (e.g., 1 Kgs. 13:29-30; 2 Chr. 35:24-25; Acts 8:2; cf. Jer. 22:18). A great fire was built when Hezekiah died (2 Chr. 16:14), and occasionally sacrifices were offered (Isa. 57:7). The marzēaḥ festival for the dead was condemned by Amos (Amos 6:6-7), as are the practices of shaving portions of the head and beard or cutting oneself (Lev. 21:1-6).

Bibliography. E. Bloch-Smith, Judahite Burial Practices and Beliefs about the Dead. JSOTSup 123 (Sheffield, 1992); V. H. Matthews, Manners and Customs in the Bible, rev. ed. (Peabody, 1991); R. de Vaux, Ancient Israel (1961, repr. Grand Rapids, 1997).

R. Dennis Cole

Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

BURIAL

Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible (2000)