Burial in Easton's Bible Dictionary
The first burial we have an account of is that of Sarah
(Gen.
23). The first commercial transaction recorded is
that of the
purchase of a burial-place, for which Abraham
weighed to Ephron
"four hundred shekels of silver current money with
the
merchants." Thus the patriarch became the owner of a
part of the
land of Canaan, the only part he ever possessed.
When he himself
died, "his sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him in the
cave of
Machpelah," beside Sarah his wife (Gen. 25:9).
Deborah, Rebekah's nurse, was buried under Allon-
bachuth, "the
oak of weeping" (Gen. 35:8), near to Bethel. Rachel
died, and
was buried near Ephrath; "and Jacob set a pillar
upon her grave"
(16-20). Isaac was buried at Hebron, where he had
died (27, 29).
Jacob, when charging his sons to bury him in the
cave of
Machpelah, said, "There they buried Abraham and
Sarah his wife;
there they buried Isaac and Rebekah his wife; and
there I buried
Leah" (49:31). In compliance with the oath which he
made him
swear unto him (47:29-31), Joseph, assisted by his
brethren,
buried Jacob in the cave of Machpelah (50:2, 13). At
the Exodus,
Moses "took the bones of Joseph with him," and they
were buried
in the "parcel of ground" which Jacob had bought of
the sons of
Hamor (Josh. 24:32), which became Joseph's
inheritance (Gen.
48:22; 1 Chr. 5:1; John 4:5). Two burials are
mentioned as
having taken place in the wilderness. That of Miriam
(Num.
20:1), and that of Moses, "in the land of Moab"
(Deut. 34:5, 6,
8). There is no account of the actual burial of
Aaron, which
probably, however, took place on the summit of Mount
Hor (Num.
20:28, 29).
Joshua was buried "in the border of his inheritance
in
Timnath-serah" (Josh. 24: 30).
In Job we find a reference to burying-places, which
were
probably the Pyramids (3:14, 15). The Hebrew word
for "waste
places" here resembles in sound the Egyptian word
for
"pyramids."
Samuel, like Moses, was honoured with a national
burial (1
Sam. 25:1). Joab (1 Kings 2:34) "was buried in his
own house in
the wilderness."
In connection with the burial of Saul and his three
sons we
meet for the first time with the practice of burning
the dead (1
Sam. 31:11-13). The same practice is again referred
to by Amos
(6:10).
Absalom was buried "in the wood" where he was slain
(2 Sam.
18:17, 18). The raising of the heap of stones over
his grave was
intended to mark abhorrence of the person buried
(comp. Josh.
7:26 and 8:29). There was no fixed royal burying-
place for the
Hebrew kings. We find several royal burials taking
place,
however, "in the city of David" (1 Kings 2:10;
11:43; 15:8; 2
Kings 14:19, 20; 15:38; 1 Kings 14:31; 22:50; 2 Chr.
21:19, 20;
2 Chr. 24:25, etc.). Hezekiah was buried in the
mount of the
sepulchres of the sons of David; "and all Judah and
the
inhabitants of Jerusalem did him honour at his
death" (2 Chr.
32:33).
Little is said regarding the burial of the kings of
Israel.
Some of them were buried in Samaria, the capital of
their
kingdom (2 Kings 10:35; 13:9; 14:16).
Our Lord was buried in a new tomb, hewn out of the
rock, which
Joseph of Arimathea had prepared for himself (Matt.
27:57-60;
Mark 15:46; John 19:41, 42).
The grave of Lazarus was "a cave, and a stone lay on
it" (John
11:38). Graves were frequently either natural
caverns or
artificial excavations formed in the sides of rocks
(Gen. 23:9;
Matt. 27:60); and coffins were seldom used, unless
when the body
was brought from a distance.
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