As I write these columns from week to week, the theme I wish to emphasize is that the Bible contains the stories of real, living, breathing human beings. These people lived, loved, laughed, languished and died---as is the lot of all of us. Today's column looks at how people of Bible times laid their loved ones to rest.
The Bible offers no counsel on how to care for the dead. We find in Genesis 50:2 and 26 that Jacob and Joseph were embalmed or made into mummies as was the Egyptian custom. The mummies were placed into wooden coffins and transported out of Egypt when the Jews left in the Exodus. Embalming as we know it was not used by the Jews. However, they did have a practice of perfuming the body as is noted in John 19:40, "Then took they the body of Jesus, and wound it in linen clothes with the spices, as the manner of the Jews is to bury." Another mention of this custom is made in Luke 23:56, "And they returned, and prepared spices and ointments: and rested on the sabbath day according to the commandment."
Burial was usually within 24 hours and took place without a coffin. The grave, for the common people, was simply a hole in the ground that was covered with earth and stones. Well-to-do families had burial sites which were often hollowed out places or caves carved into the rocky hillsides and sealed with a large stone that was rolled over the entrance. These sepulchers or tombs often had many rooms for long-term family use. Knowing this, it is interesting to note the meaning behind Luke 23:53, ". . . and laid it[the body of Jesus] in a sepulcher that was hewn in stone, wherein never man before was laid." The custom was to place the body in the tomb, allow it to decompose and then collect the bones and store them in a stone box. Such a box was recently unearthed in Jerusalem with the name Caiaphas scratched on it. Scholars wonder if this could possibly have been the high priest noted in Matthew 26:3, 57 who was present at the trial of Jesus.
The term "whited sepulcher" used by Jesus to describe to scribes and Pharisees takes on a new meaning when we understand that ancient Jewish tombs were often whitewashed to warn people not to touch them and become ceremonially defiled. Jesus said, "...for ye are like unto whited sepulchers, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness." Matthew 23:25
The practice of cremation is practically unknown among the Hebrews, and is rarely mentioned, see 1Samuel 31:12 or Amos 16:10. In the New Testament there is no example of cremation by either Jews or Christians.
The ancient peoples, whether from Bible times or otherwise, share with us the common link of all humanity which is the sorrow of having loved ones die. These messages from ancient gravestones make the point quite clearly.
FromCadiz, Spain, the first century B.C. "Hail! Herennia Crocine, dear to her own, is shut up in this tomb. Crocine dear to her own. My life is over; other girls too have lived their lives and died before me. Enough now. May the reader say as he departs, "Crocine, may the earth rest lightly on you." Farewell to all you above ground."
From a roadside near Rome, "Stranger, stop and turn,' your gaze towards this hillock on your left,' which holds the bones of a poor man ‘of righteousness and mercy and love." Wayfarer, I ask you to do no harm to this memorial."
And finally, this inscription found in the Roman Catacombs from about 400 A.D. that notes the family tragedy of a young mother's death, "I was born in Rome. If you ask my name, it was Julia. I lived faithful to my husband Florentius to whom I left three living sons. Having just received divine grace, I was taken into the peace (of the Lord) as a neophyte."

Roman Civilization, Sourcebook 1, (262-27 B.C.) "The Republic," Naphtali Lewis and Meyer Reinhold.
(1) Page 483, A Roman funeral
(2) Page 489, Funerary Inscriptions on Gravestones. "Stranger, stop and turn,' your gaze towards this hillock on your left,' which hold the bones of a poor man ‘of righteousness and mercy and love." Wayfarer, I ask you to do no harm to this memorial.

The last inscription about the mother of three children is from The Catacombs of St. Callixtus, p. 136.

Blessings in your study of God's Word!

Marvin Hunt

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