Burial

BURIAL. The Hebrews have at all times been very careful in the burial of their dead; to be deprived of it was thought to be one of the greatest dishonours that could be done to any Man: this last duty was denied to none, not even to Enemies; but it was not allowed to those who were self-murderers¹, till after Sun-set, and the Souls of such Persons were believed to be plunged into Hell². This mighty concern for burial proceeded from the persuasion they were under of the Soul’s immortality³. The Scripture threatens the wicked with being deprived of it, as if it were one of the greatest calamities that could happen to them. If a man beget an hundred children, and live many years, so that the days of his years be many, and his soul be not filled with good, and also that he have no burial; I say that an untimely birth is better than he. Jeremiah threatens the Eccles. vi. 3.Kings, Priests and false Prophets who had adored Idols, that he would have their bones thrown out of their graves like dung upon the Earth. The same Prophet foretold Jer. viii. 2. Jer. xxii. 18, 19.that Jehoiakim King of Judah, who built his house by unrighteousness, and gave himself up to avarice, violence, and all manner of vice; he foretold that this Prince should be buried with the burial of an Ass, that he should be cast out of the Gates of Jerusalem into the common sewer. It is observed that Jason who had denied the rites of burial to 2 Mac. v. 10.many of the Jews, was himself treated in the same manner, that he died in a foreign Land, and was thrown like carrion into the fields without being laid 1 Kings ii. 10. xi. 43. xiv. 31. xv. 8. 2 Kings xxiv. 12, &c. xxxi. 18. 26. John xix. 41. xx. 15. 2 Macc. xiii. 25, 27, 28, 29.even in a stranger’s grave. Good Men made part of their devotion to consist in interring the dead, as we see by the example of Tobit.

There was nothing determined particularly as to the place of burying the dead. There were graves in the town and country, upon the highways, in gardens and mountains. Those belonging to the Kings of Judah were in Jerusalem, and the King’s gardens. Ezekiel intimates, that they were dug under the mountain which the Temple stood upon, since God says, that for the future his Holy Mountain should not be polluted with the dead bodies of their Kings. The Sepulchre which Joseph of Arimathea had provided for himself, and wherein he placed our Saviour’s body, was in his garden. That of Rachel was upon the highway from Jerusalem to Bethlehem. That of the Maccabees at Modin, upon an eminence, from whence it was visible at a distance both by Sea and Land. We have given the description of it under the articles Maccabees and Jonathan. The Kings of Israel had their burying places in Samaria. Samuel was interr’d in his own house. Moses, Aaron, Eleazer and Joshua in mountains. King Saul and Deborah, Rebekah’s Nurse under trees. It is affirmed, that the Sepulchres of the People of Jerusalem were in the Valley of Kidron. There likewise were the burying places for foreigners.

The Jews call what we term a Churchyard, the house of the living⁴, to shew their belief of the Immortality of the Soul, and of the Resurrection; and when they come thither bearing a dead body⁵, they address themselves to those who lie there, as if they were still alive, and say, Blessed be the Lord who hath created you, fed you, brought you up, and at last in his justice taken you out of the world. He knows the number of you all, and will in time revive you. Blessed be the Lord who causeth death, and restores life. Their respect for Sepulchres is so great, that they build Synagogues and Oratories near those of great Men and Prophets. For example, They have Synagogues near the Tombs of Ezekiel, Zachary, Mordecai and Esther. They go and pray near them, being persuaded, as we are, of the efficacy of prayers for the dead, and the intercession of the Saints⁶. The Rabbins teach, that it is not lawful to demolish Tombs, or disturb the repose of the dead, by burying another dead person in the same grave, even after a long time; nor to carry an aquæduct cross the common place of burial, or through an high-way, nor to go and gather wood there, or suffer cattle to feed there.

When the Jews are come with the Funeral to the Burying place, the blessing directed to the dead, as above mentioned, is repeated; the body is put down upon the ground, and if it be a person of consideration, a kind of funeral Oration and Encomium is made of him; then they walk round the grave, reciting a pretty long prayer, which they call the Righteousness of Judgment; because therein they return thanks to God for having pronounced an equitable judgment concerning the life and person of the deceased. It begins with these words of Deuteronomy, He is the rock, his Deut. xxxii. 4.work is perfect; then a little sack full of earth is put under the dead person’s head, and the coffin is nailed down and closed. If it be a man, ten persons take ten turns about him, and say a prayer for his soul; the nearest relation tears a corner of his clothes, the dead body is let down into the grave with his face turned towards Heaven; and they cry to him, Go in peace, or rather, Go to peace, according to the Talmudists. The nearest relations are the first that throw earth upon the Body; after them, all who are there present do the same with their hands, or with shovels. This done they retire walking backwards, and before they go out of the Burying-ground, they pluck bits of grass three times, and cast them behind their backs saying, They Ps. lxxii. 16.shall flourish like grass of the earth.

I do not observe in all Antiquity, any example of an Epitaph inscribed upon the tombs of the Hebrews; for that which is reported of Adoniram’s found in Spain, and some others of the like authority, do not deserve our notice. Monuments were erected in memory of a King, a Hero, a Prophet, or a Warrior: the tomb itself spoke sufficiently, and the memory of the person was perpetuated among the people. King Josiah destroying the tombs of the false Prophets of Baal, and of the Priests belonging to the Golden Calf, took notice of a sepulchral Stone among the rest, which was said to be the tomb built up for the man of God, who came and declared to Jeroboam, that a King by name Josiah should burn the bones of the false Prophets 1 Kings xiii. 2.upon the Altar at Bethel. There was therefore no Epitaph upon it. Absalom called his tomb, The Hand of Absalom. The 2 Sam. xviii. 18.tombs belonging to the Kings which were in caves dug in a rock, were certainly not adorned with Epitahps.

The set form of Epitaphs used at this day by the Jews, is as follows; This Stone is placed at the head of N. the Son of N. who was buried on such a day in the year N. May he rest in the Garden of Eden with all the righteous who have been there from the beginning: Amen, Amen, Selah. Or else; Let his Soul be buried in the Garden of Eden. Amen, Amen, Amen, Selah. Or otherwise, This Monument or this Pillar is erected near the head of the most illustrious, most holy, and most pure Virgin Rebekah, the Daughter of Samuel the Levite, who died in good reputation such a day of the month N. in the year N. May her Soul be buried in the Garden of Eden. Amen, Amen, Amen, Selah. But these set forms are neither ancient nor uniform. Benjamin of Tudela says, that as he travelled through Palestine, he observed this inscription on Abraham’s Tomb, Here is the Sepulcher of Abraham our blessed Father. But this had been but lately made.

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