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TOMB

Tombs and cemeteries are frequently found in proximity to archaeological ruins. While grave robbing has destroyed much evidence about ancient burials, the legal excavation of tombs in the biblical world has revealed much information about ancient life. Naturally, burials — along with ancient literature — supply much information on mortuary practices, but the artifacts found in tombs also reveal much about how ancient people lived. Burial practices and tomb construction went through many changes in the Near East during the biblical period; there is much diversity among types and contents of tombs, but there were also common practices and rituals.

In the Greco-Roman world, the dead were often cremated, but the Israelites and Jews, along with most ancient peoples, normally dug graves or constructed tombs for deceased members of their societies. Indeed, the Hebrews held strong beliefs about the importance of proper burial and fear of exhumation (1 Kgs. 14:11; 16:4; 2 Kgs. 9:37; Ps. 79:3; Ezek. 29:5; Rev. 11:9); in horrifying terms Jeremiah preached about the exposure of corpses (Jer. 7:33; 8:1-2; 16:4-6; 22:19). Burial took place quickly, often within 24 hours of death (Num. 19:11-19; Deut. 21:22-23; Ezek. 43:6-9; Hag. 2:13; cf. Matt. 27:57-61).

As in modern times, ancient mortuary procedure consisted of three stages: preparation of the tomb, preparation of the corpse for burial, and performance of rites that accompanied burial. Throughout their history, most Israelites were buried in simple shallow graves, which were often covered with heaps of stones. Such simple graves were sometimes lined with reed mats or stones, but coffins were not used in ancient Israel, except in the case of Joseph (Gen. 50:26).

In prehistoric times the dead were sometimes buried beneath the floors of houses or they were placed in shallow pits; infants were sometimes buried in ceramic jars. In the Early Bronze Age the dead were entombed in caves or in rock-cut tombs, while megalithic monuments called dolmens continued in use from the Chalcolithic period. At the same time, the Egyptians and Sumerians constructed elaborate tombs for their nobility; the Great Pyramids and Royal Cemetery of Ur are among the most elaborate tombs of antiquity. Burials with small domed chambers at the bottom of vertical shafts were also common in this period, as illustrated in the thousands of “shaft tombs” discovered at Bab edh-Dhraʾ, near the Dead Sea. Gen. 23 describes Abraham’s purchase of the cave of Machpelah for the burial of Sarah; this cave was also used as the burial plot for other members of Abraham’s family (25:8-9; 49:31; 50:13). During much of the 2nd millennium b.c. and on into the period of the Israelite monarchy, families hired craftsmen to prepare small, rock-cut chambers in the limestone hills of Palestine (Isa. 22:16). These tombs included outer courtyards and low entrances, and the corpses were placed on stone benches carved inside the tombs. When a tomb was reused, the skeletal remains from earlier burials were pushed aside or placed in repository pits inside the same tomb. Family tombs were common in Israel (Judg. 8:32; 2 Sam. 2:32; 17:23), and community cemeteries were located outside of towns and villages (2 Kgs. 23:6), at Beth-shan and Tell es-Saʿidiyeh.

In Hellenistic and Roman times elaborate tombs in Palestine were similar to those constructed elsewhere in the Mediterranean world (e.g., tombs of the Sanhedrin in Jerusalem). Hundreds of funerary monuments carved from sandstone at Petra reflect the influence of Greek and Roman architecture in the Near East. Niches radiated off the main tomb chamber and made it possible for many bodies to be buried in a single tomb complex. Sometimes ossuaries or “bone boxes” were used for secondary burial; this concern for the careful preservation of skeletons probably reflects the Jewish belief in resurrection. Rock-cut tombs, which included stones that rolled into place to block doorways, were used at the time of Jesus’ burial (Matt. 27:60, 66; 28:2).

Preparation of the body for burial was carried out by relatives and friends of the deceased, usually by women (Luke 23:54–24:1; cf. John 19:39). The corpse was often carried on a litter to the burial site, as in the funerary procession of Herod the Great (whose tomb has not been found), and interment was accompanied by a variety of funerary rites — e.g., weeping, fasting, music. The Canaanites placed jewelry, weapons, pottery, containers of food, and even furniture in tombs (as illustrated in the famous cemetery at Jericho); Hebrew tombs often contain grave goods that reflect the status held by the deceased and the respect in which he/she was held in life and death. The Hebrews were not permitted to make offerings for the dead (Deut. 26:14).

See Burial.

Bibliography. R. Gonen, Burial Patterns and Cultural Diversity in Late Bronze Age Canaan. ASORDS 7 (Winona Lake, 1992); S. Loffreda, “Typological Sequence of Iron Age Rock-Cut Tombs in Palestine,” Liber Annuus 18 (1968): 244-87; D. Ussishkin, The Village of Silwan: The Necropolis from the Period of the Judean Kingdom (Jerusalem, 1993).

Gerald L. Mattingly

Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

TOMB

Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible (2000)