Grave, (properly קֶבֶר, ke'ber, a sepulcher; Greek μνῆμα or μνημεῖον, a tomb, as a monument SEE BURIAL ) is also in some passages of the common vers. the rendering of שׁאוֹל, sheol’, ¯δης, hades SEE SHEOL; SEE HADES; once of שִׁחִת, shach'ath (Job 33:22), the pit or open sepulcher, as elsewhere rendered; and once erroneously of בּ י, beï ́, prayer (Job 30:24). SEE TOMB.
Sepulchres among the ancient Hebrews were, as still among all Orientals (Schweigger, Reisen, page 199; Shaw, Travels, page 192; Hasselquist, page 35 sq.), outside of cities (see Lightfoot, Hor. Heb. page 167; according to the Talmud, Baba Bathra, 2:9, at least fifty yards distant from the city walls), in the open field (Luke 7:12; John 11:30; compare Cicero, Leg. 2:23; ad famil. 4:12, 9; Plutarch, Arat. 53; Theocr. 7:10; Homer, Il. 7:435 sq.; Michaelis, Mos. Recht. 4:307). Only kings (1 Kings 2:10; 16:6,28; 2 Kings 10:35; 13:9; 2 Chronicles 16:14; 28:27) and prophets (1 Samuel 25:1; 28:3) were allowed to be buried within cities (Harmer,Obs. 2:129 sq.; compare Thucyd. 5:11; Potter, Gr. Ant. 2:427 sq.; when it is said that any one was interred in his house [1Ki 2:34; 2 Chronicles 33:20], we must understand the grounds or environs of the house to be meant, i.e., the garden [comp. Numbers 19:16]; it was otherwise among the ancient Romans, Isidore, Orig. 10:2). Generally the graves were pits or grottoes (Genesis 23:17; 35:8; 1 Samuel 31:13; 2 Kings 21:18,26; John 19:41; comp. Strabo, 14:636; Virgil, AEn. 11:851), shady spots under trees or in, gardens being preferred (Eck, De sepulcris in hortis, Meining. 1:738 sq.; Walch, Observ. in Matthew ex inscript. page 89); and these excavations were either natural, with which Palestine abounds, SEE CAVE, or oftener artificial, dug for this purpose (and walled up; see Knobel, Jesa. page 99), or hewn in rocks (Isaiah 22:16; 2 Chronicles 16:14; Matthew 27:60; John 11:38; Luke 23:53), sometimes very spacious and with numerous side-passages and chambers (Baba Bathra, 6:8); there are also instances of graves sunk perpendicularly in the ground (Luke 11:44), and such were occasionally situated on hills (2 Kings 23:16; Ecomp. Isidore, Origg. 2:11). Not only in the case of kings and nobles (2 Kings 9:28; 2 Chronicles 32:33; 35:24; 1 Maccabees 2:70; 9:19; 13:25, etc.), but in every good family (Genesis 23:20; Judges 8:32; 2 Samuel 2:32; 1 Kings 13:22; Tobit 14:12; 1 Maccabees 2:70), were there hereditary vaults (it was a deep disgrace to the remains of persons of distinction to be buried among those of the populace, Jeremiah 26:23); and it appears the very natural desire of those dying, abroad to repose in such family cemeteries (Genesis 47:29; 1; 5; 2 Samuel 19:37; 1 Kings 13:22,31; Nehemiah 2:3; comp. Sophocles, Electra, 1131 sq.; Anthol. Gr. 3:25, 75; Justin. 3:5; see Zeibich, De sepultura in terra sancta a Jacobo et Josepho expetita, Viteb. 1742; Semler, De patriarcharum ut in Palest. sepelis-entur desiderio,, Halae, 1756; Carpzov, in Ugolini Thesaur. 33). But whoever had not such a hereditary sepulcher wished none the less to rest in the land of his fathers (2 Maccabees 5:10), in the sacred.soil (Josephus, Ant. 10:4, 3). For the poor were (later) public burial-places assigned (Jeremiah 26:23; 2 Kings 23:6; comp. Matthew 27:7). As a protection chiefly against the carnivorous jackals (Pliny, 8:44), the graveswere closed with doors or large stones (Matthew 27:60; 28:2; John 11:38); and in the month Adar (March), after the rainy reason (Shekal. 1:1), they were (in the post-exilian period) whitewashed afresh (Maaser Sheni, 5:1), in order to warn the great multitudes of strangers visiting the Passover against contact (Matthew 23:27; see Lightfoot and Schöttgen, ad: loc.; comp. Walch, Observ. in Matthew ex inscr. page 65 sq. and Reussteuch, De sepulcris calae notatis, in Ugolini Thesaur. 33), which caused pollution (Numbers 19:16; comp. Joseplius, Ant. 18:2, 3). There are stilt many such sepulchral grottoes in Palestine, Syria, and Idumsea generally (see Pococke, East, 2:70, 100, etc.;. Burckhardt, 1:220 sq.; Robinson, 1:78 sq.; 2:175 sq., 663; 3:317, 692). They descend sometimes vertically, sometimes horizontally in the earth, the former by steps. Within are usually found several chambers orapartments, of which one sometimes lies deeper than another. Most of them have on the side- walls cells, six, to seven feet long, in which the bodies are deposited, Among those found at Jerusalem, for which tradition assigns special names and origin, are the Sepulchres of the Kings (perhaps derived from 2 Chronicles 21:20; 28:27; compare Nehemiah 3:16; Acts 2:29; see Niebuhr, Travels, 3:63; Rosenmüller, Alterth. II, 2:269.sq.; Robinson, 1:398 sq. 2:183; compare Hottinger, Cippi Hebraici, Heidelb. 1659 [also in Ugolini Thesaur. 33]). They consist of an anteroom and seven chambers, lying on the north of the city, east of the main road to Nablus, and seem to have belonged tothe nobility, and not merely, if at all, to the ancient Jewish kings. SEE JERUSALEM. Far more imposingare the sepulchres of Egypt, and especially celebrated by the ancients is the tomb of king Osymandyas (Diod. Sic. 1:47 sq.), of which the ruins are still extant (Pococke, 1:159).
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Author: McClintock and Strong Cyclopedia
Keywords: Grave
Bible reference(s): 1 Kings 13:22, 1 Kings 16:6, 1 Kings 2:10, 1 Maccabees 13:27, 1 Maccabees 2:70, 1 Samuel 25:1, 1 Samuel 28:3, 1 Samuel 31:13, 2 Chronicles 16:14, 2 Chronicles 21:20, 2 Chronicles 28:27, 2 Chronicles 32:33, 2 Chronicles 33:20, 2 Chronicles 35:24, 2 Kings 10:35, 2 Kings 13:9, 2 Kings 21:18, 2 Kings 23:16, 2 Kings 9:28, 2 Maccabees 5:10, 2 Samuel 18:18, 2 Samuel 19:37, 2 Samuel 2:32, Acts 16:16, Acts 2:29, Ezekiel 32:27, Genesis 23:17, Genesis 35:8, Genesis 47:29, Isaiah 22:16, Isaiah 65:4, Jeremiah 26:23, Jeremiah 8:1, Job 21:32, Job 30:24, Job 33:22, John 11:30, John 19:41, Joshua 24:30, Judges 8:32, Luke 11:44, Luke 23:53, Luke 7:12, Matthew 23:27, Matthew 27:60, Matthew 28:2, Matthew 8:28, Nehemiah 2:3, Nehemiah 3:16, Numbers 19:16, Tobit 14:12
Source: John McClintock and James Strong, Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological, and Ecclesiastical Literature.
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