BURIAL (be'r'ri•al) and SEPULCHERS (sip' (1) Cremation. Two instances we meet with in sacred history of the practice of burning hodies to ashes; the one in the case of Saul and his sons, whose bodies were probably so much mangled as to preclude their receiving the royal honors of embalmment (I Sam. xxxi :12) ; the other, men tioned by Amos (vi:to), appears to refer to a season of prevailing pestilence, and the burning of those who died of plague was probably one of the sanitary measures adopted to prevent the spread of contagion.
(2) Interment. But throughout the whole of their national history the people of God observed the practice of burial. Amongst them, as amongst many other ancient nations. the rites of sepulture were considered as of indispensable importance. It was deemed not only an act of humanity, but a sacred duty of religion to pay the last honors to the departed; while, to be deprived of these, as was frequently the fate of enemies at the hands of ruthless conquerors (2 Sam. xxi :9-t4 ; 2 Kings xi:11-16; Ps. lxxix :2; Eccles. vi :3), was consid ered the greatest calamity and disgrace which a person could suffer.
(3) Preparations. On the death of any mem ber of a family, preparations were forthwith made for the burial, which, among the Jews, were in many respects similar to those which are common in the East at the present day, and were more or less expensive according to circumstances. After the solemn ceremony of the last kiss and closing of the eyes, the corpse, which was perfumed by the nearest relative, having been laid out and the head covered with a napkin, was subjected to entire ablution in warm water (Acts ix:37), a precau tion probably adopted to guard against premature interment.
(4) Embalming. But, besides this first and indispensable attention, other cares of a more elab orate and costly description were amongst certain classes bestowed on the remains of deceased friends, the origin of which is to be traced to a fond and natural, though foolish anxiety to re tard or defy the process of decomposition, and all of which may be included under the general head of embalming. Nowhere was this operation
performed with such religious care and in so sci entific a manner as in ancient Egypt, which could boast of a class of professional men trained to the business; and such adepts had these 'physi cians' become in the art of preserving dead bodies, that there are mummies still found, which must have existed for many thousand years, and are probably the remains of subjects of the early Pharaohs. The bodies of Jacob and Joseph un derwent this eminently Egyptian preparation for burial, which on both occasions was doubtless ex ecuted in a style of the greatest magnificence (Gen. 1:1, 2, 26). Whether this expensive method of embalming was imitated by the earlier He brews, we have no distinct accounts; but we learn from their practice in later ages that they had some observance of the kind, only they sub stituted a simpler and more expeditious, though it must have been a less efficient process, which consisted in merely swathing the corpse round with numerous folds of linen, and sometimes a variety of stuffs, and anointing it with a mixture of aromatic substances, of which aloes and myrrh were the chief ingredients (John xix :39, 4o).
A sparing use of spices on such occasions was reckoned a misplaced and discreditable economy; and few higher tokens of respect could be paid to the remains of a departed friend than a pro fuse application of costly perfumes. Nor can we be certain but they intended to use the great abun dance of perfumes they provided, not in the com mon way of anointing the corpse, but, as was done in the case of princes and very eminent person ages, of preparing 'a bed of spices,' in which, after burning them, they might deposit the body (2 Chron. xvi :14; Jer. xxxiv :5). For unpatriotic and wicked princes, however, the people made no such burnings, and hence the honor was denied to Jehoram (2 Chron. xxi:t9).