(5) Grave Clothes. The corpse, after receiving the preliminary attentions, was enveloped in the grave clothes, which were sometimes nothing more than the ordinary dress, or folds of linen cloth wrapped round the body, and a napkin about the head: though in other cases a shroud was used, which had long before been prepared by the individual for the purpose, and was plain or ornamental according to taste or other circum stances. The body thus dressed was deposited in an upper chamber in solemn state, open to the view of all visitors (Acts ix:37).
(6) Wailing, etc. From the moment the vi tal spark was extinguished, the members of the family, especially the females, in the violent style of Oriental grief, burst out into shrill, loud, and doleful lamentations, and were soon joined by their friends and neighbors, who, on hearing of the event, crowded to the house in such numbers that Mark describes it by the term Obpvflos, a tumult (v:38). By the better classes, among whom such liberties were not allowed, this duty of sympathizing with the bereaved family was. and still is. performed by a class of females who engaged themselves as professional mourners, and who, seated amid the mourning circle, studied, by vehement sobs and gesticulations, and by sing ing dirges in which they eulogized the personal qualities or virtuous and benevolent actions of the deceased (Acts ix:39), to stir the source of tears, and give fresh impulse to the grief of the afflicted relatives. Numbers of these singing men and women lamented the death of Josiah (2 Chron. xxxv:25), It is still the practice in the East to have burials soon over; and there are two in stances in sacred history where consignment to the grave followed immediately after decease (Acts v:6, to).
(7) Coffins, etc. Persons of distinction were deposited in coffins. But the most common mode of carrying a corpse to the grave was on a bier or bed (2 Sam. iii :31), which in some cases must have been furnished in a costly and elegant style, if, as many learned men conclude from the his tory of Asa (2 Chron. xvi :14) and of Herod (Josephus, Antiq. xvii :8, sec. 3), these royal per sonages were conveyed to their tombs on their own beds. The bier, however, in use among the common and meaner sort of people was noth ing but a plain wooden board, on which, sup ported by two poles, the body lay, concealed only by a slight coverlet from the view of the attend ants. On such a humble vehicle was the widow's son of Nain carried (Luke vii :t4), and 'this mode of performing funeral obsequies,' says an intelli gent traveler. 'obtains equally in the present day among the Jews, Mohammedans, and Christians of the East.' (8) Sepulchers. Sepulchers were, as they still are in the East,—by a prudential arrangement sadly neglected in our country—situated without the precincts of cities. Among the Jews, in the case of Levitical cities, the distance required to be 2,000 cubits, and in all it was considerable. No body was allowed to be buried within the walls. Jerusalem forming the only exception, and even there the privilege was reserved for the royal fam ily of David and a few persons of exalted char acter (I Kings ii :to; 2 Kings xiv :2o). In the vi cinity of this capital were public cemeteries for the general accommodation of the inhabitants, be sides a field appropriated to the burial of strang ers.
(9) Public Cemeteries. The style of the pub lic cemeteries around the cities of ancient Pales tine in all probability resembled that of the pres ent burying-places of the East, of which Dr. Shaw gives the following description: 'They oc cupy a large space, a great extent of ground being allotted for the purpose. Each family has a por tion of it walled in like a garden, where the bones of its ancestors have remained undisturbed for many generations. For in these inclosurcs the graves are all distinct and separate: each of them having a stone placed upright, both at the head and feet, inscribed with the name or title of the deceased; whilst the intermediate space is either planted with flowers bordered round with stone. or paved with tiles.' (10) Private Sepulchers. There were other
sepulchers which were private property, erected at the expense and for the use of several families in a neighborhood, or provided by individuals as a separate burying-place for themselves. These were situated either in some conspicuous place, as Rachel's on the highway to Bethlehem (Gen. xxxv :19), or in some lonely and sequestered spot. under a wide-spreading tree (Gen. xxxv :8) in a field or a garden. Over garden tombs, especially when the tomb is that of some holy person, lamps are sometimes hung and occasionally lighted. In common ca.es, sepulchers were formed by digging a small depth into the ground. Over these, which were considered an humble kind of tomb, the wealthy and great often erected small stone buildings, in the form of a house or cu pola, to serve as their family sepulcher. These ars usually open at the sides, which are of forms such as a traveler in the East has daily occasion to notice. Sometimes, however, these interesting monuments are built up on all sides, as is the tomb of Rachel ; so that the walls are required to be taken down, and a breach made to a certain extent on each successive interment. 'This custom,' says Came, 'which is of great antiquity, and particularly prevails in the lonely parts of Lebanon, may serve to explain some passages of Scripture, The prophet Samuel was buried in his own house at Ramah, and Joab was buried in his house in the wilder ness. These, it is evident, were not their dwell ing-houses, but mansions for the dead, or family vaults which they had built within their own poli cies.' Not unfrequently, however, those who had large establishments, and whose fortunes enabled them to command the assistance of human art and labor, purchased, like Abraham, some of the nat ural caverns with which Palestine abounded, and converted them by sonic suitable alterations into family sepulchers ; while others with vast pains and expense made excavations in the solid rock (Matt. xxvii :6o). These, the entrance to which was either horizontal or by a flight of steps, had their roofs, which were arched with the native stone, so high as to admit persons standing up right, and were very spacious, sometimes being divided into several distinct apartments: in which case the remoter or innermost chambers were dug a little deeper than those that were nearer the entrance, the approach into their darker solitudes being made by another descending stair. Many sepulchers of this description are still found in Palestine. Along the sides of those vast caverns niches were cut, or sometimes shelves ranged one above another, on which were deposited the bodies of the dead, while in others the ground floor of the tomb was raised so as to make different com partments. the lowest place in the family vaults being reserved for the servants. These interior arrangements may be the better understood by the help of the annexed engravings showing the in teriors of tombs now actually existing in Palestine. On the next page is shown the interior of the cele brated Tomb of the Kings (so called), near Jeru salem. In it are some further specimens of the stone sarcophagi already noticed. The mouth of the sepulcher was secured by a huge stone (Matt. xxvii :6o; John xi :38). But the entrance-porch, to which the removal of this rude door gave ad mittance, was so large that several persons could stand in it and view the interior; and hence we read that the women who visited the sepulcher of our Lord. 'entering in. saw a young man sitting, clothed in a long white garment' ( Mark xvi :5) ; and in like manner, in reference to the flight of steps. that Peter 'stooping down, and looking in, saw the linen clothes lying' ( John xx :5). Some of the more splendid of these tombs, however, in stead of the block of stone, have the porches sur mounted with tasteful mason-work, and supported by well-finished colonnades ; and as they stand open and exposed, do now, as they did formerly, afford retreats to numbers of vagrants and law less characters. The rocky valleys around Jerusa lem exhibit numberless specimens of these sepul chral excavations.