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Bible Dictionaries
Tomb, Grave, Sepulchre
Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible
or TOMB, GRAVE, SEPULCHRE . The disposal of the dead among the Israelites was always by burial . While spices were sometimes sprinkled among the grave-clothes, there was no religious motive for the embalming of the dead as in Egypt. 1 . The common grave must have been the usual opening in the ground with protective stones laid on the surface; or one prepared slab of stone either quite fiat, or with the ridge of a sarcophagus lid, might be used. To judge by the custom of to-day, the grave would often be cut partly or altogether in rock, not because that was preferred, but because the village elders usually marked off for the cemetery a section of ground that was too rocky for purposes of cultivation. 2 . Tombs of a more important kind were made by excavating in the face of a rock to form a chamber about 8 or 9 feet on each side. At the opposite end and on the two sides were three narrow recesses, Heb. kokim , 6 or 7 feet long and about 2 feet wide, cut into the rock at right angles to each wall. Into one of these the dead body was inserted with the feet towards the entrance, which was then covered with a slab sealed around the edges with plaster. 3 . During the two centuries of Greek influence before the Christian era, a somewhat larger form of tomb came into use. The common chamber had on each of its three sides two, and occasionally three, shallow arched recesses, and in each recess a sarcophagus was laid along the line of the wall. From the fact that the two angels could be seen, one at the head and the other at the foot of the receptacle for Christ’s body ( John 20:12 ), it is evident that the tomb belonging to Joseph of Arimathæa was of this later character. The opening to the central chamber was guarded by a large and heavy disc of rock which could roll along a groove slightly depressed at the centre, in front of the tomb entrance. Both the primitive Israelite sepulchre and its Greek successor might be of a compound form, having a passage leading from one chamber to another, each with its kokim or loculi . The most extensive example of such tombs is found in the catacombs of Rome.
From time immemorial a tomb was a sacred place which it was an act of profanation to violate, and of ceremonial pollution to use for other purposes, such as the erection of a house upon the site. The tomb of a saint became a shrine, and that of a Christian martyr was venerated as the memorial and altar of a living sacrifice. Religious meetings were held there, and pilgrimages were made to it as to a heathen oracle, and votive offerings gradually adorned the walls of the building erected over it. At the present day the peasants of Palestine can leave clothing and agricultural implements, with perfect safety, beside the tomb, under the temporary guardianship of the saint. In course of time this power of protection became transferred to the Church as the common institution of the saints.
G. M. Mackie.
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Hastings, James. Entry for 'Tomb, Grave, Sepulchre'. Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/hdb/t/tomb-grave-sepulchre.html. 1909.
