Page 10 - Graveyard

8 | Gra v e y a rd H u m o r

Cemeteries.
Like our cemeteries of the present day, the Jewish burial-grounds were at a
small distance from their cities and villages. The graves of the principal
citizens were distinguished by having cupolas, or vaulted chambers, of
three, four, or more square yards, built over them; these frequently lay
open, and afforded to passers-by shelter from the inclemency of the
weather—hence the expression (Mark v. 3), “dwelling among the tombs.”
The places which the Hebrews appropriated for the burial of their dead
were both public and private. Thus, in the twenty-third chapter of Genesis,
we read that Abraham had for a possession the field of Machpelah as a
burying-place; and again we read (Judges viii. 32) that Joash had a
sepulchre, in which Gideon his son was buried; and Samson was interred
in the burying-place of his father Manoah (Judges xvi. 31). Asahel,
likewise, was buried in the sepulchre of his father, which was in Bethlehem
(2 Sam. ii. 32). The bones of Saul and Jonathan his son were buried in the
country of Benjamin, in Zelah, in the sepulchre of Kish, his father (2 Sam.
xxi. 14). So much for the private burial-places. Reference is made to public
cemeteries in 2 Kings xxiii. 6, where we read of “the graves of the children
of the people”; and in Jeremiah xxvi. 23 we learn that the dead body of
Urijah was cast into the graves of the common people.

Caves.
The places of sepulture of the Jews were selected sometimes in gardens or
fields, but more generally in hollow places, or in rocks or caves, and their
sepulchres were whitewashed, for the sake of ornament and to prevent
illness.
The tombs in the necropolis of Sela were cut out of the sides of the
rock surrounding the ancient city.
The tombs of the prophets, referred to by our Saviour in Matt. xxiv. 29,
situated on the western declivity of the Mount of Olives, are large
excavations having numerous cells to deposit bodies in.
The sides of the Valley of Jehoshaphat are everywhere studded with
tombs excavated in the rocks.
The tombs of the kings, near Jerusalem, exhibit the remains of a
magnificent edifice excavated from the solid rock (Bastow).