The descriptions of the eastern sepulchres, by travellers,
serve to explain several passages of Scripture. Shaw says, “If we except
a few persons who are buried within the precincts of some sanctuary, the
rest are carried out at a small distance from their cities and villages,
where a great extent of ground is allotted for that purpose. Each family
has a particular portion of it, walled in like a garden, where the bones
of their ancestors have remained undisturbed for many generations: for
in these inclosures the graves are all distinct and separate, having
each of them a stone placed upright, both at the head and feet,
inscribed with the name of the person who lieth there interred, while
the intermediate space is either planted with flowers, bordered round
with stone, or paved all over with tiles. The graves of the principal
citizens are farther distinguished by some square chambers or cupolas
that are built over them, Mark v, 3. Now, as all these different sorts
of tombs and sepulchres, with the very walls likewise of the inclosures,
are constantly kept clean, white-washed, and beautified, they continue
to this day to be an excellent comment upon that expression of our
Saviour, where he mentions the garnishing of the sepulchres, Matt.
xxiii, 29; and again, verse 27, where he compares the scribes,
Pharisees, and hypocrites, to whited sepulchres.” With respect to the
demoniacs who are said by St. Matthew to come out of the tombs, Light
observes, “I trod the ground celebrated for the miracle of the unclean
spirit, driven by our Saviour among the swine. The tombs still exist in
the form of caverns, on the sides of the hills that rise from the shore
of the lake; and from their wild appearance may well be considered the
habitation of men exceeding fierce, possessed by a devil; they extend at
a distance for more than a mile from the present town.” In the account
we have of the resurrection of Lazarus, when Mary went suddenly out to
meet Jesus, the Jews supposed that she was gone to the grave, “to weep
there.” The following extract from Buckingham illustrates this: “Not far
from the spot at which we halted to enjoy this enchanting view, was an
extensive cemetry, at which we noticed the custom so prevalent among
eastern nations of visiting the tombs of their deceased friends. These
were formed with great care, and finished with extraordinary neatness:
and at the foot of each grave was enclosed a small earthen vessel, in
which was planted a sprig of myrtle, regularly watered every day by the
mourning friend who visited it. Throughout the whole of this extensive
place of burial we did not observe a single grave to which this token of
respect and sorrow was not attached; and, scattered among the tombs, in
different quarters of the cemetry, we saw from twenty to thirty parties
of females, sitting near the honoured remains of some recently lost and
deeply regretted relative or friend, and either watering their myrtle
plants, or strewing flowers over the green turf that closed upon their
heads.” See BURIAL.
serve to explain several passages of Scripture. Shaw says, “If we except
a few persons who are buried within the precincts of some sanctuary, the
rest are carried out at a small distance from their cities and villages,
where a great extent of ground is allotted for that purpose. Each family
has a particular portion of it, walled in like a garden, where the bones
of their ancestors have remained undisturbed for many generations: for
in these inclosures the graves are all distinct and separate, having
each of them a stone placed upright, both at the head and feet,
inscribed with the name of the person who lieth there interred, while
the intermediate space is either planted with flowers, bordered round
with stone, or paved all over with tiles. The graves of the principal
citizens are farther distinguished by some square chambers or cupolas
that are built over them, Mark v, 3. Now, as all these different sorts
of tombs and sepulchres, with the very walls likewise of the inclosures,
are constantly kept clean, white-washed, and beautified, they continue
to this day to be an excellent comment upon that expression of our
Saviour, where he mentions the garnishing of the sepulchres, Matt.
xxiii, 29; and again, verse 27, where he compares the scribes,
Pharisees, and hypocrites, to whited sepulchres.” With respect to the
demoniacs who are said by St. Matthew to come out of the tombs, Light
observes, “I trod the ground celebrated for the miracle of the unclean
spirit, driven by our Saviour among the swine. The tombs still exist in
the form of caverns, on the sides of the hills that rise from the shore
of the lake; and from their wild appearance may well be considered the
habitation of men exceeding fierce, possessed by a devil; they extend at
a distance for more than a mile from the present town.” In the account
we have of the resurrection of Lazarus, when Mary went suddenly out to
meet Jesus, the Jews supposed that she was gone to the grave, “to weep
there.” The following extract from Buckingham illustrates this: “Not far
from the spot at which we halted to enjoy this enchanting view, was an
extensive cemetry, at which we noticed the custom so prevalent among
eastern nations of visiting the tombs of their deceased friends. These
were formed with great care, and finished with extraordinary neatness:
and at the foot of each grave was enclosed a small earthen vessel, in
which was planted a sprig of myrtle, regularly watered every day by the
mourning friend who visited it. Throughout the whole of this extensive
place of burial we did not observe a single grave to which this token of
respect and sorrow was not attached; and, scattered among the tombs, in
different quarters of the cemetry, we saw from twenty to thirty parties
of females, sitting near the honoured remains of some recently lost and
deeply regretted relative or friend, and either watering their myrtle
plants, or strewing flowers over the green turf that closed upon their
heads.” See BURIAL.