Hypertext Webster Gateway: "burial"
From Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary (easton)
Burial
The first burial we have an account of is that of Sarah (Gen.
23). The first commercial transaction recorded is that of the
purchase of a burial-place, for which Abraham weighed to Ephron
"four hundred shekels of silver current money with the
merchants." Thus the patriarch became the owner of a part of the
land of Canaan, the only part he ever possessed. When he himself
died, "his sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him in the cave of
Machpelah," beside Sarah his wife (Gen. 25:9).
Deborah, Rebekah's nurse, was buried under Allon-bachuth, "the
oak of weeping" (Gen. 35:8), near to Bethel. Rachel died, and
was buried near Ephrath; "and Jacob set a pillar upon her grave"
(16-20). Isaac was buried at Hebron, where he had died (27, 29).
Jacob, when charging his sons to bury him in the cave of
Machpelah, said, "There they buried Abraham and Sarah his wife;
there they buried Isaac and Rebekah his wife; and there I buried
Leah" (49:31). In compliance with the oath which he made him
swear unto him (47:29-31), Joseph, assisted by his brethren,
buried Jacob in the cave of Machpelah (50:2, 13). At the Exodus,
Moses "took the bones of Joseph with him," and they were buried
in the "parcel of ground" which Jacob had bought of the sons of
Hamor (Josh. 24:32), which became Joseph's inheritance (Gen.
48:22; 1 Chr. 5:1; John 4:5). Two burials are mentioned as
having taken place in the wilderness. That of Miriam (Num.
20:1), and that of Moses, "in the land of Moab" (Deut. 34:5, 6,
8). There is no account of the actual burial of Aaron, which
probably, however, took place on the summit of Mount Hor (Num.
20:28, 29).
Joshua was buried "in the border of his inheritance in
Timnath-serah" (Josh. 24: 30).
In Job we find a reference to burying-places, which were
probably the Pyramids (3:14, 15). The Hebrew word for "waste
places" here resembles in sound the Egyptian word for
"pyramids."
Samuel, like Moses, was honoured with a national burial (1
Sam. 25:1). Joab (1 Kings 2:34) "was buried in his own house in
the wilderness."
In connection with the burial of Saul and his three sons we
meet for the first time with the practice of burning the dead (1
Sam. 31:11-13). The same practice is again referred to by Amos
(6:10).
Absalom was buried "in the wood" where he was slain (2 Sam.
18:17, 18). The raising of the heap of stones over his grave was
intended to mark abhorrence of the person buried (comp. Josh.
7:26 and 8:29). There was no fixed royal burying-place for the
Hebrew kings. We find several royal burials taking place,
however, "in the city of David" (1 Kings 2:10; 11:43; 15:8; 2
Kings 14:19, 20; 15:38; 1 Kings 14:31; 22:50; 2 Chr. 21:19, 20;
2 Chr. 24:25, etc.). Hezekiah was buried in the mount of the
sepulchres of the sons of David; "and all Judah and the
inhabitants of Jerusalem did him honour at his death" (2 Chr.
32:33).
Little is said regarding the burial of the kings of Israel.
Some of them were buried in Samaria, the capital of their
kingdom (2 Kings 10:35; 13:9; 14:16).
Our Lord was buried in a new tomb, hewn out of the rock, which
Joseph of Arimathea had prepared for himself (Matt. 27:57-60;
Mark 15:46; John 19:41, 42).
The grave of Lazarus was "a cave, and a stone lay on it" (John
11:38). Graves were frequently either natural caverns or
artificial excavations formed in the sides of rocks (Gen. 23:9;
Matt. 27:60); and coffins were seldom used, unless when the body
was brought from a distance.
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
Burial \Bur"i*al\, n. [OE. buriel, buriels, grave, tomb, AS.
byrgels, fr. byrgan to bury, and akin to OS. burgisli
sepulcher.]
1. A grave; a tomb; a place of sepulture. [Obs.]
The erthe schook, and stoones weren cloven, and
biriels weren opened. --Wycliff
[Matt. xxvii.
51, 52].
2. The act of burying; depositing a dead body in the earth,
in a tomb or vault, or in the water, usually with
attendant ceremonies; sepulture; interment. ``To give a
public burial.'' --Shak.
Now to glorious burial slowly borne. --Tennyson.
{Burial case}, a form of coffin, usually of iron, made to
close air-tight, for the preservation of a dead body.
{Burial ground}, a piece of ground selected and set apart for
a place of burials, and consecrated to such use by
religious ceremonies.
{Burial place}, any place where burials are made.
{Burial service}.
(a) The religious service performed at the interment of
the dead; a funeral service.
(b) That portion of a liturgy which is read at an
interment; as, the English burial service.
Syn: Sepulture; interment; inhumation.
From WordNet (r) 1.7 (wn)
burial
n 1: the ritual placing of a corpse in a grave [syn: {entombment},
{inhumation}, {interment}, {sepulture}]
2: concealing something under the ground [syn: {burying}]
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