Difference between revisions of "Carcase"

<p> (גְּוַיָּה, מִפֶּלֶת, נְּבֵלָה, פֶּגֶר, πτῶμα )'','' the dead body of a man or beast (&nbsp;Joshua 8:29; &nbsp;Isaiah 14:19; &nbsp;Hebrews 3:17, etc.). According to the [[Mosaic]] law, any [[Israelite]] became ceremonially unclean until the evening (and in turn rendered whatever he touched unclean, &nbsp;Haggai 2:14; comp. &nbsp;Numbers 19:22), by (unwitting) contact, under any circumstances, with a dead animal of the "unclean" class (&nbsp;Leviticus 5:2; &nbsp;Leviticus 11:8 sq.; comp. &nbsp;Deuteronomy 14:8), or with any "clean" animal, in case it had not been regularly slain according to the prescribed mode (&nbsp;Leviticus 11:39 sq.). The eating of any (clean) beast that had died an accidental or natural death was still more strictly forbidden (&nbsp;Leviticus 22:8; comp. &nbsp;Ezekiel 4:14; &nbsp;Ezekiel 44:31); but it might be sold as food to a foreigner (&nbsp;Deuteronomy 14:2). Carrion was doubtless buried or burned. On the sepulture of persons found dead, (See [[Homicide]]). An unburied carcass (&nbsp;Jeremiah 36:30; &nbsp;Psalms 79:3) was considered by the ancients the height of indignity and misfortune (Virgil, ''AEn.'' 10:559). (See [[Burial]]). The [[Levitical]] enactments respecting all dead bodies evidently had their origin in sanitary reasons in a climate so liable to pestilence (Michaelis, Mos. Recht, 4:809 sq.). On the incident of the beehive in the skeleton (&nbsp;Judges 14:8), (See [[Bee]]). On the allusion to the vulture's scent for putrid flesh, &nbsp;Matthew 24:28 (Loder, ''De cadavere Judaico, ab aquilis Romnanis discerpendo,'' Argent. 1715; Rechenberg, ''De adagio Christi,'' etc., Lips. 1696), (See [[Eagle]]). </p>