Difference between revisions of "Embalming"

<p> Embalming. The process by which dead bodies are preserved from putrefaction and decay. It was most general among the Egyptians, and it is in connection with this people, that the two instances which we meet with in the Old [[Testament]] are mentioned. Genesis 50:2; Genesis 50:26. </p> <p> The embalmers first removed part of the brain through the nostrils, by means of a crooked iron, and destroyed the rest by injecting caustic drugs. An incision was then made along the flank with a sharp [[Ethiopian]] stone, and the whole of the intestines removed. The cavity was rinsed out with palm wine, and afterwards scoured with pounded perfumes. It was then filled with pure myrrh pounded, cassia and other aromatics, except frankincense. </p> <p> This done, the body was sewn up and steeped in natron (salf-petre) for seventy days. When the seventy days were accomplished, the embalmers washed the corpse and swathed it in bandages of linen, cut in strips and smeared with gum. They then gave it up to the relatives of the deceased, who provided for it a wooden case, made in the shape of a man, in which the dead was placed, and deposited in an erect position against the wall of the sepulchral chamber. </p> <p> Sometimes no incision was made in the body, nor were the intestines removed, but cedar-oil was injected into the stomach by the rectum. </p> <p> At others, the oil was prevented from escaping until the end of the steeping process, when it was withdrawn, and carried off with it the stomach and intestines in a state of solution, while the flesh was consumed by the natron, and nothing was left but the skin and bones. The body in this state was returned to the relatives of the deceased. </p> <p> The third mode, which was adopted by the poorer classes, and cost but little, consisted in rinsing out the intestines with syrmaea, an infusion of senna and cassia, and steeping the body for several days in natron. It does not appear that embalming was practiced by the Hebrews. The cost of embalming was sometimes nearly $2000, varying from this amount down to $200 or $300. </p>

<p> Embalming. A process by which, dead bodies are preserved from decay. When [[Jacob]] died in Egypt, "Joseph commanded his servants, the physicians, to embalm his father, for burial in Canaan." The process occupied forty days. Joseph also was himself embalmed, that his body might be carried with the children of [[Israel]] when they left [[Egypt]] for Palestine. Genesis 50:2-3; Genesis 50:26. It does not appear that the Hebrews practiced the mode of embalming of the Egyptians. Still some partial process was employed, tending to soothe surviving friends by arresting or delaying natural corruption. Thus Asa was laid in a bed "filled with sweet odors and divers kinds of spices prepared by the apothecaries' art." 2 Chronicles 16:14. Also the women who had followed Jesus "bought sweet spices, that they might come and anoint him," Mark 16:1; Luke 23:56; and [[Nicodemus]] "brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes," and "wound" the body "in linen clothes with the spices, as the manner of the Jews is to bury." John 19:39-40. In some instances, too, the later Jews embalmed a body in honey, after having covered it with wax. See Bissell, Bib. Antiq. </p>

<p> Jacob and Joseph were both embalmed in Egypt, but we do not read that it was ever practised by the children of Israel. Genesis 50:2,3,26 . The historians [[Herodotus]] and [[Diodorus]] describe the process of embalming in Egypt. There were several modes according to the rank of the deceased, or according to what the relatives could afford to pay. In short it may be said that the body lay in nitre thirty days, for the purpose of drying up all its superfluous and noxious moisture, the brain and bowels being sometimes extracted; and then for forty days more it was anointed with gums and spices to preserve it. When this was complete it was wrapped round with many bandages, and finally put in a case somewhat resembling the person. In many museums [[Egyptian]] mummies may be seen, and the marvellous preservation of the body be attested. </p> <p> Among the Jews the body was merely wrapped round with bandages with a quantity of spices enclosed. Asa, was laid "in the bed which was filled with sweet odours and divers kinds of spices prepared by the apothecaries' art." 2 Chronicles 16:14 . Nicodemus furnished "a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about an hundred pound weight," and they wound the body of Jesus "in linen clothes with the spices, as the manner of the Jews is to bury." John 19:39,40 . </p>

Genesis 50:2-3Genesis 50:26 Genesis 50:13Exodus 13:19 <p> Related passages include 2 Chronicles 16:14 which describes the burial of Asa and the John 19:39-40 account of Jesus' burial. The use of spices mentioned in both of these passages did not constitute embalming but ceremonial purification. </p> <p> The Egyptian art of mummification was an elaborate version of embalming which required seventy days for completion. The process required removal of the viscera and organs (except the heart), treatment of the body with a preserving agent, and wrapping with cloth. That the Hebrews did not perform embalming reflects not only rival conceptions of the afterlife between Israel and Egypt but also aversion toward Egyptian religious practice in general. </p> <p> Joe Haag </p>

<p> the art of preserving dead bodies from putrefaction. It was much practised by the Egyptians of ancient times, and from them seems to have been borrowed by the Hebrews. It consisted in opening the body, taking out the intestines, and filling the place with odoriferous drugs and spices of a desiccative quality. Joseph gave orders for the embalming of the body of his father Jacob, Genesis 50:1-2; and Moses informs us that the process took up forty days. Joseph himself also was embalmed, Genesis 50:26 . Asa, king of Israel, seems to have been embalmed, 2 Chronicles 16:13-14 . See BURIAL . </p>

Genesis 50:2,3,26 <p> The embalming of Jacob and Joseph was according to the Egyptian custom, which was partially followed by the Jews (2 Chronicles 16:14 ), as in the case of king Asa, and of our Lord (John 19:39,40; Luke 23:56; 24:1 ). (See [[Pharaoh]] .) </p>

<p> <strong> EMBALMING </strong> . This specifically Egyptian (non-Israelitish) method of treating dead bodies is mentioned in [[Scripture]] only in the cases of Jacob and Joseph ( Genesis 50:2 f., Genesis 50:26 ). </p>

<p> '''''em''''' -'''''bam´ing''''' ( חנט , <i> '''''ḥānaṭ''''' </i> , "to spice"): Embalming. is mentioned in Scripture only in the cases of Jacob and Joseph (Genesis 50:2 f,26). It was a distinctly Egyptian invention and method of preserving the bodies of men and animals. Examples of it reach back to over 3,000 years ago. It prevailed to some extent among the peoples of Asia, and at a later period among the [[Greeks]] and Romans, but was in origin and use distinctly non-Israelitish. See [[Burial]] . </p>