Grave

Baker's Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology

Place where the physical remains of a deceased person are interred. It is "the place appointed for all living" ( Job 30:23 ). It is where all go, even animals ( Ecclesiastes 3:19-20 ). It is a place with no class distinctions ( Job 3:14-19 ).

In Old Testament times, a person who touched a grave was unclean ( Numbers 19:16-18 ). Thus almost all burials took place outside the city except for certain kings. Ezekiel prophesies that Judah will never again defile God's name with the corpses of their kings. The grave became a metaphor for human depravity. Paul quotes  Psalm 5:9 ("their throat is an open grave") as part of his scriptural basis that all people are under sin (  Romans 3:9,13 ). Jesus compares some people in his day to whitewashed tombs that are beautiful on the outside but "full of dead men's bones and everything unclean" on the inside ( Matthew 23:27 ). They are only outwardly righteous.

A grave could be a symbol of pride. Absalom followed the practice of ancient Near Eastern kings when he built himself a monument ( 2 Samuel 18:18 ). Isaiah proclaimed that no one had the right to build such arrogant structures. Shebna, the royal steward, was told that he would be hurled out of the country for chiseling out a resting place for himself on the high rock ( Isaiah 22:15-19 ).

A grave might be a symbol of respect. Nehemiah remembered Jerusalem as the place of his father's grave ( Nehemiah 2:5 ). Jacob set up a pillar to mark Rachel's tomb ( Genesis 35:20 ). Not being interred in the family tomb was considered unthinkable. The anonymous prophet was punished in this way ( 1 Kings 13:22 ). Josiah did not desecrate this tomb out of respect for him ( 2 Kings 23:15-18 ). Jeroboam's baby was the only one good enough to deserve a burial ( 1 Kings 14:13 ).

To show disrespect for idolaters the dust of broken cult symbols was scattered over their graves ( 2 Chronicles 34:4 ). Josiah broke into the tombs at Bethel and burned the bones of the idolatrous priests upon the altar there to defile it ( 2 Kings 23:15-17 ). In  Revelation 11:9 men do not bury the two witnesses to show contempt for them.

Graves at times symbolized hopelessness. The Gadarene demoniac made his home among the tombs ( Mark 5:2 ). It is a place of no return, where there is gloom, deep shadow, and disorder ( Job 10:21-22 ). There is no activity there ( Psalm 88:5,16;  Ecclesiastes 9:10 ). But it is not necessarily a final resting place. Human beings will lie there until the heavens are no more ( Job 14:12 ). The tomb is not an "eternal home" but a "dark house" ( Ecclesiastes 12:5 ).

A grave is also a symbol of hope, however. With the resurrection of Christ tombs in Jerusalem were opened and the dead came out ( Matthew 27:52 ). When people threw a body into Elisha's grave, it came back to life ( 2 Kings 13:21 ). David's tomb reminded Peter of his prophecy that says, "You will not abandon me to the grave" ( Acts 2:27-29 ). Jesus said that "all who are in their graves will hear his voice and come out" ( John 5:28-29 ). Christianity is still best represented by the empty grave ( John 20:1-9 ).

Paul Ferguson

See also Burial; Mortality Death; Funeral; Hell

Bibliography . W. Coleman, Today's Handbook of Bible Times and Customs  ; R. de Vaux, Ancient Israel, vol. 1; N. J. Tromp, Primitive Conceptions of Death and the Nether World  ; H. W. Wolff, Anthropology of the Old Testament  ; R. Youngblood, A Tribute to Gleason Archer .

Holman Bible Dictionary

The tomb cut out of rock was sometimes fashioned to serve as a multiple grave with separate chambers. Ledges were often constructed to hold individual family members; and when the tomb was full, the bones from previous burials were set aside to make more room. The bones were placed in jars or stone boxes called ossuaries, which resembled vessels used by the Romans to store ashes after cremation. Ossuaries sometimes held the bones of more than one person and were frequently marked with decorative or identifying designs. The entrances to tombs were secured either by hinged doorways or large flat stones which could be moved by rolling. The most desirable grave site was the family tomb to which ample reference is made in the patriarchal narratives of Genesis. The Hebrews apparently envisioned a “shade” existence in death and preferred proximity to ancestors over solitude for the placement of their loved ones' remains.

While most graves were left unmarked, some were marked with trees ( Genesis 35:8 ) or stone pillars.  2 Samuel 18:18 anticipates the use of pillars, but this practice was never widespread in biblical times. The graves of the infamous dead were often marked with a pile of stones (Achan,   Joshua 7:26; Absalom,  2 Samuel 18:17; the king of Ai and the five Canaanite kings,  Joshua 8:29;  Joshua 10:27 ). In New Testament times graves were whitewashed each spring so people could see them easily and avoid touching them to prevent ritual defilement during the Passover and Pentecost pilgrimages ( Matthew 23:27; compare  Luke 11:44 ).

Coffins were generally not used in ancient Palestine. The body was placed on a simple bier and transported to the grave site. While Canaanites often placed containers of food and water in their tombs, the Israelites largely avoided this custom.

Biblical examples of grave site selection include the cave of Machpelah at Hebron which served Sarah and other members of Abraham's family ( Genesis 25:9-10;  Genesis 49:31;  Genesis 50:13 ). Joshua was buried in “his inheritance in Timnath-serah ( Joshua 24:30 ); Samuel on his estate at Ramah ( 1 Samuel 25:1;  1 Samuel 28:3 ); Joab on his property in the desert ( 1 Kings 2:34 ); Manasseh “in the garden of his own house” ( 2 Kings 21:18 ); and Jesus in the garden tomb of Joseph of Arimathea ( Matthew 27:60;  Mark 15:46;  Luke 23:53;  John 19:41 ).

In Hebrew thought graves were not simply places to deposit human remains. They were in a sense extensions of Sheol, the place of the dead. Since the realm of Sheol was threatening and since each grave was an individual expression of Sheol, the Israelites avoided burial sites when possible and treated them with circumspection. They performed purification rites when contact was unavoidable. See Death; Eternal Life; Sheol .

Joe Haag

Morrish Bible Dictionary

The principal words are

1. qeber, qeburah, τάφος, from 'to bury,' and hence any description of burying place, as  Genesis 35:20;  Genesis 50:5;  Matthew 23:29 , etc. They are often translated SEPULCHRE. Genesis 23:6;  Deuteronomy 34:6;  Matthew 23:27 .

2. sheol, ἅδης, the place of departed spirits.  Genesis 37:35;  Psalm 6:5;  Hosea 13:14;  1 Corinthians 15:55 , etc. See HELL.

3. μνῆμα, μνημεῖον,from 'to remember,' hence a memorial tomb or monument.   Matthew 27:52 , 53, etc. It is often translated Sepulchre as in  John 20:1-11; and TOMB, as in  Matthew 8:28 , etc.

The graves were of various descriptions: some were simply holes dug in the ground and at times covered over with one or more large stones, over which men might walk unawares.  Luke 11:44 . Some were hewn in the rock, and a single stone placed or rolled against the mouth, the tomb of Lazarus and that of Joseph in which 'the body of Jesus was laid' being of this description. Other sepulchres or tombs were said to be built  ; an ornamental structure being erected over the place where the body was laid, similar to those found in nearly all modern cemeteries.  Matthew 23:29 .

In places, and especially near Jerusalem, there are long passages, with holes cut in the sides in which the bodies were placed; and by continuing these passages such tombs could be enlarged to any extent. We read in the O.T. of the Tombs Of The Kings Those now bearing this name may be seen marked on maps to the north of Jerusalem; and others called the Tombs Of The Prophets are placed on the mount of Olives. These of course may not be those referred to in scripture.

Natural caves were also used as graves, as the cave of Machpelah.  Genesis 23:3-20 . In  Luke 8:27 we read of a demoniac who lived in the 'tombs:' these were doubtless natural caves.

The Lord compared the hypocritical scribes and Pharisees to whited sepulchres, the outward beauty of which stood in strong contrast to the dead men's bones and uncleanness within. There is a tradition that the sepulchres were white-washed once every year, that they might be readily seen and avoided. The hour comes when all that are in the graves shall hear His voice and come forth, some to the resurrection of life, and others to the resurrection of judgement.  John 5:28,29 .

King James Dictionary

Grave a final syllable, is a grove.

GRAVE, pret. graved pp. graven or graved. Gr. to write originally all writing was graving Eng. to scrape.

1. To carve or cut letters or figures on stone or other hard substance, with a chisel or edged tool to engrave. The latter word is now more generally used.

Thou shalt take two onyx-stones and grave on them the names of the children of Israel.  Exodus 28

2. To carve to form or shape by cutting with a chisel as, to grave an image.

Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image.  Exodus 20

3. To clean a ship's bottom by burning off filth, grass or other foreign matter, and paying it over with pitch. 4. To entomb. Unusual.

GRAVE, To carve to write or delineate on hard substances to practice engraving.

GRAVE, n. L. scrobs.

1. The ditch, pit or excavated place in which a dead human body is deposited a place for the corpse of a human being a sepulcher. 2. A tomb. 3. Any place where the dead are reposited a place of great slaughter or mortality. Flanders was formerly the grave of English armies. Russia proved to be the grave of the French army under Bonaparte. The tropical climates are the grave of American seamen and of British soldiers. 4. Graves, in the plural, sediment of tallow melted. Not in use or local.

Vine's Expository Dictionary of NT Words

1: Σεμνός (Strong'S #4586 — Adjective — semnos — sem-nos' )

first denoted "reverend, august, venerable" (akin to sebomai, "to reverence"); then, "serious, grave," whether of persons,  1—Timothy 3:8,11 (deacons and their wives);   Titus 2:2 (aged men); or things,   Philippians 4:8 , RV, "honorable" (marg., "reverend"), AV, "honest." Trench (Syn. xcii) points out that "grave" and "gravity" fail to cover the full meaning of their original; "the word we want is one in which the sense of gravity and dignity is combined." Cremer describes it as denoting what inspires reverence and awe, and says that semnos and hosios, "holy, consecrated," are only secondary designations of the conception of holiness. "The word points to seriousness of purpose and to self-respect in conduct" (Moule). Cp. semnotes, "gravity" (see below).

Easton's Bible Dictionary

 Luke 7:12 John 11:30 1 Kings 2:10 1 Samuel 25:1 Isaiah 22:16 Matthew 27:60 Genesis 47:29 50:5 2 Samuel 19:37 Jeremiah 26:23 2 Kings 23:6 Matthew 23:27 Numbers 19:16

There were no graves in Jerusalem except those of the kings, and according to tradition that of the prophetess Huldah.

Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible

GRAVE . See Mourning Customs, Tomb.

Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament

GRAVE. —See Tomb.

Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature

(properly קֶבֶר , Ke'Ber, a Sepulcher; Greek Μνῆμα or Μνημεῖον , a Tomb, as a Monument (See Burial) ) is also in some passages of the common vers. the rendering of שְׁאוֹל , Sheol', ¯ Δης , hades (See Sheol); (See Hades); once of שִׁחִת , Shach'Ath ( Job 33:22), the Pit or open sepulcher, as elsewhere rendered; and once erroneously of בְּ י , Be Ï´ , Prayer ( Job 30:24). (See Tomb).

Sepulchres among the ancient Hebrews were, as still among all Orientals (Schweigger, Reisen, page 199; Shaw, Travels, page 192; Hasselquist, page 35 sq.), outside of cities (see Lightfoot, Hor. Heb. page 167; according to the Talmud, Baba Bathra, 2:9, at least fifty yards distant from the city walls), in the open field ( Luke 7:12;  John 11:30; compare Cicero, Leg. 2:23; Ad Famil. 4:12, 9; Plutarch, Arat. 53; Theocr. 7:10; Homer, Il. 7:435 sq.; Michaelis, Mos. Recht. 4:307). Only kings ( 1 Kings 2:10;  1 Kings 16:6;  1 Kings 16:28;  2 Kings 10:35;  2 Kings 13:9;  2 Chronicles 16:14;  2 Chronicles 28:27) and prophets ( 1 Samuel 25:1;  1 Samuel 28:3) were allowed to be buried within cities (Harmer,Obs. 2:129 sq.; compare Thucyd. 5:11; Potter, Gr. Ant. 2:427 sq.; when it is said that any one was interred In His House [ 1 Kings 2:34;  2 Chronicles 33:20], we must understand the grounds or environs of the house to be meant, i.e., the garden [comp.  Numbers 19:16]; it was otherwise among the ancient Romans, Isidore, Orig. 10:2). Generally the graves were pits or grottoes ( Genesis 23:17;  Genesis 35:8;  1 Samuel 31:13;  2 Kings 21:18;  2 Kings 21:26;  John 19:41; comp. Strabo, 14:636; Virgil, AEn. 11:851), shady spots under trees or in, gardens being preferred (Eck, De sepulcris in hortis, Meining. 1:738 sq.; Walch, Observ. in Matthew ex inscript. page 89); and these excavations were either natural, with which Palestine abounds, (See Cave), or oftener artificial, dug for this purpose (and walled up; see Knobel, Jesa. page 99), or hewn in rocks ( Isaiah 22:16;  2 Chronicles 16:14;  Matthew 27:60;  John 11:38;  Luke 23:53), sometimes very spacious and with numerous side-passages and chambers (Baba Bathra, 6:8); there are also instances of graves sunk perpendicularly in the ground ( Luke 11:44), and such were occasionally situated on hills ( 2 Kings 23:16; Ecomp. Isidore, Origg. 2:11). Not only in the case of kings and nobles ( 2 Kings 9:28;  2 Chronicles 32:33;  2 Chronicles 35:24;  1 Maccabees 2:70;  1 Maccabees 9:19;  1 Maccabees 13:25, etc.), but in every good family ( Genesis 23:20;  Judges 8:32;  2 Samuel 2:32;  1 Kings 13:22;  Tobit 14:12;  1 Maccabees 2:70), were there hereditary vaults (it was a deep disgrace to the remains of persons of distinction to be buried among those of the populace,  Jeremiah 26:23); and it appears the very natural desire of those dying, abroad to repose in such family cemeteries ( Genesis 47:29;  Genesis 1:5;  2 Samuel 19:37;  1 Kings 13:22;  1 Kings 13:31;  Nehemiah 2:3; comp. Sophocles, Electra, 1131 sq.; Anthol. Gr. 3:25, 75; Justin. 3:5; see Zeibich, De sepultura in terra sancta a Jacobo et Josepho expetita, Viteb. 1742; Semler, De patriarcharum ut in Palest. sepelis-entur desiderio,, Halae, 1756; Carpzov, in Ugolini Thesaur. 33). But whoever had not such a hereditary sepulcher wished none the less to rest in the land of his fathers ( 2 Maccabees 5:10), in the sacred.soil (Josephus, Ant. 10:4, 3). For the poor were (later) public burial-places assigned ( Jeremiah 26:23;  2 Kings 23:6; comp.  Matthew 27:7). As a protection chiefly against the carnivorous jackals (Pliny, 8:44), the graveswere closed with doors or large stones ( Matthew 27:60;  Matthew 28:2;  John 11:38); and in the month Adar (March), after the rainy reason (Shekal. 1:1), they were (in the post-exilian period) whitewashed afresh (Maaser Sheni, 5:1), in order to warn the great multitudes of strangers visiting the Passover against contact ( Matthew 23:27; see Lightfoot and Sch Ö ttgen, ad: loc.; comp. Walch, Observ. In Matthew Ex Inscr. page 65 sq. and Reussteuch, De sepulcris calae notatis, in Ugolini Thesaur. 33), which caused pollution ( Numbers 19:16; comp. Joseplius, Ant. 18:2, 3). There are stilt many such sepulchral grottoes in Palestine, Syria, and Idumsea generally (see Pococke, East, 2:70, 100, etc.;. Burckhardt, 1:220 sq.; Robinson, 1:78 sq.; 2:175 sq., 663; 3:317, 692). They descend sometimes vertically, sometimes horizontally in the earth, the former by steps. Within are usually found several chambers orapartments, of which one sometimes lies deeper than another. Most of them have on the side- walls cells, six, to seven feet long, in which the bodies are deposited, Among those found at Jerusalem, for which tradition assigns special names and origin, are the Sepulchres Of The Kings (perhaps derived from  2 Chronicles 21:20;  2 Chronicles 28:27; compare  Nehemiah 3:16;  Acts 2:29; see Niebuhr, Travels, 3:63; Rosenm Ü ller, Alterth. II, 2:269.sq.; Robinson, 1:398 sq. 2:183; compare Hottinger, Cippi Hebraici, Heidelb. 1659 [also in Ugolini Thesaur. 33]). They consist of an anteroom and seven chambers, lying on the north of the city, east of the main road to Nablus, and seem to have belonged tothe nobility, and not merely, if at all, to the ancient Jewish kings. (See Jerusalem).

Far more imposingare the sepulchres of Egypt, and especially celebrated by the ancients is the tomb of king Osymandyas (Diod. Sic. 1:47 sq.), of which the ruins are still extant (Pococke, 1:159). Above the tombs were from the earliest times erected monuments ( Genesis 35:20, מִצֵּבָח often on the Phoenician grave-stones), originally of rough stone or earth ( Job 21:32; comp. Homer, II. 23:255 sq.; Virgil, AEn. 6:365), later in the form of splendid mausolea ( 1 Maccabees 13:27 sq.; Josephus, Ant. 7:10, 3; 20:4, 3; comp. Pausanias, 8:16, 3; see Salmasius, ad Solin. page 851; Zorn, in the Nov. Miscell. Lips. 5:218 sq.) with various devices (  2 Samuel 18:18). To open a grave forcibly in order to abstract the ornaments (Josephus, Ant. 15:3, 4; 13:8, 4), weapons ( Ezekiel 32:27;  1 Maccabees 13:29; Curtius, 10:1, 31), or other articles deposited with the body(comp. Sept. Vat. at  Joshua 24:30; Jerome, Ad Jeremiah 7 ; Rosenmiiller, Morgenl. 3:10), or even the bones. of the interred, was in all antiquity regarded as a. shameful piece of barbarity ( Jeremiah 8:1;  Baruch 2:24; comp. Diod. Sic. 13:86; 14:63; see Wachter, Ueber Ehescheid. bei d. Romans page 209 sq.; Abegg, Strafrechtsweis. page 726 sq.). That the relics of the dead were thus pillaged for magical purposes (Apul. Metam. 2, page 38, Bip.; Horace, Epod. 14:47 sq.; Lucan, 6:533; comp. Brouckhus. ad Tibull. 1:2, 47 sq.) does not appear very clearly from  Isaiah 65:4. There are scriptural traces of the popular idea that graves were the residence of daemons (comp.  Matthew 8:28), who were perhaps connected with soothsaying ( Acts 16:16); others, however, refer such allusions to the superstitious notions respecting offering to the manes of the departed (Inferie, Februationes; compare Athen. 3:98; Macrob. Sat. 1:13, page 263, Bip.; Barhebr. Chron. page 256), or a species of necromancy practiced in such spots (see Gregor. Nazianz. Or. in Julian. page 91; Otho, Lex. Rabb. page 171). The graves of the prophets and holy persons were (in post-exilian times) sedulously repaired and adorned ( Matthew 23:29; see Schottgen, Hor. Hebr. 1:205; Eckhard, De Cedificatione Et Exornzatione Sepulcrorum, Jena, 1746), a tribute of reverence (and eventually of grateful reparation,  Matthew 23:30 sq.), which was not unknown likewise in Greek antiquity (AElian, Var. Hist. 12:7; Diod. Siculus, 11:33; Athen. 13:593; Suetonius, Octav. 18; the Greeks even anointed the tombs of honored men, Plutarch, Alex. c. 15), and still general in the East (Kaimpfer, Amaen. page 109, sq.; Robinson, 2:708). See generally Nicolai, De sepulcris Hebr. (L.B. 1706; also in Ugolino, 33); Fuhrmann, Hist. Untersuch ub. der Begra-bnissplatze der Alten (Halle, 1800). (See Sepulchre).

Kitto's Popular Cyclopedia of Biblial Literature

Grave [BURIAL]