Tool Beta
The Ancient World Behind the Text: Ideas
The customs, offices and ideas a first reader knew without being told, what each meant then, and the nearest thing you already know.
Burial and mourning
Mourners came at once, the dead were buried the same day, wrapped in linen in rock tombs, and family carried the duty of burial. Pagan mourning, with little hope beyond a shadowy underworld, could be bleak.
First, in plain English
When someone in the village died, the wailing started before the doctor had left the house. The dead were buried fast, on the day they died if possible. Family did the burying. Tombs were caves cut in rock and closed with a heavy stone.
What it meant then
As soon as a death was announced, professional mourners gathered. Sleep was a common picture for death, but the mourners knew death when they saw it. Next of kin normally buried a body, or failing them a teacher's disciples. Romans left those executed for treason to vultures or dogs, and a member of the elite who asked for such a body took a real risk. Wealthy tombs were closed with a grooved stone disk that took several men to move, and a year later the bones went into an ossuary. Keener describes "The first week of deep grief after a close relative's burial" spent at home, sitting on the floor and visited by friends. Three weeks without adornment followed, then a year without common pleasures. Josephus says Archelaus mourned Herod seven days, "for so many days are appointed for it by the law of our fathers." Paid mourners and set days of grief are ancient. At a queen's funeral in Lagash in the twenty-fourth century BC, lament priests and women mourners were paid in bread and beer. At the funeral of the mother of Babylon's last king, in the sixth century BC, guests mourned seven days before they were feasted (Podany). Jewish custom wrapped the body tightly in linen and neither burned nor embalmed it. Even for the crucified, Josephus says the Jews "took down those that were condemned and crucified, and buried them before the going down of the sun." Keener writes, "Most pagans believed in a shadowy afterlife in the underworld". The ESV Study Bible finds that "most first-century Greeks had a strongly pessimistic view of death". Wright cites an epitaph so common it was carved by its initials: I was not, I was, I am not, I do not care.
The bridge to today
An analogy: a family vault on an old estate, where each generation is laid beside the last. Being buried there means you belong. Being left out of it is a disgrace.
What it changes in the reading
Burial on the day of death and the family's duty to bury explain the rush and the obligations in many scenes, as when John's disciples bury him in Mark 6:29, and a son's duty to bury his father makes the saying in Matthew 8:21-22 shocking. Because most pagans expected little beyond a shadowy underworld, Paul's call in 1 Thessalonians 4:13 not to grieve like those who have no hope sets two kinds of mourning side by side.
Where the analogy breaks
Not a final resting place. In a family vault each body stays where it is laid. In a Jewish rock tomb the body lay for a year, and then the bones were gathered into an ossuary. Burial had to come the same day, and the duty fell on next of kin.
Passages where it appears
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/matthew-8-18-34\/","n":"Matthew 8:18-34, Let the dead bury their dead, the storm and Gadara","s":"Jesus answers two would-be followers, calms a storm on the lake, and frees two men possessed by demons in the region of the Gadarenes.","r":"Matthew 8:18-34"}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/matthew-9-18-34\/","n":"Matthew 9:18-34, A ruler's daughter, a bleeding woman, the blind and the mute","s":"A synagogue ruler asks Jesus to raise his daughter; on the way a woman touches the fringe of his cloak. Then two blind men call him Son of David, and a mute man speaks.","r":"Matthew 9:18-34"}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/matthew-14-1-12\/","n":"Matthew 14:1-12, John beheaded at a birthday feast","s":"Herod the tetrarch hears about Jesus and thinks John has risen. Matthew tells how Herod, bound by an oath at his birthday, had John beheaded.","r":"Matthew 14:1-12"}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/matthew-23-13-28\/","n":"Matthew 23:13-28, Oaths, mint, gnats and whitewashed tombs","s":"Jesus pronounces woes on the scribes and Pharisees: they shut the kingdom, play games with oaths, tithe herbs while neglecting justice, strain gnats and swallow camels, and look clean outside like whitewashed tombs.","r":"Matthew 23:13-28"}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/matthew-26-1-16\/","n":"Matthew 26:1-16, Perfume at Bethany and thirty pieces of silver","s":"The chief priests meet at Caiaphas's house to plot Jesus' arrest away from the festival crowds. At Bethany a woman pours costly perfume on his head, and Judas sells him for thirty pieces of silver.","r":"Matthew 26:1-16"}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/matthew-27-57-66\/","n":"Matthew 27:57-66, Joseph's tomb and the sealed stone","s":"Joseph of Arimathea, a rich disciple, asks Pilate for the body and lays it in his own new tomb. The next day the chief priests get a guard and a seal on the stone.","r":"Matthew 27:57-66"}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/mark-5-21-43\/","n":"Mark 5:21-43, A synagogue leader's daughter and a bleeding woman","s":"On the way to heal Jairus' dying daughter, Jesus is touched by a woman who has bled for twelve years. Then he raises the girl.","r":"Mark 5:21-43"}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/mark-6-14-29\/","n":"Mark 6:14-29, Herod's banquet and John's death","s":"Herod hears of Jesus and thinks John has risen. Mark then tells how Herod, at his birthday banquet, had John beheaded.","r":"Mark 6:14-29"}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/mark-14-1-11\/","n":"Mark 14:1-11, Perfume at Bethany","s":"Two days before Passover, at dinner in Bethany, a woman pours costly perfume on Jesus' head. He says she has anointed him for burial, and Judas goes to the chief priests.","r":"Mark 14:1-11"}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/mark-15-42-16-8\/","n":"Mark 15:42-16:8, The tomb","s":"Joseph of Arimathea buries Jesus before the Sabbath. When it is over, the women come with spices, find the stone rolled away, and hear that he has been raised.","r":"Mark 15:42-16:8"}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/luke-7-11-17\/","n":"Luke 7:11-17, A widow's only son on the bier","s":"At the gate of Nain Jesus meets a funeral for a widow's only son. He touches the bier, raises the young man and gives him back to his mother, and the crowd says a great prophet has arisen.","r":"Luke 7:11-17"}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/luke-9-51-62\/","n":"Luke 9:51-62, A Samaritan refusal and three would-be followers","s":"Setting out for Jerusalem, Jesus is turned away by a Samaritan village and rebukes James and John for wanting to call down fire. On the road he tells three would-be followers what following him will cost.","r":"Luke 9:51-62"}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/luke-16-19-31\/","n":"Luke 16:19-31, The rich man and Lazarus","s":"A rich man feasts every day while a beggar named Lazarus lies at his gate. Both die; Lazarus is carried to Abraham's side, and the rich man finds himself in torment in Hades.","r":"Luke 16:19-31"}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/luke-23-26-49\/","n":"Luke 23:26-49, The road to the cross, paradise, and the ninth hour","s":"Simon of Cyrene carries the cross, the women of Jerusalem mourn, and Jesus warns them of days to come. Crucified between two criminals, he promises one of them paradise and dies at the ninth hour.","r":"Luke 23:26-49"}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/john-11-1-44\/","n":"John 11:1-44, Lazarus four days in the tomb","s":"Jesus waits two days after hearing that his friend Lazarus is ill, reaches Bethany to find him four days buried, weeps with the mourners, and calls him out of the tomb still bound in his grave clothes.","r":"John 11:1-44"}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/john-12-1-11\/","n":"John 12:1-11, Mary's nard and loosened hair","s":"Six days before Passover, at a dinner in Jesus' honor in Bethany, Mary pours a pound of costly nard on his feet and wipes them with her hair. Judas objects, and Jesus says she has kept it for the day of his burial.","r":"John 12:1-11"}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/john-19-31-42\/","n":"John 19:31-42, Legs unbroken and a hundred pounds of spices","s":"Because the coming Sabbath is a high day, the leaders ask for the bodies to be taken down. The soldiers find Jesus already dead and pierce his side; Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus bury him with a lavish weight of spices in a new tomb in a garden.","r":"John 19:31-42"}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/john-20-1-18\/","n":"John 20:1-18, The empty tomb and the gardener","s":"Mary Magdalene finds the stone moved and runs to Peter and the beloved disciple, who see the linen cloths lying in the empty tomb. Weeping outside, she takes the risen Jesus for the gardener until he says her name, and he sends her to tell the others.","r":"John 20:1-18"}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/acts-4-32-5-11\/","n":"Acts 4:32-5:11, Barnabas, Ananias and Sapphira","s":"The believers share everything, and Barnabas sells a field for the common fund. Ananias and Sapphira sell land too but lie about the price, and both fall dead.","r":"Acts 4:32-5:11"}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/acts-7-54-8-3\/","n":"Acts 7:54-8:3, The stoning of Stephen","s":"Stephen sees the Son of Man standing at God's right hand, and his hearers drag him out and stone him while a young man named Saul looks after their coats. Persecution scatters the church.","r":"Acts 7:54-8:3"}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/acts-9-32-43\/","n":"Acts 9:32-43, Lydda and Joppa","s":"Peter heals a paralyzed man at Lydda and, at Joppa, raises Tabitha, a disciple known for her charity, while the widows she clothed stand weeping. He stays on with a tanner.","r":"Acts 9:32-43"}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/romans-12-1-21\/","n":"Romans 12:1-21, A living sacrifice","s":"Paul urges believers to offer their bodies as a living sacrifice, to see themselves as members of one body, and to love without pretense: honoring one another, welcoming strangers, weeping with those who weep and repaying evil with good.","r":"Romans 12:1-21"}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/1corinthians-15-1-11\/","n":"1 Corinthians 15:1-11, What I received","s":"Paul reminds the Corinthians of the good news he handed on to them as he had received it: that Christ died for sins, was buried, was raised on the third day, and appeared to Cephas, the Twelve, more than five hundred, James, all the apostles and last of all to Paul.","r":"1 Corinthians 15:1-11"}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/1corinthians-15-12-34\/","n":"1 Corinthians 15:12-34, If the dead are not raised","s":"Against some who say there is no resurrection of the dead, Paul argues that then Christ was not raised either, calls Christ the firstfruits, and asks why anyone is baptized for the dead or why he fights wild beasts if the dead are not raised.","r":"1 Corinthians 15:12-34"}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/2corinthians-4-7-18\/","n":"2 Corinthians 4:7-18, Treasure in clay jars","s":"Paul carries God's treasure in a clay jar, hard pressed but not crushed, carrying Jesus' dying in his body so that Jesus' life may show, while the outer self wastes away and the inner self is renewed day by day.","r":"2 Corinthians 4:7-18"}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/1thessalonians-4-13-18\/","n":"1 Thessalonians 4:13-18, Grief with hope, and the welcoming party","s":"Paul tells a grieving church that believers who have died are not lost: when the Lord comes down from heaven with a shout, the archangel's voice and God's trumpet, the dead in Christ will rise first, and the living will be caught up with them to meet the Lord in the air.","r":"1 Thessalonians 4:13-18"}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/revelation-11-1-14\/","n":"Revelation 11:1-14, the measured temple and the two witnesses","s":"John is told to measure God's temple and its worshipers but to leave out the outer court, given to the nations to trample for forty-two months. Two witnesses in sackcloth prophesy with the powers of Elijah and Moses, are killed by the beast from the Abyss and left unburied in the great city, then raised and taken up to heaven.","r":"Revelation 11:1-14"}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/revelation-14-6-20\/","n":"Revelation 14:6-20, Babylon fallen, the harvest and the winepress","s":"Three angels announce an eternal gospel, the fall of Babylon and the undiluted cup of God's wrath for those who worship the beast, and a voice blesses those who die in the Lord. Then one like a son of man reaps the earth's grain with a sickle, and an angel gathers its grapes into the great winepress, from which blood flows as high as the horses' bridles.","r":"Revelation 14:6-20"}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/revelation-18-9-24\/","n":"Revelation 18:9-24, kings, merchants and the cargo list","s":"The kings, the merchants and the sea captains stand far off and mourn as Babylon burns, because no one buys their cargoes any more, a long list of luxuries that ends with human beings. An angel hurls a great millstone into the sea, and the sounds of music, craftsmen, the mill, the lamp and the wedding fall silent in the city where the blood of prophets and saints was found.","r":"Revelation 18:9-24"}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/revelation-19-11-21\/","n":"Revelation 19:11-21, the rider on the white horse","s":"Heaven opens and a rider on a white horse, named Faithful and True and the Word of God, leads heaven's armies, his robe stained with blood and a sword coming from his mouth, his title King of kings. Birds are summoned to feast on the fallen, the beast and the false prophet are seized and cast into the fiery lake, and their armies fall to the rider's sword.","r":"Revelation 19:11-21"}
Sources
- NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible, notes on Mark 5:38, 5:39, 6:29, 15:46 and 16:3, and notes on Matthew 27:58 and 27:60
- ESV Study Bible, study note on Mark 15:42
- N. T. Wright, Mark for Everyone, comment on Mark 16:1-8
- Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament, on Matthew 8:21-22 and 9:23-24, and on Luke 7:11-12, 7:13 and 7:14
- NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible, notes on Luke 7:12, 7:13 and 7:14
- Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament, on John 11:17-19, 11:20, 11:43-44 and 19:40
- Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews 17.8.4, trans. William Whiston
- Josephus, The Wars of the Jews 4.5.2, trans. William Whiston
- NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible, notes on John 11:44 and 19:40
- Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament, on 1 Thessalonians 4:13
- NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible, note on 1 Thessalonians 4:13
- ESV Study Bible, study note on 1 Thessalonians 4:13
- N. T. Wright, The Resurrection of the Son of God, ch. 2, Shadows, Souls and Where They Go, section 1
- Amanda H. Podany, Weavers, Scribes, and Kings: A New History of the Ancient Near East, ch. 4, The Funeral of Baranamtara, and ch. 19, Adad-guppi's Funeral
