Jüdische Riten und Symbole by S.Ph. de Vries

It was not customary for the Jews to embalm the corpse (the exception being Jacob and Joseph, to whom the Egyptian practice was applied) or to use coffins or sarcophagi. It was for this reason that human corpses, or even only their parts, were shown respect because they ensured the existence of the soul in the subterranean Sheol (Job 26:5–6 Isa 14:9–10 Ps 27:13). Most Jews adopted a Pharisaic way of thinking. This thought gradually developed into the idea of resurrection, which at the time of Jesus sparked a dispute between the religious groupings of the time: the Pharisees and Sadducees, the former believing in resurrection and the latter denying it. Jewish anthropology did not distinguish in man between body and soul, but treated him as a unity, which was reflected in the terminology: a living man was called a “living soul” and a dead man-a “dead soul.” From the 2 nd century BC onwards, the belief that an immortal soul existed emerged.

This conviction underpinned the belief that man continues to live after death, and that his burial place (the grave, the tomb) is his dwelling, into which the necessities of life must be placed. When God took away man’s life-giving breath, man departed from the “land of the living” and passed into Sheol-the land of the dead-where he continued to live but deprived of most of his vital energies he lived a reduced existence that was similar to a deep sleep. They reasoned that death was not an accident or something accidental, but a law of implacable nature to which all living beings were subject. It is therefore necessary to reconstruct this custom and describe both the general and specific rules of the burial ritual.īurial was regarded by the Judeans as an expression of respect and love towards the deceased. The Gospel of John states that Jesus was buried according to the Jewish burial custom (John 19:40). the 1 st century), which we know from various accounts. These traces must be contrasted with the Jewish burial rites that were in force at the end of the so-called Second Temple period (i.e. The traces on the Shroud of Turin represent a man subjected to torment and crucifixion before death.

Jüdische Riten und Symbole by S.Ph. de Vries