ing places for strangers, and criminals. It was regarded as a severe curse from God to be deprived of burrial, (Jer. viii, 2;, xxii, 19.) and a blessing to be interred among their ancestors; therefore, the patriarchs provided a place of sepulture for their posterity. The cave at Machpelah, which Abraham purchased of Ephron the Hittite for a burying-place, is the first of the kind mentioned in history: it was a common burying-place for Hebrews of distinction; (Gen. xxiii.) there the mortal remains of Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Rebekali, Leah, and Jacob, were depositad, Gen. xlix, 31; 1, 13. It was an ancient custom to bury the dead under trees, or in groves. "Deborah was buried under an oak, near Bethel;" (Gen. xxxv, 8.) and the bones of Saul and his three sons were buried under a tree, or in a grove, at Jabesh. 1 Sam. xxxi, 13. The Hebrews always buried their dead without their cities and villages, except those of the family of David; which were buried in Jerusalem; and their burying-places were either in gardens, orchards, field, mountain, or in a rock. We find no mention in Scripture that epitaphs or monumental inscriptions were used by them, though we may presume that every burying-place was distinguished by some peculiar mark. We read, (Gen. xxxv, 20,) that Jacob set a pillar upon Rachel's grave, on which probably the name, if writing was then invented, or some hieroglyphical device, was inscribed. The grave of the man of God, who had foretold the destruction of the altar at Bethel, was discovered by some inscription or peculiar mark about three hundred and fifty years after, when king Josiah was fulfilling his prediction.

Several of the Jewish burying-places were made in

the sides of rocks: some were probably excavated out of the rock intò a kind of a cave, where there were niches, or repositories, to receive the corpses; and a flat stone applied to the entrance like a door. It is probable that such kind of sepulchres were those of Lazarus and our blessed Saviour. Matt. xxvii, 60; John xi, 38.

In the gospels we read of dæmoniacs who had their dwellings among the tombs; it is supposed that the Jews were accustomed to build cupolas over the graves, and that the dæmoniacs sheltered themselves under them, delighting themselves in those solitary abodes of desolation and ruin.

It was customary with the Jews to whitewash their tombs, in order to give warning to people to avoid them, lest they should be defiled, Matt. xxiii, 27; Numb. xix,

16.

The ancient Israelites probably buried their dead without coffins. We read of no one being put in a coffin in the scriptures but Joseph, (Gen. 1, 26.) who died in Egypt; and it was the custom of the Egyptians, not only to embalm the dead, but to put them in coffins made of sycamore wood, or of a sort of pasteboard, formed by folding and glueing cloth together, a great number of times, which were curiously plaistered, and then painted with hieroglyphics. The Egyptians also made use of stone coffins, some of these were made of granite, and covered all over with hieroglyphics, the cutting of which, must have been attended with immense labour and prodigious expence, the stone being so hard, that we have no tools by which we can make any impression on it. Two of these granite coffins are deposited in the British Museum, which

probably belonged to some of the nobles of Egypt. One of these, vulgarly called Alexander's coffin, brought from Alexandria by Dr. E. D. Clarke, is ten feet three inches and a quarter long; ten inches thick in the sides; breadth at top five feet three inches and a half; breadth at bottom four feet two inches and a half; and three feet ten inches in depth, and weighs about ten tons. In such a coffin probably the body of Joseph was deposited, and it is not improbable that this is the very coffin of Joseph himself; and if ever the hieroglyphics with which it is ornamented should be interpreted, this conjecture may appear to have had its foundation in truth. It is also very probable that the Israelites, when they departed out of Egypt, took the embalmed body of Joseph out of this coffin, which could not be transported to Canaan through the wilderness without immense difficulty and toil. So it is very probable, then, that this huge granite coffin was left behind in Egypt; for we read, (Exod. xiii, 19.) that Moses took only the bones of Joseph wtih him."

Harmer says, "that one method of honouring the dead was putting them in a coffin, which was considered as a mark of distinction. And as Mr. Maillet conjectures that all were not inclosed in coffins, which were laid in the Egyptian repositories of the dead: Joseph's being put in a coffin in Egypt, might be mentioned with a design to express the great honours the Egyptians did him in death, as well as in life; being treated after the most sumptuous manner, embalmed, and put in a coffin." Our blessed Lord was not put in a coffin, but only wrapped in a clean linen cloth with a mixture of spices and aromatics to keep the body longer from

M

decomposition. Lazarus's body was put in a coffin; and the son of the widow of Nain was carried out on a kind of a bier, or coffin, σogos, which was only intended to carry the body to the place of interment.

The burying place of David and the kings of Judah, was within the walls of Jerusalem, and a most magnificent thing it was. St. Jerom speaks of it as existing in his time, and modern travellers say that it is still to be seen. It now lies without the walls of Jerusalem. The entrance to it is at the east end, cut out of the solid rock, which leads into a court of about one hundred and twenty feet square, with a portico on the south side, hewn out of the solid marble rock. This has a kind of architrave, adorned with sculpture of fruits and flowers still discernible, but much defaced by time. At the end of the portico, on the left hand, there is a narrow passage into the sepulchres, where there is a large room of about twenty-four feet square, within

one within

which there are several lesser rooms, another, with stone doors, all cut out of the solid marble rock. In the sides of those lesser rooms there are several niches, in which the royal corpses were deposited in stone coffins. The whole is a work of vast expense and labour, and is, perhaps, the only genuine monument of ancient Jerusalem now to be seen. † Maimonides says, in Jerusalem they do not allow a sepulchre, except those of the house of David, and of Huldah the prophetess, which were there from the days of the former prophets,

Harmer's Observations, vol. iii, pp. 67-70, &c; 5th ed. Dr.

A. Clarke's Commentary, Gen. 1, ad fin. Heb. xi, 29.

+ Maundrell's Journey, pp. 76--78, 2d ed. Thevenot's Travels, parti, b. ii, c. 40. Prideaux's Con. part i, b.i, vol. i, under the year 699, p. 51, 17th ed. Univers. Hist. vol. i, pp. 589, 698,

fol. ed.

V. Of the Structure of the Houses of the Hebrews.

Their houses were outside, by which

THE structure of the ancient Jewish dwellings was similar to that of houses in the East in general at the present day. They were commanded to erect a battlement, or balustrade, on the roof of their houses, to prevent persons from falling off; the roofs being flat, and on them they used to walk to enjoy the fresh air, meditate, sleep, &c. Deut. xxii, 8. rather low, and had stairs on the persons might ascend and descend without coming to the house, and there was, besides, on the flat roof, a trap door, and stairs to ascend and descend into the house. Matt. xxiv, 17; Mark ii, 4; Luke v, 19, &c. In most parts of the East, the houses now are generally built low, with flat roofs covered with a strong plaister of terrace or other cement, with a parapet wall or battlement breast high; though in few instances a ballustrade or lattice work is substituted for the wall. * variety or uses to which the house tops or flat roofs were assigned may be seen in the following passages: Josh. ii, 6, 8; Judg. ix, 51; 1 Sam. ix, 25, 26; 2 Sam. xi, 2; xvi, 22; 2 Kings xxiii, 12; Neh. viii, 16; Isa. xv, 3; Zeph. i, 5; Matt. x, 27; and Acts x, 9.

The

Harmer says, "the ancient Jewish windows seem not to have been of one kind; the one very small, and used only for looking abroad in a concealed manner; the other, large and airy." The windows were

Dr. Shaw's Travels vol. i, p. 380. Harmer's Observ, vol. i, pp. 344--348, fifth ed.

+ Observ. vol. 1, p. 344