Burial

Introduction

By Paul Anderson

One of my annual traditions is to visit Fort Logan National Cemetery on Memorial Day.  My paternal grandfather and grandmother are buried there.  So, I have collected a handful of photos of our visits there and since I am moving my photo albums to Google, I figured this study would motivate me to get that photo album moved.  And it did!  You can view it here:

Memorial

This year was special because I was also able to visit the graves of my maternal grandfather and grandmother.  They are buried at Forest Lawn in Glendale, California.

Gordon Priebe 1917-2000 & Mabel Rose Priebe 1917-1998

Actually, I believe only one of my grandparents (Arthur Anderson, 1916-1998) chose traditional burial.  The others chose cremation and had their ashes buried.  Although, my maternal grandfather had part of his ashes buried and part of his ashes scattered in the mountains.

Since I haven't put much thought into my final resting place, I decided to look into some of the different types of  burial.  I found twelve options from which to choose about how your body will be handled after you leave this world.

• Traditional burial - involves embalming and dressing, a viewing or visitation, a funeral service, transport to the cemetery, and a casket entombed into an outer vault, cemetery plot, or crypt.
• Mausoleum - the internment of the deceased within a free-standing building.
• Crypt - a subterranean chamber within a cemetery that protects the remains of the deceased from inclement weather.
• Ossuary - a chest, box, building, well, or site made to serve as the final resting place of human skeletal remains.  During the Second Temple period, Jewish burial customs included primary burials in burial caves, followed by secondary burials in ossuaries.
• Natural burial - the interment of the body of a dead person in the soil in a manner that does not inhibit decomposition but allows the body to be naturally recycled.
• Sky burial - a funeral practice in which a dead body is placed on a mountaintop to decompose while exposed to the elements.
• Burial at sea - the disposal of human remains in the ocean, normally from a ship, boat or aircraft.
• Burial in space - the disposal of human remains by launching ashes or the full remains of the deceased into space via a rocket.
• Cremation - final disposition of a dead body through burning.  The ashes are handed over to the family, who can disperse them in a special place, keep them close by, or buried.
• Resomation - uses heated water and potassium hydroxide to liquefy the body, leaving only bones behind. The bones are then pulverized, much as in regular cremation, and the bone fragments are returned to the family.
• Preservation -  in lieu of burial, a number of preservation methods can be selected for turning the ashes into Memorial Diamonds, Coral Reef Molds, Vinyl Records, or added to paint for a Memorial Portrait.
• Potter's Field - a place for the burial of unknown, unclaimed, or indigent people.

And the chief priests took the silver pieces, and said, It is not lawful for to put them into the treasury, because it is the price of blood.

And they took counsel, and bought with them the potter's field, to bury strangers in.

Wherefore that field was called, The field of blood, unto this day.

Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremy the prophet, saying, And they took the thirty pieces of silver, the price of him that was valued, whom they of the children of Israel did value;

And gave them for the potter's field, as the Lord appointed me.

Matthew 27:6-10 King James Version

As someone who has enjoyed making mix tapes and burning CDs, I found the vinyl record idea appealing.  However, I thought I should study the Scriptures before I make any final decision.

Here are my top 12 verses on Burial:

Jesus On Burial

Matthew 8:21-22 King James Version

21 And another of his disciples said unto him, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father.

22 But Jesus said unto him, Follow me; and let the dead bury their dead.

Mark 14:3-9 King James Version

3 And being in Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, as he sat at meat, there came a woman having an alabaster box of ointment of spikenard very precious; and she brake the box, and poured it on his head.

4 And there were some that had indignation within themselves, and said, Why was this waste of the ointment made?

5 For it might have been sold for more than three hundred pence, and have been given to the poor. And they murmured against her.

6 And Jesus said, Let her alone; why trouble ye her? she hath wrought a good work on me.

7 For ye have the poor with you always, and whensoever ye will ye may do them good: but me ye have not always.

8 She hath done what she could: she is come aforehand to anoint my body to the burying.

9 Verily I say unto you, Wheresoever this gospel shall be preached throughout the whole world, this also that she hath done shall be spoken of for a memorial of her.

Luke 7:12-15 King James Version

12 Now when he came nigh to the gate of the city, behold, there was a dead man carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow: and much people of the city was with her.

13 And when the Lord saw her, he had compassion on her, and said unto her, Weep not.

14 And he came and touched the bier: and they that bare him stood still. And he said, Young man, I say unto thee, Arise.

15 And he that was dead sat up, and began to speak. And he delivered him to his mother.

John 11:38-44 King James Version

38 Jesus therefore again groaning in himself cometh to the grave. It was a cave, and a stone lay upon it.

39 Jesus said, Take ye away the stone. Martha, the sister of him that was dead, saith unto him, Lord, by this time he stinketh: for he hath been dead four days.

40 Jesus saith unto her, Said I not unto thee, that, if thou wouldest believe, thou shouldest see the glory of God?

41 Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead was laid. And Jesus lifted up his eyes, and said, Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me.

42 And I knew that thou hearest me always: but because of the people which stand by I said it, that they may believe that thou hast sent me.

43 And when he thus had spoken, he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth.

44 And he that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with graveclothes: and his face was bound about with a napkin. Jesus saith unto them, Loose him, and let him go.

Burial In The New Testament

Matthew 27:3-10 King James Version

3 Then Judas, which had betrayed him, when he saw that he was condemned, repented himself, and brought again the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders,

4 Saying, I have sinned in that I have betrayed the innocent blood. And they said, What is that to us? see thou to that.

5 And he cast down the pieces of silver in the temple, and departed, and went and hanged himself.

6 And the chief priests took the silver pieces, and said, It is not lawful for to put them into the treasury, because it is the price of blood.

7 And they took counsel, and bought with them the potter's field, to bury strangers in.

8 Wherefore that field was called, The field of blood, unto this day.

9 Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremy the prophet, saying, And they took the thirty pieces of silver, the price of him that was valued, whom they of the children of Israel did value;

10 And gave them for the potter's field, as the Lord appointed me.

John 19:39-41 King James Version

39 And there came also Nicodemus, which at the first came to Jesus by night, and brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about an hundred pound weight.

40 Then took they the body of Jesus, and wound it in linen clothes with the spices, as the manner of the Jews is to bury.

41 Now in the place where he was crucified there was a garden; and in the garden a new sepulchre, wherein was never man yet laid.

Romans 6:4 King James Version

4 Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.

Revelation 11:8-9 King James Version

8 And their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified.

9 And they of the people and kindreds and tongues and nations shall see their dead bodies three days and an half, and shall not suffer their dead bodies to be put in graves.

Burial In The Old Testament

Genesis 35:8 King James Version

8 But Deborah, Rebekah's nurse died, and she was buried beneath Bethel under an oak: and the name of it was called Allonbachuth.

2 Chronicles 26:21-23 King James Version

21 And Uzziah the king was a leper unto the day of his death, and dwelt in a several house, being a leper; for he was cut off from the house of the Lord: and Jotham his son was over the king's house, judging the people of the land.

22 Now the rest of the acts of Uzziah, first and last, did Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz, write.

23 So Uzziah slept with his fathers, and they buried him with his fathers in the field of the burial which belonged to the kings; for they said, He is a leper: and Jotham his son reigned in his stead.

Ecclesiastes 6:3 King James Version

3 If a man beget an hundred children, and live many years, so that the days of his years be many, and his soul be not filled with good, and also that he have no burial; I say, that an untimely birth is better than he.

Jeremiah 22:19 King James Version

19 He shall be buried with the burial of an ass, drawn and cast forth beyond the gates of Jerusalem.

Conclusion Of The Whole Matter

There are only 6 occurrences of the word "burial" in the Bible.  Fortunately, the word "bury" is found more often.  From these verses, several examples of burial are highlighted.  Lazarus was buried in a cave and Jesus was laid in a sepulchre.  This could have been the primary burial before the secondary burial in an ossuary, as was the Jewish custom of the time.  King Uzziah was buried in a field, as was Judas.  Deborah was buried under a tree.

However, these verses also include examples of being refused burial and point to a negative connotation associated with not being buried.  The tribulation has dead bodies lying in the streets, and the prophet Jeremiah paints a picture of being disposed of like an animal, as a judgement against wicked Kings.  

The lack of a burial being negative may have more to do with indicating the condition of the person's soul before death than the ceremony having an impact on the person's judgement.  Ecclesiastes points out that having a soul not filled with good precedes not having a burial.  Even Jesus says, "Let the dead bury their dead," to encourage a disciple that it is more important what we do now while we are alive.

Although, it is nice to be remembered.

6 Bible results for “burial” from King James Version.

• Old Testament (4)
• 2 Chronicles (1)
• Ecclesiastes (1)
• Isaiah (1)
• Jeremiah (1)
• New Testament (2)
• Matthew (1)
• Acts (1)

45 Bible results for “bury” from King James Version.

• Old Testament (37)
• Genesis (17)
• Deuteronomy (1)
• Judges (1)
• 1 Kings (5)
• 2 Kings (4)
• Psalm (1)
• Jeremiah (3)
• Ezekiel (4)
• Hosea (1)
• New Testament (8)
• Matthew (3)
• Mark (1)
• Luke (2)
• John (2)

Scripture contributions for June 2023 by: Paul Anderson, Matthew Anderson