359. Grave Stones

From: Manners and Customs of the Bible By: James M. Freeman

• 1 min. read • grade level: 10

2 Kings 23:17¹⁷Then he said, What title is that that I see? And the men of the city told him, It is the sepulchre of the man of God, which came from Judah, and proclaimed these things that thou hast done against the altar of Beth-el. (2 Kings 23:17). He said, What title is that that I see? And the men of the city told him, It is the sepulcher of the man of God.

This refers to the custom of marking the graves of the dead by some distinguishing sign. The word here rendered “title” is the same that in Ezekiel 39:15¹⁵And the passengers that pass through the land, when any seeth a man's bone, then shall he set up a sign by it, till the buriers have buried it in the valley of Hamon-gog. (Ezekiel 39:15), is rendered “sign.” It means a pillar set up to designate a grave, and served the twofold purpose of a tablet for an epitaph, and also as a sign to warn all passerby lest they should become ceremonially unclean by touching the grave. The absence of any such sign is what is referred to in Luke 11:44⁴⁴Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are as graves which appear not, and the men that walk over them are not aware of them. (Luke 11:44): “Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are as graves which appear not, and the men that walk over them are not aware of them.”

Dr. Shaw says of the cemeteries in Barbary: “The graves are all distinct and separate; each of them having a stone, placed upright, both at the head and feet, inscribed with the name of the deceased (Travels, p. 219).

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