(DOWNLOAD) "Some Neglected Aspects of Israelite Interment Ideology." by Journal of Biblical Literature ~ Book PDF Kindle ePub Free

eBook details

Title: Some Neglected Aspects of Israelite Interment Ideology.
Author : Journal of Biblical Literature
Release Date : January 22, 2005
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines,Books,Professional & Technical,Education,
Pages : * pages
Size : 211 KB

Description

Canaanite and Israelite burial practices have been of serious interest to archaeologists and to archaeologically and contextually oriented biblical scholars of late, with significant articles, monographic studies, and essay collections appearing since the early nineties. (1) Studies have typically focused on such topics as the classification of types of tombs and the contents of tombs, age/sex interment patterns, and changes in burial practice over time. A few investigators have devoted attention also to aspects of burial ideology. Grave goods have been analyzed for what they might tell us about beliefs in an afterlife or about ancestor cult practices. (2) The relationship of the tomb to Sheol has been explored through analysis of biblical texts in conjunction with material remains. (3) But for all this recent interest in burial practices and the ideas that undergird them, certain aspects of interment ideology remain for the most part unexplored. (4) It is my purpose in this article to bring into relief two of these neglected dimensions of Israelite burial ideology. I will begin by reconstructing a rough hierarchy of burial, from most desirable to least, based mainly on the evidence of biblical texts. (5) Even a cursory review of biblical descriptions of interment suggests that an honorable burial in the family tomb was clearly the kind of entombment most to be desired, while abandonment of the corpse on the field was the worst possible outcome after death. But between these extremes biblical texts suggest a number of other possibilities: honorable burial in a substitute for the family tomb; honorable burial in someone else's family tomb; and various forms of dishonorable burial. Drawing on various classes of evidence, I will suggest some possible explanations for why burial in the family tomb was preferable to any other outcome according to many biblical texts. I will then take up the issue of the movement of remains of the previously interred dead, and how such transportation might be viewed as salutary, innocuous, or harmful, depending on the context of the action. I will also consider what concrete effects, if any, lack of burial or hostile transfer of remains from a tomb might have been thought to have on the dead themselves. Though biblical texts are not an unproblematic window into the everyday beliefs and practices of historical Israelites, they are by far our richest resource for reconstructing a hierarchy of burial. (6) They are also of importance when considering the range of possible meanings associated with moving the remains of the dead, and so they will be used here, in conjunction with epigraphic and other material evidence, with appropriate caution. (7) I