Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Bryan Rocine" <596547 AT ican.net>]

Dear B-Haverim,

thank you, Rolf, for your very interesting comments about life after death
and more.  i notice also the obsession with "correct" burial procedures in
the Tanak.  Abraham buys m`rat hamakpelah, Joseph brings the remains of
Israel back to Canaan, Joseph gives instructions concerning his bones, YHWH
Himself buries Moses, even the criminal is to be buried the same day as his
death, Jezebel remains unburied in fulfillment of a curse. my question is
why were the bodies of Saul and his sons burnt rather than buried (1 Sam
31:12)?  is it because the corpses were headless?  did the kol 'i$ xayil
err?

Shalom,
Bryan

Rolf Furuli wrote:

<snip>

> We may learn from the expression in Exodus 1:5 that all expressions and
all
> texts are not to be taken literally. This is definitely not the case with
> Isaiah 14. From verse 4 we find a MF$FL ridiculing the king of Babel.
This
> MF$FL is not an account of the situation in $E)OL but is a poetic account
> of the extreme reaction the fall of Babylon will cause. Cedars will
rejoice
> and the dead will speak against the one who ascended to heaven above the
> stars of God. This does not show that the dead are alive and speak all
the
> more than it shows that the cedars can rejoice or the king of Babel
> literally had a position above the stars.
> However, there is one very interesting expression in the chapter, namely,
> the contrast in verses 18 and 19 between a burial and of just being cast
> away.
> 
> It is true that it was very important for the Jews to have children so
> their name could continue, but it was even more important to be buried in
> the right way and be gathered to one' s ancestors. 

<snip> 

Thus there are three
> treads which could suggest a belief in (OLAM HABBA from a very early
time:
> (1) God's way of speaking about his dead servants, (2) the extreme
> importance which was ascribed to a correct burial, 

<snip>