Tombs

Graves or burial places, often cut out of rock. People were usually buried in family tombs and kings were often buried in royal tombs.

Tombs cut out of rock

Isaiah 22:15–16 See also 2 Kings 23:16; 2 Chronicles 16:14; Matthew 27:59–60 parallels Mark 15:46, Luke 23:53

This is what the Lord GOD of Hosts says: “Go, say to Shebna, the steward in charge of the palace: What are you doing here, and who authorized you to carve out a tomb for yourself here — to chisel your tomb in the height and cut your resting place in the rock?

Caves used as tombs

Genesis 50:13 See also Genesis 23:17–20, Genesis 25:8–10; John 11:38

They carried him to the land of Canaan and buried him in the cave at Machpelah in the field near Mamre, which Abraham had purchased from Ephron the Hittite as a burial site.

Tombs sealed with a stone

John 11:38 See also Matthew 27:60 parallel Mark 15:46; Matthew 27:64–66, Matthew 28:2; Mark 16:3; Luke 24:2

Jesus, once again deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance.

Burial in a family tomb

Genesis 23:19, Genesis 25:8–10, Genesis 47:29–30, Genesis 49:29–32; Judges 8:32, Judges 16:31; 2 Samuel 2:32, 2 Samuel 17:23, 2 Samuel 19:37, 2 Samuel 21:12–14; 1 Kings 13:22

Royal tombs

2 Chronicles 16:14 See also 2 Chronicles 21:20, 2 Chronicles 24:25, 2 Chronicles 26:23, 2 Chronicles 28:27, 2 Chronicles 32:33; Nehemiah 3:16

And he was buried in the tomb that he had cut out for himself in the City of David. They laid him on a bier that was full of spices and various blended perfumes; then they made a great fire in his honor.

Tombs in gardens

2 Kings 21:18 See also 2 Kings 21:26; John 19:41

And Manasseh rested with his fathers and was buried in his palace garden, the garden of Uzza. And his son Amon reigned in his place.

Contact with a tomb rendered a person ritually unclean

Numbers 19:16 See also 2 Kings 23:6

Anyone in the open field who touches someone who has been killed by the sword or has died of natural causes, or anyone who touches a human bone or a grave, will be unclean for seven days.

Figurative use of tombs

Matthew 23:27–28 See also Luke 11:43–44

Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of dead men’s bones and every kind of impurity. In the same way, on the outside you appear to be righteous, but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.