burial bonfires

by peacefulpete 2 Replies latest watchtower bible

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  peacefulpete

  There are a number of rather intriguing aspects of the OT use of incense, and at some time in the future it would make a thread by itself. However the use of incense at a burial fire for Asa sparked interest in the fire itself. Here's what the passage says:
  

  2 chron.16: 14 They buried him in his own tomb which he had cut out for himself in the city of David, and they laid him in the resting place which he had filled (L) with spices of various kinds blended by the perfumers' art; and (M) they made a very great fire for him.

  It seems that making a great fire at funerals was a practice, yet it's exact purpose is unknown. Here are some other passages that also say a fire is involved in the burial rites.:

  2 chron 21: 19 Now it came about in the course of time, at the end of two years, that his bowels came out because of his sickness and he died in great pain. And his people made no fire for him like (A) the fire for his fathers.

  Jer.34: 5 thou shalt die in peace, and with the burnings of thy fathers, the former kings that were before thee, so shall they burn for thee; and they will lament for thee, Ah, lord! for I have spoken the word, saith Jehovah.

  All these examples were funerals of kings but it may not be necessarily indicative that the practice was limited to them, tho the size of the fire naturally would be greater for men of station. But again we just don't know. Among suggestions that have been offered as explanations for the bonfire rite is that of recent scholars who've suggested the fires and burning incense were offerings for the deceased or to the deceased. The most interesting is the observation by W.Zwickel that the Assyrians had an apotropaic (way to ward off evil spirits or a god's negative will) burial ritual that involved making fires and burning items associated with the deceased. Some consevative Christian writers have dismissed these possibilties and declare that the fires were simply "honorary". Perhaps that was so in later practice,but that simply begs the question of just how a bonfire was chosen as means to honor the dead.

  Does anyone have any further info?
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  Leolaia

  Johnston (2002:55) says: "Some scholars suggest wider non-Yahwistic religious motives. For Zwickel (1989) it was an apotropaic rite (to ward off evil spirits), which consisted of burning objects associated with the deceased, and was adopted from Assyria in Manasseh's time. For others it and associated rites involved offerings to the deceased. However, there is no biblical evidence of such apotropaic rites or such offerings. As Spronk comments: (1986:40): 'Everything depends here on whether or not the dead are believed to be powerful.' "

  The reference is to Spronk, K. (1986), Beatific Afterlife in Ancient Israel and the Ancient Near East (AOAT 219, Neukirchen-Vluyn: Newkirchener).

  See also: Bloch-Smith, E. (1992), Judahite Burial Practices and Beliefs about the Dead (JSOT Sup, 123, Sheffield: JSOT).
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  peacefulpete

  Hey Leolaia, I have Johnston's book. I am very disappointed with it. He makes summary dismissals throughout the book seemingly to subtlely defend a quasi-Christian view. To even say that there was no "bibical" evidence to support the theories we are discussing is to ignore the whole question. We all after all trying to decifer what the "bibical" evidence is telling us.

  I should say again that what I'm interested in is how the tradition of bonfires as burial rite got started. It likely had lost it's original associations with appeasing or assisting the dead by the time the Chronicler assembled the legends and histories.