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GRAVE-CLOTHES.—The account in the Gospels of the circumstances attending the burial of our Lord illustrates fully the general practice of the time with regard to grave-clothes. The body of Jesus, doubtless after being bathed, after the manner of the Jews as well as of the Greeks (Act_9:37, cf. Gospel of Peter, 6), was ‘wrapped’ ( ἐíåôýëéîåí , Mat_27:59, Luk_23:53) or ‘swathed’ ( ἐíåßëçóåí , Mar_15:46) in the shroud of linen cloth ( óéíäüíé ) which Joseph of Arimathaea had procured on his way back to Golgotha, and which is described as ‘fresh’ or ‘unused’ ( êáèáñᾷ , Mat_27:59), in accordance with the sacred use to which it was put (cf. Mar_11:2). Spices were next crumbled between the folds of the linen ( ìåôὰ ôῶí ἀñùìÜôùí , Joh_19:40), and the whole was then bound together with strips of cloth ( ὀèïíßïéò , Joh_19:40; cf. êåéñßáéò , Joh_11:44). The face was covered with a separate face-cloth or ‘napkin’ ( ôὸ óïõäÜñéïí , Joh_20:7).
In later Judaism it was held that the resemblance of the future to the present body was so close that men would rise in the same clothes in which they were buried, on the analogy of the grain of corn which comes up from the earth not naked, but clothed (cf. 1Co_15:37). And accordingly the Rabbis were in the habit of giving careful directions as to their grave-clothes (Weber, Jud. Theol.2 [Note: designates the particular edition of the work referred] p. 370). This frequently led, however, to such unnecessary expense in the way of luxurious wrappings, that by way of protest Rabbi Gamaliel left directions that he was to be buried in simple linen garments, while his grandson limited the number of grave-clothes to one dress (see Edersheim, Sketches of Jewish Social Life, p. 168 f.). At the present day, among Jews as well as Mohammedans, the corpse is attired in the ordinary holiday attire of life.
Literature.—See under art. Burial, also art. ‘Begräbnis bei den Hebraern’ in Herzog, PRE [Note: RE Real-Encyklopädie fur protest. Theologic und Kirche.] 3 [Note: designates the particular edition of the work referred] , with the literature there cited.
George Milligan.