Online Resource Library
Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadInternational Standard Bible Encyclopedia: Corpse
Subjects in this Topic:
koÌ„rps: This word in the King James Version is the translations of two Hebrew words, פגר, pegher, and גּויּה, gewı̄yaÌ„h, while × ×‘×œ×”, nebheÌ„laÌ„h, and גּוּפה, guÌ„phaÌ„h, which mean the same, are translated “body,†with which the English word “corpse†(Latin, corpus) was originally synonymical. Therefore we find the now apparently unnecessary addition of the adjective “dead†in and . The Greek equivalent is πτῶμα, ptō̇ma, literally, “a fallen body,†“a ruin†(from πιÌπτω, pıÌptoÌ„, “to fallâ€), in ; , .
Corpses were considered as unclean and defiling in the Old Testament, so that priests were not to touch dead bodies except those of near kinsfolk (-3), the high priest and a Nazirite not even such (; -8). Nu 19 presents to us the ceremonial of purification from such defilement by the sprinkling with the ashes of a red heifer, cedar wood, hyssop and scarlet.
It was considered a great calamity and disgrace to have one's body left unburied, a “food unto all birds of the heavens, and unto the beasts of the earth†(; ; ; ; , etc.). Thence is explained the merit of Rizpah (), and of the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead, who protected or recovered and buried the mutilated bodies of Saul and his sons (-13; -7; compare , ). See BURIAL.
Even the corpses of persons executed by hanging were not to remain on the tree “all night,†“for he that is hanged is accursed of God; that thou defile not thy land which Yahweh thy God giveth thee for an inheritance†().