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Jewish Culture and Customs: A Sampler of Jewish Life
 As
the Easter season approaches, Christians contemplate the two greatest
events in human history: the death of the Lord Jesus in order to pay for
our sins, and His victorious resurrection from the grave.
The resurrection of the Lord Jesus was a watershed event in the history of
the world. It was proof of His deity (Acts 2:32, 36; Rom. 1:4). It was
proof that the payment for sin was complete and accepted by God (Rom.
4:25; 10:9; John 11:25). Finally, it was proof that the Word of God is
true. It is the basis of the Christian message (Rom. 1:4; 3:24,25;
5:9,10), the fulfillment of Bible prophecy (Ps. 16:10, cf. Acts 2:22-32;
13:35-39), and the gospel (I Cor. 15:1-4).
A careful examination of the Scriptures reveals that the entire Trinity
was involved in the resurrection of the Lord Jesus: the Father (Ps. 16:10;
Acts 2:24,27,30,31; 13:30; Rom. 6:4; Eph. 1:19,20), the Son (John 2:19-22;
10:17,18), and the Holy Spirit (Rom. 1:4; 8:11; I Pet. 3:18).
John the Baptizer sent two of his disciples to ask Jesus if He really was
the coming Messiah (Matt. 11:2,3). The Lord Jesus responds by saying, "Go
and tell John the things which you hear and see. The blind receive their
sight and the lame walk; the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear; the
dead are raised up and the poor have the gospel preached to them. And
blessed is he who is not offended because of Me" (11:4-6).
At this point in Jesus' public ministry, there are two recorded accounts
of individuals being raised from the dead. The first is Jairus' daughter
(Matt. 9:23-26 // Mark 5:35-43 // Luke 8:49-56) and the second is the son
of the widow woman from Naim (Luke 7:11-16). Both miracles took place in
Galilee: the first in Capernaum and the second in Naim. How many
unrecorded resurrections there were, we do not know. When Jesus sent out
His twelve disciples to the "lost sheep of the house of Israel" He gave
them power to raise people from the dead (Matt. 10:8).
In the first half of his gospel, the Apostle John records seven miracles,
or signs, to demonstrate that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God and that
believing on Him, one could have eternal life (John 20: 30,31). The
culminating miracle was the resurrection of His friend Lazarus from the
dead (John 11).
When John wrote the gospel that bears his name, under the inspiration of
the Holy Spirit, his mind went back more than 60 years to this monumental
event that he had personally witnessed. He records five Jewish burial
practices, mourning customs, or a point of rabbinic theology. A Jewish
person reading this gospel would catch the significance to these practices
and customs right away.
The Lord Jesus deliberately did not rush to the aid of his dying friend
because He wanted to show His disciples and the world that He was Lord of
Life and had power over death. He came to Bethany, on the backside of the
Mount of Olives, on the fourth day after Lazarus died. As He approached
the village, Martha, the sister of the deceased, went out to meet Jesus.
Her sister, Mary, the text says, "was sitting in the house" (11:20).
When a Jewish person died, the body was prepared for burial and it was
placed in the grave soon after death. It was the custom to bury within 24
hours. After, the family would sit in their house and mourn, receiving the
condolences of friends and neighbors for one week, this was called
shiva. Mary and Martha were practicing this custom.
The second custom hinted at in this passage was visiting the tomb. Martha
returned to the village and told her sister that Jesus wanted to see her.
He arose from her house and went to see Jesus. The mourners in the house
thought she was going to visit the tomb of her brother and weep (11:31).
Tractate Semahot ("Mourning") says: "One may go out to the cemetery
for three days to inspect the dead for a sign of life, without fear that
this smacks of heathen practice. For it happened that a man was inspected
after three days, and he went on to live twenty-five years; still another
went on to have five children and died later" (8:1).
The tomb of Lazarus was outside the village of Bethany. Jesus approaches
it and commands the people to take away the stone (11:39). John recalled
this event and described the tomb as a cave with a stone placed against it
(11:38). It was a typical Jewish burial practice to have a tomb hewn out
of bedrock. In fact, archaeologists have found hundreds of Jewish
rock-hewn burial caves around Jerusalem, many of them on the Mount of
Olives. When the Franciscans excavated Bethany in the 1950's they found
several Jewish rock-hewn burials outside the village. It was the practice
to place a stone, either round or square, in front of the entrance to the
tomb. This stone was called a golal.
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Rabbinic theology will help illustrate the fourth point. When Jesus
commanded the people to remove the stone, Martha protested (I like the KJV
rendering), "Lord he stinkest!" She points out that her brother had been
dead four days and his body was beginning to rot (11:39). According to
Rabbinic theology, the body began to decompose after the third day in
order to expiate, or be punished for, the sins of the dead person. Jesus
is about to demonstrate what He told the people in Jerusalem two years
prior to this occasion. "Most assuredly, I say to you, the hour is coming,
and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God; and those
who hear will live. For as the Father has life in Himself, so He has
granted the Son to have life in Himself, and has given Him authority to
execute judgment also, because He is the Son of Man. Do not marvel at
this; for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear
His voice and come forth those who have done good, to the resurrection of
life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of the
condemnation" (5:25-29 NKJV).
After the stone was removed, Jesus cried with a loud voice, "Lazarus, come
forth" (11:43). The great evangelist of the 19th
century, D. L. Moody, said, "Jesus had to call Lazarus by name because if
he did not, everybody in the grave would have come forth!"
Verse 44 describes the final burial practice. Lazarus is bound hand and
foot with grave clothes and his face was wrapped with a cloth. The Jewish
burial practice was to wash the body, anoint it with perfumes, then bind
the hands and feet, as well as the jaw, in order to prevent the
extremities from flying all over the place when rigor mortis sets in.
The resurrection of Lazarus was a powerful testimony to the deity of the
Lord Jesus and His ability to give eternal life to any and all who would
put their trust in Him. In fact, John records that "many of the Jews who
had come to Mary, and had seen the things Jesus did, believed in Him"
(11:45), thus fulfilling the purpose of John’s gospel (20:30,31). Have you
trusted Him as your Savior?
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