They buried him in his own tomb, which he had dug out for himself in David’s city, and laid him in the bed which was filled with sweet odors and various kinds of spices prepared by the perfumers’ art; and they made a very great fire for him.
ExplanationCommentary
Verse 14. Sepulchre. Hebrew “sepulchres,” as there were many separate apartments in the same cavern. Calmet.—Asa had prepared one cell, as David and Solomon had done. Menochius. Tirinus.—Odoriferous (mertriciis.) Such as harlots delight in, (Proverbs 7:16,) to entice the sensual. D.—Hebrew zenim, may be derived from zana, fornicari. It denotes a mixture of perfumes. Menochius.—But here the Vulg. read zunim. D.—Hebrew and Septuagint “they laid him on a bed, and filled it with aromatical spices, and with various sorts of perfumers’ ointments, and they made him a very great funeral, or ( Bible.) burning.” Prot.—It is not clear whether the body was placed on a bed of state, and these perfumes were used to remove every disagreeable smell, or the body itself was rather consumed along with them, a practice which seems to have become more common since the days of Asa. Jeremiah 34:5. 1 Kennicott. 31:12. Amos 6:10. Joram was deprived of this honour. Calmet. 21:19. Calmet.—Sanctius adduces many examples, to prove that the spices were burnt only near the body; ( Tirinus.) and the Hebrews generally preferred to inter the corpse. Corpora condere quam cremare è more Ægyptio. Tacit. Hist. v.