Attitudes towards and practices involving a dead body differ radically from culture to culture. When the writer was a teenager, he remembers a funeral in the community that involved a child's death. The unfading part of his memory was the family's reaction at the funeral. So much physical contact with the body occurred that those in charge of funeral services had to restrain the family from removing the body from the casket.
Perhaps this would be a good place to have the class share briefly about unusual death/burial attitudes/practices they have encountered. This should just be an introduction to the focus of this lesson and not consume the class period.
The writer once lived in a culture that buried a body the day of the death [It was a hot climate with no embalming available, thus quick burial was essential.]. Some buried in the yard of their small homes. Some buried under the dirt floor inside their house. There was considerable contact with the body in the preparation and burial process.
From area to area in America, funeral and burial practices vary.
Perhaps this would be a good place to have the class share how attitudes toward death/funerals differ in different areas of this nation. Again, this should be brief, not class consuming.
In ancient Israel, attitudes toward dead bodies seem quite strange to most Americans. Generally speaking, anyone who had physical contact with a dead body was regarded as unclean [impure] for seven days (Numbers 19:11-13). If a person failed to complete a specific cleansing [purification] process in that period, he was guilty of defiling God's place of sacrifice and worship, was to be thrown out of the nation, and was to be considered perpetually unclean [impure] by Israelites.
From this point, focus on attitudes toward death and regulations regarding death in ancient Israel. Death created an impurity for the living that separated people from "everyday activities" and typical life functions in their society. The consequences of this impurity impact typical worship opportunities, typical citizenship responsibilities, and the future of the individual and his/her family.
If a person died suddenly and unexpectedly in a tent, everyone present was unclean [impure] for seven days, the tent was unclean [impure], the contents of the tent were unclean [impure], and every vessel without a "tied on covering" was unclean [impure]. The persons, the tent, and the tent's contents must be purified.
Accidental death was not immune from impurity regulations. Because a death was unexpected did not remove the responsibility to fulfill the purification rites. Death was the problem, not how death occurred. Death itself made impure.
If someone in an open field touched the corpse of a person who was a victim of violence, or the corpse of a person who died of natural causes, or a human bone, or a grave, that person was unclean [impure] for seven days and must undergo the purification process (Numbers 19:16). The process was administered by a clean [pure] person. Failure of the defiled person to undergo the purification process meant anything or anyone touched by him/her became unclean. Anyone who touched anything the unclean [impure] person touched became unclean [impure] (Numbers 19:22). Uncleanness that did not undergo purification separated one from all Israelites! That is an incredible consequence!
An ancient Israelite was not to have contact with a corpse, any human result of death, or a grave. Those who did (even of necessity) were considered impure. Their impurity could be transmitted to others through physical contact. Purification rites must be observed/administered for the impurity to be destroyed. Failure to observe those rites resulted in rejection from the nation, a huge consequence in the ancient world. This society places the emphasis on the individual. Ancient societies placed the emphasis on the role one assumed in the family and the nation. Then individualism was not a desirable quality.
The Jew taking the special vow of dedication known as the Nazirite vow could not come near a dead body during the time of the vow (Numbers 6:6). The minimum time of the vow was a 30 day period. In this time, even if a parent died, the person under vow was not to go near the corpse.
An important part of the Nazirite vow was having no contact with a corpse.
Touch transmitted uncleanness [impurity] (Leviticus 5:3). In Numbers 5:1-4, all unclean people were sent outside Israel's camp--that included everyone who had touched a corpse. There were even special provisions for Passover for those who had been in contact with a corpse (Numbers 9:6-11). Passover was the most important occasion of worship in Israel! Yet, those who were defiled by contacting a corpse must wait a month to observe Passover.
The concept of purity involving on externals evolved from the understanding that impurity could be transmitted through physical contact. It did not combine that concept with Deuteronomy's emphasis on the circumcision of the heart (Deuteronomy 10:16).
So stringent were Israel's laws about having contact with a corpse, there were special requirements for priests to separate themselves from contact with a corpse. If a priest was conducting a tabernacle service as the lead priest, he could not go near a corpse even if it was his father or mother (Leviticus 21:10-15). If a priest went near a corpse, he could not conduct tabernacle rites for a period. He could not even eat of the offerings! (Leviticus 22:4)
Contact with a corpse directly impacted an Israelite's right to worship God. Not even a priest could lead Israelite worship if he had contact with a corpse. God created life. Death is the consequence of initial rebellion against God. Life exists by an act of God. Death is the result of the deception of Satan.
When someone died, his or her death resulted in a number of people becoming unclean!
Funerals and burials in ancient Israel resulted in a number of Israelites being impure.
These things are called to your attention for this reason: when Jesus called the scribes and Pharisees whitewashed tombs, he gave a serious indictment! Whitewashed tombs were to be avoided! Contact with them produced immediate consequences. From a distance they looked beautiful and innocent. However, contact with them was horrible because of what was inside. Outside they had the appearance of beautiful innocence. Inside they were full of rotting human flesh and human bones. They had the appearance of being desirably clean. Yet, the truth was that they were horrible unclean.
This indictment of Jesus regarding the scribes and Pharisees contained an element of seriousness not evident to the typical American Christian. Our attitudes toward death/burial/graves and ancient Israel's attitudes toward death/burial/graves are quite different.
The scribes and Pharisees were like those tombs! Their appearance was quite deceitful! Outwardly they looked attractive and innocent. However, contact with them was horrible! Why? What was inside produced an influence that separated people from God. Thus Jesus said they were to be avoided! The impact they had on lives produced horrible consequences, and did it quickly!
Place emphasis on the fact that "appearances were deceiving." These people appeared to represent and walk with God, but inside they were filled with attitudes, motives, and emotions that were totally impure. Their example was deceitful. Their influence was horrible. To become what they actually were meant a person was further from God, not closer to God.
Remember what Jesus said about the scribes and Pharisees in verses 2 and 3 of this chapter? "The scribes and the Pharisees have seated themselves in the chair of Moses; therefore all that they tell you, do and observe, but do not do according to their deeds; for they say things and do not do them." They look like people focused on God. They talk like people focused on God. Yet they are not! Why? They do not live like people focused on God. Their example is all talk and no substance. They love to instruct, but hate to practice their instructions. Listen to what they say from scripture, but do not allow them to be your example!
Stress that what they looked like and what they were was not in agreement. They had the appearance and sound of people focused on God. Yet, they were not people focused on God. They were horrible examples.
To be God's person in appearance and speech but not in heart was classified by Jesus as hypocrisy! The influence of one's visible life is important. The influence of one's person is essential. In the godly, appearance and heart match. If they do not, we produce hypocrisy.
Belonging to God through Jesus Christ means we belong to God inside and out. God wants all of us, not just the outside appearances and acts.
Discussion Questions:
These responses will be as individual as those who share them. Remember that this is just a focusing discussion, not the class. While a discussion of death and death practices is truly a worthwhile study, it is not the focus of this lesson.
They must go through the purification process.
He/she could not worship at God's tabernacle [temple], he/she could not continue as a citizen of Israel, and he/she could have no contact with any Israelite.
Contact with a corpse was to be avoided. Death represented a consequence of the beginning rebellion against God Who gave life. To call them whitewashed tombs declared they only looked like the represented God when in fact they represented that which opposed God. God gave life. God's life was not communicated to others through them.
They were not what they appeared to be. They appeared to represent God when they did not. Today the issue is very much, "Do we represent God, or are we devoted to self?" It is more than how we appear to those who do not know us. It is who are we inwardly--God's or Satan's? Whose purposes are served through our behavior and life emphasis? Are people closer to God because of our influence or do they misunderstand God because of our influence?
Link to Student Guide
Lesson 9