Bob Boyd<\/b><\/p>\n
I read with great interest Gordon Franz\u2019s article \u201cLet the Dead Bury Their Own Dead\u201d in the Spring, 1992, issue of Archaeology and Biblical Research<\/i>. It was a well-documented treatise on a very important Biblical custom. The spiritual application regarding the Jewish custom of the decomposition of the flesh making atonement for sin and Christ\u2019s blood was very enlightening (p. 57).<\/p>\n
I would like to present another view about \u201cburying their own dead\u201d that has rich spiritual overtones.<\/p>\n
As a staff member on an archaeological <\/p>\n
BSP<\/i> 5:4 (Autumn 1992) p. 130<\/p>\n
dig at the Old Testament site of Dothan with the late Dr. Joseph P. Free of Wheaton College, I became very friendly with Abed, our Jordanian pickman. He had been educated in British schools and could speak English fluently. One day he invited me to his home in the little village of Arrabah to have supper with his family. On our two mile hike over I questioned him about his family, parents and brothers and sisters, who, he said, were all in good health.<\/p>\n
Since he was such an educated young man I asked if he ever thought of coming to America and getting a job. He replied, \u201cI would love to, but I have to stay at home and bury my father.\u201d Immediately I thought of the man in Luke 9:57\u201359 who said he would follow Jesus, but first wanted to go back home and bury his father. When I reminded Abad that he told me his father was alive and well, he explained that he was the first-born son and as heir to all his father possessed, it was his responsibility to stay home until his father passed away and then to bury him. I reminded Abad of this incident in Luke, saying that if the man went home and had to wait for a number of years before his father died, he would never follow Jesus. Abad replied that since it was his duty to \u201cbury his father\u201d when he died, he may never get to America.<\/p>\n
I then asked my young Jordanian friend why he couldn\u2019t have his brothers and sisters assume this responsibility of burying his father. \u201cThey are dead,\u201d he said. Again I reminded him that he had told me they were all hale and hearty. And again I thought of Luke 9:60 where Jesus told the man, \u201cLet the dead bury their own dead.\u201d I asked Abad how he could say his siblings were \u201cdead.\u201d His answer was, \u201cThey are dead to this relationship I have with my father as the first born son\u2014the heir.\u201d<\/p>\n
He then told me of a way his \u201cdead\u201d brothers and sisters could help assume that responsibility. All of the children were descended from the parents by physical birth, and were loved as much as Abad. If the father and mother agreed that they wanted each child to share equally in the estate with Abad, then the father would go to the city entrance and state his desire before the elders. Upon agreement, they would make a \u201cCovenant of Salt\u201d and the father would legally \u201cadopt\u201d his other children into the same relationship as Abad. Upon the death of the father, each child would then share equally with Abad.<\/p>\n
When Abad told me this, I almost went into spiritual orbit! God\u2019s only Son, Jesus Christ, is the \u201cfirst-born,\u201d only begotten Son of God, and heir of all the Father possesses. But God has other sons and daughters by spiritual birth, loved just as much by Him as His Son, since they are all members of His family. When Christ (God incarnate) died, the flood gates were opened for the blood of Christ to cleanse us, make us His children, and then as His children by spiritual birth, adopt us, making us sons by adoption and giving us the \u201cSpirit of adoption whereby we cry Abba, Father\u201d (Eph 1:5; Rom 8:15).<\/p>\n
As His adopted children, we are brought into the same relationship Christ, the Heir, has with His Father, making us, His children, \u201cheirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ\u201d (Rom 8:16, 17). What is Christ\u2019s is mine\u2014every spiritual blessing in heavenly places, all I need for this life, godliness, and heaven too! (Eph 1:3; 2 Pet 1:3; 1 Pet 1:3\u20135).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Bob Boyd I read with great interest Gordon Franz\u2019s article \u201cLet the Dead Bury Their Own Dead\u201d in the Spring, 1992, issue of Archaeology and Biblical Research. It was a well-documented treatise on a very important Biblical custom. The spiritual application regarding the Jewish custom of the decomposition of the flesh making atonement for sin … Continue reading “BURYING
\nTHEIR OWN DEAD”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15134","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermons"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15134","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15134"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15134\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15134"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15134"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15134"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}