Expert: Menachem Brody - 4/5/2006

Question
Shalom,

Thank you for your reply.  If I may I would like to ask a follow up question.  In John's gospel of the New Testament, it mentions "And Nicodemus, who at first came to Jesus by night, also came, bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about a hundred pounds. Then they took the body of Jesus, and bound it in strips of linen with the spices, as the custom of the Jews is to bury." (chapter 19:39-40)

My earlier question was prompted from this passage.  I heard that a custom was to take the person's body weight divide it in half and that determined how much spices to use.  I personally like to research statements like this to see if they can bear up under examination.  Is there any hint of truth to this statement as far as you are aware of?

Once again thank you for your time.

May G-d grant peace to Israel, Shalom!



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Followup To
Question -
Shalom,

I am a Christian and heard any interesting comment which I wanted to confirm and / or find a reference for.  When a person died in ancient Israel was the person's body weight used in determining how much spices to bury them with?

Thank you for your time in this matter,

Michael
Answer -
Shalom Michael,

I must confess that I have not heard this, and I suspect it does not come from Jewish tradition.  

Our custom (going back thousands of years) is to thoroughly wash the body of the deceased, cover with a simple linen shroud and bury in the ground- with no use of embalming or spices.  The idea is not to retard the decay of the body (as for instance the ancient Egyptians did), but rather to help it speadily return to the earth.

Hope this helps you to understand better.

Menachem Brody
Elon Moreh
Israel
www.shechem.org
www.tsel.org
webmaster@shechem.org

Answer
Shalom Michael,

If I understand your interest- you are looking for evidence that body weight was about 200 pounds?

I am not familiar with the Christian testaments, but would suggest you start by checking out the source (Greek?), since frequently there are several possible translations of passages.

As I wrote earlier, spices are generally used to retard (or disguise) decay, while Jewish tradition is for the burial to be held as soon as possible, and for the body to return to the soil without hinderance.

I note that the name "Nicodemus" is Greek rather than Hebrew, so perhaps this man was familiar with customs of other peoples.

May you find enlightenment through your research.

Appreciate your blessing of peace!

Menachem Brody