Is it a sin to desecrate a grave?

tonychanyt · Aug 29, 2024

When Sarah died, Abraham didn't just bury her under the sand. He bought a proper burial cave from Ephron the Hittite (Ge 23). Abraham was a nomad, yet he wanted a permanent burial place.

De 21:

22 If a man has committed a crime punishable by death and he is put to death, and you hang him on a tree, 23 his body shall not remain all night on the tree, but you shall bury him the same day, for a hanged man is cursed by God. You shall not defile your land that the LORD your God is giving you for an inheritance.

Show respect for a dead body, even for a criminal. Bury him on the same day.

Josiah was a righteous king. 2K 23:

15 Moreover, the altar at Bethel, the high place erected by Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin, that altar with the high place he pulled down and burned, reducing it to dust. He also burned the Asherah. 16 And as Josiah turned, he saw the tombs there on the mount. And he sent and took the bones out of the tombs and burned them on the altar and defiled it, according to the word of the LORD that the man of God proclaimed, who had predicted these things.

Josiah did not respect the bones and the tombs. M1 prophesied that centuries ago.

17 Then he said, “What is that monument that I see?” And the men of the city told him, “It is the tomb of the man of God [M1] who came from Judah and predicted these things that you have done against the altar at Bethel.”

Josiah respected M1's tomb.

18 And he said, “Let him be; let no man move his bones.” So they let his bones alone, with the bones of the prophet who came out of Samaria.

There was no explicit command against desecrating a grave. There was general respect for the dead bodies, their bones, and their tombs.

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Is it a sin to desecrate a grave?

tonychanyt

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