SEV Biblia, Chapter 16:14
Y lo sepultaron en sus sepulcros que él había hecho para sí en la ciudad de David; y lo pusieron en una litera la cual llenaron de aromas y de olores hechos de obra de boticarios, y le hicieron una quema, una quema muy grande.
Clarke's Bible Commentary - 2 Chronicles 16:14
Verse 14. And laid him in the bed] It is very likely that the body of Asa was burnt; that the bed spoken of here was a funeral pyre, on which much spices and odouriferous woods had been placed; and then they set fire to the whole and consumed the body with the aromatics. Some think the body was not burned, but the aromatics only, in honour of the king. How the ancients treated the bodies of the illustrious dead we learn from Virgil, in the funeral rites paid to Misenus.
Nec minus interea Misenum in littore Teucri Flebant, et cineri ingrato suprema ferebant.
Principio pinguem taedis et robore secto Ingentem struxere pyram: cui frondibus atris Intexunt latera, et ferales ante cupressas Constituunt, decorantque super fulgentibus armis, &c. AEN. vi. 214.
"Meanwhile the Trojan troops, with weeping eyes, To dead Misenus pay their obsequies.
First from the ground a lofty pile they rear Of pitch trees, oaks, and pines, and unctuous fir.
The fabric's front with cypress twigs they strew, And stick the sides with boughs of baleful yew.
The topmost part his glittering arms adorn: Warm waters, then, in brazen caldrons borne Are poured to wash his body joint by joint, And fragrant oils the stiffen'd limbs anoint.
With groans and cries Misenus they deplore: Then on a bier, with purple cover'd o'er, The breathless body thus bewail'd they lay, And fire the pile (their faces turn'd away.) Such reverend rites their fathers used to pay.
Pure oil and incense on the fire they throw, And fat of victims which their friends bestow.
These gifts the greedy flames to dust devour, Then on the living coals red wine they pour.
And last the relics by themselves dispose, Which in a brazen urn the priests enclose.
Old Corineus compass'd thrice the crew, And dipp'd an olive branch in holy dew; Which thrice he sprinkled round, and thrice aloud Invoked the dead, and then dismiss'd the crowd." DRYDEN.
All these rites are of Asiatic extraction. Virgil borrows almost every circumstance from Homer; (see Iliad, xxiii., ver. 164, &c.;) and we well know that Homer ever describes Asiatic manners. Sometimes, especially in war, several captives were sacrificed to the manes of the departed hero. So, in the place above, the mean-souled, ferocious demon, ACHILLES, is represented sacrificing twelve Trojan captives to the ghost of his friend Patroclus. Urns containing the ashes and half-calcined bones of the dead occur frequently in barrows or tumuli in this country; most of them, no doubt, the work of the Romans. But all ancient nations, in funeral matters, have nearly the same rites.
John Gill's Bible Commentary
Ver. 14. And they buried him in his own sepulchres which he had made for himself in the city of David , etc.] Where was the burying place of the kings of Judah; here Asa had ordered a vault to be made for himself and his family, and therefore called sepulchres, because of the several cells therein to put separate bodies in: and laid him in the bed ; not only laid him out, as we express it, but laid him on a bed of state, where he lay in great pomp; or the funeral bed, which, with other nations f67 , used to be strowed with sweet smelling flowers and herbs, as follows: which was filled with sweet odours, and divers kinds of spices prepared by the apothecaries art ; or rather confectioner or druggist; for it is a question whether there were then any such we call apothecaries; this bed was strowed with spices, myrrh, aloes, cassia, cinnamon, etc. and which perhaps might be made up into a liquid, which was sprinkled over the bed and shroud in which he lay: and they made a very great burning for him ; not that they made a great fire, and burned his body; for burning was not used with the Jews; but they burnt spices and other things in great quantity, in honour of him: (See Gill on “ Jeremiah 34:5”), and this custom continued to the times of Herod, at whose funeral there were five hundred of his domestics and freed men bearing spices f68 .
Matthew Henry Commentary
Asa seeks the aid of the Syrians, His death.
--A plain and faithful reproof was given to Asa by a prophet of the Lord, for making a league with Syria. God is displeased when he is distrusted, and when an arm of flesh is relied on, more than his powe and goodness. It is foolish to lean on a broken reed, when we have the Rock of ages to rely upon. To convince Asa of his folly, the prophe shows that he, of all men, had no reason to distrust God, who had foun him such a powerful Helper. The many experiences we have had of the goodness of God to us, aggravate our distrust of him. But see ho deceitful our hearts are! we trust in God when we have nothing else to trust to, when need drives us to him; but when we have other things to stay on, we are apt to depend too much on them. Observe Asa' displeasure at this reproof. What is man, when God leaves him to himself! He that abused his power for persecuting God's prophet, wa left to himself, to abuse it further for crushing his own subjects. Tw years before he died, Asa was diseased in his feet. Making use of physicians was his duty; but trusting to them, and expecting that from them which was to be had from God only, were his sin and folly. In all conflicts and sufferings we need especially to look to our own hearts that they may be perfect towards God, by faith, patience, an obedience __________________________________________________________________
Original Hebrew
ויקברהו 6912 בקברתיו 6913 אשׁר 834 כרה 3738 לו בעיר 5892 דויד 1732 וישׁכיבהו 7901 במשׁכב 4904 אשׁר 834 מלא 4390 בשׂמים 1314 וזנים 2177 מרקחים 4842 במרקחת 4842 מעשׂה 4639 וישׂרפו 8313 לו שׂרפה 8316 גדולה 1419 עד 5704 למאד׃ 3966
