Life After Death_ A History of the Afterlife in Western Religion - Alan Segal [85]
More Optimistic Views of Death
IT IS SUGGESTED by L. R. Bailey that “within the Hebrew Bible, descriptions of biological death fall into two basic categories: An individual may experience either a ‘good’ or a ‘bad’ death.”28 Abraham’s death at a ripe old age is an example of a good death, as he is “gathered to his ancestors” (literally: fathers). This suggests that death is, in some way, a family reunion. Eliphaz tells Job to seek the fate of the righteous: “You shall come to your grave in ripe old age, as a shock of grain comes up to the threshing floor” (Job 5:20).29 Job does live to a ripe old age, seeing his children to the fourth generation, which is a rare privilege.
Wherever Sheol is mentioned, evil (böse), untimely death is invariably at hand.30 Jacob, distraught over the presumed death of Joseph, says: “I will go down to my son, mourning into Sheol” (Gen 37:35) and when the brothers tell him they must bring Benjamin back to Egypt he says: “You shall bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to Sheol” (Gen 42:38). The brothers say the same things about their father (Gen 44:31). Yet in the end, Jacob has a peaceful death: “And when Jacob had made an end of commanding his sons, he gathered up his feet unto the bed and expired, and he was gathered into his ancestors” (Gen 49:33). Perhaps this is indicative of the special use of language of the narrator of the E source in the Joseph legend. But it is shared by the narrator of the David/Solomon succession narrative.
In the succession narrative, David instructs Solomon not to allow Shimei ben Gera or Joab to live but to bring his gray hairs down to Sheol in blood (1 Kgs 2:9) and not in peace (1 Kgs 2:6). Afterward, David rests with his people and is buried in the city of David. The two deaths contrast with David’s.
The phrase “being gathered to one’s ancestors” (literally: fathers; i.e., forefathers, kin) appears to indicate proper burial and, if so, the term “fathers” is used as a common plural, including both genders as both men and women were buried in the same way and in the same places.31 It is possible that the phrase originally indicated the practice of mixing the bones of the family in common for final disposition, which is an Iron Age innovation, evidenced throughout the Biblical period.32
A. Heidel and Philip S. Johnston have pointed out that the phrases “being gathered to one’s ancestors” and “resting with one’s ancestors” are not exactly equivalent with being buried, as Jacob is “gathered” several weeks before his body is buried in the land of Israel (Gen 50:1-13).33 But it is possible that they merely anticipated the successful conclusion in the foreshortened narrative. If so, the expression outgrows its original context as immediate burial. It may even suggest that there was a ritual process of merging one’s individuality with the collective ancestry of the people.34
This has yielded an interesting hypothesis from Eric Meyers that these phrases and practices indicate more firm Israelite control of the land.35 It certainly seems to shed light on the language the Bible uses in describing the burials of the patriarchs: “Abraham breathed his last and died in a good old age, an old man and full of years, and was gathered to his ancestors” (Gen 25:8). We see the same phenomenon with regard to Jacob’s death in Genesis 49:33. The Bible’s description may well imply separate actions: “dying in a good old age,” and being “gathered to his ancestors.”
The phrase also refers to kings. To sleep “with one’s ancestors” when describing the king evidently was meant to exclude death in battle, where the body could be lost. Peaceful burial with one’s ancestors is itself seen as a reward for a good life. It is conceivable, therefore, that “being gathered to one’s ancestors” refers to the whole primary inhumanation process, where the body is exposed