Meaning of EMBALMING

Jacob and Joseph were embalmed in Egypt, but it does not appear to have been practiced by the children of Israel (Gen. 50:2, 3, 26).

The historians Herodotus (II, 86-89) and Diodorus (1, 91) describe the embalming process in Egypt. There were different ways depending on the rank of the deceased, or in proportion to what their relatives were willing to pay.

In summary, it can be said that the body was left in nitro for thirty days, in order to eliminate all its superfluous or harmful moisture, sometimes extracting the brain and entrails; During the next forty days it was anointed with resins and spices to preserve it.

When this phase was over, the body was wrapped round with bandages, and finally it was placed in a sarcophagus, which had a shape similar to that of the deceased.

In many museums you can see Egyptian mummies, and you can see the wonderful conservation of the body.

Among the Jews, the body was merely wrapped in bandages with a quantity of spices.

Asa “was placed in a coffin, which they filled with perfumes and various spices prepared by expert perfumers” (2 Chron. 16:4).

Nicodemus provided “a compound of myrrh and aloes about a hundred pounds” and “they took the body of Jesus and wrapped it in linen cloths with spices according to the custom of burial among the Jews (John 19:39, 40).