Our word is used the most in Genesis chapter 23 which we are still in today. This is the first time our word is used in the Bible. We have both the noun and the verb forms of the root word קֶ֫בֶר bury, place in a grave, grave, burial chamber. The noun is used 66 times and the verb is used 132 times in the Old Testament. We see the word used a lot qualified with family. Judges 8:32 Gideon son of Joash died at a good old age and was קֶ֫בֶר buried in the tomb of his father. Judges 16:31 Then his brothers and his father’s whole family went down to get him. They brought him back and קֶ֫בֶר buried him…in the tomb of Manoah his father. 2 Samuel 17:23 So he died and was קֶ֫בֶר buried in his father’s tomb. 2 Samuel 19:37 Let your servant return, that I may die in my own town near the קֶ֫בֶר tomb of my father and mother. 2 Samuel 21:14 They קֶ֫בֶר buried the bones of Saul and his son Jonathan in the קֶ֫בֶר tomb of Saul’s father Kish, at Zela in Benjamin.
This idea of having a family place to bury family is why we see Abraham wanting to own the land to bury his wife, his family instead of just burying her with the Hittites. Genesis 23:3-4,20 Then Abraham rose from beside his dead wife and spoke to the Hittites. He said, “I am a foreigner and stranger among you. Sell me some property for a קֶ֫בֶר burial site here so I can קֶ֫בֶר bury my dead.”… So the field and the cave in it were deeded to Abraham by the Hittites as a קֶ֫בֶר burial site.
Something amazing happens in 2 Kings 13:21 Once while some Israelites were burying a man, suddenly they saw a band of raiders; so they threw the man’s body into Elisha’s tomb. When the body touched Elisha’s bones, the man came to life and stood up on his feet. This is a foreshadowing of what God is going to do in Christ. We also see a more direct prediction in Ezekiel 37:12-14. I am going to open your graves and bring you up from them… I will put my Spirit in you and you will live. Jesus points to this very thing He will do in the future. John 5:25 Very truly I tell you, a time is coming and has now come when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live. John 11:25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. And so that we can have evidence to believe this will in fact happen. He proves that he has the power to do so. John 11:43-44 Jesus called in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face. Jesus said to them, “Take off the grave clothes and let him go.” What is interesting about our word is the emphasis of family around it. So in this life we are usually buried around family but this also points to the next life where Jesus wants us to be together again as part of his family. John 14:1-4 Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.
