4. How do we know that this was a Jewish burial?
1. The Jewish law requires that the body be washed prior to burial. There is, however, an exception to the rule. If the person dies a violent death, the body is not washed but is simply placed in a sheet and buried. The shroud shows the blood flows of a man who died a violent death - death by crucifixion.
2. According to Jewish authorities, the blood of a man who dies a violent death is considered life-blood and should be buried with the body. On the shroud we see the undisturbed blood marks of a crucified man. It would take a great deal of care to take a man from a position of crucifixion and place him in a burial cloth and not disturb the moist blood clots on his body. There is only one group of people on earth who would go to such an extreme to be sure that the fragile blood clots on the body remain undisturbed, and that is the nation of Israel.
For more information on Jewish burial customs, read Resurrected, chapter 4 and 6.
Copyright © 2001 - Boston Medical Management, Inc - All rights reserved.
No part of this website shall be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical,
including photocopying, recording, or by any information or retrieval system, without written permission from Boston Medical Management, Inc.