What Does 'Slept with His Fathers' Mean?

When the Bible gives the record of kings who were over Jerusalem and Judah, why do scriptures say the kings "slept with their fathers?"

Wow! That's a simple thing.

All that scriptures are saying is that a king died. That a king "lieth with his fathers," as the Young's Literal Translation says, only means the king died.

And the record of each king's death is kind of written like a song that says the king lay down in death with those who went before him ("slept with his fathers") and was buried in honor, or was buried in dishonor.

For example, read

"Jehoshaphat rested with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in the City of David."
(2 Chronicles 21:1, New King James Version)

versus

"Ahaz rested with his fathers, and they buried him in the city, in Jerusalem; but they did not bring him into the tombs of the kings of Israel."
(2 Chronicles 28:27, NKJV)


Again, in most versions of the Bible, the death of a king is written kind of like a song:


He slept with his fathers (meaning he died), and they buried him ... .

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

In His Image

Image
  The Box jelly is the only sea jelly that has eyes that come anywhere close to being like ours; but even given that fact, the box jelly doesn't really see. I'm no scientist. I didn't have high school biology - just a quick course in college. But I have faith. And I know scientists can be foolish like anyone else, sometimes. ** This past September, The New York Times published an almost silly article about a study that's misleading. The headline says, "Brainless Jellyfish Demonstrate Learning Ability." That took me by surprise, because I'd read enough to know that sea jellies, as they're called now, are soulless bundles of nerves. Sea jellies can't be made to chase any prey, can't know the worth of giving birth, have no idea what it means to be blessed with food. Instead, sea jellies lead a life of releasing venomous stingers at bullet-fast speeds any and every time their tentacles touch anything that does not have their exact same chemical bl
Read more

Are We on Mission?

Image
  Part of a cheerful commentary about summer missions , this photo is a beautiful reminder that many parts of the world have mastered walking by faith instead of living by bare eyesight. When Jesus' brother James cautioned a church not to "become judges with evil thoughts," it was because the church had a heart to praise men in fine clothes and to be unkind toward people who might be treated like dirt, dirt kind of like making enemies your footstool. When I first knew Jesus had rescued me from being lost, I realized God had something more in store than how I was living at the time. I didn't realize, at that time, how much Heaven wanted me to learn. I did, however, recognize it was time to part with clothes that were from what I knew in heart was a wretched, lost way of life. I can say that today, because I got saved and had a right heart. I was whole in Jesus for the first time, ever. And I didn't want to wear any reminder of how lost I had been. Instead, I was oh
Read more