EMBALMING

em-bam'-ing (chanaT, "to spice"): Embalming. is mentioned in Scripture only in the cases of Jacob and Joseph (Genesis 50:2 f,Genesis 26). It was a distinctly Egyptian invention and method of preserving the bodies of men and animals. Examples of it reach back to over 3,000 years ago. It prevailed to some extent among the peoples of Asia, and at a later period among the Greeks and Romans, but was in origin and use distinctly non-Israelitish.

See BURIAL .

From the International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
Edited by James Orr, published in 1939 by Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.