The Hebrew Bible is largely silent about life after death. Judahite Burial Practices and Beliefs about the Dead sets about to explain this curious absence; in the first chapter Bloch-Smith explains in exacting and technical detail various burial sites in ancient (11th, 10th, 9th century BCE) Judah and elsewhere. In chapter two, she outlines the grave goods recovered in these tombs, and in chapter four provides a concise summary of what the Biblical record says about the dead. The final chapter is a summary of her conclusion(s): in ancient Judah, there was a vibrant cult of the dead, which including burying the dead with grave good which they could use in the after life, and "feeding" them in ceremonial pots and cooking gear to both venerate and support them. This type of ancestral veneration/worship was part of Yahwistic practices, but eventually it was considered invalid by the editors of the Bible and its practices suppressed. Bloch-Smith's work fills in a gaping historical gap in the study of Biblical attitudes about the dead.

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