Laid it in his own new tomb. It was placed on one of the shelves or recesses formed in the sides of the sepulchre. Thus did the Saviour make "his grave with the wicked" (dying between two thieves), "and with the rich in his death" (Isaiah 53:9).
It was fitting that he whose body saw no corruption should be buried in a grave which had never been tainted by a human corpse. Thus also it was ensured that no other body could rise thence except his who alone was buried therein.
This tomb, St. John tells us, was quite close at hand, which at that hurried time would be an additional reason for making use of it. Which he had hewn out in the rock. The tomb was a chamber artificially excavated in the face of the rock, with one entrance only.
The wealthy Jews were especially fond of appropriating vaults for the burial of themselves and their families. The neighbourhood of Jerusalem (as other parts of Palestine) abounds with tombs cut in the solid limestone.
Recent opinion has veered round to adherence to the traditional site of the holy sepulchre, of which the identification dates from the earliest days; that which is known as "Gordon's tomb" meeting with scant acceptance from experts, and other sites not fully answering the requirements of the case.
The existing Chapel of the Holy Sepulchre, in the church of that designation, is thus described by Dr. Geikie: On entering the church, "immediately before you is 'the stone of unction,'said to mark the spot on which our Lord's body was laid in preparation for burial, after being anointed.
It is a large slab of limestone A few steps to the left is the place where, as they tell us, the women stood during the anointing, and from this you pass at once, still keeping to the left, into the great round western end of the church—the model of all the circular churches of Europe—under the famous dome, which rests on eighteen pillars, with windows round the circle from which the dome springs.
In the centre of this space, which is sixty-seven feet across, is the Chapel of the Holy Sepulchre, about twenty-six feet long and eighteen feet wide, a tasteless structure of reddish limestone, like marble, decorated all along the top with gilt nosegays and modern pictures, and its front ablaze with countless lamps.
Inside it is divided into two parts, the one marking, as is maintained, the spot where the angels stood at the Resurrection, the other believed to contain the sepulchre of Christ In the centre, cased in marble, stands what is called a piece of the stone rolled away by the angel; and at the western end, entered by a low doorway, is the reputed tomb chamber of our Lord, a very small spot, for it is only six feet wide, a few inches longer, and very low.
The tomb itself is a raised table, two feet high, three feet wide, and over six feet long, the top of it serving as an altar, over which the darkness is only relieved by the dim lamps." A great stone.
Joseph and his friends closed the entrance to the cave by rolling up to it, and partly in it, a huge stone, to obviate all danger of the sacred body being meddled with by evil beasts or men. The Jewish sepulchres were often furnished with real doors, either of stone or wood, as is proved by existing remains, which show grooves and marks where hinges have been; Joseph's tomb was not thus supplied, either from being still in an unfinished state, or constructed on a different principle.
We can not reason from the present state of the sepulchre that it is too unlike what we must conceive the original to have been to permit of the supposed identification. If other criteria point to this site, the difficulties connected with present appearances may be overcome by the consideration that the whole features of the place were altered by Constantine, the Crusaders, and other builders.
The surrounding rock has in many parts been cut away, and the surface levelled or lowered, and the only portion left in situ is the inner chamber where the Lord's body was laid. Captain Conder objects to the traditional site.
His own theory, which points to a rock-hewn tomb near the Grotto of Jeremiah, may be seen in the Quarterly Statement of the Palestine Exploration Fund, April, 1883. And departed. He had done what he could: sorrowing, he left the place of sepulture.
Tradition has traced the later life of Joseph. He is said to have been sent by the Apostle Philip to Britain, in company with other disciples, and to have settled at Glaston bury, in Somersetshire, then much nearer to an arm of the sea than it is now.
Here he erected a little oratory of wickerwork, the first Christian house of prayer that England saw, which was afterwards superseded by the noble abbey whose remains we admire to this day. There is no certain foundation on which the story rests; the only evidence of visitors from Palestine having ever arrived at Glastonbury is the existence of an Eastern thorn tree on Wearyall Hill, which possesses the curious property of blossoming at Christmas.
The original tree, which sprang from Joseph's staff, is reported to have flourished till the reign of Charles I., when it was destroyed by the Puritans; but scions or cuttings were taken from it, and many such bushes are still to be found in different parts of the country.