Death Formulae and the Burial Place 251 The location of the garden outside the walls of Jerusalem explains the different formulae referring to the kings who preceded Hezekiah, all of whom were buried ‘in the city of David’, and the kings of Judah from Hezekiah on, in whose death formulae the City of David is not mentioned (36). Ezekiel’s words (43,7-9) on the proximity of the burial places of the kings of Judah to the temple play an important role in some scholarly discussions (37). Due to its importance, the text is cited in full (in the New JPS translation): It said to me, ‘O mortal, this is the place of My throne and the place for the soles of My feet, where I will dwell in the midst of the people Israel forever. The House of Israel and their kings must not again defile My holy name by their apostasy and by the corpses of their kings at their death (38). When they placed their threshold next to My threshold and their doorposts next to My doorposts with only a wall between Me and them, they would defile My holy name by the abominations that they committed, and I consumed them in My anger. Therefore, let them put their apostasy and the corpses of their kings far from Me, and I will dwell among them forever.’ Ezekiel was born to a priestly family and his words indicate that priests who served in the temple criticized the proximity of the palace, the seat of the kings of Judah and their burial place, to the temple, with only ‘a wall’ separating them (see 1 Kgs 14,27-28; 2 Kgs 11,19). The motives for the criticism were apparently the lifestyle of the inhabitants of the palace, impurity involved with the burial of the royal dynasty in the palace, and the rites conducted for the spirits of the deceased (39). The purity laws formulated (36) This was correctly noted by Weill (La cité de David, 35-44). (37) See for example: G. RICHTER, “Der salomonische Königspalast: Eine exegetische Studie”, ZDPV 40 (1917) 206, 224; WEILL, La cité de David, 35-40; G.A. COOKE, A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Book of Ezekiel (ICC; Edinburgh 1936) 464- 465; KRAUSS, “Sepulchres”, 106-111; VINCENT – STEVE, Jérusalem, 315; JEREMIAS, Heiligengräber, 53-56; J. GRAY, I & II Kings. A Commentary (OTL; Philadelphia 21970) 710; HUROWITZ, “Burial in the Bible”, 136; W. ZIMMERLI, Ezekiel 2. A Commentary on the Book of the Prophet Ezekiel Chapters 25–48 (Hermeneia; Philadelphia 1983) 417-418. (38) For a detailed discussion of v. 7b, see D. BARTHÉLEMY, Critique textuelle de l’ancien Testament (OBO 50; Fribourg – Göttingen 1992) III, 378-380. Barthélemy translated ‘et par les cadavres de leurs rois, c’est-à-dire leurs monuments funéraires’. However, the assumed interpretation of b˝môt as ‘funerary monuments’ was dismissed long ago by scholars and cannot be upheld any more. See P.V. VAUGHAN, The Meaning of ‘b˝mâ’ in the Old Testament. A Study of Etymological, Textual, and Archaeological Evidence (Cambridge 1974); W.B. BARRICK, “The Funerary Character of ‘High Places’ in Ancient Palestine: A Reassessment”, VT 25 (1975) 565-595; M.D. FOWLER, “The Israelite b˝mâ: A Question of Interpretation”, ZAW 94 (1982) 203-213. Zimmerli’s translation of pgr as ‘memorial’ (Ezekiel 2, 409) is also not supported by evidence. See VAUGHAN, Meaning of ‘b˝mâ’, 64-65, n. 73. (39) For the cult of the ancestors in the ancient Near East, see A. TSUKIMOTO, Untersuchungen zur Totenpflege (kispum) im alten Mesopotamien (AOAT 216; Kevelaer – Neukirchen-Vluyn 1985); K. SPRONK, Beatific Afterlife in Ancient Israel and in the Ancient Near East (AOAT 219; Kevelaer – Neukirchen-Vluyn 1986); Th.J. LEWIS, Cults of the Dead in Ancient Israel and Ugarit (HSM 39; Atlanta 1989); W.W. HALLO, “Royal Ancestors Worship in the Biblical World”, “Sha¿arei Talmon”. Studies in the Bible, Qumran, and the Ancient Near East Presented to Shemaryahu Talmon (eds. M. FISHBANE –