Cave Dwellings in The Bible
Below is the Message Audio to Cave Dwellings in The Bible. This is followed by Typed Notes.
Caves and clefts of the Rock were frequently used as dwelling-places in Bible times. Example is Nation of Edom.
Jeremiah 49:15-17: “For, lo, I will make thee small among the heathen, and despised among men.. Thy terribleness hath deceived thee, and the pride of thine heart, O thou that dwellest in the clefts of the rock, that holdest the height of the hill: though thou shouldest make thy nest as high as the eagle, I will bring thee down from thence, saith the Lord.
Also Edom shall be a desolation: every one that goeth by it shall be astonished, and shall hiss at all the plagues.
The Edomites were proud (Obadiah 1:3), violent (verse 10), and apathetic to the destruction of Israel (verse 11), and God promised a reckoning.
The pits or cavities in Rocks were also sometimes used as prisons: Isaiah 51:14-16.
“The captive exile hastens, that he may be loosed, That he should not die in the pit, And that his bread should not fail. But I am the LORD your God, Who divided the sea whose waves roared— The LORD of hosts is His name. And I have put My words in your mouth; I have covered you with the shadow of My hand, That I may plant the heavens, Lay the foundations of the earth, And say to Zion, ‘You are My people.’ ”
Caves that had niches in their sides were used as burial places.
John 11:38-44: Jesus raising Lazarus from the tomb.
Jesus therefore again groaning in himself cometh to the grave. It was a cave, and a stone lay upon it. Jesus said, Take ye away the stone. Martha, the sister of him that was dead, saith unto him, Lord, by this time he stinketh: for he hath been dead four days. Jesus saith unto her, said I not unto thee, that, if thou wouldest believe, thou shouldest see the glory of God? Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead was laid. And Jesus lifted up his eyes, and said, Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me. And I knew that thou hearest me always: but because of the people which stand by I said it, that they may believe that thou hast sent me. And when he thus had spoken, he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth. And he that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with graveclothes: and his face was bound about with a napkin. Jesus saith unto them, Loose him, and let him go.
Caves used as tombs. Jesus’s placed in the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea. Matthew 27:57-61.
Now when evening had come, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who himself had also become a disciple of Jesus. This man went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Then Pilate commanded the body to be given to him. When Joseph had taken the body, he wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, and laid it in his new tomb which he had hewn out of the rock; and he rolled a large stone against the door of the tomb, and departed. And Mary Magdalene was there, and the other Mary, sitting opposite the tomb.
Below is the ubderlined link to the Notes pdf.