Divrey Hayamim Bais 16:14

14 And they buried him in his own kever (sepulchre, burial cave), which he had cut for himself in Ir Dovid, and laid him on a mishkav (bed) which was filled with sweet spices and perfumes prepared by the apothecaries art; and they burned for him a very large serefah gedolah (great fire, pyre).

Divrey Hayamim Bais 16:14 Meaning and Commentary

2 Chronicles 16:14

And they buried him in his own sepulchres which he had made
for himself in the city of David
Where was the burying place of the kings of Judah; here Asa had ordered a vault to be made for himself and his family, and therefore called sepulchres, because of the several cells therein to put separate bodies in:

and laid him in the bed;
not only laid him out, as we express it, but laid him on a bed of state, where he lay in great pomp; or the funeral bed, which, with other nations ^F18, used to be strowed with sweet smelling flowers and herbs, as follows:

which was filled with sweet odours, and divers kinds of spices prepared
by the apothecaries art;
or rather confectioner or druggist; for it is a question whether there were then any such we call apothecaries; this bed was strowed with spices, myrrh, aloes, cassia, cinnamon and which perhaps might be made up into a liquid, which was sprinkled over the bed and shroud in which he lay:

and they made a very great burning for him;
not that they made a great fire, and burned his body; for burning was not used with the Jews; but they burnt spices and other things in great quantity, in honour of him: (See Gill on Jeremiah 34:5), and this custom continued to the times of Herod, at whose funeral there were five hundred of his domestics and freed men bearing spices ^F19.

---

FOOTNOTES:

F18 Herodian. Hist. l. 4. c. 3. Vid. Kirchman. de Funer. Roman. l. 1. c. 11. & Alstorph. de Lect. Vet. c. 19. p. 151, 152.
F19 Joseph. de Bello Jud. l. 1. c. 33. sect. 9.

Divrey Hayamim Bais 16:14 In-Context

12 And Asa in the thirty and ninth year of his malchut (reign) became diseased in his raglayim, until his disease was exceedingly great. Yet even in his disease he sought not Hashem, but only the rofe’im.

13 And Asa slept with his Avotav, and died in the one and fortieth year of his reign.

14 And they buried him in his own kever (sepulchre, burial cave), which he had cut for himself in Ir Dovid, and laid him on a mishkav (bed) which was filled with sweet spices and perfumes prepared by the apothecaries art; and they burned for him a very large serefah gedolah (great fire, pyre).