Merkaba

The Israelite tradition of second burial in ossuarys was short lived - approximately 200 BCE through 130 CE. This timeframe approximates the Seleucid cultural influence on the Lavant up to the annhiliation of Jerusalem's population. Ossuarys have been found in the Galilee dated after the 70 CE destruction of the Second Temple but none in Jerusalem proper after that date.

Secondary burial was not unknown to Israelites before the introduction of ossuaries. The hallmark of a proto-Israelite home was the charnal pit under the occupied layer containing several generations of remains. Since Judaic tradition allowed the blessings of God to be passed from father to son, it was imperative that an Israelite be buried with his family. When Moses quit Egypt, Rabinic tradition states he took the bones of the patriarch Joseph from the bottom of the Nile for secondary burial in the Promised Land. The reanimation of Ezekial's "dry bones" would be as an entire chosen people. This reminds me of a song my mother sang to me when I was a child;
If you get to heaven
Before I do
Just drill a little hole
And pull me through!!!

The Seleucidic Greek influence was responsible for the rift in the political/religious heirarchy of the Jerusalem Temple. The conservative Sadducee sect wanted a strict adherence to Torah but the Pharisees, comprised of influential commoners, were more open to Greek influence. One area of contention was the fact that an individual not under the covenant of the Patriarchs could be "reanimated". Could a soul, without a covenential relationship with YHWH, be accepted into the Kingdom of Heaven? The Pharisee position was a resounding yes! An individual chayah could separate himself from the charnal pit and still enjoy eternity with the Divine. Good news indeed!

But if there were not a patriarch waiting to "pull you through" then how could a separate soul reach a union with the Divine? The answer could be a Merkaba - a cosmic ferry transporting a cleansed soul to face his creator. All semblance of earthly sin residing in the flesh must be gone before the bones of the corpse can be placed in the ossuary. The sinews and ligaments that connect the dry bones must be dust. I contend that an ossuary is the earthly mimation of the Merkaba; the cosmic ladder of the Kabala. A Merkaba, as described in Ezekiel's vision, is a box shape with four circles being pulled along by chayot (living creatures).

An ossuary is a limestone box that is large enough to house a long leg bone. It has six sides, a lid and the name of the individual engraved on the long side. The name may be finely engraved or hastily scratched with a sharp object. On more elaborate engraved ossuarys, the front side is divided into two panels with a shushan engraved on each. Sometimes the shushan is shown from the top and looks like a six-petal flower. On other ossuarys, the shushan is shown from the side with the classic fleur-de-lys form.

L.Y. Ramani has published the most conprehensive list of Jerusalem ossuarys and is considered to be the leading expert. His interpretation of the symbols engraved on provenanced ossuaries is that they are for decoration and are meaningless. However, why would ONLY this symbol be used? If the engraving was for decorative purposes only, why wouldn't other designs be found? The shushan is the barren branch that bloomed for Aaron but it has a much more ancient symbolism. Shushan is from the Egyptian word ss ssn and is an important element in the Egyptian creation story. The shushan is a water lilly and it's bloom heralds the ordering of chaos on primordial earth. In the beginninng were waters of chaos until the water lilly rose from the abyss. It blooms each morning and reveals a golden center to dispel the darkness. "O world! Listen! I have ordered you to! I am the cosmic water lily that rose shining from Nun's black primordial waters, and my mother is Nut, the night sky. O you who made me, I have arrived, I am the great ruler of Yesterday, the power of command is in my hand." -- Spell 42, The Book of the Dead.

Another "decorative element" found on the lid is a Docena that replicates the portal of Solomon's Temple. Two pillars caped with a triangle symbolize the portal of the Vega asterism with the enclosed circle representing the ascending soul. The twin pillars of the first temple were described as having a Shushan carved on the top portions. Shushan is the portal that opens the connecting ladder to reveal the brilliant light of the Divine.

The etymology of the word "Merkaba" is hotly contested and many different opinions exist. Merkab is an Arabic word for "saddle" and has been translated as "seat". However, further investigation reveals that merkab was originally the horn of the saddle only and gradually came to mean the entire seat. Linguist contend that the root word for Merkaba is "rechab" and is translated as "rider" but rechab can also mean "vastness" and "wide expanse". Adding a "mem" to the beginning of Hebrew root word denotes "place of" so perhaps Merkaba in it's earliest form meant "place of transporting through vastness". It is interesting that Rahab is the Hebrew word for "primeval serpent" and also a poetic term for the Egyptian civilization.

Perhaps the original meaning of this word can be found in Egypt. Kheb is the Egyptian personification of Breath of God. The Breath of God is responsible for transporting the Pharoah on his holy arc after death. The Breath of God was responsible for translating Enoch "in a whirlwind" without first experiencing death and decay. In Ezekial's vision, a Great Wind blew into the dry bones and they were reanimated. Kheb is the transporter of the Ba or Soul of the rightous and may be the ancient phoneme that carries the ancient understanding of Merkaba. Words that may be formed from this root; Kaporet (Mercy Seat), Kaphar (cleanse of impurity), Kufir (redeem), Mikrab (Ethiopian Temple), Kiblah (Rose Line).