CORPSE (Heb. גְּוִיָּה, H1581, פֶּ֫גֶר, H7007; Gr. πτῶμα, G4773) means a dead human body. In the KJV the OT Scriptures are redundant, although emphatic in speaking of the bodies of Sennacherib’s soldiers, evidently killed by plague, as “dead” corpses (2 Kings 19:35; Isa 37:36). Not only so, but the KJV does not make clear that those who viewed the “dead corpses” were different people from those who were “dead corpses.” These matters are set right and clarified in the ASV. In Pal. in NT times it was evidently the custom to bury a corpse within twenty-four hours of death, as is the case today in lands where high climatic temperatures are encountered. Such was evidently the case with John the Baptist’s corpse (Mark 6:29) and Christ’s corpse (Matt 27:57-60). The legal right to possession of a corpse has varied over the years. Evidently Christ’s body did not go into the possession of Joseph of Arimathea until officially released to him by Pilate. In modern times in the United States of America, the law has refused to recognize a corpse as property in a material sense but has recognized the right of survivors to possess and control its appropriate disposition. Failure to bury a corpse was regarded as a misfortune for the deceased (Jer 16:4) in OT times.

Bibliography P. E. Jackson, “Corpse,” EBr (1963), VI, 542.