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INTRODUCTION. This miracle followed the healing of the centurion's servant. As great a miracle as that was, Jesus with a word healing the servant from a distance, this miracle was even more spectacular.
As Jesus came to the city of Nain in Galilee, He encountered a funeral procession–a dead man was being carried outside the city for burial. Nain is about twenty-five miles from Capernaum, and its name means "The Pleasant Place." It is interesting to note that Nain is near Shunem, the place where Elisha restored life to the son of the Shunammite woman (II Kings 4:8-37).
In New Testament times burial generally followed death quickly, and the burying place was always outside the city. The body was washed, anointed with aromatic
spices, then wrapped in linen cloths with the head bound in a separate cloth or nap- kin. As coffins were rarely used by the Jews, the body was carried to the grave on an open bier or litter. The funeral procession included not only the relatives and friends of the deceased person, but also hired singers and mourners, "professional mourners," whose duty was to lament and mourn with loud shrieking and wailing.