Midrash sobre Shabbat 23:5
עוֹשִׂין כָּל צָרְכֵי הַמֵּת, סָכִין וּמְדִיחִין אוֹתוֹ, וּבִלְבַד שֶׁלֹּא יָזִיזוּ בוֹ אֵבֶר. שׁוֹמְטִין אֶת הַכַּר מִתַּחְתָּיו וּמַטִּילִין אוֹתוֹ עַל הַחֹל בִּשְׁבִיל שֶׁיַּמְתִּין. קוֹשְׁרִים אֶת הַלֶּחִי, לֹא שֶׁיַּעֲלֶה, אֶלָּא שֶׁלֹּא יוֹסִיף. וְכֵן קוֹרָה שֶׁנִּשְׁבְּרָה, סוֹמְכִין אוֹתָהּ בְּסַפְסָל אוֹ בַּאֲרֻכּוֹת הַמִּטָּה, לֹא שֶׁתַּעֲלֶה, אֶלָּא שֶׁלֹּא תוֹסִיף. אֵין מְעַמְּצִין אֶת הַמֵּת בְּשַׁבָּת, וְלֹא בְחֹל עִם יְצִיאַת נֶפֶשׁ. וְהַמְעַמֵּץ עִם יְצִיאַת נֶפֶשׁ, הֲרֵי זֶה שׁוֹפֵךְ דָּמִים:
Todas las necesidades de alguien que ha muerto pueden ser atendidas (en Shabat). Puede ser ungido [con aceite] y enjuagado [con agua. Y sus aberturas superior e inferior se pueden detener con un paño u otra cosa, para que el viento no entre en él y se hinche.], Siempre y cuando él (el asistente) no agite una extremidad [es decir, que no se mueva y levante la mano, el pie o las pestañas, ya que está prohibido mover a una persona muerta o cualquiera de sus extremidades, aunque esté permitido tocarlo. Y así con todos los muktzeh—está permitido tocarlo y prohibido moverlo. Y está prohibido incluso tocar un huevo incubado en Shabat o en un festival, ya que, debido a su redondez, "su tacto es su movimiento".] El colchón se puede quitar de debajo de él para que descanse en la arena. y ser preservado [y no pudrirse rápidamente debido al calor de las sábanas y las esteras. Pero no puede ser movido para colocarlo sobre la arena, como se indicó anteriormente: "siempre y cuando no mueva una extremidad".] Su mandíbula puede estar cerrada [si se abriera]—no moverlo hacia arriba [es decir, no cerrar lo que ya se había abierto, ya que esto implicaría mover una extremidad], sino [para asegurar] que no se abra más. Del mismo modo, si una viga se hubiera roto, puede sostenerse con un banco o un poste de cama [cuyo estado es el de un artículo móvil].—no para elevarlo, [para eso sería deshonesto ("construcción")], sino [para asegurar] que no (se rompa) más. Los ojos de un hombre muerto no pueden cerrarse en Shabat, [incluso después de que haya expirado, esto constituye un movimiento de una extremidad], y (también pueden) no cerrarse en un día laborable. Y si uno cierra los ojos de un hombre mientras se está muriendo, es un derramador de sangre, [porque lo más mínimo puede acelerar su muerte].
Ruth Rabbah
“For a live dog is better than a dead lion” (Ecclesiastes 9:4) – in this world, one who is a dog can become [strong as] a lion, and one who is a lion can become a dog. However, in the future, one who is a lion cannot become a dog, and anyone who is a dog cannot become a lion. Hadrian, may his bones be crushed, asked Rabbi Yehoshua ben Ḥananya: He said to him: ‘I am better than Moses, your master.’ He said to him: ‘Why?’ ‘Because I am alive and he is dead, and it is written: “For a live dog is better than a dead lion.”’ He said to him: ‘Are you able to issue a decree that no man shall light a fire for three days?’ He said to him: ‘Yes.’ In the evening, both of them climbed to the wall of the palace and saw smoke rising at a distance. He said to him: ‘What is that?’ He said to him: ‘The governor is ill, and a doctor went in and visited him. He said to him: You will not be cured until you drink hot water.’ He said to him: ‘May his spirit be blasted.129He said this to Hadrian, using the third person out of deference to the emperor. While you are still alive, your edict is void. Moses our master, from the moment that he decreed upon us: “You shall not kindle fire in all your habitations on the day of Shabbat” (Exodus 35:3), no Jew has ever kindled fire on Shabbat, and his edict has not been voided even now. And you say: I am better than he is?’
“Lord, make my end known to me, and the measure of my days, what it is; [I would know how impermanent I am]” (Psalms 39:5) – David said before the Holy One blessed be He: ‘Master of the universe, make known to me when I will die.’ He said to him: ‘It is a secret that is not revealed to a person, and it is not possible for it to be revealed to you.’ “And the measure of my days, what it is” – He [God] said to him: ‘Seventy years.’ “I would know how impermanent I am” (Psalms 39:5) – make known to me on which day I will die. He said to him: ‘On Shabbat.’ He [David] said to Him: ‘Subtract one day for me.’ He said to him: ‘No.’ He said to Him: ‘Why?’ He said to him: ‘One prayer that you are destined to pray before Me is more precious to Me than a thousand burnt offerings that Solomon your son is destined to sacrifice before Me, as it is stated: “One thousand burnt offerings Solomon offered upon that altar”’ (I Kings 3:4). He said to Him: ‘Add one day for me.’ He said to him: ‘No.’ He said to Him: ‘Why?’ He said to him: ‘The dominion of your son is pressing, as Rabbi Shimon bar Abba said in the name of Rabbi Yoḥanan: There are many dominions, and one of them does not enter into the dominion of another even a hair’s breadth.’ He died on Shavuot that coincided with Shabbat. The Sanhedrin entered to pay their respects to Solomon. He said to them: ‘Can I move him [the body] from place to place?’ They said to him: ‘Is it not a mishna: One may rub with oil and wash [a corpse], provided that he does not move a limb?’130Mishna Shabbat 23:5.
He [Solomon] said: ‘The dogs of father’s house are hungry.’131He feared they would desecrate the corpse. They said to him: ‘Is it not a mishna: One may cut pumpkins before an animal and an animal carcass before dogs?’132Mishna Shabbat 24:4. What did he do? He took a curtain and spread it over him [David’s body], so the sun would not beat down on him. Some say that he summoned the eagles and they spread their wings over him, so the sun would not beat down on him.