The ancients believed that the soul could leave the body in various ways, as in coma. [1]
The Jews were in the habit of burying their dead on the day of their demise; this was a necessary practice in such a warm climate. It often happened that they put in the tomb one who was merely comatose, so that on the second or even the third day, such a one would come forth from the tomb. [2] The daughter of Jairus of Capernaum, who was believed to have resurrected Jesus, was actually in a coma after a prolonged fever. [3] The son of the widow of Nain was another case of supposed healing of Jesus in which the child was not really dead, but in a coma. [4]