Following the model of Abraham, family burial places seem to have been preferred. (2Sa 19:34-37) Gideon, Samson, and Asahel are each spoken of as being buried ‘in the burial place of his father.’ (Jg 8:32; 16:31; 2Sa 2:32) However, the frequent expression ‘to lie down, or be buried, with his forefathers’ does not necessarily imply a sharing of the same burial site, for this phrase is used concerning men who were clearly not buried in the same place as their forefathers. (Ge 15:15; De 31:16; 32:50; 1Ki 2:10; Ac 13:36) It must thus refer to their common entrance into Sheol (Hades), the common grave of mankind. Such common grave is called “the house of meeting for everyone living.”​—Job 30:23.

First Kings 2:10 tells us that David was buried in “the City of David,” and apparently this became the customary burial place of later kings of Judah. Twelve of the 20 kings following David are directly mentioned as being buried in the City of David, though not all of these were placed in “the burial places of the kings”​—Jehoram, Joash (Jehoash), and Ahaz being specifically mentioned as not buried there. (2Ch 21:16, 20; 24:24, 25; 28:27) Instead of being one common tomb of many chambers, “the burial places of the kings” may have constituted a particular area within the City of David where the memorial tombs of the kings were located. King Asa was buried in a “grand burial place that he had excavated for himself in the City of David” (2Ch 16:14), and Hezekiah is spoken of as being buried “in the ascent to the burial places of the sons of David.” (2Ch 32:33) Leprous King Uzziah was buried “with his forefathers, but in the burial field that belonged to the kings, for they said: ‘He is a leper.’” This would seem to indicate the placement of his diseased body in the ground rather than in a tomb hewed out of rock.​—2Ch 26:23.