In the Jewish culture it was believed that after four days the spirit of any person had left his body and that person is totally dead. This belief was rooted in various Rabbinic texts such as the Midrash Tanchuma and Leviticus Rabbah which suggested that; for the first three days, the soul lingers, hoping it might return to the body. And on the fourth day, the bodies facial features begin to change significantly due to decay and once the face is lost, the soul accepted that it could no longer inhabit the frame. This timeframe was so significant that traditionally a person could only be legally declared dead after three days had passed as it was thought however rarely that they might just be in deep coma.

John 11:44 The man who had died came forth, bound hand and foot with wrappings, and his face was wrapped around with a cloth. Jesus *said  ...