Reference: Mourning
American
The Hebrews, at the death of their friends and relations, made striking demonstrations of grief and mourning. They wept, tore their clothes, smote their breasts, threw dust upon their heads, Jos 7:6, and lay upon the ground, went barefooted, pulled their hair and beards, or cut them, Ezr 9:3; Isa 15:2, and made incisions on their breasts, or tore them with their nails, Le 19:28; 21:5; Jer 16:6; 48:37. The time of mourning was commonly seven days, 1Sa 31:11-13; but it was lengthened or shortened according to circumstances, Zec 12:10. That for Moses and Aaron was prolonged to thirty days, Nu 20:29; De 34:8; and that for Jacob to seventy days, Ge 50:3.
During the time of their mourning, the near relations of the deceased continued sitting in their houses, and fasted, 2Sa 12:16, or ate on the ground. The food they took was thought unclean, and even themselves were judged impure. "Their sacrifices shall be unto them as the bread of mourners: all that eat thereof shall be polluted," Ho 9:4. Their faces were covered, and in all that time they could not apply themselves to any occupation, nor read the book of the law, nor offer their usual prayers. They did not dress themselves, nor make their beds, nor uncover their heads, nor shave themselves, nor cut their nails, nor go into the bath, nor salute any body. Nobody spoke to them unless they spoke first, Job 2:11-13. Their friends commonly went to visit and comfort them, Joh 11:19,39, bringing them food, 2Sa 3:35; Jer 16:7. They also went up to the roof, or upon the platform of their houses, to bewail their misfortune: "They shall gird themselves with sackcloth; on the tops of their houses, and in their streets, every one shall howl, weeping abundantly," Isa 15:3; Jer 48:38. The mourning dress among the Hebrews was not fixed either by law or custom. We only find in Scripture that they used to tear their garments, a custom still observed; but now they tear a small part merely, and for form's sake, 2Sa 13:19; 2Ch 34:27; Ezr 9:3; Job 2:12; Joe 2:13. Anciently in times of mourning, they clothed themselves in sackcloth, or haircloth, that is, in clothes of coarse brown or black stuff, 2Sa 3:31; 1Ki 21:27; Es 4:1; Ps 35:13; 69:11.
They hired women to weep and wail, and also persons to play on instruments, at the funerals of the rich or distinguished, Jer 9:17. In Mt 9:23, we observe a company of minstrels or players on the flute, at the funeral of a girl of twelve year of age. All that met a funeral procession were accustomed to join them for a time, to accompany them on their way, sometimes relieving the bearers of the bier, and mingling their tears with those of the mourners, Ro 12:15.
The custom of hiring women to weep and wail has come down to modern times. The following account of such a scene at Nablous, the ancient Shechem, is form Dr. Jowett. The governor of the city had died the very morning of Dr. Jowett's arrival. "On coming within sight of the gate, we perceived a numerous company of females, who were singing in a kind of recitative, far from melancholy, and beating time with their hands. If this be mourning, I thought, it is of a strange kind. It had indeed sometimes more the air of angry defiance. But on our reaching the gate, it was suddenly exchanged for most hideous plaints and shrieks, which, with the feeling that we were entering a city at no time celebrated for its hospitality, struck a very dismal impression upon my mind. They accompanied us a few paces; but it soon appeared that the gate was their station, to which having received nothing from us, they returned. We learned, in the course of the evening, that these were only a small detachment of a very numerous body of 'cunning women' with the design, as of old, to make the eyes of all the inhabitants 'run down with tears, and their eyelids gush out with water,' Jer 9:17-18. For this good service, they would, the next morning wait upon the government and principal persons, to receive some trifling fee."
Some of the Jewish forms of mourning are the appropriate and universal language of grief; others, to our modern and occidental taste, savor of extravagance. None of these were enjoined by their religion, which rather restricted than encouraged them, Le 10:6; 19:27; 21:1-11; Nu 6:7; De 14:1. They were the established customs of the times. Sorrow finds some relief in reversing all the usages of ordinary life. Christianity, however, moderates and assuages our grief; shows us a Father's hand holding the rod, and the dark valley itself penetrated by the heavenly light into which it emerges, 1Co 15:53-55; 1Th 4:14-18; Re 7:13-17; 14:13.
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And forty days were fulfilled for him, for so are fulfilled the days of embalming. And the Egyptians wept for him seventy days.
And Moses said to Aaron, and to Eleazar and to Ithamar, his sons, Let not the hair of your heads go loose, neither tear your clothes, that ye not die, and that he not be angry with all the congregation, but let your brothers, the w
Ye shall not round the corners of your heads, nor shall thou mar the corners of thy beard. Ye shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead, nor print any marks upon you. I am LORD.
And LORD said to Moses, Speak to the priests, the sons of Aaron, and say to them, There shall none defile himself for the dead among his people, except for his kin, who is near to him: for his mother, and for his father, and for his son, and for his daughter, and for his brother. read more. And for his sister a virgin, who is near to him, who has had no husband, for her he may defile himself. He shall not defile himself, [who is] a chief man among his people, to profane himself. They shall not make baldness upon their head, neither shall they shave off the corner of their beard, nor make any cuttings in their flesh.
They shall not make baldness upon their head, neither shall they shave off the corner of their beard, nor make any cuttings in their flesh. They shall be holy to their God, and not profane the name of their God. For they offer the offerings of LORD made by fire, the bread of their God. Therefore they shall be holy. read more. They shall not take a woman who is a harlot, or profane, neither shall they take a woman put away from her husband, for he is holy to his God. Thou shall sanctify him therefore, for he offers the bread of thy God. He shall be holy to thee, for I LORD, who sanctify you, am holy. And the daughter of any priest, if she profanes herself by playing the harlot, she profanes her father. She shall be burnt with fire. And he who is the high priest among his brothers, upon whose head the anointing oil is poured, and who is consecrated to put on the garments, shall not let the hair of his head go loose, nor tear his clothes, neither shall he go in to any dead body, nor defile himself for his father, or for his mother,
He shall not make himself unclean for his father, or for his mother, for his brother, or for his sister, when they die, because his separation to God is upon his head.
And when all the congregation saw that Aaron was dead, they wept for Aaron thirty days, even all the house of Israel.
Ye are the sons of LORD your God. Ye shall not cut yourselves, nor make any baldness between your eyes for the dead.
And the sons of Israel wept for Moses in the plains of Moab thirty days. So the days of weeping and mourning for Moses were ended.
And Joshua tore his clothes, and fell to the earth upon his face before the ark of LORD until the evening, he and the elders of Israel, and they put dust upon their heads.
And when the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead heard concerning him, that which the Philistines had done to Saul, all the valiant men arose, and went all night, and took the body of Saul and the bodies of his sons from the wall of Beth-shan, and they came to Jabesh, and burnt them there. read more. And they took their bones, and buried them under the tamarisk tree in Jabesh, and fasted seven days.
And David said to Joab, and to all the people who were with him, Rend your clothes, and gird you with sackcloth, and mourn before Abner. And king David followed the bier.
And all the people came to cause David to eat bread while it was yet day, but David swore, saying, God do so to me, and more also, if I taste bread, or anything else, till the sun is down.
David therefore besought God for the child. And David fasted, and went in, and lay all night upon the ground.
And Tamar put ashes on her head, and tore her garment of various colors that was on her. And she laid her hand on her head, and went her way, crying aloud as she went.
And when I heard this thing, I tore my garment and my robe, and plucked off the hair of my head and of my beard, and sat down confounded.
And when I heard this thing, I tore my garment and my robe, and plucked off the hair of my head and of my beard, and sat down confounded.
Now when Mordecai knew all that was done, Mordecai tore his clothes, and put on sackcloth with ashes, and went out into the midst of the city, and cried with a loud and a bitter cry.
Now when Job's three friends heard of all this evil that came upon him, they came each one from his own place--Eliphaz the Temanite, and Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite--and they made an appointment together to come t And when they lifted up their eyes afar off, and did not recognize him, they lifted up their voice, and wept. And each one tore his robe, and sprinkled dust upon their heads toward heaven.
And when they lifted up their eyes afar off, and did not recognize him, they lifted up their voice, and wept. And each one tore his robe, and sprinkled dust upon their heads toward heaven. So they sat down with him upon the ground seven days and seven nights. And none spoke a word to him, for they saw that his grief was very great.
But as for me, when they were sick my clothing was sackcloth. I afflicted my soul with fasting, and my prayer returned into my own bosom.
They have gone up to Bayith, and to Dibon, to the high places, to weep. Moab wails over Nebo, and over Medeba. On all their heads is baldness. Every beard is cut off. In their streets they gird themselves with sackcloth. On their housetops, and in their broad places, everyone wails, weeping abundantly.
Thus says LORD of hosts, Consider ye, and call for the mourning women, that they may come, and send for the skilful women, that they may come.
Thus says LORD of hosts, Consider ye, and call for the mourning women, that they may come, and send for the skilful women, that they may come. And let them make haste, and take up a wailing for us, that our eyes may run down with tears, and our eyelids gush out with waters.
Both great and small shall die in this land. They shall not be buried, nor shall men lament for them, nor cut themselves, nor make themselves bald for them, nor shall men break [bread] for them in mourning, to comfort them for the dead, nor shall men give them the cup of consolation to drink for their father or for their mother.
For every head is bald, and every beard clipped. Upon all the hands are cuttings, and upon the loins sackcloth. On all the housetops of Moab and in the streets thereof there is lamentation everywhere. For I have broken Moab like a vessel of which none delights, says LORD.
They shall not pour out wine-offerings to LORD, nor shall they be pleasing to him. Their sacrifices shall be to them as the bread of mourners. All who eat of it shall be polluted, for their bread shall be for their appetite. It sha
And rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn to LORD your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness, and relents of the evil.
And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplication. And they shall look to me whom they have pierced. And they shall mourn for him, as [a man] mourns for his only
And Jesus having come into the ruler's house, and having seen the minstrels, and the crowd making a commotion,
and many of the Jews had come to the women, about Martha and Mary, so that they might console them about their brother.
Jesus says, Take ye away the stone. Martha, the sister of the man who came to end, says to him, Lord, he smells now, for is the fourth day.
For this perishable must put on imperishability, and this mortal put on immortality. But when this perishable will have put on imperishability, and this mortal will have put on immortality, then will come to pass the saying that is written, Death was swallowed up in victory. read more. O death, where is thy sting? O Hades, where is thy victory?
And one of the elders answered, saying to me, Who are these who are clothed in white robes, and where did they come from? And I said to him, My lord, thou know. And he said to me, These are those coming out of the great tribulation, and they washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. read more. Because of this they are before the throne of God, and they serve him day and night in his temple. And he who sits on the throne will dwell among them. They will hunger no more, nor will they thirst any more. The sun will, no, not fall upon them, nor any heat. Because the Lamb in the midst of the throne will tend them, and will lead them to fountains of waters of life. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.
And I heard a voice from heaven saying to me, Write, Blessed are the dead who die in Lord from henceforth. Yea, says the Spirit, so that they may rest from their toils, and their works follow with them.
Fausets
Noisy, violent, and demonstrative in the East as it is among the Irish, Highlanders, and Welsh; beating the breast or the thigh (Eze 21:12), cutting the flesh (Jer 16:6), weeping with a loud cry, wearing dark colored garments, hiring women as professional mourners (Ec 12:5; Mt 9:23; Am 5:16),"skillful in lamentation" (Jer 9:17), singing elegies, having funeral feasts and the cup of consolation (Jer 16:7-8). It was an occasion of studied publicity and ceremonial; so Abraham for Sarah (Ge 23:2), Jacob for Joseph (Ge 37:34-35), Joseph and the Egyptians for Jacob 70 days and a further period of seven (Ge 50:3-10), Israel for Aaron 80 days (Nu 20:29), and for Moses (De 34:8). Jabesh Gileadites for Saul fasted seven days (1Sa 31:13); David for Abner with fasting, rent clothes, and sackcloth, and with an elegy (2Sa 3:39).
Job for his calamities, with rent mantle, shaven head, sitting in ashes; so the three friends with dust upon their heads, etc., seven days and nights (Job 1:20-21; 2:8). In the open streets and upon the housetops (Isa 15:2-3); stripping off ornaments (Ex 33:4); stripping the foot and some other part of the body (Isa 20:2). Penitent mourning was often expressed by fasting, so that the words are interchanged as synonymous (Mt 9:15), and the day of atonement, when they "afflicted their souls," is called "the fast" (Ac 27:9; Le 23:27; Israel, 1Sa 7:6; Nineveh, Jon 3:5; the Jews when hereafter turning to Messiah, Zec 12:10-11). Exclusion from share in the sacrificial peace offerings (Le 7:20), Covering the upper lip and the head, in token of silence: Le 13:45, the leper; 2Sa 15:30, David. The high priest and Nazarites were not to go into mourning for even father or mother or children (Le 21:10-11; Nu 6:7).
So Aaron in the case of Nadab and Abihu (Le 10:2-6); Ezekiel for his wife (Eze 24:16-18); "the bread of men" is that usually brought to mourners by friends in sympathy. The lower priests only for nearest relatives (Le 21:1-4). Antitypically, the gospel work is to take precedence of all ties (Lu 9:59-60): "let me first go and bury my father" means, let me wait at home until he die and, I bury him. The food eaten in mourning was considered impure (De 26:14; Ho 9:4). The Jews still wail weekly, each Friday, at Jerusalem, in a spot below the temple wall, where its two courses of masonry (with blocks 30 ft. long) meet. (See JERUSALEM.) On the open flagged place, which they sweep with care as holy ground, taking off their shoes, they bewail the desolation of their holy places (Ps 102:14; 137:5-6; Isa 63:15-19). Mourning shall cease forever to God's people when Christ shall return (Re 7:17; 21:4; Isa 25:8; 35:10).
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And Sarah died in Kiriath-arba (the same is Hebron), in the land of Canaan. And Abraham came to mourn for Sarah, and to weep for her.
And Jacob rent his garments, and put sackcloth upon his loins, and mourned for his son many days. And all his sons and all his daughters rose up to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted, and he said, For I will go down to Sheol to my son mourning. And his father wept for him.
And forty days were fulfilled for him, for so are fulfilled the days of embalming. And the Egyptians wept for him seventy days. And when the days of weeping for him were past, Joseph spoke to the house of Pharaoh, saying, If now I have found favor in your eyes, speak, I pray you, in the ears of Pharaoh, saying, read more. My father made me swear, saying, Lo, I die. In my grave which I have dug for me in the land of Canaan, there shall thou bury me. Now therefore let me go up, I pray thee, and bury my father, and I will come again. And Pharaoh said, Go up, and bury thy father, according as he made thee swear. And Joseph went up to bury his father, and with him went up all the servants of Pharaoh, the elders of his house, and all the elders of the land of Egypt, and all the house of Joseph, and his brothers, and his father's house. Only their little ones, and their flocks, and their herds, they left in the land of Goshen. And there went up with him both chariots and horsemen. And it was a very great company. And they came to the threshing floor of Atad, which is beyond the Jordan. And there they lamented with a very great and sore lamentation. And he made a mourning for his father seven days.
And when the people heard these evil tidings, they mourned, and no man put his ornaments on him.
but the soul that eats of the flesh of the sacrifice of peace-offerings, that pertain to LORD, having his uncleanness upon him, that soul shall be cut off from his people.
And there came forth fire from before LORD, and devoured them, and they died before LORD. Then Moses said to Aaron, This is it that LORD spoke, saying, I will be sanctified in those who come near me. And I will be glorified before all the people. And Aaron remained silent. read more. And Moses called Mishael and Elzaphan, the sons of Uzziel the uncle of Aaron, and said to them, Draw near. Carry your brothers from before the sanctuary out of the camp. So they drew near, and carried them in their coats out of the camp, as Moses had said. And Moses said to Aaron, and to Eleazar and to Ithamar, his sons, Let not the hair of your heads go loose, neither tear your clothes, that ye not die, and that he not be angry with all the congregation, but let your brothers, the w
And the man with a leprous disease in whom the disease is, his clothes shall be torn, and the hair of his head shall go loose, and he shall cover his upper lip, and shall cry, Unclean, unclean.
And LORD said to Moses, Speak to the priests, the sons of Aaron, and say to them, There shall none defile himself for the dead among his people, except for his kin, who is near to him: for his mother, and for his father, and for his son, and for his daughter, and for his brother. read more. And for his sister a virgin, who is near to him, who has had no husband, for her he may defile himself. He shall not defile himself, [who is] a chief man among his people, to profane himself.
And he who is the high priest among his brothers, upon whose head the anointing oil is poured, and who is consecrated to put on the garments, shall not let the hair of his head go loose, nor tear his clothes, neither shall he go in to any dead body, nor defile himself for his father, or for his mother,
However on the tenth day of this seventh month is the day of atonement. It shall be a holy convocation to you, and ye shall afflict your souls, and ye shall offer an offering made by fire to LORD.
He shall not make himself unclean for his father, or for his mother, for his brother, or for his sister, when they die, because his separation to God is upon his head.
And when all the congregation saw that Aaron was dead, they wept for Aaron thirty days, even all the house of Israel.
I have not eaten of it in my mourning, neither have I put away from it, being unclean, nor given of it for the dead. I have hearkened to the voice of LORD my God. I have done according to all that thou have commanded me.
And the sons of Israel wept for Moses in the plains of Moab thirty days. So the days of weeping and mourning for Moses were ended.
And they gathered together to Mizpah, and drew water, and poured it out before LORD, and fasted on that day, and said there, We have sinned against LORD. And Samuel judged the sons of Israel in Mizpah.
And they took their bones, and buried them under the tamarisk tree in Jabesh, and fasted seven days.
And I am this day weak, though anointed king, and these men the sons of Zeruiah are too hard for me. LORD reward the evil-doer according to his wickedness.
And David went up by the ascent of the [mount of] Olives, and wept as he went up, and he had his head covered, and went barefoot. And all the people who were with him covered every man his head, and they went up, weeping as they we
Then Job arose, and tore his robe, and shaved his head, and fell down upon the ground, and worshipped. And he said, Naked I came out of my mother's womb, and naked I shall return there. LORD gave, and LORD has taken away, blessed be the name of LORD.
And he took a potsherd for him to scrape himself with it, and he sat among the ashes.
If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget. Let my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth, if I do not remember thee, if I do not prefer Jerusalem above my chief joy.
yea, they shall be afraid of height, and terrors [shall be] in the way, and the almond tree shall blossom, and the grasshopper shall be a burden, and desire shall fail, because man goes to his everlasting home, and the mourners go
They have gone up to Bayith, and to Dibon, to the high places, to weep. Moab wails over Nebo, and over Medeba. On all their heads is baldness. Every beard is cut off. In their streets they gird themselves with sackcloth. On their housetops, and in their broad places, everyone wails, weeping abundantly.
at that time LORD spoke by Isaiah the son of Amoz, saying, Go, and loose the sackcloth from off thy loins, and put thy shoe from off thy foot. And he did so, walking naked and barefoot.
He will swallowed up death in victory, and lord LORD will wipe away tears from off all faces. And he will take away the reproach of his people from off all the earth. For LORD has spoken it.
And the ransomed of LORD shall return, and come with singing to Zion. And everlasting joy shall be upon their heads. They shall obtain gladness and joy. And sorrow and sighing shall flee away.
Look down from heaven, and behold from the habitation of thy holiness and of thy glory. Where are thy zeal and thy mighty acts? The yearning of thy heart and thy compassions are restrained toward me. For thou are our Father, though Abraham knows us not, and Israel does not acknowledge us, thou, O LORD, are our Father, our Redeemer, from everlasting is thy name. read more. O LORD, why do thou make us to err from thy ways, and harden our heart from thy fear? Return for thy servants' sake, the tribes of thine inheritance. Thy holy people possessed [it] but a little while. Our adversaries have trodden down thy sanctuary. We have become as those over whom thou never bore rule, as those who were not called by thy name.
Thus says LORD of hosts, Consider ye, and call for the mourning women, that they may come, and send for the skilful women, that they may come.
Both great and small shall die in this land. They shall not be buried, nor shall men lament for them, nor cut themselves, nor make themselves bald for them, nor shall men break [bread] for them in mourning, to comfort them for the dead, nor shall men give them the cup of consolation to drink for their father or for their mother. read more. And thou shall not go into the house of feasting to sit with them, to eat and to drink.
Cry and wail, son of man, for it is upon my people. It is upon all the rulers of Israel. They are delivered over to the sword with my people. Smite therefore upon thy thigh.
Son of man, behold, I take the desire of thine eyes away from thee with a stroke. Yet thou shall neither mourn nor weep. Neither shall thy tears run down. Sigh, but not aloud. Make no mourning for the dead. Bind thy headdress upon thee, and put thy shoes upon thy feet. And do not cover thy lips, and do not eat the bread of men. read more. So I spoke to the people in the morning, and at evening my wife died. And I did in the morning as I was commanded.
They shall not pour out wine-offerings to LORD, nor shall they be pleasing to him. Their sacrifices shall be to them as the bread of mourners. All who eat of it shall be polluted, for their bread shall be for their appetite. It sha
Therefore thus says LORD, the God of hosts, LORD: Wailing shall be in all the broad ways. And they shall say in all the streets, Alas! Alas! And they shall call the husbandman to mourning, and such as are skilful in lamentation to
And the people of Nineveh believed God, and they proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them even to the least of them.
And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplication. And they shall look to me whom they have pierced. And they shall mourn for him, as [a man] mourns for his only In that day there shall be a great mourning in Jerusalem, as the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddon.
And Jesus said to them, The sons of the wedding hall cannot mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them. But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast.
And Jesus having come into the ruler's house, and having seen the minstrels, and the crowd making a commotion,
And he said to another, Follow me. But he said, Lord, allow me first, after departing, to bury my father. But Jesus said to him, Leave the dead to bury their own dead, but thou, after departing, proclaim the kingdom of God.
And considerable time having past, and the voyage now being dangerous, also because the Fast was now past, Paul urged,
Because the Lamb in the midst of the throne will tend them, and will lead them to fountains of waters of life. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.
And he will wipe away every tear from their eyes. And there will not be any more death, nor grief, nor crying, nor will there be any more anguish, because the former things are gone.
Morish
It was the habit of the Hebrews, as it still is in the East, to make a great demonstration of their mourning. They would beat their breasts, cover their heads, fast, put dust and ashes on their heads, neglect their hair, wear dull-coloured garments, rend their clothes, wear sackcloth, etc. For Asa and Zedekiah there was 'great burning' of odours at their death, which was most probably copied from the heathen. 2Ch 16:14; Jer 34:5. At a death professional mourners were hired, mostly women. "Call for the mourning women . . . . let them make haste, and take up a wailing for us, that our eyes may run down with tears, and our eyelids gush out with waters." Jer 9:17-18; cf. 2Sa 14:2; Am 5:16. Musicians also attended at deaths, who played mournful strains. Mt 9:23. God does not desire those who are bereaved to be without feeling: the Lord wept at the grave of Lazarus, but He would have reality in all things. He had to say to His people, "Rend your heart, and not your garments." Joe 2:13.
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And Joab sent to Tekoa, and fetched from there a wise woman, and said to her, I pray thee, feign thyself to be a mourner, and put on mourning apparel, I pray thee, and do not anoint thyself with oil, but be as a woman who has a lon
And they buried him in his own sepulchers, which he had hewn out for himself in the city of David, and laid him in the bed which was filled with sweet odors and various kinds [of spices] prepared by the perfumers' art. And they mad
Thus says LORD of hosts, Consider ye, and call for the mourning women, that they may come, and send for the skilful women, that they may come. And let them make haste, and take up a wailing for us, that our eyes may run down with tears, and our eyelids gush out with waters.
thou shall die in peace. And with the burnings of thy fathers, the former kings who were before thee, so shall they make a burning for thee. And they shall lament thee, [saying], Ah lord! For I have spoken the word, says LORD.
And rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn to LORD your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness, and relents of the evil.
Therefore thus says LORD, the God of hosts, LORD: Wailing shall be in all the broad ways. And they shall say in all the streets, Alas! Alas! And they shall call the husbandman to mourning, and such as are skilful in lamentation to
And Jesus having come into the ruler's house, and having seen the minstrels, and the crowd making a commotion,
Smith
Mourning.
One marked feature of Oriental mourning is what may be called its studies publicity and the careful observance of the prescribed ceremonies.
1. Among the particular forms observed the following may be mentioned: (a) Rending the clothes.
etc. (b) Dressing in sackcloth.
etc. (c) Ashes, dust or earth sprinkled on the person.
etc. (d) Black or sad-colored garments.
etc. (e) Removal of ornaments or neglect of person.
De 21:12-13
etc. (f) Shaving the head, plucking out the hair of the head or beard.
etc. (g) Laying bare some part of the body.
etc. (h) Fasting or abstinence in meat and drink.
etc. (i) In the same direction may be mentioned diminution in offerings to God, and prohibition to partake of sacrificial food.
Le 7:20; De 26:14
(k) Covering the "upper lip," i.e. the lower part of the face, and sometimes the head, in token of silence.
(l) Cutting the flesh,
beating the body.
(m) Employment of persons hired for the purpose of mourning.
Ec 12:5; Jer 9:17; Am 5:16; Mt 9:23
(n) Akin to the foregoing usage the custom for friends or passers-by to join in the lamentations of bereaved or afflicted persons.
Ge 50:3; Jg 11:40; Job 2:11; 30:25
etc. (o) The sitting or lying posture in silence indicative of grief.
etc. (p) Mourning feast and cup of consolation.
2. The period of mourning varied. In the case of Jacob it was seventy days,
of Aaron,
and Moses, Deut 34:8 thirty. A further period of seven days in Jacob's case.
Seven days for Saul, which may have been an abridged period in the time of national danger.
With the practices above mentioned, Oriental and other customs, ancient and modern, in great measure agree. Arab men are silent in grief, but the women scream, tear their hair, hands and face, and throw earth or sand on their heads. Both Mohammedans and Christians in Egypt hire wailing-women, and wail at stated times. Burckhardt says the women of Atbara in Nubia shave their heads on the death of their nearest relatives --a custom prevalent also among several of the peasant tribes of upper Egypt. He also mentions wailing-women, and a man in distress besmearing his face with dirt and dust in token of grief. In the "Arabian Nights" are frequent allusions to similar practices. It also mentions ten days and forty days as periods of mourning. Lane, speaking of the modern Egyptians, says, "After death the women of the family raise cries of lamentation called welweleh or wilwal, uttering the most piercing shrieks, and calling upon the name of the deceased, 'Oh, my master! Oh, my resource! Oh, my misfortune! Oh, my glory!" See
The females of the neighborhood come to join with them in this conclamation: generally, also, the family send for two or more neddabehs or public wailing-women. Each brings a tambourine, and beating them they exclaim, 'Alas for him!' The female relatives, domestics and friends, with their hair dishevelled and sometimes with rent clothes, beating their faces, cry in like manner, 'Alas for him!' These make no alteration in dress, but women, in some cases, dye their shirts, head-veils and handkerchiefs of a dark-blue color. They visit the tombs at stated periods." --Mod. Eg. iii. 152,171,195.
See Verses Found in Dictionary
And Sarah died in Kiriath-arba (the same is Hebron), in the land of Canaan. And Abraham came to mourn for Sarah, and to weep for her. And Abraham rose up from before his dead, and spoke to the sons of Heth, saying,
And Reuben returned to the pit, and, behold, Joseph was not in the pit. And he rent his clothes,
And Jacob rent his garments, and put sackcloth upon his loins, and mourned for his son many days.
And Jacob rent his garments, and put sackcloth upon his loins, and mourned for his son many days.
Then they tore their clothes, and every man loaded his donkey, and returned to the city.
And forty days were fulfilled for him, for so are fulfilled the days of embalming. And the Egyptians wept for him seventy days.
And forty days were fulfilled for him, for so are fulfilled the days of embalming. And the Egyptians wept for him seventy days.
And they came to the threshing floor of Atad, which is beyond the Jordan. And there they lamented with a very great and sore lamentation. And he made a mourning for his father seven days.
but the soul that eats of the flesh of the sacrifice of peace-offerings, that pertain to LORD, having his uncleanness upon him, that soul shall be cut off from his people.
And Moses said to Aaron, and to Eleazar and to Ithamar, his sons, Let not the hair of your heads go loose, neither tear your clothes, that ye not die, and that he not be angry with all the congregation, but let your brothers, the w
And the man with a leprous disease in whom the disease is, his clothes shall be torn, and the hair of his head shall go loose, and he shall cover his upper lip, and shall cry, Unclean, unclean.
And when all the congregation saw that Aaron was dead, they wept for Aaron thirty days, even all the house of Israel.
then thou shall bring her home to thy house. And she shall shave her head, and pare her nails, and she shall put the raiment of her captivity from off her, and shall remain in thy house, and bewail her father and her mother a full month. And after that thou shall go in to her, and be her husband, and she shall be thy wife.
I have not eaten of it in my mourning, neither have I put away from it, being unclean, nor given of it for the dead. I have hearkened to the voice of LORD my God. I have done according to all that thou have commanded me.
that the daughters of Israel went yearly to celebrate the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite four days in a year.
Then all the sons of Israel, and all the people, went up, and came to Bethel, and wept, and sat there before LORD, and fasted that day until evening, and they offered burnt-offerings and peace-offerings before LORD.
And they took their bones, and buried them under the tamarisk tree in Jabesh, and fasted seven days.
And they mourned, and wept, and fasted until evening, for Saul, and for Jonathan his son, and for the people of LORD, and for the house of Israel, because they were fallen by the sword.
And all the people came to cause David to eat bread while it was yet day, but David swore, saying, God do so to me, and more also, if I taste bread, or anything else, till the sun is down.
David therefore besought God for the child. And David fasted, and went in, and lay all night upon the ground.
And he said, While the child was yet alive, I fasted and wept. For I said, Who knows whether LORD will not be gracious to me, that the child may live?
And Tamar put ashes on her head, and tore her garment of various colors that was on her. And she laid her hand on her head, and went her way, crying aloud as she went.
And Joab sent to Tekoa, and fetched from there a wise woman, and said to her, I pray thee, feign thyself to be a mourner, and put on mourning apparel, I pray thee, and do not anoint thyself with oil, but be as a woman who has a lon
And it came to pass, that, when David came to the top [of the ascent], where God was worshipped, behold, Hushai the Archite came to meet him with his coat torn, and dirt upon his head.
Then Job arose, and tore his robe, and shaved his head, and fell down upon the ground, and worshipped.
Now when Job's three friends heard of all this evil that came upon him, they came each one from his own place--Eliphaz the Temanite, and Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite--and they made an appointment together to come t And when they lifted up their eyes afar off, and did not recognize him, they lifted up their voice, and wept. And each one tore his robe, and sprinkled dust upon their heads toward heaven.
Did I not weep for him who was in trouble? Was not my soul grieved for the needy?
yea, they shall be afraid of height, and terrors [shall be] in the way, and the almond tree shall blossom, and the grasshopper shall be a burden, and desire shall fail, because man goes to his everlasting home, and the mourners go
at that time LORD spoke by Isaiah the son of Amoz, saying, Go, and loose the sackcloth from off thy loins, and put thy shoe from off thy foot. And he did so, walking naked and barefoot.
Take the millstones, and grind meal. Remove thy veil, strip off the train, uncover the leg, pass through the rivers.
For the hurt of the daughter of my people I am hurt. I mourn. Dismay has taken hold on me.
Thus says LORD of hosts, Consider ye, and call for the mourning women, that they may come, and send for the skilful women, that they may come.
Both great and small shall die in this land. They shall not be buried, nor shall men lament for them, nor cut themselves, nor make themselves bald for them, nor shall men break [bread] for them in mourning, to comfort them for the dead, nor shall men give them the cup of consolation to drink for their father or for their mother.
nor shall men break [bread] for them in mourning, to comfort them for the dead, nor shall men give them the cup of consolation to drink for their father or for their mother. And thou shall not go into the house of feasting to sit with them, to eat and to drink. read more. For thus says LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I will cause to cease out of this place, before your eyes and in your days, the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the brid And it shall come to pass, when thou shall show this people all these words, and they shall say to thee, Why has LORD pronounced all this great evil against us? Or what is our iniquity? Or what is our sin that we have committed aga Then thou shall say to them, Because your fathers have forsaken me, says LORD, and have walked after other gods, and have served them, and have worshipped them, and have forsaken me, and have not kept my law. And ye have done evil more than your fathers, for, behold, ye walk each one after the stubbornness of his evil heart, so that ye hearken not to me. Therefore I will cast you forth out of this land into the land that ye have not known, neither ye nor your fathers, and there ye shall serve other gods day and night, for I will show you no favor. Therefore, behold, the days come, says LORD, that it shall no more be said, As LORD lives who brought up the sons of Israel out of the land of Egypt, but, As LORD lives who brought up the sons of Israel from the land of the north, and from all the countries where he had driven them. And I will bring them again into their land that I gave to their fathers. Behold, I will send for many fishermen, says LORD, and they shall fish them up. And afterward I will send for many hunters, and they shall hunt them from every mountain, and from every hill, and out of the clefts of the rocks. For my eyes are upon all their ways. They are not hid from my face, nor is their iniquity concealed from my eyes. And first I will recompense their iniquity and their sin double, because they have polluted my land with the carcasses of their detestable things, and have filled my inheritance with their abominations. O LORD, my strength, and my stronghold, and my refuge in the day of affliction, to thee the nations shall come from the ends of the earth, and shall say, Our fathers have inherited nothing but lies, [even] vanity and things in whic Shall a man make to himself gods, which yet are no gods? Therefore, behold, I will cause them to know, this once I will cause them to know my hand and my might, and they shall know that my name is LORD.
Therefore thus says LORD concerning Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah. They shall not lament for him, [saying], Ah my brother! or, Ah sister! They shall not lament for him, [saying] Ah lord! or, Ah his glory!
Surely after that I was turned back. I repented, and after I was instructed, I smote upon my thigh. I was ashamed, yea, even confounded, because I bore the reproach of my youth.
that men came from Shechem, from Shiloh, and from Samaria, even eighty men, having their beards shaven and their clothes torn, and having cut themselves, with meal-offerings and frankincense in their hand, to bring them to the hous
Cry and wail, son of man, for it is upon my people. It is upon all the rulers of Israel. They are delivered over to the sword with my people. Smite therefore upon thy thigh.
Therefore thus says LORD, the God of hosts, LORD: Wailing shall be in all the broad ways. And they shall say in all the streets, Alas! Alas! And they shall call the husbandman to mourning, and such as are skilful in lamentation to
And Jesus having come into the ruler's house, and having seen the minstrels, and the crowd making a commotion,
Watsons
MOURNING. See BURIAL and See DEAD.