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.
See Verses Found in Dictionary
And they fulfilled for him forty days, for so, are they wont to fulfil the days of the embalmed, - and the Egyptians wept for him seventy days.
Then said Moses unto Aaron and to Eleazar and to Ithamar, his sons - Your heads, ye may not bare and your garments, ye shall not rend so shall ye not die, neither against all the assembly, will he be wroth, - but let, your brethren the whole house of Israel, bewail the consuming fire wherewith Yahweh hath consumed.
Ye shall not shave in a circle around your head, - nor shalt thou disfigure the fringe of thy beard. Cuttings for a dead person, shall ye not make in your flesh. And punctures in your persons, shall ye not print, - I, am Yahweh.
And Yahweh said unto Moses, Say unto the priests, the sons of Aaron, - yea thou shalt say unto them, For a dead person, shall no one make himself unclean among his people: Saving for his kin, that are near unto him, for his mother or for his father, or for his son or for his daughter, or for his brother; read more. or for his sister, a virgin who is near unto him, who belongeth not unto a husband, - for her, he may make himself unclean: He shall not make himself unclean being a chief among his people, - by profaning himself: They shall not make a baldness behind in their head, And the border of their beard, shall they not cut off, - And, in their flesh, shall they not make incisions.
They shall not make a baldness behind in their head, And the border of their beard, shall they not cut off, - And, in their flesh, shall they not make incisions. Holy persons, shall they be unto their God, and not profane the name of their God, - for, the altar-flames of Yahweh, the food of their God, do they bring near - Therefore shall they be holy. read more. A woman that is unchaste or dishonoured, shall they not take, And a woman divorced from her husband, shall they not take, - For holy, he is unto his God. Therefore shalt thou hold him as holy, for the food of thy God, doth he bring near, - Holy, shall he be to thee, For, holy, am I - Yahweh, who am making you holy. And, the daughter of any priest, when she profaneth herself by unchastity, Her father, she, doth profane, with fire, shall she be consumed. And, as for the high priest from among his brethren upon whose head is poured the anointing oil, and who is installed, by putting on the garments, His head, shall he not bare, And, his garments, shall he not rend; And, unto no persons b of the dead, shall he go in, - For his father or for his mother, shall he not make himself unclean;
Neither for his father nor for his mother nor for his brother nor for his sister, shall he make himself unclean-not even for them, should they die, - because, his separation unto God, is upon his head,
And all the assembly saw that Aaron was dead; and they bewailed Aaron thirty days, even all the house of Israel.
Sons, are ye unto Yahweh your God, - ye shall not cut yourselves, neither shall ye put baldness between your eyes for the dead.
And the sons of Israel bewailed Moses in the waste plains of Moab thirty day, - then were completed the wailing-days of the mourning for Moses.
Then Joshua rent his clothes and fell upon his face to the earth before the ark of Yahweh until the evening, he and the elders of Israel, - and they lifted up dust upon their heads.
And, when the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead heard concerning him, what the Philistines had done unto Saul, then arose all the men of valour, and journeyed all the night, and took the body of Saul, and the bodies of his sons, from the wall of Beth-shan, - and came to Jabesh, and burned them there; read more. and took their bones, and buried them under the tamarisk-tree in Jabesh, - and fasted seven days.
And David said unto Joab, and unto all the people who were with him, - Rend your clothes, and gird you with sackcloth, and lament aloud before Abner. And, King David himself, was following the bier.
And, when all the people came near to get David to eat bread, while yet it was day, David sware, saying - So, let God do to me, and, so, let him add, if, before the sun go in, I taste bread, or anything else.
David therefore earnestly sought God in behalf of the boy, - and David kept a fast, and used to go in and pass the night, and lie upon the ground.
And Tamar put ashes upon her head, and, the long tunic that was upon her, she rent, - and put her hand upon her head, and went her way, crying out as she went.
When I heard this thing, I rent my garment, and my robe, - and tore out of the hair of my head and my beard, and sat stunned.
When I heard this thing, I rent my garment, and my robe, - and tore out of the hair of my head and my beard, and sat stunned.
When, Mordecai, came to know all that had been done, Mordecai rent his garments, and put on sackcloth, and ashes, - and went forth into the midst of the city, and cried out with an outcry loud and bitter;
Now when the three friends of Job heard of all this misfortune which had befallen him, - they came, every man from his own place, Eliphaz the Temanite, and Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite, - for they had by appointment met together to come to shew sympathy with him, and to comfort him. And, when they lifted up their eyes afar off, and knew him not, they lifted up their voice, and wept - and rent, every one his robe, and sprinkled dust upon their heads, toward the heavens.
And, when they lifted up their eyes afar off, and knew him not, they lifted up their voice, and wept - and rent, every one his robe, and sprinkled dust upon their heads, toward the heavens. And they sat with him upon the ground, seven days and seven nights, - and none was speaking unto him a word, for they saw that, exceeding great, was the stinging pain.
But, as for me, when they were sick, my clothing was sackcloth, I humbled, with fasting, my soul, though, my prayer, unto mine own bosom, might return:
When I have made my clothing of sackcloth, Then have I served them for a by-word;
He hath gone up to Bayith and Dibon, to the high places, to weep, - On Nebo and on Medeba, Moab is howling, On all their heads, a baldness, Every beard, clipped. In their streets, have they girded them with sackcloth, - On their housetops, and in their broadways, every one is howling - melting in tears;
Thus, saith Yahweh of hosts, Consider ye diligently and call for the wailing women that they may come, - And unto the wise women, send ye, that they may come;
Thus, saith Yahweh of hosts, Consider ye diligently and call for the wailing women that they may come, - And unto the wise women, send ye, that they may come; Yea let them make haste, and lift up over us a wailing, - That our eyes, may run down, with tears, And, our eyelashes, stream down with water; -
So shall great and small die in this land, They shall not be buried, - Neither shall men lament for them Nor cut themselves, Nor make themselves bald for them; Neither shall they break bread to them in mourning To console one over his dead, - Nor cause them to drink the cup of consolation, Over ones father Or over ones mother;
For, every head, is baldness, And every beard, clipped: Upon all hands, are gashes, And upon the loins, sackcloth Upon all the housetops of Moab And in her broadways, it is all lamentation, - For I have broken Moab - Like a vessel wherein is no pleasure Declareth Yahweh.
They shall not pour out to Yahweh - wine, neither shall they be pleasing to him, their sacrifices, are as the food of mourning to them, all that eat thereof, shall defile themselves, because, their food for their appetite, entereth not into the house of Yahweh.
And rend your heart, and not your garments, turn therefore, unto Yahweh your God, - for, gracious and full of compassion, is he, slow to anger, and abundant in loving- kindness, and will grieve over calamity.
But I will pour out upon the house of David and upon the inhabitant of Jerusalem, the spirit of favour, and of supplications, and they will look unto me, whom they have pierced, - and will wail over him, as one waileth over an only son, and will make bitter outcry over him, as one maketh bitter outcry over a firstborn.
And, Jesus, coming, into the house of the ruler, and seeing the flute-players and the multitude in confusion, was saying:
and, many from among the Jews, had come unto Martha and Mary, that they might console them concerning their brother.
Jesus, saith, Take ye away the stone! Martha, the sister of the deceased, saith unto him - Lord! by this time, he stinketh, for it is, four days.
For this corruptible must needs clothe itself with incorruptibility, and this mortal, clothe itself, with immortality. But, whensoever, this mortal, shall clothe itself with immortality, then, shall be brought to pass the saying that is written - Death hath been swallowed up, victoriously; read more. Where, O death, is thy victory? Where, O death, is thy sting?
And one of the elders began, saying unto me - These who are arrayed in white robes, who are they? and whence came they? And I at once said to him - My lord! thou, knowest! And he said unto me - These, are they who come out of the great tribulation, and they washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb; read more. For this cause, are they before the throne of God, and are rendering divine service unto him, day and night, in his sanctuary; and he that sitteth upon the throne shall spread his tent over them; They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more, neither in any wise shall the sun fall upon them, nor any burning heat; Because, the Lamb that is in the midst of the throne, shall shepherd them, and shall lead them unto life's fountains of waters; and God shall wipe away every tear out of their eyes.
And I heard a voice out of heaven, saying - Write! Happy, the dead who, in the Lord, do die, from henceforth. Yea! (saith the Spirit) that they may rest from their toils, for, their works, do 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 went in to wail for Sarah and to weep for her.
And Jacob rent his garments, and put sackcloth upon his loins, - and mourned over his son many days. And all his sons and all his daughters rose up to console him but he refused to be consoled, and said - Surely I will go down unto my son mourning to hades! And his father wept for him.
And they fulfilled for him forty days, for so, are they wont to fulfil the days of the embalmed, - and the Egyptians wept for him seventy days. And, when the days of weeping for him were passed, Joseph spake unto the house of Pharaoh saying, - If I pray you, I have found favour in your eyes, speak ye I pray you in the ears of Pharaoh saying: read more. My father, made me swear saying, - Lo! I, am about to die, - in my grave which I digged for myself in the land of Canaan, there, shalt thou bury me. Now, therefore, let me go up, I pray thee and bury my father, and return. And Pharaoh said, - Go up., and bury thy father according as he made thee swear. So Joseph went up. to bury his father, - and there went up with him 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 brethren, and the house of his father, - only their little ones and their flocks and their herds, left they. in the land of Goshen. And there went up with him, both chariots and horsemen, - so it came to pass that, the company, was exceeding great, And they came in, as far as the threshing-floor of the Buckthorn, which is beyond the Jordan, then wailed they there - an exceeding great and grievous walling, - and he made for his father a mourning, of seven days.
And when the people heard these evil tidings, they afflicted themselves, - and they put not, any man, his ornaments upon him.
But as for the person who shall eat flesh from the peace-offering, which pertaineth unto Yahweh, while his uncleanness is on him, then shall that person be cut off from among his kinsfolk.
Then came there forth fire from before Yahweh, and consumed them, - and they died before Yahweh. Then said Moses unto Aaron - The very thing, that Yahweh spake, saying - In them that draw near to me, must I be hallowed, And before the faces of all the people, must I get myself honour, - And Aaron, was dumb. read more. Then called Moses unto Mishael, and unto Elzaphan, sons of Uzziel, uncle of Aaron, - and said unto them - Draw near bear away your brethren from before the sanctuary, unto the outside of the camp. So they drew near and bare them away, in their tunics, unto the outside of the camp, - as spake Moses. Then said Moses unto Aaron and to Eleazar and to Ithamar, his sons - Your heads, ye may not bare and your garments, ye shall not rend so shall ye not die, neither against all the assembly, will he be wroth, - but let, your brethren the whole house of Israel, bewail the consuming fire wherewith Yahweh hath consumed.
Now, as for the leper in whom is the plague, His clothes, shall be rent, And, his head, shall be bare, And, his beard, shall he cover, - And, Unclean! Unclean! shall he cry.
And Yahweh said unto Moses, Say unto the priests, the sons of Aaron, - yea thou shalt say unto them, For a dead person, shall no one make himself unclean among his people: Saving for his kin, that are near unto him, for his mother or for his father, or for his son or for his daughter, or for his brother; read more. or for his sister, a virgin who is near unto him, who belongeth not unto a husband, - for her, he may make himself unclean: He shall not make himself unclean being a chief among his people, - by profaning himself:
And, as for the high priest from among his brethren upon whose head is poured the anointing oil, and who is installed, by putting on the garments, His head, shall he not bare, And, his garments, shall he not rend; And, unto no persons b of the dead, shall he go in, - For his father or for his mother, shall he not make himself unclean;
Surely on the tenth of this seventh month, is, the Day of Propitiation, a holy convocation, shall it be to you, therefore shall ye humble your souls, - and bring near an altar-flame unto Yahweh.
Neither for his father nor for his mother nor for his brother nor for his sister, shall he make himself unclean-not even for them, should they die, - because, his separation unto God, is upon his head,
And all the assembly saw that Aaron was dead; and they bewailed Aaron thirty days, even all the house of Israel.
I have not eaten in my sorrow therefrom neither have I removed therefrom when unclean, neither have I given thereof unto the dead, - I have hearkened unto the voice of Yahweh my God, I have done according to all which thou hast commanded me.
And the sons of Israel bewailed Moses in the waste plains of Moab thirty day, - then were completed the wailing-days of the mourning for Moses.
So they gathered themselves unto Mizpah, and drew water, and poured it out before Yahweh, and fasted on that day, and said, there, We have sinned against Yahweh. And Samuel judged the sons of Israel in Mizpah.
and took their bones, and buried them under the tamarisk-tree in Jabesh, - and fasted seven days.
And, I myself, this day, am weak, though anointed king, but, these men, the sons of Zeruiah, are more severe than I: Yahweh repay, the doer of wickedness, according to his wickedness.
Now, David, was going up by the ascent of Olivet, weeping as he went up, with his head covered, himself, passing on barefoot, - and all the people who were with him, covered every man his head, and went up, weeping as they went.
Then Job arose, and rent his robe, and shaved his head, and fell to the earth and worshipped; and said - Naked came I forth from the womb of my mother, and naked must I return thither, Yahweh, gave, and, Yahweh, hath taken away, - The name of Yahweh be blessed!
And he took him a potsherd, to scrape himself therewith; he being seated in the midst of ashes.
If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, Let my right-hand forget: Let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth, if I do not remember thee! if I do not lift up Jerusalem above the head of mine own gladness.
Yea, at what is high, they be in fear, and there be, terrors, in the way, and the almond be rejected, and the grasshopper drag itself along, and desire perish, - for man is going to his age-abiding home, when the wailers shall go round in the streets;
He hath gone up to Bayith and Dibon, to the high places, to weep, - On Nebo and on Medeba, Moab is howling, On all their heads, a baldness, Every beard, clipped. In their streets, have they girded them with sackcloth, - On their housetops, and in their broadways, every one is howling - melting in tears;
At that time, spake Yahweh, through Isaiah son of Amoz, saying, Go, and loose the sackcloth from off thy loins, And thy sandal, draw thou off from thy foot, - And he did so, walking disrobed and barefoot.
Having swallowed up death itself victoriously, My Lord, Yahweh, will wipe away, tears from off all faces, - And the reproach of his own people, will he remove from off all the earth, For, Yahweh, hath spoken.
And the ransomed of Yahweh! shall return, And shall enter Zion with shouting, With gladness age-abiding, upon their head, Joy and gladness shall overtake them, And sorrow and sighing, shall flee away.
Look thou down, out of the heavens and see, Out of the high abode of thy holiness and of thy majesty, - Where are thy jealousy, and thy mighty deeds? The resounding of thy yearning affection, and thy compassions towards me, are they restrained? For, thou, art our father, Though, Abraham, knew us not, And Israel could not acknowledge us, - Thou, O Yahweh, art our father, Our Redeemer from the Age-past time, is thy name. read more. Wherefore shouldst thou suffer us to wander O Yahweh, from thy ways? Wherefore shouldst thou let us harden our heart past revering thee? Return thou for the sake of Thy servants, The tribes thou thyself hast inherited. For a short time only, did thy holy people hold possession, - Our adversaries, trod down thy sanctuary! We have become like those Over whom from age-past times, thou hast not ruled, Who have never been called by thy name!
Thus, saith Yahweh of hosts, Consider ye diligently and call for the wailing women that they may come, - And unto the wise women, send ye, that they may come;
So shall great and small die in this land, They shall not be buried, - Neither shall men lament for them Nor cut themselves, Nor make themselves bald for them; Neither shall they break bread to them in mourning To console one over his dead, - Nor cause them to drink the cup of consolation, Over ones father Or over ones mother; read more. And the house of banqueting, shall thou not enter To sit with them, To eat and to drink.
Make an outcry and howl son of man, For the same hath come against my people, the same is against all the princes of Israel,- Who are thrown to the sword with my people, Therefore smite thou upon thy thigh.
Son of Man Behold! taking away from thee the delight of thine eyes, with a stroke,- But thou shall not lament Neither shalt thou weep, Neither shall come - thy tears: To groan, forbear, Over the dead - no mourning, shalt thou make Thy chaplet, bind thou on thee And thy sandals:, put thou on thy feet, And thou shalt not cover thy beard, And the bread of other men, shalt thou not eat. read more. So I spake unto the people in the morning, and my wife died in the even, - and I did in the morning, as I had been commanded.
They shall not pour out to Yahweh - wine, neither shall they be pleasing to him, their sacrifices, are as the food of mourning to them, all that eat thereof, shall defile themselves, because, their food for their appetite, entereth not into the house of Yahweh.
Therefore, thus, saith Yahweh, God of hosts, My Lord, In all broadways, shall be lamentation, and, in all streets, shall they say, Alas! Alas! And they shall call the husbandman unto the mourning, and, unto the lamentation, them who know a wailing song;
And the people of Nineveh believed in God, - and proclaimed a fast, and clothed themselves in sackcloth, from the greatest of them, even unto the least of them.
But I will pour out upon the house of David and upon the inhabitant of Jerusalem, the spirit of favour, and of supplications, and they will look unto me, whom they have pierced, - and will wail over him, as one waileth over an only son, and will make bitter outcry over him, as one maketh bitter outcry over a firstborn. In that day, will the wailing, be great, in Jerusalem, as the wailing of Hadadrimmon, in the valley of Megiddon;
And Jesus said unto them, - Can, the sons of the bridechamber, mourn, so long as, the bridegroom, is, with them? But days will come, when the bridegroom, shall be taken from them, and, then, will they fast.
And, Jesus, coming, into the house of the ruler, and seeing the flute-players and the multitude in confusion, was saying:
And he said unto another - Be following me! But, he, said - Suffer me, first, to depart, and bury my father. And he said unto him - Leave, the dead, to bury their own dead; but, thou, departing, be declaring the kingdom of God.
And, when a considerable time had passed, and sailing was already dangerous, because, even the Fast, had already gone by, Paul began to advise,
Because, the Lamb that is in the midst of the throne, shall shepherd them, and shall lead them unto life's fountains of waters; and God shall wipe away every tear out of their eyes.
And he will wipe away every tear out of their eyes, - and, death, shall be no more, and grief and outcry and pain shall be no more: the first things, have passed away.
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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So Joab sent to Tekoa, and fetched from thence, a wise woman, - and said unto her - I pray thee, feign thyself a mourner, and put on, I pray thee, mourning apparel, and do not anoint thyself with oil, but be as a woman that hath, these many days, been mourning for the dead;
and they buried him in his own stately sepulchre, which he had hewn for himself in the city of David, and laid him on a couch which was full of sweet spices - yea of various kinds, made by the perfumer's art, - and they burned for him with an exceeding great burning.
Thus, saith Yahweh of hosts, Consider ye diligently and call for the wailing women that they may come, - And unto the wise women, send ye, that they may come; Yea let them make haste, and lift up over us a wailing, - That our eyes, may run down, with tears, And, our eyelashes, stream down with water; -
In peace, shalt thou die, And with the burnings made for thy fathers the former kings who were before thee, so, shall they make a burning unto thee, And, with an, Alas lord! shall they lament thee, - Because of the word, I, have spoken, Declareth Yahweh.
And rend your heart, and not your garments, turn therefore, unto Yahweh your God, - for, gracious and full of compassion, is he, slow to anger, and abundant in loving- kindness, and will grieve over calamity.
Therefore, thus, saith Yahweh, God of hosts, My Lord, In all broadways, shall be lamentation, and, in all streets, shall they say, Alas! Alas! And they shall call the husbandman unto the mourning, and, unto the lamentation, them who know a wailing song;
And, Jesus, coming, into the house of the ruler, and seeing the flute-players and the multitude in confusion, was saying:
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 went in to wail for Sarah and to weep for her. And Abraham rose up from over the face of his dead, - and spake unto the sons of Heth, saying;
And Reuben returned unto the pit, and lo Joseph was not in the pit, so he rent his clothes;
And Jacob rent his garments, and put sackcloth upon his loins, - and mourned over his son many days.
And Jacob rent his garments, and put sackcloth upon his loins, - and mourned over his son many days.
And they rent their mantles, - and laded each man his ass, and returned to the city.
And they fulfilled for him forty days, for so, are they wont to fulfil the days of the embalmed, - and the Egyptians wept for him seventy days.
And they fulfilled for him forty days, for so, are they wont to fulfil the days of the embalmed, - and the Egyptians wept for him seventy days.
And they came in, as far as the threshing-floor of the Buckthorn, which is beyond the Jordan, then wailed they there - an exceeding great and grievous walling, - and he made for his father a mourning, of seven days.
But as for the person who shall eat flesh from the peace-offering, which pertaineth unto Yahweh, while his uncleanness is on him, then shall that person be cut off from among his kinsfolk.
Then said Moses unto Aaron and to Eleazar and to Ithamar, his sons - Your heads, ye may not bare and your garments, ye shall not rend so shall ye not die, neither against all the assembly, will he be wroth, - but let, your brethren the whole house of Israel, bewail the consuming fire wherewith Yahweh hath consumed.
Now, as for the leper in whom is the plague, His clothes, shall be rent, And, his head, shall be bare, And, his beard, shall he cover, - And, Unclean! Unclean! shall he cry.
And all the assembly saw that Aaron was dead; and they bewailed Aaron thirty days, even all the house of Israel.
then shalt thou bring her into the midst of thy house, - and she shall shave her head and pare her nails; and put away the raiment of her captivity from off her, and shall remain in thy house, and bewail her father and her mother for the space of a month, - and after that, mayest thou go in unto her, and he her husband, and she shall be thy wife.
I have not eaten in my sorrow therefrom neither have I removed therefrom when unclean, neither have I given thereof unto the dead, - I have hearkened unto the voice of Yahweh my God, I have done according to all which thou hast commanded me.
From year to year, departed the daughters of Israel, to lament aloud for the daughter of Jephthah, the Gileadite, four days in the year.
Then went up all the sons of Israel, and all the people, and came to Bethel, and wept, and tarried there before Yahweh, and fasted on that day, until the evening, - and caused to go up ascending-sacrifices and peace-offerings, before Yahweh.
and took their bones, and buried them under the tamarisk-tree in Jabesh, - and fasted seven days.
And they lamented aloud, and wept, and fasted until the evening, - for Saul, and for Jonathan his son, and for the people of Yahweh, and for the house of Israel, because they had fallen by the sword.
And, when all the people came near to get David to eat bread, while yet it was day, David sware, saying - So, let God do to me, and, so, let him add, if, before the sun go in, I taste bread, or anything else.
David therefore earnestly sought God in behalf of the boy, - and David kept a fast, and used to go in and pass the night, and lie upon the ground.
And he said, - While yet the child lived, I fasted, and wept, - for I said - Who knoweth whether Yahweh may not grant me favour, and the child live?
And Tamar put ashes upon her head, and, the long tunic that was upon her, she rent, - and put her hand upon her head, and went her way, crying out as she went.
So Joab sent to Tekoa, and fetched from thence, a wise woman, - and said unto her - I pray thee, feign thyself a mourner, and put on, I pray thee, mourning apparel, and do not anoint thyself with oil, but be as a woman that hath, these many days, been mourning for the dead;
And it came to pass, when David reached the summit, where he bowed himself down unto God, that lo! there met him, Hushai the Archite, his tunic rent, and earth upon his head.
Then Job arose, and rent his robe, and shaved his head, and fell to the earth and worshipped;
Now when the three friends of Job heard of all this misfortune which had befallen him, - they came, every man from his own place, Eliphaz the Temanite, and Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite, - for they had by appointment met together to come to shew sympathy with him, and to comfort him. And, when they lifted up their eyes afar off, and knew him not, they lifted up their voice, and wept - and rent, every one his robe, and sprinkled dust upon their heads, toward the heavens.
Verily I wept, for him whose lot was hard, Grieved was my soul, for the needy.
Yea, at what is high, they be in fear, and there be, terrors, in the way, and the almond be rejected, and the grasshopper drag itself along, and desire perish, - for man is going to his age-abiding home, when the wailers shall go round in the streets;
At that time, spake Yahweh, through Isaiah son of Amoz, saying, Go, and loose the sackcloth from off thy loins, And thy sandal, draw thou off from thy foot, - And he did so, walking disrobed and barefoot.
Take millstones, and grind meal, - Put back thy veil - tuck up thy train Bare the leg, wade through streams:
For the grievous injury of the daughter of my people, I am grievously injured, - I am enshrouded in gloom, Horror, hath seized me: -
Thus, saith Yahweh of hosts, Consider ye diligently and call for the wailing women that they may come, - And unto the wise women, send ye, that they may come;
So shall great and small die in this land, They shall not be buried, - Neither shall men lament for them Nor cut themselves, Nor make themselves bald for them; Neither shall they break bread to them in mourning To console one over his dead, - Nor cause them to drink the cup of consolation, Over ones father Or over ones mother;
Neither shall they break bread to them in mourning To console one over his dead, - Nor cause them to drink the cup of consolation, Over ones father Or over ones mother; And the house of banqueting, shall thou not enter To sit with them, To eat and to drink. read more. For, Thus, saith Yahweh of hosts, God of Israel, Behold me! causing to cease out of this place, Before your eyes, And in your days, The voice of joy, and the voice of gladness, The voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, And it shall be when thou shalt declare to this people, all these words, - and they shall say unto thee - For what reason, hath Yahweh pronounced against us all this great calamity? Or what is our iniquity, or what our sin, which we have sinned against Yahweh our God? Then shalt thou say unto them, - For that your fathers forsook, me, Declareth Yahweh, And walked after other gods, and served them, and bowed down to them, - Whereas me, they forsook And my law, kept they not; And, ye, have done more wickedly than your fathers, - for look at you! walking every man after the stubbornness of his wicked heart, so as not to hearken unto me, Therefore will I hurl you forth, from off this land, unto a land which ye have not known, ye, nor your fathers, - and ye can serve there other gods day and night, in that I will grant you no favour. Therefore lo! days are coming, Declareth Yahweh, When it shall be said no more By the life of Yahweh, who brought up the sons of Israel out of the land of Egypt; but - By the life of Yahweh, who hath brought up the sons of Israel out of the land of the North, and out of all the lands whither he had driven them, - So will I bring them back upon their own soil, which I gave to their fathers. Behold me! sending for many fishers Declareth Yahweh, And they shall catch them, - and thereafter will I send for many hunters, and they shall hunt them from off every mountain and from off every hill, and out of the clefts of the crags. For mine own eyes are upon all their ways, they have not been hid from my face - neither hath their iniquity been concealed from being straight before mine eyes. Thus will I recompense, first, twofold, their iniquity and their sin, because of their profaning my land, - with the carcase of their disgusting and detestable things, have they filled mine inheritance. O Yahweh, my strength, and my refuge, and my place to fly to, in the day of distress, - Unto thee, shall nations come in, out of the ends of the earth, that they may say - Surely! Falsehood, did our fathers inherit, Vanity, among whom is none that can profit: Shall a son of earth, make for himself gods, Seeing that, they, are no-gods? Therefore behold me! causing them to know, by this stroke, I will cause them to know my hand and my might, - That they may know that my name, is Yahweh!
Therefore - Thus, saith Yahweh, Touching Jehoiakim son of Josiah King of Judah, They shall not cry in lament for him Alas my brother! or Alas sister! They shall not cry in lament for him Alas lord! or Alas! his renown!
Surely after my return, I was filled with regret, And after I came to know myself, I smote upon the thigh, - I turned pale and was even confounded For I had borne the reproach of my youthful days.
that men came in from Shechem, from Shiloh, and from Samaria, - eighty men, with beards shaven and clothes rent who also had cut themselves, with a meal-offering and frankincense in their hand, to bring them into the house of Yahweh.
Make an outcry and howl son of man, For the same hath come against my people, the same is against all the princes of Israel,- Who are thrown to the sword with my people, Therefore smite thou upon thy thigh.
Therefore, thus, saith Yahweh, God of hosts, My Lord, In all broadways, shall be lamentation, and, in all streets, shall they say, Alas! Alas! And they shall call the husbandman unto the mourning, and, unto the lamentation, them who know a wailing song;
And, Jesus, coming, into the house of the ruler, and seeing the flute-players and the multitude in confusion, was saying:
Watsons
MOURNING. See BURIAL and See DEAD.