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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They took 40 days to complete this, for embalming takes that long, and the Egyptians mourned for him 70 days.
Then Moses said to Aaron and his sons Eleazar and Ithamar, "Do not let your hair hang loose and do not tear your garments, or else you will die, and the Lord will become angry with the whole community. However, your brothers, the whole house of Israel, may mourn over that tragedy when the Lord sent the fire.
You are not to cut off the hair at the sides of your head or mar the edge of your beard. You are not to make gashes on your bodies for the dead or put tattoo marks on yourselves; I am the Lord.
The Lord said to Moses: "Speak to Aaron's sons, the priests, and tell them: A priest is not to make himself ceremonially unclean for a [dead] person among his relatives, except for his immediate family: his mother, father, son, daughter, or brother. read more. He may make himself unclean for his young unmarried sister in his immediate family. He is not to make himself unclean for those related to him by marriage and so defile himself. "Priests may not make bald spots on their heads, shave the edge of their beards, or make gashes on their bodies.
"Priests may not make bald spots on their heads, shave the edge of their beards, or make gashes on their bodies. They are to be holy to their God and not profane the name of their God, because they present the fire offerings to the Lord, the food of their God. They must be holy. read more. They are not to marry a woman defiled by prostitution or divorced by her husband, for the priest is holy to his God. You are to consider him holy since he presents the food of your God. He will be holy to you because I, the Lord who sets you apart, am holy. If a priest's daughter defiles herself by promiscuity, she defiles her father; she must be burned up. "The priest who is highest among his brothers, who has had the anointing oil poured on his head and has been ordained to wear the garments, must not dishevel his hair or tear his garments. He must not go near any dead person or make himself unclean [even] for his father or mother.
He is not to defile himself for his father or mother, or his brother or sister, when they die, because the hair consecrated to his God is on his head.
When the whole community saw that Aaron had passed away, the entire house of Israel mourned for him 30 days.
"You are sons of the Lord your God; do not cut yourselves or make a bald spot on your head on behalf of the dead,
The Israelites wept for Moses in the plains of Moab 30 days. Then the days of weeping and mourning for Moses came to an end.
Then Joshua tore his clothes and fell before the ark of the Lord with his face to the ground until evening, as did the elders of Israel; they all put dust on their heads.
When the residents of Jabesh-gilead heard what the Philistines had done to Saul, all their brave men set out, journeyed all night, and retrieved the body of Saul and the bodies of his sons from the wall of Beth-shan. When they arrived at Jabesh, they burned the bodies there. read more. Afterwards, they took their bones and buried them under the tamarisk tree in Jabesh and fasted seven days.
David then ordered Joab and all the people who were with him, "Tear your clothes, put on sackcloth, and mourn over Abner." And King David walked behind the funeral procession.
Then they came to urge David to eat bread while it was still day, but David took an oath: "May God punish me and do so severely if I taste bread or anything else before sunset!"
David pleaded with God for the boy. He fasted, went [home], and spent the night lying on the ground.
Tamar put ashes on her head and tore the long-sleeved garment she was wearing. She put her hand on her head and went away weeping.
When I heard this report, I tore my tunic and robe, pulled out some of the hair from my head and beard, and sat down devastated.
When I heard this report, I tore my tunic and robe, pulled out some of the hair from my head and beard, and sat down devastated.
When Mordecai learned all that had occurred, he tore his clothes, put on sackcloth and ashes, went into the middle of the city, and cried loudly and bitterly.
Now when Job's three friends-Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite-heard about all this adversity that had happened to him, each of them came from his home. They met together to go and offer sympathy and comfort to him. When they looked from a distance, they could [barely] recognize him. They wept aloud, and each man tore his robe and threw dust into the air and on his head.
When they looked from a distance, they could [barely] recognize him. They wept aloud, and each man tore his robe and threw dust into the air and on his head. Then they sat on the ground with him seven days and nights, but no one spoke a word to him because they saw that his suffering was very intense.
Yet when they were sick, my clothing was sackcloth; I humbled myself with fasting, and my prayer was genuine.
Dibon went up to its temple to weep at its high places. Moab wails on Nebo and at Medeba. Every head is shaved; every beard is cut off. In its streets they wear sackcloth; on its rooftops and in its public squares everyone wails, falling down and weeping.
This is what the Lord of Hosts says: Consider, and summon the women who mourn; send for the skillful women.
This is what the Lord of Hosts says: Consider, and summon the women who mourn; send for the skillful women. Let them come quickly to raise a lament over us so that our eyes may overflow with tears, our eyelids soaked with weeping.
Both great and small will die in this land without burial. No lament will be made for them, nor will anyone cut himself or shave his head for them. Food won't be provided for the mourner to comfort him because of the dead. A cup of consolation won't be given him because of [the loss of] his father or mother.
Indeed, every head is bald and every beard clipped; on every hand is a gash and sackcloth around the waist. On all the rooftops of Moab and in her public squares, everyone is mourning because I have shattered Moab like a jar no one wants." [This is] the Lord's declaration.
They will not pour out their wine offerings to the Lord, and their sacrifices will not please Him. Their [food] will be like the bread of mourners; all who eat it become defiled. For their bread will be for their appetites [alone]; it will not enter the house of the Lord.
Tear your hearts, not just your clothes, and return to the Lord your God. For He is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger, rich in faithful love, and He relents from sending disaster.
"Then I will pour out a spiritof grace and prayer on the house of David and the residents of Jerusalem, and they will look at Me whom they pierced. They will mourn for Him as one mourns for an only child and weep bitterly for Him as one weeps for a firstborn.
When Jesus came to the leader's house, He saw the flute players and a crowd lamenting loudly.
Many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them about their brother.
"Remove the stone," Jesus said. Martha, the dead man's sister, told Him, "Lord, he already stinks. It's been four days."
Rejoice with those who rejoice; weep with those who weep.
Because this corruptible must be clothed with incorruptibility, and this mortal must be clothed with immortality. Now when this corruptible is clothed with incorruptibility, and this mortal is clothed with immortality, then the saying that is written will take place: Death has been swallowed up in victory. read more. O Death, where is your victory? O Death, where is your sting?
Then one of the elders asked me, "Who are these people robed in white, and where did they come from?" I said to him, "Sir, you know." Then he told me: These are the ones coming out of the great tribulation. They washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. read more. For this reason they are before the throne of God, and they serve Him day and night in His sanctuary. The One seated on the throne will shelter them: no longer will they hunger; no longer will they thirst; no longer will the sun strike them, or any heat. Because the Lamb who is at the center of the throne will shepherd them; He will guide them to springs of living waters, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.
Then I heard a voice from heaven saying, "Write: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on." "Yes," says the Spirit, "let them rest from their labors, for their works follow 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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Sarah died in Kiriath-arba (that is, Hebron) in the land of Canaan, and Abraham went in to mourn for Sarah and to weep for her.
Then Jacob tore his clothes, put sackcloth around his waist, and mourned for his son many days. All his sons and daughters tried to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted. "No," he said. "I will go down to Sheol to my son, mourning." And his father wept for him.
They took 40 days to complete this, for embalming takes that long, and the Egyptians mourned for him 70 days. When the days of mourning were over, Joseph said to Pharaoh's household, "If I have found favor with you, please tell Pharaoh that read more. my father made me take an oath, saying, 'I am about to die. You must bury me there in the tomb that I hewed out for myself in the land of Canaan.' Now let me go and bury my father. Then I will return." So Pharaoh said, "Go and bury your father in keeping with your oath." Then Joseph went to bury his father, and all Pharaoh's servants, the elders of his household, and all the elders of the land of Egypt went with him, along with all Joseph's household, his brothers, and his father's household. Only their children, their sheep, and their cattle were left in the land of Goshen. Horses and chariots went up with him; it was a very impressive procession. When they reached the threshing floor of Atad, which is across the Jordan, they lamented and wept loudly, and Joseph mourned seven days for his father.
When the people heard this bad news, they mourned and didn't put on their jewelry.
But the one who eats meat from the Lord's fellowship sacrifice while he is unclean, that person must be cut off from his people.
Then flames leaped from the Lord's presence and burned them to death before the Lord. So Moses said to Aaron, "This is what the Lord meant when He said: I will show My holiness to those who are near Me, and I will reveal My glory before all the people." But Aaron remained silent. read more. Moses summoned Mishael and Elzaphan, sons of Aaron's uncle Uzziel, and said to them, "Come here and carry your relatives away from the front of the sanctuary to [a place] outside the camp." So they came forward and carried them in their tunics outside the camp, as Moses had said. Then Moses said to Aaron and his sons Eleazar and Ithamar, "Do not let your hair hang loose and do not tear your garments, or else you will die, and the Lord will become angry with the whole community. However, your brothers, the whole house of Israel, may mourn over that tragedy when the Lord sent the fire.
"The person afflicted with an infectious skin disease is to have his clothes torn and his hair hanging loose, and he must cover his mouth and cry out, 'Unclean, unclean!'
The Lord said to Moses: "Speak to Aaron's sons, the priests, and tell them: A priest is not to make himself ceremonially unclean for a [dead] person among his relatives, except for his immediate family: his mother, father, son, daughter, or brother. read more. He may make himself unclean for his young unmarried sister in his immediate family. He is not to make himself unclean for those related to him by marriage and so defile himself.
"The priest who is highest among his brothers, who has had the anointing oil poured on his head and has been ordained to wear the garments, must not dishevel his hair or tear his garments. He must not go near any dead person or make himself unclean [even] for his father or mother.
"The tenth [day] of this seventh month is the Day of Atonement. You are to hold a sacred assembly and practice self-denial; you are to present a fire offering to the Lord.
He is not to defile himself for his father or mother, or his brother or sister, when they die, because the hair consecrated to his God is on his head.
When the whole community saw that Aaron had passed away, the entire house of Israel mourned for him 30 days.
I have not eaten any of it while in mourning, or removed any of it while unclean, or offered any of it for the dead. I have obeyed the Lord my God; I have done all You commanded me.
The Israelites wept for Moses in the plains of Moab 30 days. Then the days of weeping and mourning for Moses came to an end.
When they gathered at Mizpah, they drew water and poured it out in the Lord's presence. They fasted that day, and there they confessed, "We have sinned against the Lord." And Samuel [began to lead] the Israelites at Mizpah as [their] judge.
Afterwards, they took their bones and buried them under the tamarisk tree in Jabesh and fasted seven days.
As for me, even though I am the anointed king, I have little power today. These men, the sons of Zeruiah, are too fierce for me. May the Lord repay the evildoer according to his evil!"
David was climbing the slope of the Mount of Olives, weeping as he ascended. His head was covered, and he was walking barefoot. Each of the people with him covered their heads and went up, weeping as they ascended.
Then Job stood up, tore his robe and shaved his head. He fell to the ground and worshiped, saying: Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked I will leave this life. The Lord gives, and the Lord takes away. Praise the name of the Lord.
Then Job took a piece of broken pottery to scrape himself while he sat among the ashes.
If I forget you, Jerusalem, may my right hand forget [its skill]. May my tongue stick to the roof of my mouth if I do not remember you, if I do not exalt Jerusalem as my greatest joy!
Also, they are afraid of heights and dangers on the road; the almond tree blossoms, the grasshopper loses its spring, and the caper berry has no effect; for man is headed to his eternal home, and mourners will walk around in the street;
Dibon went up to its temple to weep at its high places. Moab wails on Nebo and at Medeba. Every head is shaved; every beard is cut off. In its streets they wear sackcloth; on its rooftops and in its public squares everyone wails, falling down and weeping.
during that time the Lord had spoken through Isaiah son of Amoz, saying, "Go, take off your sackcloth and remove the sandals from your feet," and he did so, going naked and barefoot-
He will destroy death forever. The Lord God will wipe away the tears from every face and remove His people's disgrace from the whole earth, for the Lord has spoken.
and the ransomed of the Lord will return and come to Zion with singing, crowned with unending joy. Joy and gladness will overtake [them], and sorrow and sighing will flee.
Look down from heaven and see from Your lofty home-holy and beautiful. Where is Your zeal and Your might? Your yearning and Your compassion are withheld from me. Yet You are our Father, even though Abraham does not know us and Israel doesn't recognize us. You, Lord, are our Father; from ancient times, Your name is our Redeemer. read more. Why, Lord, do You make us stray from Your ways? You harden our hearts so we do not fear You. Return, because of Your servants, the tribes of Your heritage. Your holy people had a possession for a little while, [but] our enemies have trampled down Your sanctuary. We have become like those You never ruled over, like those not called by Your name.
This is what the Lord of Hosts says: Consider, and summon the women who mourn; send for the skillful women.
Both great and small will die in this land without burial. No lament will be made for them, nor will anyone cut himself or shave his head for them. Food won't be provided for the mourner to comfort him because of the dead. A cup of consolation won't be given him because of [the loss of] his father or mother. read more. You must not enter the house where feasting is taking place to sit with them to eat and drink.
Cry out and wail, son of man, for it is against My people. It is against all the princes of Israel! They are given over to the sword with My people. Therefore strike [your] thigh [in grief].
"Son of man, I am about to take the delight of your eyes away from you with a fatal blow. But you must not lament or weep or let your tears flow. Groan quietly; do not observe mourning rites for the dead. Put on your turban and strap your sandals on your feet; do not cover [your] mustache or eat the bread of mourners." read more. I spoke to the people in the morning, and my wife died in the evening. The next morning I did just as I was commanded.
They will not pour out their wine offerings to the Lord, and their sacrifices will not please Him. Their [food] will be like the bread of mourners; all who eat it become defiled. For their bread will be for their appetites [alone]; it will not enter the house of the Lord.
Therefore Yahweh, the God of Hosts, the Lord, says: There will be wailing in all the public squares; they will cry out in anguish in all the streets. The farmer will be called on to mourn, and professional mournersto wail.
The men of Nineveh believed in God. They proclaimed a fast and dressed in sackcloth-from the greatest of them to the least.
"Then I will pour out a spiritof grace and prayer on the house of David and the residents of Jerusalem, and they will look at Me whom they pierced. They will mourn for Him as one mourns for an only child and weep bitterly for Him as one weeps for a firstborn. On that day the mourning in Jerusalem will be as great as the mourning of Hadad-rimmon in the plain of Megiddo.
Jesus said to them, "Can the wedding guests be sad while the groom is with them? The days will come when the groom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast.
When Jesus came to the leader's house, He saw the flute players and a crowd lamenting loudly.
Then He said to another, "Follow Me." "Lord," he said, "first let me go bury my father." But He told him, "Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and spread the news of the kingdom of God."
By now much time had passed, and the voyage was already dangerous. Since the Fast was already over, Paul gave his advice
Because the Lamb who is at the center of the throne will shepherd them; He will guide them to springs of living waters, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.
He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. Death will exist no longer; grief, crying, and pain will exist no longer, because the previous 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 someone to Tekoa to bring a clever woman from there. He told her, "Pretend to be in mourning: dress in mourning clothes and don't put on any oil. Act like a woman who has been mourning for the dead for a long time.
He was buried in his own tomb that he had hewn out for himself in the city of David. They laid him out in a coffin that was full of spices and various mixtures of prepared ointments; then they made a great fire in his honor.
This is what the Lord of Hosts says: Consider, and summon the women who mourn; send for the skillful women. Let them come quickly to raise a lament over us so that our eyes may overflow with tears, our eyelids soaked with weeping.
you will die peacefully. There will be a burning ceremony for you just like the burning ceremonies for your fathers, the former kings who preceded you. Alas, lord! will be the lament for you, for I have spoken [this] word." [This is] the Lord's declaration.
Tear your hearts, not just your clothes, and return to the Lord your God. For He is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger, rich in faithful love, and He relents from sending disaster.
Therefore Yahweh, the God of Hosts, the Lord, says: There will be wailing in all the public squares; they will cry out in anguish in all the streets. The farmer will be called on to mourn, and professional mournersto wail.
When Jesus came to the leader's house, He saw the flute players and a crowd lamenting loudly.
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.
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Sarah died in Kiriath-arba (that is, Hebron) in the land of Canaan, and Abraham went in to mourn for Sarah and to weep for her. Then Abraham got up from beside his dead [wife] and spoke to the Hittites:
When Reuben returned to the pit and saw that Joseph was not there, he tore his clothes.
Then Jacob tore his clothes, put sackcloth around his waist, and mourned for his son many days.
Then Jacob tore his clothes, put sackcloth around his waist, and mourned for his son many days.
Then they tore their clothes, and each one loaded his donkey and returned to the city.
They took 40 days to complete this, for embalming takes that long, and the Egyptians mourned for him 70 days.
They took 40 days to complete this, for embalming takes that long, and the Egyptians mourned for him 70 days.
When they reached the threshing floor of Atad, which is across the Jordan, they lamented and wept loudly, and Joseph mourned seven days for his father.
But the one who eats meat from the Lord's fellowship sacrifice while he is unclean, that person must be cut off from his people.
Then Moses said to Aaron and his sons Eleazar and Ithamar, "Do not let your hair hang loose and do not tear your garments, or else you will die, and the Lord will become angry with the whole community. However, your brothers, the whole house of Israel, may mourn over that tragedy when the Lord sent the fire.
"The person afflicted with an infectious skin disease is to have his clothes torn and his hair hanging loose, and he must cover his mouth and cry out, 'Unclean, unclean!'
When the whole community saw that Aaron had passed away, the entire house of Israel mourned for him 30 days.
you are to bring her into your house. She must shave her head, trim her nails, remove the clothes she was wearing when she was taken prisoner, live in your house, and mourn for her father and mother a full month. After that, you may have sexual relations with her and be her husband, and she will be your wife.
I have not eaten any of it while in mourning, or removed any of it while unclean, or offered any of it for the dead. I have obeyed the Lord my God; I have done all You commanded me.
[that] four days each year the young women of Israel would commemorate the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite.
The whole Israelite army went to Bethel where they wept and sat before the Lord. They fasted that day until evening and offered burnt offerings and fellowship offerings to the Lord.
Afterwards, they took their bones and buried them under the tamarisk tree in Jabesh and fasted seven days.
They mourned, wept, and fasted until the evening for those who died by the sword-for Saul, his son Jonathan, the Lord's people, and the house of Israel.
Then they came to urge David to eat bread while it was still day, but David took an oath: "May God punish me and do so severely if I taste bread or anything else before sunset!"
David pleaded with God for the boy. He fasted, went [home], and spent the night lying on the ground.
He answered, "While the baby was alive, I fasted and wept because I thought, 'Who knows? The Lord may be gracious to me and let him live.'
Tamar put ashes on her head and tore the long-sleeved garment she was wearing. She put her hand on her head and went away weeping.
So Joab sent someone to Tekoa to bring a clever woman from there. He told her, "Pretend to be in mourning: dress in mourning clothes and don't put on any oil. Act like a woman who has been mourning for the dead for a long time.
When David came to the summit where he used to worship God, there to meet him was Hushai the Archite with his robe torn and dust on his head.
Then Job stood up, tore his robe and shaved his head. He fell to the ground and worshiped,
Now when Job's three friends-Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite-heard about all this adversity that had happened to him, each of them came from his home. They met together to go and offer sympathy and comfort to him. When they looked from a distance, they could [barely] recognize him. They wept aloud, and each man tore his robe and threw dust into the air and on his head.
Have I not wept for those who have fallen on hard times? Has my soul not grieved for the needy?
Also, they are afraid of heights and dangers on the road; the almond tree blossoms, the grasshopper loses its spring, and the caper berry has no effect; for man is headed to his eternal home, and mourners will walk around in the street;
during that time the Lord had spoken through Isaiah son of Amoz, saying, "Go, take off your sackcloth and remove the sandals from your feet," and he did so, going naked and barefoot-
Take millstones and grind meal; remove your veil, strip off [your] skirt, bare your thigh, wade through the streams.
I am broken by the brokenness of my dear people. I mourn; horror has taken hold of me.
This is what the Lord of Hosts says: Consider, and summon the women who mourn; send for the skillful women.
Both great and small will die in this land without burial. No lament will be made for them, nor will anyone cut himself or shave his head for them. Food won't be provided for the mourner to comfort him because of the dead. A cup of consolation won't be given him because of [the loss of] his father or mother.
Food won't be provided for the mourner to comfort him because of the dead. A cup of consolation won't be given him because of [the loss of] his father or mother. You must not enter the house where feasting is taking place to sit with them to eat and drink. read more. For this is what the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: I am about to eliminate from this place, before your very eyes and in your time, the sound of joy and gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the bride. "When you tell these people all these things, they will say to you: Why has the Lord declared all this great disaster against us? What is our guilt? What is our sin that we have committed against the Lord our God? Then you will answer them: Because your fathers abandoned Me"-the Lord's declaration-"and followed other gods, served them, and worshiped them. Indeed, they abandoned Me and did not keep My law. You did more evil than your fathers. Look, each one of you was following the stubbornness of his evil heart, not obeying Me. So I will hurl you from this land into a land that you and your fathers are not familiar with. There you will worship other gods both day and night, for I will not grant you grace. "However, take note! The days are coming"-the Lord's declaration-"when it will no longer be said: As the Lord lives who brought the Israelites from the land of Egypt, but rather: As the Lord lives who brought the Israelites from the land of the north and from all the other lands where He had banished them. For I will return them to their land that I gave to their ancestors. "I am about to send for many fishermen"-the Lord's declaration-"and they will fish for them. Then I will send for many hunters, and they will hunt them down on every mountain and hill and out of the clefts of the rocks, for My gaze takes in all their ways. They are not concealed from Me, and their guilt is not hidden from My sight. I will first repay them double for their guilt and sin because they have polluted My land. They have filled My inheritance with the lifelessness of their detestable and abhorrent idols." Lord, my strength and my stronghold, my refuge in a time of distress, the nations will come to You from the ends of the earth, and they will say, "Our fathers inherited only lies, worthless idols of no benefit at all." Can one make gods for himself? But they are not gods. "Therefore, I am about to inform them, and this time I will make them know My power and My might; then they will know that My name is Yahweh."
Therefore, this is what the Lord says concerning Jehoiakim son of Josiah, king of Judah: They will not mourn for him, [saying,] Woe, my brother! or Woe, [my] sister! They will not mourn for him, saying, Woe, lord! Woe, his majesty!
After I returned, I repented; After I was instructed, I struck my thigh [in grief]. I was ashamed and humiliated because I bore the disgrace of my youth.
80 men came from Shechem, Shiloh, and Samaria who had shaved their beards, torn their garments, and gashed themselves, and who were carrying grain and incense offerings to bring to the temple of the Lord.
Cry out and wail, son of man, for it is against My people. It is against all the princes of Israel! They are given over to the sword with My people. Therefore strike [your] thigh [in grief].
Therefore Yahweh, the God of Hosts, the Lord, says: There will be wailing in all the public squares; they will cry out in anguish in all the streets. The farmer will be called on to mourn, and professional mournersto wail.
When Jesus came to the leader's house, He saw the flute players and a crowd lamenting loudly.
Watsons
MOURNING. See BURIAL and See DEAD.