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
Forty days {were required for it}, for thus [are] the days {required for} embalming. And the Egyptians wept for him seventy days.
Then Moses said to Aaron and to his sons Eleazar and Ithamar, "You must not let your hair hang loosely, and you must not tear your garments, so that you will not die and he will be angry with all the community. But your brothers, all the house of Israel, may weep [because of] {the burning that Yahweh caused},
You shall not round off the corner [hair] of your head, and you shall not trim the corner of your beard. And you shall not make a slash in your body for a dead person, nor shall you make on yourselves a tattoo's mark; I [am] Yahweh.
Then Yahweh said to Moses, "Speak to the priests, Aaron's sons, and say to them, 'One must not make himself unclean for a dead person among his [own] people, except for his direct relative closest to him: his mother and his father, and his son and his daughter, and his brother, read more. and for his sister, a virgin, [who is] closest to him, {who has not had a husband}--for her he may defile himself. He must not make himself unclean [as] {a kinsman by marriage}, defiling himself. " 'And they shall not shave bald patches on their head, and they shall not shave off the corner of their beard, and they shall not make a cut in their body.
" 'And they shall not shave bald patches on their head, and they shall not shave off the corner of their beard, and they shall not make a cut in their body. They shall be holy to their God, and they shall not profane the name of their God, because they are bringing near the offerings made by fire to Yahweh--their God's food--and they shall be holy. read more. " 'They shall not {marry} a woman [who is] a prostitute and defiled, nor shall they {marry} a woman divorced from her husband, because each priest [is] holy for his God. And you shall consecrate him, because he is bringing near your God's food; he shall be holy to you, since I, Yahweh, who consecrates you, [am] holy. " 'As for the daughter of any priest, if she is defiled by prostituting, she is disgracing her father--she shall be burned in the fire. " 'As for the priest [who is] higher than his brothers, on whose head the oil of anointment is poured and {he was ordained} to wear the garments, he shall not dishevel his head, and he shall not tear his garments. And he shall not go near any dead person, nor shall he make himself unclean for his father or for his mother.
for even his father, mother, brother, or sister he will not make himself unclean {by their death}, because the separation to his God [is] on his head.
All the community saw that Aaron died; so all the house of Israel wept for Aaron thirty days.
"You [are] children of Yahweh your God; [therefore] you must not gash yourself, and {you must not make your forehead bald} for [the] dead.
And the {Israelites} wept [concerning] Moses thirty days; [finally] the days of weeping and mourning for Moses were completed.
And Joshua tore his clothes and fell to the ground on his face before the ark of Yahweh until the evening, he and the elders of Israel; and they put dust on their heads.
When the inhabitants of Jabesh Gilead heard about it, what [the] Philistines had done to Saul, all of {the valiant men} set out and went all night and took the corpse of Saul and the corpses of his sons from the wall of Beth Shan, and they came to Jabesh and burned them there. read more. Then they took their bones and buried [them] under the tamarisk in Jabesh, and they fasted [for] seven days.
David said to Joab and to all the people who [were] with him, "Tear your clothing and put on sackcloth and mourn before Abner." Now King David [was] following after the bier.
Then all the people came to give David food. Still on that day, David swore, "{May God punish me} if I taste food or anything before the sun goes down."
David pleaded [with] God on behalf of the boy and David fasted. He went to spend the night and lay upon the ground.
Tamar put ashes on her head, and she tore the long-sleeved robe which [was] on her. She put her hand on her head, and {she went away, crying out as she went}.
When I heard this I tore my garment and my robe, and I pulled the hair out from my head and beard, and I sat appalled.
When I heard this I tore my garment and my robe, and I pulled the hair out from my head and beard, and I sat appalled.
Mordecai learned all that had been done and he tore his clothes and put on sackcloth and ashes. And he went through the middle of the city and cried out a loud and bitter cry;
Thus Job's three friends heard of this calamity that had come upon him. So each set out from his [own] place: Eliphaz the Temanite and Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite. And they met together to come to console him and to comfort him. Thus they lifted up their eyes from afar, but they did not recognize him, so they raised their voice, and they wept, and each man tore his outer garment and threw dust on their heads {toward the sky}.
Thus they lifted up their eyes from afar, but they did not recognize him, so they raised their voice, and they wept, and each man tore his outer garment and threw dust on their heads {toward the sky}. Then they sat with him on the ground [for] seven days and seven nights, but no one spoke a word to him because they saw that {his} suffering was very great.
But as for me, when they were sick, my clothing [was] sackcloth. I weakened my soul with fasting, and my prayer {returned to me unanswered}.
It has gone up [to] the house, and Dibon [to] the high places for weeping over Nebo, and Moab wails over Medeba. {Every head is bald}, every beard [is] shaved. They gird themselves [with] sackcloth in its streets; on its roofs and public squares everyone wails, going down in weeping.
Thus says Yahweh of hosts: "Consider closely, and call for the wailing women, so that they come, and for the skillful women, so that they come.
Thus says Yahweh of hosts: "Consider closely, and call for the wailing women, so that they come, and for the skillful women, so that they come. And let them hasten, and let them lift up wailing over us, so that our eyes may melt [with] tears, and our eyelids may flow [with] water.
Both the great and small will die in this land. They will not be buried, and they will not mourn for them, and no one will cut himself with a blade, and no one will shave himself for them. And they will not break bread for [the] mourning ceremony for them, to comfort him because of [the] dead. And they will not give drink to them, [the] cup of desolation, for their fathers, or for their mothers.
For [on] every head [is] baldness, and every beard is trimmed. On all [the] hands, slashes, and on [the] loins, sackcloth. On all the roofs of Moab, and in its public squares, [there is] wailing everywhere. For I have broken Moab like a vessel, there is no delight in it," {declares} Yahweh.
They will not pour [drink offerings of] wine to Yahweh, and their sacrifices will not please him. [They are] like mourners' bread for them; all those who eat it will be defiled. For their bread will be {for their hunger}; it will not come [to] the house of Yahweh.
Rend your hearts and not your garments, and return to Yahweh your God, because he [is] gracious and compassionate, {slow to anger} and great in loyal love, and relenting from harm.
" 'I will pour on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and supplication, and they will look to me whom they pierced, and they shall mourn over him, as one wails over an only child, and they will grieve bitterly over him as [one] grieves bitterly over a firstborn.
And [when] Jesus came into the ruler's house and saw the flute players and the disorderly crowd,
So many of the Jews came to Martha and Mary in order to console them concerning their brother.)
Jesus said, "Take away the stone." Martha, the sister of the one who had died, said to him, "Lord, he is stinking already, because it has been four days."
For it is necessary [for] this perishable [body] to put on incorruptibility, and this mortal [body] to put on immortality. But whenever this perishable [body] puts on incorruptibility and this mortal [body] puts on immortality, then the saying that is written will take place: "Death is swallowed up in victory. read more. Where, O death, [is] your victory? Where, O death, [is] your sting?
And one of the elders answered, saying to me, "These who are dressed [in] the white robes--who are [they], and from where have they come?" And I said to him, "My lord, you know." And he said to me, "These are the ones who have come out of the great tribulation, and have 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 the one who is seated on the throne {will shelter} them. They will not be hungry [any] longer or be thirsty [any] longer, nor will the sun ever beat down on them, nor any heat, because the Lamb [who is] in the midst of the throne will shepherd them and will lead them to springs of living waters, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes."
And I heard a voice from heaven saying, "Write: 'Blessed [are] the dead who die in the Lord from now on!'" "Yes," says the Spirit, "in order that they may rest from their labors, for their deeds follow after 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).
See Verses Found in Dictionary
And Sarah died in Kiriath Arba; that [is] Hebron, in the land of Canaan.
And Jacob tore his clothes and put sackcloth on his loins and mourned for his son many days. And all his sons and daughters tried to console him, but he refused to be consoled. And he said, "No, I shall go down to my son, to Sheol, mourning." And his father wept for him.
Forty days {were required for it}, for thus [are] the days {required for} embalming. And the Egyptians wept for him seventy days. When the days of his weeping had passed, Joseph spoke to the household of Pharaoh, saying, "If I have found favor in your eyes, please speak in the hearing of Pharaoh, saying, read more. 'My father made me swear, saying, "Behold, I [am about] to die. In the tomb that I have hewed out for myself in the land of Canaan--there you must bury me." So then, please let me go up and let me bury my father; then I will return.'" Then Pharaoh said, "Go up and bury your father as he made you swear." So Joseph went up to bury his father. And all the servants of Pharaoh, the elders of his household, and all the elders of the land of Egypt, went up with him, with all the household of Joseph, his brothers, and the household of his father. They left only their little children and their flocks and their herds in the land of Goshen. And there also went up with him chariots and horsemen. The company [was] very great. When they came to the threshing floor of Atad, which [was] beyond the Jordan, they lamented there with a very great and sorrowful wailing. And he made a mourning ceremony for his father seven days.
And the people heard this troubling word, and they mourned, and they each did not put their ornaments on themselves.
And the person who eats meat from the fellowship offerings' sacrifice, which [is] for Yahweh, and whose uncleanness [is] upon him--that person shall be cut off from his people.
So fire went out {from before} Yahweh, and it consumed them so that they died {before} Yahweh. Therefore Moses said to Aaron, "This [is] what Yahweh spoke, saying, 'Among those who are close to me I will show myself holy, and {in the presence of} all the people I will display my glory.'" So Aaron was silent. read more. Then Moses summoned Mishael and Elzaphan the sons of Uzziel, Aaron's uncle, and he said to them, "Come forward. Carry your brothers from {the front of} the sanctuary to {outside the camp}." So they came forward, and they carried them {outside the camp} in their tunics, just as Moses had ordered. Then Moses said to Aaron and to his sons Eleazar and Ithamar, "You must not let your hair hang loosely, and you must not tear your garments, so that you will not die and he will be angry with all the community. But your brothers, all the house of Israel, may weep [because of] {the burning that Yahweh caused},
"As for the person who is afflicted with a skin disease, his garments must be torn and his {hair} must [be allowed to] hang loosely, and he must cover [his] upper lip, and he must call out, 'Unclean! Unclean!'
Then Yahweh said to Moses, "Speak to the priests, Aaron's sons, and say to them, 'One must not make himself unclean for a dead person among his [own] people, except for his direct relative closest to him: his mother and his father, and his son and his daughter, and his brother, read more. and for his sister, a virgin, [who is] closest to him, {who has not had a husband}--for her he may defile himself. He must not make himself unclean [as] {a kinsman by marriage}, defiling himself.
" 'As for the priest [who is] higher than his brothers, on whose head the oil of anointment is poured and {he was ordained} to wear the garments, he shall not dishevel his head, and he shall not tear his garments. And he shall not go near any dead person, nor shall he make himself unclean for his father or for his mother.
"Surely the Day of Atonement [is] on the tenth [day] of the seventh month; it shall be a holy assembly for you, and you shall deny yourselves, and you shall present an offering made by fire to Yahweh.
for even his father, mother, brother, or sister he will not make himself unclean {by their death}, because the separation to his God [is] on his head.
All the community saw that Aaron died; so all the house of Israel wept for Aaron thirty days.
I have not eaten during my [time of] mourning, and I have not removed [anything] from it while [being] unclean, and I have not offered {any of it} to someone who [has] died. I have listened to the voice of Yahweh my God; I have done all that you commanded me [to do].
And the {Israelites} wept [concerning] Moses thirty days; [finally] the days of weeping and mourning for Moses were completed.
So they gathered to Mizpah and drew water and poured [it] out before Yahweh. They fasted on that day and said there, "We have sinned against Yahweh!" So Samuel judged the {Israelites} at Mizpah.
Then they took their bones and buried [them] under the tamarisk in Jabesh, and they fasted [for] seven days.
I [am] weak today even though anointed king, and these men, the sons of Zeruiah, [are] crueler than I [am]. May Yahweh pay them back for doing wickedness according to their [own] wickedness."
Now David [was] going up on the Ascent of the Olives, {weeping as he went}, with his head covered and going barefoot. All the people who [were] with him each covered their head {and wept as they went}.
Then Job arose and tore his outer garment and shaved his head; {then} he fell upon the ground and he worshiped. Then he said, "Naked I came out from my mother's womb, and naked I will return there. Yahweh gives, and Yahweh takes. Let Yahweh's name be blessed."
{So} he took for himself a potsherd with which to scrape himself, and he sat in the midst of the ashes.
If I forget you, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget. Let my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth, if I do not remember you, if do not I exalt Jerusalem above my highest joy.
They are afraid of heights, and terrors [are] on the road. The almond tree blossoms, and the grasshopper draws itself along, and desire fails because man goes to his eternal home, and the mourners go about in the streets.
It has gone up [to] the house, and Dibon [to] the high places for weeping over Nebo, and Moab wails over Medeba. {Every head is bald}, every beard [is] shaved. They gird themselves [with] sackcloth in its streets; on its roofs and public squares everyone wails, going down in weeping.
at that time, Yahweh had spoken by the hand of Isaiah son of Amoz, saying, "Go and loosen the sackcloth from your loins, and take off your sandals from your feet," and he had done so, walking naked and barefoot.
He will {destroy} death forever, and the Lord Yahweh will wipe off [the] tears from all faces, and he will remove the disgrace of his people from all the earth, for Yahweh has spoken.
And the ransomed of Yahweh shall return, and they shall come [to] Zion with rejoicing. And everlasting joy [shall be] on their head; joy and gladness shall overtake [them], and sorrow and sighing shall flee.
Look from heaven, and see from the lofty residence of your holiness and glory. Where [are] your zeal and strength? {Your compassion} and mercy to me hold themselves back. For you [are] our father, although Abraham does not know us, and Israel does not acknowledge us. You, Yahweh [are] our father, Our Redeemer from [of] old [is] your name. read more. Why do you make us wander, Yahweh? You harden our heart from your ways {so that we do not fear} you. Turn back for the sake of your servants, the tribes of your inheritance. {Your holy people} took possession for little [while]; our adversaries have trampled down your sanctuary. We have been since antiquity; you did not rule them; {they were not called by your name}.
Thus says Yahweh of hosts: "Consider closely, and call for the wailing women, so that they come, and for the skillful women, so that they come.
Both the great and small will die in this land. They will not be buried, and they will not mourn for them, and no one will cut himself with a blade, and no one will shave himself for them. And they will not break bread for [the] mourning ceremony for them, to comfort him because of [the] dead. And they will not give drink to them, [the] cup of desolation, for their fathers, or for their mothers. read more. And you shall not enter [the] house of [the] banquet, to sit with them, to eat and drink."
Cry and wail, son of man, for it is against my people; it is against all of the princes of Israel. They are thrown to [the] sword with my people; therefore {strike your thigh}.
"Son of man, look! I [am] taking from you what is pleasing to your eyes with a plague, but you shall not mourn, and you shall not weep, and your tears shall not run down. Sigh in silence [for the] dead; you shall not make a mourning ceremony. Bind your turban on you, and you must put your sandals on your feet. You must not cover your [upper] lip, and the bread of {mourners} you shall not eat." read more. And I spoke to the people in the morning, and my wife died in the evening, and I did in the morning {just as} I was commanded.
They will not pour [drink offerings of] wine to Yahweh, and their sacrifices will not please him. [They are] like mourners' bread for them; all those who eat it will be defiled. For their bread will be {for their hunger}; it will not come [to] the house of Yahweh.
Therefore, thus says Yahweh, the God of hosts, my Lord, "In all [of] the public squares [there will be] wailing, and in all [of] the streets [they will say], 'Alas, alas, alas!' They shall call [the] farmers to mourning and [to] wailing, to those who are skilled [in] lamentation.
And the people of Nineveh believed in God, and they proclaimed a fast and put on sackcloth--from the greatest of them {to the least important}.
" 'I will pour on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and supplication, and they will look to me whom they pierced, and they shall mourn over him, as one wails over an only child, and they will grieve bitterly over him as [one] grieves bitterly over a firstborn. On that day the wailing will be great in Jerusalem, like the wailing for Hadad Rimmon in the plain of Megiddo.
And Jesus said to them, "{The bridegroom's attendants} are not able to mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them. But days are coming when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast.
And [when] Jesus came into the ruler's house and saw the flute players and the disorderly crowd,
And he said to another, "Follow me!" But he said, "Lord, first allow me to go [and] bury my father." But he said to him, "Leave the dead to bury their own dead! But you go [and] proclaim the kingdom of God."
And [because] considerable time had passed and the voyage was now dangerous because even the Fast was already over, Paul strongly recommended,
because the Lamb [who is] in the midst of the throne will shepherd them and will lead them to springs of living waters, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes."
And he will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death will not exist [any] longer, and mourning or wailing or pain will not exist [any] longer. The former [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.
See Verses Found in Dictionary
So Joab sent to Tekoa and took from there a wise woman, and he said to her, "Please pretend to mourn and put on garments of mourning. You should not anoint yourself [with] oil, and you must act like this woman who has been mourning over the dead for {a long time}.
And they buried him in his burial site, which had been cut out for him in the city of David. And they laid him on the bier which they had filled with all kinds of spices made [by] the perfumers as a fragment ointment. And they made a great fire in his honor.
Thus says Yahweh of hosts: "Consider closely, and call for the wailing women, so that they come, and for the skillful women, so that they come. And let them hasten, and let them lift up wailing over us, so that our eyes may melt [with] tears, and our eyelids may flow [with] water.
In peace you will die, and as [there was] burning for your ancestors, the former kings who were {before you}, so they will burn for you, and they will lament for you, "Alas, lord!" For [the] word I have spoken,' {declares} Yahweh." '"
Rend your hearts and not your garments, and return to Yahweh your God, because he [is] gracious and compassionate, {slow to anger} and great in loyal love, and relenting from harm.
Therefore, thus says Yahweh, the God of hosts, my Lord, "In all [of] the public squares [there will be] wailing, and in all [of] the streets [they will say], 'Alas, alas, alas!' They shall call [the] farmers to mourning and [to] wailing, to those who are skilled [in] lamentation.
And [when] Jesus came into the ruler's house and saw the flute players and the disorderly crowd,
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; that [is] Hebron, in the land of Canaan. And Abraham went to mourn for Sarah and to weep for her. And Abraham rose up from his dead, and he spoke to the Hittites [and] said,
Then Reuben returned to the pit and, behold, Joseph was not in the pit. And he tore his clothes.
And Jacob tore his clothes and put sackcloth on his loins and mourned for his son many days.
And Jacob tore his clothes and put sackcloth on his loins and mourned for his son many days.
Then they tore their clothes, and each one loaded his donkey and they returned to the city.
Forty days {were required for it}, for thus [are] the days {required for} embalming. And the Egyptians wept for him seventy days.
Forty days {were required for it}, for thus [are] the days {required for} embalming. And the Egyptians wept for him seventy days.
When they came to the threshing floor of Atad, which [was] beyond the Jordan, they lamented there with a very great and sorrowful wailing. And he made a mourning ceremony for his father seven days.
And the person who eats meat from the fellowship offerings' sacrifice, which [is] for Yahweh, and whose uncleanness [is] upon him--that person shall be cut off from his people.
Then Moses said to Aaron and to his sons Eleazar and Ithamar, "You must not let your hair hang loosely, and you must not tear your garments, so that you will not die and he will be angry with all the community. But your brothers, all the house of Israel, may weep [because of] {the burning that Yahweh caused},
"As for the person who is afflicted with a skin disease, his garments must be torn and his {hair} must [be allowed to] hang loosely, and he must cover [his] upper lip, and he must call out, 'Unclean! Unclean!'
All the community saw that Aaron died; so all the house of Israel wept for Aaron thirty days.
then you shall bring her into your household, and she shall shave her head, and she shall trim her nails. And she shall remove the clothing of her captivity from her, and she shall remain in your house, and she shall mourn her father and her mother {a full month}, and after this {you may have sex with her}, and you may marry her, and she may {become your wife}.
I have not eaten during my [time of] mourning, and I have not removed [anything] from it while [being] unclean, and I have not offered {any of it} to someone who [has] died. I have listened to the voice of Yahweh my God; I have done all that you commanded me [to do].
for the daughters of Israel to go and lament the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite for forty days of the year.
And all the {Israelites} and all the troops went up and came to Bethel and wept; and they sat there before Yahweh and fasted on that day until evening; and they offered burnt offerings and fellowship offerings before Yahweh.
Then they took their bones and buried [them] under the tamarisk in Jabesh, and they fasted [for] seven days.
Then they mourned and wept and fasted over Saul and Jonathan his son until the evening, [as well] as over the people of Yahweh and over the house of Israel because they had fallen by the sword.
Then all the people came to give David food. Still on that day, David swore, "{May God punish me} if I taste food or anything before the sun goes down."
David pleaded [with] God on behalf of the boy and David fasted. He went to spend the night and lay upon the ground.
He said, "When the child [was] still alive, I fasted and I wept because I thought, 'Who knows? Yahweh may have mercy on me that the child will live.'
Tamar put ashes on her head, and she tore the long-sleeved robe which [was] on her. She put her hand on her head, and {she went away, crying out as she went}.
So Joab sent to Tekoa and took from there a wise woman, and he said to her, "Please pretend to mourn and put on garments of mourning. You should not anoint yourself [with] oil, and you must act like this woman who has been mourning over the dead for {a long time}.
It happened that as David [was] coming up to the summit where he used to worship God, suddenly Hushai the Arkite [was] there to meet him. His coat [was] torn and dirt [was] on his head.
Then Job arose and tore his outer garment and shaved his head; {then} he fell upon the ground and he worshiped.
Thus Job's three friends heard of this calamity that had come upon him. So each set out from his [own] place: Eliphaz the Temanite and Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite. And they met together to come to console him and to comfort him. Thus they lifted up their eyes from afar, but they did not recognize him, so they raised their voice, and they wept, and each man tore his outer garment and threw dust on their heads {toward the sky}.
Have I not wept for {the unfortunate}, [and] grieved myself over the poor?
They are afraid of heights, and terrors [are] on the road. The almond tree blossoms, and the grasshopper draws itself along, and desire fails because man goes to his eternal home, and the mourners go about in the streets.
at that time, Yahweh had spoken by the hand of Isaiah son of Amoz, saying, "Go and loosen the sackcloth from your loins, and take off your sandals from your feet," and he had done so, walking naked and barefoot.
Take [the] pair of mill stones and grind flour! Uncover your veil, strip off [your] skirt, uncover [your] thigh, pass through [the] rivers!
"Because of the wound of the daughter of my people I am broken down, I mourn, horror has seized me.
Thus says Yahweh of hosts: "Consider closely, and call for the wailing women, so that they come, and for the skillful women, so that they come.
Both the great and small will die in this land. They will not be buried, and they will not mourn for them, and no one will cut himself with a blade, and no one will shave himself for them. And they will not break bread for [the] mourning ceremony for them, to comfort him because of [the] dead. And they will not give drink to them, [the] cup of desolation, for their fathers, or for their mothers.
And they will not break bread for [the] mourning ceremony for them, to comfort him because of [the] dead. And they will not give drink to them, [the] cup of desolation, for their fathers, or for their mothers. And you shall not enter [the] house of [the] banquet, to sit with them, to eat and drink." read more. For thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel, "Look, I [am] about to cause to disappear from this place, before your eyes and in your days, [the] voice of jubilation, and [the] voice of joy, and [the] voice of [the] bridegroom, and [the] voice of [the] bride. {And then} when you tell this people all these words and they ask you, '{Why} has Yahweh pronounced against us all this great evil, and what [is] our iniquity, and what [is] our sin that we have sinned against Yahweh our God?' Then you shall say to them, '{Because} your ancestors have forsaken me,' {declares} Yahweh, 'and they have gone after other gods, and they have served them, and they have bowed down in worship to them, and they have forsaken me, and they have not kept my laws. And {you have behaved badly} more than your ancestors, and look, you [are] going each one after the stubbornness of his evil heart, without listening to me. So I will throw you from this land to the land that you have not known, you or your ancestors, and there you will serve other gods day and night, for I will not show you favor. {Therefore} look, days [are] coming,' {declares} Yahweh, 'and it will no longer be said, "{As Yahweh lives}, who led up the {Israelites} from the land of Egypt," {but only} "{As Yahweh lives}, who led up the {Israelites} from [the] land of [the] north, and from all the lands where he had driven them," for I will bring them back to their ground that I gave to their ancestors. Look, I [am] sending for many fishermen,' {declares} Yahweh, 'and they will fish them out, and {afterward} I will send for many hunters, and they will hunt them from every mountain, and from every hill, and from the clefts of the cliffs. For my eyes [are] on all their ways, they are not hidden {from before me}, and their iniquity is not concealed from before my eyes. And {I will first doubly repay} their iniquity and their sin because of their profaning my land with the dead bodies of their abhorrences, and [with] their abominations they have filled up my inheritance.'" Yahweh, my strength, and my stronghold, and my refuge in [the] day of distress, to you [the] nations will come from the ends of [the] earth, and they will say, "Our ancestors have inherited only lies, vanity, and there is no profit in them. Can a human make for himself gods? Yet they [are] not gods!" "{Therefore} look, I [am] about to let them know, this time I am going to let them know my {power} and my might, and they will know that my name [is] Yahweh."
{Therefore} thus says Yahweh concerning Jehoiakim, the son of Josiah, the king of Judah: "They will not lament for him, 'Alas, my brother,' or 'Alas, sister.' They will not lament for him, 'Alas, lord,' or 'alas, his majesty.'
For after my turning back I repented, and after coming to understand I struck [my] thigh. I was ashamed and also humiliated, because I bore the disgrace of my youth.'
then men came from Shechem, from Shiloh, and from Samaria, eighty men [with] shaven beards and torn garments, [who had] cut themselves with blades, {having} grain offerings and frankincense in their hands to bring [to] the {temple} of Yahweh.
Cry and wail, son of man, for it is against my people; it is against all of the princes of Israel. They are thrown to [the] sword with my people; therefore {strike your thigh}.
Therefore, thus says Yahweh, the God of hosts, my Lord, "In all [of] the public squares [there will be] wailing, and in all [of] the streets [they will say], 'Alas, alas, alas!' They shall call [the] farmers to mourning and [to] wailing, to those who are skilled [in] lamentation.
And [when] Jesus came into the ruler's house and saw the flute players and the disorderly crowd,
Watsons
MOURNING. See BURIAL and See DEAD.