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 forty days, for that is the full time needed for embalming. The Egyptians mourned for him seventy days.
Then Moses said to Aaron and to Eleazar and Ithamar his other two sons, "Do not dishevel the hair of your heads and do not tear your garments, so that you do not die and so that wrath does not come on the whole congregation. Your brothers, all the house of Israel, are to mourn the burning which the Lord has caused,
You must not round off the corners of the hair on your head or ruin the corners of your beard. You must not slash your body for a dead person or incise a tattoo on yourself. I am the Lord.
The Lord said to Moses: "Say to the priests, the sons of Aaron -- say to them, 'For a dead person no priest is to defile himself among his people, except for his close relative who is near to him: his mother, his father, his son, his daughter, his brother, read more. and his virgin sister who is near to him, who has no husband; he may defile himself for her. He must not defile himself as a husband among his people so as to profane himself. Priests must not have a bald spot shaved on their head, they must not shave the corner of their beard, and they must not cut slashes in their body.
Priests must not have a bald spot shaved on their head, they must not shave the corner of their beard, and they must not cut slashes in their body. "'They must be holy to their God, and they must not profane the name of their God, because they are the ones who present the Lord's gifts, the food of their God. Therefore they must be holy. read more. They must not take a wife defiled by prostitution, nor are they to take a wife divorced from her husband, for the priest is holy to his God. You must sanctify him because he presents the food of your God. He must be holy to you because I, the Lord who sanctifies you all, am holy. If a daughter of a priest profanes herself by engaging in prostitution, she is profaning her father. She must be burned to death. "'The high priest -- who is greater than his brothers, on whose head the anointing oil is poured, who has been ordained to wear the priestly garments -- must neither dishevel the hair of his head nor tear his garments. He must not go where there is any dead person; he must not defile himself even for his father and his mother.
He must not defile himself even for his father or his mother or his brother or his sister if they die, because the separation for his God is on his head.
When all the community saw that Aaron was dead, the whole house of Israel mourned for Aaron thirty days.
You are children of the Lord your God. Do not cut yourselves or shave your forehead bald for the sake of the dead.
The Israelites mourned for Moses in the deserts of Moab for thirty days; then the days of mourning for Moses ended.
Joshua tore his clothes; he and the leaders of Israel lay face down on the ground before the ark of the Lord until evening and threw dirt on their heads.
When the residents of Jabesh Gilead heard what the Philistines had done to Saul, all their warriors set out and traveled throughout the night. They took Saul's corpse and the corpses of his sons from the city wall of Beth Shan and went to Jabesh, where they burned them. read more. They took the bones and buried them under the tamarisk tree at Jabesh; then they fasted for seven days.
David instructed Joab and all the people who were with him, "Tear your clothes! Put on sackcloth! Lament before Abner!" Now King David followed behind the funeral bier.
Then all the people came and encouraged David to eat food while it was still day. But David took an oath saying, "God will punish me severely if I taste bread or anything whatsoever before the sun sets!"
Then David prayed to God for the child and fasted. He would even go and spend the night lying on the ground.
Then Tamar put ashes on her head and tore the long robe she was wearing. She put her hands on her head and went on her way, wailing as she went.
When I heard this report, I tore my tunic and my robe and ripped out some of the hair from my head and beard. Then I sat down, quite devastated.
When I heard this report, I tore my tunic and my robe and ripped out some of the hair from my head and beard. Then I sat down, quite devastated.
Now when Mordecai became aware of all that had been done, he tore his garments and put on sackcloth and ashes. He went out into the city, crying out in a loud and bitter voice.
When Job's three friends heard about all this calamity that had happened to him, each of them came from his own country -- Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite. They met together to come to show sympathy for him and to console him. But when they gazed intently from a distance but did not recognize him, they began to weep loudly. Each of them tore his robes, and they threw dust into the air over their heads.
But when they gazed intently from a distance but did not recognize him, they began to weep loudly. Each of them tore his robes, and they threw dust into the air over their heads. Then they sat down with him on the ground for seven days and seven nights, yet no one spoke a word to him, for they saw that his pain was very great.
When they were sick, I wore sackcloth, and refrained from eating food. (If I am lying, may my prayers go unanswered!)
They went up to the temple, the people of Dibon went up to the high places to lament. Because of what happened to Nebo and Medeba, Moab wails. Every head is shaved bare, every beard is trimmed off. In their streets they wear sackcloth; on their roofs and in their town squares all of them wail, they fall down weeping.
The Lord who rules over all told me to say to this people, "Take note of what I say. Call for the women who mourn for the dead! Summon those who are the most skilled at it!"
The Lord who rules over all told me to say to this people, "Take note of what I say. Call for the women who mourn for the dead! Summon those who are the most skilled at it!" I said, "Indeed, let them come quickly and sing a song of mourning for us. Let them wail loudly until tears stream from our own eyes and our eyelids overflow with water.
Rich and poor alike will die in this land. They will not be buried or mourned. People will not cut their bodies or shave off their hair to show their grief for them. No one will take any food to those who mourn for the dead to comfort them. No one will give them any wine to drink to console them for the loss of their father or mother.
For all of them will shave their heads in mourning. They will all cut off their beards to show their sorrow. They will all make gashes in their hands. They will all put on sackcloth. On all the housetops in Moab and in all its public squares there will be nothing but mourning. For I will break Moab like an unwanted jar. I, the Lord, affirm it!
They will not pour out drink offerings of wine to the Lord; they will not please him with their sacrifices. Their sacrifices will be like bread eaten while in mourning; all those who eat them will make themselves ritually unclean. For their bread will be only to satisfy their appetite; it will not come into the temple of the Lord.
Return to the Lord your God, for he is merciful and compassionate, slow to anger and boundless in loyal love -- often relenting from calamitous punishment.
"I will pour out on the kingship of David and the population of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and supplication so that they will look to me, the one they have pierced. They will lament for him as one laments for an only son, and there will be a bitter cry for him like the bitter cry for a firstborn.
When Jesus entered the ruler's house and saw the flute players and the disorderly crowd,
so many of the Jewish people of the region had come to Martha and Mary to console them over the loss of their brother.)
Jesus said, "Take away the stone." Martha, the sister of the deceased, replied, "Lord, by this time the body will have a bad smell, because he has been buried four days."
Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep.
For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. Now when this perishable puts on the imperishable, and this mortal puts on immortality, then the saying that is written will happen, "Death has been swallowed up in victory." read more. "Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?"
Then one of the elders asked me, "These dressed in long white robes -- who are they and where have they come from?" So I said to him, "My lord, you know the answer." Then he said to me, "These are the ones who have come out of the great tribulation. They have 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 temple, and the one seated on the throne will shelter them. They will never go hungry or be thirsty again, and the sun will not beat down on them, nor any burning heat, because the Lamb in the middle of the throne will shepherd them and lead them to springs of living water, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes."
Then I heard a voice from heaven say, "Write this: 'Blessed are the dead, those who die in the Lord from this moment on!'" "Yes," says the Spirit, "so they can rest from their hard work, because their deeds will 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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Then she died in Kiriath Arba (that is, Hebron) in the land of Canaan. Abraham went to mourn for Sarah and to weep for her.
Then Jacob tore his clothes, put on sackcloth, and mourned for his son many days. All his sons and daughters stood by him to console him, but he refused to be consoled. "No," he said, "I will go to the grave mourning my son." So Joseph's father wept for him.
They took forty days, for that is the full time needed for embalming. The Egyptians mourned for him seventy days. When the days of mourning had passed, Joseph said to Pharaoh's royal court, "If I have found favor in your sight, please say to Pharaoh, read more. My father made me swear an oath. He said, "I am about to die. Bury me in my tomb that I dug for myself there 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, just as he made you swear to do." So Joseph went up to bury his father; all Pharaoh's officials went with him -- the senior courtiers of his household, all the senior officials of the land of Egypt, all Joseph's household, his brothers, and his father's household. But they left their little children and their flocks and herds in the land of Goshen. Chariots and horsemen also went up with him, so it was a very large entourage. When they came to the threshing floor of Atad on the other side of the Jordan, they mourned there with very great and bitter sorrow. There Joseph observed a seven day period of mourning for his father.
When the people heard this troubling word they mourned; no one put on his ornaments.
The person who eats meat from the peace offering sacrifice which belongs to the Lord while his uncleanness persists will be cut off from his people.
So fire went out from the presence of the Lord and consumed them so that they died before the Lord. Moses then said to Aaron, "This is what the Lord spoke: 'Among the ones close to me I will show myself holy, and in the presence of all the people I will be honored.'" So Aaron kept silent. read more. Moses then called to Mishael and Elzaphan, the sons of Uzziel, Aaron's uncle, and said to them, "Come near, carry your brothers away from the front of the sanctuary to a place outside the camp." So they came near and carried them away in their tunics to a place outside the camp just as Moses had spoken. Then Moses said to Aaron and to Eleazar and Ithamar his other two sons, "Do not dishevel the hair of your heads and do not tear your garments, so that you do not die and so that wrath does not come on the whole congregation. Your brothers, all the house of Israel, are to mourn the burning which the Lord has caused,
"As for the diseased person who has the infection, his clothes must be torn, the hair of his head must be unbound, he must cover his mustache, and he must call out 'Unclean! Unclean!'
The Lord said to Moses: "Say to the priests, the sons of Aaron -- say to them, 'For a dead person no priest is to defile himself among his people, except for his close relative who is near to him: his mother, his father, his son, his daughter, his brother, read more. and his virgin sister who is near to him, who has no husband; he may defile himself for her. He must not defile himself as a husband among his people so as to profane himself.
"'The high priest -- who is greater than his brothers, on whose head the anointing oil is poured, who has been ordained to wear the priestly garments -- must neither dishevel the hair of his head nor tear his garments. He must not go where there is any dead person; he must not defile himself even for his father and his mother.
"The tenth day of this seventh month is the Day of Atonement. It is to be a holy assembly for you, and you must humble yourselves and present a gift to the Lord.
He must not defile himself even for his father or his mother or his brother or his sister if they die, because the separation for his God is on his head.
When all the community saw that Aaron was dead, the whole house of Israel mourned for Aaron thirty days.
I have not eaten anything when I was in mourning, or removed any of it while ceremonially unclean, or offered any of it to the dead; I have obeyed you and have done everything you have commanded me.
The Israelites mourned for Moses in the deserts of Moab for thirty days; then the days of mourning for Moses ended.
After they had assembled at Mizpah, they drew water and poured it out before the Lord. They fasted on that day, and they confessed there, "We have sinned against the Lord." So Samuel led the people of Israel at Mizpah.
They took the bones and buried them under the tamarisk tree at Jabesh; then they fasted for seven days.
Today I am weak, even though I am anointed as king. These men, the sons of Zeruiah, are too much for me to bear! May the Lord punish appropriately the one who has done this evil thing!"
As David was going up the Mount of Olives, he was weeping as he went; his head was covered and his feet were bare. All the people who were with him also had their heads covered and were weeping as they went up.
Then Job got up and tore his robe. He shaved his head, and then he threw himself down with his face to the ground. He said, "Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked I will return there. The Lord gives, and the Lord takes away. May the name of the Lord be blessed!"
Job took a shard of broken pottery to scrape himself with while he was sitting among the ashes.
Indeed, your servants take delight in her stones, and feel compassion for the dust of her ruins.
If I forget you, O Jerusalem, may my right hand be crippled! May my tongue stick to the roof of my mouth, if I do not remember you, and do not give Jerusalem priority over whatever gives me the most joy.
and they are afraid of heights and the dangers in the street; the almond blossoms grow white, and the grasshopper drags itself along, and the caper berry shrivels up -- because man goes to his eternal home, and the mourners go about in the streets --
They went up to the temple, the people of Dibon went up to the high places to lament. Because of what happened to Nebo and Medeba, Moab wails. Every head is shaved bare, every beard is trimmed off. In their streets they wear sackcloth; on their roofs and in their town squares all of them wail, they fall down weeping.
At that time the Lord announced through Isaiah son of Amoz: "Go, remove the sackcloth from your waist and take your sandals off your feet." He did as instructed and walked around in undergarments and barefoot.
he will swallow up death permanently. The sovereign Lord will wipe away the tears from every face, and remove his people's disgrace from all the earth. Indeed, the Lord has announced it!
those whom the Lord has ransomed will return that way. They will enter Zion with a happy shout. Unending joy will crown them, happiness and joy will overwhelm them; grief and suffering will disappear.
Look down from heaven and take notice, from your holy, majestic palace! Where are your zeal and power? Do not hold back your tender compassion! For you are our father, though Abraham does not know us and Israel does not recognize us. You, Lord, are our father; you have been called our protector from ancient times. read more. Why, Lord, do you make us stray from your ways, and make our minds stubborn so that we do not obey you? Return for the sake of your servants, the tribes of your inheritance! For a short time your special nation possessed a land, but then our adversaries knocked down your holy sanctuary. We existed from ancient times, but you did not rule over them, they were not your subjects.
The Lord who rules over all told me to say to this people, "Take note of what I say. Call for the women who mourn for the dead! Summon those who are the most skilled at it!"
Rich and poor alike will die in this land. They will not be buried or mourned. People will not cut their bodies or shave off their hair to show their grief for them. No one will take any food to those who mourn for the dead to comfort them. No one will give them any wine to drink to console them for the loss of their father or mother. read more. "'Do not go to a house where people are feasting and sit down to eat and drink with them either.
Cry out and moan, son of man, for it is wielded against my people; against all the princes of Israel. They are delivered up to the sword, along with my people. Therefore, strike your thigh.
"Son of man, realize that I am about to take the delight of your eyes away from you with a jolt, but you must not mourn or weep or shed tears. Groan in silence for the dead, but do not perform mourning rites. Bind on your turban and put your sandals on your feet. Do not cover your lip and do not eat food brought by others." read more. So I spoke to the people in the morning, and my wife died in the evening. In the morning I acted just as I was commanded.
They will not pour out drink offerings of wine to the Lord; they will not please him with their sacrifices. Their sacrifices will be like bread eaten while in mourning; all those who eat them will make themselves ritually unclean. For their bread will be only to satisfy their appetite; it will not come into the temple of the Lord.
Because of Israel's sins this is what the Lord, the God who commands armies, the sovereign One, says: "In all the squares there will be wailing, in all the streets they will mourn the dead. They will tell the field workers to lament and the professional mourners to wail.
The people of Nineveh believed in God, and they declared a fast and put on sackcloth, from the greatest to the least of them.
"I will pour out on the kingship of David and the population of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and supplication so that they will look to me, the one they have pierced. They will lament for him as one laments for an only son, and there will be a bitter cry for him like the bitter cry for a firstborn. On that day the lamentation in Jerusalem will be as great as the lamentation at Hadad-Rimmon in the plain of Megiddo.
Jesus said to them, "The wedding guests cannot mourn while the bridegroom is with them, can they? But the days are coming when the bridegroom will be taken from them, and then they will fast.
When Jesus entered the ruler's house and saw the flute players and the disorderly crowd,
Jesus said to another, "Follow me." But he replied, "Lord, first let me go and bury my father." But Jesus said to him, "Let the dead bury their own dead, but as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God."
Since considerable time had passed and the voyage was now dangerous because the fast was already over, Paul advised them,
because the Lamb in the middle of the throne will shepherd them and lead them to springs of living water, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes."
He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death will not exist any more -- or mourning, or crying, or pain, for the former things have ceased to exist."
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 brought from there a wise woman. He told her, "Pretend to be in mourning and put on garments for mourning. Don't anoint yourself with oil. Instead, act like a woman who has been mourning for the dead for some time.
He was buried in the tomb he had carved out in the City of David. They laid him to rest on a bier covered with spices and assorted mixtures of ointments. They made a huge bonfire to honor him.
The Lord who rules over all told me to say to this people, "Take note of what I say. Call for the women who mourn for the dead! Summon those who are the most skilled at it!" I said, "Indeed, let them come quickly and sing a song of mourning for us. Let them wail loudly until tears stream from our own eyes and our eyelids overflow with water.
You will die a peaceful death. They will burn incense at your burial just as they did at the burial of your ancestors, the former kings who preceded you. They will mourn for you, saying, "Poor, poor master!" Indeed, you have my own word on this. I, the Lord, affirm it!'"
Return to the Lord your God, for he is merciful and compassionate, slow to anger and boundless in loyal love -- often relenting from calamitous punishment.
Because of Israel's sins this is what the Lord, the God who commands armies, the sovereign One, says: "In all the squares there will be wailing, in all the streets they will mourn the dead. They will tell the field workers to lament and the professional mourners to wail.
When Jesus entered 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
Then she died in Kiriath Arba (that is, Hebron) in the land of Canaan. Abraham went to mourn for Sarah and to weep for her. Then Abraham got up from mourning his dead wife and said to the sons of Heth,
Later Reuben returned to the cistern to find that Joseph was not in it! He tore his clothes,
Then Jacob tore his clothes, put on sackcloth, and mourned for his son many days.
Then Jacob tore his clothes, put on sackcloth, and mourned for his son many days.
They all tore their clothes! Then each man loaded his donkey, and they returned to the city.
They took forty days, for that is the full time needed for embalming. The Egyptians mourned for him seventy days.
They took forty days, for that is the full time needed for embalming. The Egyptians mourned for him seventy days.
When they came to the threshing floor of Atad on the other side of the Jordan, they mourned there with very great and bitter sorrow. There Joseph observed a seven day period of mourning for his father.
The person who eats meat from the peace offering sacrifice which belongs to the Lord while his uncleanness persists will be cut off from his people.
Then Moses said to Aaron and to Eleazar and Ithamar his other two sons, "Do not dishevel the hair of your heads and do not tear your garments, so that you do not die and so that wrath does not come on the whole congregation. Your brothers, all the house of Israel, are to mourn the burning which the Lord has caused,
"As for the diseased person who has the infection, his clothes must be torn, the hair of his head must be unbound, he must cover his mustache, and he must call out 'Unclean! Unclean!'
When all the community saw that Aaron was dead, the whole house of Israel mourned for Aaron thirty days.
you may bring her back to your house. She must shave her head, trim her nails, discard the clothing she was wearing when captured, and stay in your house, lamenting for her father and mother for a full month. After that you may have sexual relations with her and become her husband and she your wife.
I have not eaten anything when I was in mourning, or removed any of it while ceremonially unclean, or offered any of it to the dead; I have obeyed you and have done everything you have commanded me.
Every year Israelite women commemorate the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite for four days.
So all the Israelites, the whole army, went up to Bethel. They wept and sat there before the Lord; they did not eat anything that day until evening. They offered up burnt sacrifices and tokens of peace to the Lord.
They took the bones and buried them under the tamarisk tree at Jabesh; then they fasted for seven days.
They lamented and wept and fasted until evening because Saul, his son Jonathan, the Lord's people, and the house of Israel had fallen by the sword.
Then all the people came and encouraged David to eat food while it was still day. But David took an oath saying, "God will punish me severely if I taste bread or anything whatsoever before the sun sets!"
Then David prayed to God for the child and fasted. He would even go and spend the night lying on the ground.
He replied, "While the child was still alive, I fasted and wept because I thought, 'Perhaps the Lord will show pity and the child will live.
Then Tamar put ashes on her head and tore the long robe she was wearing. She put her hands on her head and went on her way, wailing as she went.
So Joab sent to Tekoa and brought from there a wise woman. He told her, "Pretend to be in mourning and put on garments for mourning. Don't anoint yourself with oil. Instead, act like a woman who has been mourning for the dead for some time.
When David reached the summit, where he used to worship God, Hushai the Arkite met him with his clothes torn and dirt on his head.
Then Job got up and tore his robe. He shaved his head, and then he threw himself down with his face to the ground.
When Job's three friends heard about all this calamity that had happened to him, each of them came from his own country -- Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite. They met together to come to show sympathy for him and to console him. But when they gazed intently from a distance but did not recognize him, they began to weep loudly. Each of them tore his robes, and they threw dust into the air over their heads.
Have I not wept for the unfortunate? Was not my soul grieved for the poor?
and they are afraid of heights and the dangers in the street; the almond blossoms grow white, and the grasshopper drags itself along, and the caper berry shrivels up -- because man goes to his eternal home, and the mourners go about in the streets --
At that time the Lord announced through Isaiah son of Amoz: "Go, remove the sackcloth from your waist and take your sandals off your feet." He did as instructed and walked around in undergarments and barefoot.
Pick up millstones and grind flour! Remove your veil, strip off your skirt, expose your legs, cross the streams!
My heart is crushed because my dear people are being crushed. I go about crying and grieving. I am overwhelmed with dismay.
The Lord who rules over all told me to say to this people, "Take note of what I say. Call for the women who mourn for the dead! Summon those who are the most skilled at it!"
Rich and poor alike will die in this land. They will not be buried or mourned. People will not cut their bodies or shave off their hair to show their grief for them. No one will take any food to those who mourn for the dead to comfort them. No one will give them any wine to drink to console them for the loss of their father or mother.
No one will take any food to those who mourn for the dead to comfort them. No one will give them any wine to drink to console them for the loss of their father or mother. "'Do not go to a house where people are feasting and sit down to eat and drink with them either. read more. For I, the Lord God of Israel who rules over all, tell you what will happen. I will put an end to the sounds of joy and gladness, to the glad celebration of brides and grooms in this land. You and the rest of the people will live to see this happen.'" "When you tell these people about all this, they will undoubtedly ask you, 'Why has the Lord threatened us with such great disaster? What wrong have we done? What sin have we done to offend the Lord our God?' Then tell them that the Lord says, 'It is because your ancestors rejected me and paid allegiance to other gods. They have served them and worshiped them. But they have rejected me and not obeyed my law. And you have acted even more wickedly than your ancestors! Each one of you has followed the stubborn inclinations of your own wicked heart and not obeyed me. So I will throw you out of this land into a land that neither you nor your ancestors have ever known. There you must worship other gods day and night, for I will show you no mercy.'" Yet I, the Lord, say: "A new time will certainly come. People now affirm their oaths with 'I swear as surely as the Lord lives who delivered the people of Israel out of Egypt.' But in that time they will affirm them with 'I swear as surely as the Lord lives who delivered the people of Israel from the land of the north and from all the other lands where he had banished them.' At that time I will bring them back to the land I gave their ancestors." But for now I, the Lord, say: "I will send many enemies who will catch these people like fishermen. After that I will send others who will hunt them out like hunters from all the mountains, all the hills, and the crevices in the rocks. For I see everything they do. Their wicked ways are not hidden from me. Their sin is not hidden away where I cannot see it. Before I restore them I will punish them in full for their sins and the wrongs they have done. For they have polluted my land with the lifeless statues of their disgusting idols. They have filled the land I have claimed as my own with their detestable idols." Then I said, "Lord, you give me strength and protect me. You are the one I can run to for safety when I am in trouble. Nations from all over the earth will come to you and say, 'Our ancestors had nothing but false gods -- worthless idols that could not help them at all. Can people make their own gods? No, what they make are not gods at all." The Lord said, "So I will now let this wicked people know -- I will let them know my mighty power in judgment. Then they will know that my name is the Lord."
So the Lord has this to say about Josiah's son, King Jehoiakim of Judah: People will not mourn for him, saying, "This makes me sad, my brother! This makes me sad, my sister!" They will not mourn for him, saying, "Poor, poor lord! Poor, poor majesty!"
For after we turned away from you we repented. After we came to our senses we beat our breasts in sorrow. We are ashamed and humiliated because of the disgraceful things we did previously.'
eighty men arrived from Shechem, Shiloh, and Samaria. They had shaved off their beards, torn their clothes, and cut themselves to show they were mourning. They were carrying grain offerings and incense to present at the temple of the Lord in Jerusalem.
Cry out and moan, son of man, for it is wielded against my people; against all the princes of Israel. They are delivered up to the sword, along with my people. Therefore, strike your thigh.
Because of Israel's sins this is what the Lord, the God who commands armies, the sovereign One, says: "In all the squares there will be wailing, in all the streets they will mourn the dead. They will tell the field workers to lament and the professional mourners to wail.
When Jesus entered the ruler's house and saw the flute players and the disorderly crowd,
Watsons
MOURNING. See BURIAL and See DEAD.