Reference: MOURNING
American
The Hebrews, at the death of their friends and relations, made striking demonstrations of grief and mourning. They wept, tore their clothes, smote their breasts, threw dust upon their heads, Jos 7:6, and lay upon the ground, went barefooted, pulled their hair and beards, or cut them, Ezr 9:3; Isa 15:2, and made incisions on their breasts, or tore them with their nails, Le 19:28; 21:5; Jer 16:6; 48:37. The time of mourning was commonly seven days, 1Sa 31:11-13; but it was lengthened or shortened according to circumstances, Zec 12:10. That for Moses and Aaron was prolonged to thirty days, Nu 20:29; De 34:8; and that for Jacob to seventy days, Ge 50:3.
During the time of their mourning, the near relations of the deceased continued sitting in their houses, and fasted, 2Sa 12:16, or ate on the ground. The food they took was thought unclean, and even themselves were judged impure. "Their sacrifices shall be unto them as the bread of mourners: all that eat thereof shall be polluted," Ho 9:4. Their faces were covered, and in all that time they could not apply themselves to any occupation, nor read the book of the law, nor offer their usual prayers. They did not dress themselves, nor make their beds, nor uncover their heads, nor shave themselves, nor cut their nails, nor go into the bath, nor salute any body. Nobody spoke to them unless they spoke first, Job 2:11-13. Their friends commonly went to visit and comfort them, Joh 11:19,39, bringing them food, 2Sa 3:35; Jer 16:7. They also went up to the roof, or upon the platform of their houses, to bewail their misfortune: "They shall gird themselves with sackcloth; on the tops of their houses, and in their streets, every one shall howl, weeping abundantly," Isa 15:3; Jer 48:38. The mourning dress among the Hebrews was not fixed either by law or custom. We only find in Scripture that they used to tear their garments, a custom still observed; but now they tear a small part merely, and for form's sake, 2Sa 13:19; 2Ch 34:27; Ezr 9:3; Job 2:12; Joe 2:13. Anciently in times of mourning, they clothed themselves in sackcloth, or haircloth, that is, in clothes of coarse brown or black stuff, 2Sa 3:31; 1Ki 21:27; Es 4:1; Ps 35:13; 69:11.
They hired women to weep and wail, and also persons to play on instruments, at the funerals of the rich or distinguished, Jer 9:17. In Mt 9:23, we observe a company of minstrels or players on the flute, at the funeral of a girl of twelve year of age. All that met a funeral procession were accustomed to join them for a time, to accompany them on their way, sometimes relieving the bearers of the bier, and mingling their tears with those of the mourners, Ro 12:15.
The custom of hiring women to weep and wail has come down to modern times. The following account of such a scene at Nablous, the ancient Shechem, is form Dr. Jowett. The governor of the city had died the very morning of Dr. Jowett's arrival. "On coming within sight of the gate, we perceived a numerous company of females, who were singing in a kind of recitative, far from melancholy, and beating time with their hands. If this be mourning, I thought, it is of a strange kind. It had indeed sometimes more the air of angry defiance. But on our reaching the gate, it was suddenly exchanged for most hideous plaints and shrieks, which, with the feeling that we were entering a city at no time celebrated for its hospitality, struck a very dismal impression upon my mind. They accompanied us a few paces; but it soon appeared that the gate was their station, to which having received nothing from us, they returned. We learned, in the course of the evening, that these were only a small detachment of a very numerous body of 'cunning women' with the design, as of old, to make the eyes of all the inhabitants 'run down with tears, and their eyelids gush out with water,' Jer 9:17-18. For this good service, they would, the next morning wait upon the government and principal persons, to receive some trifling fee."
Some of the Jewish forms of mourning are the appropriate and universal language of grief; others, to our modern and occidental taste, savor of extravagance. None of these were enjoined by their religion, which rather restricted than encouraged them, Le 10:6; 19:27; 21:1-11; Nu 6:7; De 14:1. They were the established customs of the times. Sorrow finds some relief in reversing all the usages of ordinary life. Christianity, however, moderates and assuages our grief; shows us a Father's hand holding the rod, and the dark valley itself penetrated by the heavenly light into which it emerges, 1Co 15:53-55; 1Th 4:14-18; Re 7:13-17; 14:13.
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and they fulfil for him forty days, for so they fulfil the days of the embalmed, and the Egyptians weep for him seventy days.
And Moses saith unto Aaron, and to Eleazar, and to Ithamar his sons, 'Your heads ye do not uncover, and your garments ye do not rend, that ye die not, and on all the company He be wroth; as to your brethren, the whole house of Israel, they bewail the burning which Jehovah hath kindled;
'Ye do not round the corner of your head, nor destroy the corner of thy beard. And a cutting for the soul ye do not put in your flesh; and a writing, a cross-mark, ye do not put on you; I am Jehovah.
And Jehovah saith unto Moses, 'Speak unto the priests, sons of Aaron, and thou hast said unto them, For any person a priest is not defiled among his people, except for his relation who is near unto him -- for his mother, and for his father, and for his son, and for his daughter, and for his brother. read more. and for his sister, the virgin, who is near unto him, who hath not been to a man; for her he is defiled. A master priest doth not defile himself among his people -- to pollute himself; they do not make baldness on their head, and the corner of their beard they do not shave, and in their flesh they do not make a cutting;
they do not make baldness on their head, and the corner of their beard they do not shave, and in their flesh they do not make a cutting; they are holy to their God, and they pollute not the name of their God, for the fire-offerings of Jehovah, bread of their God, they are bringing near, and have been holy. read more. A woman, a harlot, or polluted, they do not take, and a woman cast out from her husband they do not take, for he is holy to his God; and thou hast sanctified him, for the bread of thy God he is bringing near; he is holy to thee; for holy am I, Jehovah, sanctifying you. And a daughter of any priest when she polluteth herself by going a-whoring -- her father she is polluting; with fire she is burnt. 'And the high priest of his brethren, on whose head is poured the anointing oil, and hath consecrated his hand to put on the garments, his head doth not uncover, nor rend his garments, nor beside any dead person doth he come; for his father and for his mother he doth not defile himself;
for his father, or for his mother, for his brother, or for his sister -- he is not unclean for them at their death, for the separation of his God is on his head;
and all the company see that Aaron hath expired, and they bewail Aaron thirty days -- all the house of Israel.
Sons ye are to Jehovah your God; ye do not cut yourselves, nor make baldness between your eyes for the dead;
And the sons of Israel bewail Moses in the plains of Moab thirty days; and the days of weeping and mourning for Moses are completed.
And Joshua rendeth his garments, and falleth on his face to the earth before the ark of Jehovah till the evening, he and the elders of Israel, and they cause dust to go up on their head.
And they hear regarding it -- the inhabitants of Jabesh-Gilead -- that which the Philistines have done to Saul, and all the men of valour arise, and go all the night, and take the body of Saul, and the bodies of his sons, from the wall of Beth-Shan, and come in to Jabesh, and burn them there, read more. and they take their bones, and bury them under the tamarisk in Jabesh, and fast seven days.
And David saith unto Joab, and unto all the people who are with him, 'Rend your garments, and gird on sackcloth, and mourn before Abner;' and king David is going after the bier.
And all the people come to cause David to eat bread while yet day, and David sweareth, saying, 'Thus doth God to me, and thus He doth add, for -- before the going in of the sun, I taste no bread or any other thing.'
and David seeketh God for the youth, and David keepeth a fast, and hath gone in and lodged, and lain on the earth.
And Tamar taketh ashes for her head, and the long coat that is on her she hath rent, and putteth her hand on her head, and goeth, going on and crying;
And at my hearing this word, I have rent my garment and my upper robe, and pluck out of the hair of my head, and of my beard, and sit astonished,
And at my hearing this word, I have rent my garment and my upper robe, and pluck out of the hair of my head, and of my beard, and sit astonished,
And Mordecai hath known all that hath been done, and Mordecai rendeth his garments, and putteth on sackcloth and ashes, and goeth forth into the midst of the city and crieth -- a cry loud and bitter,
And three of the friends of Job hear of all this evil that hath come upon him, and they come in each from his place -- Eliphaz the Temanite, and Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite -- and they are met together to come in to bemoan him, and to comfort him; and they lift up their eyes from afar and have not discerned him, and they lift up their voice and weep, and rend each his robe, and sprinkle dust on their heads -- heavenward.
and they lift up their eyes from afar and have not discerned him, and they lift up their voice and weep, and rend each his robe, and sprinkle dust on their heads -- heavenward. And they sit with him on the earth seven days and seven nights, and there is none speaking unto him a word when they have seen that the pain hath been very great.
And I -- in their sickness my clothing is sackcloth, I have humbled with fastings my soul, And my prayer unto my bosom returneth.
He hath gone up to Bajith and Dibon, The high places -- to weep, On Nebo and on Medeba Moab howleth, On all its heads is baldness, every beard cut off. In its out-places they girded on sackcloth, On its pinnacles, and in its broad places, Every one howleth -- going down with weeping.
Thus said Jehovah of Hosts: Consider ye, and call for mourning women, And they come, And to the wise women send, and they come,
Thus said Jehovah of Hosts: Consider ye, and call for mourning women, And they come, And to the wise women send, and they come, And they hasten, and lift up for us a wailing. And run down our eyes do tears, And from our eyelids do waters flow.
And died have great and small in this land, They are not buried, and none lament for them, Nor doth any cut himself, nor become bald for them. Nor do they deal out to them for mourning, To comfort him concerning the dead, Nor cause them to drink a cup of consolations For his father and for his mother.
For every head is bald, and every beard diminished, On all hands cuttings, and on the loins -- sackcloth. On all roofs of Moab, and in her broad-places, All of it -- is lamentation, For I have broken Moab as a vessel in which there is no pleasure, An affirmation of Jehovah.
They pour not out wine to Jehovah, Nor are they sweet to Him, Their sacrifices are as bread of mourners to them, All eating it are unclean: For their bread is for themselves, It doth not come into the house of Jehovah.
And rend your heart, and not your garments, And turn back unto Jehovah your God, For gracious and merciful is He, Slow to anger, and abundant in kindness, And He hath repented concerning the evil.
And I have poured on the house of David, And on the inhabitant of Jerusalem, A spirit of grace and supplications, And they have looked unto Me whom they pierced, And they have mourned over it, Like a mourning over the only one, And they have been in bitterness for it, Like a bitterness over the first-born.
And Jesus having come to the house of the ruler, and having seen the minstrels and the multitude making tumult,
and many of the Jews had come unto Martha and Mary, that they might comfort them concerning their brother;
Jesus saith, 'Take ye away the stone;' the sister of him who hath died -- Martha -- saith to him, 'Sir, already he stinketh, for he is four days dead;'
to rejoice with the rejoicing, and to weep with the weeping,
for it behoveth this corruptible to put on incorruption, and this mortal to put on immortality; and when this corruptible may have put on incorruption, and this mortal may have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the word that hath been written, 'The Death was swallowed up -- to victory; read more. where, O Death, thy sting? where, O Hades, thy victory?'
And answer did one of the elders, saying to me, 'These, who have been arrayed with the white robes -- who are they, and whence came they?' and I have said to him, 'Sir, thou hast known;' and he said to me, 'These are those who are coming out of the great tribulation, and they did wash their robes, and they made their robes white in the blood of the Lamb; read more. because of this are they before the throne of God, and they do service to Him day and night in His sanctuary, and He who is sitting upon the throne shall tabernacle over them; they shall not hunger any more, nor may the sun fall upon them, nor any heat, because the Lamb that is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters, and wipe away shall God every tear from their eyes.'
And I heard a voice out of the heaven saying to me, 'Write: Happy are the dead who in the Lord are dying from this time!' 'Yes, (saith the Spirit,) That they may rest from their labours -- and their works do 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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and Sarah dieth in Kirjath-Arba, which is Hebron, in the land of Caanan, and Abraham goeth in to mourn for Sarah, and to bewail her.
And Jacob rendeth his raiment, and putteth sackcloth on his loins, and becometh a mourner for his son many days, and all his sons and all his daughters rise to comfort him, and he refuseth to comfort himself, and saith, 'For -- I go down mourning unto my son, to Sheol,' and his father weepeth for him.
and they fulfil for him forty days, for so they fulfil the days of the embalmed, and the Egyptians weep for him seventy days. And the days of his weeping pass away, and Joseph speaketh unto the house of Pharaoh, saying, 'If, I pray you, I have found grace in your eyes, speak, I pray you, in the ears of Pharaoh, saying, read more. My father caused me to swear, saying, Lo, I am dying; in my burying-place which I have prepared for myself in the land of Canaan, there dost thou bury me; and now, let me go up, I pray thee, and bury my father, and return;' and Pharaoh saith, 'Go up and bury thy father, as he caused thee to swear.' And Joseph goeth up to bury his father, and go up with him do all the servants of Pharaoh, elders of his house, and all the elders of the land of Egypt, and all the house of Joseph, and his brethren, and the house of his father; only their infants, and their flock, and their herd, have they left in the land of Goshen; and there go up with him both chariot and horsemen, and the camp is very great. And they come unto the threshing-floor of Atad, which is beyond the Jordan, and they lament there, a lamentation great and very grievous; and he maketh for his father a mourning seven days,
And the people hear this sad thing, and mourn; and none put his ornaments on him.
and the person who eateth of the flesh of the sacrifice of the peace-offerings which are Jehovah's, and his uncleanness upon him, even that person hath been cut off from his people.
and fire goeth out from before Jehovah, and consumeth them, and they die before Jehovah. And Moses saith unto Aaron, 'It is that which Jehovah hath spoken, saying, By those drawing near to Me I am sanctified, and in the face of all the people I am honoured;' and Aaron is silent. read more. And Moses calleth unto Mishael and unto Elzaphan, sons of Uzziel, uncle of Aaron, and saith unto them, 'Come near, bear your brethren from the front of the sanctuary unto the outside of the camp;' and they come near, and bear them in their coats unto the outside of the camp, as Moses hath spoken. And Moses saith unto Aaron, and to Eleazar, and to Ithamar his sons, 'Your heads ye do not uncover, and your garments ye do not rend, that ye die not, and on all the company He be wroth; as to your brethren, the whole house of Israel, they bewail the burning which Jehovah hath kindled;
As to the leper in whom is the plague, his garments are rent, and his head is uncovered, and he covereth over the upper lip, and 'Unclean! unclean!' he calleth;
And Jehovah saith unto Moses, 'Speak unto the priests, sons of Aaron, and thou hast said unto them, For any person a priest is not defiled among his people, except for his relation who is near unto him -- for his mother, and for his father, and for his son, and for his daughter, and for his brother. read more. and for his sister, the virgin, who is near unto him, who hath not been to a man; for her he is defiled. A master priest doth not defile himself among his people -- to pollute himself;
'And the high priest of his brethren, on whose head is poured the anointing oil, and hath consecrated his hand to put on the garments, his head doth not uncover, nor rend his garments, nor beside any dead person doth he come; for his father and for his mother he doth not defile himself;
Only -- on the tenth of this seventh month is a day of atonements; ye have a holy convocation, and ye have humbled yourselves, and have brought near a fire-offering to Jehovah;
for his father, or for his mother, for his brother, or for his sister -- he is not unclean for them at their death, for the separation of his God is on his head;
and all the company see that Aaron hath expired, and they bewail Aaron thirty days -- all the house of Israel.
I have not eaten in mine affliction of it, nor have I put away of it for uncleanness, nor have I given of it for the dead; I have hearkened to the voice of Jehovah my God; I have done according to all that Thou hast commanded me;
And the sons of Israel bewail Moses in the plains of Moab thirty days; and the days of weeping and mourning for Moses are completed.
And they are gathered to Mizpeh, and draw water, and pour out before Jehovah, and fast on that day, and say there, 'We have sinned against Jehovah;' and Samuel judgeth the sons of Israel in Mizpeh.
and they take their bones, and bury them under the tamarisk in Jabesh, and fast seven days.
and I to-day am tender, and an anointed king: and these men, sons of Zeruiah, are too hard for me; Jehovah doth recompense to the doer of the evil according to his evil.'
And David is going up in the ascent of the olives, going up and weeping, and he hath the head covered, and he is going barefooted, and all the people who are with him have covered each his head, and have gone up, going up and weeping;
And Job riseth, and rendeth his robe, and shaveth his head, and falleth to the earth, and doth obeisance, and he saith, 'Naked came I forth from the womb of my mother, and naked I turn back thither: Jehovah hath given and Jehovah hath taken: let the name of Jehovah be blessed.'
And he taketh to him a potsherd to scrape himself with it, and he is sitting in the midst of the ashes.
If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, my right hand forgetteth! My tongue doth cleave to my palate, If I do not remember thee, If I do not exalt Jerusalem above my chief joy.
Also of that which is high they are afraid, And of the low places in the way, And the almond-tree is despised, And the grasshopper is become a burden, And want is increased, For man is going unto his home age-during, And the mourners have gone round through the street.
He hath gone up to Bajith and Dibon, The high places -- to weep, On Nebo and on Medeba Moab howleth, On all its heads is baldness, every beard cut off. In its out-places they girded on sackcloth, On its pinnacles, and in its broad places, Every one howleth -- going down with weeping.
at that time spake Jehovah by the hand of Isaiah son of Amoz, saying, 'Go, and thou hast loosed the sackcloth from off thy loins, and thy sandal thou dost draw from off thy foot,' and he doth so, going naked and barefoot.
He hath swallowed up death in victory, And wiped hath the Lord Jehovah, The tear from off all faces, And the reproach of His people He turneth aside from off all the earth, For Jehovah hath spoken.
And the ransomed of Jehovah return, And have entered Zion with singing. And joy age-during on their head, Joy and gladness they attain, And fled away have sorrow and sighing!
Look attentively from the heavens, And see from Thy holy and beauteous habitation, Where is Thy zeal and Thy might? The multitude of Thy bowels and Thy mercies Towards me have refrained themselves. For Thou art our Father, For Abraham hath not known us, And Israel doth not acknowledge us, Thou, O Jehovah, art our Father, Our redeemer from the age, is Thy name. read more. Why causest Thou us to wander, O Jehovah, from Thy ways? Thou hardenest our heart from Thy fear, Turn back for Thy servants' sake, The tribes of Thine inheritance. For a little while did Thy holy people possess, Our adversaries have trodden down Thy sanctuary. We have been from of old, Thou hast not ruled over them, Not called is Thy name upon them!
Thus said Jehovah of Hosts: Consider ye, and call for mourning women, And they come, And to the wise women send, and they come,
And died have great and small in this land, They are not buried, and none lament for them, Nor doth any cut himself, nor become bald for them. Nor do they deal out to them for mourning, To comfort him concerning the dead, Nor cause them to drink a cup of consolations For his father and for his mother. read more. A house of banqueting thou dost not enter, To sit with them, to eat and to drink,
Cry and howl, son of man, For it hath been among My people, It is among all the princes of Israel, Cast unto the sword have been My people. Therefore strike on thy thigh,
'Son of man, lo, I am taking from thee the desire of thine eyes by a stroke, and thou dost not mourn, nor weep, nor let thy tear come. Cease to groan, for the dead thou dost make no mourning, thy bonnet bind on thee, and thy shoes thou dost put on thy feet, and thou dost not cover over the upper lip, and bread of men thou dost not eat.' read more. And I speak unto the people in the morning, and my wife dieth in the evening, and I do in the morning as I have been commanded.
They pour not out wine to Jehovah, Nor are they sweet to Him, Their sacrifices are as bread of mourners to them, All eating it are unclean: For their bread is for themselves, It doth not come into the house of Jehovah.
Therefore, thus said Jehovah, God of Hosts, the Lord, In all broad places is lamentation, And in all out-places they say, 'Alas, alas,' And called the husbandman to mourning, And to lamentation the skilful of wailing.
And the men of Nineveh believe in God, and proclaim a fast, and put on sackcloth, from their greatest even unto their least,
And I have poured on the house of David, And on the inhabitant of Jerusalem, A spirit of grace and supplications, And they have looked unto Me whom they pierced, And they have mourned over it, Like a mourning over the only one, And they have been in bitterness for it, Like a bitterness over the first-born. In that day, great is the mourning of Jerusalem, As the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddon,
And Jesus said to them, 'Can the sons of the bride-chamber mourn, so long as the bridegroom is with them? but days shall come when the bridegroom may be taken from them, and then they shall fast.
And Jesus having come to the house of the ruler, and having seen the minstrels and the multitude making tumult,
And he said unto another, 'Be following me;' and he said, 'Sir, permit me, having gone away, first to bury my father;' and Jesus said to him, 'Suffer the dead to bury their own dead, and thou, having gone away, publish the reign of God.'
And much time being spent, and the sailing being now dangerous -- because of the fast also being already past -- Paul was admonishing,
because the Lamb that is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters, and wipe away shall God every tear from their eyes.'
and God shall wipe away every tear from their eyes, and the death shall not be any more, nor sorrow, nor crying, nor shall there be any more pain, because the first things did go 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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and Joab sendeth to Tekoah, and taketh thence a wise woman, and saith unto her, 'Feign thyself a mourner, I pray thee, and put on, I pray thee, garments of mourning, and anoint not thyself with oil, and thou hast been as a woman these many days mourning for the dead,
and they bury him in one of his graves, that he had prepared for himself in the city of David, and they cause him to lie on a bed that one hath filled with spices, and divers kinds of mixtures, with perfumed work; and they burn for him a burning -- very great.
Thus said Jehovah of Hosts: Consider ye, and call for mourning women, And they come, And to the wise women send, and they come, And they hasten, and lift up for us a wailing. And run down our eyes do tears, And from our eyelids do waters flow.
in peace thou diest, and with the burnings of thy fathers, the former kings who have been before thee, so they make a burning for thee; and Ah, lord, they lament for thee, for the word I have spoken -- an affirmation of Jehovah.'
And rend your heart, and not your garments, And turn back unto Jehovah your God, For gracious and merciful is He, Slow to anger, and abundant in kindness, And He hath repented concerning the evil.
Therefore, thus said Jehovah, God of Hosts, the Lord, In all broad places is lamentation, And in all out-places they say, 'Alas, alas,' And called the husbandman to mourning, And to lamentation the skilful of wailing.
And Jesus having come to the house of the ruler, and having seen the minstrels and the multitude making tumult,
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 dieth in Kirjath-Arba, which is Hebron, in the land of Caanan, and Abraham goeth in to mourn for Sarah, and to bewail her. And Abraham riseth up from the presence of his dead, and speaketh unto the sons of Heth, saying,
And Reuben returneth unto the pit, and lo, Joseph is not in the pit, and he rendeth his garments,
And Jacob rendeth his raiment, and putteth sackcloth on his loins, and becometh a mourner for his son many days,
And Jacob rendeth his raiment, and putteth sackcloth on his loins, and becometh a mourner for his son many days,
and they rend their garments, and each ladeth his ass, and they turn back to the city.
and they fulfil for him forty days, for so they fulfil the days of the embalmed, and the Egyptians weep for him seventy days.
and they fulfil for him forty days, for so they fulfil the days of the embalmed, and the Egyptians weep for him seventy days.
And they come unto the threshing-floor of Atad, which is beyond the Jordan, and they lament there, a lamentation great and very grievous; and he maketh for his father a mourning seven days,
and the person who eateth of the flesh of the sacrifice of the peace-offerings which are Jehovah's, and his uncleanness upon him, even that person hath been cut off from his people.
And Moses saith unto Aaron, and to Eleazar, and to Ithamar his sons, 'Your heads ye do not uncover, and your garments ye do not rend, that ye die not, and on all the company He be wroth; as to your brethren, the whole house of Israel, they bewail the burning which Jehovah hath kindled;
As to the leper in whom is the plague, his garments are rent, and his head is uncovered, and he covereth over the upper lip, and 'Unclean! unclean!' he calleth;
and all the company see that Aaron hath expired, and they bewail Aaron thirty days -- all the house of Israel.
then thou hast brought her in unto the midst of thy household, and she hath shaved her head, and prepared her nails, and turned aside the raiment of her captivity from off her, and hath dwelt in thy house, and bewailed her father and her mother a month of days, and afterwards thou dost go in unto her and hast married her, and she hath been to thee for a wife:
I have not eaten in mine affliction of it, nor have I put away of it for uncleanness, nor have I given of it for the dead; I have hearkened to the voice of Jehovah my God; I have done according to all that Thou hast commanded me;
from time to time the daughters of Israel go to talk to the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite, four days in a year.
And all the sons of Israel go up, even all the people, and come in to Beth-El, and weep, and sit there before Jehovah, and fast on that day till the evening, and cause to ascend burnt-offerings and peace-offerings before Jehovah.
and they take their bones, and bury them under the tamarisk in Jabesh, and fast seven days.
and they mourn, and weep, and fast till the evening, for Saul, and for Jonathan his son, and for the people of Jehovah, and for the house of Israel, because they have fallen by the sword.
And all the people come to cause David to eat bread while yet day, and David sweareth, saying, 'Thus doth God to me, and thus He doth add, for -- before the going in of the sun, I taste no bread or any other thing.'
and David seeketh God for the youth, and David keepeth a fast, and hath gone in and lodged, and lain on the earth.
And he saith, 'While the lad is alive I have fasted, and weep, for I said, Who knoweth? -- Jehovah doth pity me, and the lad hath lived;
And Tamar taketh ashes for her head, and the long coat that is on her she hath rent, and putteth her hand on her head, and goeth, going on and crying;
and Joab sendeth to Tekoah, and taketh thence a wise woman, and saith unto her, 'Feign thyself a mourner, I pray thee, and put on, I pray thee, garments of mourning, and anoint not thyself with oil, and thou hast been as a woman these many days mourning for the dead,
And it cometh to pass, David hath come unto the top, where he boweth himself to God, and lo, to meet him is Hushai the Archite, his coat rent, and earth on his head;
And Job riseth, and rendeth his robe, and shaveth his head, and falleth to the earth, and doth obeisance,
And three of the friends of Job hear of all this evil that hath come upon him, and they come in each from his place -- Eliphaz the Temanite, and Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite -- and they are met together to come in to bemoan him, and to comfort him; and they lift up their eyes from afar and have not discerned him, and they lift up their voice and weep, and rend each his robe, and sprinkle dust on their heads -- heavenward.
Did not I weep for him whose day is hard? Grieved hath my soul for the needy.
Also of that which is high they are afraid, And of the low places in the way, And the almond-tree is despised, And the grasshopper is become a burden, And want is increased, For man is going unto his home age-during, And the mourners have gone round through the street.
at that time spake Jehovah by the hand of Isaiah son of Amoz, saying, 'Go, and thou hast loosed the sackcloth from off thy loins, and thy sandal thou dost draw from off thy foot,' and he doth so, going naked and barefoot.
Take millstones, and grind flour, Remove thy veil, draw up the skirt, Uncover the leg, pass over the floods.
For a breach of the daughter of my people have I been broken, I have been black, astonishment hath seized me.
Thus said Jehovah of Hosts: Consider ye, and call for mourning women, And they come, And to the wise women send, and they come,
And died have great and small in this land, They are not buried, and none lament for them, Nor doth any cut himself, nor become bald for them. Nor do they deal out to them for mourning, To comfort him concerning the dead, Nor cause them to drink a cup of consolations For his father and for his mother.
Nor do they deal out to them for mourning, To comfort him concerning the dead, Nor cause them to drink a cup of consolations For his father and for his mother. A house of banqueting thou dost not enter, To sit with them, to eat and to drink, read more. For thus said Jehovah of Hosts, God of Israel: Lo, I am causing to cease from this place, Before your eyes, and in your days, The voice of joy, and the voice of rejoicing, The voice of bridegroom and voice of bride. And it hath come to pass when thou declarest to this people all these words, and they have said unto thee, 'For what hath Jehovah spoken against us all this great evil? yea, what is our iniquity, and what our sin, that we have sinned against Jehovah our God?' Then thou hast said unto them: Because that your fathers have forsaken Me, An affirmation of Jehovah, And go after other gods, and serve them, And they bow themselves to them, And Me have forsaken, and My law not kept, Ye also have done evil above your fathers, And lo, ye are walking each after the stubbornness of his evil heart, So as not to hearken unto Me. And I have cast you from off this land, On to a land that ye have not known, Ye and your fathers, And ye have served there other gods by day and by night, Where I do not give to you grace. Therefore, lo, days are coming, An affirmation of Jehovah, And it is not said any more: 'Jehovah liveth, who brought up The sons of Israel out of the land of Egypt,' But, 'Jehovah liveth, who brought up The sons of Israel out of the land of the north, And out of all the lands whither He drove them,' And I have brought them back to their land, That I gave to their fathers. Lo, I am sending for many fishers, An affirmation of Jehovah, And they have fished them, And after this I send for many hunters, And they have hunted them from off every mountain, And from off every hill, and from holes of the rocks. For Mine eyes are upon all their ways, They have not been hidden from My face, Nor hath their iniquity been concealed from before Mine eyes. And I have recompensed a first -- A second time -- their iniquity and their sin, Because of their polluting My land, With the carcase of their detestable things, Yea, their abominable things have filled Mine inheritance. O Jehovah, my strength, and my fortress, And my refuge in a day of adversity, Unto Thee nations do come from the ends of earth, And say, Only falsehood did our fathers inherit, Vanity, and none among them is profitable. Doth man make for himself gods, And they -- no gods? Therefore, lo, I am causing them to know at this time, I cause them to know My hand and My might, And they have known that My name is Jehovah!
Therefore, thus said Jehovah concerning Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah: They do not lament for him, Ah, my brother, and Ah, sister, They do not lament for him, Ah, lord, and Ah, his honour.
For after my turning back I repented, And after my being instructed I struck on the thigh, I have been ashamed, I have also blushed, For I have borne the reproach of my youth.
that men come in from Shechem, from Shiloh, and from Samaria -- eighty men -- with shaven beards, and rent garments, and cutting themselves, and an offering and frankincense in their hand, to bring in to the house of Jehovah.
Cry and howl, son of man, For it hath been among My people, It is among all the princes of Israel, Cast unto the sword have been My people. Therefore strike on thy thigh,
Therefore, thus said Jehovah, God of Hosts, the Lord, In all broad places is lamentation, And in all out-places they say, 'Alas, alas,' And called the husbandman to mourning, And to lamentation the skilful of wailing.
And Jesus having come to the house of the ruler, and having seen the minstrels and the multitude making tumult,
Watsons
MOURNING. See BURIAL and See DEAD.