Mourning
Summary
Mourning in the biblical world was expressed through elaborate public rituals including rending garments, wearing sackcloth and ashes, fasting, wailing, and hiring professional mourners.
☩Outward Signs and Rituals
Oriental mourning was marked by studied publicity and demonstrative grief. The rending of garments was among the most common signs—practiced by Jacob, Joshua, David, and others upon receiving tragic news. Other practices included wearing sackcloth, sprinkling dust and ashes upon the head, cutting or neglecting the hair and beard, sitting on the ground, walking barefoot, covering the head or lower face, and fasting. These outward signs were often accompanied by loud weeping, wailing, and beating the breast or thigh. God, however, desired inward reality: 'Rend your heart, and not your garments.'
☩Periods of Mourning
The general time of mourning was seven days, during which the mourner was forbidden to work, wash, anoint himself, or wear shoes. The Egyptians mourned Jacob for seventy days, and the Israelites mourned Aaron and Moses for thirty days each. For Saul, the period was abbreviated to seven days due to national emergency. During the seven days, mourners could not read from the Law, Prophets, or Talmud because this was considered a 'joy'—only Job, Jeremiah, and Lamentations were permitted. A public calamity such as defeat or the death of an emperor occasioned public mourning with total cessation of business, called justitium.
☩Professional Mourners
It was customary to hire professional mourners, usually women, who were 'skillful in lamentation.' These mourners used tambourines, uttered exclamations of woe, and sang dirges recounting the virtues of the deceased. Jeremiah called for them: 'Call for the mourning women... let them make haste, and take up a wailing for us.' Musicians also attended, playing mournful strains. This practice is seen in the New Testament at the house of Jairus, where Jesus found flute players and a noisy crowd already lamenting the girl's death. Widows gathered around Dorcas's body, weeping and recounting her good deeds.
☩Priestly Restrictions
The Law placed restrictions on mourning for priests. Ordinary priests were permitted to mourn only for their nearest relatives—mother, father, son, daughter, brother, or virgin sister. The high priest and Nazarites were forbidden from mourning even for parents. Aaron was commanded not to mourn for his sons Nadab and Abihu, who had been consumed by fire for offering strange incense. Ezekiel was told not to mourn publicly for his wife, as a sign to Israel.
☩Christian Mourning
Among early Christians, immoderate grief for the dead was considered inconsistent with Christian hope. Believers were taught not to sorrow as those without hope, trusting in the resurrection of the dead. While faith lights up the tomb, the human heart is not rendered unnatural—Paul's parting from the Ephesian elders at Miletus was with loud lamentation. The Apocalypse promises that God shall wipe away all tears and death and mourning shall be no more. Mourning over sin is blessed: 'Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted.'
Related Verses178 mentions
References
- 1.F. N. Peloubet & M. A. Peloubet (ed.), "Mourning," in Smith's Bible Dictionary (Porter & Coates, 1884).
- 2.Andrew Robert Fausset, "Mourning," in The Englishman's Critical and Expository Bible Cyclopædia (Hodder & Stoughton, 1878).
- 3.John McClintock and James Strong, "Mourning, Christian," in Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature, vol. VI (Harper & Brothers, 1867–1887).
- 4.George Morrish, "Mourning," in Morrish's Concise Bible Dictionary (George Morrish, 1898).
- 5.James Hastings (ed.), "Mourning," in Dictionary of the Apostolic Church, vol. II (T. & T. Clark, 1915–1918).
- 6.James Hastings (ed.), "Mourning," in Dictionary of Christ and the Gospels, vol. II (T. & T. Clark, 1906–1908).