mourn Summary and Overview

Frequent references are found in Scripture to, (1.) Mourning for the dead. Abraham mourned for Sarah (Gen. 23:2); Jacob for Joseph (37:34, 35); the Egyptians for Jacob (50:3-10); Israel for Aaron (Num. 20:29), for Moses (Deut. 34:8), and for Samuel (1 Sam. 25:1); David for Abner (2 Sam. 3:31, 35); Mary and Martha for Lazarus (John 11); devout men for Stephen (Acts 8:2), etc. (2.) For calamities, Job (1:20, 21; 2:8); Israel (Ex. 33:4); the Ninevites (Jonah 3:5); Israel, when defeated by Benjamin (Judg. 20:26), etc. (3.) Penitential mourning, by the Israelites on the day of atonement (Lev. 23:27; Acts 27:9); under Samuel's ministry (1 Sam. 7:6); predicted in Zechariah (Zech. 12:10, 11); in many of the psalms (51, etc.). Mourning was expressed, (1) by weeping (Gen. 35:8, marg.; Luke 7:38, etc.); (2) by loud lamentation (Ruth 1:9; 1 Sam. 6:19; 2 Sam. 3:31); (3) by the disfigurement of the person, as rending the clothes (Gen. 37:29, 34; Matt. 26:65), wearing sackcloth (Gen. 37:34; Ps. 35:13), sprinkling dust or ashes on the person (2 Sam. 13:19; Jer. 6:26; Job 2:12), shaving the head and plucking out the hair of the head or beard (Lev. 10:6; Job 1:20), neglect of the person or the removal of ornaments (Ex. 33:4; Deut. 21:12, 13; 2 Sam. 14:2; 19:24; Matt. 6:16, 17), fasting (2 Sam. 1:12), covering the upper lip (Lev. 13:45; Micah 3:7), cutting the flesh (Jer. 16:6, 7), and sitting in silence (Judg. 20:26; 2 Sam. 12:16; 13:31; Job 1:20). In the later times we find a class of mourners who could be hired to give by their loud lamentation the external tokens of sorrow (2 Chr. 35:25; Jer. 9:17; Matt. 9:23). The period of mourning for the dead varied. For Jacob it was seventy days (Gen. 50:3); for Aaron (Num. 20:29) and Moses (Deut. 34:8) thirty days; and for Saul only seven days (1 Sam. 31:13). In 2 Sam. 3:31-35, we have a description of the great mourning for the death of Abner.

MOURN or MOURNERS The Hebrews, at the death of their friends and relations, gave all possible demonstrations of grief and mourning. Gen 50:10. They wept, tore their clothes, smote their breasts, fasted and lay upon the ground, went barefooted, pulled their hair and beards or cut them, and made incisions on their breasts or tore them with their nails. Lev 19:28; Jud 21:5; Deut 14:1; Jer 16:6. The time of mourning was commonly seven days, but it was lengthened or shortened according to circumstances. That for Moses and Aaron was prolonged to thirty days. Num 20:29; Deut 34:8. They mourned excessively for an only son, as his death cut off the name of the family. Zech 12:10. The priest mourned only for near relatives, but the high priest for none. Lev 21:1-12. During the time of their mourning they continued sitting in their houses and ate on the ground. The food they took was thought unclean, and even themselves were judged impure. Hos 9:4. Their faces were covered, and in all that time they could not apply themselves to any occupation, or read the book of the Law, or say their usual prayers. They did not dress themselves, or make their beds, or uncover their heads, or shave, or cut their nails, or go into the bath, or salute anybody. Nobody spoke to them unless they spoke first. Job 2:11-13. Their friends commonly went to visit and comfort them, bringing them food. They also went up to the roof or upon the platform of their houses to bewail their loss. Isa 15:3. They sometimes went to the graves to lament their dead, and so the Oriental women do at this day. The Jews had a kind of prayer, or rather benediction of God, as of Him who raises the dead, which they repeated as they mourned, or even passed the graves of their dead. The mourning-habit among the Hebrews was not fixed either by law or custom. Anciently, in times of mourning, they clothed themselves in sackcloth or haircloth - that is, in coarse or ill-made clothes, or brown or black stuff. 2 Sam 3:31. They hired women to weep and mourn, and also persons to play on instruments, at the funerals of the Hebrews. Jer 9:17; Matt 9:23. All that met a funeral procession or a company of mourners Eastern Mourners at the Grave. were to join them as a matter of civility, and to mingle their tears with those who wept. Something like this is still customary in Turkey and Persia, where he who meets the funeral takes the place of one of the bearers, and assists in carrying the bier until they meet some one by whom he is relieved. The custom of hiring women to weep and mourn is common at this day in many of the Eastern nations. See Burial. The wailing of the Jews at the exposed part of the foundation-wall of the temple every Friday is a curiosity, particularly because it shows how customs of lamentation can be handed down, for they mourned in the same spot in Jerome's day.