/. Shaving the head, plucking out the hair of the head or beard (Lev. x, 6; 2 Sam. xix, 24; Ezra ix, §; Job i, 20 ; Jer. vii, 29 ; xvi, 6). See Hair.
g. Laying bare some part of the body : Isaiah him- self naked and barefoot (Isa. xx, 2), the Egyptian and Ethiopian captives (ib.ver. 4; xlvii, 2; 1,6; Jer. xiii, 22, 26; Nah. iii, 5; Mic. i, 11; Amos viii, 10). See Naked.
h. Fasting or abstinence in meat and drink (2 Sam. i, 12 ; iii, 35 ; xii, 16, 22 ; 1 Sam. xxxi, 13 ; Ezra x, 6 ; Neh. i, 4; Dan. x, 3; vi, 18; Joel i, 14; ii, 12; Ezek. xxiv, 17; Zech. vii, 5, a periodical fast during captivity; 1 Kings xxi, 9, 12; Isa. Iviii, 3, 4, 5; xxiv, 7, 9, 11; Mai. iii, 14; Jer. xxxvi, 9; Jonahiii, 5, 7 [of Nineveh]; Judg, XX, 26 ; 2 Chron. xx, 3 ; Ezra viii, 21 ; Matt, ix, 14, 15). See Fasting.
i. In the same direction, diminution in offerings to God, and prohibition to partake in sacrificial food (Lev. vii, 20 ; Deut. xxvi, 14 ; Hos. ix, 4 ; Joel i, 9, 13, 16).
L Covering the " upper lip," i. e. the lower part of the face, and sometimes the head, in token of silence ; specially in the case of the leper (Lev. xiii, 45 ; 2 Sam. XV, 30 ; xix, 4 ; Jer. xiv, 4 ; Ezek. xxiv, 17 ; Mic. iii, 7).
I. Cutting the flesh (.Jer. xvi, 6, 7 ; xii, 5). See Cut- ting (in the flesh).
MOURX
ro6
MOURX
m. The sitting or lying posture in silence indicative of grief (Gen. xxiii, 3 ; Juilg. xx, 26 : 2 Sam. xii, 16 ; xiii, 31 ; Job i, 20; ii, 13; Ezra ix, 3; Lam. ii, 10; Isa. iii, 26); also bowing down the head (Lam. ii, lOj, and lifting up the hands (Psa. cxli, 2; Lam. i, 17; Ezra ix, 5). See Attitude.
Moun:
Some of these outward expressions of mourning were usual among the heathen, but forbidden to the Israel- its, c. g. making cuttings in the flesh (Lev. xix, 28), which seems to have been a custom of the votaries of Baal (1 Kings xviii, 28) ; " making baldness between the eyes for the dead" (Deut. xiv, 1), i. e. shaving the eyebrows and eyelids, and the fore-part of the head, which was, no doubt, an idolatrous custom. The priests were forbidden to " defile themselves for the dead" by any outward expression of mourning, except for their near relatives (Lev. xxi, 1); and the high-priest even for these (Lev. xxi. 10, 11), under which restriction Naz- arites also came (Numb, vi, 7).
4. Formal Cekbrtitions. — Besides and in connection with the funeral there were certain still more public usages indicative of grief, as noticed in the Scriptures:
(1.) iNIourning for the dead in the earliest times was confined to the relatives and friends of the deceased; but in later times hired mourners, both men and women, were employed. Thus we are told that the "singing men and singing women spake of Josiah in their lamen- tations" (2 Chron. xxxv, 2.')). In accordance with this the Lord says to the Jews, when threatening heavy judgments for their sins — judgments calling for univer- sal mourning : " Call for the mourning women that they may come, . . . let them make haste, and take up a wailing for us" (Jer. ix, 17). At first, most probably, hired mourners Averc called in to help to swell the tide of real sorrow, but afterwards they became a mere for- mal pageant, demanded by pride and custom rather than sorrow. (See above.) Mourning for the dead became a profession, learned and paid for, like any other ; and the practice of it often became very boisterous and tumultuous. Hence we read of the " minstrels and peo- ple making a noise" in the house of Jairus (JIatt. ix, 23), giving one the idea of a scene resembling an " Irish wake." See Mixstkel.
(2.) On such occasions neighl)ors and friends provided food for the mourners (2 Sam. iii, '.)i> : Jer. xvi, 7 ; comp. Ezek. xxiv, 17); this was called '■tlie bread of bitter- ness," "the cup of consolation." Sec (iarinan, Dp pi me lugentium (Vitemb. 1708). In later tinus tlic Jews had a custom of giving bread to the poor at funerals, aud
leaving it for their use at tombs, graves, etc., which re- sembles the Koman visceratio (Tobit iv, 17; Ecchis. XXX, 8). Women went to tombs to indulge their grief (John xi, 31).
(3.) The period of mourning varied. In the case of Jacob it was seventy days (Gen. 1, 3) ; of Aaron (Numb. XX, 29) and Moses (Deut. xxxiv, 8), thirty ; a further period of seven days in Jacob's case (Gen. 1, 10) ; seven davs for Saul, which may have been an abridged period in time of national danger (1 Sam. xxxi, 13).
L\cessive grief in the case of an individual may be noticed in 2 Sam. iii, 16; Jer. x.xxi, 15; and the same In potritically in Jer. xli, 6.
Ihe first complete description of mourning for the deid occurs in 2 Sam. iii, 31-35, where David commands Joib and all the people that were with him to rend their clothes, gird themselves with sackcloth, and mourn or Abner; and David himself followed the bier, and the\ buried Abner in Hebron; aud the king lifted up hi'i \ oice and wept at the grave of Abner, and all the IKople wept, and David fjusted two days, and wrote a 1 imeiitation for the deceased. Elegies were composed 1)\ the prophets on several disastrous occasions (Ezek. \\\i, 1-18; xxvii, 1-36; Amos v, 1, etc.). The inci- dent of Jephthah's daughter is too uncertain to afford in\ index to the modes of mourning at that a^ra. It ipjH irs that she was allowed two months to bewail her \ ir^iuity with her companions, and that the Jewish women of that country went somewhere yearly to la- nunt or celebrate her (Judg. xi, 37-40). Sec Jepii-