SPECIAL TOPIC: GRIEVING RITES

The Israelites expressed sorrow for national tragedies, the death of a loved one, and for personal repentance, as well as corporate crimes, in several ways:

1. tear outer robe, Gen. 37:29,34; 44:13; Jdgs. 11:35; 2 Sam. 1:11; 3:31; 13:31; 1 Kgs. 21:27; 2 Kgs. 6:30; Job 1:20; Jer. 41:5
2. put on sackcloth, Gen. 37:34; 2 Sam. 3:31; 1 Kgs. 21:27; Isa. 22:12; Jer. 48:37; Ezek. 7:18; Amos 8:10
3. take off shoes, 2 Sam. 15:30; Isa. 20:3; Ezek. 24:17,23; Micah 1:8
4. put hands on head, 2 Sam. 13:19; Jer. 2:37
5. put dust on head, Josh. 7:6; 1 Sam. 4:12; Neh. 9:1; Job 2:12
6. sit on the ground, Lam. 2:10; Ezek. 26:16 (lie on the ground, 2 Sam. 12:16); Isa. 47:1
7. beat the breast, 1 Sam. 25:1; 2 Sam. 11:26; Nah. 2:7
8. mourn, 1 Sam. 25:1; 2 Sam. 11:26
9. cut the body, Deut. 14:1; Jer. 16:6; 41:5; 47:5; 48:37
10. fast, 2 Sam. 1:12; 12:16,21; 1 Kgs. 21:27; 1 Chr. 10:12; Neh. 1:4
11. chant a lament, 2 Sam. 1:17; 3:31; 2 Chr. 35:25
12. baldness (hair pulled out or shaved), Lev. 21:5; Job 1:20; Isa. 22:12; Jer. 16:6; 41:5; 47:5; 48:37; Ezek. 7:18; Amos 8:10
13. cut beards short, Lev. 21:5; Jer. 48:37
14. cover head or face, 2 Sam. 15:30; 19:4

These were outward signs of inner feelings.

Some of these acts are related to pagan worship.

1. ancestral worship ‒ Lev. 19:28; 21:5; Deut. 14:1; 1 Kgs. 18:28
   1. cutting or gashing the body
   2. tatooing the body
   3. shaving the head (or part of it)
   4. shaving or trimming the beard
2. ways to get a deity's attention (i.e. Ba'al in 1 Kgs. 18:28)
3. notice the sailors of Tyre ‒ Ezek. 27:30-31
   1. loud voice
   2. dust on their heads
   3. wallow in ashes (note Jer. 25:34; Micah 1:10)
   4. make themselves bald
   5. wear sackcloth

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