Mourning

Mourning customs in the ancient Near East were highly ritualized and intensely public. Biblical mourning practices included: tearing garments (Gen. 37:29; Job 1:20), putting on sackcloth (2 Sam. 3:31; Esth. 4:1), pouring dust or ashes on the head (Job 2:12; Lam. 2:10), going barefoot (2 Sam. 15:30), fasting (2 Sam. 1:12), cutting the hair or beard (in some cultures), wailing and weeping aloud, and hiring professional mourning women (Jer. 9:17–18; Amos 5:16).

The Mosaic law regulated mourning to prevent pagan practices such as cutting the body or shaving the head for the dead (Deut. 14:1; Lev. 19:28). The prophets compared Israel's coming judgment to the mourning of an only son (Amos 8:10; Zech. 12:10). The Beatitudes pronounce a blessing on those who mourn (Matt. 5:4), and Paul distinguishes godly grief that produces repentance from worldly grief that produces death (2 Cor. 7:10).