Bible Dictionaries
Mourn

Mourning was expressed, (1) by weeping (Genesis 35:8 , marg.; Luke 7:38 , etc.); (2) by loud lamentation (Ruth 1:9; 1 Samuel 6:19; 2 Samuel 3:31 ); (3) by the disfigurement of the person, as rending the clothes (Genesis 37:29,34; Matthew 26:65 ), wearing sackcloth (Genesis 37:34; Psalm 35:13 ), sprinkling dust or ashes on the person (2 Samuel 13:19; Jeremiah 6:26; Job 2:12 ), shaving the head and plucking out the hair of the head or beard (Leviticus 10:6; Job 1:20 ), neglect of the person or the removal of ornaments (Exodus 33:4; Deuteronomy 21:12,13; 2 Samuel 14:2; 19:24; Matthew 6:16,17 ), fasting (2 Samuel 1:12 ), covering the upper lip (Leviticus 13:45; Micah 3:7 ), cutting the flesh (Jeremiah 16:6,7 ), and sitting in silence (Judges 20:26; 2 Samuel 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 Chronicles 35:25; Jeremiah 9:17; Matthew 9:23 ).

The period of mourning for the dead varied. For Jacob it was seventy days (Genesis 50:3 ); for Aaron (Numbers 20:29 ) and Moses (Deuteronomy 34:8 ) thirty days; and for Saul only seven days (1 Samuel 31:13 ). In 2 Samuel 3:31-35 , we have a description of the great mourning for the death of Abner.