Ezekiel 24:17
Forbear to cry
Groan or howl, or make any doleful noise: or, "be silent"
F24: which the Talmudists F25
interpret of not greeting any person: make no mourning for
the dead;
use none of those rites and ceremonies commonly observed for
deceased relations and friends, particularly and especially for a
wife; who is one of the seven persons for whom mourning is to be
made, according to the Jewish canons F26; and which the ties of
nature, nearness of relation, and especially mutual and cordial
affection, where that has taken place, require; and though a wife
is not expressly mentioned among those, for whom a priest might
defile himself by attending their funerals, yet must be included
among those akin to him, if not solely designed, as Jarchi
thinks; whose note on ( Leviticus
21:2 ) , is, there are none his kin but his wife; so that
Ezekiel, though a priest, was not exempted from the observation
of funeral rites, but obliged to them, had he not been forbid by
a special order from the Lord: the particulars of which follow:
bind the tire of thine head upon thee;
cap or turban, wore on the head, as a covering of it, and
ornament to it, as the word used signifies; and the priests'
bonnets were for glory and beauty, ( Exodus 28:40
) , and such was the tire about the prophet's head, since he was
a priest; and which, in time of mourning, was taken off, and it
was customary for mourners to be bare headed; and though the high
priest might not uncover his head and rend his clothes for the
dead, ( Leviticus
21:10 ) , yet other priests might, unless they had a
particular and special prohibition, as Ezekiel here; see (
Leviticus 10:6 ) and yet
it seems, by some instances, particularly that of David's
mourning for Absalom, that the head was covered at such a time, (
2 Samuel
19:5 ) and Kimchi on the place expressly says, that it was
the way and custom of mourners to cover themselves; and certain
it is, that in later times, however, it has been the usage of the
Jews to cover their heads in mourning; for this is one of the
things expressly forbid in the Jewish canons, as Maimonides
F1 says, to be used in mourning for the
dead, namely, making bare the head; and covering the head is what
mourners are obliged to F2; this Gejerus
``let thy
"totaphot" or frontlets be upon thee;''
of which
interpretation Jerom makes mention; but these things do not appear
to be in use in Ezekiel's time:
and put on thy shoes upon thy
feet:
which used to be taken off, and persons walked barefoot in times of
mourning, (
2 Samuel
15:30 ) , and this custom continues with the Jews to this day;
and which they say is confirmed by this passage. One of their
canons
F5 runs thus,
``they do not rend
garments, nor pluck off the shoe for any, until he is
dead;''
which supposes they
do, and should do, when he is dead: and this is one of the things,
their writers
F6 say, is forbidden a mourner for the
dead, namely, to put on his shoes; and they ask, from whence it
appears that a mourner is forbid to put on his shoes? the answer
is, from what is said to Ezekiel, "put on thy shoes upon thy feet":
which shows that in common it was not right nor usual to do it; and
it is their custom now for mourners, when they return from the
grave, to sit seven days on the ground with their feet naked
F7:
and cover not thy
lips;
as the leper did in the time of his separation and distress, who
put a covering upon his upper lip, (
Leviticus
13:45 ) and as mourners did, who put a veil upon their faces:
and eat not the bread of men:
of other men; or "of mourners"
F8, as the Targum; such as used to
be sent to mourners by their friends, in order to refresh and
revive their spirits; and who, they supposed, through their great
grief, were not careful to provide food for themselves; and this
they did to comfort them, and let them know that, though they had
lost a relation, there were others left, who had a cordial respect
for them, and heartily sympathized with them: and, according to the
traditions of the Jews
F9, a mourner might not eat of his own
bread; but was obliged to eat the bread of others, at least his
first meal, and on the first day of his mourning; though he might
on the second, and on the following days; and this they endeavour
to establish from this place of Scripture. What their friends used
to send them at such a time were usually hard eggs and wine. Eggs,
because round and spherical, and so a proper emblem of death, and
might serve to put in mind of it, which goes round, is with one
today, and with another tomorrow; and wine, to cheer their spirits,
that they might forget their sorrow
F11. They also used to eat at
such times a sort of pulse, called lentiles, to show by what sort
of food they lost their birthright, or firstborn
F12 And such
like things were used by the Romans in their funeral feasts, as
beans, parsley, lettuce, lentiles, eggs
F13, and as
the Romans had their "parentalia", and the Greeks their
(
paradeipna) , so the Jews
had also very sumptuous feasts on such occasions: not only great
personages, as kings and nobles, made them; so Archelaus, made a
magnificent one for the people, on the death of his father Herod
F14, after the custom of the country; but
even the common people were very profuse and lavish in them; and
which, as Josephus
F15 observes, was the cause of great
poverty among them; for so prevalent was the custom, that there was
a necessity of doing it, or otherwise a man would not have been
reckoned a holy man; see (
Jeremiah 16:7 ) .
F24 (
Md) "tace", Pagninus, Montanus, Vatablus.
F25 T. Bab. Moed Katon, fol. 15. 1.
F26 Maimon. Hilchot Ebel, c. 2. sect. 1.
Buxtorf. Jud. Synagog. c. 49. p. 708.
F1 Maimon. Hilchot Ebel, c. 5. sect. 1.
F2 Schulchan Aruch, lib. Jore Dea, c. 380.
sect. 1. c. 386. sect. 1, 2.
F3 De luctu Ebr. c. 11. sect. 5. p. 250.
F4 T. Bab. Beracot, fol. 11. 1. Moed Katon,
fol. 15. 1. Succa, fol. 25. 2.
F5 Messech, Semachot, c. 1. sect. 5.
F6 Maimon. Hilchot Ebel, c. 5. sect. 1.
Schulchan Aruch, lib. Jore Dea, c. 380. sect. 1. 382. sect. 1,
2.
F7 Buxtorf. Jud. Synagog. c. 49. p. 706.
F8 T. Bab. Beracot, fol. 11. 1. Moed Katon,
fol. 15. 1. Succa, fol. 25. 2.
F9 T. Bab. Moed Katan, fol. 27. 2. Maimon.
Hilchot Ebel, c. 4. sect. 9. Schulchan Aruch, lib. Jore Dea, c.
378. sect. 1.
F11 Buxtorf. Jud. Synagog. c. 49. p.
708.
F12 Hieron. ad Paulam super obitu Blesillae,
tom. 1. operam, fol. 54. L.
F13 Vid. Kirchman. de Funer. Rom. l. 4. c.
7. p. 591.
F14 Joesph Antiqu. l. 17. c. 8. sect. 4.
F15 De Bello Jud. l. 2. c. 1. sect.
1.