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Jeremiah 16 describes mourning traditions that involve cutting the body and shaving hair for the dead. The Ugaritic text KTU describes El performing these rites, scoring his skin and gashing his cheeks in grief for Baal.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
KTU 1.5
Cuneiform Texts from Ugarit
Ancient Near East
perished was the Prince, Lord of the earth! Then the Wise One, the perceptive god, went down from his throne: he sat on his footstool. And from his footstool he sat on the ground. He poured the ashes of affliction on his head, the dust of grovelling on his skull For clothing he put on a loin-cloth His skin with a stone he scored, his side-locks with a razor; he gashed cheeks and chin. He ploughed his collar-bones, he turned over like a garden his chest, like a valley he ploughed his breast He lifted up his voice and cried: Baal is dead! What has become of the Powerful One? The Son of Dagan! What has become of Tempest? After Baal I shall go down into the underworld.
Date: 2300 B.C.E. (based on scholarly estimates)
Jeremiah 16:6
Hebrew Bible
5 “Moreover I, the Lord, tell you: ‘Do not go into a house where they are having a funeral meal. Do not go there to mourn and express your sorrow for them. For I have stopped showing them my good favor, my love, and my compassion. I, the Lord, so affirm it! 6 Rich and poor alike will die in this land. They will not be buried or mourned. People will not cut their bodies or shave off their hair to show their grief for them. 7 No one will take any food to those who mourn for the dead to comfort them. No one will give them any wine to drink to console them for the loss of their father or mother.
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Notes and References
“... The strongest behavioral expressions of mourning were rites of self-laceration (Leviticus 19:28; Deuteronomy 14:1; Jeremiah 16:6; 41:5) and other forms of self-violation, such as beating oneself on the breast (Isaiah 32:12) or lumbar region (Jeremiah 31:19). ... Hair was also loosened and left uncombed (Leviticus 10:6; 21:10; Judges 10:3), cut off (Leviticus 21:5; Job 1:20; Jeremiah 16:6; Ezekiel 7:18), or shaved off the forehead (Leviticus 19:27; Deuteronomy 14:1). ...”
Albertz, Rainer and Rüdiger Schmitt
Family and Household Religion in Ancient Israel and the Levant
(p. 434) Eisenbrauns, 2012
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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