210. Funeral Feasts

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There is no evidence of any allusion here to idolatrous customs. The reference is probably to the feasts which were given on funeral occasions to the friends assembled. See Hosea 9:44They shall not offer wine offerings to the Lord, neither shall they be pleasing unto him: their sacrifices shall be unto them as the bread of mourners; all that eat thereof shall be polluted: for their bread for their soul shall not come into the house of the Lord. (Hosea 9:4). The custom still exists in Palestine. The phrase “given aught thereof for the dead” may have reference to the practice of sending provisions into a house of mourning; to which custom allusion is supposed to be made in 2 Samuel 3:3535And when all the people came to cause David to eat meat while it was yet day, David sware, saying, So do God to me, and more also, if I taste bread, or ought else, till the sun be down. (2 Samuel 3:35), where David, on occasion of Abner’s death, refused to eat the food which was set before him. The expression “Eat not the bread of men” in Ezekiel 24:1717Forbear to cry, make no mourning for the dead, bind the tire of thine head upon thee, and put on thy shoes upon thy feet, and cover not thy lips, and eat not the bread of men. (Ezekiel 24:17), is thought to refer to the same custom. See also Jeremiah 16:7-87Neither shall men tear themselves for them in mourning, to comfort them for the dead; neither shall men give them the cup of consolation to drink for their father or for their mother. 8Thou shalt not also go into the house of feasting, to sit with them to eat and to drink. (Jeremiah 16:7‑8). Dr. Thomson, however, furnishes a different explanation to this giving for the dead. He says: “On certain days after the funeral large quantities of corn and other food are cooked in a particular manner, and sent to all the friends, however numerous, in the name of the dead. I have had many such presents, but my dislike of the practice, or something else, renders these dishes peculiarly disgusting to me” (The Land and the Book, vol.1, p. 150).