Mephibosheth, Saul’s grandson, went to meet the king. He had not tended to his feet, trimmed his mustache, or washed his clothes from the day the king left until he came home safely.
When they saw him from a distance, they didn’t even recognize him. They cried out loud and wept, and each of them tore his own clothes in grief. They threw dust on their heads.
Groan silently. Don’t grieve for the person who dies. Tie on your turban, and put on your sandals. Don’t cover your face or eat the food that mourners eat.”
Leave your turbans on your heads and your sandals on your feet. Don’t grieve or cry! You will waste away because of your guilt and groan to one another.
Then the princes from the coast will come down from their thrones. They will remove their robes and take off their embroidered clothes. Dressed in terror, they will sit on the ground. They will tremble constantly and be shocked at you.
They don’t pray to me sincerely, even though they cry in their beds and make cuts on their bodies while praying for grain and new wine. They have turned against me.
Moses told Aaron and his sons Eleazar and Ithamar: “Do not mourn by leaving your hair uncombed or tearing your clothes. If you do, you will die and the Lord will become angry with the whole congregation. All the other Israelites may cry over the fire the Lord sent, but you may not.
They asked the priests from the house of the Lord of Armies as well as the prophets, “Should we mourn and fast in the fifth month as we have done for so many years?”
“Tell all the people of the land and the priests, ‘When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh months these past 70 years, did you really do it for me?
God struck down some of the people from Beth Shemesh because they looked inside the ark of the Lord. He struck down 70 people. The people mourned because the Lord struck them with such a great blow.