ge, weird, and out of place, prevailed from very early times among
oriental peoples, some of which customs were common to the Jews in the
days of Christ. Noise and tumult, including screeching lamentations by
members of the bereaved family and by professional mourners, as also the
din of instruments, were usual accompaniments of mourning. Geikie,
citing Buxtorf's quotation from the Talmud, gives place to the
following: "Even a poor Israelite was required to have not fewer than
two flute players and one mourning woman at the death of his wife; but
if he be rich all things are to be done according to his quality." In
Smith's _Dictionary of the Bible_, we read: "The number of words (about
eleven Hebrew and as many Greek) employed in scripture to express the
various actions characteristic of mourning, shows in a great degree the
nature of Jewish customs in this respect. They appear to have consisted
chiefly in the following particulars: (1) Beating upon the breast or
other parts of the body. (2) Weeping and screaming in an excessive
degree. (3) Wearing sad-colored garments. (4) Songs of lamentation. (5)
Funeral feasts. (6) Employment of persons, especially women, to lament.
One marked feature of oriental mourning is what may be called its
studied publicity, and the careful observance of prescribed ceremonies
(Gen. 23:2; Job 1:20; 2:8; Isa. 15:3; etc.)."

7. "Not Dead, but Sleepeth."--That the daughter of Jairus was dead is
placed beyond reasonable doubt by the scriptural record. Our Lord's
statement to the noisy mourners that "the damsel is not dead but
sleepeth" told that her sleep was to be of short duration. It was a
rabbinical and common custom of the time to speak of death as a sleep,
and those who laughed Jesus to scorn for His statement chose to construe
His words in a sense of such literalism as the context scarcely
warrants. It is noticeable that the Lord used a strictly equivalent
expression with respect to the death of Lazarus. "Our friend Lazarus
sleepeth," said He, "but I go that I may awake him out of sleep." The
literal construction placed upon these words by the apostles evoked the
plain declaration "Lazarus is dead" (John 11:11, 14). In the Talmud
death is repeatedly designated as sleep--hundreds of times says
Lightfoot, a recognized authority on Hebrew literature.

8. Why Did Jesus Make Inquiries?--We have already considered many
instances of Christ's possession of what man would call superhuman
knowledge