Joshua 7:6
tore <07167> [rent.]
lay ... down <05307> [fell.]
evening <06153> [until the eventide.]
threw dirt <06083 05927> [put dust.]
Rending the clothes, beating the breast, tearing the hair, throwing dust upon the head, and falling prostrate, were usual signs of deep affliction and distress among the ancient Israelites. In illustration of this custom, see 1 Sa 4:12, when the messenger brought tidings to Eli of the discomfiture of the armies of Israel by the Philistines; again, in the case of Tamar, 2 Sa 13:19, and in Ne 9:1, when a whole nation, "assembled with fasting, and with sackcloth, and earth upon them." See also the case of Mordecai, Es 4:1, and Job 2:12, where his friends abased themselves to comfort him; refer also to Eze 27:30. Jon 3:6. Mic 1:10. In each of these instances it is worthy of remark, that putting dust on the head generally follows rending of the clothes, and was the usual mode of evincing poignant sorrow.
