Neither shall men tear themselves,.... Either their flesh, or their clothes: or, "stretch out" y; that is, their hands, and clap them together, and wring them, as persons in great distress do: or "divide", or "break", or "deal unto them" z; that is, bread, as at their funeral feasts. Thus the Septuagint version, neither shall bread be broken in their mourning; and to the same sense the Targum; so the word is used in Isaiah 63:7, a practice that obtained among the Heathens; see Deuteronomy 26:14 and now with the Jews, as it seems: which they did
for them in mourning, to comfort them for the dead; they used to carry or send food to the surviving relations, and went and ate with them, in order to comfort them for the loss of their friends; but this now would not be done, not because an Heathenish custom, but because they would have no heart nor leisure for it: see Ezekiel 24:17.
Neither shall men give them the cup of consolation to drink for their father or for their mother: not give them a cup of good liquor to comfort and cheer their spirits, overwhelmed with sorrow, on account of the death of a father or mother; which was wont to be done, but now should be omitted; the calamity would be so great, and so universal, that there would be none to do such offices as these; see Proverbs 31:6.
y ולא יפרסו "et non expandent, [sub.] manus suas", Vatablus, Montanus; "extendent", Pagninus, Calvin. So Kimchi and Ben Melech. z "Non divident", Tigurine version; "neque impertientur, [sub.] cibum", Junius Tremellius "partientur panem", Piscator; "neque cibum dabunt", Schmidt. So Jarchi, Joseph Kimchi, and Abarbinel.