rent: Genesis 37:29, Genesis 37:34; Numbers 14:6; 2 Samuel 13:31; Ezra 9:3-5; Esther 4:1; Job 1:20; Acts 14:14
fell: Numbers 16:22, Numbers 16:45; 2 Samuel 12:16
until the eventide: Judges 20:23, Judges 20:26, Judges 21:2; 2 Samuel 1:12
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 note on 1 Samuel 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 Samuel 13:19, and in Nehemiah 9:1, when a whole nation, "assembled with fasting, and with sackcloth, and earth upon them." In the case of Mordecai, see note on Esther 4:1. See note on Job 2:12, where his friends abased themselves to comfort him. See note on Ezekiel 27:30, see note on Jonah 3:6, and see note on Micah 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.