No one really knows the beginning of the peculiar history of Lachrymatories. The legend of these little tear bottles has ebbed and flowed through the ages as a symbol of grief and distress. From time to time they will capture the popular imagination and then flow back into obscurity with very little notice.
First mentioned in writing by King David in Psalm 56,
“You have kept count of my tossing; put my tears in Your bottle, are they not in Your book?” (Ps. 56:8)
This mention seems to indicate that his reader would quickly understand what David was referring to. They must have had some level of popularity during David’s reign.
From there, they swayed into historical obscurity until the Roman Empire 1,000 years later, when Jesus walked the earth. Archeologist have found many bottles from this time period in tombs throughout the Roman Empire. Loved ones would catch their tears in these little clay vessels, cap them and throw them into the tomb of their loved ones.
They were meant as symbols of how much a person was loved and were physical manifestations of grief. Many times the people with means would hire professional mourners adept at shedding many tears to produce many symbols of “love” for the common folk to see. Basically, a very sweet, genuine tradition became corrupted by people seeking status.
Then the tradition, just like many other traditions, seemed to fade into obscurity during the Dark Ages until the 1800s. During the Victorian Period, which started around 1830 and stretched until the end of the century, there was a fascination with antiquity from the great archeological findings as well as an obsession with death. This was the time that many of the tombs of ancient Egyptian pharaohs were being discovered.
During this period in an upscale funeral, lachrymatories would be handed out to the guests to catch their tears. They would also be given special caps for the glass see-through bottles, and as the tradition goes, the official grieving period for the deceased would end when the tears evaporated.
During the Civil War (1861-1865) the tear bottle took on new popularity as thousands of soldiers left newly married wives to fight. There are stories of soldiers leaving wives with a bottle that they hoped would be full upon their return. There are also stories of wives shipping full bottles to their husbands on the battle field as a testament to their being missed. These tear bottles also made their way into the literature of the day as a symbol of personal sorrow. And, in America, the Civil War period was filled with sorrow.
Today, these little bottles are mere ornaments and decoration without much of a practical function. We don’t receive tear bottles at funerals anymore. Soldiers don’t give these bottles to loved ones when they are deployed. Today, they are in collections and museums and physical testaments to an interesting tidbit of history.
But for us, King David brings these little tear catchers out of the dusty annals of antiquity. Because David mentions them in one simple verse, we remember them.
To understand the lachrymatory is to better understand Psalm 56. What was this little bottle, and what was it used for, especially since David mentions this bottle as belonging to God?
The history illuminates the very personal relationship that God has with our sorrows. God is not distant but connected to our pain. He does not have an intellectual understanding but a very personal emotional empathy to our pain which gives the weeping of Jesus over Jerusalem more contextualization.
God is not just going through the motions. He does not tell us to just suck it up and move forward to better days. He holds our tears the way a loved one grieves over the absence of someone they love dearly.
As part of the tradition of the tear bottle, the person who possessed the bottle did not just set it on a shelf. If they possessed the bottle, it was with them. Often it hung on a string around their neck and hung just over their heart, ready to be lifted to the eye at any moment of grief.
So, God keeps our tears in his bottle. He holds them for a purpose. What is that purpose?
My belief is that God holds our tears close to himself looking forward to our spiritual growth—to a future time that our sorrow leads to deeper relationship with himself. Also, our tears are fuel or a launchpad for overcoming our obstacles and pain.
This sorrow is not happening to you. It is happening for you.
The tears are part of a time of deeper understanding and spiritual growth for a moment that God wants to use you in his plan. He holds these tears as memories.
But, also for a reunion in a sense. The reason I say a reunion is because when we are in sorrow we often feel distant from God. When you get to the other side of that sorrow, there is a sweet reunion.
Also, there is a death. Not a physical death, but the death of an old person that passed away due to spiritual growth. You are new, not the same. In this case the tears are keepsakes of an old person that needed sorrow to become a new person God could use in new and bigger ways.
In comfort, there is very little growth. Often, growth is painful and unpleasant and filled with tears. Our tendency is to believe that God is distant and un-feeling, but he is not.
Our sadness wrenches his heart as much as it wrenches ours. He knows our pain and sorrow in an intimate way.
However, God also knows the future. He knows that we will overcome. Therefore, he is not a distant observer watching the drama of our life play out like it is on a stage. He walks with us. He carries us. He makes sure that turning to him for help is a worthwhile investment.
This is how sorrow for God’s children is different from those that are not with God. Our sorrow does not lead to destruction but growth. David knew this.
Matter of fact, he was expectant of future blessing in the midst of sorrow.
We are not alone!
