Tear bottles were widely used in ancient Biblical times in the Near East and Mediterranean regions. In this article, we will explore the concept of tear bottles in the Bible, highlighting their history, significance, and whether they are relevant today.
Caption: vecteezy
What is a tear bottle?
A tear bottle, also called a tear jar or a tear cup, is a small bottle used to collect and store tears for remembrance. People often use a literal bottle, while other times, it is specially designed and comes in varying shapes and designs. Whatever the design, it is typically a small glass bottle the size of a perfume bottle.
Caption: vecteezy
Not everyone had their own tear bottle, but they were readily available in case a need arose. They were mainly used in times of grief to capture the tears of sadness as a sign of respect for the departed and in religious activities.
Quick Assessment
Why does your prayer life keep falling flat?
It's usually one of four things — and each one needs a completely different strategy to break through. This 2-minute assessment tells you exactly which pattern is blocking you.
So, it’s not a shock that the tear bottle tradition found its way into the Bible. The Bible alludes to people keeping a tear jar. Even more significantly, David, the king of Israel, claimed that Yahweh, the Creator of the universe, keeps a jar with tears with a lot of tears his people shed during painful seasons and other hard times.
We’ll get to that in a moment, but let’s first explore the history of the tear cup.
History of the tear bottle
Tear bottles go back thousands of years ago. In the Near East, archaeologists have excavated tear bottles dating back about 3000 years around burial tombs. The Romans and Greeks also upheld the tear bottle tradition.
Free Resource
Get Your FREE Prayer Guide Now
and join the Daily Way Devotional: Join 25,000+ Subscribers
It was so rooted that hiring and paying professional mourners to cry into a tear jar, which took the form of small glass vials, was normal in ancient Roman times.
Tear bottles are also thought to have been used in ancient England during the Victorian Era in the 19th century. The Victorians had elaborate grieving rituals with a distinct mourning period. The family members of the deceased person would cry into tear jars, which were called tear catchers. The mourning period ended when the tears collected in the tear catchers had evaporated completely.
Some people have disputed the Victorian Era usage of tear bottles, arguing that it was a clever ploy to ramp up tear bottle sales now that Victorian Era artifacts are a hotcake in the world today.
Tear bottles were also used during the Civil War in America. It is said that conscripted soldiers going to war would give their wives a tear jar or vial, hoping it would be full by the time they returned from war. This was to prove a wife’s devotion.
Significance of tear bottles
Let’s highlight their significance after exploring some cultures and how they used the tear battles.
Memorial
Human beings express deep emotions words cannot describe through tears, tears of joy during happy times, and tears of grief in a difficult time. One such difficult time human beings face is grief. People in the ancient world would collect tears as an external sign of mourning happening within and preserve it. The tears served as a memorial for the deceased person they honored in death.
Devotion
Talking of honor, keeping a tear bottle was a sign of devotion for the departed. That is, you love them so much to keep their memory. People would collect tears in a tear cup and leave it by the burial site as a sign of respect for the departed loved one.
Tear bottles in the Bible
The Bible talks about tears of joy and sorrow and all sorts of containers, but there is only direct mention of tears bottles. It’s captured in the beautiful words of Psalm chapter 56.
Caption: freepik
King David, a man after God’s own heart, remembers the time the Philistines captured him in Gath, the city of Goliath. The chapter starts as a sad lament. He is complaining that though He trusts God, He Has let his enemies overrun him.
Be gracious to me, O God, for man tramples on me; all day long an attacker oppresses me;2 my enemies trample on me all day long, for many attack me proudly.
Psalmas 56:1-2
Come to verse 8, he says it. He, perhaps applying what he has heard around him, asks God to put his tears in His bottle and write his name in the book of remembrance.
You have kept count of my tossings;Psalm 56:8
This changes the tone. David’s words become positive, and he encourages himself to in God.
Does God keep a tear bottle?
Does this mean God collects our tears in a literal bottle? And records all our actions in a book?
Well, maybe. We will find out for sure when we get to heaven. However, a closer look at this text indicates it is a poetic language for God’s care and remembrance.
While there may not be heavenly bottles to collect every single tear that runs down our cheeks, God sees and remembers all our tears. God sees and identifies with our pains and sorrows, having gone through the world and experienced pain, perhaps to a level none of us will ever do.
Jesus, the God-man
14 Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. 15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. 16 Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
David’s confidence stemmed from appreciating this fact. Jesus Christ, our high priest, sympathizes with our weaknesses and walks us through them. God is on our side and contends for us. Let’s approach Him with all confidence to find grace to help us in our time of need and to face life and all that it comes with. We are not alone. Let’s find comfort and solace at Jesus’ feet.
Certainly, it is a perfect gift for someone who has hit the lowest points of his life.
God, our heavenly Father, does not only handle our past and present pains, He promises to wipe away our future tears. In the fullness of time, He will unveil a new heaven and a new earth devoid of pain, sorrows, grief, and any other difficult time that gives us tears of grief.
3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. 4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”
Revelation 21:3-4
Other containers in the Bible
Apart from tear bottles, another container prominently featured in the Bible is the alabaster box. In Luke 7:36-38, we see a woman pouring expensive perfume from an alabaster box of ointment on Jesus’ feet.
What tear bottles in the Bible symbolize
Caption: freepik
We can see several symbolism from the tear bottles in the Bible, but we will highlight two.
Grief and sorrow
Firstly, it symbolizes sorrow and grief. This is because tears capture deep emotions of sorrow. Therefore, tear bottles offer a real and tangible reminder that we live in a fallen world prone to suffering of all kinds. Many of us grapple with the problem of evil, understandably so. Why would a good God allow suffering in the world?
If we stop there, we are hopeless, but there is more to it. The God who allows pain and suffering in the world also promises to walk us through it. This leads to the next point.
Faithfulness of God
The tear bottle symbolizes God’s grace, mercy, and care. Simply, the faithfulness of God. It’s a picture of God meeting people where they are at. God sees and feels our pains, and as a faithful high priest, he helps us through it all. And God does not forget, so He won’t forget you in what you are going through. You can lean on God’s grace and tap into His help, which is always available to you.
Should a Christian keep a tear bottle?
Unlike in the Victorian Era, Roman period, and some Biblical times, the use of tear bottles is almost unheard of today. You will search hard to find one. As enticing as it may sound, a believer in our world today does not need to keep a tear bottle. It outlived its purpose. See, it was simply a symbol but now we have the reality of Christ Jesus through the Holy Spirit.
Tear catchers were symbols of love and hope that in the face of grief and pain, God promises to successfully walk with us through it to the other end. Unlike the people who lived in the reality of the Old Testament of the Bible (read under the old order of things), who did not have a direct relationship with God, believers in the New Testament living under the new covenant reality have a direct relationship.
A little glass jar won’t deliver the ultimate hope. Instead of fixating on the symbol, let’s fix our gaze on Jesus. Through His divine power, He alone will uphold us through the lows of life and deliver us to the Father in one piece where we can live with Him in the new Jerusalem devoid of pain and suffering.
Conclusion
Are you going through a difficult season? Let the tears flow, you are in good company. Jesus cried when His friend Lazarus died and in the garden of Gethsemane when death was imminent. Your tears are not going to waste. Like the people of the old kept their tears in bottles for remembrance, our heavenly Father knows and sees it and will not forget it. He will walk with you, wipe your tears, and ultimately usher you into the new heaven and new earth where there will be no more sorrow.
Kendrick Ong'anya is a freelance Christian writer based in Nairobi, Kenya. As a believer in Christ, he is passionate about writing Christian content to deepen believers' faith, even while drawing those who are yet to believe into the fold. He is open to collaborating with individuals and organisations to curate blog posts, articles, devotionals, prayer guides, verse/ chapter commentary, and e-books, among other Christian content. You can follow Kendrick on Facebook.
