Still more evidence of shaving as mourning ritual

Both Kedoshim and Emor discuss prohibitions of shaving, and those prohibitions are in context of carving into the flesh, and in context of dealing with the death of relatives. Thus, Ibn Ezra and Shadal say that on a peshat level it refers to a prohibition on shaving as a mourning ritual. (See here and here.) This post is the latest in the series, with further evidence that shaving could be regarded as such in the ancient world.

In the first perek of Iyov, after hearing of the destruction of his wealth and the death of his children, Iyov has the following reaction.

כ וַיָּקָם אִיּוֹב וַיִּקְרַע אֶת מְעִלוֹ, וַיָּגָז אֶת רֹאשׁוֹ; וַיִּפֹּל אַרְצָה, וַיִּשְׁתָּחוּ.	20 Then Job arose, and rent his mantle, and shaved his head, and fell down upon the ground, and worshipped;
כא וַיֹּאמֶר עָרֹם יָצָתִי מִבֶּטֶן אִמִּי, וְעָרֹם אָשׁוּב שָׁמָּה--יְהוָה נָתַן, וַיהוָה לָקָח; יְהִי שֵׁם יְהוָה, מְבֹרָךְ.	21 And he said; naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither; the LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.
כב בְּכָל זֹאת, לֹא חָטָא אִיּוֹב; וְלֹא נָתַן תִּפְלָה, לֵאלֹהִים.	22 For all this Job sinned not, nor ascribed aught unseemly to God.

Tearing his mantle is surely a sign of sorrow. So is shaving his head. I would translate וַיִּפֹּל אַרְצָה וַיִּשְׁתָּחוּ similarly, not as above as falling on the ground and worshiping, but falling on the ground and laying prostrate. And all the above as a sign of mourning. Compare Moshe's reaction in the midbar while being challenged. But certainly the removal of hair here is mourning.

Rashi says similarly here in Iyov. He writes:

tore: Heb. ויגז, tore out, as in (Jer. 7:29), “Tear out (גזי) your hair for your great men,” which Jonathan renders: תלישה tear out, and like (Ps. 71: 6) “From my mother’s womb You pull me (גוזי) ,” pull me.

Indeed, look at Yirmeyahu 7:29:

כט גָּזִּי נִזְרֵךְ וְהַשְׁלִיכִי, וּשְׂאִי עַל-שְׁפָיִם קִינָה: כִּי מָאַס יְהוָה, וַיִּטֹּשׁ אֶת-דּוֹר עֶבְרָתוֹ.

29 Cut off thy hair, and cast it away, and take up a lamentation on the high hills; for the LORD hath rejected and forsaken the generation of His wrath.

Even without Rashi, the context of lamentations shows that it is mourning, but Rashi there writes:

So tear off your diadem: Heb. נזרך גזי, tear out your hair. Comp. (Num. 11:31) “And He caused quails to fly (ויגז) ” ; also (Job 1:20), “And he shaved (ויגז) his head.” Another explanation is that נזרך means ‘your diadem,’ an expression of greatness, and so did Jonathan render: רברביך your great ones, and so did Menahem classify it (p. 83).