Several religious ceremonies, and some symbolical ones, anciently
depended upon the use of ashes. To repent in sackcloth and ashes, or, as
an external sign of self-affliction for sin, or of suffering under some
misfortune, to sit in ashes, are expressions common in Scripture. “I am
but dust and ashes,” exclaims Abraham before the Lord, Gen. xviii, 27;
indicating a deep sense of his own meanness in comparison with God. God
threatens to shower down dust and ashes on the lands instead of rain,
Deut. xxviii, 24; thereby to make them barren instead of blessing them,
to dry them up instead of watering them. Tamar, after the injury she had
received from Amnon, covered her head with ashes, 2 Sam. xiii, 19. The
Psalmist, in great sorrow, says poetically, he had “eaten ashes as it
were bread,” Psalm cii, 9; that is, he sat on ashes, he threw ashes on
his head; and his food, his bread, was sprinkled with the ashes
wherewith he was himself covered. So Jeremiah introduces Jerusalem
saying, “The Lord hath covered me with ashes,” Lamentations iii, 16.
Sitting on ashes, or lying down among ashes, was a token of extreme
grief. We find it adopted by Job, ii, 8; by many Jews when in great
fear, Esther iv, 3; and by the king of Nineveh, Jonah iii, 6. He arose
from his throne, laid aside his robe, covered himself with sackcloth,
and sat in ashes. This token of affliction is illustrated by Homer’s
description of old Laertes grieving for the absence of his son,
“Sleeping in the apartment where the slaves slept, in the ashes, near
the fire.” Compare Jer. vi, 26, “Daughter of my people, wallow thyself
in ashes.” There was a sort of ley and lustral water, made with the
ashes of the heifer sacrificed on the great day of expiation; these
ashes were distributed to the people, and used in purifications, by
sprinkling, to such as had touched a dead body, or had been present at
funerals, Num. xix, 17.
depended upon the use of ashes. To repent in sackcloth and ashes, or, as
an external sign of self-affliction for sin, or of suffering under some
misfortune, to sit in ashes, are expressions common in Scripture. “I am
but dust and ashes,” exclaims Abraham before the Lord, Gen. xviii, 27;
indicating a deep sense of his own meanness in comparison with God. God
threatens to shower down dust and ashes on the lands instead of rain,
Deut. xxviii, 24; thereby to make them barren instead of blessing them,
to dry them up instead of watering them. Tamar, after the injury she had
received from Amnon, covered her head with ashes, 2 Sam. xiii, 19. The
Psalmist, in great sorrow, says poetically, he had “eaten ashes as it
were bread,” Psalm cii, 9; that is, he sat on ashes, he threw ashes on
his head; and his food, his bread, was sprinkled with the ashes
wherewith he was himself covered. So Jeremiah introduces Jerusalem
saying, “The Lord hath covered me with ashes,” Lamentations iii, 16.
Sitting on ashes, or lying down among ashes, was a token of extreme
grief. We find it adopted by Job, ii, 8; by many Jews when in great
fear, Esther iv, 3; and by the king of Nineveh, Jonah iii, 6. He arose
from his throne, laid aside his robe, covered himself with sackcloth,
and sat in ashes. This token of affliction is illustrated by Homer’s
description of old Laertes grieving for the absence of his son,
“Sleeping in the apartment where the slaves slept, in the ashes, near
the fire.” Compare Jer. vi, 26, “Daughter of my people, wallow thyself
in ashes.” There was a sort of ley and lustral water, made with the
ashes of the heifer sacrificed on the great day of expiation; these
ashes were distributed to the people, and used in purifications, by
sprinkling, to such as had touched a dead body, or had been present at
funerals, Num. xix, 17.