Bible Dictionary · A
Ashes
The ashes of a red heifer burned entire (Num 19:5) when sprinkled on the unclean made them ceremonially clean (Heb 9:13).
To cover the head with ashes was a token of self-abhorrence and humiliation (2 Sam 13:19; Esth 4:3; Jer 6:26, etc.).
To feed on ashes (Isa 44:20), means to seek that which will prove to be vain and unsatisfactory, and hence it denotes the unsatisfactory nature of idol-worship. (Comp. Hos 12:1).
From Easton’s Bible Dictionary (1897), by Matthew George Easton.
