Topical Encyclopedia
In the biblical context, ashes hold significant symbolic meaning, often representing themes of mourning, repentance, and humility. Throughout the Scriptures, ashes are frequently associated with expressions of deep sorrow and contrition before God.
Mourning and Grief: Ashes are commonly used in the Bible as a symbol of mourning and grief. In the Old Testament, individuals would sit in ashes or sprinkle them upon their heads as a public display of their sorrow. For instance, in the book of Job, after experiencing profound personal loss, Job "sat among the ashes" (
Job 2:8) as a sign of his deep mourning. Similarly, in
Esther 4:1, when Mordecai learned of the decree to destroy the Jews, he "tore his clothes, put on sackcloth and ashes, and went out into the city, wailing loudly and bitterly" .
Repentance and Humility: Ashes also symbolize repentance and humility before God. In the book of Jonah, the people of Nineveh, upon hearing Jonah's message of impending judgment, proclaimed a fast and "put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them to the least" (
Jonah 3:5). The king of Nineveh himself "rose from his throne, took off his royal robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes" (
Jonah 3:6) as an act of repentance. This use of ashes signifies a turning away from sin and a humble acknowledgment of one's need for God's mercy.
Ritual Purity and Cleansing: In the ceremonial laws of the Old Testament, ashes also play a role in rituals of purification.
Numbers 19 describes the use of the ashes of a red heifer in the water of cleansing, which was used to purify those who had become ceremonially unclean through contact with a dead body. This ritual underscores the concept of ashes as a means of purification and restoration to a state of holiness.
Symbol of Destruction and Judgment: Ashes can also represent destruction and judgment. In
Genesis 18:27, Abraham, interceding for Sodom, acknowledges his own mortality and insignificance by saying, "I am but dust and ashes" . This acknowledgment reflects the transient nature of human life and the ultimate judgment that awaits all creation.
New Testament References: In the New Testament, the imagery of ashes continues to convey themes of repentance and humility. Jesus references the practice in
Matthew 11:21, saying, "Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes" . This statement highlights the expectation of genuine repentance in response to divine revelation.
Overall, ashes in the Bible serve as a powerful symbol of human frailty, the need for repentance, and the hope of purification and redemption through God's grace.
Smith's Bible Dictionary
AshesThe ashes on the altar of burnt offering were gathered into a cavity in its surface. The ashes of a red heifer burnt entire, according to regulations prescribed in Numb. 19, had the ceremonial efficacy of purifying the unclean, (Hebrews 9:13) but of polluting the clean. [SACRIFICE] Ashes about the person, especially on the head, were used as a sign of sorrow. [MOURNING]
ATS Bible Dictionary
AshesTo repent in sackcloth and ashes, or to lie down among ashes, was an external sign of self-affliction for sin, or of grief under misfortune. We find it adopted by Job,Job 2:8; by many Jews when in great fear,Esther 4:3; and by the king of Nineveh,Jonah 3:6. The ashes of a red heifer were used in ceremonial purification,Numbers 19:1-22.
Easton's Bible Dictionary
The ashes of a red heifer burned entire (
Numbers 19:5) when sprinkled on the unclean made them ceremonially clean (
Hebrews 9:13).
To cover the head with ashes was a token of self-abhorrence and humiliation (2 Samuel 13:19;Esther 4:3;Jeremiah 6:26, etc.).
To feed on ashes (Isaiah 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.Hosea 12:1).
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary
1. (
n. pl.) The earthy or mineral particles of combustible substances remaining after combustion, as of wood or coal.
2. (n. pl.) Specifically: The remains of the human body when burnt, or when returned to dust by natural decay.
3. (n. pl.) The color of ashes; deathlike paleness.
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
ASHESash'-iz: Among the ancient Hebrews and other Orientals, to sprinkle with or sit in ashes was a mark or token of grief, humiliation, or penitence. Ashes on the head was one of the ordinary signs of mourning for the dead, as when "Tamar put ashes on her head. and went on crying" (2 Samuel 13:19 the King James Version), and of national humiliation, as when the children of Israel were assembled under Nehemiah "with fasting, and with sackcloth, and earth (ashes) upon them" (Nehemiah 9:1), and when the people of Nineveh repented in sackcloth and ashes at the preaching of Jonah (Jonah 3:5, 6; compare 1 Maccabees 3:47). The afflicted or penitent often sat in ashes (compareJob 2:8;Job 42:6: "I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes"), or even wallowed in ashes, as Jeremiah exhorted sinning Israel to do: "O daughter of my people. wallow thyself in ashes" (Jeremiah 6:26), or as Ezekiel in his lamentation for Tyre pictures her mariners as doing, crying bitterly and `casting up dust upon their heads' and `wallowing themselves in the ashes' (in their weeping for her whose head was lifted up and become corrupted because of her beauty), "in bitterness of soul with bitter mourning" (Ezekiel 27:30, 31). However, these and various other modes of expressing grief, repentance, and humiliation among the Hebrews, such as rending the garments, tearing the hair and the like, were not of Divine appointment, but were simply the natural outbursts of the impassioned oriental temperament, and are still customary among eastern peoples.
Figurative: The term "ashes" is often used to signify worthlessness, insignificance or evanescence (Genesis 18:27Job 30:19). "Proverbs of ashes," for instance, inJob 13:12, is Job's equivalent, says one writer, for our modern "rot." For the ritual use of the ashes of the Red Heifer by the priests, see RED HEIFER.
George B. Eager
Greek
5077. tephroo -- to burn toashes... to burn to
ashes. Part of Speech: Verb Transliteration: tephroo Phonetic Spelling:
(tef-ro'-o) Short Definition: I reduce to
ashes Definition: I reduce to
ashes...4700. spodos --ashes
... spodos. 4701 .ashes. Part of Speech: Noun, Feminine Transliteration: spodos Phonetic
Spelling: (spod-os') Short Definition:ashes Definition:ashes....
Strong's Hebrew
665. epher --ashes... 664, 665. epher. 666 .
ashes. Transliteration: epher Phonetic Spelling:
(ay'-fer) Short Definition:
ashes. Word Origin from an unused
...1880. deshen -- fatness,ashes of fat
... 1879, 1880. deshen. 1881 . fatness,ashes of fat. Transliteration: deshen
Phonetic Spelling: (deh'-shen) Short Definition:ashes....
1878. dashen -- to be fat, grow fat
... 1), become greasy (1), become prosperous (1), find your acceptable (1), made fat
(1), prosper (1), prosperous (1), puts fat (1), removing itsashes (1), sated...
6368. piach -- soot
...ashes. From puwach; a powder (as easily puffed away), ieAshes or dust --ashes.
see HEBREW puwach. 6367, 6368. piach. 6369 . Strong's Numbers.
6083. aphar -- dry earth, dust
... Word Origin from an unused word Definition dry earth, dust NASB Word Usageashes
(2), debris (2), dirt (1), dry soil (1), dust (91), dusty (1), earth (5...
666. apher -- a covering, bandage
...ashes. From the same as 'epher (in the sense of covering); a turban --ashes.
see HEBREW 'epher. 665, 666. apher. 667 . Strong's Numbers.
Library
Feeding onAshes
... FEEDING ONASHES. 'He feedeth onashes: a deceived... for all that. He asserts
that idolatry is empty, a feeding onashes. He declares, in...
Beauty forAshes
... Beauty forAshes. A Sermon (No.1016). Delivered by. CH SPURGEON,. At the
Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington. "To appoint unto them that...
Whether theAshes from which the Human Body Will be Restored have...
... OF THE TERM "WHEREFROM" OF THE RESURRECTION (THREE ARTICLES) Whether theashes from
which the human body will be restored have any natural inclination towards...
Whether all Will Rise Again fromAshes?
... OF THE TERM "WHEREFROM" OF THE RESURRECTION (THREE ARTICLES) Whether all will rise
again fromashes?... Therefore neither will all rise again fromashes....
Whether theAshes of the Human Body must Needs, by the...
... OF THE CONDITIONS OF THOSE WHO RISE AGAIN, AND FIRST OF THEIR IDENTITY (THREE ARTICLES)
Whether theashes of the human body must needs, by the resurrection...
M. Luther. The Martyrs'Ashes.
... VIII. VARIOUS OCCASIONS. 428. 6s. M. Luther. The Martyrs'Ashes. 1 Flung
to the heedless winds, Or on the waters cast, Theirashes...
The Preaching of Nature.
... I read the other day that lately a workman, employed in some excavations at Rome,
found a funeral urn containing theashes of one of the Caesars....
Access into Grace
... in the New Testament is like a dying brand in the fire, where the little kernel
of glowing heat is getting covered thicker and thicker with greyashes....
Of Two Degrees of Perfection with which this Commandment May be...
... And as a phoenix newly hatched from out itsashes, having as yet but little, tender
feathers and its first down, can only essay short flights, in which it...
St. Ambrose Gives Additional Rules Concerning Repentance, and...
... field which we possess, and imitate those hard-working farmers, who are not ashamed
to satiate the land with rich dung and to scatter the grimyashes over the...
Thesaurus
Ashes (44 Occurrences)... Easton's Bible Dictionary The
ashes of a red heifer burned entire (Numbers 19:5)
when sprinkled on the unclean made them ceremonially clean (Hebrews 9:13).
...Leach (1 Occurrence)
... 2. (n.) A quantity of woodashes, through which water passes, and thus imbibes
the alkali. 3. (n.) A tub or vat for leachingashes, bark, etc....
Ash (4 Occurrences)
... 3. (n.) sing. ofAshes. 4. (vt) To strew or sprinkle withashes. Int. Standard Bible
Encyclopedia. ASH (1).... Where theashes are poured out it shall be burned....
Soap (4 Occurrences)
... Easton's Bible Dictionary (Jeremiah 2:22; Malachi 3:2; Hebrews borith), properly
a vegetable alkali, obtained from theashes of certain plants, particularly...
Ceremonially (38 Occurrences)
... Hebrews 9:13 For if the blood of goats and bulls and theashes of a heifer sprinkling
those who have contracted defilement make them holy so as to bring about...
Red (124 Occurrences)
... In Numbers 19 a rite is described in which theashes of a "red heifer" and of certain
objects are mixed with running water to obtain the so-called "water for...
Sackcloth (47 Occurrences)
... For if the mighty works had been done in Tyre and Sidon which were done in you,
they would have repented long ago in sackcloth andashes....
Wallow (5 Occurrences)
... ASV WBS NAS RSV NIV). Jeremiah 6:26 Daughter of my people, gird yourself
with sackcloth, and wallow inashes! Mourn, as for an only...
Reduced (16 Occurrences)
... 2 Peter 2:6 He reduced toashes the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, and condemned
them to overthrow, making them an example to people who might in future be...
Sprinkling (48 Occurrences)
... cleansing. The water of separation consisted of theashes of a red heifer
(slain for the purpose) mixed with running water (Numbers 19)....
Resources
What is the meaning of sackcloth and ashes? | GotQuestions.orgWhat does it mean that Job repented in dust and ashes? | GotQuestions.orgWhat is the significance of a red heifer in the Bible? Is a red heifer a sign of the end times? | GotQuestions.orgAshes: Dictionary and Thesaurus | Clyx.comBible Concordance •
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