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Ashes, mostly from burnt wood, were used as a sign of sorrow or mourning, either put on the head, 2 Sam. 13: 19, or on the body with sackcloth, Esther 4: 1; Jer. 6: 26; Lam. 3: 16; Matt. 11: 21; Luke 10:
13; or strewn on a couch on which to lie, Esther 4: 3; Isa. 58: 5; Jonah 3: 6. To eat ashes expresses great sorrow, Ps. 102: 9; and to be reduced to them is a figure of complete destruction, Ezek. 28: 18; Malachi 4: 3; to feed on them tells of the vanities with which the soul may be occupied. Isa. 44: 20. 'Dust and ashes' was the figure Abraham used of himself before Jehovah, Gen. 18: 27; and Job said he had become like them by the hand of God. Job 30: 19. For the ashes of the Red Heifer see HEIFER.