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; Esther 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).