“Sackcloth is a coarse, black cloth made from goat’s hair” and the ashes were real ashes from burnt wood. Jews really wore them, a messy and uncomfortable business.
Why would a group so devoted to cleanliness and the correct clothing for worship permit themselves to become ragged and dirty as a matter of worship?
Examples of Sackcloth and Ashes in the Bible
When his older sons told the tale that Joseph had been killed by wild animals, “Jacob tore his garments and put sackcloth on his loins and mourned for his son many days” (Genesis 37:4).
After reading God’s Word spoken through Jeremiah, Daniel saw that Jerusalem would have to wait a long time for their “desolations” to end. “I turned my face to the Lord God, seeking him by prayer and pleas for mercy with fasting and sackcloth and ashes” (Daniel 9:3).
“Then I turned my face to the Lord God, seeking him by prayer and pleas for mercy with fasting and sackcloth and ashes” (Daniel 9:3).
Through Jonah, God instructed the people of Nineveh: “But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and let them call out mightily to God. Let everyone turn from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands” (Jonah 3:8).
The Meaning Behind Sackcloth and Ashes
Sackcloth and ashes represented a state of the heart. They were to be employed when God’s people were seriously distressed and desperate. The examples above highlight three types of prayer where these items were used:
1. Prayers of Grief
Jacob was completely undone by the supposed death of his beloved Joseph. The news unseated him, and he could do nothing but bring his grief to the Lord in wordless mourning.
Katie Held wrote that “we must create room between a loved one’s death and our new normal to allow a grieving period. In the Old Testament, there are countless examples of people who observed a grieving custom known as sackcloth and ashes.”
She argued that we spend too little time sitting in that state of mourning where we consider what we have lost, and we move on to the next phase. We take action against a wrong committed or we try to forget our loss. There needs to be a period of mourning set aside.
Alexander Maclaren’s view was different. Although grief is natural, the depth of Jacob’s grief, the utter despair, suggests that he forgot where his help comes from.
His grief was unrighteous, unholy. “His grief is unworthy of God's wrestler. It is not the part of a devout believer in God's providence to refuse to be comforted. There was no religious submission in his passionate sorrow. How unlike the quiet resignation which should have marked the recognition that the God who had been his guide was working here too!”
He distinguished between a natural kind of grieving and the darkness exhibited by Jacob here.
Maclaren’s words suggest that Jacob’s sackcloth and ashes might have been appropriate if he had wrestled with the Lord in his anguish. But the Bible does not suggest that he did.
Consider Psalm 44:23-24 — “Awake! Why are you sleeping, O Lord? Rouse yourself! Do not reject us forever! Why do you hide your face?”
The Psalmist takes his grief and confusion directly to the only one who can help him. The use of sackcloth and ashes, like any ritual in the Jewish world of prayer, was meant to help the supplicant explore his grief while remembering who he was in relation to the Lord.
2. Prayers of Repentance
“You were made from dust and to dust you shall return” — this was the Lord’s promise to his fallen people (Genesis 3:19). God’s wrath is real, and it should fill us with horror for many reasons.
He is all-powerful. He created us from dust, which the ashes represent. Rejecting God, even by refusing to admit that we need him, says that we forget his power and elevate ourselves.
As Vernon Pierre teaches, “We must not just be sorry about our sin but be completely shattered by our sin. Your spirit must be broken before you can get a new spirit.”
Furthermore, the God of Heaven who created mountains deigned also to reach down and touch the dust to create us, and to create good things for us. We have abused his goodness.
Jonah preached that the people of Nineveh would put on sackcloth and ashes, both literally and metaphorically.
There is something poignant about literally, deliberately taking this uncomfortable step. Putting on sackcloth and ashes represents the genuineness of Nineveh’s humility and grief over their sin.
Or one might even argue that putting them on enabled some of those who did not feel humbled and remorseful at first to be genuinely moved.
Dan Stegeman explained, “Only when we realize that we have offended a holy and righteous God and that our sins are piled as high as the sky, can we truly come to God in faith.” To see this “pile” should be shocking and spark anguish for having rejected and angered God.
Grief over our own personal sin is a part of repentance or turning away from sin. A repentant heart goes around in “sackcloth and ashes” for a time, before casting them off to fully recognize and enjoy the exultant love of the Father.
3. Prayers of Supplication
Daniel had observed the distress of Israel, and he realized that Israel was responsible for it. “As it is written in the Law of Moses, all this calamity has come upon us; yet we have not entreated the favor of the Lord our God, turning from our iniquities and gaining insight by your truth” (Daniel 9:13).
We pray for many things, but some prayers weigh more heavily on our hearts than others. An example is a prayer such as Daniel’s.
He was not only praying for himself, but he was also interceding for the nation of Israel. “To you, O Lord, belongs righteousness, but to us open shame, as at this day, to the men of Judah, to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and to all Israel” (9:7).
Mordecai and the people of Israel wore sackcloths and ashes when Haman’s decree of annihilation was announced. Jacob did the same when his son was supposedly devoured by wild beasts.
But were they praying, or were they merely lamenting? This is not always obvious. We infer that these men were crying out to God about their pain.
But Daniel combined mourning and confession to create a sublime prayer that is simultaneously humble and bold.
He epitomizes the Christian spirit of generosity with the humble awareness of a sinner who needs salvation, counting himself among the rest of the nation, even though we often look to him as an excellent example of what it means to walk in faith.
Wearing sackcloth and ashes, in his case, brings his obedience to the fore.
Free to Pray
Paul wrote, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:6-7).
We can pray to the Lord today, repent of sin, and not fear retribution or wrath thanks to Christ’s work on the cross. Yet there is something in the picture of sackcloth and ashes that might move us to ask: are we really humbled by our need?
Are we truly repentant? Do we realize that the Lord is on the throne, and we are his subjects? That picture of humility still has the power to soften a heart that is obedient to God.
For further reading:
Does 'Ashes to Ashes, Dust to Dust’ Have Biblical Origin and Meaning?
What Does it Mean That There Will Be Beauty for Ashes?
What Does it Look Like to Deal with Grief?
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