Ashes: 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).