Ashes

Ashes in Scripture carry both ritual and symbolic significance. Ritually, the ashes of the red heifer mixed with water formed the purification solution for removing corpse-contamination (Numbers 19:5, 9), a practice the New Testament references as a type of the cleansing power of Christ's blood (Hebrews 9:13). Symbolically, sitting in ashes or wearing ashes on the head is one of the primary expressions of grief, mourning, and penitence in both Testaments (2 Samuel 13:19; Esther 4:3; Jeremiah 6:26; Matthew 11:21). The phrase dust and ashes (Genesis 18:27; Job 30:19) expresses human frailty before God.