the Week of Proper 28 / Ordinary 33
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Bible Dictionaries
Ashes
Wilson's Dictionary of Bible Types
or Genesis 18:27 (a) By the use of this word Abraham is expressing to GOD his own utter worthlessness and lowliness as though he were not even worth any consideration from GOD.
2 Samuel 13:19 (b) Ashes on the head was typical of deep shame and mental anguish as well as repentance and sorrow.
Job 2:8 (c) The disease which afflicted Job was probably the one which we know as elephantiasis. Potash is the remedy for that disease. Job sat in the ash pile so that the potash would continually cover his limbs, and thereby he would recover.
Job 13:12 (b) These ashes represent references made by Job's comforters to the glory which he once had, but now had lost. They kept reminding him of his former position of power and wealth, which had now become a pile of ashes.
Job 42:6 (a) Job not only sat in actual ashes, but those mentioned in this passage represent also his feeling of great humility and shame. He seemed to realize his utter worthlessness before GOD. All of this sad experience and loss which he suffered he calls "ashes." (See also Jeremiah 1:1; Lamentations 3:16; Ezekiel 28:18; Daniel 9:3).
Isaiah 44:20 (b) This refers to those who had great plenty at one time but afterwards lost their wealth. They feed on their losses, they meditate on these sorrows, they talk about the tragedies in their lives, they live on the "ashes" that are left after the destruction of their former glory and wealth. Many people talk constantly of what they once were, or what they once had.
Isaiah 61:3 (b) The ashes in this passage represent the wreck of former beauty and the tragic end of former loveliness. There are those who at one time were sweet and delightful in their lives, but through calamity have been made bitter and sorrowful. When these turn back to the Lord, He restores His joy to their hearts, and His beauty to their lives.
Malachi 4:3 (b) This word is used to describe the utter and complete defeat of everything in this world that is of the Devil. The Lord will destroy the works of the Devil and will cause His people to triumph in CHRIST.
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Watson, Walter. Entry for 'Ashes'. Wilson's Dictoinary of Bible Types. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/wdt/a/ashes.html. 1957.
