In the book of Job, the title character spends time mourning atop an ash heap after his his children have been killed and his livelihood taken away. When Jonah gives a half-hearted effort at telling the people of Nineveh, ‘Your sins are going to end you,’ they do a public penance by putting sackcloth and ashes on everyone, including the animals.” “There’s a bit of exaggeration going on in Jonah. “With penance, the most famous example is the book of Jonah,” Hughes Huff said. In the Old Testament, ashes are a symbol of mourning, death and penance, Hughes Huff said. Bernard’s School of Theology and Ministry in Pittsford. Ashes also figure into the Old Testament books of Job and Jonah, noted Charles Hughes Huff, assistant professor of sacred Scripture at St. One of those stories is that of Daniel, who turned to God “in prayer and petition, with fasting, sackcloth and ashes” (Daniel 9:3). “In the Old Testament, there are stories everywhere about the use of ashes.” “The church has used ashes for a long time, since the beginning, as sort of an outward sign of humility, penance, mortality,” Deacon Schott said.
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