ashes, dust, earth, ground, morter, powder, rubbish

“Ashes” From Boyd’s Bible Dictionary:

To sprinkle with or sit in ashes, marked humiliation, grief, and penitence (Gen. 18:2727And Abraham answered and said, Behold now, I have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord, which am but dust and ashes: (Genesis 18:27); 2 Sam. 13:1919And Tamar put ashes on her head, and rent her garment of divers colors that was on her, and laid her hand on her head, and went on crying. (2 Samuel 13:19); Esth. 4:33And in every province, whithersoever the king's commandment and his decree came, there was great mourning among the Jews, and fasting, and weeping, and wailing; and many lay in sackcloth and ashes. (Esther 4:3); Job 2:88And he took him a potsherd to scrape himself withal; and he sat down among the ashes. (Job 2:8); Jer. 6:2626O daughter of my people, gird thee with sackcloth, and wallow thyself in ashes: make thee mourning, as for an only son, most bitter lamentation: for the spoiler shall suddenly come upon us. (Jeremiah 6:26); Lam. 3:1616He hath also broken my teeth with gravel stones, he hath covered me with ashes. (Lamentations 3:16); Matt. 11:2121Woe unto thee, Chorazin! woe unto thee, Bethsaida! for if the mighty works, which were done in you, had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. (Matthew 11:21)). The altar ashes, when a red heifer was sacrificed, were watered and used for purifying the unclean (Num. 19:17-2217And for an unclean person they shall take of the ashes of the burnt heifer of purification for sin, and running water shall be put thereto in a vessel: 18And a clean person shall take hyssop, and dip it in the water, and sprinkle it upon the tent, and upon all the vessels, and upon the persons that were there, and upon him that touched a bone, or one slain, or one dead, or a grave: 19And the clean person shall sprinkle upon the unclean on the third day, and on the seventh day: and on the seventh day he shall purify himself, and wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and shall be clean at even. 20But the man that shall be unclean, and shall not purify himself, that soul shall be cut off from among the congregation, because he hath defiled the sanctuary of the Lord: the water of separation hath not been sprinkled upon him; he is unclean. 21And it shall be a perpetual statute unto them, that he that sprinkleth the water of separation shall wash his clothes; and he that toucheth the water of separation shall be unclean until even. 22And whatsoever the unclean person toucheth shall be unclean; and the soul that toucheth it shall be unclean until even. (Numbers 19:17‑22)).

“Dust” From Boyd’s Bible Dictionary:

(storm breath). Symbol of mourning (Josh. 7:66And Joshua rent his clothes, and fell to the earth upon his face before the ark of the Lord until the eventide, he and the elders of Israel, and put dust upon their heads. (Joshua 7:6); Isa. 47:11Come down, and sit in the dust, O virgin daughter of Babylon, sit on the ground: there is no throne, O daughter of the Chaldeans: for thou shalt no more be called tender and delicate. (Isaiah 47:1)); feebleness (Gen. 18:2727And Abraham answered and said, Behold now, I have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord, which am but dust and ashes: (Genesis 18:27); Job 30:1919He hath cast me into the mire, and I am become like dust and ashes. (Job 30:19)); countless numbers (Gen. 13:1616And I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth: so that if a man can number the dust of the earth, then shall thy seed also be numbered. (Genesis 13:16)); low condition (1 Sam. 2:88He raiseth up the poor out of the dust, and lifteth up the beggar from the dunghill, to set them among princes, and to make them inherit the throne of glory: for the pillars of the earth are the Lord's, and he hath set the world upon them. (1 Samuel 2:8)); rage (2 Sam. 16:1313And as David and his men went by the way, Shimei went along on the hill's side over against him, and cursed as he went, and threw stones at him, and cast dust. (2 Samuel 16:13); Acts 22:2323And as they cried out, and cast off their clothes, and threw dust into the air, (Acts 22:23)); renunciation (Matt. 10:1414And whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear your words, when ye depart out of that house or city, shake off the dust of your feet. (Matthew 10:14); Mark 6:1111And whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear you, when ye depart thence, shake off the dust under your feet for a testimony against them. Verily I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrha in the day of judgment, than for that city. (Mark 6:11); Acts 13:5151But they shook off the dust of their feet against them, and came unto Iconium. (Acts 13:51)). A sand storm (Deut. 28:2424The Lord shall make the rain of thy land powder and dust: from heaven shall it come down upon thee, until thou be destroyed. (Deuteronomy 28:24)).

“Mortar” From Boyd’s Bible Dictionary:

“Ashes” From Concise Bible Dictionary:

 
Ashes, mostly from burnt wood, were used as a sign of sorrow or mourning, either put on the head (2 Sam. 13:1919And Tamar put ashes on her head, and rent her garment of divers colors that was on her, and laid her hand on her head, and went on crying. (2 Samuel 13:19)), or on the body with sackcloth (Esther 4:11When Mordecai perceived all that was done, Mordecai rent his clothes, and put on sackcloth with ashes, and went out into the midst of the city, and cried with a loud and a bitter cry; (Esther 4:1); Jer. 6:2626O daughter of my people, gird thee with sackcloth, and wallow thyself in ashes: make thee mourning, as for an only son, most bitter lamentation: for the spoiler shall suddenly come upon us. (Jeremiah 6:26); Lam. 3:1616He hath also broken my teeth with gravel stones, he hath covered me with ashes. (Lamentations 3:16); Matt. 11:2121Woe unto thee, Chorazin! woe unto thee, Bethsaida! for if the mighty works, which were done in you, had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. (Matthew 11:21); Luke 10:1313Woe unto thee, Chorazin! woe unto thee, Bethsaida! for if the mighty works had been done in Tyre and Sidon, which have been done in you, they had a great while ago repented, sitting in sackcloth and ashes. (Luke 10:13)); or strewn on a couch on which to lie (Esther 4:33And in every province, whithersoever the king's commandment and his decree came, there was great mourning among the Jews, and fasting, and weeping, and wailing; and many lay in sackcloth and ashes. (Esther 4:3); Isa. 58:55Is it such a fast that I have chosen? a day for a man to afflict his soul? is it to bow down his head as a bulrush, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? wilt thou call this a fast, and an acceptable day to the Lord? (Isaiah 58:5); Jonah 3:66For word came unto the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, and he laid his robe from him, and covered him with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. (Jonah 3:6)). To eat ashes expresses great sorrow (Psa. 102:99For I have eaten ashes like bread, and mingled my drink with weeping, (Psalm 102:9)); and to be reduced to them is a figure of complete destruction (Ezek. 28:1818Thou hast defiled thy sanctuaries by the multitude of thine iniquities, by the iniquity of thy traffic; therefore will I bring forth a fire from the midst of thee, it shall devour thee, and I will bring thee to ashes upon the earth in the sight of all them that behold thee. (Ezekiel 28:18); Mal. 4:33And ye shall tread down the wicked; for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I shall do this, saith the Lord of hosts. (Malachi 4:3)); to feed on them tells of the vanities with which the soul may be occupied (Isa. 44:2020He feedeth on ashes: a deceived heart hath turned him aside, that he cannot deliver his soul, nor say, Is there not a lie in my right hand? (Isaiah 44:20)). “Dust and ashes” was the figure Abraham used of himself before Jehovah (Gen. 18:2727And Abraham answered and said, Behold now, I have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord, which am but dust and ashes: (Genesis 18:27)); and Job said he had become like them by the hand of God (Job 30:1919He hath cast me into the mire, and I am become like dust and ashes. (Job 30:19)). For the ashes of the Red Heifer see HEIFER.

“Mortar” From Concise Bible Dictionary:

 
Stone Mortar and Pestle
The monuments of Egypt show that anciently, as now, stone mortars with stone pestles were used for pounding hard seeds. The manna was ground in mills or beaten in a mortar (Num. 11:88And the people went about, and gathered it, and ground it in mills, or beat it in a mortar, and baked it in pans, and made cakes of it: and the taste of it was as the taste of fresh oil. (Numbers 11:8)). Though by this means the seeds were pounded very small, yet even such treatment would not cure a fool of his folly: it shows the incorrigible nature of him who despises wisdom and instruction (Prov. 27:2222Though thou shouldest bray a fool in a mortar among wheat with a pestle, yet will not his foolishness depart from him. (Proverbs 27:22)).

“Eared, Earing” From Concise Bible Dictionary:

 
Plowing Scene in Palestine (1910-1920)

Strong’s Dictionary of Hebrew Words:

Number:
6083 (find all occurrences in KJV Bible)
Transliteration:
`aphar
Phonic:
aw-fawr’
Meaning:
from 6080; dust (as powdered or gray); hence, clay, earth, mud
KJV Usage:
ashes, dust, earth, ground, morter, powder, rubbish