Put on sackcloth, my people,
and
roll in ashes;
mourn with bitter wailing
as
for an only son,
for suddenly the destroyer
will
come upon us. Jeremiah 6:26
Repentance in
ancient times was more than just saying someone was sorry. Their sorrow was not just a mental exercise,
but an emotional and physical exercise.
When a person repented, their whole body responded.
A person
repented, back then, through self-inflicted punishment. Wearing sackcloth (an itchy, scratchy wool)
irritated the skin, reminding the person of their sin. Rolling in ashes symbolized death as the
person paid for their sin by reminding themselves they deserved death.
Wearing
sackcloth and being covered in ashes made your sin public, announcing to the
world that you did something very wrong and you were paying for it.
Could this
exercise be purely for histrionics, a show with no heart? Sure, but how many of us would wear a shirt
that said, “I sinned and I’m sorry” and shave our head. Few of us because we prefer to keep our guilt
private. You have to admire the public
display of repentance. To some extent,
the person would have to mean it to go to such great lengths.