What were the ethics behind sprinkling stuff on their heads?

You can see in Johan as well though he just sat in ashes: 5 And the Ninevites believed God. They proclaimed a fast and dressed in sackcloth, from the greatest of them to the least.6When word reached the king of Nineveh, he got up from his throne, took off his royal robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes.

Maybe a reminder of how we are nothing, but dirt from the ground? I have no idea.

Jaxxi said:

They fasted for a day and put on mourning clothes, sprinkled ashes on their heads, and tore their garments. 1 Maccabees 3:47

So they tore their clothes and mourned with great sorrow. They sprinkled their heads with ashes 2 Maccabees 4:39

When they heard about Nicanor’s advance and the support he had from the Gentiles, the Jews sprinkled themselves with earth. They prayed to the one who had established his own people forever and who always helped them by intervening on their behalf
2 Maccabees 14:15

The young girls who had been kept secluded at home rushed out with their mothers. They sprinkled their hair with dust and began to fill the streets with weeping and groaning.
3 Maccabees 1:18

What is the reason for this?

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This was an ancient custom of repentance in the near middle east that is older than the Bible. (Being obviously well understood and established going back to the Book of Job which for the most part is the oldest book of the Bible). The Jews seem to have developed their own version of it, putting on their hair and ripping their clothes.


Their is a lot of significance to this and it touches other areas and verses of the Bible. e.g. God is depicted as being a burning fire in many places of the Bible, Isaiah sin's is atoned for by an angel placing a burning coal on his lips in chapter 6 of Isaiah. Incidentally the verse of proverbs (quoted by Paul in Romans) that speaks of doing good to your enemies will cause "burning coals" on his head, is suppose to reference one Egyptian ritual of repentance that the Jews seem to referring to at least idiomatically.



Job 2:8-10
Easy-to-Read Version

8 Job sat on the pile of ashes where he was mourning and used a piece of broken pottery to scrape his sores.


Job 42:6

“Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes.”

Jaxxi said:

They fasted for a day and put on mourning clothes, sprinkled ashes on their heads, and tore their garments. 1 Maccabees 3:47

So they tore their clothes and mourned with great sorrow. They sprinkled their heads with ashes 2 Maccabees 4:39

When they heard about Nicanor’s advance and the support he had from the Gentiles, the Jews sprinkled themselves with earth. They prayed to the one who had established his own people forever and who always helped them by intervening on their behalf
2 Maccabees 14:15

The young girls who had been kept secluded at home rushed out with their mothers. They sprinkled their hair with dust and began to fill the streets with weeping and groaning.
3 Maccabees 1:18

What is the reason for this?

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It's a means of "dirtying" oneself as a sign of meekness. On an ordinary day a person would wash their face and put on fine clothes, giving themselves a sense of pride. To put on "mourning clothes" meant to wear cheap rags. Then to put ashes on the head made them appear dirty and unwashed. It serves to strip away pride in ones appearance.

Some people used it as a symbol of false piety. They would dirty their faces to make themselves look weak from fasting, but it was all for show. That's why Jesus said to his disciples:

Mat 6:16 "Moreover, when you fast, do not be like the hypocrites, with a sad countenance. For they disfigure their faces that they may appear to men to be fasting. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward.

Mat 6:17 “But you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face,

Mat 6:18 “so that you do not appear to men to be fasting, but to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.

Jaxxi said:

Oh so they were trying to appear withered, dirty and gaunt for sympathy or for show? It appears many times when they appear to be mourning. Is it like ashes to ashes? Because God made man from dirt?

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In Scripture, The Creator Says that He opposes the proud, and gives grace to the humble.
All through Scripture, Genesis thru Malachi, Mtthew thru The Apocalypse (Revelation), this is seen.
If anyone prays to God , thus, 'proud', God opposes him.
Or for show, or for sympathy, not honest true humility, God opposes him - even may shut him out of heaven on Judgment Day.

I'm not sure 'dirty' is an adjective used by God in Scripture to describe the humble righteous ones who come to God in prayer and /or to praise Him.