he took him a potsherd] As destitute of all other help and means, and wonderfully afflicted with the sorrow of his disease, so that he could not scrape with his hands, they were so sore. he sat down among the ashes] In Hebrew it is, in the midst of the ashes. To wit, in sign of humilitie, and mortification, as chap. 42. 6. And also of grievous sorrow, Esther 4:1; Esther 4:3.