The people of Ninevah took Jonah’s warning seriously:
[They] believed God, and proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them even to the least of them.
For 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.
And he caused it to be proclaimed and published through Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying….Let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and cry mightily unto God: yea, let them turn every one from his evil way, and from the violence that is in their hands….
And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God repented of the evil, that he had said that he would do unto them; and he did it not.
Jonah 3:5-10
The Hebrew word saq (שַׂק) means a sack, or a large, cloth bag. In fact, our word “sack” descends from Semitic languages like Hebrew and Phoenician. (See “sack,” Online Etymology Dictionary.) In the Old Testament, when something is carried in a saq, it is translated “sack,” but when someone wears a saq, it is translated “sackcloth.”
The material used to make sacks is not designed for comfort or beauty. Therefore, when someone wore it, they were sending an important message to the people around them: I’m not concerned with impressing people. I’m not concerned with my own convenience. I’ve been severely humbled, and this outfit is intended to represent my lowliness.
Ashes added to the imagery: My life has gone up in flames, and what used to be valuable to me is no more.
Abinadi’s first message to his people ended with the following sobering warning from God:
Except they repent in sackcloth and ashes, and cry mightily to the Lord their God, I will not hear their prayers, neither will I deliver them out of their afflictions.
Mosiah 11:25
Their situation was grave, and half-hearted, cursory repentance was not going to resolve things. These people needed to follow the example of the people of Ninevah and truly humble themselves in order to once again receive God’s power as they had just a few years earlier.
Sadly, they chose not to humble themselves, and so their circumstances soon humbled them. (See Mosiah 19.)
Today, I will approach God in humility. I will set aside my desire to look good or to feel good, and I will strive with His help to see things as they really are. I will remember the imagery of sackcloth and ashes as I seek for His sustaining and uplifting influence in my life.