Dust: Storms of sand and dust sometimes overtake Eastern travellers. They
are very dreadful, many perishing under them. Jehovah threatens to
bring on the land of Israel, as a punishment for forsaking him, a
rain of "powder and dust"
(Deuteronomy 28:24) To cast dust on the head was a
sign of mourning
(Joshua 7:6) and to sit in dust, of extreme affliction
(Isaiah 47:1) "Dust" is used to denote the grave
(Job 7:21) "To shake off
the dust from one's feet" against another is to renounce all future
intercourse with him
(Matthew 10:14; Acts 13:51) To "lick the dust" is a sign
of abject submission
(Psalms 72:9) and to throw dust at one is a sign of
abhorrence
(2 Samuel 16:13) comp.
(Acts 22:23)
