He feedeth on ashes: a deceived heart hath turned him aside, that he cannot deliver his soul, nor say, [Is there] not a lie in my right hand?
Ver. 20. He feedeth on ashes,] i.e, He seeketh comfort of his idol, but findeth as little as he doth nourishment who feedeth upon ashes.
A seduced heart hath turned him aside.] And hence it is that he is brought to deify a thing so contemptible. From this expression, note that man is the cause of evil to himself, and is so blinded by his own default that he cannot so much as once think seriously of his soul's health. His deluded heart, that hath so oft deceived him, may well say to him, as the heart of Apollodorus the tyrant seemed to say to him, who dreamed one night that he was flayed by the Scythians and boiled in a caldron, and that his heart spake to him out of the kettle, ‘ Eγω σοι τουτων αιτια, It is I that have drawn thee to all this.
Is there not a lie in my right hand?] i.e., " An idol that is nothing in the world," and nothing it can do for me. How then are images fit to be laymen's books, being unprofitable, lies, and teachers of lies? Jeremiah 10:8 ; Jer 16:19 Hab 2:18