Charles Ellicott Commentary Isaiah 44:20

"He feedeth on ashes; a deceived heart hath turned him aside; and he cannot deliver his soul, nor say, Is there not a lie in my right hand?" — Isaiah 44:20 (ASV)

He feedeth on ashes. —The verb passes readily through the meanings “feeding,” “pasturing,” “following after,” and the last is commonly accepted. The first, however, has the merit of greater vividness. (Compare to Hosea 12:1.) The “ashes” of the smith’s furnace become the symbols of the vanity of his work (Ecclesiastes 7:6), and yet he has not even the germ of truth which lies in the questions of the skeptic.