What was doves dung used for

Harris, remarks that it is not likely they had much ground to cultivate in so populous a city for gardens; and is disposed therefore to understand it as meaning the offals or refuse of all sorts of grain, which was wont to be given to pigeons, etc. Harris, however, observes that the stress of the famine might have been so great as to have compelled the poor among the besieged in Samaria to devour either the intestines of the doves, after the more wealthy had eaten the bodies, or, as it might perhaps be rendered, the crops, with the undigested contents, as suggested by Fuller Miscell.

Bochart, indeed, has shown Hieroz. He quotes Avicenna as applying the term stercus columbarum to two different plants or substances. One of these is described by Avicenna and other Arab authors under the names kuz- kundem and joug-kundem , as a light substance like moss.

Secondly, this name was given to the ashnan or usnan, which appears to be a fleshy- leaved plant, that, like the salsolas, sdlicornias' or mesembryanthemnums, when burnt, yields alkali in its ashes. From this Bochart has been led to consider it as identical with another plant, which occurs under the name of kali both in the Hebrew and Arabic languages, and which was used in ancient times, as at the present day, as an article of food.

Celsius, however Hierob. Still it remains certain that the Arabs call the maritime plant kali, from the ashes of which soda hence called al-kali is obtained, by the epithet sparrows' dung. But this, if accessible at all in Samaria, would hardly be a regular article of food, even in a siege, much less be stored up for the purpose of sale, as the article in question appears to have been.

We may also compare the German Teufelsdreck "devil's dung" as expressive of the odor of asafaetida see Gesenius, Thesaur. Linnaeus suggested Praelectiones , ed. Giseke, page that the Hebrews term may signify the Ornithogalum umbellatum , "Star of Bethlehem.

Edward Smith remarks English Botany , , ed. May not this observation apply to the white fluid which always accompanies the dung of birds, and is their urine? A change in pointing can transform the Hebrew hare yonim to dibyonim making a change from dove's dung to seed pod!

A likely candidate for the seed pod hypothesis is Ceratonia siliqua , the common carob. See Carob This plant is mentioned one other place in the Bible, as the "husks" feed the hogs in the story of the prodigal son Luke These linguistic problems are discussed, but not resolved by Patterson and Austel in their treatment of this verse.

A third candidate for dove's dung could be Muscari commutatum. Although I am unaware of any documentation of this being used as a good, a related species, M. First off, keep in mind that dove's dung was pretty common in the olden days as they raised doves in columbaria. Doves were common since they were used as sacrifices, among other purposes. A natural byproduct of raising doves is large quantities of dove dung, or guano.

While dung could be used as fertilizer, or as fuel for fire, it would normally be very cheap to acquire since it was basically just a byproduct. So why over here is the dung being bought for 5 silver coins? It's an expression of how desperate the situation is as a result of the famine. The normally cheap dung is being sold for an exhorbitant price.

According to Radak and Metzudos Zion , the dung was needed as fuel for fire since they couldn't access the forests to get wood since they were under siege. According to Ralbag Gersonides , the doves were able to fly outside the camp and eat from the available grain. When they came back inside the camp, there were some kernels of grain which passed undigested out in the excrement. The famine was so severe that people were buying the dung in order to seek out these kernels.

The Radak quotes his father with a similar explanation. Sign up to join this community. The best answers are voted up and rise to the top. Stack Overflow for Teams — Collaborate and share knowledge with a private group. Create a free Team What is Teams? Learn more. Ask Question. Asked 1 year, 4 months ago. Active 1 year, 4 months ago.