Dung

Among the Israelites, as with the modern Orientals, dung was used both for manure and for fuel. In a district where wood is scarce, dung is so valuable for the latter purpose, that little of it is spared for the former.

The use of dung for manure is indicated in Isa 25:10, from which we also learn that its bulk was increased by the addition of straw, which was of course, as with us, left to rot in the dunghill. Some of the regulations connected with this use of dung we learn from the Talmud. The heaping up of a dunghill in a public place exposed the owner to the repair of any damage it might occasion, and any one was at liberty to take it away. Another regulation forbade the accumulation of the dunghill to be removed, in the seventh or sabbatic year, to the vicinity of any ground under culture, which was equivalent to an interdiction of the use of manure in that year; and this must have occasioned some increase of labor in the year ensuing.

The use of cow-dung for fuel is known to our own villagers, who, at least in the west of England, prefer it in baking their bread ’under the crock,’ on account of the long continued and equable heat which it maintains. It is there also not unusual in a summer evening to see aged people traversing the green lanes with baskets to collect the cakes of cow-dung which have dried upon the road. This helps out the ordinary fire of wood, and makes it burn longer. In many thinly-wooded parts of south-western Asia the dung of cows, camels, horses, asses, whichever may happen to be the most common, is collected with great zeal and diligence from the streets and highways, chiefly by young girls. They also hover on the skirts of the encampments of travelers, and there are often amusing scrambles among them for the droppings of the cattle. The dung is mixed up with chopped straw, and made into cakes, which are stuck up by their own adhesiveness against the walls of the cottages, or are laid upon the declivity of a hill, until sufficiently dried. It is not unusual to see a whole village with its walls thus garnished, which has a singular and not very agreeable appearance to a European traveler. Towards the end of autumn, the result of the summer collection of fuel for winter is shown in large conical heaps or stacks of dried, dung upon the top of every cottage. The usages of the Jews in this matter were probably similar in kind, although the extent to which they prevailed cannot now be estimated.

Among the Israelites, the dung of animals was used only for manure, but, when dried, for fuel. In districts where wood is scarce, the inhabitants are very careful in collecting the dung of camels and asses; it is mixed with chopped straw, and dried. It is not unusual to see a whole village with portions of this material adhering to the walls of the cottages to dry; and towards the end of autumn it is piled in conical heaps or stacks on the roof. It is employed in heating ovens, and for other similar purposes, Eze 4:12-16 . The use of dung for manure is intimated in Isa 25:10 .\par

Dung. The uses of dung were two-fold -- as manure and as fuel. The manure consisted either of straw steeped in liquid manure, Isa 25:10, or the sweepings, Isa 5:25, of the streets and roads, which were carefully removed from about the houses, and collected in heaps, outside the walls of the towns at fixed spots -- hence, the dung-gate at Jerusalem -- and thence, removed in due course to the fields.

The difficulty of procuring fuel in Syria, Arabia and Egypt has made dung, in all ages, valuable as a substitute. It was probably used for heating ovens and for baking cakes, Ezr 4:12; Ezr 4:15, the equable heat which it produced adapting it pecularily for the latter operation. Cow’s and camels dung is still used for a similar purpose by the Bedouins.

Used as manure and fuel. Straw was trodden in the water of the dungheap to make it manure (compare Psa 83:10). Isa 25:10, "Moab shall be trodden down ... as straw is trodden down for the dunghill"; also Isa 5:25, margin The dung sweepings of the streets were collected in heaps at fixed places outside the walls, e.g. "the dung gate" at Jerusalem (Neh 2:13), and thence removed to the fields. The dunghill is the image of the deepest degradation (Psa 113:7; Lam 4:5; 1Sa 2:8). Manure is inserted in holes dug about the roots of fruit trees to the present day in S. Italy (Luk 13:8). The dung of sacrifices was burnt outside the camp (Exo 29:14). In Mal 2:3, "I will spread dung upon your faces, even the dung of your solemn feasts," the point is, the maw was the priests’ prequisite (Deu 18:3); you shall get the dung in the maw, instead of the maw.

The sanctity of the Israelites’ camp through Jehovah’s presence is made the ground for rules of cleanliness such as in Deu 23:12. The removal to separate receptacles, and exposure of human and other ordure, gives the force to the threats, Dan 2:5; Dan 3:29; Ezr 6:11; 2Ki 10:27; "a draught house," 2Ki 9:37; 1Ki 14:10; Jer 8:2. In Isa 36:12 the sense is, "Is it to thy master and thee I am sent? Nay, it is to the men off the wall, to let them know that (so far am I from wishing them not to hear), if they do not surrender they shall be reduced to eating their own excrement." (2Ch 32:11). Scarcity of fuel necessitated the use of cows’ dung and camels’ dung, formed in cakes with straw added, for heating ovens as at this day; but to use human dung implied cruel necessity (Eze 4:12). In Php 3:8, "I do count them dung," skubala means "refuse cast to the dogs."

(prop. צָפַיעִ, tsaphi’a, Eze 4:15, spoken exclusively of animals, such as the cow or camel; also דֹּמֶן, do nen, ordure, as spread on land, 2Ki 9:37; Psa 83:10; Jer 8:2; Jer 9:22; Jer 16:4; Jer 25:33; while פֶּרֶשׁ, pe’resh, signifies feces as contained in the entrails of victims, Exo 29:14; Lev 4:11; Lev 8:17; Lev 16:27; Num 9:5; Mal 2:3. On the other hand, human excrement is specially denoted by, צֵאָה, tseah’, Deu 23:13; Eze 4:12; a sense also applied to גֵּלֶל, ge’lel, Job 20:7; Eze 4:12; Eze 4:15; Zep 1:17; but not necessarily to גָּלָל, gal’, 1Ki 14:10. The Greek word is ricorpo, whether of men or brutes; used in the Sept. for all the above, but found in the N.T. only in the form κοπρία, manure, Luk 13:8; while σκύβαλον, Php 3:8, properly signifies refuse. The use of such substances among the Jews was twofold.

1. As manure. This consisted either of straw steeped in liquid manure (בְּמֵי מִדְמֵנָה, lit. in dung-water, Isa 25:10), or. the sweepings (סוּחָה, Isa 5:25) of the streets and roads, which were carefully removed from about the houses and collected in heaps (אִשְׁפֹּת) outside the walls of the towns at fixed spots (hence the dung-gate at Jerusalem, Neh 2:13), and thence removed in due course to the fields (Mishna, Shabb. 3, § 1-3). See below. The mode of applying manure to trees was by digging holes about their roots and inserting it (Luk 13:8), as still practiced in Southern Italy (Trench, Parables, page 356). In the case of sacrifices the dung was burned outside the camp (Exo 29:14; Lev 4:11; Lev 8:17; Num 19:5) hence the extreme opprobrium of the threat in Mal 2:3. Particular directions were laid down in the law to enforce cleanliness with regard to human ordure (Deu 23:12 sq.) it was the grossest insult to turn a man’s house into a receptacle for it (מִחֲרָאָת, 2Ki 10:27; נְוָלוּ, Ezr 6:11; Dan 2:5; Dan 3:29, A.V., " dunghill"); public establishments of that nature are still found in the large towns of the East (Russell’s Aleppo, 1:34). The expression to "cast out as dung" implied not only the offensiveness of the object, but also the ideas of removal (1Ki 14:10), and still more exposure (2Ki 9:37; Jer 8:2). The reverence of the later Hebrews would not permit the pronunciation of some of the terms used in Scripture, and accordingly more delicate words were substituted in the margin (צוֹאָה, tsoht’, for חֲרָאַים, charaim, or חֲרַים, charim, 2Ki 6:25; 2Ki 10:27; 2Ki 18:27; Isa 36:12). The occurrence of such names as Gilalai, Dimnah, Madmenah, and Madmannah, shows that these ideas of delicacy did not extend to ordinary matters. The term σκύβαλα (A.V., "ldung," Php 3:8) im applied by Josephus (War, 5:13, 7) to ordure (comp. Sir 27:4). SEE MANURE.

2. As fuel. In a district where wood is scarce, dung is so valuable for this purpose that little of it is spared for the former. The difficulty of procuring firewood in Syria, Arabia, and Egypt has therefore made dung in all ages highly prized as a substitute it was used for heating lime kilns (Theophr. Lap. 69), ovens, and for baking cakes (Eze 4:12; Eze 4:15), the even heat which it produced adapting it peculiarly for the latter operation. Cows and camels dung is still used for a similar purpose by the Bedouins (Burckhardt’s Notes, 1:57) they even form a species of pan for frying eggs out of it (Russell, Aleppo, 1:39); in Egypt the dung is mixed with straw and formed into flat, round cakes, which are dried in the sun (Lane, Mod. Eg. 1:252; 2:141). This use of dung for fuel by the ancient Israelites, however, is collected incidentally from the passage in which the prophet Ezekiel, being commanded, as a symbolical action, to bake his bread with human dung, excuses himself from the use of an unclean thing, and is permitted to employ cows dung instead (Eze 4:12-15).

This shows that the dung of animals, at least of clean animals, was usual, and that no ideas of ceremonial uncleanness were attached to its employment for this purpose. The use of cow dung for fuel is known to European villagers, who, at least in the west of England, prefer it in baking their bread "under the crock," on account of the long continued and equable heat which it maintains. It is there also not unusual in a summer evening to see aged people traveling the green lanes with baskets to collect the cakes of cow dung which have dried upon the road. This helps out the ordinary fire of wood, and makes it burn longer. In many thinly wooded parts of south-western Asia, the dung of cows, camels, horses, asses, whichever may happen to be the most common, is collected with great zeal and diligence from the streets and highways, chiefly by young girls. They also hover on the skirts of travelers, and there are often amusing scrambles among them for the droppings of the cattle. The dung is mixed up with chopped straw and made into cakes, which are stuck up by their own adhesiveness against the walls of the cottages, or are laid upon the declivity of a hill, until sufficiently dried. It is not unusual to see a whole village with its walls thus garnished, which has a singular and not very agreeable appearance to a European traveler. Towards the end of autumn, the result of the summer collection of fuel for winter is shown in large conical heaps or stacks of dried dung upon the top of every cottage. The usages of the Jews in this matter were probably similar in kind, although the extent to which they prevailed cannot now be estimated. ( See Kitto, Pictorial Hist. of the Jews, 2, page 349.) SEE FUEL.

Dung. In many countries of the East wood is so scarce and dear as to be sold by weight. Hence animal excrements are used as fuel. Eze 4:12. It is a very common material for heating ovens, even among people of comfortable circumstances. The odor arising from the use of it is offensive, and penetrates the food.

DUNG.—See Agriculture, p. 39^b.

DUNG.—1. Used in the East as manure (Luk 13:8) and for fuel; especially that of cattle, where wood and charcoal are scarce or unattainable. Directions for personal cleanliness are given in Deu 23:10-14; and in the case of sacrifices the dung of the animals was burnt outside the camp (Exo 29:14, Lev 4:11-12; Lev 8:17, Num 19:5). 2. The word is used (a) to express contempt and abhorrence, as in the case of the carcase of Jezebel (2Ki 9:37); and in that of the Jews (Jer 9:22, Zep 1:17). (b) To spread dung upon the face was a sign of humiliation (Mal 2:3). (c) As representing worthlessness, Paul counted all things but dung that he might win Christ (Php 3:8).

2Ki 9:37 (a) The word here compares the dead body of a wicked queen to the filth of the earth. A figure to express GOD’s utter abhorrence of Jezebel.

Jer 8:2 (a) It is GOD’s description of how despicable the leaders of Israel were in His sight because of their wickedness.

Mal 2:3 (a) GOD in this way expresses His utter abhorrence of the religion of apostate Israel. He thus describes His abhorrence of the religious ways of the priests and leaders of Israel because of their wickedness and sinfulness.

Luk 13:8 (b) In actual life, dung is used as fertilizer. In this parable, dung probably represents things in this life which are used to promote and help the growth of the things of GOD.

Php 3:8 (a) Paul uses this figure to show his utter contempt for the things in the world - things which he formerly had thought were profitable and helpful to him.