2 Kings 6:25

No care, perhaps, having been taken to lay up stores against a siege: and, behold, they besieged it until an ass's head was sold for fourscore pieces of silver; shekels, as the Targum explains the word in the next clause, which amounted to about nine or ten pounds of our money; a great price for the head of such a creature, by law unclean, its flesh disagreeable, and of that but very little, as is on an head: and the fourth part of a cab of doves' dung for five pieces of silver; some of the Jewish writers say (h), this was bought for fuel, which was scarce: Josephus says (i), for salt, and so Procopious Gazaeus, and Theodoret; others, for dunging the lands, which is the use of it in Persia (k) for melons; neither of which are probable; most certainly it was for food; but as doves' dung must be not only disagreeable, but scarce affording any nourishment, something else must be meant; some have thought that the grains found in their crops, or in their excrements, undigested, and picked out, are meant; and others, their crops or craws themselves, or entrails; but Bochart (l) is of opinion, that a sort of pulse is meant, as lentiles or vetches, much the same with the kali or parched corn used in Israel, see 1 Samuel 17:17 and a recent traveller (m) observes, that the leblebby of the Arabs is very probably the kali, or parched pulse, of the Scriptures, and has been taken for the pigeons' dung mentioned at the siege of Samaria; and indeed as the "cicer" (a sort of peas or pulse) is

2 Kings 6:25 . There was a great famine in Samaria — Probably the dearth, which had of late been in the land, was the cause of their stores being so empty; or the siege was so sudden, that they had no time to lay in provisions. An ass’s head was sold for fourscore pieces of silver — Supposed to be shekels, and the common shekel being valued at fifteen pence of English money, they amount to five pounds: a vast price, especially for that which had on it so little meat, and was unwholesome, and unclean according to the law, Leviticus 11:26 . In times of famine, however, and extreme necessity, the Jews themselves were absolved from observing the law with regard to meats. There are not wanting instances, in history, where other people, upon the same occasion, have been reduced to the like distress, and been glad to purchase an ass’s head at an enormous price. See Plutarch’s Life of Artaxerxes. The fourth part of a cab — A measure which, according to the Jews, contained as much as the shells of twenty-four eggs. Of dove’s dung — Bochart has shown that there is among the Arabians a kind of vetches or pulse called by this name, which is undoubtedly here meant, for we can scarcely suppose that they used the excrements of doves for food. These vetches were a very coarse food, and yet much in use among the poorer Israelites, and therefore fit to be joined here with the ass’s heads: and a cab was the usual measure of all kinds of grain, and fruits of that sort.

In confirmation of the above it may be observed, some travellers tell us, that at Grand Cairo and Damascus there are magazines where they constantly fry this kind of grain, which those who go on pilgrimage buy, and take with them, as part of the provision for their journey. The Arabs, it appears, to this day call this kind of pulse or vetches by the name of dove’s dung. — See Bochart Hieroz., p. 2, 50:1, c. 7.

And there was a great famine in Samaria: and, behold, they besieged it, until an ass's head was sold for fourscore pieces of silver, and the fourth part of a cab of dove's {n} dung for five pieces of silver. (n) The Hebrews write, that they burned it in the seige for lack of wood.

Pieces of silver, supposed to be shekels; and the common shekel being valued at fifteen pence of English money, this amounts to five pounds; a vast price, especially for that which had on it so little meat, and that unwholesome, and unclean by law, Leviticus 11:3 ; though necessity might seem to excuse their violation of that law. A cab; a measure containing twenty-four eggs. Dove’s dung; which they used not for fire, (for he is speaking here only of the scarcity of food,) but for food; which, if it seem incredible, it must be considered, first, That famine hath constrained people to eat things as improper and unfit for nourishment as this, as dry leather, and man’s dung, as is implied Isaiah 36:12 , and affirmed by grave historians. Secondly, That some creatures do usually eat the dung of others. Thirdly, That doves’ dung, though it be hotter than ordinary, might in other respects be fitter for nourishment than other, as being made of the best and purest grains, and having some moisture in it, &c.

Fourthly, That this Hebrew word being of an obscure and doubtful signification, and no where else used, may be, and is by learned men, otherwise rendered and understood; either, first, of the corn which is found in the crops of doves; or, secondly, of the guts and other inwards of doves; or rather, thirdly, of a sort of cicer or pease , which in the Arabic language (which is near akin to the Hebrew, and from which many words are explained) is called dove’s dung ; for this was a food much in use amongst the poorer Israelites, and was by all esteemed a very coarse food, and therefore fit to be joined with an ass’s head; and a cab was the usual measure of all sorts-of grains and fruits of that sort.

As the donkey was "unclean," it would not be eaten except in the last resort; and its head would be its worst and cheapest part. Cab - This measure is not mentioned elsewhere in Scripture. According to the rabbinical writers it was the smallest of all the dry measures in use among the Jews, being the sixth part of a seah, which was the third part of an ephah. If it was about equal to two of our quarts, the "fourth part of a cab" would be about a pint. Dove's dung - Most commentators understand by this expression a sort of pulse which is called "dove's dung," or "sparrow's dung" in Arabic. But it is possible that the actual excrement of pigeons is meant. The records of sieges show that both animal and human excrement have been used as food - under circumstances of extreme necessity.

(25) And there was .— There arose . In consequence of the siege. Besieged.—Were besieging. Fourscore pieces.—Eighty shekels—i.e., about £10. Ass’s flesh would not ordinarily be eaten at all, and the head of any animal would be the cheapest part. Plutarch mentions that during a famine among the Cadusians an ass’s head could hardly be got for sixty drachms (about £2. 10s.), though ordinarily the entire animal could be bought for about half that sum. And Pliny relates that when Hannibal was besieging Casalinum, a mouse was sold for 200 denarii (£6 5s.). The fourth part of a cab of dove’s dung.—The cab was the smallest Hebrew dry measure. It held, according to the Rabbis, one-sixth of a seah (2Kings 7:1), or a little over a quart (ξέστης.—Josephus, Antt. ix. 4, § 4). The term dove’s dung, in all probability, denotes some kind of common vegetable produce, perhaps a sort of pulse or pease, which was ordinarily very cheap. Such a designation is not unparalleled. The Arabs call the herb kali “sparrow’s dung;” and Assafœtida is in German “devil’s dung.” In some places in England a species of wild hyacinth is called “dead man’s hands,” from the livid markings on the flower. The shape and colour of the species of pulse mentioned in the text may similarly account for its name. It naturally occurs that so long as there were any “doves” left in the city it would not be necessary to eat their dung.

25. an ass's head was sold for fourscore pieces of silver—Though the ass was deemed unclean food, necessity might warrant their violation of a positive law when mothers, in their extremity, were found violating the law of nature. The head was the worst part of the animal. Eighty pieces of silver, equal to £5 5s. the fourth part of a cab—A cab was the smallest dry measure. The proportion here stated was nearly half a pint for 12s. 6d. dove's dung—is thought by Bochart to be a kind of pulse or pea, common in Judea, and still kept in the storehouses of Cairo and Damascus, and other places, for the use of it by pilgrim-caravans; by Linnæus, and other botanists, it is said to be the root or white bulb of the plant Ornithogalum umbellatum, Star of Beth-lehem. The sacred historian does not say that the articles here named were regularly sold at the rates described, but only that instances were known of such high prices being given.