Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 2 Kings 6:25
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 dung for five [pieces] of silver.
25. a great famine in Samaria ] The walls were protection enough, but the enemy lay outside, and the provisions came to an end.
an ass’s head ] This would not, except in dire extremity, be taken for food, but they were in such straits in Samaria that 80 shekels of silver were now given for it.
a kab ] So R.V. The measure is not mentioned elsewhere, but is said to have been the sixth part of a seah, which is more frequently spoken of. The kab is put as an equivalent to the Greek .
dove’s dung ] Supposed by some to be the name of a very worthless kind of pulse, which in ordinary times nobody dreamt of eating, but of which now a small quantity fetched a large price. That excrement has been used for food in times of famine we have examples (Joseph. B. F. v. 2Ki 13:7), but that dove’s dung should have been specially gathered for this purpose would be very strange. There could be but so small a supply. It appears better therefore to take the words as the name of some vegetable. The Germans call ‘assaftida’ Teufelsdreck = devil’s dung. Josephus says, without any warrant, that this ‘dove’s dung was bought by the people instead of salt’.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
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.
Doves dung – Most commentators understand by this expression a sort of pulse which is called doves dung, or sparrows 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.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
2Ki 6:25-33
And there was a great famine in Samaria.
Famine, a judgment of God
The language of truth, you perceive, formed the first portion of his words, and the language of despair the conclusion.
I. That whatever evil is sent upon a country, is sent by God. This is confirmed by a passage in the prophet Amos (Amo 3:6), in which the prophet says, Shall there be evil in a city, and the Lord hath not done it? Here is a great king, with a mighty army, to beset a nation, nominally for his own purpose, after the designs of his own heart, without any reference to God at all; but in reality, simply and plainly accomplishing what God has commanded and declared beforehand should be done. Then you know the history of the plagues of Egypt, the manner in which the locusts were sent upon the land, and the way in which there were lice in all their quarters. God sent them there; He having determined that evil should come upon the people.
II. That wherever sin abounds, judgment is to be expected. But God has positively declared that sin shall be punished. Though hand join in hand, the wicked shall not be unpunished. Men may use all their wisdom; but their wisdom is utter folly.
III. That notwithstanding sin is to be followed by judgment, yet judgment is Gods strange work.
IV. That doubting Gods willingness to show mercy, provokes the lord. So that you perceive, the determination of God is, that men shall, sooner or later, acknowledge Him: while on the other hand, we know that belief honours Him. (H. M. Villiers, M. A.)
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Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 25. And, behold, they besieged it] They had closed it in on every side, and reduced it to the greatest necessity.
An ass’s head was sold for fourscore pieces of silver] I suppose we are to take the ass’s head literally; and if the head sold for so much, what must other parts sell for which were much to be preferred? The famine must be great that could oblige them to eat any part of an animal that was proscribed by the law; and it must be still greater that could oblige them to purchase so mean a part of this unclean animal at so high a price. The piece of silver was probably the drachm, worth about seven pence three farthings of our money; the whole amounting to about two pounds nine shillings.
And the fourth part of a cab of dove’s dung] The cab was about a quart or three pints. Dove’s dung, chiriyonim. Whether this means pigeon’s dung literally, or a kind of pulse, has been variously disputed by learned men. After having written much upon the subject, illustrated with quotations from east, west, north, and south, I choose to spare my reader the trouble of wading through them, and shall content myself with asserting that it is probable a sort of pease are meant, which the Arabs to this day call by this name. “The garvancos, cicer, or chick pea,” says Dr. Shaw, “has been taken for the pigeon’s dung, mentioned in the siege of Samaria; and as the cicer is pointed at one end, and acquires an ash colour in parching, the first of which circumstances answers to the figure, the second to the usual colour of dove’s dung, the supposition is by no means to be disregarded.”
I should not omit saying that dove’s dung is of great value in the East, for its power in producing cucumbers, melons, &c., which has induced many learned men to take the words literally. Bochart has exhausted this subject, and concludes that a kind of pulse is meant. Most learned men are of his opinion.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
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, Lev 11:3; though necessity might seem to excuse their violation of that law.
A cab; a measure containing twenty-four eggs.
Doves 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 mans dung, as is implied Isa 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 doves 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 asss head; and a cab was the usual measure of all sorts-of grains and fruits of that sort.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
25. an ass’s head was sold forfourscore pieces of silverThough the ass was deemed uncleanfood, necessity might warrant their violation of a positive law whenmothers, 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 cabAcab was the smallest dry measure. The proportion here stated wasnearly half a pint for 12s. 6d.
dove’s dungis thoughtby BOCHART to be a kind ofpulse or pea, common in Judea, and still kept in the storehouses ofCairo and Damascus, and other places, for the use of it bypilgrim-caravans; by LINNUS,and other botanists, it is said to be the root or white bulb of theplant Ornithogalum umbellatum, Star of Beth-lehem. The sacredhistorian does not say that the articles here named were regularlysold at the rates described, but only that instances were known ofsuch high prices being given.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And there was a great famine in Samaria,…. 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 1Sa 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 pointed at one end, and acquires an ash colour by parching, the first of which circumstances answers to the figure, the other to the usual colour of pigeons’ dung, the supposition is by no means to be disregarded: a “cab” was a measure with the Jews, which held the quantity of twenty four egg shells; according to Godwin n, it answered to our quart, so that a fourth part was half a pint; and half a pint of these lentiles, or vetches, or parched pulse, was sold for eleven or twelve shillings.
h R. Jonah in Ben Melech, Kimchi & Abarbinel in loc. i Antiqu. l. 9. c. 4. sect. 4. k Universal History, vol. 5. p. 90. l Hierozoic. par. 2. l. 1. c. 7. col. 44, &c. m Shaw’s Travels, p. 140. n Moses & Aaron, B. 6. c. 9.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(25) And there was.There arose. In consequence of the siege.
Besieged.Were besieging.
Fourscore pieces.Eighty shekelsi.e., about 10. Asss 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 asss 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 doves dung.The cab was the smallest Hebrew dry measure. It held, according to the Rabbis, one-sixth of a seah (2Ki. 7:1), or a little over a quart (.Josephus, Antt. ix. 4, 4). The term doves 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 sparrows dung; and Assaftida is in German devils dung. In some places in England a species of wild hyacinth is called dead mans 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. When Josephus wrote that dung was eaten in the siege of Jerusalem, he probably had the present passage in his mind.
Five pieces of silver.Five (shekels in) silver; about 12s. 6d.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
25. A great famine in Samaria In consequence of the siege, which cut off all means of supply to the city.
An ass’s head According to the law (Lev 11:3) the ass was an unclean animal, and therefore forbidden to be eaten at all. The head of the animal is, besides, the worst part of all to eat. But necessity knows no law; and how terrible must have been that famine which caused this part of an unclean animal to sell for such a fabulous price! The supposition of some, that the term ass’s head means a certain weight or measure, is too much wanting in evidence. An ass of bread, in 1Sa 16:20, is quite different from an ass’s head, and most naturally means, as the English version has it, an ass laden with bread. Surely if women ate their dead children, as 2Ki 6:29 shows, we need not scruple to believe that an ass’s head would sell for a great price.
Fourscore pieces of silver Silver shekels are probably meant, in which case this amount would be about forty-five dollars of our currency.
A cab A hollow vessel capable of holding about two quarts.
Dove’s dung This is a literal translation of the Hebrew words , chire-yonim.
Josephus says it was used instead of salt; others think it was used for fuel, or for quickening the growth of garden vegetables. But the context seems clearly to show that it was used for feed, and hence some have, very naturally, supposed that the word denotes some vegetable food, inasmuch as the Arabs call the herb alkali, sparrow’s dung. Thomson says: “I believe that the Hebrew chir-yonim was the name of a coarse and cheap sort of food, a kind of bean, to which this whimsical title was given on account of some fancied resemblance between the two. Nor am I at all surprised at it, for the Arabs give the most quaint, obscure, and ridiculous names to their extraordinary edible mixtures. I would therefore not translate at all, but read thus, ‘A fourth part of a cab of chir-yonim for five pieces of silver,’ and be content with that, until we know what chir-yonim really is.” But after all, it is still more probable that literal dove’s dung is meant. Similar instances of human extremity in famine are not unknown in history. Josephus relates that in the siege of Jerusalem “some persons were driven to that terrible distress that they searched the common sewers and old dung-hills of cattle, and ate the dung which they got there.” During a famine in Egypt in 1200 the poor were driven to the necessity of eating dogs, and the carcasses of animals and men, and even the excrements of both. In England in 1316, during the reign of Edward II., there was a famine in which many of the people are said to have eaten their own children, together with dogs, mice, and pigeon’s dung. During the late civil war in the United States, the starving prisoners at Andersonville are said to have eaten, at times, their own excrement. Compare 2Ki 18:27.
Five pieces of silver About three dollars.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
2Ki 6:25. An ass’s head was sold for fourscore pieces of silver, &c. If we reckon these pieces of silver at fifteen pence a-piece, they come to five pounds sterling: a great price for that which had on it so little meat, and that too unclean, according to the law, Lev 11:26. In times of famine, however, and extreme necessity, the Jews themselves were absolved from the observation of the law; nor are there wanting instances in history, where other people, upon the same occasion, have been reduced to the like distress; if what Plutarch tells us, in the Life of Artaxerxes, be true, viz. that in that prince’s war with the Caducii, an ass’s head could scarcely be purchased at the price of sixty drachms; i.e. two pounds five shillings of our money. A cab, according to the Jews, contained as much as the shells of twenty-four eggs would hold. The word chire yonim, rendered dove’s dung, as Bochart has fully proved, signifies vetches or pulse: and accordingly some late traveller tells 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 to this day call this kind of pulse or vetches by the name of dove’s dung. See Bochart, Hieroz. p. ii. lib. i. c. 7.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
2Ki 6:25 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 dung for five [pieces] of silver.
Ver. 25. And there was a great famine in Samaria. ] Like as there was afterwards at Potidea in the Peloponesian war; at Utica, besieged by Hamilcar, the father of Hannibal; at Saguntum, also; yea, at Rome, when this voice was heard in the market, Pone precium humanae carni. a The miserable straits the Jews were put to at the last siege of Jerusalem by Titus, who hath not read of? That I speak not of Scodra, Munster, Sancerre, Haarlem, besieged by the Duke de Alva, &c. This of Samaria was just upon them, saith Pellican, for their contempt of the heavenly manna, that precious food of the soul.
An ass’s head sold for fourscore pieces of silver,] i.e., For four or five pounds: some say, ten. When Hannibal besieged Casiline, one mouse was sold for two hundred pence. b Puddings made of dogs’ guts were dear bought at the siege of Scodra. c
The fourth part of a cab.
a Thucyd. Polyb. Sub Honor. Imp.
b Val. Max., lib. vii. cap. 6.
c Turk. Hist.
famine. One of the thirteen recorded in Scripture. See note on Gen 12:10.
ass’s head. This was unclean food.
Pieces. Supply Figure of speech Ellipsis (App-6), “shekels” instead of “pieces”.
cab. Only occurrence. See App-51.
dove’s dung. A Euphemism (App-6) is included in official Massoretic lists as being substituted for this indelicate expression, the word meaning “decayed leaves”. Whichever is the meaning, it was always highly valuable as manure, especially to force growth during dearth.
a great famine: 2Ki 6:28, 2Ki 6:29, 2Ki 7:4, 2Ki 25:3, 1Ki 18:2, Jer 14:13-15, Jer 14:18, Jer 32:24, Jer 52:6
an ass’s head: If the pieces of silver were drachms, the whole would amount to about 2 9s; which was a great price for so mean a part of this unclean animal. Eze 4:13-16
dove’s dung: This probably denotes, as Bochart, Scheuchzer, and others suppose, a kind of pulse, or vetches, which the Arabs still call pigeon’s dung. “They never,” says Dr. Shaw (Travels, p. 140), “constitute a dish by themselves, but are strewed singly as a garnish over cuscasowe, pillowe, and other dishes. They are besides in the greatest repute after they are parched in pans and ovens; then assuming the name leblebby;” and he thinks they were so called from being pointed at one end, and acquiring an ash colour in parching.
Reciprocal: Gen 12:10 – was a Gen 41:55 – famished 2Sa 21:1 – a famine 1Ki 8:37 – in the land famine 1Ki 16:17 – besieged Tirzah 2Ki 7:1 – a measure of fine flour 2Ki 18:27 – eat 2Ch 6:28 – if there be dearth Psa 59:15 – for meat Isa 36:12 – that they may Lam 1:11 – seek Eze 5:16 – and will Amo 4:6 – and want
THE LESSONS OF A FAMINE
There was a great famine.
2Ki 6:25
We say the words, but I doubt very much whether we realise their meaning. We, in England, do not really know what a great famine is. Bad crops we have had, and short ones, but they have never for many, many years failed us altogether. The nearest sight a few who are living now have ever had of famine was when the potato crops failed all over Ireland in 1846, and great sufferings were undergone by the Irish poor. Some saw the grim features of famine at our very doors then, but, by Gods goodness, he did not enter in; and year by year the increase of the corn has come in its season to fill our hearts with food and gladness.
But in the East it is quite different. These famines are not strange or at all unknown. In prosperous years, when there is abundant rain, the intense heat of the sun stimulates vegetation to the utmost, and produces enormous crops. But when rain fails, as it does once in every few years, this intense heat burns up and destroys everything. The corn plants die in the furrows; the very leaves wither on the trees; the grass shrivels and dries up; the whole country becomes as dry and as hard as the high-road. Then, if the drought goes on, first the cattle die of want of water and of pasture; and then the people die too; die of literal starvation. Weakened by want of food, they fall an easy prey to cholera and dysentry and typhoid, and the many other diseases that lie in wait for those whose vitality is deficient. Now, that is what goes on in eastern countries year by year; great fertility, sometimes balanced and contrasted by pinching famine. So we are told in the text of the famine in Samaria, or of the seven years of plenty, followed by seven years of famine, that were experienced in Egypt when Joseph lived there; or of the famine in Israel in the days of Elijah, caused, just as it often is in India, by want of rain. It is the common course of human life in those lands. But it is none the less hard to bear for that. The griping hunger, the terrible diseases seize upon new victims every time. It is from childish lips and freshly desolated homes that the cry of pain and hunger goes up.
What are the lessons of famine?
I. Surely the chief lesson to us, at all events, is one of sympathy.If one member suffer, all the members suffer with it. That ought to be the effect which suffering produces upon Christian hearts. Our Master, Christ, could never see suffering without wishing to relieve itwithout doing what was possible (and what was not possible to Him?)to remove the cause of it. Let us follow His noble example, as far as we may. We do not indeed wield the power that could multiply the wine at Cana, or feed five thousand men with five loaves and two fishes. Man is only the viceroy of the Divine Creator, and not himself the sovereign. He administers lawsthe laws of naturewhich he did not make; which he may use, but cannot alter. Within the limit which they set he may act freely; outside them his power does not stretch. Where a calamity passes, as this which is before us passes, beyond human powers of effectual relief, all that he can do is to remit it to the Higher Power by prayer for the removal of the cause; he can but apply his feeble efforts to remove some of the terrible effects.
II. Could not this terrible famine be prevented.Experience has shown that it is perfectly possible to store up in tanks the rain which falls in vast quantities when it falls at all, and which now runs away to waste, so as to provide for the deficiency of the years when there is no rain. Experience has shown also that the planting of trees has the effect of increasing the fall of rain. Where those works have been carried out there has been no famine. That is the way that God recompenses intelligent and industrious following of the directions which His laws of nature give as plainly as possible, to all who have eyes to see or minds to understand. Surely, then, in the face of wasted fields, and hundreds of thousands of emaciated and starved corpses, the country will ask, with a voice which will make itself heard, and must not be passed over with neglect,Why have not irrigation works been constructed and plantations made, when they would have arrested the deadly drought and brought down from heaven the life-giving rain? God is not deaf to the prayer, although it be without words, which is really put up to Him in the thoughtful and obedient following out of His laws of nature. If you plant a sapling in the soil that suits it, it will grow; if you plant it upon the rock, or where it can get no sun or no moisture, it will wither and die. Why is this? Because in the first case you obeyed the laws of nature, which are Gods laws, and which trees must conform to, if they would live, and which men must conform to likewise, if they would rear up trees; in the other case, the laws of nature were neglected, and therefore the tree died.
III. How we may best save some of the victims who have not been yet quite starved to death.Starved to death! That is easily said; but as I declared at the beginning, I doubt if we understand what it really means. It is a series of deaths, day after day, as long as it lasts.
I dare say most of us here present have never gone a whole day without food ever since we were born. I may go farther, and say that we have hardly ever known what it is to go without even a single meal. We do not know, probably, what hunger is, except as a coveted spur to the appetite, which we eagerly seek by work and exercise. We play with hunger, that is to say; but it has quite another aspect when the strong stagger because of it, and the weak faint; when the cheek grows thin, and the eye hollow; when the husband sees his wife, and the mother her little children, starving around her; crying for food, and she has none to give them. Think of it; this scene is often going on in tens of thousands of homes in India; reckon, if you can reckon for horror, how many silent hearths, how many families blotted out, how many children starved to death that ghastly total includes. Every One of us can do something, though it may be but a little, to alleviate it, and is responsible if he do not that little. Let it be yours to give that help. Whatever we may do, it is certain that the pittance, which is all that can at the best be given to these sufferers, will leave them only just not dead, only just not starved; whilst without that pittance they must dieand die speedily.
If we have taken the lessons of a time of famine rightly to heart, our souls will be filled with gratitude to God, and heart and hand will alike be open to offer a thankoffering. The lessons which a famine may teach are many; let this lesson in particular, of sympathy and help to the victims of the famine, come home to our hearts to-day.
2Ki 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 asss 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, Lev 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 asss head at an enormous price. See Plutarchs 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 doves 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 asss 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 doves dung. See Bochart Hieroz., p. 2, 50:1, c. 7.
6:25 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.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes