Dove’s dung (Star of Bethlehem)

In the story of the siege of Samaria, we read in 2 Kings 6:25 that “the fourth part of a kab of dove’s dung [was sold] for five shekels of silver.” The Samarians must have been desparate, but even so, they were probably not eating dove’s dung, and three possibilities are given by the experts:

1. The original writer wrote the Hebrew word chartsonim (“wild onion”) and the text was copied wrongly to read chareyonim (“dove’s dung”). NJB and NAB take this position.

2. Dove’s dung was the name of a common plant (footnotes in GNB and NLT). Possible candidates for the plant called “dove’s dung” are:

a. locust bean, or carob (NIV, REB, NJPSV footnote);

b. the bulb of a flower (Linnaeus, Josephus).

3. Real dove’s dung was processed and made into a salt substitute (footnote in GECL [1982]).

Hepper doubts that dove’s dung would refer to the carob or locust bean. He finds option 2b more likely, saying that chareyonim refers to the bulbs of the Star of Bethlehem Ornithogalum narbonense, which, according to historians, were sold during the siege of Samaria at about two ounces of silver for a cup. The name Linnaeus gave to the Star of Bethlehem plant is “ornitho-galum.” This name literally means bird-milk, suggesting that the botanist was perhaps aware of the connection to a name like “bird dung.” Only one of the many species of the genus Ornithogalum is edible; all the others are poisonous. Having lived in Nigeria where the leaf of a plant called “bird dung” is a popular soup ingredient (called kashin tsuntsu in Hausa), I am prepared to believe option 2. Anderson, Zohary, and Hareuveni do not mention “dove’s dung,” perhaps on the assumption that it is not a plant.