Dung

Dung in Scripture appears in both practical and symbolic contexts. As agricultural material, it was used to fertilize fig trees and gardens (Luke 13:8) and was collected outside city walls (Neh. 2:13). Sacrificial offerings were only partially burned on the altar; the hide, flesh, and dung of certain offerings were carried outside the camp and burned there (Exod. 29:14; Lev. 4:11; 8:17; Num. 19:5). The Epistle to the Hebrews (13:11–13) uses this regulation typologically: as the sacrificial bodies were burned outside the camp, so Jesus suffered outside the gate of Jerusalem to sanctify the people through his own blood.

Second Kings 6:25 records dove's dung selling at high prices during the Aramean siege of Samaria, illustrating extreme famine conditions. Paul employs the Greek term skybala—refuse, rubbish, or dung—in Philippians 3:8 to characterize his former religious credentials (circumcision, Pharisaic standing, blamelessness under the law) compared to the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus: "I count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ."