Dung. The uses of dung were two-fold - as manure and as fuel. The manure consisted either of straw steeped in liquid manure, Isaiah 25:10, or the sweepings, Isaiah 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, Ezra 4:12; Ezra 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.