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DoveAid to Bible Understanding
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4:1), while she likened the shepherd’s eyes to bluegray doves bathing in pools of milk, by this lovely simile evidently representing the darker iris surrounded by the gleaming white of the eye. (5:12) Doves are fond of bathing, preferring to nest near a source of water.
A timid bird, trembling when frightened (Hos. 11:11), the dove in its wild state often nests in valleys (Ezek. 7:16), while the rock dove makes its nest on ledges and in holes of cliffs and rocky gorges. (Song of Sol. 2:14; Jer. 48:28) When domesticated, they fly back to the dovecotes prepared for them, the white undersides of the wings of a large flock of doves giving the appearance of a moving cloud. (Isa. 60:8) Dovecotes, some of considerable size, have been excavated in Palestine.
The dove has strong wings, is able to fly long distances in search of food, and is swift enough to elude most of its enemies. (Ps. 55:6-8) Yet doves are quite trusting of humans and rather easily entrapped or snared with a net. Thus, apostate Ephraim, foolishly placing its confidence first in Egypt and then in Assyria, was likened to a “simple-minded dove,” due to be caught in a net. (Hos. 7:11, 12) Jesus, in warning his disciples against wolflike opposers, counseled them to be, not only “innocent as doves,” but also “cautious as serpents.”—Matt. 10:16.
At the time of Jesus’ baptism and subsequent anointing by God’s holy spirit, that holy spirit was caused to appear “in bodily shape like a dove,” its visible descent upon Jesus perhaps being similar to the fluttering descent of the dove as it approaches its perch. (Luke 3:22; Matt. 3:16; Mark 1:10; John 1:32-34) It was an apt symbol, in view of its use by Noah and also its characteristic ‘innocence.’ Doves were used for sacrificial purposes, as indicated by their being sold by those pursuing commercial activities at the temple in Jerusalem, although the term “doves [Gr., pe·ri·ste·rasʹ]” may here indicate the “turtledoves” or “male pigeons” mentioned in the Mosaic law.—Mark 11:15; John 2:14-16.
IDOLATROUS USE
The religion of ancient Babylon manifests a corrupted utilization of many details relating to the Noachian flood, and so it is not surprising that the dove figured prominently in Babylonian worship. Concerning Semiramis, The Encyclopædia Britannica (1946, Vol. 20, p. 314) states: “Semiramis appears as a goddess, the daughter of the fish-goddess Atargatis, and herself connected with the doves of Ishtar or Astarte [the fertility goddess of the Canaanites].” The dove was anciently worshiped at the city of Ashkelon, a city of the Philistines, who also worshiped Dagon, thought by some to be a fish god. At another onetime Philistine city, Beth-shan, a cult-stand discovered, and considered as of the thirteenth century B.C.E., represents doves as flying out of the windows of a shrine of the Canaanite Ashtoreth (Astarte). The dove also became a symbol associated with the erotic love goddess Venus and by her Greek counterpart, Aphrodite. Such corrupted idolatrous use of the figure of the dove stands in sharp contrast to the Biblical presentation of this gentle, innocent bird as considered above.—See DOVE’S DUNG.
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Dove’s DungAid to Bible Understanding
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DOVE’S DUNG
[Heb., hharehʹ yoh·nimʹ].
The description of the siege of Samaria by Syrian King Ben-hadad relates that the famine created became so severe that “an ass’s head got to be worth eighty silver pieces, and the fourth of a cab measure of dove’s dung was worth five silver pieces.” (2 Ki. 6:24, 25) The cost of an ass’s head was approximately $38 (if the “silver pieces” were shekels) and the “fourth of a cab measure [about one-half dry pint or .3 of a liter] of dove’s dung” was worth about $2.38. This indicates that, due to the scarcity of food, such a thing as the bony, thinly fleshed ass’s head became an expensive food item (although the ass was an unclean animal according to the Mosaic law), and even dove’s dung was very costly. The reference to dove’s dung has occasioned considerable discussion as to whether the term is literal and as to the use to which it was put by the buyer.
Arguments have been advanced that the name “dove’s dung” may have been applied to a certain plant, some basing this view on the fact that the Arabs use the name “sparrow’s dung” with reference to a certain plant eaten by persons of little means, while others argue in favor of the plant growing in the area of Samaria called the “Star of Bethlehem” and known by the Latin name Ornithogalum, meaning “birds’ milk.” However, there is no evidence that either of these plants was ever known by the name “dove’s dung” or that such plants would be accessible to the people bottled up in Samaria by the siege.
Those who acknowledge a literal meaning of the expression are, in turn, divided as to the use made of the substance. Some point out that dove’s dung has long been used as a fertilizer by people in the Near East in the cultivation of melons, but it seems reasonable that persons bordering on death by starvation would be concerned with food for immediate consumption rather than with a crop that would not be available for perhaps several months.
Many prefer the view that the dove’s dung was actually used for food, pointing out that the subject is that of famine and the terrible extremes to which humans are driven by the pangs of hunger. Though purposely extreme and cruel so as to create a weakening fear, the threat by Sennacherib’s officer, Rabshakeh, that a siege by Assyria would cause the people of Jerusalem to have to “eat their own excrement and drink their own urine” may have had some basis in fact. (2 Ki. 18:27) While the thought of using literal dung for human consumption is extremely repulsive, that in itself is no basis for rejecting this view. The fact that the hunger was so great in Samaria that women would boil and eat their own children indicates that they had reached the point of consuming anything available. (2 Ki. 6:26-29) While some point out that dung would have little value as a nutrient, this factor alone would not disprove the possibility of its being purchased for food, for starving persons are frequently irrational, eating anything to deaden the pangs of hunger.
Perhaps an even more likely suggestion is that of certain rabbins who hold that the dung was used for fuel. There is, at least, some Biblical parallel in this, since the prophet Ezekiel was instructed to picture the equally dire siege conditions due to come upon Jerusalem by cooking his food with dung as the fuel. (Ezek. 4:12-17) Dried cattle dung, called by some “cow chips,” serves as a common fuel in many parts of the earth till this day. If this view should be correct, then the account might simply be stating the cost of the food (in this case an ass’s head) and the cost of the fuel for cooking it. The succeeding verses indicate that the people were as yet not eating the flesh raw.
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DrachmaAid to Bible Understanding
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DRACHMA
A Greek silver coin roughly corresponding to the Roman denarius. (Luke 15:8, 9) The Attic drachma bore the head of the goddess Athena on the obverse side and an owl on the reverse side. By the time of Jesus’ earthly ministry, the drachma probably had depreciated to about .109 ounce troy (3.4 grams), and hence would be presently evaluated at $.14. In the first century C.E. the drachma was equated with the denarius, the latter being called “drachma” by the Greeks. The Roman government, though, officially reckoned the value of the drachma at three-fourths of a denarius. The Jews paid an annual temple tax of two drachmas (a didrachma).—Matt. 17:24.
The Greek silver drachma is not to be confused with the gold “drachma” (dar·kemohnʹ) of the Hebrew Scriptures, a coin generally equated with the Persian daric (c. .27 ounce troy; c. 8.4 grams;
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