The Refuse of the King's Table

There is a word in the holy tongue so lowly, so hidden, that it appears but once in all the scroll of the prophets — once, like a single grain of sand in the vast desert of Scripture. The word is chereʼ, a noun of masculine form, and its usage count is one. Its root, the ancient sages teach, comes from a primitive and earthy place, from a verb no longer spoken in polite company, a word for the body's emptying, for what is cast away. The KJV translators rendered it simply as dung. Yet even this humble word carries a weight of meaning, for in the mouth of the Lord's enemy, it becomes a weapon of shame — and in the hands of the Most High, it becomes a vessel of truth. Let us not despise the lowly things, for the Lord often speaks through the dust.

From the Bowels to the Battlefield

The single occurrence of chereʼ is found in the scroll of Isaiah, chapter thirty-six, verse twelve. Here the scene is one of siege and terror. The great king of Assyria has sent his field commander, the Rabshakeh, to the walls of Jerusalem. He speaks to the people in Hebrew, not in Aramaic, so that every man and woman might hear his taunts. He offers them a choice: surrender and eat your own dung, or resist and starve. "Hath my master sent me to thy master and to thee to speak these words? hath he not sent me to the men that sit upon the wall, that they may eat their own chereʼ?" This is the word's only home in all of Scripture — on the lips of a pagan, at the gate of the holy city, in a moment of ultimate pressure. The word is not used by a prophet, not by a priest, not by the psalmist. It is a word of the enemy, meant to break the spirit of God's people. Yet it is preserved in the sacred text, because even the filth of the enemy's mouth becomes a testimony to the faithfulness of God.

The Earthiness of the Hebrew Letters

Let us look at the letters of chereʼ: the chet, the resh, and the aleph. In the paleo-Hebrew script, the chet is a fence, a boundary, a separation. The resh is the head of a man, the first, the highest. The aleph is the ox, the leader, the strength of the covenant. What a strange combination! A fence around the head, bound to the strength of the Almighty? This word for excrement carries within its letters a hidden message: that what is lowly is still contained within the boundaries of God's creation, that even the refuse of the body falls under the authority of the Head, and that nothing — nothing at all — is outside the covenant of the Aleph, the First and the Last. The rabbis of old observed that the Hebrew language does not have a word for "dirty" or "unclean" that is not also related to the sacred, because all things have their place in the order of the Creator. This word chereʼ is a reminder that the Lord sees all, even what the world hides in shame.

The Valley of the Shadow and the Dung Gate

There is a gate in Jerusalem called the Dung Gate, the Sha'ar Ha'ashpot. Through this gate, the refuse of the city was carried out to the Valley of Hinnom, where fire burned continually. The sages teach that this gate was not a place of shame but of necessity, for the city could not be holy unless its filth was removed. So too, the word chereʼ appears only once, as if to say: sin, shame, and uncleanness have only one proper place in the life of the believer — they must be carried out, cast away, and burned. In the prophet Malachi, the Lord speaks of those who rebel against Him, saying that they will be like the refuse under the feet of the righteous (Malachi 4:3). The pattern of the Tabernacle also teaches this: the ashes of the sacrifice were taken outside the camp, to a clean place (Leviticus 4:12). What is cast out is not forgotten; it is dealt with. The singular appearance of chereʼ in Isaiah is a prophecy of judgment, but also of cleansing. The enemy intends it for shame, but the Lord uses it to show that He alone can take the filth of our sin and remove it forever.

Gematria: The Number Two Hundred and Nine

The gematria of chereʼ is two hundred and nine. The chet has the value eight, the resh two hundred, and the aleph one. Two hundred and nine is the sum of the Hebrew word baruch, which means "blessed." Is this not a wonder? The word for dung and the word for blessing share the same numerical weight. The ancient Hebrew writings reflect that the Lord is able to bring blessing from the most unlikely places. Consider Abraham: he was one hundred years old when Isaac was born, and the number one hundred appears in the gematria of many words of promise. But here, two hundred and nine connects the refuse of the enemy's taunt to the blessing of the Most High. When the Rabshakeh spoke of chereʼ, he meant to curse. But the Lord, who numbers every hair on your head and every grain of dust, has the power to turn curses into blessings, as He did for Balaam (Numbers 23:8). The number two hundred and nine is a hidden testimony: what the enemy means for evil, the Lord means for good.

The Messiah Who Took Our Filth

How does this lowly word connect to Yeshua? Consider the cross. The apostolic tradition teaches that the Messiah was crucified outside the city gates, at Golgotha, the Place of the Skull. There He was stripped, mocked, and made to bear the shame of all humanity. The early church understood that He became sin for us, though He knew no sin (2 Corinthians 5:21). In the language of the prophets, He was "numbered with the transgressors" (Isaiah 53:12). The refuse and filth of our iniquity — the spiritual chereʼ of our rebellion — was placed upon His shoulders. He who was the Head, the resh, the Firstborn of all creation, was made low, lower than the lowest, so that what was cast out might be brought in. The Dung Gate of Jerusalem leads to the Valley of Hinnom, but the cross of Yeshua leads to the resurrection. He entered the place of shame and death, and He emerged victorious, carrying away the sin of the world. The single occurrence of chereʼ in the Tanakh points to a greater truth: that the Messiah would descend into the depths of human degradation to lift us up to the heights of heavenly blessing.

What You Eat and What You Speak

The Rabshakeh's taunt was about eating — eating one's own dung, drinking one's own urine. He meant to break the people's hope in God's provision. But notice: the people of Jerusalem did not eat their own refuse. They trusted in the Lord, and He delivered them. In the New Testament, Yeshua taught that it is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but what comes out of the heart (Matthew 15:11). The enemy's word — chereʼ — came from his own heart, and it revealed the corruption within. You, beloved reader, are not defined by the filth the enemy speaks over you, nor by the shame of your past. You are defined by what the Lord speaks over you: He calls you beloved, chosen, cleansed. The word chereʼ appears only once in Scripture, but the grace of God appears from Genesis to Revelation. Let the enemy's taunt fall to the ground. Eat the bread of life, speak the words of faith, and know that the One who numbers every word and every grain of dust has already carried your shame to the cross and left it in the tomb.