Who were destroyed at En-dor,
Who became as dung for the ground.
Psalms 83:10

From their present struggle came a plea to deal with their enemy as God had dealt with His enemies before. There were historical precedents in view as Asaph compiled this Psalm. When the dust settled, these events became history lessons that instructed the people in the days ahead. God would answer Asaph’s plea. May God hear our cry for help today. May our enemies come to an end. May we on the other hand trust in God until He does.

The following is taken directly from The Treasury of David by Spurgeon.

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EXPOSITION

Which perished at Endor. There was the centre of the carnage, where the heaps of the slain lay thickest.

They became as dung for the earth, manuring it with man; making the earth, like Saturn, feed on its own children. War is cruel, but in this case it avengements were most just, — those who would not give Israel a place above ground are themselves denied a hiding place under the ground; they counted God’s people to be as dung, and they became dung themselves. Asaph would have the same fate befell other enemies of Israel; and his prayer was a prophecy, for so it happened to them.

EXPLANATORY NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS

They became as dung for the earth. The land was enriched or made fertile by their flesh, their blood, and their bones. — Albert Barnes.

They became as dung for the earth. In the year 1830, it is estimated that more than a million bushels of “human and inhuman bones” were imported from the continent of Europe into the port of Hull. The neighbourhood of Leipsic, Austerlitz, Waterloo, etc., where the principal battles were fought some fifteen or twenty years before, were swept alike of the bones of the hero, and the horse which he rode. Thus collected from every quarter, they were shipped to Hull, and thence forwarded to the Yorkshire bone grinders, who, by steam engines and powerful machinery, reduced them to a granulary state. In this condition they were sent chiefly to Doncaster, one of the largest agricultural markets of the country, and were there sold to the farmers to manure their lands. The oily substance gradually evolving as the bone calcines, makes better manure than almost any other substance — particularly human bones. — K. Arvine.