Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 2 Kings 4:39
And one went out into the field to gather herbs, and found a wild vine, and gathered thereof wild gourds his lap full, and came and shred [them] into the pot of pottage: for they knew [them] not.
39. And one went out ] As the needful services were performed by the members of the college among themselves, it was no doubt one of them who went into the field to gather such herbs as he could find.
a wild vine ] i.e. some wild plant with vine-like tendrils, named here ‘vine’ for want of knowledge of its true name. The colocynth has tendrils after the fashion of the wild bryony in our hedgerows.
wild gourds ] The Hebrew word is explained as meaning ‘wild cucumber’, an egg-shaped fruit with very bitter taste. But the prickly fruit of this plant could hardly be thought fit for pottage. Others think that the ‘colocynth’ is meant, and this was the opinion of the LXX., which renders by , ‘wild pumpkin’. This fruit might be mistaken for a melon.
for they knew them not ] Nobody among the brotherhood had sufficient skill of plants to stop their comrade, and tell him the noxious nature of the herb he had brought home.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
A wild vine – Not a real wild vine, the fruit of which, if not very palatable, is harmless; but some climbing plant with tendrils. The plant was probably either the Ecbalium elaterium, or squirting cucumber, the fruit of which, egg-shaped, and of a very bitter taste, bursts at the slightest touch, when it is ripe, and squirts out sap and seed grains; or the Colocynthis, which belongs to the family of cucumbers, has a vine-shaped leaf, and bears a fruit as large as an orange, very bitter, from which is prepared the drug sold as colocynth. This latter plant grows abundantly in Palestine.
His lap full – literally, his shawl full. The prophet brought the fruit home in his shawl or outer garment.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 39. Wild gourds] This is generally thought to be the coloquintida, the fruit of a plant of the same name, about the size of a large orange. It is brought hither from the Levant, and is often known by the name of the bitter apple; both the seeds and pulp are intensely bitter, and violently purgative. It ranks among vegetable poisons, as all intense bitters do; but, judiciously employed, it is of considerable use in medicine.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
A wild vine; a plant called coloquintida, whose gourds or leaves resemble the leaves of a vine, and are very bitter and pernicious to the eater.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
39. went out into the field togather herbsWild herbs are very extensively used by the peoplein the East, even by those who possess their own vegetable gardens.The fields are daily searched for mallow, asparagus, and other wildplants.
wild vineliterally,”the vine of the field,” supposed to be the colocynth,a cucumber, which, in its leaves, tendrils, and fruit, bears a strongresemblance to the wild vine. The “gourds,” or fruit, areof the color and size of an orange bitter to the taste, causingcolic, and exciting the nerves, eaten freely they would occasion sucha derangement of the stomach and bowels as to be followed by death.The meal which Elisha poured into the pot was a symbolic sign thatthe noxious quality of the herbs was removed.
lap fullThe hyke, orlarge cloak, is thrown loosely over the left shoulder and fastenedunder the right arm, so as to form a lap or apron.
2Ki4:42-44. SATISFIES AHUNDRED MENWITH TWENTY LOAVES.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And one went out into the fields to gather herbs,…. To put into the pottage, the gardens affording none in this time of dearth; or, however, being scarce, were at too great a price for the sons of the prophets to purchase them; and therefore one of them went out into the field to gather what common herbs he could:
and found a wild vine, and gathered thereof wild gourds his lap full; thought to be the same with coloquintida, the leaves of which are very like to a vine, of a very bitter taste, and a very violent purgative, which, if not remedied, will produce ulcerations in the bowels, and issue in death; some think the white brier or white vine is meant, the colour of whose berries is very inviting to look at, but very bitter and ungrateful, and it vehemently purges b; the Arabs call a sort of mushroom that is white and soft by this name c, but cannot be meant here, because it has no likeness to a wild vine:
and came and shred them into the pot of pottage; cut or chopped them small, and put them into the pot:
for they knew them not; what they were, the nature and virtue of them, being unskilful in botany.
b Vid. Scheuchzer. Physic. Sacr. vol. 3. p. 605, 859. c Golius, col. 1817.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(39) Herbs.A rare word. (See Isa. 26:19.) The Targum renders greens. The LXX. retains the Hebrew word; the Syriac and Arabic render mallows. Thenius thinks that , the reading of the LXX., points to another word derived from a different root, and meaning to pluck, so that the word would denote legumina.
A wild vine.Vulg., quasi vitem silvestrem, i.e., a running plant, like a vine.
Wild gourds.In 1Ki. 6:18 a related word is used to describe one of the decorations of the Temple (knops).
Wild gourds, or cucumbers (cucumeres agrestes, or asinini), are oval in shape, and taste bitter. Their Hebrew name (paqqth) is expressive of the fact that when ripe they are apt to burst upon being touched. If eaten they act as a violent purgative. They were mistaken on the present occasion for edible gourds, a favourite food of the people (Num. 11:5). The Vulg. renders colocynth, or coloquintida, a plant of the same family, bearing large orange-like fruits, which are very bitter, and cause colic (cucumis colocynthi, L.). Keil supposes this to be the wild vine intended.
They knew them not.And so did not stop the young man from his shredding.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
39. Herbs , oroth. “This noun is derived from , in the signification to shine, glitter, so far as verbs of shining are also applied metaphorically to blossoming, sprouting, ripening.” Furst. Whether the word means some particular vegetable, or stands for herbs in general, is not settled. Perhaps oroth were a sort of vegetable for which wild gourds might be easily mistaken.
Wild gourds One species of that extensive family of cucumber-like vegetables, abundant in the East, some of which are edible and some bitter and poisonous. Of one of these species Kitto says: “In the desert part of Syria, Egypt, and Arabia, and on the banks of the rivers Tigris and Euphrates, its tendrils run over vast tracts of ground, offering a prodigious number of gourds, which are crushed under foot by camels, horses, and men. In winter we have seen the extent of many miles covered with the connecting tendrils and dry gourds of the preceding season, the latter exhibiting precisely the same appearance as in our shops; and when crushed, with a crackling noise, beneath the feet, discharging, in the form of a light powder, the valuable drug which they contain.”
Shred them Sliced them; cut them up into small shreds or slices.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
2Ki 4:39. Found a wild vine, and gathered thereof wild gourds, &c. See Hiller. Hieroph. part 2: p. 220. This is generally supposed to have been the coloquintida plant, which is so very bitter that some have called it “the gall of the whole earth:” it purges excessively, and is a sort of poison, if not qualified and taken in a moderate quantity. See Scheuchzer, who has given a print of the plant. The writer of the Observations remarks, that the common pottage of the Arabs is made by cutting their meat into little pieces, and boiling them with rice, flour, and parsley, all of which is afterwards poured into a proper vessel; and this in their language is called chorba. See Jdg 6:19. Parsley is used in this chorba, and a great many other herbs in their cookery. These are not always gathered out of gardens, even by those who live in a more settled way than the Arabs; for Dr. Russell, after giving a long account of the garden-stuff at Aleppo, tells us, that, besides those from culture, the fields afford bugloss, mallow, and asparagus, which they use as pot-herbs, besides some others which they use in sallads. This is the more extraordinary as they have such numbers of gardens about Aleppo, and will take off all wonder from the present relation of one’s going into the field to gather herbs to put into the pottage of the sons of the prophets, at a time when indeed Ahab, and doubtless others, had gardens of herbs (see 1Ki 21:2.); but it is not to be supposed that every thing was so brought under culture, as in later times. The Mishnah, a book referring to a much later period, speaks of gathering herbs in the field to sell in the market: Titulo Shebiith. See Observations, p. 180.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
The poison in the food, spiritually explained, leads us to consider how cautious men should be, and especially the sons of the prophets, in consenting to anything but what the apostle calls wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ. The pure faith of the gospel is the food of our souls, and there is death in the pot indeed, when anything be mixed with this, contrary to Jesus, as the sole cause of salvation. The wild gourds are like our wild works, all poisonous. But thou, O man of God, flee these things, and let Jesus be the first and the last, and the all in all of redemption! 1Ti 6:111Ti 6:11 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
2Ki 4:39 And one went out into the field to gather herbs, and found a wild vine, and gathered thereof wild gourds his lap full, and came and shred [them] into the pot of pottage: for they knew [them] not.
Ver. 39. Of wild gourds his lapful ] This is taken to be coloquintida, which is very bitter, saith Valesius, a so that physicians call it Fel terrae, the gall of the earth.
a De Sac. Plalos., cap. 36.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
wild vine: i.e. a plant with vine-like tendrils. Not the grape, but probably the colocynth.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
a wild vine: Isa 5:4, Jer 2:21, Mat 15:13, Heb 12:15
wild gourds: The word pakkuoth, from peka, in Chaldee, to burst, and in Syriac, to crack, thunder, is generally supposed to be the fruits of the coloquintida, or colocynth; whose leaves are large, placed alternately, very much like those of the vine, whence it might be called a wild vine: the flowers are white, and the fruit of the gourd kind, of the size of a large apple, and when ripe, of a yellow colour, and a pleasant and inviting appearance. It ranks among vegetable poisons, as all intense bitters do; but, judiciously employed, it is of considerable use in medicine. It is said that the fruit, when ripe, is so full of wind that it bursts, and throws its liquor and seeds to a great distance, and if touched, before it breaks of itself, it flies open with an explosion, and discharges its foetid contents in the face of him who touched it.
Reciprocal: 1Ki 6:18 – knops 2Ch 4:3 – oxen Job 30:4 – for their meat Mar 16:18 – if
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
2Ki 4:39-41. And found a wild vine This is generally supposed to have been the coloquintida plant, which has a leaf something like that of the vine, but is so very bitter, that some have called it the gall of the whole earth: it purges vehemently, and is a sort of poison if not qualified and taken in a moderate quantity. For they knew them not Neither he that gathered them, nor they that shred them, knew what they were, but took them to be the leaves of a wild vine. They cried out, O thou man of God, there is death in the pot That is, some deadly thing. This they concluded from its being so bitter and distasteful. He said, Bring meal and cast it into the pot Together with the pottage, which they had taken out of it. And there was no harm in the pot Which alteration was not from any virtue in the meal, but from the power of God.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
4:39 And one went out into the field to gather herbs, and found a {t} wild vine, and gathered thereof wild gourds his lap full, and came and shred [them] into the pot of pottage: for they knew [them] not.
(t) Which the apothecaries call colloquintida, and is most vehement and dangerous in purging.