2 Kings 4:39

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.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

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.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

4:39-41 The men immediately recognized that the young man’s wild gourds were poisonous; they did not want to be poisoned or to waste the stew during a famine, so they turned to Elisha for help. The flour was a tangible symbol of God’s miraculous provision of food.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Which the Apothecaries call colloquintida, and is most vehement and dangerous in purging.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

went out into the field to gather herbs--Wild herbs are very extensively used by the people in the East, even by those who possess their own vegetable gardens. The fields are daily searched for mallow, asparagus, and other wild plants.

wild vine--literally, "the vine of the field," supposed to be the colocynth, a cucumber, which, in its leaves, tendrils, and fruit, bears a strong resemblance to the wild vine. The "gourds," or fruit, are of the color and size of an orange bitter to the taste, causing colic, and exciting the nerves, eaten freely they would occasion such a derangement of the stomach and bowels as to be followed by death. The meal which Elisha poured into the pot was a symbolic sign that the noxious quality of the herbs was removed.

lap full--The hyke, or large cloak, is thrown loosely over the left shoulder and fastened under the right arm, so as to form a lap or apron.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

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.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(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 αριωθ, 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 (paqqû‘ôth) 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.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

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 τολυπὴ ἀγρία, ‘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.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

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.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

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.”

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Wild herbs. Hebrew oroth. Septuagint Greek: arioth, may denote any thing that could be "gathered." --- Gourds: colocynthides. They resembled cucumbers; but were so bitter, that they were styled, "the gall of the earth." Vallesius, (Phil. c. 36.) who observes, that a small quantity may cause death, (c. 37.) and that the remedy used by the prophet was supernatural; though Lemnius (c. 7.) asserts, that the mixture of barley-flour would take away the bitterness. (Tirinus) --- It has, in effect, that tendency; but the hand of God must still be acknowledged. (Calmet)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

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.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

39. Herbs — ארת, oroth. “This noun is derived from אור, 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.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And one went out into the field to gather herbs. One of the sons of the prophets, probably, went out into the neighboring country, and looked about for any wild fruits or vegetables that he could see anywhere. And found a wild vine. Not a wild grape vine (Vitis labrusea), the fruit of which would have been harmless, but some cucurbitaceous plant, with tendrils, and a growth like that of the vine. And gathered thereof wild gourds. The exact kind of gourd is uncertain. Recent critics have mostly come to the conclusion that the vegetable intended is the Cucumis agrestis or Ecbalium elaterium, the "squirting cucumber" of English naturalists. This is a kind of gourd, the fruit of which is egg-shaped, has a bitter taste, and bursts when ripe at a slight touch, squirting out sap and seeds. The main ground for this conclusion is etymologieal, tOQup being derived from qp, "to crack" or "split." Another theory, and one which has the ancient versions in its favor, identifies the "gourd" in question with the fruit of the colocynth, which is a gourd-like plant that creeps along the ground, and has a round yellow fruit of the size of a large orange. This fruit is exceedingly bitter, produces colic, and affects the nerves. His lap full; as many as he could carry in the sinus, or large fold, of his beged, or shawl.

And came and shred them into the pot of pottage: for they knew them not; i.e. the sons of the prophets, who stood by and saw them shred into the pot, did not recognize them, or did not know that they were unwholesome.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

To gather greens [herbs]. [‘אֹרֹת’ is] field-rocket which is called oruge, and it enlightens [=מֵאִיר] the eyes. Others interpret ‘אֹרֹת’ as herbs, as in, “like a clear heat on herbs [=אוֹר].”

And he found a vine in the field. A vine in the field.

And gathered wild gourds from it. Wild mushrooms sprouted from it, boleiz, in O.F., which are poisonous. And in the name of Rabbi Menachem I heard, “and he gathered in addition to the fruit that grew from it, wild gourds.”

And sliced [them]. Split them.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.