Matthew Poole's Concise Commentary
2 Kings 4:39
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.
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.
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...
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 c...
3. THE MIRACLES CHAPTER 4 _ 1. The widow's oil multiplied (2 Kings 4:1)_ 2. The Shunammite and her reward (2 Kings 4:8) 3. The son of the Shunammite raised from the dead (2 Kings 4:18) 4. The dea
TWO MINOR MIRACLES OF ELISHA. The death (poison) in the pot healed and the feeding of a hundred prophets. The bread of the firstfruits (2 Kings 4:42) was by the Law the property of the priests (Number...
WILD VINE: i.e.. plant with vine-like tendrils. Not the grape, but probably the colocynth....
_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...
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...
II. MIRACLES ON BEHALF OF THE SONS OF THE PROPHETS 4:38-44 As the spiritual head of the sons of the prophets, Elisha frequently was called upon apparently to use his powers for the benefit of the grou...
_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._ Went...
A WILD VINE] not a real vine, but a vine-like plant, usually identified with the bitter cucumber or colocynth, bearing a fruit resembling an orange, which is very bitter in taste....
VARIOUS MIRACLES OF ELISHA The miracles related of Elisha in this and the following Chapter s resemble many of those previously recounted of Elijah. Thus both prophets multiplied the sustenance of a w...
THE LAST KINGS OF *ISRAEL AND *JUDAH BOOK OF 2 KINGS _PHILIP SMITH_ CHAPTER 4 ELISHA PROVIDES OIL FOR A WIDOW V1 A man’s widow went to speak to Elisha. The man had been a member of a group of *...
(38-44) Elisha among the sons of the prophets at Gilgal during the famine....
HERBS. — A rare word. (See Isaiah 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., poi...
וַ יֵּצֵ֨א אֶחָ֣ד אֶל ־הַ שָּׂדֶה֮ לְ
ELISHA'S MIRACLES 2 Kings 4:1 WE are now in the full tide of Elisha's miracles, and as regards many of them we can do little more than illustrate the text as it stands. The record of them clearly co...
“WHO GIVETH FOOD TO ALL FLESH” 2 Kings 4:38 This miracle, it has been justly remarked, is a faint foreshadowing of our Lord's marvelous feeding of thousands with even scantier materials. As Elijah wa...
The ministry of Elisha stands in many respects in vivid contrast with that of Elijah. There is a gentleness about it which inevitably reminds us of that of the Messiah Himself in His day. Instead of s...
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....
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...
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...
However, the next chapter (2 Kings 3:1-27) brings us at once into earthly circumstances. "Now Jehoram the son of Ahab began to reign over Israel in Samaria the eighteenth year of Jehoshaphat king of J...
THE FOLLOWING COMMENTARY COVERS CHAPTER S 3 AND 4. In the following chapter we enter into the historical part of Elisha's ministry. Jehoram goes to war; and, although less wicked than his father, the...
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 t...
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...
_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...
1 Elisha multiplieth the widowes oyle. 8 Hee giueth a sonne to the good Shunammite. 18 Hee raiseth againe her dead sonne. 38 At Gilgal hee healeth the deadly pottage. 42 Hee satisfieth an hundred...
AMONG TTHE SONS OF THE PROPHETS...
And one, one of the pupils, WENT OUT INTO THE FIELD TO GATHER HERBS, any greens which might still be available, AND FOUND A WILD VINE, a plant on the order of a grape-vine, either a wild cucumber or t...
THE WIDOW'S OIL (vv.1-7) The history of the Kings is again interrupted to make way for the ministry of Elisha. The bad example of the kings had brought about poverty in the land, and God provided g...
38-44 There was a famine of bread, but not of hearing the word of God, for Elisha had the sons of the prophets sitting before him, to hear his wisdom. Elisha made hurtful food to become safe and whol...
2 Kings 4:39 one H259 out H3318 (H8799) field H7704 gather H3950 (H8763) herbs H219 found H4672 ...
DEATH IN THE POT (2 KINGS 4:38). To turn this story into an example of the culinary art, with Elisha as the experienced chief cook is to misrepresent it. Whatever we may think it is quite clear that t...
CONTENTS: Increase of the widow's oil. Woman of Shunom and her son restored to life. Noxious pottage healed. A hundred men fed. CHARACTERS: God, Elisha, widow, Shunanmite woman, Gehazi, sons of proph...
2 Kings 4:1. _My two sons to be bondmen._ The law of Moses, as well as the laws of all gentile nations, allowed of this for six years. Exodus 21:7. Josephus, after others says, that she was the widow...
_And Elisha came again to Gilgal, and there was a dearth in the land._ MINISTRIES TO MAN, GOOD AND BAD Elisha had returned to Gilgal, the seat of a school of the prophets; he had come thither once m...
2 KINGS—NOTE ON 2 KINGS 4:1 Several more miracles by Elisha remind the reader of the miracles performed by his predecessor, Elijah. ⇐...
CRITICAL AND EXPLANATORY NOTES.— 2 Kings 4:38. SONS OF THE PROPHETS WERE SITTING BEFORE HIM—This means, not that they lived in common with Elisha, but sat as scholars before him for teaching. SEETHE...
EXPOSITION 2 KINGS 4:1 TYPICAL MIRACLES WROUGHT BY ELISHA. General _introduction_._ _The miracles of this chapter are all of them miracles of mercy. The first and last consist in the multiplying of f...
Now there was a certain woman of the wives of the sons of the prophets who came to Elisha, saying, My husband is dead; and his creditors is come to take my two boys as slaves to pay for his debt. And...
Hebrews 12:15; Isaiah 5:4; Jeremiah 2:21; Matthew 15:13...