2 Kings 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 Judges 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 1 Kings 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.