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. 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.
Related Commentaries of 2 Kings 4:39
2 Kings 4:39
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.