For their vine is of the vine of Sodom, and of the fields of Gomorrah: their grapes are grapes of gall, their clusters are bitter:
Their vine is of the vine of Sodom. This fruit, which the Arabs call 'Lot's sea orange,' is of a bright yellow colour, and grows in clusters of three or four. When mellow, it is tempting in appearance; but, on being struck, explodes like a puff-ball, consisting of skin and fibre only (see Josephus, 'Jewish Wars,' b. 4:, ch.
viii., sec. 4). Hasselquist ('Travels,' p. 289) considers the fruit referred to:
`which grew Near that bituminous lake where Sodom stood,'
to be the Solanum melongena of Linnaeus, which abounds in the vicinity of the Dead Sea, and which is filled with dust, occasioned by the attack of an insect, tenthredo, which converts the whole of the inside into dust, leaving nothing but the rind entire, and without any loss of colour.
Chateaubriand describes the shrub as prickly, its leaves long and slender, while its fruit is altogether like the lime of Egypt, both in colour and shape. Before it ripens it is swollen out, and has a biting, bitter taste; when it is withered, it yields a dusky seed, which may be compared to ashes, and which has a taste like pepper.
Robinson ('Biblical Researches,' 2: p. 236) takes it to be the 'Asher of the Arabs, the Aulepias gigantea vel procera of botanists, which, though growing plentifully in Upper Egypt and Nubia, is in Palestine confined to the borders of the Dead Sea. It is much larger than the Solanum melongena. The stem Isaiah 6 or 8 inches in diameter, and the height of the tree is from 10 to 15 feet. 'We saw it and the 'Asher growing side by side; and the latter arrested our attention by its singular accordance with the ancient story. It must be plucked and handled with great care, in order to preserve it from bursting. We attempted to carry some of the boughs and fruit with us to Jerusalem, but without success' (see also Munk's 'Palestine;' Wolff's 'Missionary Journey,' p. 491; Porter's 'Syria and Palestine,' p. 243: cf. Isaiah 5:2).
The highly poetical image founded on the "vine of Sodom" was employed to exhibit the universal corruption and hopeless degeneracy of Israel in latter ages (see Michaelis, 'Questions proposed to the Danish Travellers,' No. 64).
Grapes of gall, х rowsh (H7219)] - poppy; a poisonous plant of extremely rapid growth and great acridity. Grapes of gall, х rowsh (H7219)] - poppy; a poisonous plant of extremely rapid growth and great acridity. It is usually associated with wormwood (Deuteronomy 29:17; Psalms 69:22; Lamentations 3:5; Hosea 10:4); "gall" - i:e., the water or juice of poppy (Jeremiah 8:14; Jeremiah 9:14; Jeremiah 23:15).
Their clusters are bitter (cf. 2 Kings 4:39-41; Isaiah 5:2-4; Jeremiah 2:21).