Difference between revisions of "Gourd"

<p> '''1.''' &nbsp;Jonah 4:6-10. So Augustine, the Septuagint, and the [[Syriac]] explain the Hebrew qiqayown; so modern Jews and Christians at Mosul (Nineveh). In gardens the arbor is often shaded with leaves of the bottle gourd; but the treelike sudden growth of the Ricinus , Ρalma [[Christi]] , or castor oil plant make it the more likely; so [[Jerome]] describes it, "within a few days you see the plant grown into a little tree"; and Celsius identifies it with the Punic and Syriac el keroa , or Ricinus , and the Hebrew is evidently from the [[Egyptian]] kiki , the same plant. The leaves are large and palmate, like a hand with outspread fingers (whence comes the name, Ρalma Christi ), with serrated lobes. [[Castor]] oil is made from the seeds. </p> <p> '''2.''' Wild gourds (&nbsp;2 Kings 4:38-41), paqot . It resembles the vine; and as several of the Cucurbitaceoe , melons, pumpkins, etc., from their juiciness, in a hot climate are favourite articles of food, a noxious sort might easily be mistaken for a wholesome kind. The squirting or wild cucumber (Εcbalium elaterium; the fruit opening, from paaqah "to open," and scattering its seeds when touched) and the colocynth (about the size of an orange) are such. The latter is favoured by the old versions, and its derivation also suits the dry gourds, when crushed, bursting or opening with a crashing noise. </p> <p> Gozan. A river (&nbsp;1 Chronicles 5:26; &nbsp;2 Kings 17:6; &nbsp;2 Kings 18:11). There the captive [[Israelites]] were transported by [[Shalmaneser]] and Esarhaddon. Now the Kizzit Ozan, the golden river of Media, which rises in [[Kurdistan]] and ultimately falls into the White River, and so into the Caspian Sea. A country also bore the name of the river, Gauzanitis (Ptolemy, Geog. v. 18); Mygdonia is the same name with the "M" prefixed. So [[Habor]] was a region and a river (the Khabour, the affluent of the Euphrates). The region is one of great fertility (Layard, [[Nineveh]] and Babylon). G. in G. Rawlinson's view was the district on the river Habor or Khabour. </p>

<p> It has been supposed that Jonah's gourd was the Ricinus Communis, or castor-oil plant. It grows in the East to the height of eight to twelve feet, and one species much higher. Its leaves are large, and have six or seven divisions, whence its name of [[Palma]] Christi. Since, however, it is now known that in the vicinity of the ancient Nineveh, a plant of the gourd kind is commonly trained to run over structures of mud and brush, to form booths in which the gardeners may protect themselves from the terrible beams of he Asiatic sun, this goes far to show that this vine, called in the Arabic ker'a, is the true gourd of Jonah. If the expression, "which came up in a night," &nbsp;Jonah 4:10 , is to be understood literally, it indicates that God "prepared" the gourd, &nbsp;Jonah 4:6 , by miraculously quickening its natural growth. </p> <p> The WILD [[Gourd]] is a poisonous plant, conjectured to mean the colocynth, which has a cucumber-like vine, with several branches, and bears a fruit of the size and color of an orange, with a hard, woody shell, within which is the white meat or pulp, exceedingly bitter, and a drastic purgative, &nbsp;2 Kings 4:39 . It was very inviting to the eye, and furnished a model for the carved "knops" of cedar in Solomon's temple, &nbsp;1 Kings 6:18 &nbsp; 7:24 . </p>

<li> Wild gourds (&nbsp; 2 Kings 4:38-40 ), Heb. pakkuoth, belong to the family of the cucumber-like plants, some of which are poisonous. The species here referred to is probably the colocynth (Cucumis colocynthus). The LXX. render the word by "wild pumpkin." It abounds in the desert parts of Syria, Egypt, and Arabia. There is, however, another species, called the Cucumis prophetarum, from the idea that it afforded the gourd which "the sons of the prophets" shred by mistake into their pottage. <div> <p> '''Copyright Statement''' These dictionary topics are from M.G. Easton M.A., D.D., Illustrated Bible Dictionary, Third Edition, published by [[Thomas]] Nelson, 1897. Public Domain. </p> <p> '''Bibliography Information''' Easton, Matthew George. Entry for 'Gourd'. Easton's Bible Dictionary. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/ebd/g/gourd.html. 1897. </p> </div> </li>

<p> <strong> GOURD </strong> ( <em> kîkâyôn </em> , &nbsp; Jonah 4:5 ). The similarity of the Heb. to the Egyp. <em> kiki </em> , the castor-oil plant, suggests this as Jonah’s gourd. This plant, <em> Ricinus communis </em> , often attains in the East the dimensions of a considerable tree. The bottle-gourd, <em> Cucurbita lagenaria </em> , which is often trained over hastily constructed booths, seems to satisfy the conditions of the narrative much better. </p> <p> <strong> Wild gourds </strong> ( <em> pakkû‘ôth </em> , &nbsp; 2 Kings 4:39 ) were either the common squirting-cucumber ( <em> Ecballium elalerium </em> ), one of the most drastic of known cathartics, or, more probably, the colocynth ( <em> Citrullus colocynlhis </em> ), a trailing vine-like plant with rounded gourds, intensely bitter to the taste and an irritant poison. </p> <p> E. W. G. Masterman. </p>

<p> ''''' gōrd ''''' , ''''' goord ''''' ( קיקיון , <i> ''''' ḳı̄ḳāyōn ''''' </i> ): The [[Vulgate]] (Jerome's <i> Latin Bible </i> , 390-405 ad) has <i> hedera </i> ("ivy"), which is impossible. Philologically <i> ''''' ḳı̄ḳāyōn ''''' </i> appears to be connected with κίκι , <i> ''''' kı́ki ''''' </i> , which was the Egyptian name for the castor oil plant ( <i> Ricinus communis </i> ). This grows plentifully all over the Orient, and under favorable conditions may reach a height of 10 to 15 ft.; its larger leaves afford a grateful shade. The requirements of the narrative in &nbsp; Jonah 4:6 are, however, much more suitably met by the "bottle gourd" ( <i> Cucurbita lagenaria </i> ), the [[Arab]] <i> '''''ḳar‛ah''''' </i> . This is a creeping, vinelike plant which may frequently be seen trained over the rough temporary sun-shelters erected in fields or by the roadside in Palestine and Mesopotamia. </p>