"International Standard Bible Encyclopedia". The rounded "gourds" are 3 inches or more in diameter, and contain a pulp intensely bitter and, in any but minute quantities, extremely poisonous. This view has the support of the Septuagint and Vulgate (Jerome's Latin Bible, 390-405 A.D.) It is a vinelike plant which spreads over the ground or attaches itself by its spiral tendrils to other plants. By far the most probable plant is the Colocynth (Citrullus colocynthis), belonging like the last two, to Natural Order, Cucurbitaceae. The traditional plant, Cucumis prophetarium, which grows in the desert, and has very small "gourds," has nothing really to recommend it. Many gourds are cultivated as ornamentals, decorations, or food crops, and some can be dried and used to make decorative or useful objects. It is exceedingly common in Palestine, and its familiar poisonous properties, as a drastic cathartic, made it unlikely that under any circumstances its fruit could be mistaken for any edible gourd it is, too, in no way vinelike ("wild vine," 2 Kings 4:39) in appearance the stem is stiff and upright, and there are no tendrils. gourd, any of the hard-shelled fruits of certain members of the gourd family, Cucurbitaceae. This little gourd, 1 1/2 to 2 inches long, when fully ripe falls suddenly when touched or shaken, the bitter, irritating juice is squirted to a considerable distance, and the seeds are thrown all around. The root paqa`, means "to split" or "burst open," and on this ground these "wild gourds" have been identified with the fruit of the squirting cucumber (Ecballium elaterium). If you are wondering whats the best way to use these festive members of the Cucurbitaceae family, look no further The main difference between squash. Encyclopedias - International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Gourd, Wild
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