mentioned in 2 Kings, iv, 39, are generally supposed to have been
colocynth fruit, though the squirting cucumber (Ecbalium purgans) has
also been suggested. The plant on which this grows, however, would
hardly be called a wild vine, for it has no tendrils. The Jews were in
the habit of shredding various kinds of gourds in their pottage, and as
narrated, someone had brought a lapful of these gourds, the fruit of a
wild vine, and shredded them into the pottage which was being prepared
for the sons of the prophets. The mistake could hardly have been made
with the squirting cucumber, which is very common throughout Palestine,
but the colocynth only grew on barren sands like those near Gilgal,
and might easily be mistaken for the globe cucumber. The mistake was
discovered as soon as the pottage was tasted, and the alarm of “death
in the pot” was raised. Elisha, however, casting some meal in the pot
destroyed the bitter taste, and apparently rendered the pottage quite
harmless.