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Topic:
Cucumbers
With regard to the word "cucumbers…"
From Easton's Bible Dictionary
(Heb. plur. kishshuim; i.e., "hard," "difficult"
of digestion, only in Num. 11:5). This vegetable is extensively
cultivated in the East at the present day, as it appears to have been in
earlier times among the Hebrews. It belongs to the gourd family of
plants. In the East its cooling pulp and juice are most refreshing.
"We need not altogether wonder that the Israelites, wearily
marching through the arid solitudes of the Sinaitic peninsula, thought
more of the cucumbers and watermelons of which they had had no lack in
Egypt, rather than of the cruel bondage which was the price of these
luxuries." Groser's Scripture Natural History. Isaiah speaks of a
"lodge" (1:8; Heb. sukkah), i.e., a shed or edifice more solid
than a booth, for the protection throughout the season from spring to
autumn of the watchers in a "garden of cucumbers."
From Smith's Bible Dictionary
(Heb. kishshuim). This word occurs in (Numbers 11:5) as one of the
good things of Egypt produces excellent cucumbers, melons, etc., the
Cucumis chate being the best of its tribe yet known. Besides the Cucumis
chate, the common cucumber (C. sativus), of which the Arabs distinguish
a number of varieties, is common in Egypt. "Both Cucumis chate and
C. sativus," says Mr. Tristram, "are now grown in great
quantities in Palestine. On visiting the Arab school in Jerusalem (1858)
I observed that the dinner which the children brought with them to
school consisted, without exception, of a piece of barley cake and a raw
cucumber, which they ate rind and all." The "lodge in a garden
of cucumbers," (Isaiah 1:8) is a rude temporary shelter erected int
eh open grounds where vines, cucumbers, gourds, etc., are grown, in
which some lonely man or boy is set to watch, either to guard the plants
from robbers or to scare away the foxes and jackals from the vines.
Derived from Easton's and Smith's Bible Dictionaries
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