Wild gourd (colocynth, egusi, bitter apple)

The young prophet in 2 Kings 4:39 was probably a city dweller. He may not even have had any particular species in mind when he set out to gather “herbs.” What he found was a gefen sadeh (literally “vine of the field”). Gefen is a general Hebrew word for climbing or twining plants but which, like the English word “vine,” can also be used to refer specifically to the grapevine. In this case it was the wild gourd or colocynth, a common vine in dry climates. Its fruit (paqu‘oth) are somewhat poisonous, although in powdered form the gourd was used for medicine. The colocynth gourd still grows in the Jordan Valley near Gilgal, where the story is said to have taken place, as well as in the coastal plain. Hepper informs us that the Roman emperor Claudius was poisoned with colocynth by his wife in 54 A.D. The related Hebrew word peqa‘im occurs elsewhere as the fruit of the bottle gourd (see 5.2.1 Bottle gourd).

Hepper suggests that the “vine of Sodom” (gefen sedom) mentioned in the Song of Moses (Deuteronomy 32:32) may have been the Colocynth Citrullus colocynthis. While the comparison is apt, this passage may not refer to a poisonous plant at all but may simply be a way of comparing the rebellious and obstinate Israelites to the wicked people of Sodom. Hepper also says that the colocynth may be the plant referred to by the Hebrew word ro’sh in Deuteronomy 29:18; Psalm 69:21; Jeremiah 8:14; Jeremiah 9:15; Jeremiah 23:15; and Amos 6:12 (see 5.2.2 Hammada (Salsola, Salicornia)).