Bible Dictionary
Gourd
The gourd in Jonah provided temporary shade but withered quickly, illustrating the prophet’s misplaced concern. The “wild gourds” in 2 Kings were likely a poisonous cucumber-like plant accidentally gathered for food.
Definition
A gourd is a creeping or rapidly growing plant whose leaves or fruit may provide shade or be used as food. In the biblical accounts, one plant sheltered Jonah, while another kind of wild gourd was mistakenly gathered for a stew.
Biblical Usage
Jonah’s gourd grew quickly to shade him and then withered quickly, becoming part of the lesson concerning his misplaced concern. The wild gourds in 2 Kings were accidentally gathered by the sons of the prophets and were associated with poisonous plants.
Historical Background
The plant in Jonah has been identified with the castor-oil plant or, more suitably to the narrative, the bottle gourd trained over temporary shelters. The wild gourds have been identified with the colocynth or another cucumber-like plant found in desert regions.
Scripture References
Related Figures
Historical Bible Dictionaries
Easton's Bible Dictionary
(1.) Jonah’s gourd (Jonah 4:6-10), bearing the Hebrew name kikayon (found only here), was probably the kiki of the Egyptians, the croton. This is the castor-oil plant, a species of ricinus, the palma Christi, so called from the palmate division of its leaves. Others with more probability regard it as the cucurbita the el-keroa of the Arabs, a kind of pumpkin peculiar to the East. “It is grown in great abundance on the alluvial banks of the Tigris and on the plain between the river and the ruins of Nineveh.” At the present day it is trained to run over structures of mud and brush to form boots to protect the gardeners from the heat of the noon-day sun. It grows with extraordinary rapidity, and when cut or injured withers away also with great rapidity. (2.) Wild gourds (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.
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (ISBE)
<p>gord, goord (qiqayon): The Vulgate (Jerome's Latin Bible, 390-405 A.D.) has hedera ("ivy"), which is impossible. Philologically qiqayon appears to be connected with kiki, which was the Egyptian name for the castor oil plant (Ricinus communis). 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 Jon 4:6 ff are, however, much more suitably met by the "bottle gourd" (Cucurbita lagenaria), the Arab qar`ah. 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><p>E. W. G. Masterman</p>