the Third Week of Advent
Click here to learn more!
Bible Dictionaries
Cucumbers
Smith's Bible Dictionary
or Cucumbers. (Hebrew, 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 (Cucumis sativus), of which the Arabs distinguish a number of varieties, is common in Egypt.
"Both Cucumis chate and Cucumis 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 in the 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.
These files are public domain.
Smith, William, Dr. Entry for 'Cucumbers'. Smith's Bible Dictionary. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/sbd/c/cucumbers.html. 1901.
