קיקון, Jonah iv, 6, 7, 9, 10. Michaëlis, in his remarks on this
subject, says, “Celsius appears to me to have proved that it is the
_kiki_ of the Egyptians.” He refers it to the class of the _ricinus_,
the great _catapucus_. According to Dioscorides, it is of rapid growth,
and bears a berry from which an oil is expressed. In the Arabic version
of this passage, which is to be found in Avicenna, it is rendered, “from
thence is pressed the oil which they call oil of _kiki_, which is the
oil of Alkeroa.” So Herodotus says: “The inhabitants of the marshy
grounds in Egypt make use of an oil, which they term the _kiki_,
expressed from the Sillicyprian plant. In Greece this plant springs
spontaneously, without any cultivation; but the Egyptians sow it on the
banks of the river and of the canals; it there produces fruit in great
abundance, but of a very strong odour. When gathered, they obtain from
it, either by friction or pressure, an unctuous liquid, which diffuses
an offensive smell, but for burning it is equal in quality to the oil of
olives.” This plant rises with a strong herbaceous stalk to the height
of ten or twelve feet; and is furnished with very large leaves, not
unlike those of the plane tree. Rabbi Kimchi says that the people of the
east plant them before their shops for the sake of the shade, and to
refresh themselves under them. Niebuhr says, “I saw, for the first time
at Basra, the plant _ei-keroa_, mentioned in Michaëlis’s ‘Questions.’ It
has the form of a tree. The trunk appeared to me rather to resemble
leaves than wood; nevertheless, it is harder than that which bears the
Adam’s fig. Each branch of the keroa has but one large leaf, with six or
seven foldings in it. This plant was near to a rivulet, which watered it
amply. At the end of October, 1765, it had risen in five months’ time
about eight feet, and bore at once flowers and fruit, ripe and unripe.
Another tree of this species, which had not had so much water, had not
grown more in a whole year. The flowers and leaves of it which I
gathered withered in a few minutes; as do all plants of a rapid growth.
This tree is called at Aleppo, _palma Christi_. An oil is made from it
called _oleum de keroa_; _oleum cicinum_; _oleum ficus infernalis_. The
Christians and Jews of Mosul (Nineveh) say, it was not the _keroa_ whose
shadow refreshed Jonah, but a sort of gourd, _el-kera_, which has very
large leaves, very large fruit, and lasts but about four months.” The
epithet which the prophet uses in speaking of the plant, “son of the
night it was, and, as a son of the night it died,” does not compel us to
believe that it grew in a single night, but, either by a strong oriental
figure that it was of rapid growth, or akin to night in the shade it
spread for his repose. The figure is not uncommon in the east, and one
of our own poets has called the rose “child of the summer.” Nor are we
bound to take the expression “on the morrow,” as strictly importing the
very next day, since the word has reference to much more distant time,
Exod. xiii, 14; Deut. vi, 20; Joshua iv, 6. It might be simply taken as
_afterward_. But the author of “Scripture Illustrated” justly remarks,
“As the history in Jonah expressly says, _the_ Lord prepared this plant,
no doubt we may conceive of it as an extraordinary one of its kind,
remarkably rapid in its growth, remarkably hard in its stem, remarkably
vigorous in its branches, and remarkable for the extensive spread of its
leaves and the deep gloom of their shadow; and, after a certain
duration, remarkable for a sudden withering, and a total uselessness to
the impatient prophet.”
2. We read of the wild gourd in 2 Kings iv, 39; that Elisha, being at
Gilgal during a great famine, bade one of his servants prepare something
for the entertainment of the prophets who were in that place. The
servant, going into the field, found, as our translators render it, some
_wild gourds_, gathered a lapful of them, and, having brought them with
him, cut them in pieces and put them into a pot, not knowing what they
were. When they were brought to table, the prophets, having tasted them,
thought they were mortal poison. Immediately, the man of God called for
flour, threw it into the pot, and desired them to eat without any
apprehensions. They did so, and perceived nothing of the bitterness
whereof they were before sensible. This plant or fruit is called in
Hebrew פקיעות and פקעים. There have been various opinions about it.
Celsius supposes it the _colocynth_. The leaves of the plant are large,
placed alternate; the flowers white, and the fruit of the gourd kind, of
the size of a large apple, which, when ripe, is yellow, and of a
pleasant and inviting appearance, but, to the taste intolerably bitter,
and proves a drastic purgative. It seems that the fruit, whatever it
might have been, was early thought proper for an ornament in
architecture. It furnished a model for some of the carved work of cedar
in Solomon’s temple, 1 Kings vi, 18; vii, 24.
subject, says, “Celsius appears to me to have proved that it is the
_kiki_ of the Egyptians.” He refers it to the class of the _ricinus_,
the great _catapucus_. According to Dioscorides, it is of rapid growth,
and bears a berry from which an oil is expressed. In the Arabic version
of this passage, which is to be found in Avicenna, it is rendered, “from
thence is pressed the oil which they call oil of _kiki_, which is the
oil of Alkeroa.” So Herodotus says: “The inhabitants of the marshy
grounds in Egypt make use of an oil, which they term the _kiki_,
expressed from the Sillicyprian plant. In Greece this plant springs
spontaneously, without any cultivation; but the Egyptians sow it on the
banks of the river and of the canals; it there produces fruit in great
abundance, but of a very strong odour. When gathered, they obtain from
it, either by friction or pressure, an unctuous liquid, which diffuses
an offensive smell, but for burning it is equal in quality to the oil of
olives.” This plant rises with a strong herbaceous stalk to the height
of ten or twelve feet; and is furnished with very large leaves, not
unlike those of the plane tree. Rabbi Kimchi says that the people of the
east plant them before their shops for the sake of the shade, and to
refresh themselves under them. Niebuhr says, “I saw, for the first time
at Basra, the plant _ei-keroa_, mentioned in Michaëlis’s ‘Questions.’ It
has the form of a tree. The trunk appeared to me rather to resemble
leaves than wood; nevertheless, it is harder than that which bears the
Adam’s fig. Each branch of the keroa has but one large leaf, with six or
seven foldings in it. This plant was near to a rivulet, which watered it
amply. At the end of October, 1765, it had risen in five months’ time
about eight feet, and bore at once flowers and fruit, ripe and unripe.
Another tree of this species, which had not had so much water, had not
grown more in a whole year. The flowers and leaves of it which I
gathered withered in a few minutes; as do all plants of a rapid growth.
This tree is called at Aleppo, _palma Christi_. An oil is made from it
called _oleum de keroa_; _oleum cicinum_; _oleum ficus infernalis_. The
Christians and Jews of Mosul (Nineveh) say, it was not the _keroa_ whose
shadow refreshed Jonah, but a sort of gourd, _el-kera_, which has very
large leaves, very large fruit, and lasts but about four months.” The
epithet which the prophet uses in speaking of the plant, “son of the
night it was, and, as a son of the night it died,” does not compel us to
believe that it grew in a single night, but, either by a strong oriental
figure that it was of rapid growth, or akin to night in the shade it
spread for his repose. The figure is not uncommon in the east, and one
of our own poets has called the rose “child of the summer.” Nor are we
bound to take the expression “on the morrow,” as strictly importing the
very next day, since the word has reference to much more distant time,
Exod. xiii, 14; Deut. vi, 20; Joshua iv, 6. It might be simply taken as
_afterward_. But the author of “Scripture Illustrated” justly remarks,
“As the history in Jonah expressly says, _the_ Lord prepared this plant,
no doubt we may conceive of it as an extraordinary one of its kind,
remarkably rapid in its growth, remarkably hard in its stem, remarkably
vigorous in its branches, and remarkable for the extensive spread of its
leaves and the deep gloom of their shadow; and, after a certain
duration, remarkable for a sudden withering, and a total uselessness to
the impatient prophet.”
2. We read of the wild gourd in 2 Kings iv, 39; that Elisha, being at
Gilgal during a great famine, bade one of his servants prepare something
for the entertainment of the prophets who were in that place. The
servant, going into the field, found, as our translators render it, some
_wild gourds_, gathered a lapful of them, and, having brought them with
him, cut them in pieces and put them into a pot, not knowing what they
were. When they were brought to table, the prophets, having tasted them,
thought they were mortal poison. Immediately, the man of God called for
flour, threw it into the pot, and desired them to eat without any
apprehensions. They did so, and perceived nothing of the bitterness
whereof they were before sensible. This plant or fruit is called in
Hebrew פקיעות and פקעים. There have been various opinions about it.
Celsius supposes it the _colocynth_. The leaves of the plant are large,
placed alternate; the flowers white, and the fruit of the gourd kind, of
the size of a large apple, which, when ripe, is yellow, and of a
pleasant and inviting appearance, but, to the taste intolerably bitter,
and proves a drastic purgative. It seems that the fruit, whatever it
might have been, was early thought proper for an ornament in
architecture. It furnished a model for some of the carved work of cedar
in Solomon’s temple, 1 Kings vi, 18; vii, 24.