Useful Bible Studies > 2 Kings Commentary > chapter 4
In former times, it was much more usual for people to collect wild foods than it is in many countries today. People learnt to recognise the wild plants that were good to eat. Those plants were especially important as food for poor people. They would collect the best wild foods every year, whether the harvests were good or not. However in years with poor harvests, those plants became essential to keep people alive.
A good knowledge of wild plants was, therefore, an important skill. Some good plants for food are easy to recognise; but other plants may be similar to dangerous or even poisonous plants. It can cause illness or even death to eat the wrong plants.
People are more likely to eat a dangerous wild plant in years with poor harvests. When not enough food is available to buy, people can become desperate. They eat plants that they may not recognise correctly.
That is what seems to have happened here. The man found a plant with vines (long stems that grow over the ground or over other plants). On the vines, there were gourds, in other words, large vegetables. So these gourds looked like the vegetables called marrows, courgettes, pumpkins or squashes. Those are all good foods to eat – so, the man thought that this gourd was like them. He asked the opinion of his friends. None of them could definitely recognise it, so they should not have eaten it. However, they were hungry and the gourds looked good. So, they added these gourds to the pot of food that they were cooking.
Next part: Can something good correct what is bad? (2 Kings 4:40-41)
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