Hypertext Webster Gateway: "cucumbers"
From Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary (easton)
Cucumbers
(Heb. plur. kishshuim; i.e., "hard," "difficult" of digestion,
only in Num. 11:5). This vegetable is extensively cultivated in
the East at the present day, as it appears to have been in
earlier times among the Hebrews. It belongs to the gourd family
of plants. In the East its cooling pulp and juice are most
refreshing. "We need not altogether wonder that the Israelites,
wearily marching through the arid solitudes of the Sinaitic
peninsula, thought more of the cucumbers and watermelons of
which they had had no lack in Egypt, rather than of the cruel
bondage which was the price of these luxuries." Groser's
Scripture Natural History.
Isaiah speaks of a "lodge" (1:8; Heb. sukkah), i.e., a shed or
edifice more solid than a booth, for the protection throughout
the season from spring to autumn of the watchers in a "garden of
cucumbers."
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