Bible Dictionaries

Fausset's Bible Dictionary

Cucumber

A product abounding in Egypt, a variety of which, the Cucurtis chafe , is "the queen of cucumbers" (Hasselquist). A variety of the melon; hence the Israelites pined for this Egyptian dainty in the wilderness (Numbers 11:5). Qishu , from qaasha' "to be hard," it being an indigestible food. Tristram observed quantities of the common cucumber in Palestine. Isaiah 1:8; "a lodge (a lonely box for watching in against depredations) in a garden of cucumbers," so solitary was Zion to be, as such a lodge when deserted and wrecked by the winds, the poles fallen or leaning every way, and the green boughs which had shaded it scattered.