An alarming cry was heard when the stew was served: “death in the pot!”
I know the feeling. I’ve been the siren. I’ve spent a lifetime avoiding dishes with squishy veggies like okra.
As the narrative of 2 Kings 4:38-41 goes, a local famine seems to have forced new food choices. A cook unwittingly adds a poisonous ingredient to a stew intended to be served to a group of prophets-in-training. Fortunately, the danger was recognized before anybody went down. Elisha “healed” the meal by adding flour to the mix. It became edible.
The account is brief but baffling. A lack of explicit teaching makes it all the more odd. Was the cook unfamiliar with the plants in his area? How was the poison in the stew detected? Can flour really serve as an emulsifier and “heal” such a brew? And most importantly, should the seminary cafeteria be avoided at all costs?
Interpreters often read this passage as just another item in Elijah’s already impressive résumé: the prophet is “a man of God,” a “miracle worker” or “problem solver” who exercises the power of God. I would simply add this, Elisha acts on behalf of YHWH to give life in an atmosphere of death (i.e. famine).
While identifying the death-dealing ingredient does little to help interpreters make scientific sense of things, it is part of our fascination with the story. The word translated as “gourds” here in most English bibles is drawn from the Hebrew paqquot, a rare term describing a ball- or knob-shaped item. Some specialists have suggested the ingredient might be wild cucumber. Cucumis prophetarum is a plant found in arid areas of the biblical Heartland. It is very bitter, can make a person sick, but is not deadly to most folk.
Similarly, Citrullus colocynthis, colocynth, or “bitter apple,” has been suggested as our mystery ingredient. It grows in the area and finds use in traditional medicine. It can be life-threatening if ingested in quantity.
A third possibility for our poisonous ingredient is Calotropis procera or the “apple of Sodom.” All parts of this plant contain toxins. Its milky sap can cause lesions on the skin, blindness if touched to the eyes, and if ingested, produce cardiac failure. Needless to say, this is one baaaaad plant! It would certainly qualify as “death in the pot”!
I’ve written on Sodom apples before. Check out our post here: https://www.markziese.com/stories/2015/10/22/dmdoziw72gexrz2j8bmp6du1ta16rf
