bottle gourd / calabash

The Bottle Gourd or Calabash Lagenaria siceraria was one of the first plants to be domesticated by human beings. It has been used for food, for medicine, and for various utensils and musical instruments. It is indigenous to Africa but was probably introduced into Asia and the Americas about ten thousand years ago, with or without the help of humans. The name of the genus comes from the Latin word lagoena, meaning “flask” (almost certainly the first Roman flasks were dried gourds). The species name is derived from the Latin word for “dry,” suggesting that the fruit is usable in its dried form. Although the people of the Bible lands undoubtedly used the split bottle gourds in their homes as bowls or “dippers,” as we find in Africa and Asia, the only references we have are to the image of the gourd in the artwork carved into the cedar of King Solomon’s palace (1 Kings 6:18) and in the decorating of the giant bronze basin that stood in front of the Temple (1 Kings 7:24).

The bottle gourd is a climbing vine like a cucumber or pumpkin. Its stem is square, ribbed, and hairy, and can grow up to 5 meters (17 feet) long. The leaves are heart-shaped, the size of a human hand, and slightly lobed. The flowers are yellow with five petals, giving way to fruits that may be of many different shapes depending on the variety. Most gourds are globular at one end, with a protrusion that may be elongated, making them very useful, when cut in half, as big spoons in the kitchen.

Gourds or calabashes have been used as containers, or, when split, as dipping devices, for thousands of years. They have also been used for musical instruments. The pulp of most kinds is very bitter and is poisonous in some cases. Some kinds are used in medicine in some countries, for purges, expelling worms, and for chest pains and headache. In southern Africa the leaves are eaten as a vegetable, as are the young, unripe fruits.

Translators in temperate or tropical areas of Africa and Asia will have a word for these gourds. If the only gourd people are familiar with is round like a ball, then an illustration may help in the text, or a footnote can describe the special shape of the Holy Land gourd, insofar as we know it. The bottle gourd is related to the wild gourd mentioned in 2 Kings 4:39, which poisoned a group of prophets.

Bottle gourd, photo by Nigel Hepper

Source: Each According to its Kind: Plants and Trees in the Bible (UBS Helps for Translators)

See also plant / gourd / ivy.

complete verse (1 Kings 6:18)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of 1 Kings 6:18:

  • Kupsabiny: “The House of God was partitioned in order to make a Secret room which is very much feared/respected together with a Sitting (common) room. All the sides of that Secret room were the same. Each side had thirty feet. The Sitting room had a length of sixty feet. Small pieces of timber from cedar tree were put on the walls of that house from bottom to top and cypress timber were used on the floors of the house. The timber on the walls of that house were beautified/decorated with some things which looked like gourds and flowers being engraved on (them). The timber closed/sealed everywhere as if no single stone had been used. That Secret room had been made/prepared so that the Box of the Covenant of God would be kept there. The whole wall of that Secret room was smeared with gold up to the top (ceiling). There was a altar for sweet-smelling sacrifices by the door of the Secret room of the House of God. That thing was made of cedar wood and was covered with gold. The wall of the Sitting room too was smeared with gold and the front part of that Secret room was crossed with chains made of gold. So, Solomon beautified/decorated every part of the House of God using gold.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “As for the cedar wood paneling on the inside of the temple, designs of blossoming flowers and gourds had been carved into it. It was all cedar. Not a single stone was visible.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “All the walls inside the temple were-covered/overlaid with board of cedar, so the stones in the walls can- not -be-seen. There were-carvings of flowers on the walls that are-blooming and plants that spreads-out.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “The cedar boards on the walls inside the temple were decorated with carvings of gourds and flowers. The walls were completely covered with cedar boards, with the result that the stones of the walls behind them could not be seen.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

cedar

Long ago the majestic cedars of Lebanon (Cedrus libani) completely covered the upper slopes of the Lebanon Mountains on the western and northern sides. Now only a few pockets of these mighty cedars remain. At that time they were mixed, as they are today, with other trees such as Cilician fir, Grecian juniper, cypress, and Calabrian pine.

We know from 1 Kings that Solomon used cedar wood in his palace and in the Temple. Cedar was used for beams, boards, pillars, and ceilings. Historians tell us that the Assyrians also hauled cedars to their land for use in buildings. Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon also imported cedars from Lebanon. In some versions of Isaiah we read that people made idols of cedar and oak (44:14-20). Finally, when the Temple was rebuilt by the returning exiles (Ezra 3:7), they again cut down cedar trees to grace the house of God.

In 2 Samuel, 1-2 Kings, 1-2 Chronicles and Ezra, when Lebanon is specifically mentioned, there can be no doubt that ’erez is Cedrus libani, the “cedar of Lebanon,” although it is possible that sometimes the word was used loosely to include various evergreen trees.

In the description of the purification rituals (Leviticus 14:4 at al.), the word ’erez probably refers to the Phoenician juniper tree, since that was the only cedar-like tree in the Sinai Desert.

Description  Cedar trees can reach 30 meters (100 feet) high with a trunk more than 2 meters (7 feet) in diameter. The leaves of true cedars are not flat like those of most trees, but consist of tufts of dark green, shiny spines. (The cedars in North America have a flatter type of spine than the biblical cedar.) The wood is fragrant and resistant to insects. Cedars bear cones and can live to be two or three thousand years old.

The cedar of Lebanon is famous for its large size (see Isaiah 2:13 et al.), and for the fragrance of its wood. Psalm 92:12 links the cedar to righteousness, that is, presumably, to its straightness and height above other trees. The cedar is the national emblem of Lebanon.

Cedrus species are found in the mountains of North Africa, in the Himalayas, in India, and in North America. Translators in these places, should, of course, use the local name in nonfigurative references. In sub Saharan Africa, translators can transliterate from Hebrew (’erez), Greek (kedar), English (sedar), or another major language, or they can take a generic solution such as “large, beautiful tree.” In poetic passages (wisdom literature and prophecy), some translators may wish to use a cultural equivalent with these traits. In Africa, according to Burkhill (The Useful Plants of West Tropical Africa, volume 4. Kew: Royal Botanic Gardens, 1985), the Pink Mahogany Guarea cedrata is also called the pink African cedar because of the cedar-like scent of its timber. Likewise, some people in India and Australia use “cedar” to refer to the toon because of its reddish wood. I do not recommend such substitutes in historical passages, since the ’erez is not related to these trees. In some figurative passages, however, the substitution could be effective, since all are large trees with reddish wood. However, each passage has to be evaluated to determine the intended effect of the image.

Cedar of Lebanon, Wikimedia Commons

Source: Each According to its Kind: Plants and Trees in the Bible (UBS Helps for Translators)

Translation commentary on 1 Kings 6:18

The cedar within the house refers to the cedar panels mentioned in verse 15.

Was carved in the form of gourds renders two Hebrew nouns, which most likely mean “wood-carvings of gourd-shaped ornaments.” The passive verb was carved may be translated actively as “some workers had carved.” Gourds in Israel come from vines like melons and pumpkins. They are a round fruit with a neck. When they were split lengthwise, they were used for dipping liquids. It is the form of the fruit that is important in this context. In Africa a type of small calabash may be used here. If a specific word for gourds does not exist in the receptor language, a general word such as “plants” (New Century Version) may be used.

Open flowers translates two Hebrew words. The first word is a participle that comes from the root meaning “to break forth” or “to open” and refers to an early stage of flowering. The second word is a noun meaning “flower.” In New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh these two words are rendered “calyxes,” which is a technical English term for the external leafy part of a flower. New Jerusalem Bible uses the term “rosettes,” which is a technical term for a floral design used in artwork as a decorating motif. If such a technical term exists in the receptor language and is well known, it may be used here. If not, a more general expression such as “open flowers” (Revised Standard Version/New Revised Standard Version, Revised English Bible, New American Bible) may be used.

The decorations of gourds and open flowers probably had religious significance, but whatever the meanings were is no longer known.

No stone was seen: The Temple was built from stone prepared at a quarry (verse 7), but all of these stones were covered inside the building with wood panels so that the stones were not visible. In situations where the passive is not an option, translators may say simply “people could not see any stone” or “no one could see the stones.”

Quoted with permission from Omanson, Roger L. and Ellington, John E. A Handbook on 1-2 Kings, Volume 1. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2008. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .

SIL Translator’s Notes on 1 Kings 6:18

6:18a The cedar paneling inside the temple was carved with gourds and open flowers.

Cedar wood ⌊covered⌋ the inside of the house. Gourds and flowers in bloom/blossom were carved into it.
-or-

⌊Workmen⌋ ⌊lined/paneled⌋ the inside of the house with cedar wood. They carved images of gourd vines with flower blossoms into the wood.

6:18b Everything was cedar; not a stone could be seen.

It was all cedar. No stone could be seen.
-or-
Everything in the house that you/one could see was ⌊covered with⌋ cedar. There was no stone visible.

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