Commentaries:
Barnes' Notes
A wild vine - Not a real wild vine, the fruit of which, if not very palatable, is harmless; but some climbing plant with tendrils. The plant was probably either the Ecbalium elaterium, or "squirting cucumber," the fruit of which, egg-shaped, and of a very bitter taste, bursts at the slightest touch, when it is ripe, and squirts out sap and seed grains; or the Colocynthis, which belongs to the family of cucumbers, has a vine-shaped leaf, and bears a fruit as large as an orange, very bitter, from which is prepared the drug sold as colocynth. This latter plant grows abundantly in Palestine.
His lap full - literally, "his shawl full." The prophet brought the fruit home in his "shawl" or "outer garment."
Other Barnes' Notes entries containing 2 Kings 4:39:
Exodus 12:34
Judges 13:14
Isaiah 5:2
Isaiah 18:4
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