Gourds in the Pot

On the walls of the temple were carved wooden gourds. The word for these gourds is used only in 1 Kings 6:18 and 7:24. A related word, however, is used for ?wild gourd?Ein 2 Ki 4:39, the story of Elisha healing the pot of stew. Using a “pot” as an image of a “contained” architectural space makes sense; Ezekiel describes the city of Jerusalem as a pot and the people of the city as the flesh in the pot (Ezek 11). It would be consistent, then, to describe the temple itself as a pot of “gourd” stew. But the stew of the temple is deadly, and the deadly stew of the sons of the prophets is an image of the “food” that emanates from the gourd-decorated temple. Elisha, the savior, puts meal into the stew to heal it and make it edible. The meal might be the sons of the prophets, with their life-giving teaching. Elisha follows this miracle by multiplying barley loaves, so his ministry might be represented as “meal” poured into the deadly pot.

Perhaps.