Nadene Goldfoot
Numbers 11:4 On the Exodus, Dissatisfied with eating only manna,, the Children of Israel also wept once more, and said, "who will feed us....we remember the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions, and garlic. But now, our life is parched, there is nothing, we have nothing to anticipate but the manna!" ( This is the first acknowledgement of needing inns on roads for the travelers who offer food and shelter.). People will have to wait for about 1,000 years to see this happen. Inns in Europe were possibly first established when the Romans built their system of Roman roads two millennia ago. Many inns in Europe are several centuries old. In addition to providing for the needs of travelers, inns traditionally acted as community gathering places.
Our bodies need to be hydrated. Cucumbers add water and are a help to stay hydrated. They may not have realized this, but eating cucumbers added to their abilities to go longer without another drink. They are healthy to us in many other ways. They even kill bad breath ! They didn't peel them; the whole cucumber is healthy. Cucumbers are actually a fruit, not a veggie; thus in the family with watermelons. They didn't need vitamin pills because they ate cucumbers.
They are low in calories but contain many important vitamins and minerals, as well as a high water content. Eating cucumbers may lead to many potential health benefits, including weight loss, balanced hydration, digestive regularity and lower blood sugar levels.
(My thought is that manna contained all the nutrients needed,, just like cucumbers, except a lot of water like the cucumber.) Otherwise, they could not have continued on for 40 years on just manna. It had to be nutritious like food for today's astronauts.)
(Heb. kishshuim). This word occurs in (Numbers 11:5) as one of the good things of Egypt produces excellent cucumbers, melons, etc., the Cucumis chate being the best of its tribe yet known. Besides the Cucumis chate , the common cucumber (C. sativus), of which the Arabs distinguish a number of varieties, is common in Egypt.
This vegetable is extensively cultivated in the East at the present day, as it appears to have been in earlier times among the Hebrews. It belongs to the gourd family of plants. In the East its cooling pulp and juice are most refreshing. "We need not altogether wonder that the Israelites, wearily marching through the arid solitudes of the Sinaitic peninsula, thought more of the cucumbers and watermelons of which they had had no lack in Egypt, rather than of the cruel bondage which was the price of these luxuries." Groser's Scripture Natural History.
Also mentioned: Isaiah 1:8 And the daughter of Zion is left as a cottage in a vineyard, as a lodge in a garden of cucumbers, as a besieged city.
Cucumbers grow in our greenhouse all winter – a single winter child of the Cucurbit family. In a short time, he will be joined by all the cousins, nieces and nephews from this very prominent family – the first to visit us in springtime. So just before he is smothered with hugs and kisses from those who missed him over winter, we’re happy to provide the cucumber with its seven minutes of solo fame:
Cucumbers originated in the heart of the Indian subcontinent. This very ancient domesticated vegetable has been raised by the human farmer for over 3,000 years. By virtue of being so ancient, today there is almost no place in the world where a wild cucumber grows. This versatile veggie spread to China, North Africa, Europe and the Middle East even before written documentation could be had. The Biblical Hebrews craved it when they went out of Egypt—their mouths watered as they “remember… the squash,” but they actually are referring to “cucumbers” and not the squash we know today. But this is not the only complicated part. The Hebrew word Melafefon derives from the Greek melopepon – meaning ‘an apple melon,’ which probably refers to squash or melon…
The "lodge in a garden of cucumbers," (Isaiah 1:8) is a rude temporary shelter erected in t he open grounds where vines, cucumbers, gourds, etc., are grown, in which some lonely man or boy is set to watch, either to guard the plants from robbers or to scare away the foxes and jackals from the vines. Isaiah speaks of a "lodge" (1:8; Hebrews sukkah), i.e., a shed or edifice more solid than a booth, for the protection throughout the season from spring to autumn of the watchers in a "garden of cucumbers."
The sukkah is something Israelites were told to erect on their Exodus trek as well, and is something that Jews will erect each year during Sukkot, the holiday that follows Yom Kippur, where each family builds a sukkah, eats in it and even sleeps in it. It's much easier to do in Israel than in the Pacific Northwest as the weather complies in Israel. The sides are made of colorful rugs, and the roof are cut branches so that the sky can be seen. You invite your friends into yours and you drink tea and eat breads and cakes, cookies, etc, and enjoy the time. School is on vacation during this time.
Bread was the basic staple of the Egyptian diet. Every tomb owner’s first wish from those still alive passing by the tomb was 1,000 loaves of bread. From archaeological remains, art and texts, we know that the loaves could be made in many fanciful shapes, such as obelisks, geese, cattle, gazelles, humans, flowers, vases, fruit, and geometric shapes. Perhaps we can say the ancient Egyptians invented the animal cracker! Some of these loaves may have been meant to stand in as temple and tomb offerings for the more costly items that they represented.
The ancient Egyptians are well-known for their love of beer and it formed the second staple of their diet. Men, women, and children alike drank beer. Although children were introduced to beer drinking at a young age, school teachers warned young scribes in training against the intoxicating effects of alcohol by dictating such lines as the following to be written down by the student:
Did Abraham ever eat cucumbers? He was born in about 1948 BCE, so the time between Abraham and Moses was a good 637 years. He was born in Ur of the Chaldees in Mesopotamia near the Euphrates River and had take a long trip himself to Canaan. He visited Egypt, then returned and lived in Hebron. He even fought with the king of Elam. He may have. cucumber-growing has spread all over, even to Oregon and California.
According to some historians, the Exodus took place starting in 1445 BCE. According to the Jewish calendar, Moses was born in 1391 and died in 1271 BCE. He had returned to Egypt to lead the Israelites to Canaan when he was 80 years old which would have been in 1311 BCE. Those Israelites on the Exodus never cried out for beer, or at least that was left out in the writing. Perhaps slaves were passed over when drinks were given out when slaves in Egypt. Egyptians did have wine in those days as well for citizens. Well, they had cucumbers to keep them refreshed.
Resource:
Tanakh (Old Testament) Stone Edition, Numbers 11:4.
https://bibleapps.com/c/cucumbers.htm
https://www.thecollector.com/food-ancient-egypt/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lG5QiP6I7ac
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KP8XipP3qTE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nW78YV1JVEg
https://www.glenmoristontownhouse.com/blog/2019/03/7-health-benefits-of-eating-cucumber#:~:text=They%20are%20low%20in%20calories%20but%20contain%20many%20important%20vitamins,and%20lower%20blood%20sugar%20levels.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tristram_Stuart
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