Biblical Food and Herbs Series Part 9: Cucumbers

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. Isaiah 1:8

Cucumbers usually don’t get the notoriety of other vegetables in terms of health benefits, but they offer a unique combination of nutrients. They are about 95% water and are excellent for hydrating, regulating blood pressure and maintaining body fluid balance. Their phytonutrients give them valuable antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. There is also research on anti-cancer benefits of cucumbers that is still in the preliminary stage.

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Because they have been harvested for thousands of years, so many traditional uses have been documented with continual success like for headaches, sore throats, gallstones, as well as externally for skin issues like burns, scrapes, and insect bites. If you’ve ever seen someone put a slice over their eyes as part of a beauty routine or to reduce wrinkles or eye-puffiness… all true and all good! Yet, probably their most studied benefits are as a carminative, which means effective for relieving or expelling gas from the stomach and bowels, and as an antacid which naturally balances overly acidic stomachs. Other key nutrients include calcium, iron, magnesium, vitamin C, vitamin K, various B vitamins, and fiber.

In the scriptures, the word translated “cucumber” comes from the Hebrew word “qishshu” (Strong’s #7180) which is an unused root meaning “to be hard”. Here is where things get interesting because Strong goes on to add a note in his commentary that this “hardness” probably refers to hardness in digestion. With this note I would disagree for two reasons. One, as we’ve stated, cucumbers are a well studied carminative and antacid, which would make them great digestive aids. Two, cucumbers are a part of the curcubit family which includes squash, pumpkins, gourds, watermelons, and cantaloupes. All which are known for their “hard” exterior. Understanding this aspect leads us into our spiritual study points.

Hardness

Throughout this series I have illustrated how these biblical foods give spiritually discerned pictures and cucumbers are no different. Again, cucumber literally means “to be hard” and although “hard” is used in many different contexts throughout the scriptures, I believe that there is a clear parallel between the usage of “hard” and self effort, self reliance, and/or life apart from Christ altogether.  Different variations of the phrase “Hard-ness of heart” are found Forty-six times in the scriptures and all refer to an unwillingness to adhere or listen to the word of God. This hardness of heart is directly related to hardness in life:

Good understanding giveth favour: but the way of transgressors is hard. - Proverbs 13:15

Now, of course, there will always be aspects of life that will seem hard and difficult to go through, even for the believer and they are even instructed to “endure hard-ness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ”(2 Tim. 2:3). Yet, the difference is that they have access to the life of Christ to provide comfort, strength, joy,  peace and provision while they go through. So regardless of what you may go through, remember that “nothing is too hard for God” (Jeremiah 32:17). Love that.

Water-Rich

Continuing with this spiritual “picture”, notice that as “hard” as they are on the outside, as we stated earlier, cucumbers are 95% water on the inside. Throughout the scriptures, water represents the presence and power of God. This verse concluded Jesus exchange with the “woman at the well” in John Chapter 4:

“…But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life. – John 4:14  

So here’s the spiritually illustrated picture through the cucumber: Hard outside (of Christ and His power) and refreshing water inside (of Christ and His power). That’s real. Yet, there is one more aspect that will take it to another level.

Keeping Your Cool

It is well documented that the inner temperature of a cucumber can be 20 degrees cooler than the outside air, giving to the phrase “cool as a cucumber”. This was great for those living in that hot and dry Mediterranean climate. Yet, spiritually, This typifies the anointing, which is God’s burden-removing, yoke-destroying power in the Earth (Isaiah 10:27) that keeps believers insulated, peaceful, protected, preserved and delivered from trouble:

Thou art my hiding place; thou shalt preserve me from trouble; thou shalt compass me about with songs of deliverance. - Psalm 32:7

But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope - 1 Thessalonians 4:13

He answered and said, Lo, I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they have no hurt; and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God. - Daniel 3:25

The key is that the believer is not necessarily always removed from the trouble but “kept” while in and going through the trouble, and yet also not as affected as others without this inner “cooling”. Now, this is not to be confused with ‘achieving’ a state of inner peace, but this is about being supplied with it.

 Grace be to you and peace from God the Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ,  Who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father  - Galatians 1:3, 4

Happy and Healthy!!

Duke's Handbook of Medicinal Plants of the Bible, James A. Duke 

 Prescription for Dietary Wellness, Phyllis A. Balch

Free Radical Scavenging and Analgesic Activities of Cucumis sativus L. Fruit Extract

Evaluation of antacid and carminative properties of Cucumis sativus under simulated conditions

Benefits of Cucumbers infographic