Cucumbers
    (Heb. plur. kishshuim; i.e., "hard," "difficult" of digestion,
    only in Num. 11:5). 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.

      Isaiah speaks of a "lodge" (1:8; Heb. 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."