Walker identifies gall as the opium poppy's juice, noting that this plant thrived in the Holy Land. The plant produces a narcotic effect and deep sleep. When the soldiers offered Christ, their prisoner on the cross, this mixture of vinegar and gall he refused it to suffer the full agony for sin.
Opium is from the head of the gall plant. Horizontal incisions made into the seed vessels cause long drops of a milky juice to pour out. These drops solidify in about twenty-four hours yielding the raw drug product.
The flower of this plant is a clear lavender color or sometimes white. The petals are stained with a deep purple at the base of all four. The plant has silvery, bluish-green foliage and grows to nearly three feet. Nelson's Bible Dictionary says that it could be another poisonous plant that grew wild in the region.
Matthew 27:32 (KJV) And as they came out, they found a man of Cyrene, Simon by name: him they compelled to bear his cross.
Matthew 27:33 (KJV) And when they were come unto a place called Golgotha, that is to say, a place of a skull,
Matthew 27:34 (KJV) They gave him vinegar to drink mingled with gall: and when he had tasted thereof, he would not drink.
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