A sealed fountain, &c. Another metaphor to express the same idea. The scarcity of water in arid countries renders fountains very valuable. To secure them against the encroachment of strangers, the proprietors formerly fastened their fountains with some ligament, and the impression of a seal upon clay, which would quickly harden in the sun, that would soon dissolve wax. This mode of rendering pits safe is found in Dan. vi. 18; Matt. xxvii. 66. A fountain sealed in this manner indicated that it was private property. Hence its metaphorical use, to represent chastity as an inaccessible [[161]]fountain. It is better, with the Sept., Syriac, Arabic, Chald., Vulg., upwards of fifty of Kennicott’s MSS., and many modern commentators, to read גַּן, instead of גַּל. This is confirmed by the intensive phraseology of the shepherd, used in his addresses, which is produced by a repetition of the same words. Comp. supra, vv. 8, 9.
[13]. Thy shoots, &c. Having compared his loved one to a garden, the shepherd is anxious to show that the one she resembled is not of an ordinary character. It is an orchard full of the most costly trees, and producing the most delicious fruit. שְׁלָחַיִךְ, well rendered by the Sept. ἀποστολαί σου: and Kimchi, התפשטות, thy shoots, branches (Gen. xlix. 21; Ps. lxxx. 12) is figuratively used for the members of the body, and not for “the children who shall spring from her,” as Hodgson supposes. פַּרְדֵּס, found elsewhere only Eccl. ii. 5; Neh. ii. 8, has been derived by some from the Persian, and by others from the Sanscrit. There is no necessity, however, for seeking its etymology in other languages. The Hebrews, who had gardens at so early a period, would surely not borrow names for them from other nations. פַּרְדֵּס, according to the analogy of the quadriliteral פַּרְשֵׁז, is a compound of פָּרַד, to divide, and פָּרַס, to separate, to enclose; hence a protected, an enclosed place, a garden. This is corroborated by the fact that גַּן, a garden, is also derived from a root (גָּנַן), which means to separate, to enclose. Compare also the German and English, Gärten, garden, and Saalschütz, Archäologie der Hebräer, vol. i. p. 117. And like many other Hebrew expressions, this word was adopted in other languages. רִמּוֹנִים, pomegranate-trees: the Hebrews frequently use the same expression to denote the tree and its fruit, see supra, ii. 3. פְּרִי מְגָדִים, i.q. פִּרְיֵיְ מֶגָד, precious fruits: when a compound idea is to be expressed in the plural, the governed noun only is often put in the plural form; e.g. בֵּית אָבוֹת, ancestral houses, Numb. i. 2; Gesen. § 108, 3. The precious fruits are those of the pomegranate-tree. The words כְּפָרִים עִם נְרָדִים, are still genitives to פַּרְדֵּס. For כֹּפֶר, and נֵרְדְּ, see supra, i. 12, 13.
[14]. Nard and crocus, &c. Both the ancient versions and modern commentators generally agree that by the word כַּרְכֹּﬦ, which occurs only here, the well-known saffron plant is meant. Calamus (קָנֶה, reed, also written קְנֵה בשֵֹׁם and קָנֶה הַטּוֹב, sweet calamus, Exod. xxx. 23; Jer. vi. 20, κάλαμος ἀρωματικός, Calamus odoratus), was well known and highly prized among the ancients, and was imported to Palestine from India (Jer. vi. 20; xxvii. 19); it was, however, also found in the valley of Mount Lebanon, (Polyb. v. 46; Strabo, xvi. 4). It has a reed-like stem, of a tawny colour, much jointed, breaking into splinters, and its hollow reed filled with pitch, like the web of a spider. The best, which, according to Pliny (Hist. Nat. xii. 12 or 48), grows in Arabia, diffuses around a very agreeable odour, and is soft to the touch (see Rosenmüller, Bib. Bot.; Winer, Bib. Dict.; Kitto, Cyclop. Bib. Lit. s.v.) Cinnamon (קִנָּמוֹן, κίναμον, Laurus cinnamomum), indigenous to Ceylon in the East Indies, and is called by the natives Karonda-gouhah; it is now, however, also cultivated on the Malabar coast, in the islands of Sumatra and Borneo, in China and Cochin-China. The cinnamon-tree, which grows on the coast, is generally about twenty or thirty feet high, and reaches a still greater height in groves: it is adorned with numerous boughs, bearing oval and laurel-like leaves, of a scarlet [[162]]colour when young, but changing to bright green, and growing to the length of from four to six inches when matured, and putting forth whitish blossoms, which ripen into fruit, resembling those of the juniper-tree in June: the fruit, though possessing neither the smell nor the taste of the cinnamon, when boiled secretes an oil, which, after cooling, becomes hard, white, and fragrant. The wood itself, which is white, inodorous, and soft as fir, is used for a variety of purposes. It is the rind which, when peeled off and dried in the sun, yields the much-valued cinnamon. (See Rosenmüller, Bibl. Bot.; Winer, Bib. Dict.; Kitto, Cyclop. Bib. Lit. s.v.) Aloe (אָהָל, Ἀλοή. John xix. 39. ἀγάλλοχον, ξυλαλοή, arbor alois), a tree which grows in India and the Moluccas, the wood of which is highly aromatic. The stem of this tree is as thick as a man’s thigh; the top is adorned with a bunch of thick and indented leaves, broad below, and narrowing gradually towards the point, and are about four feet long: its blossoms—which are red, intermixed with yellow, and double like a pink—yield the pod, producing a red and white fruit, about the size of a pea. This tree, in consequence of its singularly beautiful appearance and odoriferous wood, which is used as a perfume, is very gratifying both to the sight and smell, and is held by the Indians in sacred veneration. (See Rosenmüller, Bib. Bot.; Winer, Bib. Dict. s.v.) רֹאשׁ, head metaph., chief, most excellent. Exod. xxx. 23; Ps. cxxxvii. 6; Ezek. xxvii. 22.
[15]. With a garden-fountain, &c. To finish the picture of this charming garden, the shepherd introduces into it fountains, streams, rills, and cooling breezes, to rouse and waft the balmy fragrance through its delightful retreats. The fact that the Shulamite has been called a sealed fountain proves that this verse is not descriptive of her. For it would be contradictory to call her in one verse a sealed fountain, and in the other a stream flowing from Lebanon, i.e. an open stream. מַעְיַן גַּנִּים a fountain of gardens, i.e. a fountain belonging to gardens, usually found in gardens to irrigate them. נֹזְליִם, a part. noun plur., denoting flowing streams. The מִן indicates the place whence these streams issue. מַיִם חַיִּים living water, i.e. perennial; waters, gushing forth from fountains, or moving along, appear as if they were living; whilst those in a stagnant condition seem dead. Gen. xxvi. 19; Jer. ii. 13; Zech. xiv. 8; see also ὕδωρ ζῶν, Rev. vii. 17, and flumen vivum, Virg. Æn. ii. 719.
[16]. Arise, O north wind! These are still the words of the shepherd, who, to complete the picture, invokes the gentle breezes to perflate this paradise. Rashbam, Ibn Ezra, Williams, Good, Ewald, Delitzsch, Philippson, &c., take this clause to begin her reply; but this is incompatible with the figure. She herself, and not anything separate, has been described as this charming garden. She could, therefore, not say “blow through MY garden” (גַנִּי), which would imply that this garden of hers was something apart from her person. Moreover, the expression גַנּוֹ, his garden, which she uses, shows that גַנִּי, my garden, is spoken by him. So Rashi, Döpke, Magnus, Hitzig, &c. That the south and north winds are merely poetical [[163]]designations for a gale generally, without any particular reference to the peculiarities of the wind when blowing from these respective regions is evident from a comparison of Numb. xi. 31 with Ps. lxxviii. 26. This does away with the conflicting conjectures which have been hazarded, to account for the invocation of the wind from these opposite quarters of the earth. צָפוֹן and תֵּימָן, prop. the north and southern quarters, are poetically used, רוּחַ צָפוֹן, and רוּחַ תֵּימָן, the north and south wind. Ps. lxviii. 26. בְּשָׂמִים, spices, here their odours.
Let my beloved come, &c. The Shulamite, continuing this beautiful apostrophe, responds: “If my person really resembles such a paradise, this garden is yours; yours are all its productions.” פְּרִי מְגָדָיו, literally the fruit of his deliciousness, i.e. his delicious fruit. When a compound idea is expressed by one noun followed by another in the genitive, a suffix which refers to this whole idea is sometimes appended to the second of the two nouns. Comp. אֱלִילֵי כַּסְפּוֹ, his silver idols, Isa. ii. 20; Gesen. § 129, b; Ewald, § 291, b; גַן being of a common gender, the suffix in מְגָדָיו may either refer to garden, or to beloved; it is more in keeping with the construction to refer it to the beloved, just as the suffix in גַּנְּוֹ refers to him. The fruit is the beloved’s because the garden is his, and therefore he may enjoy it.
[1]. I am coming into my garden, &c. The shepherd, as he embraces his beloved, expresses his unbounded delight in her charms. The perfect forms, בָּאתִי שָׁתִיתִי, אָכַלְתִּי, אָרִתִי, are used for the present, Gesen. § 126.
Eat, O friends, &c. Some sympathizing court ladies, at a distance, seeing the mutual happiness of the lovers, urge them to take their fill of delight. The explanation of Rashbam and others, that this address is to the companions of the beloved to partake of a friendly meal; or, as others will have it, that it is an invitation to the marriage feast, is against the context. The expression אִכְלוּ, eat ye, must be taken in the same sense as אָכַלְתִי, I eat; and it would be most incongruous to suppose that the beloved, who enjoys the charms of his loved one, would call on his friends to do the same. Dr. Geddes, who is followed by Dr. Good, alters the text into אכל רעי שת ושכיר דודי, Eat, O my friend! drink, yea, drink abundantly, O my beloved! and puts it into the mouth of the Shulamite; thus making it an answer to what the beloved said in the preceding clause. But such conjectural emendations ought to be repudiated. It is most in accordance with the context to take these words as an epiphonema of some sympathizing court ladies. The parallelism and the accents require us to take דוֹדִים as a concrete, synonymous with רֵעִים, friends; so the Sept., Vulg., Syr., Rashbam, Ibn Ezra, Rashi, Mendelssohn, &c. [[164]]
[2]. I was sleeping, &c. The sympathies manifested by some of the court ladies for the Shulamite, at the close of the last section, encourage her to relate to them a dream which she recently had. The purpose of this narration is the description of the shepherd to which it leads, and which is necessary to the completion of the whole drama. יְשֵׁנָה, like the participle form generally, may be used to express all the relations of time. Comp. כִּי כֻלָּם יְשֵׁנִים, for all were sleeping, 1 Sam. xxvi. 12; 1 Kings iii. 20. Gesen. § 134, 1; Ewald, § 306 d. לֵב, heart, here the seat of thought. The Hebrews regarded the heart, not only as the seat of the passions, but also of the intellectual faculties of the mind. The whole clause is merely another way of saying בַּחֲלֹמִי, Gen. xli. 17. The circumlocution is chosen in preference to בַּחֲלמִי, to indicate that the powers under which the exhausted frame succumbed, could not keep her mind from dwelling upon the object of her affections. קֹל, hark; vide supra, ii. 8. דֹפֵק is best taken with the Sept., Syriac, Vulg., and many modern commentators, as a separate clause, he is knocking. The Sept. adds ἐπὶ τὴν θύραν, at the door, after דֹפֵק, he is knocking.
Open to me, &c. She introduces him speaking. To make his request the more urgent, he pleads that he had [[165]]been drenched with dew. The dew falls so copiously in the East, during certain months, that it saturates the clothes like rain. See Judges vi. 38; Rosenmüller, Orient. i. 122; Winer, Bib. Dict. s.v. A similar passage occurs in Anacreon, iii. 10, where love is represented as standing at night behind the door, begging for admittance, and pleading the same excuses.