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Is my beloved unto me. 14 A bunch of cypress-flowers from the garden of En-gedi Is my beloved unto me.

THE SHEPHERD.

15 Behold, thou art beautiful, my love;

from cracks in the bark, and is called ,, stilicidious or profluent myrrh (vide infra, v. 5; Exod. xxx. 23), and on that account is esteemed superior; or is elicited artificially by bruises or incisions made with stones, and is therefore regarded as inferior. It was used for incense (Exod. xxx. 23), for perfuming dresses (Ps. xlv. 9), and couches (Prov. vii. 17), for the purification of women (Esth. ii. 12), for embalming dead bodies (John xix. 39), and was worn by women in the bosom. See Pliny, lib. xii. cap. 35; Rosenmüller, Altherth. iv. 1, 159; Winer, Bib. Dict.; Kitto, Cyclop. Bib. Lit. s. v. is a relative clause, with implied (See Gesen. § 123, 3; Ewald, § 332), and refers to. This is evident from, which refers to ; comp. also iv. 4. The verb is not here, "lie all night," but to abide, to rest, like Job xix. 4,, where even the Authorized Version has "mine error remaineth myself." Ps. xlix. 13.

14. A bunch of cypress flowers, &c. is unanimously regarded by the ancient versions and the Rabbins to denote the plant called [GR: ky/pros] by the Greek, and Al-henna by the Arabs. This plant, which grows in many places, both in Palestine and Egypt, (Plin. Hist. Nat. xii. 24,) is a tall shrub, growing from the height of eight to ten feet; it is exceedingly beautiful and odoriferous. "The dark colour of its bark, the light green of its foliage, the softened mixture of white and yellow, with which the flowers, collected into long clusters like the lilac, are coloured, the red tint of the ramifications which support them,—form a combination the effect of which is highly agreeable. The flowers, whose shades are so delicate, diffuse around the most grateful odours, and embalm with their strong fragrance the gardens in which they grow, and the apartments which they beautify The women take pleasure in adorning their persons and apartments with those delightful blossoms." See Pliny, lib. xii. c. 14; Rosenmüller, Bib. Miner. and Bot.; Winer, Bib. Dict.; Kitto, Cyclop. Bib. Lit. s. v. The flowers grow in dense clusters, whence , cluster of cypress flowers. En-gedi, more anciently called Hazezon-Tamar, which modern explorers identify with the present Ain-Jidy, abounded with the best of those delightful shrubs, (Winer, Bib. Dict.; Kitto, Cyclop. Bib. Lit. s. v.; Robinson, Palest, ii. 209-216.) Hence this beautiful appellation, "a bunch of cypress flowers," than which nothing could be more expressive of sweetness and beauty to an Oriental. The word is most probably derived from , to bind, to twine together; hence, a bundle, a string, with the addition of like , , Gesen. § 30, 3; Ewald, § 163 f. This is confirmed by the Talm. , disciples, (Sota 47, a), i. e. a combination of youths; comp. , and Fürst, Lexicon, s. v. here is a field cultivated as a garden; comp. , an olive-yard. Judg. xv. 5; Job xxiv. 18, and supra, ver. 6.

15. Behold, thou art beautiful. That is, "It is not I who possess such attraction, it is thou who art beautiful, yea superlatively beautiful!" The repetition of enhances the idea. "Thine eyes are doves," i.e. "Thine eyes, in which 'the rapt soul is sitting,' beams forth the purity and constancy of the dove." As the eye is the inlet of ideas to the mind, so it is also the outlet of inward feelings. Thus it expresses many of the passions, such as pity, mildness, humility, anger, envy, pride, &c.; hence the phrases (which we also have), to look with an eye of compassion, Prov. xxii.