Page:The Song of Songs (1857).djvu/178

 Myrrh and aloes; 15 With all kinds of excellent aromatics, With a garden-fountain, A well of living waters, And streams flowing from Lebanon. 16 Arise, O north wind! and come, thou south! Blow upon my garden, That its perfumes may flow out!

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 ([HE: 'ohol], [GR: A)loê/]. John xix. 39. [GR: a)ga/llochon], [GR: xulaloê/]), 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.) [HE: rO'S/], 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. [HE: ma`^eyan/ g.an.iym/] a fountain of gardens, i. e. a fountain belonging to gardens, usually found in gardens to irrigate them. [HE: nOz^elyim/], a part. noun plur., denoting flowing streams. The [HE: min/] indicates the place whence these streams issue. [HE: mayim/ Hay.iym/] 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 [GR: u(/dôr zô=n], 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 garden" ([HE: gan.iy]), which would imply that this garden of hers was something apart from her person. Moreover, the expression [HE: gan.vO], his garden, which she uses, shows that [HE: gan.iy], my garden, is spoken by him. So Rashi, Döpke, Magnus, Hitzig, &c. That the south and north winds are merely poeti