Online Bible 1995 March/ROM-1025.iso/olb/gill/4_600.lzh/4_663.TXT

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word ° signifies: it is generally thought to be a Persic
word; see Neh. ii. 8. but Hilleras {p} derives it from
\^rrp\^, to separate, it being a garden, separated and en-
closed as before; one like Eden's garden, exceeding
pleasant and delightful: and not like an orchard of
any s9rt of trees, but ofpomegranates, of which there
were plenty in Canaan, hence called a land of pome-
granates, Dent. viii. 8. many places in it had their
names from the.rice, Josh. xv. 32. and xix. 13. and xxi.
24. To which befievers in Christ may be compared,
for the various sorts of them {q}, for their largehess,
fruitfuhnss, and uprighteness; saints have gifts and
grace, dillsting from one another as to size, but all
pomegranates, trees of righteousness; some are larger,
and excel others, are full of all the fruits of righteous-
ness; but all are, more or less, fruitful and upright in
heart: and so the saints of the higher class may be
here designed, as those of a lower are by other trees
and spices after mentioned. With pleasant fruits;
that are valuable, precious, and desirable, of which
an enumeration follows: camphire, with spikenard; or
cypresses, or cyprusses with nards {r}; both in the plural
number: the tbrmer may intend cypress-trees, sp
called on account of their berries and fruits growl.rig
in clusters; see ch. i. 14. and the latter, because there
are different sorts of them, as nardus .Italics, lndia,
and Celtlea: to these saints may be compared, because
pleasant and delightful, of a sweet smell, and rare and
excellent.
Vet. 14. Spikenard and saffron, &c.] The former
is the best sort of nard, and therefore mentioned and
repeated, to which saints may be compared, because
of the graces of the spirit in them; which, when exer-
cised, give a sweet odour, and are exceeding grateful
to Christ; see ch. i. 12. and the latter, according to
Schindler {s}, seems to have been read carcos, the same
with crocus, and is a plant well known by us for its
cheering nature; and. has its name from the Arabic,
zaffran, because of its yellow or golden colour; but
crocus, from Cotyeast, a mountain in Cilicia, where
it grew; it is properly joined' wit!t spikenard, since
itself is a spies, and is sometimes called spica Ci-
lissa{u}, Next follow ca. lamas and cinnamon, with all
trees of frankincense; calamus is the sweet cane in
Isa. xliii. 24. cinnamon is the rind or bark of a tree;
both grow in India" and in Arabia {x}; as also trees of
frankincense, which are only in Arabia; hence one of
the Arabias is called thurifera {y}, for they do not grow
in all Arabia: the two first were ingredients in the
holy anoint;,ng oil, and the latter in the holy perfume,
Exod. xxx. 23, 34. Myrrh and aloes, with all the chie. f
spices; Solomon's gardens 'might be furnished with all
these; and with the above trees, plants, and spices,
from Arabia Felix, where, as Appianus {z} says, cassia
grew in marshy places; myrrh and frankincense were
gathered from trees, cinnamon from shrubs, and their
meadows naturally produced nard; hence called aro-
matifera, the spicy country {a}: myrrh was also an in-
gredient in the anointing oil; and aloes, according to
the Targum, is the same with lign-aloes; see Numb.
xxiv. 6. not the herb which has a very bitter juice, but
the tree of a sweet odour, which Isidore h distinguishes.,
and is what is meant in Psal. xlv. 8. Prov. vii. 17. and
were both of a very fragrant smell. Now all these
trees, plants, and spices, signify truly precious souls,
possessed of the graces of the spirit; comparable to
them tbr their valuableness and excellency, their sweet
smell, and the reviving and refreshing nature of them;
which make the subjects of these graces very agreeable
to Christ, and to one another. What a garden is the
church thus planted !
Ver. l& A fountain of gardens, a well of living
waters, and streams from Lebanon.'] Some {c} take these
words to be the words of Christ continued, speaking
still of his church, and explaining and enlarging
upon what he had said of her, ver. l2. but they are
· rather the words of the church; who, upon hearing
herself commended, and knowing that all her fruit-
fulness, and the flourishing condition she was in, were
owing to the grace of Christ, breaks forth in these
words, and ascribes all to him, saying, O fountain of
gardens, 0 well of living waters, &c. for so the words
may be rendered in the vocative case a. By the gar-
dens may be meant particular distinct churches, such
as were gathered in the first times of the Gospel, and
since, as the churches of Asia, &c. separated from the
world, and planted with trees of righteousness, such
as are before described: and though there are many gar-
dens or churches, there is but one fountain which sup-
plies them all with girls and grace, and that is Christ,
and his fulness, the fountain from whence flow all
grace, and the blessings of it: who also is the well of
living waters; a well deep and large, fathomless and
bottomless, dug by sovereign grace, and full of all
grace; signified by waters, for the abundance of it;
and said to be living, because by it dead sinners are
quickened,anddrooping saints revived; and is ever run-
ning {e}, ever flowing and overflowing; so that there is
always a supply tbr all Christ's gardens, and for all be-
lievers in all ages; who, with the bucket of faith,
draw water with joy out of this well, or wells of sal-
vation, Isa. xii. 3. and the flows of grace from hence
are like streams from Lebanon, because of the abun-
dance of it; the constant and continued supplies. of it;
the rapidity and force with which it comes, bearing
down all obstacles in its way, and for the pleasure it
gives, the flows of it being as delightful and grateful
as streams of water in hot countries. Respect seems
to be had to several places called by these names;
there was one, called the Fountain of Gardens, which


{o} \^odrp\^ \~paradeisov\`, Sept.; paradisus, Pagninus, Montanus, Tigurine
version, Cocceius, Marckius, Michaelis.
{p} Onomastic. Sacr. p. 291.
{q} Plin. Nat. Hist. l. 13. c. 19.
{r} So Junius & Tremellius, Piscator.
{s} Lexic. Pentaglott. col. 910.
{t} Corycii pressura croci, Lucan. Pharsal. l. 9. v. 809.
{u} Ovid. Fast. l. 1. v. 76. in Ibin, v. 200. Propert. l. 4. Eleg. 6. v. 74.
{w} Plin. Nat. Hist. l. 12. c. 19, 22. Strabo, l. 15. p. 478.
{x} Herodot. Thalia, e. 107. Cinnamoni & multi pastor odoris Araba,
Propert. l. 3. Eleg. 13. v. 8.
{y} Plin. Nat. Hist. l. 12. c. 14.
{z} Apud Schindler. Lexic. col. 1192.
{a} Strabo. Geograph. l. 16. p. 538. Vid. p. 535.
{b} Origin. l. 17. c. 8, 9.
{c} So Cocceius, Schmidt, Heunischius, Marckius, Michaelis.
{d} So Ainsworth, Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Marckius.
{e} Flumine vivo, Virgil. AEneid. l. 2. v. 715. Semper fluenti, i. e. na-
turali, Servius in ibid.