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
מוֺר עֹבֵר, מוֺר דְרוֺר, 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. בֵּן שָׁדַי יָלִין is a relative clause,
with אֲשֶׁר implied (See Gesen. § 123,
3; Ewald, § 332), and refers to צְרֹר הַמֹּר.
This is evident from בְּכַרְמֵי עֵין גֶּדִי, which
refers to אֶשְׁכֹּל הַכֹּפֶר; comp. also iv. 4.
The verb לוּן is not here, "lie all night,"
but to abide, to rest, like Job xix. 4,
אִתִּי תָלִין מְשׁוּגָתִי, where even the Authorized
Version has "mine error remaineth
myself." Ps. xlix. 13.
14. A bunch of cypress flowers, &c.כֹּפֶר 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 אֶשְׁכֹּל הַכֹּפֶר, 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 אֶשְׁכֹּל is most probably derived from אָשַׁךְ, to bind, to twine together; hence אֶשֶׁךְ, a bundle, a string, with the addition of —ֹל like גִבְעֹל, חַרְגֹּל, Gesen. § 30, 3; Ewald, § 163 f. This is confirmed by the Talm. אַשְׁכּוֺלֶת, disciples, (Sota 47, a), i. e. a combination of youths; comp. חֶבֶר, and Fürst, Lexicon, s. v. כֶּרֶם here is a field cultivated as a garden; comp. כֶּרֶם זַיִת, 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 הִנָךְ יָפֶה 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 עַין טוֺב (which we also have), to look with an eye of compassion, Prov. xxii.
