13. A bag of myrrh, &c. This appellation is a continuation of the figurative expression “nard,” under which the Shulamite described her beloved in the preceding verse. The Hebrew women were in the habit of wearing little bags or bottles filled with perfumes, especially with myrrh, suspended from the neck, and hanging down between their breasts, under the dress. Comp. Mishna, Sabbath vi. 3; Schroeder de Vestit. Mulier. p. 155; Hartmann, Hebr. ii. 235. The Shulamite says that her beloved is to her what this delightful perfume is to others; having him she did not require any other fragrance. ‏צְרֹר‎ (from ‏צָרַר‎, to tie up, to close), is a leather smelling-bag or bottle, i.q. ‏בֵּית נֶפֶשׁ‎, tied up, or closed at the top. ‏מֹר‎, σμύρνα, μύῤῥα, Balsamodendron myrrha, (from ‏מָרַר‎, to flow,) myrrh, so called from its flowing down, is a perfume obtained from a shrub growing in Arabia, and much more profusely in Abyssinia. It formed an article of earliest commerce, was highly prized by the ancients, and is still much esteemed both in the East and in Europe. This aromatic liquid either exudes spontaneously from cracks in the bark, and is called ‏מוֹר עֹבֵר‎, ‏מוֹר דְרוֹר‎, 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 נֶּדִי‎, 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 with myself.” Ps. xlix. 13.