A sealed fountain, &c. Another metaphor to express the same idea. The scarcity of water in arid countries renders fountains very valuable. To secure them against the encroachment of strangers, the proprietors formerly fastened their fountains with some ligament, and the impression of a seal upon clay, which would quickly harden in the sun, that would soon dissolve wax. This mode of rendering pits safe is found in Dan. vi. 18; Matt. xxvii. 66. A fountain sealed in this manner indicated that it was private property. Hence its metaphorical use, to represent chastity as an inaccessible fountain. It is better, with the Sept., Syriac, Arabic, Chald., Vulg., upwards of fifty of Kennicott’s MSS., and many modern commentators, to read ‏גַּן‎, instead of ‏גַּל‎. This is confirmed by the intensive phraseology of the shepherd, used in his addresses, which is produced by a repetition of the same words. Comp. supra, vv. 8, 9. 13. Thy shoots, &c. Having compared his loved one to a garden, the shepherd is anxious to show that the one she resembled is not of an ordinary character. It is an orchard full of the most costly trees, and producing the most delicious fruit. ‏שְׁלָחַיִךְ‎, well rendered by the Sept. ἀποστολαί σου: and Kimchi, ‏התפשטות‎, thy shoots, branches (Gen. xlix. 21; Ps. lxxx. 12) is figuratively used for the members of the body, and not for “the children who shall spring from her,” as Hodgson supposes. ‏פַּרְדֵּס‎, found elsewhere only Eccl. ii. 5; Neh. ii. 8, has been derived by some from the Persian, and by others from the Sanscrit. There is no necessity, however, for seeking its etymology in other languages. The Hebrews, who had gardens at so early a period, would surely not borrow names for them from other nations. ‏פַּרְדֵּס‎, according to the analogy of the quadriliteral ‏פַּרְשֵׁז‎, is a compound of ‏פָּרַד‎, to divide, and ‏פָּרַס‎, to separate, to enclose; hence a protected, an enclosed place, a garden. This is corroborated by the fact that ‏גַּן‎, a garden, is also derived from a root (‏גָּנַן‎), which means to separate, to enclose. Compare also the German and English, Gärten, garden, and Saalschütz, Archäologie der Hebräer, vol. i. p. 117. And like many other Hebrew expressions, this word was adopted in other languages. ‏רִמּוֹנִים‎, pomegranate-trees: the Hebrews frequently use the same expression to denote the tree and its fruit, see supra, ii. 3. ‏פְּרִי מְגָדִים‎, i.q. ‏פִּרְיֵיְ מֶגָד‎, precious fruits: when a compound idea is to be expressed in the plural, the governed noun only is often put in the plural form; e.g. ‏בֵּית אָבוֹת‎, ancestral houses, Numb. i. 2; Gesen. § 108, 3. The precious fruits are those of the pomegranate-tree. The words ‏כְּפָרִים עִם נְרָדִים‎, are still genitives to ‏פַּרְדֵּס‎. For ‏כֹּפֶר‎, and ‏נֵרְדְּ‎, see supra, i. 12, 13.