The mandrakes give a smell, and at our gates are all manner of pleasant fruits, new and old, which I have laid up for thee, O my beloved.

The mandrakes give forth fragrance; And at our doors are all manner of precious fruits, new and old, Which I have laid up for thee, O my beloved.

The mandrakes give a smell. In our gates are all fruits: the new and the old, my beloved, I have kept for thee.

The mandrakes yield fragrance; And at our gates are all choice fruits, new and old: I have laid them up for thee, my beloved.

The mandrakes have given fragrance, And at our openings all pleasant things, New, yea, old, my beloved, I laid up for thee!

The mandrakes give out a sweet smell, and at our doors are all sorts of good fruits, new and old, which I have kept for my loved one.

The mandrakes give a smell - See the note on Genesis 30:14, where the mandrake is particularly described; from which this passage will receive considerable light. The reader is requested to consult it.
All manner of pleasant fruits - Fruits new and old; flowers and herbs of every kind which the season could yield. The literal sense, allowing for the concealing metaphors, is, I believe, of a widely different nature from what is generally given. But this must be left to the reader's sagacity and prudence.

The mandrakes give a smell,.... Or, "those lovely flowers", as Junius and Tremellius, and Piscator, translate the words; even those the church proposed to give to her beloved, when in the fields Some take them to be violets; others, jessamine; others, more probably, lilies (g); as the circumstances of time and place, when and where they flourished, and their fragrant smell, and figure like cups, show. Ravius (h) contends, that the word signifies, and should be rendered, "the branches put forth their sweet smelling flowers"; and thinks branches of figs are meant, which give a good smell, agreeably to Song 2:13; and which he supposes to be the use of the word in Jeremiah 24:1; and to his sense Heidegger (i) agrees; only he thinks the word "branches" is not to be restrained to a particular species, but may signify branches of sweet smelling flowers, and fruits in general. Ludolphus (k) would have the fruit the Arabians, call "mauz", or "muza", intended; which, in the Abyssine country, is as big as a cucumber, and of the same form and shape, fifty of which grow upon one and the same stalk, and are of a very sweet taste and smell; from which cognation of a great many on the same stalk he thinks it took the name of "dudaim", the word here used, and in Genesis 30:14. But the generality of interpreters and commentators understand by it the mandrakes; and so it is rendered by the Septuagint, and in both the Targums of Onkelos and Jonathan, on Genesis 30:14; but it is questionable whether the same plant that is known among us by that name is meant, since it is of a strong ill scented and offensive smell; and so Pliny says (l) of it: though Dioscorides, Levinus, Lemnius (m), and Augustine (n) (who says he saw the plant and examined it), say it is of a very sweet smell; which though it does not agree with the plant that now bears the name, yet it does with that here intended; for though it is only said to give a smell, no doubt a good one is meant, and such Reuben's mandrakes gave. And by them here may be intended, either the saints and people of God, compared to them for their fragrancy, being clad with the garments of Christ, which smell of myrrh, aloes, and cassia, and are anointed with the savoury ointments of the grace of the Spirit; whose prayers are sweet odours; and their works, with their persons, accepted with God in Christ: or rather the graces of the Spirit in lively exercise may be meant; such as those lovely flowers of faith, hope, love, repentance, patience, self-denial, humility, thankfulness, and others;
and at our gates are all manner of pleasant fruits; in distinction from the mandrakes and flowers in the fields Genesis 30:14; and in allusion to a custom, in many countries, to garnish the posts of the door of newly married persons with branches of trees, and fruits, and flowers; and at other festivals, besides nuptial ones (o), which made it inviting to enter in: and these "all manner of pleasant fruits" may denote the plenty, variety, and excellency of the blessings of grace, and of the graces of the Spirit, believers have from Christ; and of the doctrines and ordinances of the Gospel, which are for their use; and may be said to be "at our gates", as being ready at hand, in the hearts of saints, and in the mouths of Gospel ministers; and open and visible, held forth to public view in the word and ordinances; and which are administered at Wisdom's gates, the gates of Zion, where they are to be met with and had. And which are
new and old; denoting the plenty of grace and blessings of it, of old laid up in Christ, and from whom there are fresh supplies continually: or rather the doctrines of the Old and New Testament; which, for matter and substance, are the same; and with which the church, and particularly her faithful ministers, being furnished, bring forth out of their treasure things new and old, Matthew 13:52;
which I have laid up for thee, O my beloved; Christ, whom her soul loved; for though the above fruits, the blessings, promises, and doctrines of grace, which she laid up in her heart, mind, and memory, to bring forth and make use of at proper times and seasons, were for her own use and benefit, and of all believers, yet in all for the honour and glory of Christ, the author and donor of them. Respect may be had to a custom with lovers, to lay up fruits for those they love; at least such custom may be compared with this (p).
(g) Pfeiffer. Dubia Vexata, cent. 1. loc. 59. p. 79. (h) Dissert. de Dudaim. (i) Hist. Patriarch. tom. 2. exercit. 19. s. 9, 15. (k) Hist. Ethiop. l. 1. c. 9. (l) Nat. Hist. l. 25. c. 13. (m) Herb. Bibl. Explic. l. 2. (n) Contr. Faustum, l. 22. c. 56. (o) Vid. Plutarch. Amator. vol. 2. p. 755. & Barthium ad Claudian. de Nupt. Honor. v. 208. "Longos erexit janua ramos", Juvenal. Satyr. 12. v. 91. "Necte coronam postibus", Satyr. 6. v. 51, 52. "Ornantur postes", v. 79. "Ornatas paulo ante fores", &c. v. 226, 227. "Junua laureata", Tertull. ad Uxor. l. 2. c. 6. (p) "----Sunt poma gravantia ramos Sunt auro similes longis in vitibus uvae, Sunt et purpureae, tibi et has servamus et ilias". Ovid. Metamorph. l. 13. Fab. 8.

mandrakes--Hebrew, dudaim, from a root meaning "to love"; love apples, supposed to exhilarate the spirits and excite love. Only here and Genesis 30:14-16. Atropa mandragora of LINNÆUS; its leaves like lettuce, but dark green, flowers purple, root forked, fruit of the size of an apple, ruddy and sweet-smelling, gathered in wheat harvest, that is, in May (Mariti, ii. 195).
gates--the entrance to the kiosk or summer house. Love "lays up" the best of everything for the person beloved (1-Corinthians 10:31; Philippians 3:8; 1-Peter 4:11), thereby really, though unconsciously, laying up for itself (1-Timothy 6:18-19).

Mandrakes - This Hebrew word is used Genesis 30:14-15, and the signification of it is very much doubted and disputed by interpreters. The word here signifies sweet and pleasant flowers, and therefore if it be understood of mandrakes, they were of another sort than ours, as flowers of the same kind in several climates have very different natures and qualities. At our gates - Brought thither by divers persons to congratulate our nuptials. All fruits - Fruits of this year and of the former. Which seems to be meant of the various fruits and operations of the Spirit, and degrees of grace in several believers.