Psalms 45:8 - Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible

All thy garments smell of myrrh, &c.— The aloes commonly known in England, to be used by the practitioners in physic, is found to be far from a perfume. It may be proper, therefore, to observe, that there is a wood called the wood of aloes, of Syria, which is a prickly shrub, and which the perfumers make use of. See Proverbs 7:17. It was, perhaps, from not attending to this particular, that some have rendered the verse, Myrrh, and cedar-oil, and cassia, are all thy garments, from the ivory palaces, wherein thou delightest. Green, after Bishop Hare, &c. gives us the verse thus; All thy garments, out of the ivory wardrobes perfumed with myrrh, aloes, and cassia, delight thee with their fragrance. And Houbigant translates it, myrrh, aloes, and cassia, all thy garments, from the ivory vessels, the vessels of thy anointing; those from which the myrrh, &c. are taken. These perfumes are mentioned as emblematical of the virtues and graces of Christ; and of the knowledge of him, which was spread as a sweet odour in every place, when he went to espouse a church unto himself. See 2 Corinthians 2:14; 2 Corinthians 2:16.