Spikenard and saffron; calamus and cinnamon, with all trees of frankincense; myrrh and aloes, with all the chief spices:
Ver. 14. Nard.] Called in John 12:3, "spikenard very costly," or rather, as some learned men will have it, nard of Opis, a town near Babylon, where grew the most precious spikenard, and whence it was transported to other places. a Of this plant, see Pliny, lib. xii. c. 11; as of cypress or camphire, lib. xii. c. 14; of saffron, lib. xii. c. 15; of calamus, lib. xii. c. 23; of cinnamon and myrrh, lib. xii. c. 23, 19. For pomegranates, See Trapp on " Son 4:3 " for camphire, See Trapp on " Son 1:14 " Saffron is in the Hebrew carcom: Shindler saith it should be read carcos with samech; and so it will exactly agree with κροκος, crocus, the one likely coming of the other. Our English comes of the Arabic zaphran, so called by the yellow colour. Calamus or sweet cane is a precious aromatical reed bought and brought out of far countries, as appeareth by Jer 6:20 Isaiah 43:24. Cinnamon was very rare in Galen's time, and hard to be found, except in princes' storehouses. b Pliny reports that a pound of cinnamon was worth a thousand denarii, - that is, 150 crowns of our money. As for those trees of frankincense, myrrh, and aloes, &c., Brightman thinks they betoken tall and eminent Christians, as calamus and cinnamon, shrubs of two cubits high or thereabouts, do Christians of a middle stature; and nard and saffron, herbs that scarce lift up themselves above the ground, represent those of a lower rank and lesser degree of holiness; which yet have all of them their place in God's garden, and their several sweetnesses; the Spirit of grace being magnus in magnis, nec parvus in minimis, as Augustine hath it, - Great in God's greater children, and not little in the least. And though there be diversity of gifts, yet are they from one Spirit, as the diverse smells of pleasant fruits and chief spices are from the same influence, and the divers sounds in the organs from the same breath. The Spirit of grace are those two golden pipes, Zec 4:12 through the which the two olive branches empty out of themselves the golden oils of all precious graces into the candlestick, the Church. Hence grace is called the "fruit of the Spirit"; Gal 5:22 yea, "Spirit"; Gal 4:17 and albeit, "as the man is, so is his strength," as they said to Gideon; and God hath his children of all sizes, - babes, young men, old men; 1Jn 2:13 yet Philadelphia, with her "little strength," may "keep Christ's word, and not deny his name" (while those churches that had more strength are not so commended), and in "that little strength I have set open a door for thee," even the door of heaven, wide enough so that none could shut it. Rev 3:8 Why, then, should any "despise the day of small things?" God, who "hath begun a good work, his hands shall finish it: and he that hath laid the foundation, shall in due time bring forth the topstone thereof with shouting, crying, Grace, grace unto it." Zec 4:7-10 An infant of days shall proceed from degree to degree, till he be like the Ancient of days; and "those that be planted in the house of the Lord, shall once flourish in the courts of our God. They shall still bring forth fruit in old age: they shall be fat and flourishing." Psa 92:13-14 The seeds of the cypress tree are so very small, that they can scarce be seen with eyes, et tamen in iis tanta est arbor, tamque procera, c and yet in some one of them is potentially so large and so tall a tree. Despair not therefore of further measures, but aspire still to perfection. Php 3:12-13 Heb 5:14 The blessing on man in the first creation was, "increase and multiply," in the second, "grow in grace." Isaiah 61:3 ; Isa 61:11 And remember that growth is not always to be measured by joy, and other accessory graces. These sweet blooms may fall off when fruit comes on, &c.
a πιστικης, melius vero ποιστικης ab oppido prope Babylonem Opis dicto. - Scultet, ex Hartungi Criticis.
b Gal., lib. i. Antidot.
c Plin., lib. xi. cap. 2.