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 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.
Commentary on the Bible, by Adam Clarke [1831].