GARDEN

gar'-d'-n (gan, gannah, ginnah; kepos): The Arabic jannah (diminutive, jannainah), like the Hebrew gannah, literally, "a covered or hidden place," denotes in the mind of the dweller in the East something more than the ordinary garden. Gardens in Biblical times, such as are frequently referred to in Semitic literature, were usually walled enclosures, as the name indicates (Lamentations 2:6 the American Revised Version, margin), in which there were paths winding in and out among shade and fruit trees, canals of running water, fountains, sweet-smelling herbs, aromatic blossoms and convenient arbors in which to sit and enjoy the effect. These gardens are mentioned in Genesis 2 and Genesis 3; Genesis 13:10; Songs 4:12-16 Ecclesiastes 2:5, 6 Ezekiel 28:13; Ezekiel 31:8, 9; 36:35 Joel 2:3. Ancient Babylonian, Assyrian and Egyptian records show the fondness of the rulers of these countries for gardens laid out on a grand scale and planted with the rarest trees and plants. The drawings made by the ancients of their gardens leave no doubt about their general features and their correspondence with Biblical gardens. The Persian word pardec (paradeisos) appears in the later Hebrew writings to denote more extensive gardens or parks. It is translated "orchards" in Ecclesiastes 2:5 the King James Version; Songs 4:13.

See PARADISE.

Such gardens are still common throughout the Levant. They are usually situated on the outskirts of a city (compare John 18:1, 26; John 19:41), except in the case of the more pretentious estates of rich pashas or of the government seats (compare 2 Kings 21:18 Esther 1:5; Esther 7:7, 8 Nehemiah 3:15 2 Kings 25:4; Jeremiah 39:4; Jeremiah 52:7). They are enclosed with walls of mud blocks, as in Damascus, or stone walls capped with thorns, or with hedges of thorny bushes (compare Lamentations 2:6 the American Revised Version, margin), or prickly pear. In nearly treeless countries, where there is no rain during 4 or 5 months, at least, of the year, the gardens are often the only spots where trees and other vegetation can flourish, and here the existence of vegetation depends upon the water supply, brought in canals from streams, or raised from wells by more or less crude lifting machines (compare Numbers 24:7). Such references as Genesis 2:10 Numbers 24:6 Deuteronomy 11:10 Isaiah 1:30; Isaiah 58:11 Songs 4:15 indicate that in ancient times they were as dependent upon irrigation in Biblical lands as at present. The planning of their gardens so as to utilize the water supplies has become instinctive with the inhabitants of Palestine and Syria. The writer has seen a group of young Arab boys modeling a garden out of mud and conducting water to irrigate it by channels from a nearby canal, in a manner that a modern engineer would admire. Gardens are cultivated, not only for their fruits and herbs (compare Songs 6:11 Isaiah 1:8 1 Kings 21:2) and shade (compare Songs 6:11 Luke 13:19), but they are planned to serve as dwelling-places during the summer time when the houses are hot and stuffy. That this was an ancient practice is indicated by Songs 5:2; Songs 6:2; Songs 8:13. A shaded garden, the air laden with the ethereal perfumes of fruits and flowers, accompanied by the music of running water, a couch on which to sit or recline, suggest a condition of bliss dear to the Oriental. Only one who has traveled for days in a dry, glaring desert country and has come upon a spot like the gardens of such a city as Damascus, can realize how near like paradise these gardens can appear. Mohammed pictured such a place as the future abode of his followers

No doubt the remembrances of his visit to Damascus were fresh in his mind when he wrote. El-Jannah is used by the Moslems to signify the "paradise of the faithful."

Gardens were used as places of sacrifice, especially in heathen worship (Isaiah 1:29; Isaiah 65:3; Isaiah 66:17). They sometimes contained burial places (2 Kings 21:18, 26 John 19:41).

Figurative: The destruction of gardens typified desolation (Amos 4:9); on the other hand, fruitful gardens figured prosperity (Numbers 24:6 Job 8:16 Isaiah 51:3; Isaiah 58:11; Isaiah 61:11 Jeremiah 29:5, 28; Jeremiah 31:12 Amos 9:14).

James A. Patch

GARDEN, THE KING'S

Mention is made of "the king's garden" in 2 Kings 25:4 Jeremiah 39:4; Jeremiah 52:7 (fundamentally the same passage), in connection with the flight of Zedekiah from Jerusalem; and again in Nehemiah 3:15. The last passage shows that the "garden" was at the pool of Siloah (the Revised Version (British and American) "Shelah"), at the mouth of Tyropeon, near the "fountain gate." This would seem to be "the gate between the two walls which was by the king's garden" of the passages in 2 Kings and Jeremiah (compare 2 Chronicles 32:5). On the topography, see JERUSALEM; also Robinson, Palestine, II, 142. Arnold (in Herzog) thinks the garden is probably identical with "the garden of Uzza" of 2 Kings 21:18, 26.

James Orr

KING'S GARDEN

gan-ha-melekh): In Nehemiah 3:15, mention is made of "the pool of Shelah by the king's garden"; in 2 Kings 25:4 Jeremiah 52:7, "All the men of war fled by night by the way of the gate between the two walls, which was by the king's garden"; see also Jeremiah 39:4. The "king's winepresses" (Zechariah 14:10), which must have been to the extreme South of the city, were clearly in this neighborhood. The references all point to the one situation in Jerusalem where it is possible for gardens to flourish all the year round, namely, the part of the Kidron valley below the Tyropoeon which is watered by the overflow from the Pool of Siloam (see SILOAM). Here the vegetable gardens of the peasants of Siloam present an aspect of green freshness unknown elsewhere in Jerusalem.

E. W. G. Masterman

HOUSE, GARDEN

See GARDEN-HOUSE.