Aloes, lign-aloes

The word Aloes is used four times in the UT and once in the NT. In Nu 24" tlie Ueb. word is c';™, the LXX aKripal, and the AV Lign-Aloes=Limum Aloes. In Ps 45" the Heb. is inS.iK, the LXX rraicHi, and the AV Aloes. In Pr 7" the Heb. is c^r.x, the LXX riy Si or/fo», and the AV Aloes. In Ca 4" the Heb. is ni'^ns;, the LXX dXiifl, and the AV Aloes (KV agrees with AV in all). It is clear that in the pa.

ssages in Nu and Pr the LXX has followed a dill'erent reading from the MT, and has arbitrarily translated tho same word stacte in the Ps and alvth {tUoe) in Ca. In face of the [)ra<-tical identity of tlie words 'ahdlim and 'ahAlOln, it is fair to reject the various capri- cious renderings of the LXX, and assume that the word has the same meaning in all llie four OT passages. In the last three of these pa.ssages, and in the NT (Jn 19""), the reference is plainly to the aromatic.

Celsius {Hierobot. i. 135) argues that this sub- stance is the Aquilaria Agullocha, the Lignum Aloes or Aloes Wood of commerce. This wood was well known to the ancients, and is described under its Arab, name 'Hd in considerable detail by Avicenna (ii. 2^1), in brief as follows : 'Wood and woody roots are brought from China and India and Arabia ; and some of it is dotted and blackish ; and it is aromatic, styptic, and slightly bitter ; and it is covered with a leathery bark.

The best variety is from Mandalay, and comes from the ■nterior of India. The next best is that which is called Indian, which comes from the mountains ; and it has this advantage over the Mandalay variety, that it does not oreed maggots. Some persons do not distinguish between the Mandalay and the better kinds of Indian.

Among the good kinds of 'id are the Samandury, which comes from China on the borders of India, and the koinary from India, and the l^akilly, and the kadmury, and of inferior species the Ilillay and the Mabitay, and the Lawftfy and the liabtil/y. To sum up, the best '»W is that which sinks in water, and that which tloats is bad. It is said that the trunks and roots of the 'ud are buried until the woody fibre decays, leaving only the aromatic substance.'

Avicenna follows this description with a detailed account of the medicinal and other properties of the aloes wood. He alludes to the wood also under the heading Aghftlflji, which is undoubtedly the (l7dX\oxoi' of the Greeks, and the Agallochum of the Romans. The substance is now known to the Arabs by the names 'ud-es-snlib, 'Hd-en-nadd, 'ud-el-baKhiir, and el-'iid-el-koni/iri. The order Aquilariaceie supplies several trees, which produce commercial aloes wood.

The most noted of these is Aquilaria Agalloclut, Uoxb., a native of Northern India, which grows to a height of 120 ft. Aquilaria sccunil'irin, of China, pro- duces some of the varieties alluded to by Avicenna. It is a well-known fact that the fragrance of the wooii of the species of Aqiiiluriti is developed by decay, a process which is hastened by burying the wood, as al)Ove alluded to by Avicenna. While we have no positive proof that the aloes wood is the aromatic intended by the Heli.

original, there is no good reason why it should not bo. The similarity of 'nh'ili'ilh to d7d\-\oxoi' is sullicient to establish a strong prolmbilily in its favour, and in the absence of any other probable candidate it may be received with a fair measure of conhdcnce. It must be understood that the above-mentioned plant has no connexion philologically or botani- cally with Exccecaria (ig(UlMha,u.C, of the order of tuphorbiacea-, an acrid, poisonous, non-aromatic plant.

Nor has it anything to do with the othcinal Aloes, of the order Liliacea;, a plant not alluded to in the Bible. There remains the diiliculty of the passage iu Nu 24* 'as gardens by the river's side, as the trees of lign-aloes (d'Sin) which the Lord hath planted, and as cedar trees (cn.x) beside the waters.'

The LXX has rendered the word aurival as if written Q'^nx, which means tents ; but besides the irregularity and inconsistency of the LXX in the translation of the word in the other passages in the OT, it would be strange that, in a triple parallelism of the intensive and climacteric order, beginning with gardens and ending with the prince of trees, the royal cedar, the word tents, instead of a kind of trees, should be interjected. We may dismiss this as wholly improbable.

We have also to remember that the same names may be used for more than one object in nature. This is pointed out in detaU in our article on the A /gum. In the Eng. name Aloe, for the plant now under consideration, and for the oHicinal Aloes, we have an instance of two very ditferent plants, of widely diverse properties, bearing the same name. It is then quite possible that the tree of Numbers might be totally dill'erent from the aromatic sub- stance of the other passages. In Eng.

the labiate genus Ulelix.fa is called balm. Impatiens is called balsam. I'opulus balsami/era, L. , var. candicans, is called balm of Gilead, a very dilferent plant from the balm of Gilead of Scripture, and the word balm is applied to many diverse substances. There is nothing, however, to prevent the supposi- tion that the tree of Numbers is that w)iiih pro- d uced the substance of the other pas.sages. 1 1 is true that the tree is one of tropical Arabia, India, or China.

Hut Balaam's propliecy was uttc^red in full view of the tropical valley of the Jordan, where the climate would have made it quite possible to cultivate these trees. There is notliing to forbid the idea that this and other trees not now known in Pal. were cultivated in the then wealthy and populous Jordan Valley. At least twenty, five distinctly tropical wild plants are indigenous in this valley.

In describing his bride, Solomon compares her with a garden in which were pomegranates, camphire (henna), spikenard, saffron, calamus, cinnamon, with all kinds of frankincense, myrrh, and all the chief .spices (Ca 4"- "). Balaam might have looked over such a plantation when he made his tristich. On the other hand, it is not necessary to assume that he saw the trees to which he alludes, or that either he or the Israelites were familiar with them.

In the climax he mentions the rcdar, doubtless the cedar of Lebanon. It is unlikely that ho had ever seen one. It is certain that the Israelites hail not. But it was a well-known tree, and suitable for the comjiarison. The allusion to the ' cedar trees be- side the waters ' shows that the picture is iileal and poetical, as cedars grow in dry places on the lofty mountain sides, and never by water-coucses.

The aloe tree might have been equally well known by reputation, although unfamiliar both to lialaaniand the Israelites personally. It is quite certain that the sjiice trade was very active through the Syrian and Arabian deserts in ancient times, niui the spices and aromatics therefore far more familiar to the people of the bonier lands of I'al. and Syria than now.

So that whetlier the plants of Nu 24' and Ca 4"-" were cultivated or not, ihej 70 ALOFT ALPHABET were well known, and comparisons based on tht well understood. G. E. POST. ALOFT is found only in 1 Es S'' • and now is all Israel a.' ; RVm ' exulted,' with a ref. to Dt 28'^ 'thou shalt be above (same Gr. word in LXX iriru) only, and thou shalt not be beneath.' J. Hastings.