Proverbs 7:17

17 I have perfumed my bed with myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon.

Proverbs 7:17 Meaning and Commentary

Proverbs 7:17

I have perfumed my bed
As she had made it entertaining to the senses of seeing and feeling, it being showy and gaudy, soft and easy; so to the sense of smelling; and all to provoke lust, and draw into her embraces; by censing it with incense, as Donesh in Jarchi; or by sprinkling F19 a liquor, made of the following spices, on the head, posts, and sides of the bed, to remove all ill scents, and make it more acceptable; so the Targum, Vulgate Latin, Septuagint, and all the Oriental versions, render it, "I sprinkled my bed": or, it may be, by suffumigation, which women are said to use with their garments and bed clothes F20. Even this the harlot did, with myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon;
all odorous, and of a sweet smell: Horace F21 speaks of the anointed beds of such persons; and of the above spices ointments were made, with which the harlot's bed might be perfumed. Cinnamon, and odours, and ointments, and frankincense, are reckoned among the wares of Babylon, or the church of Rome, ( Revelation 18:13 ) .


FOOTNOTES:

F19 Plin. Nat. Hist. l. 13. c. 1.
F20 Clemens Alex. Paedagog. l. 2. c. 8. p. 177.
F21 "Uctis cubilibus pellicum", Epod. Ode. 5. v. 69, 70.

Proverbs 7:17 In-Context

15 so now I have come out to meet you, to seek you eagerly, and I have found you!
16 I have decked my couch with coverings, colored spreads of Egyptian linen;
17 I have perfumed my bed with myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon.
18 Come, let us take our fill of love until morning; let us delight ourselves with love.
19 For my husband is not at home; he has gone on a long journey.
New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.