The Pulpit Commentary on Ecclesiastes 2:5

The Pulpit Commentary · Joseph S. Exell and contributors · Public domain

I made me gardens and orchards. Solomon's love of gardens appears throughout the Canticles (So Song of Solomon 6:2, etc.). He had a king's garden on the slope of the hills south of the city (2 Kings 25:4); and Beth-hacchemm, "the House of the Vine," at Ain Karim, about six miles east of Jerusalem (Jeremiah 6:1); and at Baal-hamon another extensive vineyard (So Song of Solomon 8:11).

The word rendered "orchard" (parder) occurs also in So Song of Solomon 4:13 and Nehemiah 2:8. It is a Persian word, and passed into the Greek form παράδειος (Xenophon, 'Anab.,' 1.2.7), meaning "a park" planted with forest and fruit trees, and containing herds of animals.

It is probably derived from the Zend oairidaeza," an enclosure." (For the trees in such parks, see So Nehemiah 4:13, Nehemiah 4:14; and for an estimate of Solomon's works, Josephus, 'Ant.,' 8.7. 3.

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