GARDEN (gar'd'n), (Heb. gan ; 714=1, gan naw' ; 71.4?, gin-naw' ; Gr. id/roc, kay' fios). Gan and its derivatives have the same generic mean ing in Hebrew as their English equivalent garden.
Several gardens are mentioned in the Scrip tures, as the garden of Eden (Gen. ii :8, 9, to, 15), Ahab's garden of herbs (i Kings xxi :2), the royal garden near the fortress of Zion (2 Kings xxi: 18; xxv :4), the royal garden of the Persian kings at Susa (Esther 1:5; vii :7, 8), the garden of Jo seph of Arimathea (John xix:41), and the garden of Gethsemane (John xviii:1). It is clear, from Lam. ii:6, that gardens were generally hedged or walled, as indeed Josephus expressly states re specting the gardens near Jerusalem (De Bell. hid. v. 7). In Neh. ii:8, and John xx :z5, gar deners and keepers of gardens by occupation are indicated.
Gardens were planted not only with fragrant and beautiful plants, but with various fruit-bear ing and other trees (Gen. ii :9; Jcr. xxix :5; Amos ix :14). Thus we find mention of nut-gardens (Cant. vi:11), pomegranate-gardens (Cant. iv: z3), olive-gardens (Deut. viii:8; Chron. xxvii: 28), vine-gardens (Cant. vii:i2). Here, however, we are not to suppose that' the gardens were ex clusively occupied by these fruits, but that they were severally predominant in the gardens to which they gave name. The distinction, for in stance, between a vine-garden and a vineyard would be, that, in the latter, the vine was culti vated solely for use, whereas in the former it was planted for solace and ornament, to cover walls, and to be trained in arbors and on trellises.
Gardens were. when possible, planted near streams, which afforded the means of easy irri gation. This explains such passages as Gen. ii :9. .5q. and Is. i :3o.
Gardens were dedicated to various 'ARCS among the Hebrews, such as we still find prevailing in the East. One most essential difference be tween them and our own is that they are not at tached to or in any way connected with the resi dence, but are situated in the suburbs. We have known gardens from half a mile to a mile distant from the houses of the persons to whom they be longed. It is manifest that all the gardens men
tioned in scripture were outside the several towns. This is, however, to be understood of regular gar dens, for shrubs and flowers were often planted in the open courts of the dwelling-houses.
People repair to their suburban gardens to take the air, to walk, and to refresh and solace them selves in various ways. For their use there is mostly in each garden a kind of summer-house or pavilion, fitted up with much neatness, gaily painted, and furnished with seats, where the visit ants may sit and enjoy themselves. Here some times banquets were and arc still given, attended by singing and music (Is. li :3 ; lxv :3). The cus tom of burying the dead in gardens is indicated in Gen. xxiii :19, 20 ; Sam. xxv :1 ; Mark XV :46 ; and still occurs sometimes in the East, but is not very prevalent. We find it also among the Greeks (Heliodorus,,Ethiop. i. 2, p. 35), and the Romans (Suetonius, Galba, 2o).
It is evident that the gardens of the Hebrews were in a very considerable degree devoted to the culture of medicinal herbs, the preparation of which in various ways was a matter of much so licitude with them ( Jer. viii :22). This is still the case in the East, where vegetable simples are as much employed in medicine as they were in this country in the times of Gerarde and Culpepper.
It would seem that the Jews were much in the habit of performing their devotions in gar dens (Gen. xxiv:63; Matt. xxvi:36; John xviii: 1, 2). This interesting practice, however, was idolatrously abused; for the worship of idols in these shady seclusions was not of unfrequent occurrence, and is often mentioned in scripture 0 Kings Xiv:23; 2 Kings xvi:4; xvii:io; ls. 29; lxv:3; lxvi:17; Jer. ii:2o; iii:6; Ezek. xx: 28).
The Jews in their ceremonial treatises have fre quent occasion to mention gardens, chiefly for the purpose of showing what plants or seeds might or might not be planted or sown together under the law against heterogeneous propagations (Lev. xix :9 ; Deut. xxi :9-1t).