NERD or NARD or nard), (Heb.
nayrd), is mentioned in three places in the Song ,)f Solomon, and by Mark and John in the New restament,under the name of ydpaos,nardos,sfiike nardor nerd.
(1) Spikenard. Both are translated in the Authorized Version by the word spikenard, which indicates a far-famed perfume of the East, that has often engaged the attention of critics, but the plant which yields it has only been ascertained in very recent times. That the nerd of Scripture was a perfume is evident from the passages in which it occurs. Cant. i : 12: 'While t h e king sitteth at his table, my spike nard (nard) send eth forth the smell thereof.' So in Cant. iv :Li: 'Spike nard and saffron, calamus and cinna mon, with all trees o f frankincense, myrrh and aloes, with all the chief spices.' Here we find it mentioned along with many of the most valued aromatics which were known to the ancients, and all of which, with t h e exception perhaps of saffron, must have been obtained by foreign c o m merce from dis tant countries, as Persia, the east coast of Africa, Ceylon, the north west and the southeast of India, and in the present instance even from the remote Himalayan moun tains. Such substances must necessarily have been costly when the means of communication were defective, and the gains of the successful merchant proportionately great.
(2) Costly. That the nard pcipaos was ot great value We learn from the New Testament (Mark xiv :3). When our Savior sat at meat in Bethany,:there came a woman having an alabaster box of omtment of (ydpOott) sfiikenard very pre cious; and she brake the box, and poured it on his head.' So in John xii :3 : 'Then took Mary a pound of ointment of spikenard, very costly, and anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped his feet with her hair ; and the house was filled with the odor of the ointment.' On this Judas, who afterwards
betrayed our Savior, said (verse 5), 'Why was not this ointment sold for three hundred pence, and given to the poor ?' This spikenard probably cost the devoted woman about i12, or $62.5o.
(3) Possible Identification. The mire/. pdpoos, was known in very early times, and is noticed by Theophrastus, and by Hippocrates. There can be no doubt that the jatanzansi of the Hindoos is the sunbul hindee of the Arabs, which they com pare to the tail of an ermine. This would almost be sufficient to identify the drug. As many Indian products found their way into Egypt and Pales tine, and are mentioned in Scripture, indeed in the very passage with nard we have calamus, cinnamon, and aloes (ahalint), there is no reason why spikenard from the Himalayas could not as easily have been procured. The only difficulty appears to arise from the term vcipaos,nard, hav ing occasionally been used in a general sense, and therefore there is sometimes confusion be tween the nard and the sweet cane (Kanch boson), another Indian product. Some differ ence of opinion exists respecting the fragrance of the jatanzansi; it may be sufficient to state that it continues to be highly esteemed in Eastern countries in the present day, where fragrant es sences are still procured from it, as the tinguentunt nardinzim was of old. J. F. R.