All your garments smell of myrrh, and aloes, and cassia, out of the ivory palaces, by which they have made you glad.
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Augustine of Hippo
AD 430
20. "Out of Thy garments is the smell of myrrh, amber, and cassia" (ver. 8). Out of Thy garments is perceived the smell of fragrant odours. By His garments are meant His Saints, His elect, His whole Church, which he shows forth, as His garment, so to speak; His robe "without spot and wrinkle," which on account of its spots He has "washed" in His blood; on account of its "wrinkles" extended on His Cross. Hence the sweet savour which is signified by certain perfumes there mentioned. Hear Paul, that "least of the Apostles" (that "hem of that garment," which the woman with the issue of blood touched, and was healed), hear him saying: "We are a sweet savour of Christ, in every place, both in them that are saved, and in them that perish." He did not say, "We are a sweet savour in them that are saved, and a foul savour in them that are lost:" but, as far as relates to ourselves, "we are a sweet savour both in them that are saved, and in them that perish." ...They who loved him were saved by t...
Perfume. Literally, "from thy garments, from the ivory houses, out of which they have delighted thee, (10.) the daughters of kings, in thy honour. "They esteem it an honour to wait upon thee, and perfume thy robes, which are placed in chests of ivory, with odoriferous herbs. (Haydock)
The ancients admired such garments, Genesis xxvii. 27., and Amos iii. 15.
They had been given, together with the ivory boxes, as a present to Solomon at his marriage, and might give him delight, (Calmet) as it was then deemed unpolite to refuse a present. (Homer, Odyssey S.)
Stacte. Literally, "the drop "gutta, (Haydock) distils from the myrrh, the wood of settim, (Numbers xxiv. 6.) and may denote aloes, but not the plant. (Calmet)
Mortification and humility (Worthington) raise the soul on high, 2 Corinthians ii. 16. (Haydock)
The blessed Virgin is here styled a house of ivory. The Church, and all who observe purity, may be considered as God's temples, 1 Corinthians iii. 17. (Calmet)
The virtues of ...
