Sun 091129 pm Eccl 1

Ecclesiasties 1
1.5  tents of Kedar...  Kedar. The Kedar were among the most powerful of the northern Arabian bedouin tribal groups in the period between the eighth and fourth centuries b.c. They are mentioned in the Assyrian and Neo-Babylonian annals and are tied to the genealogy of Ishmael in Genesis 25:13 (see the comments on Gen 25:12–16; Is 21:16 and 42:11). Their tents consisted of animal skins or woven fabric stretched over poles to form a three-sided pavilion. The black color would have come from the use of black goat hair (see the comment on Ex 26:7–13).  ----Matthews, Victor Harold ; Chavalas, Mark W. ; Walton, John H.: The IVP Bible Background Commentary : Old Testament. electronic ed. Downers Grove, IL : InterVarsity Press, 2000, S. So 1:5

1.9  mare among Pharaoh’s chariots.... A tactic of battle attested in Egyptian literature was to release a mare in the vicinity of the chariots so that the stallions pulling the chariots would become distracted and confused. The word “harnessed” (niv) does not occur in the Hebrew text.   ----Matthews, Victor Harold ; Chavalas, Mark W. ; Walton, John H.: The IVP Bible Background Commentary : Old Testament. electronic ed. Downers Grove, IL : InterVarsity Press, 2000, S. So 1:9

1.12 nard...  

Also improperly known as spikenard (from Latin spica, head of grain, and nardi), this hardy herb, a member of the Valerianaceae family, grows in the foothills of the Himalayas. The part of the plant growing underground has the appearance of a fibrous spindle, and is rich in the precious essential oil.      From India, nard traveled, in the form of a dry rhizome or oil phase extract, via Persia, under the name nardin.      Horace offered to send Virgil a whole barrel of his best wine in exchange for a phial of nard. Though nard is now rare on the shelves of the western perfumer, its name stood for centuries as an evocation of the perfume of the lost Garden of Eden, and in literature, nard came to refer to any perfume, as long as it was exquisite. http://www.biblefragrances.net/nard.html 1.14  vineyards of Engedi... This is an oasis located thirty-five miles southeast of Jerusalem and nestled within a ravine on the western shore of the Dead Sea. The name means “spring of the young goat,” and the excavation of the fourth-millennium temple within its precincts attests the antiquity of its refreshing character. In this metaphor the peculiar location of the oasis between the ridges of the surrounding hills makes it an apt parallel to the sachet of myrrh and the bouquet of henna blossoms between the “beloved’s” breasts.  ---Matthews, Victor Harold ; Chavalas, Mark W. ; Walton, John H.: The IVP Bible Background Commentary : Old Testament. electronic ed. Downers Grove, IL : InterVarsity Press, 2000, S. So 1:14