PARK

The word par·desʹ occurs but three times in the Hebrew Scriptures and is considered by some to be derived from the Persian word pairidaeza. (However, see PARADISE.) According to M’Clintock and Strong’s Cyclopædia (1894, Vol. VII, p. 652), Xenophon used the Persian term as meaning “an extensive plot of ground, enclosed with a strong fence or wall, abounding in trees, shrubs, plants, and garden culture, and in which choice animals were kept in different ways of restraint or freedom, according as they were ferocious or peaceable.” The Greek form of the word (pa·raʹdei·sos) was used by the translators of the Septuagint in all references to the garden of Eden.

Among his great works, Solomon made both “gardens and parks [“orchards,” KJ; Heb., phar·de·simʹ]” in which he planted fruit trees of all sorts. (Ec 2:5) He uses the same term in his “superlative song” when he has the shepherd lover describe the Shulammite maiden’s skin as “a paradise of pomegranates, with the choicest fruits.” (Ca 1:1; 4:12, 13) In postexilic times, Nehemiah 2:7, 8 shows that the Persian king had placed Asaph as “the keeper of the park that belongs to the king” and that application had to be made for permission to fell trees from this park for the reconstruction work in Jerusalem.​—See FOREST; GARDEN.