Bible Dictionary
PARK
A park was an enclosed garden, orchard, or royal pleasure-ground. The biblical term is related to the word “paradise,” and may describe cultivated gardens or a king’s forest.
Definition
A park is an enclosed garden, orchard, forest, or royal pleasure-ground. The biblical word may describe cultivated gardens, the king’s forest, or an orchard of pomegranates, and is related in the source to “paradise.”
Biblical Usage
The term appears in Ecclesiastes 2:5 for gardens and parks, in Nehemiah 2:8 for the king’s forest, and in Song of Solomon 4:13 for an orchard or paradise of pomegranates.
Historical Background
The word is connected with the Greek paradeisos and is associated with the parks of Persian kings and nobles. It connotes an enclosure and is also used in the Septuagint for the Garden of Eden.
Related Figures
Historical Bible Dictionaries
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (ISBE)
<p>park (pardec; Septuagint paradeisos; compare Arabic firdaus): "I made me gardens and parks," the King James Version "orchards" (Ec 2:5); "Asaph the keeper of the king's forest," the Revised Version margin "park" (Ne 2:8). The same word occurs in So 4:13, "Thy shoots are an orchard (the Revised Version margin "paradise") of pomegranates." according to Liddell and Scott, paradeisos occurs first in Xenophon, who always uses it of the parks of Persian kings and noblemen. Like many other quadriliterals the word is undoubtedly of eastern origin. It seems to connote an enclosure. It is used in Septuagint of the Garden of Eden. Compare Lu 23:43; 2Co 12:4; Re 2:7.</p><p>See PARADISE.</p><p>Alfred Ely Day</p>