04_Biblica_AN_Bar_Layout 1 16/12/13 12:27 Pagina 566 566 SHAUL BAR ~ydgm which appears three times in the Song of Songs or Canticle (4,13.16; 7,14). What is the meaning of the great bounty of his master that the ser- vant took with him (Gen 24,10) ? I will demonstrate that mgdnt signifies the fruits that the servant gave to Rebecca’s brother and mother. I. mgdnt in the Bible Outside the book of Genesis the Hebrew term mgdnt is mentioned only three times in the Hebrew Bible (2 Chr 21,3; 32,23; Ezra 1,5-6). In 2 Chr 21,3, Jehoshaphat gave his sons silver, gold, and mgdnt. The term appears again in 2 Chr 32,23, after the deliverance from King Sennacherib of As- syria, many people brought tribute to God at Jerusalem. In addition mgdnt were brought to King Hezekiah of Judah. In the ancient world it was cus- tomary to send tribute to kings, which included fruits. The mgdnt which are mentioned here refer to fruits that were brought to King Hezekiah. It is noteworthy that King Jehoshaphat gave mgdnt to his sons, whereas in the second incident it is the people of Israel who gave mgdnt to King Hezekiah. In these two events royal figures receive mgdnt. In Ezra 1,5-6 the chief of the clans of Judah and Benjamin and the priests and Levites were ready to go to Jerusalem to build the House of the Lord. All their non-Jewish neighbors supported them with silver vessels, gold, goods, livestock, and with mgdnt. Here mgdnt are given on the eve of the long journey to Jerusalem. Thus, it is possible that it refers to fruits that were taken for the long journey. It is similar to the passage from Genesis where the servant took mgdnt on his long journey to Mesopotamia. The fact that the fruits were taken on a long journey that lasted for several months points to dried fruits. It is noteworthy here that the Hebrew word mgdnt shows up in postexilic books such as Ezra 1,6; 2 Chr 21,3; 32,23. Therefore, Gen- esis 24 is a late composition written in the fifth century BCE. A. Rofé ar- rived at this conclusion after his examination of different aspects of the story, such as its language, legal institutions, religious concepts, literary connections, literary character and message 3. It has been suggested that the Hebrew word is a loan word from the Old Iranian migda which means “fruit”. It is possible that the origin of the word is Semitic and was bor- rowed by the Iranian language at first but during the second temple period was again borrowed by the Hebrew in the form of mgdnt 4. Moreover, the 3 A. ROFÉ “An Enquiry into the Betrothal of Rebekah”, Die Hebräische Bibel und ihre zweifache Nachgeschichte. Festschrift für Rolf Rendtorff zum 65. Geburstag (eds. E. BLUM – C. MACHOLZ – E.W. STEGEMANN) (Neukir- chen-Vluyn 1990) 27-39. 4 W.B. HENNING, “Two Manichaean Magical Texts with an Excursus on the Parthian Ending – ēndēh”, BSOAS 12 (1947) 56.