Psalms 84:6

Passing through the vale of Baca they make it a place of springs,

Yea, the early rain clotheth it with blessings.

The word Bacais derived from the root which means to weep, but it nowhere means weeping, for which words of a different form are used. Here, as in 2 Samuel 5:23, it probably denotes some kind of balsam-tree, so called from the -tears" of gum which it exudes. The vale of Baca or the balsam-trees was some vale which, like the vale of Elah or the terebinth (1 Samuel 17:2), and the vale of Shittim or acacias, took its name from the trees which grew there. Balsam-trees are said to love dry situations, growing plentifully for example in the arid valley of Mecca; and this is clearly the point of the reference. The vale of Baca was some waterless and barren valley through which pilgrims passed on their way to Jerusalem; but faith turns it into a place of springs, finding refreshment under the most untoward circumstances, while God refreshes them with showers of blessing from above, as the autumnal rains clothe the dry plains with grass and flowers. Cp. Isaiah 35:1 ff., Isaiah 35:6 ff.; Isaiah 41:18 ff.; and see Tristram's Natural Hist. of the Bible, pp. 30, 455, for a graphic description of the marvellous way in which the rains in Palestine transform the country from a brown and dusty desert to a lovely garden. Once more we have to note the singularly bold use of metaphor which is characteristic of this poet.

The familiar phrase -the vale of tears" comes from the Vulg. vallis lacrimarum, and it is possible that such an allusion to the derivation of the word is intended. It is natural to regard the pilgrim's experience as a parable of the pilgrimage of life, but this secondary application must not be allowed to supersede the original meaning.

This verse has suffered a strange fate in translation. The English Versions follow Jewish authorities in taking berâchôthas the plural of berçchâh, -a pool," not, as it must be, of berâchâh, -blessing." The LXX renders. The lawgiver shall give blessings, taking môrehto be connected with tôrâh, law: and similarly Jerome, The teacher shall be clothed with blessing, a rendering followed by Luther.