Troublesome Topic: YOUR NOSE IS LIKE THE TOWER OF LEBANON 7:4

Song of Solomon 7:4

Translation

Your neck is like an ivory

tower.

Your eyes are

the pools

of HESHBON

by the gate

of BATH RABBIM.

Your nose

is like

the tower

of LEBANON

looking

toward Damascus.

Paraphrase

You live your life with a classy kind of strength, your use of knowledge [about me] is refreshing; it is INTELLIGENT and gives me new life, you use it with the desire to protect and promote ABUNDANCE.

Your close connection to the Spirit of God is a source of strength, PURITY and elegance; it keeps watch over that which is extremely important, and produces many beautiful byproducts.

Footnotes

1

Ivory was hard to come by, thus was in style only for the rich.

2

Tower means strength.

3

Pools were a source of refreshing.

4: The name Heshbon

This is the site of an excellent spring which creates pools and streams making it an extremely desirable location which represents cool, fresh, life-giving water (Unger). Archeological digs have discovered that there were large reservoirs built in that area to hold the water from said spring (Easton) and many cisterns have been found in the area (Smith’s Bible Dictionary). That means the spring had sufficient flow to provide water for many, many people. According to Hitchcock the name means “industry or invention,” according to Easton it means “intelligence,” and according to BDB it means “reckoning or giving an account.” All these meanings have some overlap because they have to do with the activity of the mind and the application or consequences of ideas.

5

The gate was a key part of the protection of the city.

6

The name Bath Rabbim means “daughter of abundance.”

7

The nose was literally “the breathing place,” in contrast to our thought process which emphasizes smelling. The Hebrews never lost sight of the fact that one word meant breathe, life and spirit, i.e. the Spirit of God. It was into Adam’s nostrils that God breathed the breath of life, not into his mouth.

The impact on marriage: A godly wife is essential for a healthy marriage. I cannot think of a quality that is more important than godliness. We should all be controlled all the time by God’s Spirit. Here the Peaceful Man is expressing gratitude that the Peaceful Woman possesses and displays that very quality.

8

Because Damascus is watered by the Abana River that comes down from mount Hermon, it is a fertile place, abounding in gardens, orchards and meadows. She lies along the main trade route leading from East to West. Some consider it the oldest city on earth that still exists as a city. In summary, it was an important and historic city, situated in a beautiful and fertile valley. Its name means either “activity” (Easton) or “sack full of blood\similitude of burning” (Hitchcock), or “swift camel,” and some say it is named after a great grandson of Noah who built the city. However, a number of scholars classify the meaning of the name as unknown because none of the above has sufficient evidence to solidify it as accurate. Since the meaning of the name is uncertain and does not seem to be a key factor in understanding this passage, I have not included an attempted meaning in the paraphrase.