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Easton's Bible Dictionary
The practice common among Oriental nations of colouring
the forehead or impressing on it some distinctive mark as a sign of devotion to
some deity is alluded to in Revelation
13:16 , 13:17
; 14:9
; 17:5
; 20:4
.
The "jewel on thy forehead" mentioned in Ezekiel
16:12 (RSV, "a ring upon thy nose") was in all probability the "nose-ring"
( Isaiah
3:21 ).
In Ezekiel
3:7 the word "impudent" is rightly rendered in the Revised Version "an hard
forehead." (See also Ezekiel
3 ver. 8 , 9.)
Hitchcock's Dictionary of Bible Names
(no entry)
Smith's Bible Dictionary
(1) The practice of veiling the face (forehead) in public
for women of the high classes, especially married women, in the East, sufficiently
stigmatizes with reproach the unveiled face of women of bad character. ( Genesis
24:64 ; Jeremiah
3:3 )
(2) The custom among many Oriental nations both of coloring the face and forehead
and of impressing on the body marks indicative of devotion to some special deity
or religious sect is mentioned elsewhere.
The "jewels for the forehead," mentioned by Ezekiel, ( Ezekiel
16:12 ) and in margin of Authorized Version, ( Genesis
24:22 ) were in all probability nose-rings. ( Isaiah
3:21 )
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
for'-ed (metsach; metopon):
(1) In a literal sense the word is used frequently in the Scriptures. Aaron and
after him every high priest was to wear on the forehead the golden frontlet having
the engraved motto, "Holy to Yahweh" (Exodus 28:36 , 38). The condition of the
forehead was an important criterion in the diagnosis of leprosy by the priest
(Leviticus 13:42 , 43 ; 2 Chronicles 26:20). It was in the forehead that brave
young David smote Goliath with the stone from his sling (1 Samuel 17:49). The
faulty translation of the King James Version in Ezekiel 16:12 has been corrected
in the Revised Version (British and American), reference being had in the passage
to a nose-ring, not to an ornament of the forehead. While the cutting or tattooing
of the body was strictly forbidden to the Israelite on account of the heathen
associations of the custom (Leviticus 19:28), we find frequent mention made of
markings on the forehead, which were especially used to designate slaves (see
Philo, De Monarchia, I) or devotees of a godhead (Lucian, De Syria Dea, 59). In
3 Macc 2:29 we read that Ptolemy IV Philopator branded some Jews with the sign
of an ivy leaf, marking them as devotees of Bacchus-Dionysos. Possibly we may
compare herewith the translation of Isaiah 44:5 (Revised Version margin): "And
another shall write on his hand, Unto Yahweh" (or Yahweh's slave). Very clear
is the passage Ezekiel 9:4 , 6 (and perhaps Job 31:35), where the word used for
"mark" is taw, the name of the last letter of the Hebrew alphabet which in its
earliest form has the shape of an upright plus sign (Baal Lebanon Inscr; 11th
century BC) or of a lying (St Andrew's) cross X (Moabite Inscr, 9th century BC),
the simplest sign in the old Israelite alphabet, and at the same time the character
which in the Greek alphabet represents the X, the initial of Christ. In the New
Testament we find a clear echo of the above-mentioned Old Testament passage, the
marking of the foreheads of the righteous (Revelation 7:3 ; 9:4 ; 14:1 ; 22:4).
The godless followers of the beast are marked on the (right) hand and on the forehead
(Revelation 13:16 ; 14:9 ; 20:4), and the apocalyptic woman dressed in scarlet
and purple has her name written on her forehead (Revelation 17:5).
(2) In a metaphorical sense the expression, "a harlot's forehead," is used (Jeremiah
3:3) to describe the shameless apostasy and faithlessness of Israel. Ezeiel speaks
of the stiff-necked obstinacy and the persistent unwillingness of Israel to hear
the message of Yahweh: "All the house of Israel are of a hard forehead and of
a stiff heart" (Jeremiah 3:7), and God makes his prophet's "forehead hard ....
as an adamant harder than flint," whereby an unflinching loyalty to God and a
complete disregard of opposition is meant (Jeremiah 3:8 , 9). Compare the phrase:
"to harden the face," under the word FACE.
H. L. E. Luering
Tags:
bible commentary, bible history, bible reference, bible study, define, forehead, veiling
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