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Bible - OT - Song of Songs: Mountain of Myrrh

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Lexicons typically etymologize “Moriah” by linking it to the verb “see.” Abraham tells Isaac that Yahweh will “see (as in “see to”) the lamb for the offering on the mountains of Moriah (Genesis 22:8, 14). Moriah is where Yahweh provides a sacrifice.

From Song of Songs 4:6, another etymology suggests itself. The lover says he will go to the “mountain of myrrh” and the “hill of frankincense.” Mountain of myrrh is parallel to the hills of frankincense, and the latter are associated with the temple worship. In Hebrew, “myrrh” is mor, so the lover is heading to the mountain mor, parallel to the mountain where incense is offered. It hardly seems a stretch to suggest that the temple mountain of Moriah is the mountain of Yahweh’s myrrh, the mountain anointed with the fragrance of His presence.

posted by Peter J. Leithart on Wednesday, July 14, 2010 at 3:12 pm

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Bible - OT - Song of Songs: Mountain of Myrrh

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