Charles Ellicott Commentary Song Of Solomon 7:4

"Thy neck is like the tower of ivory; Thine eyes [as] the pools in Heshbon, By the gate of Bath-rabbim; Thy nose is like the tower of Lebanon Which looketh toward Damascus." — Song Of Solomon 7:4 (ASV)

Fishpools in Heshbon.—Literally, pools. The Authorised Version follows the Vulgate piscinœ, for which there is no authority. For Heshbon, see Note on Numbers 21:26. The ruins still remain, with the same name Hesban, in the Wady of that name (Robinson, p. 278). “There are many cisterns among the ruins; and towards the south, a few yards from the base of the hill, is a large ancient reservoir, which calls to mind the passage in Song of Solomon 7:4” (Smith’s Bib. Dict.). Captain Warren took a photograph of “the spring-head of the waters of Hesban,” published by the Palestine Exploration Fund. In regard to the image, compare:

“Adspicies oculos tremulo fulgore micantes
Ut sol a liquida sœpe refulget aqua.”

Ovid. Art. Am., ii. 722.

Compare also Keats:

“Those eyes, those passions, those supreme pearl springs.”

The gate of Bath-rabbim.—Doubtless the name of an actual gate, so called from the crowds of people streaming through it: daughter of multitudes.