Song of Solomon 7:4

(4) Fishpools in Heshbon.—Literally, pools. The Authorised Version follows the Vulg. 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, comp.—

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

Ovid. Art. Am., ii. 722.

Comp. 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.