Ptolemy Lagus, gained control of Egypt, to the SW of Palestine. Therefore, with Seleucus Nicator and Ptolemy Lagus the long struggle between the “king of the north” and the “king of the south” began. However, the prophecy concerning the “king of the north” extends from the time of Seleucus Nicator down to the “time of the end.” (Dan. 11:40) Logically, then, the national and political identity of the “king of the north” would change in the course of history. But it would still be possible to determine his identity on the basis of his relationship to the original “king of the north.”—See the book “Your Will Be Done on Earth,” pp. 220-307.

JEHOVAH’S RESIDENCE

“North” also appears in the Scriptures with reference to the place where Jehovah resided representatively with the Israelites.—Ps. 48:1, 2; Isa. 14:13, 14; see MOUNTAIN OF MEETING.

NOSE, NOSTRILS

The part of the face that affords passage for air in respiration and serves as the organ of smell.

When God created Adam, he put in his body the life force (ruʹahh), as many texts indicate. Then he proceeded to “blow into his nostrils the breath [form of n^esha·mahʹ] of life, and the man came to be a living soul.” (Gen. 2:7) The breath being drawn into the body through the nostrils is essential to life; it sustains the life force. At the Flood, “everything in which the breath of the force of life was active in its nostrils, namely, all that were on the dry ground, died.”—Gen. 7:22.

The Hebrew word for nose or nostril (ʼaph) is frequently used to refer to the entire face. Adam was sentenced to earn his livelihood from the ground ‘in the sweat of his face [literally, “nose” or “nostrils”].’ (Gen. 3:19) Lot bowed down with his face (“nose”) to the ground before the visiting angels.—Gen. 19:1.

SENSITIVITY IN SMELLING AND TASTING

The olfactory area is located in the upper part of the nasal cavity, where the olfactory nerves terminate in hairlike endings; also fine endings of the trigeminal nerve are found in this area. The sense of smell in humans is very acute, giving credit to the ability of man’s Creator. According to an article in the Scientific American, in its issue of February 1964: “The sense of smell obviously is a chemical sense, and its sensitivity is proverbial; to a chemist the ability of the nose to sort out and characterize substances is almost beyond belief. It deals with complex compounds that might take a chemist months to analyze in the laboratory; the nose identifies them instantly, even in an amount so small (as little as a ten-millionth of a gram) that the most sensitive modern laboratory instruments often cannot detect the substance, let alone analyze and label it.”

In the same article, an interesting theory was set forth, which has passed several tests with indications that the theory may be close to the actual facts. This theory holds that the odors of different substances are based on the geometrical shape of the molecules of that substance; that there are “primary” odors just as there are primary colors of light (red, green and blue). These primary odors are identified as numbering seven, namely, camphoraceous, musky, floral, pepperminty, ethereal (etherlike), pungent and putrid. The latter two are thought to be exceptions, giving their odor sensations, not because of shape, but because of the electrical charge they carry. The receptors in the nerve endings are thought to be of various shapes, the smell sensation being due to the molecules of the substance fitting into the receptors of the nerves that carry the sensation to the brain for interpretation as a certain odor. Complex odors have molecules that will fit into more than one receptor, depending upon whether or not the molecules lie flat, on the side or endwise. In this way they fit into a number of different receptors, bringing about combinations of the “primary” odors.

The nose also plays a large part in “taste.” There are four primary tastes: sweet, salt, sour and bitter. These the taste buds in the mouth recognize. But much of the flavor in food is enjoyed due to the sense of smell. For example, a person whose nostrils are stopped up finds difficulty in distinguishing between two kinds of food, as most things then taste more or less flat.

BEAUTY

Being located so prominently, a well-formed nose contributes greatly to facial beauty. In The Song of Solomon (7:4) the Shulammite girl’s nose being likened to “the tower of Lebanon” may have reference to the symmetry of her nose as adding dignity and beauty to her face. God required that Israel’s priests, because they were his representatives before the people, be without blemish, one of the requirements being that no priest should have a slit or mutilated nose.—Lev. 21:18.

ILLUSTRATIVE AND FIGURATIVE USES

The word for nose or nostrils (ʼaph) is often used figuratively for anger (because of the violent breathing or snorting of an enraged person). (See ANGER.) It is also employed with reference to Jehovah’s action because of his anger (Ps. 18:8, 15), or when he exerts his powerful active force.—Ex. 14:21; 15:8.

The disgusting idolatry into which Israel fell was a cause for the burning anger of Jehovah against them, which he expressed through the prophet Isaiah, saying: “These are a smoke in my nostrils, a fire burning all day long.”—Isa. 65:5.

Proverbs 30:32, 33 states: “If you have acted senselessly by lifting yourself up, and if you have fixed your thought upon it, put the hand to the mouth. For the churning of milk is what brings forth butter, and the squeezing of the nose is what brings forth blood, and the squeezing out of anger is what brings forth quarreling.” This strongly emphasizes the trouble that can be caused by one who speaks wrongly or who harbors up anger or lets it out unrestrained. Here, in a play on words, “anger” is the dual form of the word for “nose.”

NOSE RING

An ornamental ring worn on the nose. It was inserted either through the left or the right side of the nose or through the partition separating the nostrils and was especially worn by women. (Gen. 24:22, 30, 47; Isa. 3:21) Ishmaelite men, however, according to some translations, also wore nose rings.—Judg. 8:24-26.

The Hebrew word for “nose ring” (neʹzem) can also be applied to an earring and, in some cases, there may have been little difference in the forms of these ornaments. Sometimes the context makes it possible to determine whether a nose ring or an earring is meant.—Compare Genesis 24:47 with Genesis 35:4; Ezek. 16:12.

Though nose rings were generally made of gold, other materials, such as silver, were also used. Nose rings might be ornamented with beads, pieces of coral, or jewels, suspended from them as small pendants. The diameter of nose rings varied from one to as much as three inches (2.5 to 7.6 centimeters). Hanging down over the mouth as it did, the nose ring had to be moved when eating.

At Proverbs 11:22 an outwardly beautiful woman who rejects sensibleness is compared to a “gold nose ring in the snout of a pig.”

NUMBER, NUMERAL

The Hebrews used arithmetic, employing the various mathematical operations—addition, subtraction, multiplication, and so forth, including fractions. (Num. 1:2; Lev. 27:18; 25:8; 6:5; 14:10; 27:30; Num. 15:6) In ancient Hebrew, numbers were spelled out.

Sometime after the exile to Babylon the Jews adopted to some extent the practice of using their alphabetical letters as symbols of numerical figures. However, this usage does not appear even in post-exilic Hebrew Bible manuscripts. (See, for examples, ʼAʹLEPH; BEHTH; DAʹLETH.) One of the oldest extant specimens of Hebrew writing is the inscription taken from the Siloam water tunnel (probably from the time of Hezekiah’s reign [745-716 B.C.E.]), in which the measurements are written out in full. Spelling out the numbers provides an added measure of accuracy and dependability in the manuscripts of the Hebrew Scriptures, which have been copied many times, for, in copying, a numeral is usually easier to mistake than a word.

In Hebrew, numbers above ten are a combination of words, such as twelve (two and ten) (Gen. 14:4), except that twenty is the plural of ten; thirty a plural word derived from three; forty a plural word derived from four, and so on. One hundred is a separate word; two hundred is the dual form. Other “hundreds” are composed of two words, as, three hundred. The highest number expressed by one Hebrew word is twenty thousand, the dual form of ten thousand (myriad). Larger numbers are a combination of words. For example, at 1 Chronicles 5:18 the number 44,760 is, literally, forty and four thousand, seven hundreds and sixty. A million is written as a thousand thousands. (2 Chron. 14:9) Rebekah’s family blessed her, saying: “O you, our sister, may you become thousands times ten thousand [literally, “thousands of myriads”].” (Rebekah’s posterity actually came to number many millions.) (Gen. 24:55, 60) In Daniel’s vision Jehovah is shown as having “ten thousand times ten thousand [literally, “a myriad of myriads”]” standing before him.—Dan. 7:10.

Occasionally numbers are used in an approximate sense, as round numbers. For example, at Psalm 90:10, where the psalmist speaks of man’s age limit, and possibly also at 1 Kings 19:18 (seven thousand who had not bowed to Baal) and 2 Chronicles 14:9 (the million Ethiopians defeated by Asa).

In the Christian Greek Scriptures numerals are generally expressed in words. The number of the “wild beast” is in words in the Sinaitic and the Alexandrine manuscripts, but in John’s original manuscript of Revelation it may have been expressed by the three Greek letters Khi (Χ = six hundred), Xi (Ξ = sixty) and Diʹgam·ma (Ϛ = six).—Rev. 13:18.

BIBLE USAGE NOT NUMEROLOGY

Since the Bible is a book of both history and prophecy, the numbers given therein may be either literal or symbolic. The context usually reveals in which sense a number is used. Certain numbers appear often in the Bible in an illustrative, figurative or symbolic sense, and in such cases an understanding of their significance is vital to an understanding of the text. However, this Bible usage of numbers should not be confused with numerology, in which occult mysticism is attached to figures, their combinations and numerical totals. Numerology apparently had its origin in ancient Babylon and, along with other forms of divination, comes under divine condemnation.—Deut. 18:10-12.

In the following we will discuss a few of the figurative uses of certain numbers that are used prominently in the Bible.

ONE

This number, when used figuratively, conveys the thought of singleness, uniqueness, as well as unity and agreement in purpose and action. “Jehovah our God is one Jehovah,” said Moses. (Deut. 6:4) He alone is Sovereign. He is unique. He does not share his glory with another, as is the case with pagan trinitarian gods. (Acts 4:24; Rev. 6:10; Isa. 42:8) There is oneness in purpose and activity between Jehovah and Jesus Christ (John 10:30) and complete unity of Christ’s disciples with God and his Son and with one another. (John 17:21; Gal. 3:28) Such oneness is illustrated in the marriage arrangement.—Gen. 2:24; Matt. 19:6; Eph. 5:28-32.

TWO

The number two frequently appears in a legal setting. The accounts of two witnesses agreeing add to the force of the testimony. Two witnesses, or even three, were required to establish a matter before the judges. This principle is also followed in the Christian congregation. (Deut. 17:6; 19:15; Matt. 18:16; 2 Cor. 13:1; 1 Tim. 5:19; Heb. 10:28) God adhered to this principle in presenting his Son to the people as mankind’s Savior. Jesus said: “In your own Law it is written, ‘The witness of two men is true.’ I am one that bears witness about myself, and the Father who sent me bears witness about me.”—John 8:17, 18.

Doing something a second time—for example, repetition of a statement or vision, even in only a parallel way—firmly established the matter as sure and true (as in Pharaoh’s dream of the cows and the ears of grain [Gen. 41:32]). Biblical Hebrew poetry is full of thought parallelism, which establishes more firmly in mind the truths stated and at the same time clarifies matters by the variety of wording in the parallelism.—See Psalms 2, 44 and others.

In Daniel’s prophecy the beast having “two horns” symbolized duality in rulership of the Medo-Persian Empire.—Dan. 8:20, 21; compare Revelation 13:11.

THREE

While two witnesses testifying to the same matter established proof sufficient for legal action, three made the testimony even stronger. The number three, therefore, is used at times to represent intensity, emphasis or added strength. “A threefold cord cannot quickly be torn in two.” (Eccl. 4:12) Emphasis was achieved in Jesus’ threefold questioning of Peter after Peter’s three denials of Jesus. (Matt. 26:34, 75; John 21:15-17) The vision telling Peter to eat of all kinds of animals, including those unclean according to the Law, was intensified by being given to him three times. This doubtless made it easier for Peter to understand, when Cornelius and his household accepted the good news, that God was now turning his attention to uncircumcised people of the nations, considered unclean by the Jews.—Acts 10:1-16, 28-35. 47, 48.

The intensity of Jehovah’s holiness and cleanness is emphasized by the declaration of heavenly creatures: “Holy, holy, holy is Jehovah.” (Isa. 6:3; Rev. 4:8) Before taking the last earthly king of the line of David off the throne, Jehovah said: “A ruin, a ruin, a ruin I shall make it. As for this also, it will certainly become no one’s until he comes who has the legal right, and I must give it to him.” Here he emphatically showed there would be no Davidic kings sitting upon the throne at Jerusalem in his name—the throne would be absolutely vacant—until God’s time to establish his Messiah in kingdom power. (Ezek. 21:27) The intensity of woes to come to those dwelling on earth is forecast by the triple repetition of the declaration “woe.”—Rev. 8:13.

FOUR

Four is a number sometimes expressing universalness or foursquareness in symmetry and form. It is found three times at Revelation 7:1. Here the “four angels” (all those in charge of the “four winds,” ready for complete destruction) stood on earth’s “four corners” (they could let loose the winds obliquely or diagonally, and no quarter of the earth would be spared). (Compare Daniel 8:8; Isaiah 11:12; Jeremiah 49:36; Zechariah 2:6; Matthew 24:31.) The New Jerusalem is “foursquare,” equal in every dimension, being in fact cubical in shape. (Rev. 21:16) Other figurative expressions using the number four are found at Zechariah 1:18-21; 6:1-3; Revelation 9:14, 15.