Verse 17
The Lord explained that not only had the Judahites committed all these abominations but they had also filled the land with violence and provoked Him repeatedly. Putting a twig to the nose was evidently part of the ritual practice of sun worship. [Note: See H. W. F. Saggs, "Notes and Studies: The Branch to the Nose," Journal of Theological Studies NS11 (October 1960):318-29.] Another interpretation views this expression as describing some gross insult against God, something like creating a stench in God’s nose. [Note: Taylor, p. 100. See also Greenberg, pp. 172-73; Zimmerli, pp. 244-45; R. Gordis, "The Branch in the Nose," Journal of Theological Studies 37 (1936):284-85; and Block, The Book . . ., p. 299.] Perhaps both meanings are correct.
"The Akkadian expression appa labana denotes a gesture of worship involving both hand and nose. Sometimes the hand holds an object to the nose, as in the Bavian sculpture of Sennacherib worshiping the Assyrian gods, in which the object held by the king is perhaps a branch . . ." [Note: Allen, p. 146.]
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