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Fausset's Bible Dictionary

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• μέτωπον
• אַף , אַפַּיִם
• בַּיִן , בַּיִת
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As the women veiled their faces, not to do so was a mark of shamelessness; "thou hadst a whore's forehead" (Jeremiah 3:3). The forehead is made the seat of boldness of speech and act (Ezekiel 3:7-9): "the house of Israel are stiff of forehead ... against their foreheads as an adamant harder than flint have I made thy forehead." Votaries of idols branded themselves with the idol's symbol. So Antiochus Epiphanes branded the Jews with the ivy leaf, Bacchus' symbol (2 Maccabees 6:7; 3 Maccabees 2:29). God's seal and name are in the foreheads of His servants, the conspicuous, noblest part of man's body, the seat of the understanding, whereon the helmet, "the hope of salvation," is worn (Ezekiel 9:4).

At the Exodus the mark was on the houses, for then it was families; here it is on the foreheads, for it is individuals whose safety is guaranteed by the Lord's mark. The mark on "the right hand and forehead" of the worshippers of the beast (Revelation 13:16) implies prostration of body and intellect to him. "In the forehead for possession, in the hand for work and service." God's name shall be "in the saints' foreheads." Their sonship shall no longer be a personal secret between them and God (Revelation 3:17), but shall be openly (Revelation 22:4) visible to all citizens of New Jerusalem's that the free flow of mutual love among Christ's family will not be checked by suspicion as here.

Upon the harlot's (the apostate church) forehead was written "MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH." What a contrast to the inscription on the mitre on the high priest's forehead, "HOLINESS TO THE LORD" (Revelation 17:5; Exodus 28:36). In Ezekiel 16:12, "a jewel on thy forehead," rather "a ring in thy nose" (Isaiah 3:21). However, Persian and Egyptian women often wear jewels and strings of coins across the forehead.