Last week we went exploring new restaurants. The young woman assigned to wait on us was exploring new careers. She was a trainee. We may not have been her first table but we were close. She had a mentor helping her work through things. Mistakes were made but it all worked out as she was pleasant and we were pleasant right back.
When I first lifted my eyes to look at her I stopped at the ring in her nose. Later I realized she had nice features and would possibly grow into a beautiful woman but my eyes were startled by the ornament. When I see this kind of thing I usually wonder how they blow their nose or some such nonsense. I think she had other piercings but I was stopped by her perforated nostrils.
She did a good job and we enjoyed the meal. The nose ring was really not an issue to get concerned about. We see them more and more as the days go by. I wonder if these young ladies realize what the nose ring says. This stuck in my mind becaus this morning I read,
(Gen 35:4 KJV) And they gave unto Jacob all the strange gods which were in their hand, and all their earrings which were in their ears; and Jacob hid them under the oak which was by Shechem.In the ancient Middle East nose and ear rings often carried a message. The fact that Jacob demanded them along with their personal household gods is a clue. Often these earrings were decorated in such a way as to declare your allegiance, or submission to a certain deity. They spoke of submission.
Another place that reflects this is ,
(Gen 24:22 KJV) And it came to pass, as the camels had done drinking, that the man took a golden earring of half a shekel weight, and two bracelets for her hands of ten shekels weight of gold;The context has the servant of Abraham being sent to find a wife for his son. Rebekah seems to be the choice. These gifts were a step in getting her to agree to be a wife for Isaac. You don’t give a young girl gifts like this simply for watering your camels.
Another illustration we might use is the cartoon about Ferdinand the Bull. Notice he had a nose ring. So did pigs. The reason was that when you hooked a chain to their nose ring they became very agreeable.
So go with the fashion. Like the Christmas tree originally being a pagan fertility symbol, the common cultural item does not mean you agree with the background, but if I were a young girl I am not sure I would want a symbol of slavery hanging from my nose.
homo unius libri
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