1 Kings 14:17

14:17 So Jeroboam’s wife got up and went back to ¹  Tirzah. As she crossed the threshold of the house, the boy died.

1 Kings 16:15-18

Zimri’s Reign over Israel

16:15 In the twenty-seventh year of Asa’s reign over Judah, Zimri became king over Israel; he ruled for seven days in Tirzah. Zimri’s revolt took place while the army was deployed ²  in Gibbethon, which was in Philistine territory. 16:16 While deployed there, the army received this report: ³  “Zimri has conspired against the king and assassinated him.” ⁴  So all Israel made Omri, the commander of the army, king over Israel that very day in the camp. 16:17 Omri and all Israel went up from Gibbethon and besieged Tirzah. 16:18 When Zimri saw that the city was captured, he went into the fortified area of the royal palace. He set the palace on fire and died in the flames. ⁵ 

The Song of Songs 6:4

The Renewal of Love

The Lover to His Beloved:

6:4 My darling, you are as beautiful as Tirzah, ⁶ 

as lovely as Jerusalem, ⁷ 

as awe-inspiring ⁸  as bannered armies!

[14:17]  ¹ tn Heb “went and entered.”

[16:15]  ² tn Heb “Now the people were encamped.

[16:16]  ³ tn Heb “and the people who were encamped heard.”

[16:16]  ⁴ tn Heb “has conspired against and also has struck down the king.”

[16:18]  ⁵ tn Heb “and he burned the house of the king over him with fire and he died.”

[6:4]  ⁶ tn He compares her beauty to two of the most beautiful and important cities in the Israelite United Kingdom, namely, Jerusalem and Tirzah. The beauty of Jerusalem was legendary; it is twice called “the perfection of beauty” (Ps 50:2; Lam 2:15). Tirzah was beautiful as well – in fact, the name means “pleasure, beauty.” So beautiful was Tirzah that it would be chosen by Jeroboam as the original capital of the northern kingdom (1 Kgs 15:33; 16:8, 15, 23). The ancient city Tirzah has been identified as Tel el-Far`ah near Nablus: see B. S. J. Isserlin, “Song of Songs IV, 4: An Archaeological Note,” PEQ 90 (1958): 60; R. de Vaux, “Le premiere campagne de fouilles a Tell el-Far`ah,” RB 54 (1947): 394-433.

[6:4]  ⁷ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[6:4]  ⁸ sn The literary unity of 6:4-10 and boundaries of his praise are indicated by the repetition of the phrase אֲיֻמָּה כַּנִּדְגָּלוֹת (’ayummah kannidÿgalot, “majestic as bannered armies/stars in procession…”) in 6:4 and 6:10 which creates an inclusion. His praise includes his own personal statements (6:4-9a) as well as his report of the praise given to her by the maidens, queens, and concubines (6:9b-10). His praise indicates that he had forgiven any ingratitude on her part.