“If she is a wall, if she is a door”
If she is a wall, we will build a tower of silver upon her. If she is a door, we will enclose her with panels of cedar. (Song of Songs 8:9 BSB)
What it sounds like today
A confusing bit about building on a wall or a door.
The cultural key
This exchange is opaque until you catch the metaphor. The brothers, responsible for a 'little sister... not yet grown,' are debating how to guard her chastity as she nears marriageable age. The images are the key: a 'wall' is solid and cannot be breached, so if she proves to be a wall, keeping herself inviolate, they will honor and adorn her ('build a tower of silver upon her'). A 'door,' by contrast, swings open and lets others in, so if she proves to be a door, easily accessible and morally loose, they will restrain her, boarding her up 'with panels of cedar.' It is a frank, protective family conversation about virtue expressed entirely in building terms. The sister then answers for herself with dignity, 'I am a wall, and my breasts are like towers,' declaring her own integrity and maturity. Miss the wall-versus-door metaphor and the passage is baffling; catch it, and it is a pointed discussion of guarded chastity and self-possession.
Recovered meaning
The brothers weigh their young sister's chastity in metaphor: a 'wall' means she stays pure and inaccessible (to be honored and adorned), a 'door' means she is easily entered and at risk (to be restrained). She answers with dignity, 'I am a wall.'