Jueces 8:26

26 El peso de los anillos de oro que él les pidió llegó a diecinueve kilos,^[a] sin contar los adornos, los aros y los vestidos de púrpura que usaban los reyes madianitas, ni los collares que llevaban sus camellos.

Jueces 8:26 Meaning and Commentary

Judges 8:26

And the weight of the golden earrings he requested was
one thousand and seven hundred shekels of gold
Which, as Schcuchzer ^F5 computes, was eight hundred and ten ounces, five drachms, one scruple, and ten grains, of the weight of physicians; but as reckoned by Moatanus ^F6 amounted to eight hundred and fifty ounces, and were of the value of 6800 crowns of gold; and, according to Waserus ^F7, it amounted to 3400 Hungarian pieces of gold, and of their money at Zurich upwards of 15,413 pounds, and of our money 2,380 pounds:

besides ornaments;
such as were upon the necks of the camels, ( Judges 8:21 ) for the same word is used here as there:

and collars;
the Targum renders it a crown, and Ben Melech says in the Arabic language the word signifies clear crystal; but Kimchi and Ben Gersom take them to be golden vessels, in which they put "stacte", or some odoriferous liquor, and so were properly smelling bottles:

and purple raiment that was on the kings of Midian;
which it seems was the colour that kings wore, as they now do; so Strabo ^F8 says of the kings of Arabia, that they are clothed in purple:

and besides the chains that were about their camels' necks;
which seem to be different from the other ornaments about them, since another word is here used; now all these seem to have been what fell to his share, as the general of the army, and not what were given him by the people.

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FOOTNOTES:

F5 Physica Sacra, vol. 3. p. 468.
F6 Tubal Cain, p. 15.
F7 De Numis. Heb. l. 2. c. 10.
F8 Geograph. l. 16. p. 539.

Jueces 8:26 In-Context

24 Pero tengo una petición —añadió—: que cada uno de ustedes me dé un anillo, de lo que les tocó del botín.Era costumbre de los ismaelitas usar anillos de oro.

25 —Con mucho gusto te los daremos —le contestaron.Así que tendieron una manta, y cada hombre echó en ella un anillo de su botín.

26 El peso de los anillos de oro que él les pidió llegó a diecinueve kilos, sin contar los adornos, los aros y los vestidos de púrpura que usaban los reyes madianitas, ni los collares que llevaban sus camellos.

27 Con el oro Gedeón hizo un efod, que puso en Ofra, su ciudad. Todo Israel se prostituyó al adorar allí el efod, el cual se convirtió en una trampa para Gedeón y su familia.

28 Los madianitas fueron sometidos delante de los israelitas, y no volvieron a levantar cabeza. Y durante cuarenta años, mientras vivió Gedeón, el país tuvo paz.

Footnotes

• [a]. "diecinueve kilos" . Lit. "mil setecientos siclos" .