Judges 8:26 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Judges 8:26
And the weight of the golden earrings that he requested was a thousand and seven hundred shekels of gold; beside ornaments, and collars, and purple raiment that was on the kings of Midian, and beside the chains that were about their camels’ necks.
weight (numerically estimated) · noun, common masculine singular construct
golden
הַזָּהָב֙ha.za.Hav
H2091
gold · definite article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
earrings
נִזְמֵ֤יniz.Mei
H5141
a nose-ring · noun, common masculine plural construct
requested
שָׁאָ֔לsha.'Al
H7592
to inquire · verb, qal perfect, 3rd person masculine singular
thousand
אֶ֥לֶף'E.lef
H505
hence (the ox's head being the first letter of the alph… · noun, common both genders singular construct
seven
וּשְׁבַעu.she.va'-
H7651
seven (as the sacred full one) · conjunction + noun, common both genders singular construct
hundred
מֵא֖וֹתme.'ot
H3967
a hundred · noun, common feminine plural absolute
gold
זָהָ֑בza.Hav
H2091
gold · noun, common masculine singular absolute
ornaments
הַשַּׂהֲרֹנִ֨יםha.sa.ha.ro.Nim
H7720
a round pendant for the neck · definite article + noun, common masculine plural absolute
collars
וְהַנְּטִפ֜וֹתve.ha.ne.ti.Fot
H5188
a pendant for the ears (especially of pearls) · conjunction + definite article + noun, common feminine plural absolute
purple
הָאַרְגָּמָ֗ןha.'ar.ga.Man
H713
purple (the color or the dyed stuff) · definite article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
raiment
וּבִגְדֵ֣יu.vig.Dei
H899
a covering · conjunction + noun, common masculine plural construct
kings
מַלְכֵ֣יmal.Khei
H4428
a king · noun, common masculine plural construct
Midian
מִדְיָ֔ןmid.Yan
H4080
Midjan · proper noun, a place name
chains
הָ֣עֲנָק֔וֹתha.'a.na.Kot
H6060
a necklace (as if strangling) · definite article + noun, common feminine plural absolute
camels’
גְמַלֵּיהֶֽםge.ma.lei.Hem
H1581
a camel · noun, common masculine plural construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine plural
necks
בְּצַוְּארֵ֥יbe.tza.ve.Rei
H6677
the back of the neck (as that on which burdens are boun… · preposition + noun, common masculine plural construct
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Esther 8:15 And Mordecai went out from the presence of the king in royal apparel of blue and white, and with a great crown of gold, and with a garment o…
Jeremiah 10:9 Silver spread into plates is brought from Tarshish, and gold from Uphaz, the work of the workman, and of the hands of the founder: blue and…
John 19:2 And the soldiers platted a crown of thorns, and put it on his head, and they put on him a purple robe,
John 19:5 Then came Jesus forth, wearing the crown of thorns, and the purple robe. And Pilate saith unto them, Behold the man!
Revelation 18:12 The merchandise of gold, and silver, and precious stones, and of pearls, and fine linen, and purple, and silk, and scarlet, and all thyine w…
Revelation 18:16 And saying, Alas, alas, that great city, that was clothed in fine linen, and purple, and scarlet, and decked with gold, and precious stones,…
Ezekiel 27:7 Fine linen with broidered work from Egypt was that which thou spreadest forth to be thy sail; blue and purple from the isles of Elishah was…
Revelation 17:4 And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Judges 8:22-28
Here is, I. Gideon's laudable modesty, after his great victory, in refusing the government which the people offered him. 1. It was honest in them to offer it: Rule thou over us, for thou hast delivered us, Jdg 8:22. They thought it very reasonable that he who had gone through the toils and perils of their deliverance should enjoy the honour and power of commanding them ever afterwards, and very desirable that he who in this great and critical juncture had had such manifest tokens of God's presence with him should ever afterwards preside in their affairs. Let us apply it to the Lord Jesus: he hath delivered us out of the hands of our enemies, our spiritual enemies, the worst and most dangerou…
ornaments--crescent-like plates of gold suspended from the necks, or placed on the breasts of the camels.
collars--rather, "earrings," or drops of gold or pearl.
purple--a royal color. The ancient, as well as modern Arabs, adorned the necks, breasts, and legs, of their riding animals with sumptuous housing.
John Gill on Judges 8:26
And the weight of the golden earrings he requested was one thousand and seven hundred shekels of gold,.... Which, as Schcuchzer (e) computes, was eight hundred and ten ounces, five drachms, one scruple, and ten grains, of the weight of physicians; but as reckoned by Moatanus (f) amounted to eight hundred and fifty ounces, and were of the value of 6800 crowns of gold; and, according to Waserus (g), 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 Be…
This request of Gideon's was cheerfully fulfilled: "They spread out the cloth (brought for collecting the rings), and threw into it every one the ring that he had received as booty." Simlah, the upper garment, was for the most part only a large square piece of cloth. The weight of these golden rings amounted to 1700 shekels, i.e., about 50 lbs., (מן לבד) separate from, i.e., beside, the remaining booty, for which Gideon had not asked, and which the Israelites kept for themselves, viz., the little moons, the ear-pendants (netiphoth, lit. little drops, probably pearl-shaped ear-drops: see Isa 3:19), and the purple clothes which were worn by the kings of Midian (i.e., which they had on), and al…
The Church Fathers
He often wonders what the efud or efod was. If it was a priestly garment, as many say, or rather a kind of shelter, which in Greek is called epénduma or epomís, and that in Latin is usually translated by superhumeral (superhumerale) and then the question arises spontaneously why Gideon did with such amount of gold. The text reads as follows: The weight of the gold earrings that she had ordered was one thousand seven hundred shekels of gold, not counting the bracelets, the necklaces, and the purple dresses worn by the kings of Midian; not counting the necklaces that had their camels around their necks. And Gideon made him an efud and raised him up in his city, in Ofra. And all Israel fornicated there after him and became a scandal for Gideon and his house. How could you make a dress with so much gold? Samuel's mother also made for her son, as we know, an ephod bar, which some have translated as "a linen ephod," when he consecrated his son to the Lord to be raised in the temple (Cf 1R 2,18). In this case it appears more clearly that it was a kind of dress. Or does it say: He raised him in his city, so that we can get the conclusion that it was made of gold? Because the text does not say: "He put it on", but he did raise it, because it was so solid and so strong that it could be lifted, that is, standing up. When Gideon did this forbidden thing, all Israel fornicated after him, following him against the law of God. When we get here we can rightly ask why the Scripture calls fornication to what the people did, following and venerating this object, since it was not an idol, that is, the image of a false and foreign god, but an ephod, it is say, one of the sacred things of the tabernacle related to the priestly dress. And the answer is that precisely because it was outside the tabernacle, where these things that God had commanded were made there, it was not lawful for anything like that to be done out there. That is why the Scripture continues saying: And it became a scandal for Gideon and his house. That is, to turn away from God, who was offended, because that too was in some way a kind of idol, since it would be venerated as a god outside the tabernacle of God, any object made by hand, when those same things that they were ordered to do in the tabernacle should refer rather to the worship of God than to consider those objects as god or that it was considered…
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Apparel — In Old Testament times the distinction between male and female attire was not very marked. The statute forbidding men to wear female apparel (Deut. 22:5) referred especially to ornaments and…
Chain — (1.) A part of the insignia of office. A chain of gold was placed about Joseph’s neck (Gen. 41:42); and one was promised to Daniel (5:7). It is used as a symbol of sovereignty (Ezek. 16:11). The…
Collar — (Heb. peh), means in Job 30:18 the mouth or opening of the garment that closes round the neck in the same way as a tunic (Ex. 39:23). The “collars” (Heb. netiphoth) among the spoils of the Midianites…
Colour — The subject of colours holds an important place in the Scriptures. White occurs as the translation of various Hebrew words. It is applied to milk (Gen. 49:12), manna (Ex. 16:31), snow (Isa. 1:18),…
Metals — The Hebrews, in common with other ancient nations, were acquainted with nearly all the metals known to modern metallurgy, whether as the products of their own soil or the results of intercourse with…
Midian — Strife, the fourth son of Abraham by Keturah, the father of the Midianites (Gen. 25:2; 1 Chr. 1:32).
Teraphim — Givers of prosperity, idols in human shape, large or small, analogous to the images of ancestors which were revered by the Romans. In order to deceive the guards sent by Saul to seize David, Michal…
Tire — an old English word for headdress. It was an ornamental headdress worn on festive occasions, (Ezekiel 24:17,23) and perhaps, as some suppose, also an ornament for the neck worn by both women, (Isaiah…
Tires — “To tire” the head is to adorn it (2 Kings 9:30). As a noun the word is derived from “tiara,” and is the rendering of the Heb. p’er, a “turban” or an ornament for the head (Ezek. 24:17; R.V.,…
Zebah — Man-killer, or sacrifice, one of the two kings who led the vast host of the Midianites who invaded the land of Israel, and over whom Gideon gained a great and decisive victory (Judg. 8). Zebah and…
Camel, The · Of the rich adorned with chains — Of the rich adorned with chains
Chains · As ornaments on — As ornaments on
Colors · .Of royalty — .Of royalty
Gideon · Makes an ephod which becomes a snare to the Israelites — Makes an ephod which becomes a snare to the Israelites
Gold · Was used for: Earrings — Was used for: Earrings
Ishmaelites · General references — General references
Shekel · Used to weigh silver — Used to weigh silver
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
