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 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 h 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.
e Physica Sacra, vol. 3. p. 468. f Tubal Cain, p. 15. g De Numis. Heb. l. 2. c. 10. h Geograph. l. 16. p. 539.