And they came, both men and women, as many as were willing hearted, and brought bracelets, and earrings, and rings, and tablets, all jewels of gold: and every man that offered offered an offering of gold unto the LORD.
They came ... - literally, 'the men with the women.'
Brought bracelets ... - (see at the beginning of Exodus 25:1-40 for the sources of Israelite wealth at this time) Money, in the form of coins or bullion, there was none in that early age. What money passed current with the merchant consisted of rings, which were weighed, and principally of ornaments for personal decoration.
Tablets, х kuwmaaz (H3558)] (collect.) - 'golden drops,' or rather, a string of Arab beads, worn by the Israelites in the wilderness (cf. Numbers 31:50), somewhat resembling the Roman 'bulla,' or the 'baccatum manila' of Virgil. But the Septuagint has emplokia, chains, network. Diodorus Siculus (3:, 44) says that they were found in Arabia of solid gold. Astonishment at the abundance of their ornaments is at an end when we learn that costly and elegant ornaments abounded in proportion as clothing was simple and scarce among the Egyptians, and some entirely divested of clothing, yet wore rich necklaces (Hengstenberg). Among people with Oriental sentiments and tastes, scarcely any stronger proof could have been given of the power of religion than their willingness not only to lay aside, but to devote those much-valued trinkets to the house of God; and thus all, like the Eastern sages, laid the best they had at the service of God.