Reference: Earrings
American
See RINGS.
Easton
rings properly for the ear (Ge 35:4; Nu 31:50; Eze 16:12). In Ge 24:47 the word means a nose-jewel, and is so rendered in the Revised Version. In Isa 3:20 the Authorized Version has "ear-rings," and the Revised Version "amulets," which more correctly represents the original word (lehashim), which means incantations; charms, thus remedies against enchantment, worn either suspended from the neck or in the ears of females. Ear-rings were ornaments used by both sexes (Ex 32:2).
See Verses Found in Dictionary
I asked her, Whose daughter are you? She said, The daughter of Bethuel, Nahor's son, whom Milcah bore to him. And I put the earring or nose ring on her face and the bracelets on her arms.
So they [both young men and women] gave to Jacob all the strange gods they had and their earrings which were [worn as charms against evil] in their ears; and Jacob buried and hid them under the oak near Shechem.
So Aaron replied, Take the gold rings from the ears of your wives, your sons, and daughters, and bring them to me.
We have brought as the Lord's offering what each man obtained -- "articles of gold, armlets, bracelets, signet rings, earrings, neck ornaments -- "to make atonement for ourselves before the Lord.
The headbands, the short ankle chains [attached from one foot to the other to insure a measured gait], the sashes, the perfume boxes, the amulets or charms [suspended from the ears or neck],
Fausets
nezem, which also includes the nose ring hanging on one side of the nose (Ge 24:47, where the words "upon her face" imply either a nose ring or one to be hung from her forehead, Ge 35:4). Circular, as its other name 'agil implies. Oriental men wore them as well as women. Jg 8:24 seems to imply that the Israelite men did not wear them, as did the Ishmaelites; but Ex 32:2 proves that young "sons" wore them. There were besides netiphot (Jg 8:26), not "collars" but pearlshaped "ear drops," or jewels attached to the rings, or else pendent scent bottles, or pendants from the neck on the breast, "Chains" KJV (Isa 3:19,21), "earrings" (leehashim, from laachash "to whisper"), AMULETS with magic inscriptions, and so surrendered along with the idols by Jacob's household (Ge 35:4).
The best use made of them was that in Nu 31:50, an offering to the Lord to "make atonement for souls"; not that our gifts can wipe away guilt, but acknowledgments of God's grace not being offered in loving gratitude evince an unatoned state, and so a state of guilt. When offered in loving faith, they evidence and seal visibly our reception of the atonement (Lu 7:44-47). The "phylacteries," headbands, totapkot (Mt 23:5) in the Talmudists' opinion were the sanctioned antidote to the idolatrous amulets and "earrings" (De 6:7-8; 11:18-19; contrast Ho 2:13; Isa 3:21, lechashim. But the language in Deuteronomy and in Ex 13:9,16 is rightly taken by the Karaite Jews as proverbial, not literal; as is apparent from the reason added, "that the law of Jehovah may be in thy mouth"; for it is by receiving the law into the heart, and by keeping it, that it would be naturally on the tongue continually.
God does not say that His law was to be written upon scrolls, but to be "for a sign upon thine hand, and for a memorial between thine eyes," i.e., was to be kept in view like memorials upon the forehead and the hand, the prominent visible parts symbolizing respectively open confession and action (Re 13:16; 22:4). This view is proved by Pr 3:3; 4:21; 6:21-22; 7:3. But latterly the Jews used the "phylacteries," totaphot, or tephillim, prayer fillets, parchment strips with sentences of the law, bound on the forehead or left arm during prayer.
See Verses Found in Dictionary
I asked her, Whose daughter are you? She said, The daughter of Bethuel, Nahor's son, whom Milcah bore to him. And I put the earring or nose ring on her face and the bracelets on her arms.
So they [both young men and women] gave to Jacob all the strange gods they had and their earrings which were [worn as charms against evil] in their ears; and Jacob buried and hid them under the oak near Shechem.
So they [both young men and women] gave to Jacob all the strange gods they had and their earrings which were [worn as charms against evil] in their ears; and Jacob buried and hid them under the oak near Shechem.
It shall be as a sign to you upon your hand and as a memorial between your eyes, that the law of the Lord may be in your mouth; for with a strong hand the Lord has brought you out of Egypt.
And it shall be as a reminder upon your hand or as frontlets between your eyes, for by a strong hand the Lord brought us out of Egypt.
So Aaron replied, Take the gold rings from the ears of your wives, your sons, and daughters, and bring them to me.
We have brought as the Lord's offering what each man obtained -- "articles of gold, armlets, bracelets, signet rings, earrings, neck ornaments -- "to make atonement for ourselves before the Lord.
You shall whet and sharpen them so as to make them penetrate, and teach and impress them diligently upon the [minds and] hearts of your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down and when you rise up. And you shall bind them as a sign upon your hand, and they shall be as frontlets (forehead bands) between your eyes.
Therefore you shall lay up these My words in your [minds and] hearts and in your [entire] being, and bind them for a sign upon your hands and as forehead bands between your eyes. And you shall teach them to your children, speaking of them when you sit in your house and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you rise up.
And Gideon said to them, Let me make a request of you -- "every man of you give me the earrings of his spoil. For [the Midianites] had gold earrings because they were Ishmaelites [general term for all descendants of Keturah].
And the weight of the golden earrings that he requested was 1,700 shekels of gold, besides the crescents and pendants and the purple garments worn by the kings of Midian, and the chains that were about their camels' necks.
Let not mercy and kindness [shutting out all hatred and selfishness] and truth [shutting out all deliberate hypocrisy or falsehood] forsake you; bind them about your neck, write them upon the tablet of your heart.
Bind them continually upon your heart and tie them about your neck. When you go, they [the words of your parents' God] shall lead you; when you sleep, they shall keep you; and when you waken, they shall talk with you.
Bind them on your fingers; write them on the tablet of your heart.
The pendants, the bracelets or chains, and the spangled face veils and scarfs,
And I will visit [punishment] upon her for the feast days of the Baals, when she burned incense to them and decked herself with her earrings and nose rings and her jewelry and went after her lovers and forgot Me, says the Lord.
They do all their works to be seen of men; for they make wide their phylacteries ( small cases enclosing certain Scripture passages, worn during prayer on the left arm and forehead) and make long their fringes [worn by all male Israelites, according to the command].
Then turning toward the woman, He said to Simon, Do you see this woman? When I came into your house, you gave Me no water for My feet, but she has wet My feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You gave Me no kiss, but she from the moment I came in has not ceased [ intermittently] to kiss My feet tenderly and caressingly. read more. You did not anoint My head with [cheap, ordinary] oil, but she has anointed My feet with [costly, rare] perfume. Therefore I tell you, her sins, many [as they are], are forgiven her -- "because she has loved much. But he who is forgiven little loves little.
Also he compels all [alike], both small and great, both the rich and the poor, both free and slave, to be marked with an inscription [ stamped] on their right hands or on their foreheads,
They shall see His face, and His name shall be on their foreheads.
Smith
Earrings.
The material of which earrings were made was generally gold,
and their form circular. They were worn by women and by youth of both sexes. These ornaments appear to have been regarded with superstitious reverence as an amulet. On this account they were surrendered along with the idols by Jacob's household.
Chardin describes earrings with talismanic figures and characters on them as still existing in the East. Jewels were sometimes attached to the rings. The size of the earrings still worn in eastern countries far exceeds what is usual among ourselves; hence they formed a handsome present,
or offering to the service of God.
See Verses Found in Dictionary
So they [both young men and women] gave to Jacob all the strange gods they had and their earrings which were [worn as charms against evil] in their ears; and Jacob buried and hid them under the oak near Shechem.
So Aaron replied, Take the gold rings from the ears of your wives, your sons, and daughters, and bring them to me.
We have brought as the Lord's offering what each man obtained -- "articles of gold, armlets, bracelets, signet rings, earrings, neck ornaments -- "to make atonement for ourselves before the Lord.
Then there came to him all his brothers and sisters and all who had known him before, and they ate bread with him in his house; and they sympathized with him and comforted him over all the [distressing] calamities that the Lord had brought upon him. Every man also gave him a piece of money, and every man an earring of gold.