Genesis 24:22
And it came to pass, as the camels had done drinking, that the man took a golden earring of half a shekel weight, and two bracelets for her hands of ten shekels weight of gold;
And it came to pass, as the camels had done drinking,.... Having had enough to abate their thirst and satisfy them, by means of Rebekah's drawing water for them:
that the man took a golden earring; out of his pocket, or out of a box or parcel that was upon the camels; it is in the margin of our Bibles, "a jewel for the forehead"; or, as some render it, a "nose jewel" {y}; and so in Genesis 24:47, "an earring upon her face", or "nose"; and this was a jewel that hung from the forehead upon a lace or ribbon between the eyes down upon the nose; and such the daughters of Sion wore in later times, Isaiah 3:21; see Ezekiel 16:12; and nose jewels are still in use with the Levant Arabs, as Dr. Shaw {z} relates. Rauwolff {a}, who travelled through Mesopotamia and the parts adjacent in 1574, says of the women in those parts that are of greater substance, and have a mind to be richer and finer in their dress, that they wear silver and gold rings in one of their nostrils, wherein are set garnets, turquoise, rubies, and pearls: and in Egypt they wear nose jewels {b} and small gold rings in their right nostrils, with a piece of coral set in them {c} and this earring or jewel was
of half a shekel weight; which was eighty barley corns, for a whole shekel weighed one hundred and sixty. The Targum of Jonathan is,
"the weight of a drachma, which was the half of a didrachma or common shekel:''
and two bracelets for her hands, of ten shekels weight of gold; a shekel of gold, according to Calmet {d}, was worth eighteen shillings and three pence of English money, so that ten of them amount to nine pounds two shillings and six pence; according to Waserus {e}, these made twenty Hungarian pieces of gold, which were worth upwards of ninety pounds of Swiss money. A handsome present this was, and suitable to a virgin. Jarchi and Jonathan allegorize the two bracelets of the two tables of the law, and the ten shekels of the ten commands on them.
{y} Mzn "imponeret naso ejus monile aureum", Junius & Tremellius.
{z} Travels, p. 241. Ed. 2.
{a} Travels, par. 2. ch. 5. p. 128, 129.
{b} Pitts's Account of Mahometanism, p. 68.
{c} Egmont and Heyman's Travels, vol. 2. p. 85.
{d} Dictionary, in the word "Shekel".
{e} De Antiqu. numis, Heb. l. 2. c. 10.