When I saw among the spoils a goodly Babylonish garment
One, as the Targum adds, for no more was taken; a garment made of Babylonish wool, as Jarchi; or a valuable garment made in Babylon, called "Shinar", for that is the word in the text, so Kimchi and Abarbinel; and Babylonian garments were in great esteem in other nations: Pliny says F3 Babylon was famous for garments interwoven with pictures of divers colours, and which gave name to them; and Plutarch
and two hundred shekels of silver;
which, if coined money, was near twenty five English pounds:
and a wedge of gold of fifty shekels weight:
or a "tongue of gold" F8; a plate of gold in the shape of a tongue, as Kimchi and Abarbinel; a piece of unwrought gold which weighed fifty shekels, and worth of our money about seventy five pounds, according to Brererwood F9: where he saw these, and from whence he took them, is not said; according to some Jewish writers, these belonged to one of their idols; it is said {k}, he saw the Teraphim and the silver they offered before it, and the garment which was spread before it, and the tongue or wedge of gold in its mouth; and he desired them in his heart, and went and took them, and hid them in the midst of his tent: and the Samaritan Chronicle F12 makes him confess that he went into a temple in Jericho and found the above things there: and Masius conjectures that the wedge of gold was a little golden sword, with which the men of Jericho had armed their god, since an ancient poet F13 calls a little sword a little tongue:
then I coveted them, and took them;
he is very particular in the account, and gradually proceeds in relating the temptation he was under, and the prevalence of it; it began with his eyes, which were caught with the goodliness of the garments, and the riches he saw; these affected his heart and stirred up covetous desires, which influenced and directed his hands to take them:
and, behold, they are [hid] in the earth in the midst of my tent;
Josephus F14 says, he dug a deep hole or ditch in his tent, and put them there, that is, the Babylonish garment and the wedge of gold; which, as Ben Gersom gathers from ( Joshua 7:25 ) , was wrapped up and hid within the garment; which is not improbable, since otherwise no account is given of that:
and the silver under it;
the two hundred shekels of silver lay under the garment in which was the wedge of gold, and so it lay under them both.
F3 Nat. Hist. l. 8. c. 48.
F4 In Vita Catonis.
F5 Bereshit Rabba, sect. 85. fol. 75. 2.
F6 Ut supra. (Nat. Hist. l. 8. c. 48.)
F7 Bereshit Rabba, ib.
F8 (bhz Nwvl) "linguam auream", Montanus, Tigurine version, Masius; "lingulam auream", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator.
F9 De Ponder. &. Pret. Vet. Num. c. 5.
F11 Pirke Eliezer, ut supra. (c. 38.)
F12 Apud Hottinger, ut supra. (Smegm. Oriental. l. 1. c. 8. p. 505.)
F13 Naevius apud A. Cell. Noct. Attic. l. 10. c. 25.
F14 Ut supra. (Nat. Hist. l. 8. c. 48.)