Ornaments

Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible

ORNAMENTS. 1 . The custom of wearing ornaments, either as personal adornment or as amulets, or for both purposes combined, is almost coeval with the appearance of man himself. In historical times in Palestine, as elsewhere, these ornaments were chiefly of gold, silver, bronze, and paste, but the excavations have shown that in the neolithic age a favourite ornament was a string of sea-shells. The Hebrews, especially the Hebrew women, shared to the full the Oriental love of ornaments, which are denoted in OT by two comprehensive terms, kÄ•lî , generally rendered ‘jewels’ (  Genesis 24:53 ,   Exodus 3:22 and oft.), and ‘adî , rendered ‘ornaments’ (  Exodus 33:4;   Exodus 33:6 ,   Ezekiel 16:11 , etc.). Lists of individual ornaments are found in such passages as   Exodus 35:22 ,   Numbers 31:50 ,   Isaiah 3:18 ff.,   Ezekiel 16:11-12 , Jdt 10:4 , although the identification of each article is not always certain.

2. Ear-rings , always of gold or silver where the material is stated, are frequently named, from   Genesis 35:4 onwards. In this passage their character as amulets is clearly implied. Among the Hebrews ear-rings were apparently confined to women, and to children of both sexes (  Exodus 32:2 ), for the ‘ rings ,’ of   Job 42:11 RV [Note: Revised Version.] are not necessarily ear-rings as AV [Note: Authorized Version.] . The only men expressly mentioned as wearing them are Midianites (  Judges 8:24 ff.). For illustrations of gold ear-rings found at Gezer see Macalister, Bible Sidelights from Gezer , Fig. 32, reproduced in Benzinger, Heb . Arch . 2 (1907) 83. The ‘earrings’ of   Isaiah 3:20 AV [Note: Authorized Version.] rightly appear in RV [Note: Revised Version.] as ‘ amulets ’ (see Amulet). The pendants of   Judges 8:26 RV [Note: Revised Version.] (AV [Note: Authorized Version.] ‘collars’) and   Isaiah 3:19 RV [Note: Revised Version.] (AV [Note: Authorized Version.] ‘ chains ’), to judge from the etymology of the original term, had the form of drops or beads, although it is unknown whether they were worn in the ears or as a necklace.

The custom still observed by the Bedouin women of wearing a ring through the right nostril (Doughty, Arab. [Note: Arabic.] Deserta , i. 340; ii. 220, 297) was also in vogue among the Hebrew women. Such was the nose-ring presented to Rebekah, wrongly given in AV [Note: Authorized Version.] as an earring (  Genesis 24:22 , note   Genesis 24:47 ), as also the ‘ nose-jewels ’ worn by the ladies of Jerusalem (  Isaiah 3:21 ). Although   Ezekiel 16:12 , as correctly rendered by RV [Note: Revised Version.] , cannot be cited in support of wearing ornaments on the forehead as AV [Note: Authorized Version.] suggests (‘a jewel on thy forehead’), this practice is attested by the figure in   Exodus 13:16 ,   Deuteronomy 6:8;   Deuteronomy 11:18 , where the word rendered ‘ frontlets ’ (between the eyes) really denotes a jewel or amulet (see Hastings’ DB [Note: Dictionary of the Bible.] iii. 872, now confirmed by Smend’s reading of the Heb. text of Sir 36:3 ). For a real frontlet, see § 6 below.

3 . Several varieties of neck ornament occur, but here again the precise nature of each escapes us. The ‘ chains ’ of   Proverbs 1:9 ,   Song of Solomon 4:9 are clearly necklaces; the same word is used of the chains hung as amulets about the necks of the Midianite camels (  Judges 8:26 ). The ‘strings of jewels’ of   Song of Solomon 1:10 RV [Note: Revised Version.] were probably a necklace of beads. A special form of necklace or breast ornament was composed of crescents of gold (  Judges 8:26 ,   Isaiah 3:8 , both RV [Note: Revised Version.] ). Cf. Amulet, § 4 . and illust. PEFSt [Note: Quarterly Statement of the same.] , 1905, 314, Pl. IV. The wide-spread custom of wearing a gold chain of office on neck and breast is met with in Egypt (  Genesis 41:42 ) and Babylon (  Daniel 5:7;   Daniel 5:16;   Daniel 5:29 ).

4 . Like other Eastern peoples, the Hebrews were fond of decking the arms and hands with ornaments. The term most frequently used for the finger-rings ( tabba’at ) properly denotes a signet-ring, as in   Genesis 41:42 RV [Note: Revised Version.] ,   Esther 3:12 , for which see art. Seal. From the use of an engraved cylinder for this purpose was developed a form of ring found in the excavations, consisting of a small cylinder of stone or paste, or of more than one, fitted into a ring of silver or gold (see illust. PEFSt [Note: Quarterly Statement of the same.] , 1905, 314, PI. IV., and Benzinger, op. cit . 83, from Sellin’s work cited in § 6 ). Ordinarily, however, tabba’at denotes a plain finger-ring (  Exodus 35:22 ,   Numbers 31:50 ,   Isaiah 3:21 ,   Luke 15:22 ) such as those found at Taanach (§ 6 ).

Of the various terms rendered bracelet in AV [Note: Authorized Version.] , the most common is tsâmîd  ; Rebekah’s weighed 10 shekels, and was of gold (  Genesis 24:22;   Genesis 24:30;   Genesis 24:47; cf.   Numbers 31:50 ,   Ezekiel 16:11;   Ezekiel 23:42 ). The bracelets of is 319 seem to have been made of twisted strands of gold wire. The word ‘bracelet’ in   2 Samuel 1:10 more probably denotes an armlet or arm-band, worn on the upper arm. It is rendered ‘ ankle-chains ’ in   Numbers 31:50 RV [Note: Revised Version.] , while a cognate word of the same meaning occurs in   Isaiah 3:20 (AV [Note: Authorized Version.] ‘ornaments of the legs’), and in the emended text of   2 Kings 11:12 , where the crown and the arm-band (EV [Note: English Version.] ‘ testimony ’) are named as insignia of royalty. Similarly, the bracelet worn ‘upon the right arm’ ( Sir 21:21 EV [Note: English Version.] ) is an armlet, as is seen from the list of Judith’s ornaments, who ‘decked herself bravely’ with her armlets (EV [Note: English Version.] ‘chains’), ‘and her bracelets, and her rings, and her ear-rings, and all her ornaments’ ( Jdt 10:4 ). The nature of the ornament given in AV [Note: Authorized Version.] as tablets and in RV [Note: Revised Version.] as ‘armlets’ (  Exodus 35:22 ,   Numbers 31:50 ), is quite uncertain. RV [Note: Revised Version.] rightly finds anklets in   Isaiah 3:18; these the ladies of Jerusalem rattled as they walked (  Isaiah 3:16 end ).

5. In a separate category may be placed such articles as, in addition to being ornamental, served some useful purpose in connexion with dress. Among these may be reckoned the gold brooches of   Exodus 35:22 RV [Note: Revised Version.] (AV [Note: Authorized Version.] ‘bracelets,’ lit. books), and the ‘ buckle of gold’ of 1Ma 10:89 etc. There seems to be no reference in OT to the ornamental pins in gold, silver, and bronze which are found in considerable numbers at Gezer and elsewhere. For illustrations of typical pins and brooches found at Gezer, see Macalister, op. cit . Fig. 34.

6 . This article would be incomplete without a fuller reference to the countless specimens of ancient jewelry, recovered from the sands of Egypt and the soil of Palestine, which serve to illustrate the ornaments above mentioned. The jewelry of the early Egyptian goldsmiths (  Exodus 3:22 ), as is well known, has never been surpassed in variety and delicacy of workmanship. The excavations at Gezer, Taanach, and Megiddo have revealed an unexpected wealth of gold and silver ornaments. One of the most remarkable of these recent finds is that described by its fortunate discoverer, Dr. Sellin, in his Nachlese auf dem Tell Ta’annek , 1906, 12 ff. (cf. PEFSt [Note: Quarterly Statement of the same.] , 1905, 176). Beneath the débris of a Canaanite house were found a mother and her five children, and beside the former the following ornaments: a gold band for the forehead, 8 gold rings, of which 7 were simple bands of gold wire, while the eighth was of several strands of wire, 2 silver rings, 2 larger bronze rings, perhaps bracelets, 2 small cylinders of crystal, 5 pearls, a scarab of amethyst and another of crystal, and finally a silver fastener (all illustrated op. cit . P [Note: Priestly Narrative.] ]. IV. and Fig. 16).

The ornaments found in still greater variety in the mounds of Gezer are described and illustrated in the PEFSt [Note: Quarterly Statement of the same.] from 1902 onwards. A special interest attaches to certain recently discovered graves, probably of Philistine origin and of a date c [Note: circa, about.] . b.c. 1000, in which a profusion of jewelry has been found similar in character and workmanship to the ornaments of the Mycenæan age found in Cyprus and Crete. For a description of the armlets, bracelets, anklets, rings, etc., found in these graves, see PEFSt [Note: Quarterly Statement of the same.] , 1905, 318 ff. and Pl. VI.; 1907, 199 ff. and Pl. I., 240 ff.

A. R. S. Kennedy.

Bridgeway Bible Dictionary

Just as it is natural for people to want to make themselves attractive by the clothes they wear, so it is natural that they should want to add to their appearance by wearing ornaments ( Ezekiel 16:10-13). In ancient times valuable ornaments were also used for making payments or investing wealth ( Genesis 24:22;  Genesis 24:53;  Exodus 11:2;  Exodus 35:22;  2 Samuel 1:24).

People wore ornaments especially on important or joyous occasions ( Isaiah 61:10;  Jeremiah 2:32). At times certain people received ornaments to indicate their honoured status in a household or society ( Genesis 41:42-43;  Esther 3:10;  Luke 15:22). But excessive adornment was condemned. Such extravagance was usually the characteristic of prostitutes ( Jeremiah 4:30) or the haughty and corrupt women of the upper classes ( Isaiah 3:18-23). Good conduct, not lavish adornment, is what makes people truly attractive ( 1 Timothy 2:8-10;  1 Peter 3:3-5; see also Dress ).