66. Ear Rings

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Genesis 35:44And they gave unto Jacob all the strange gods which were in their hand, and all their earrings which were in their ears; and Jacob hid them under the oak which was by Shechem. (Genesis 35:4). They gave unto Jacob all the strange gods which were in their hand, and all their ear-rings which were in their ears; and Jacob hid them under the oak which was by Shechem.
Ear-rings were of various sizes, shapes, and material. At the present day, among the Orientals, they are of gold, silver, brass, ivory, horn, and wood; they are sometimes plain, and sometimes adorned with precious stones. Some are small, and fit closely to the ear, leaving no intermediate space; while others are large and heavy, and drop some distance below the ear. Some of these, by their weight, make a disagreeable-looking hole in the part of the ear whence they hang. MacGregor saw some men near Lake Huleh with ear-rings “not in the lobe of the ear, but in the projecting flesh.” (Rob Roy on the Jordan, p. 150). It is supposed by some that the use of ear-rings among the Hebrews was confined to the women. If so there must have been exceptions. See Exodus 32:22And Aaron said unto them, Break off the golden earrings, which are in the ears of your wives, of your sons, and of your daughters, and bring them unto me. (Exodus 32:2).
It is evident from this text that it was customary to connect the use of ear-rings with idolatry. This is further intimated in Hosea 2:1313And I will visit upon her the days of Baalim, wherein she burned incense to them, and she decked herself with her earrings and her jewels, and she went after her lovers, and forgat me, saith the Lord. (Hosea 2:13), where the wearing of ear-rings is associated with burning incense to Baal. Isaiah 3:2020The bonnets, and the ornaments of the legs, and the headbands, and the tablets, and the earrings, (Isaiah 3:20) is also supposed to refer to idolatrous practices. Ear-rings were doubtless used as amulets. With strange figures and characters engraved upon them they were considered as charms warding off evil. They are still thus used in the East. Jacob, being commanded to go to Bethel to renew his covenant with God, desired to put away every vestige of idolatry from the people, and for this reason buried these ear-ring amulets with the teraphim tinder the oak.