Whose Earrings Did Jacob Bury?

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When the patriarch Jacob returns to Canaan with his family after a 20-year sojourn with his uncle Laban, God instructs him to go to Bethel and build an altar (Genesis 35:1). Jacob immediately tells his entourage to rid themselves of the alien gods in their midst, to purify themselves and to change their clothes (Genesis 35:2)—all in preparation for building the altar to propitiate the one true God. Then comes this sentence: “They gave Jacob all their alien gods and the rings that were in their ears. Jacob buried them under the terebinth near Shechem” (Genesis 35:4).

Why earrings? Or better yet: Whose earrings?

The traditional interpretation is that the text refers to the earrings of Jacob’s family members: The earrings to be buried were those they wore in their own ears. Two explanations have been offered for why the earrings were given to Jacob and then buried along with the cult statues. Perhaps the earrings bore idolatrous pictures or shapes and were themselves objects of worship.¹ Or perhaps, as some scholars have suggested more recently, the earrings were pagan amulets rather than mere jewelry.²

Neither of these explanations is convincing. The first makes little sense because in practice nothing distinguishes 032earrings that represent deities from idols in general—so why single out earrings? It is also difficult to imagine items as small as earrings actually being used as cult statues (although cult statues need not be life-size). Moreover, there are no archaeologically attested examples of earrings shaped like idols.³

The second explanation is simply wrong because there is no evidence that nezem (ring; literally the Hebrew speaks of “rings that were in their ears”) ever means amulet.

Although these explanations cannot be refuted, another possible interpretation is so simple, obvious and likely that it is difficult to understand why it has barely entered modern discussion—namely that the earrings were those of the idols, the alien gods, rather than the earrings of Jacob’s family. In other words, the possessive pronoun “their” modifying “earrings” could refer to the alien gods, and not to the members of Jacob’s entourage.⁴ The earrings designated for eradication, therefore, are not pieces of human jewelry but elements of divine regalia.

Earrings on divine statues are well known in the ancient Near East.⁵ For example, catalogues preserved in cuneiform texts of divine jewelry attest that cult statues wore earrings.⁶

Ancient literary texts also allude to such divine jewelry. According to a prayer of the Neo-Assyrian monarch Shalmaneser III (858–824 B.C.E.), “They placed earrings of fine gold on its [the image’s] ears.”⁷

In the poetic composition titled “Isûtar’s Descent to the Netherworld,” as Ishtar enters one of the seven gates of the world below, she is deprived of the rings in her ears.⁸

In the so-called Love Lyrics of NabuÆ and Tasûmeµtu, the goddess says to her spouse, “My husband, place an earring upon me and in the orchard I will give you pleasure.”⁹

In addition, an earring bearing a Sumerian dedication to a goddess has been found.¹⁰ The gold, three-lobed piece (above) dates to the third millennium B.C.E. and reads, “To Geshtinanna, his Lady, Shulgi, the mighty young man, king of Ur, king of Sumer and Akkade, for his life, has dedicated [this earring].”

We also have archaeological evidence of divine jewelry, including earrings, from 033the Land of Israel and neighboring areas. A seated god from Megiddo (western Jezreel Valley), made of bronze and covered in sheet gold, has pierced ears, with a gold ring still in its left ear (below, top).¹¹ Another god from Tell Judeideh, a site about 22 miles east of Ashkelon, has bronze wire earrings in pierced earlobes.¹² A female figurine from Luristan, in western Iran, has a gold wire in its ear (below, middle).¹³

But why would the Genesis text make a special point about the earrings worn by the alien gods? After all, Jacob’s family members gave him their alien gods. Why add that the people also gave Jacob the earrings that were in the ears of the gods? We may find a clue in Deuteronomy 7:25: “Their divine images you shall burn in fire. You shall not covet the silver and gold upon them and take it for yourself, lest you be ensnared by it, for it is an abomination to Yahweh your God.” Although the wooden cores of divine images are to be burned, their gold and silver accoutrements remain dangerous, perhaps because they can be made into 054new idols. Remember the golden calf that the Israelites fashioned at the foot of Mt. Sinai—made in part from earrings (Exodus 32:2–3; see also Judges 8:24–27). Accordingly, the earrings from the wooden statues, tempting to retrieve, are nevertheless proscribed. Once worn by an idol, they are permanently tainted.

So Jacob buries the earrings, lest his sons, recognizing that as earrings of idols they are already divine, appropriate them for recycling into fresh statues.¹⁴

When the patriarch Jacob returns to Canaan with his family after a 20-year sojourn with his uncle Laban, God instructs him to go to Bethel and build an altar (Genesis 35:1). Jacob immediately tells his entourage to rid themselves of the alien gods in their midst, to purify themselves and to change their clothes (Genesis 35:2)—all in preparation for building the altar to propitiate the one true God. Then comes this sentence: “They gave Jacob all their alien gods and the rings that were in their ears. Jacob buried them under the terebinth near Shechem” (Genesis 35:4). Why earrings? […]