“And the Rings Which Were in Their Ears”

And God said unto Jacob: ‘Arise, go up to Beth-el, and dwell there; and make there an altar unto God, who appeared unto thee when thou didst flee from the face of Esau thy brother.’ Then Jacob said unto his household, and to all that were with him: ‘Put away the strange gods that are among you, and purify yourselves, and change your garments; and let us arise, and go up to Beth-el; and I will make there an altar unto God, who answered me in the day of my distress, and was with me in the way which I went.’ And they gave unto Jacob all the foreign gods which were in their hand, and the rings which were in their ears; and Jacob hid them under the terebinth which was by Shechem. (Genesis 35:1–4)

וַיֹּאמֶר אֱלֹהִים אֶל יַעֲקֹב: קוּם עֲלֵה בֵית אֵל וְשֶׁב שָׁם, וַעֲשֵׂה שָׁם מִזְבֵּחַ לָאֵל הַנִּרְאֶה אֵלֶיךָ בְּבָרְחֲךָ מִפְּנֵי עֵשָׂו אָחִיךָ. וַיֹּאמֶר יַעֲקֹב אֶל בֵּיתוֹ וְאֶל כָּל אֲשֶׁר עִמּוֹ: הָסִרוּ אֶת אֱלֹהֵי הַנֵּכָר אֲשֶׁר בְּתֹכְכֶם, וְהִטַּהֲרוּ וְהַחֲלִיפוּ שִׂמְלֹתֵיכֶם, וְנָקוּמָה וְנַעֲלֶה בֵּית אֵל וְאֶעֱשֶׂה שָּׁם מִזְבֵּחַ לָאֵל הָעֹנֶה אֹתִי בְּיוֹם צָרָתִי, וַיְהִי עִמָּדִי בַּדֶּרֶךְ אֲשֶׁר הָלָכְתִּי. וַיִּתְּנוּ אֶל יַעֲקֹב אֵת כָּל אֱלֹהֵי הַנֵּכָר אֲשֶׁר בְּיָדָם, וְאֶת הַנְּזָמִים אֲשֶׁר בְּאָזְנֵיהֶם. וַיִּטְמֹן אֹתָם יַעֲקֹב תַּחַת הָאֵלָה, אֲשֶׁר עִם שְׁכֶם. (בראשית ל"ה, א-ד)

Jacob asks his household to remove their foreign gods. They respond by giving both those gods and their earrings. Why remove earrings, unmentioned in his request?

Rings adorned noses and ears; Rebekah received a gold ring from Abraham’s servant (Genesis 24:22). Earrings, however, apparently had a distinctive connection with idolatry, prompting Jacob’s household to give them too. A possible link appears in the golden calf: Aaron asks, “Break off the golden rings which are in the ears of your wives, of your sons, and of your daughters, and bring them unto me” (Exodus 32:2), then makes the calf from them.

Jacob’s request specifically accompanies ascent to Beth-el. Jeroboam later placed a calf there, one of two golden calves at Israel’s kingdom’s extremities, Beth-el and Dan.

Mentioning earrings here may deliberately allude to the golden calf and implicitly criticize later calf worship at Beth-el. Jacob, who established it as holy, commands removal of foreign gods and earrings before ascent, expressing deliberate rejection of the later northern kingdom’s cult there.