I would desire a request of you. — Not unfrequently the magnanimity which has just stood firm under a great trial succumbs to a weaker one. His case did not exactly resemble that of Abraham (Genesis 14:21), but it would have been better for his glory if he had acted in a similar spirit.

The earrings of his prey.Nezem means a ring which, sometimes at least, was worn, especially by women, in the nose (Genesis 24:47; Isaiah 3:21; Ezekiel 16:12; Job 42:11). In the absence of any regular currency, these gold rings served as a sort of coinage.

Because they were Ishmaelites. — “Ishmael-ites” and “Midianites” occur as convertible terms in Genesis 37:28.

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