A shekel is a unit of weight. 1,700 shekels comes to forty-three pounds. If we add to this the crescent (golden) ornaments, the pendants, and the purple garments, we approach the equivalent of fifty pounds of pure gold, maybe more. In modern weights and measures, this means Gideon is going home that day with over a million dollars (USD). Gideon has thus suddenly become very wealthy. Indeed, it is a treasure fit for a king!1,2
26 And the weight of the golden earrings that he requested was 1,700 shekels of gold, besides the crescent ornaments and the pendants and the purple garments worn by the kings of Midian, and besides the collars that were around the necks of their camels.