2 Samuel 18:11

And Joab said unto the man that told him ,.... That gave the above account of him:

and, behold, thou sawest him ; in reality; or, "didst thou see him?" is it a fact?

and why didst thou not smite him there to the ground ; kill him on the spot, that he might have dropped from the tree to the ground:

and I would have given thee ten shekels of silver ; on the news of it, for doing it, which was near twenty four shillings of our money; Josephus says F9 Ut supra. (Antiqu. l. 7. c. 10. sect. 2.) fifty shekels; the Arabic version has it ten thousand talents of silver, too great a sum by far:

and a girdle ? which was a mark of great honour, and a token of a commission under him, and of investing: him with a military office; see 1 Samuel 18:4 ; it used to be given as an honorary reward to soldiers that behaved well, as on the contrary it was reckoned a reproach to be ungirt, or the girdle to be taken away F11 Vide Lydium de re militare, l. 3. c. 6. .