But under the garments of each one of the dead they found consecrated tokens of the idols of Jamnia, which the law forbids the Jews to have anything to do with. It became clear to all that it was for this cause that they had fallen.
ExplanationCommentary
Verse 40. Of the donaries, and so forth That is, of the votive offerings, which had been hung up in the temples of the idols, which they had taken away when they burnt the port of Jamnia, (verse 9.) contrary to the prohibition of the law. Deuteronomy 7:25. Challoner.—All such things should have been destroyed, (Joshua 7 and 1 Kennicott. 15. Worthington.) or melted down. Perhaps the soldiers intended to bring them to Judas. He excused them charitably, and hoped that their temporal chastisement might have served to expiate their fault.
Perhaps these were consecrated images of the idols.