A. M. 3001. A. C. 1003; OR, ACCORDING TO HALES, A. M. 4421. A. C. 990. 1 KINGS viii. TO THE END OF 2 CHRON. and adore her as if she had been a goddess. F. Le | no clearing of himself, no indignation, no fear, no veheCompte, in his history of China, tells us, that the em- ment desire, no zeal, no revenge, which the apostle has peror there has a vast number of wives chosen out of the made the proper characteristics of a true repentance. prime beauties of the country, many of which he never The promise, however, which God makes to David conso much as saw in his whole life; and therefore, it is cerning his son Solomon, may incline us to think favournot improbable, that Solomon, as he found his riches ably of his salvation: I will be his father, and he shall increase, might enlarge his expenses, and endeavour to be my son. If he commit iniquity, I will chasten him surpass all the princes of his time in this, as well as all with the rod of men, and with the stripes of the children other kinds of pomp and magnificence. of men, but my mercy shall not depart away from him,' A man of Solomon's great wisdom, one would think, And therefore we may presume, that towards the conclushould have converted those women that were about him sion of his life he grew sensible of his transgressions, ' to the true religion rather than have suffered himself to though the sacred writer takes no notice of it, on purpose be perverted by them to a false one. The Scripture to leave a blot on his memory, and a frightful example of tells us, indeed, that he went after Ashtaroth the god-human weakness to all posterity; that the temples which dess of the Zidonians and a Milcom the abomination of he had built to heathen idols, he pulled down and demothe Ammonites, and Chemosh the abomination of Moab;' but surely he could never be so far infatuated, as to prefer those idols before the God of Israel. These women, no doubt, as they had got an ascendant over him, 2 might abate his zeal against idolatry, and prevail with him for a public toleration of their religion: they might obtain money of him for the making of their idols, the support of their priests, and expense of their sacrifices; nay, and perhaps might sometimes persuade him, in compliance, to go with them to their worship, or to partake of their lewd and riotous feasts; but that they should ever be able to alter his notions concerning the true God, or prevail with him to believe, that the images they worshipped were informed with any kind of divinity, is a thing incredible. In the course of this prevarication, however, he continued so long, that it is now become a famous question, Whether he be in a state of salvation or no? Those that maintain the negative, are apt to suggest, that though the Scripture gives us a particular account of his fall, yet it takes no notice of his recovery; that without the grace of God he could not repent, and yet his actions were such as justly deserved a forfeiture of that grace ; that had he repented, he would have pulled down the idolatrous temples which he had erected, whereas we find them standing many years after him; and therefore they conclude, that as he did not sorrow after a godly sort,' for his impieties, because in his whole behaviour to the very last, they can discern no carefulness wrought in him, 1 Kings xi. 5, 7. "Poole's Annotations. 2 Cor. vii. 11. a This god is the same with Moloch, which, both in Hebrew and Ethiopic, signifies, a king; but then there are various sentiments concerning the relation which this God had to the other pagan deities. Some believe, that Moloch was Saturn, others Mercury, others Venus, and others again Mars or Mithra. But F. Calmet, in his dissertation before his commentary upon Leviticus, has made it more than probable, that this god was the sun, who is called the king of heaven,' as the moon may be said to be the queen thereof, for its make and manner of worship. See vol. ii. p. 460, in the notes. b Chemosh, or Chamos, comes from a root, which, in Arabic, signifies to make haste; and from hence some have imagined, that he is the same with the sun, whose motion is supposed to be so hasty and rapid; though some, from the Hebrew root, which signifies, contrectatus, or handled, will have him the same with the Roman Priapus, who is called Pater contrectationum nocturnarum;' while others from the near resemblance of the Hebrew Chamos with the word Comos, have rather thought it to be Bacchus, the god of drunkenness: but in either acceptation it may be supposed to represent either Noah or Lot.-Jurieu's | History of Doctrines and Worship, part 4. 76 lished, "though they were afterwards raised again upon the same places, by other impious princes; and that, after his fall, he wrote his book of Ecclesiastes as a monument of his repentance, and acknowledgment of his own apostasy, and a warning and admonition to all others, that, however they may think of doing whatever their eyes desired, of keeping nothing from them, and of withholding their hearts from no joy; yet in the event, they would find, what his experience had taught him so late, that all was vanity and vexation of spirit;" that there was no profit in any kind of wickedness under the sun, but that to fear God, and keep his commandments, was the whole duty of man.' It is making a wrong judgment of things, to think, that the customs of ancient times, and of different countries, should agree with those of our own age and climate. We, indeed, when we have any thing to declare or relate, do it, for the most part, in express words: but the people of the east, especially those who took upon them the character of prophets, were fond of discovering their minds in signs and emblematical actions; because they 42 Sam. vii, 14, 15. 5 Patrick's Commentary. "Calmet's Dissertation on the Salvation of King Solomon. s Ibid. xii. 13. 'Eccles. ii. 10, 11. prophet; but, in after ages, instances of this kind became more c This is the first symbolical action that we meet with in any frequent. Thus Jeremiah made himself bonds and yokes, and put them upon his neck,' (Jer. xxvii. 2.) to signify the near approaching captivity of Jerusalem. Isaiah, to denote the captivity of Egypt and Ethiopia, walked naked, that is, without his upper garments on, and barefoot for three years, in the streets,' (Is. xx. 2, 3.) Ezekiel, to make the people sensible that they were to be carried away into a strange land, was ordered to make a breach in the wall of his house, and through that, to remove his household goods, in the daytime, and in their sight," (Ezek. xii. 3, 4.) The false prophet Zedekiah made himself a pair of iron horns, and said to Ahab, With these shalt thou push the Syrians,' (1 Kings xxii. 11.) And the like practice continued under the New Testament likewise; for Agabus having bound his hands and feet with St Paul's girdle, told the company, that, so should the Jews at Jerusalem bind the man unto whom it belonged,' (Acts xxi. 11.) Samuel having exhorted the people to return to the Lord with all their hearts, and to put away the strange gods from among them, said, Gather all Israel to Mizpah, and I will pray for you unto the Lord. And they gathered together to Mizpah, and drew water, and poured it out before the Lord, and fasted on that day, and said there, We have sinned against the Lord.' (1 Sam. vii. 5, 6.) The sacred historian does not explain in words the meaning of this drawing of water and pouring it out, nor was there any occasion for his doing so; the action of itself expressing with sufficient clearness that a deluge of tears was due for their offences. But it is not in Israel alone that information was given by action, or that when words were employed, action was added, to fix their meaning, A. M. 3001. A. C. 1003; OR, ACCORDING TO HALES, A. M. 4421, A. C. 990. 1 KINGS viii. TO THE END OF 2 CHRON. looked upon such representations more lively and affect- | such a sensible impression upon his mind, that he caning than any that proceeded from the mouth only not but perceive himself actuated by a divine spirit; and, could be. consequently, cannot but be assured of the evidence of his own revelation. This evidence the prophet that was sent to Bethel had; for as he was able, by the power that was given him, to work miracles, he could not but be sen tion, of his not eating or drinking in the town of Bethel,' was as much the will of God as any other part of his commission. When the prophet was sent to anoint Jehu to be king of Israel, the question which the rest of the captains put to him, Wherefore came this mad fellow to thee?' sufficiently indicates their scorn and contempt of him :|sible of his divine mission, and that the particular injuncand, in like manner, Ahijah might have addressed himself to a man of Jeroboam's haughty spirit to small purpose, had he not, by some previous action, drawn his observation, and made him attentive to the message he was going to deliver. Now, if any such symbolical act was necessary at this time, the tearing of his garment was more proper than any, because, in the case of Saul, Samuel had applied it to denote the alienation of his kingdom: The Lord hath rent the kingdom of Israel from thee this day, and hath given it to a neighbour of thine, that is better than thou :' and if rending the garment was no insignificant symbol upon this occasion, the newer the garment was, the more it would declare, that what the prophet did was by a divine command, and upon mature deliberation. 24 This may, in some measure, suffice to rescue Ahijah from the imputation of madness, in tearing his garment to pieces. And to come now, in the last place, to the case of the other prophet who came from Judah to denounce judgments against the altar of Bethel, and was slain in his return, for disobeying the divine injunction, this we may think was a small offence, that hardly deserved so severe a fate; but then we should do well to consider, that whenever God, in an extraordinary manner discovers his will to a prophet, he always makes 3 12 Kings ix. 11. 1 Sam. xv. 23. Stillingfleet's Orig. Sacræ. and to impress it on the memory. Herodotus informs us (b. iii. c. 46.) that the Samians, in their distress, having arrived at Sparta, and obtained an audience of the magistrates, made a long speech in the language of suppliants; to which they received for answer, that "the beginning of their discourse was already forgotten, and the conclusion of it not understood." At a second interview the Samian orators simply produced an empty leathern bag, saying, that it contained no bread; to which the Spartans replied, that they observed the bag and determined to assist them. Again, we are told by Clemens Alexandrinus, as quoted by Bishop Warburton, that "Identhura, a king of the Scythians, as Pherecydes Syrus relates the story, when ready to oppose Darius, who had passed the Ister, sent to the Persian a symbol instead of letters, namely, a mouse, a frog, a bird, a dart, and a plough," or, as it is otherwise reported, five darts, without the plough. This symbol was understood by Gobryas, one of the Persian chiefs, to signify that the army of Darius should never recross the Ister, unless like birds they could fly into the air, like mice burrow in the earth, or like frogs take refuge in marshes. (See Herodotus, b. iv. c. 13.) As the symbol is mentioned by Clemens, I should think its meaning was, that the Scythians would dispute every inch of ground, and at last leave the country a barren desert to the Persians, rather than submit to their yoke. But whatever be the precise meaning of this particular symbol, it is obvious, that in those ages all important messages were at least accompanied by significant actions. They still are so among all savage nations; and Bishop Warburton has clearly traced the practice from its origin in necessity. Where languages are rude and confined, speakers are obliged to call in the aid of significant actions to make themselves understood; and as every impression made through the eye takes a faster hold of the mind than impressions made through the medium of the other senses, orators have in all ages, and in every country, given force to their speeches, by what was originally necessary to make scanty and equivocal languages understood.-See Divine Legation, b. iv, sect. 4; and b. vi. sect. 5. with the note G. at the end of that book.-Bishop Gleig.—ED. Now, the design of God, in this prohibition, was, to express his abhorrence of that idolatrous place; and therefore the other pretended revelation of the old prophet who lived therein, was justly to be suspected, not only because it was repugnant to God's main design, but because it came from a person who had given no great testimony of his sincerity in choosing to live in a place notoriously infected with idolatry, and yet making no public remonstrances against it. The consideration of this one circumstance should have made the young prophet diffident of what the other told him, at least till he had shown him some divine testimony to convince him; for it argued a great deal of levity, if not infidelity of his own revelation, to listen to that of another man, in contradiction to what he had abundant reason to believe was true. The short of the matter is :-The prophet from Judah had sufficient evidence of the truth of his own revelation ; had sufficient cause to suspect some corrupt ends in the prophet that came to recall him; and had sufficient reason to expect an interposition of the same power that gave him the injunction to repeal it. And therefore his crime was an easy credulity, or complying with an offer merely to gratify a petulant appetite, that he knew was repugnant to a divine command; and the lesson we are to learn from God's severity in this instance is :-Not to suffer our faith to be perverted by any suggestions that are made against a revelation that is of uncontested divine authority, but if an angel from heaven,' as the Apostle puts the case, should preach any other gospel, 46 Gal. i. 8, 9. The learned are divided in their sentiments concerning this prophet at Bethel. Some will needs have him to have been a false prophet, highly in esteem with king Jeroboam, because he prophesied to him soft things, and such as would humour him in his wickedness. To this purpose they tell us, that going to visit the king one day, and finding him in a deep concern upon account of the menaces and reproaches which the man of God from Judah had denounced against him, he undertook to persuade him, that that prophet was an impostor, and to elude the force of the miracle he had wrought, by telling him, that there was nothing extraordinary in his altar's falling down, considering that it was new built, not thoroughly settled, loaded with sacrifices, and heated with fire. And as for the matter of his arm, that was occasioned only by his having overwrought himself in pulling the sacrifices along, and lifting them up upon the altar, which might make his hand numb for a while, but, upon a little rest, it came to itself again; and so, with plausible distinctions, and loose insinuations, he shuffled off the miracle, and made the king more obdurate in wickedness than ever. Others think more favourably of the old prophet, namely, that he was a true prophet of God, though some say a wicked one, not unlike the famous Balaam, who sacrificed every thing to his profit. Whilst others say, he was a weak one, who thought he might innocently employ an officious lie to bring the prophet of Judah back, who was under a prohibition indeed, but such a one, as in his opinion, related only to the house of Jeroboam, and such others as were of an idolatrous religion.—Josephus's Jewish Antiquities, ↳. 8. c. 3. A. M. 3001. A. C. 1003; OR, ACCORDING TO HALES, A. M. 4421. A. C. 990. 1 KINGS viii. TO THE END OF 2 CHRON. than what we have received, to detest and denounce him | gold amounted to no less than five thousand four hundred accursed.' and twenty-five pounds sterling, what an immense sum must all these talents of gold and silver amount to? Some of the best authors of weights and measures have computed, that if all the walls, pavements, lining, and covering of the temple had been made of massy gold, even with the wages of the workmen and vessels belonging to it, they would not have come up to the value here specified; and therefore, upon this supposition, they have advanced a notion, that the Hebrews had two kinds of talents; a larger, which was called the talent of the sanctuary,' and a smaller, which was the common talent, and one half less than the other, by which all such exorbitant sums, as they say, ought to be reckoned. But what grounds they have for this distinction we cannot perceive, since it nowhere appears, either in the Scriptures, or in any other history, that the Jews, especially before the captivity of Babylon, had any more talents than one; and that their talent, whether of silver or gold, arose to a sum tantamount to what we have stated it at, there are several instances in the Old Testament, that convince us. Here, however, we may take occasion to admire the unsearchable secrets of the divine justice. Jeroboam revolts from his lawful sovereign, forsakes the worship of the true God, engages the people in gross idolatry, and is himself hardened with the menaces and miracles of the prophet that was sent to him. A false prophet deceives an innocent man with a lie, and draws him into an act of disobedience, contrary to his inclination; and yet this wicked Jeroboam, and this seducing prophet, go unpunished, while the other, who might mean no ill perhaps in turning back, is slain by a lion, and his body deprived of the sepulchre of his fathers. We must acknowledge indeed, that the depths of the judgments of God are an abyss that our understandings cannot fathom. But nothing certainly can be a more sensible proof of the truth of another life, and of the eternal recompenses or punishments that attend it, than to see the righteous so rigorously treated here for very slight offences; Moses excluded the land of promise1 for a diffident thought; Lot's wife changed into a statue of salt for her looking back; and David, for a vain curiosity, punished with the death of no less than seventy thousand of his subjects. And if God be thus severe to his own servants; if judgment thus begins at the house of God, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?' As sentence against every evil man, therefore, is not speedily executed, this is our proof, this is our assurance, that 5 God will bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.' may 9 To this purpose we may observe, that when Amaziah, king of Judah, hired a hundred thousand men out of Israel, to fight against the Edomites, he gave no more than an hundred talents of silver for them, which would have been but a very trifling price indeed, had the talent here been of less value than three thousand shekels: that when Omri, king of Israel, bought the mountain whereon was built the city of Samaria, he paid for it no more than "two talents of silver; and yet these two talents were ten thousand nine hundred and fifty pounds, a proper sum for such a purchase; that when Sennacherib king of Assyria had obliged Hezekiah to pay him "2 three 12 CHAP. III.-Of Solomon's Riches, and his Trade to hundred talents of silver, and thirty talents of gold, that Ophir. He who only looks into the map, and there observes, in how small a compass the land of Canaan is comprised, may be apt to think that the kings of that country were petty princes, ruling over an indigent obscure people, unable to bear any great expense, and incapable of making any considerable figure, except now and then, at the head of their armies. But he will soon perceive his mistake, when he comes to reflect on the immense riches which David left his son Solomon; on the vast expense of Solomon's magnificent living; and on the several branches of his revenue, which enabled him to sustain that expense. 76 66 The Scripture informs us, that out of the revenues of the crown, David left Solomon, merely for the purpose of building the temple, a hundred thousand talents of gold, and a thousand thousand talents of silver;' out of his privy purse, three thousand talents of gold, and seven thousand talents of silver;' and out of the benevolence of the princes, sfive thousand talents, and ten thousand drams of gold, and ten thousand talents of silver.' Now, since it is generally agreed, that a talent of silver was equivalent to three hundred and forty-two pounds, three shillings, and ninepence; and a talent of good king exhausted, not only his own treasure, and the treasure of the house of the Lord, but was forced likewise to cut the gold off from the doors and pillars of the temple: and to name no more, that when Pharaoh Necho 13put the land to a tribute of an hundred talents of silver, and a talent of gold,' Jehoiakim was necessitated to levy a tax extraordinary upon his subjects, that every one might contribute according to his power: but neither of these remarks, namely, that these two kings were thus straitened about the payment, would the sacred historian have made, had the talent in his days, been of considerably less value " than Moses is known to rate it at. So that, upon the whole, we may conclude, that the Hebrew talent continued always the same, and amounted to a much greater sum, than those who are for debasing its value are willing to allow. 'But, if the talent must be reckoned at so high a rate, how can we imagine, that David, who had no estate from his family, and whose dominions were far from being extensive, could ever be able to amass such an immense quantity of wealth?' Now, in answer to this, we should do well to consider, that, even before the death of Saul, David was at the head of some brave troops, with whom he used to make inroads into the enemies' country, and frequently bring from thence Calmet's Dissertation on the Riches that David left to Solomon. A. M. 3001. A. C. 1003; OR, ACCORDING TO HALES, A. M. 4421. A. C. 990. 1 KINGS viii. TO THE END OF 2 CHRON. armies, in his shipping, in his buildings, in his furniture, in his servants, for his table, and for his women, which came at length to no less than a thousand, and all to be maintained in the port of queens, we can hardly think, that a small revenue would ever have been sufficient to answer all these demands. large booty; that, after Saul's death, he reigned forty | was at in his chariots, in his horses, in his camels, in his years in all, and, in that space, made it his business to heap up riches, especially when he came to understand, that God had appointed his son and successor to build him a temple; that, in the time of his reign, he had wars with the Syrians, the Philistines, the Ammonites, the Moabites, and several other nations, from whom he returned always victorious, and always laden with their treasures, The Scripture indeed informs us, that Solomon's and rich spoils; that, by this means, he enlarged his annual income was 4 six hundred, threescore and six dominions, as far as the promise made to Abraham talents of gold, besides what he had of the merchantextends, even from the river Euphrates to the Mediter-men, and of the traffic of spice-merchants, and of all ranean sea, on the one side, and to the Nile on the other; that the countries which he subdued, and made tributary to him, such as Arabia, Phoenicia, Mesopotamia, Idumæa, &c. were exceedingly rich, and productive of several mines of gold and other metals; and that the tributes which were wont to be exacted upon such occasions, were either annual imposts, or vast sums of money at once if we may consider, I say, the spoils which he took from conquered nations, and the tribute which he raised from such as submitted to his empire, we shall have no cause to wonder at his leaving such immense treasures to his son. : 2 But, besides these revenues from abroad, he had a large income from the taxes which his own subjects annually paid him, and the improvements he made of his own estates; which in those days were accounted, not only lawful and allowable, but even honourable and commendable in princes, as well as others. The sacred history has preserved the names of the officers whom he employed in this capacity; and, from the different provinces wherein they acted, we may, in some measure, form a judgment of the largeness of this branch of his income. He had officers set over the labourers, who were to till his grounds; officers to take care of the dressing of his vines, olive, and fig-trees; officers to inspect the gathering of his fruits, and the managery of wine and oil cellars; officers to look to the feeding of his camels and asses, his herds of cattle, and flocks of sheep; and officers who were to attend to the selling and exportation of all these. For David, we must know, had the command of the Mediterranean sea, and had established a commerce with the Phoenicians, Egyptians, Syrians, Philistines, and other nations, who took off his camels, asses, oxen, sheep, wine, corn, oil, fruits, and other commodities, in large quantities, and at very advantageous prices: all which, being put together, will make the amount of what David left his son no less than what the sacred writer has recorded. › And indeed, considering the vast expenses Solomon 'Gen. xv. 7. the kings of Arabia, and of all the governors of the country:' but these six hundred threescore and six talents of gold' are thought, by most interpreters, to be no more than what arose from the tribute which he imposed upon conquered nations; over and above which he had a yearly tax paid by his own subjects; duties upon the import or export of all merchandise; mines of gold and silver, and other metals; the voluntary presents of other princes; and a trade to Ophir and Tarshish, which brought him in riches inestimable. 7 These were two branches of profit which his father had not, at least not in the same extent. Of the former it is said, that 6 every man that came to hear Solomon's wisdom, brought his present, vessels of silver, and vessels of gold, and garments, and armour, and spices, and horses, and mules,' and continued to do the same every year; and of the latter that he sent vessels to Ophir, which, in one voyage, 'brought him four hundred and fifty talents of gold, together with almug-trees, and precious stones; and to Tarshish likewise, which brought gold, and silver, and ivory, and apes, and peacocks; and as, by this means, he came to surpass all the kings of the earth for riches, it may be worth our while to inquire a little where the places, which produced such plenty of wealth, were in ancient times situated, and both how, and by whom, a trade so very advantageous might probably be carried on. 8 Amidst the vast variety of opinions concerning the situation of these two famous places, Ophir and Tarshish, the learned Grotius has suggested a good expedient, one would think, how to find them out; namely, by considering what commodities were brought from thence, and then inquiring of merchants, who have been in the remoter parts of the world, where not only gold and precious stones, but ivory likewise, and almugtrees, and whatever else we read of, was brought from thence, and is now to be found. But this expedient will not do; not only because the seats of traffic are frequently changing, and any country may, in time, be exhausted of the commodities it once abounded with; but because it is no easy matter to tell by the imperfect de 21 Chron. xxvii. 26, &c. 'Calmet's Dissertation on the Riches that David left to Solomon.scription we have of them, of what distinct species some a Besides the personal ornaments worn by those who went to battle in the eastern nations, it was customary to adorn their weapons and utensils of war with the richest metals. from the history of David, that the Syrians, whom he subdued We learn and slew in vast multitudes, wore shields of gold; and therefore we need not doubt, but that their quivers, the handles of their swords, &c., were of the same metal. He was victorious in about twenty battles over the richest enemies in the world; and therefore their personal spoils, rich arms, military chests, and gods of gold and silver, always carried to battle with them, could not but amount to an immense sum; and, in all probability, the spoils of their cities and countries to a much greater.— The History of the Life of King David. 9 of these commodities were. The almug-tree, for instance has been a puzzle to most interpreters; nor are they yet agreed, whether it was the coral, ebony, Brazil, pine, or citron wood; nay, some will have it to have been no particular tree at all, but only a general name for any wood whatever, that was excellent in its kind: A. M. 3001. A. C. 1003; OR, ACCORDING TO HALES, A. M. 4421. A. C. 990. I KINGS viii. TO THE END OF 2 CHRON. and how then can those commodities, that are of so in- | definite a signification, be any characteristic to the situation of any country? Nor is there much more certainty to be gathered from the names of the places we are in quest of; for, though it be allowed, that Ophir was the country which at first was peopled by Ophir, one of Joktan's sons, who are said to have inhabited the country from Mesha to Sephar, a mountain in the east; yet, where Mesha and Sephar are to be placed, we know no more than we do where Ophir lies. And, in like manner, though Tarshish may be supposed by some, to be a town or country, not far distant from Ophir, yet others will have it to be no proper name at all, but by ships of Tarshish, or from Tarshish, understand no more than vessels able to bear a long voyage, that is, large merchant ships, in opposition to small craft, intended for home trade in navigable rivers. So incompetent are the marks whereby we may descry the true situation of these unknown places! And therefore we can expect no other, but that the conjectures of learned men about them should be widely distant. In relation to the land of Ophir, which is more particularly under our inquiry, Josephus and from him many others, places it in the Indies, in a country which he calls the golden coast, not unlikely the Chersonesus Aurea, known now by the name of Malacca, and is a peninsula opposite to Sumatra. The learned Bochart contends hard for the isle Taprobane, so famous among the ancients, which is now called Ceylon, and lies in the kingdom of Malabar, because this place (as he tells us) abounds with gold, ivory, and precious stones. Arius Montanus will needs remove it into Armenia; and when Christopher Columbus at first discovered the island Hispaniola in 1492, he used to make his boast, that he had found the Ophir of Solomon, because he perceived deep caverns in the earth, from whence he supposed that prince might have dug his gold. F. Calmet is no less singular in his opinion. He places Ophir somewhere in Armenia, not far from the sources of the Tigris and Euphrates; and, to obviate the objection of the country's not bordering on the sea, and not being at distance enough for a three years' voyage, he supposes, that Solomon's fleet made a trading voyage of it; that in no one place it met with all the commodities it brought home; but, on the coast of Ethiopia, took in apes, ebony, and parrots; in Arabia, ivory and spices, and at Ophir, or the place of traffic where the people of Ophir resorted, gold and though this Ophir might be no maritime country, yet this hinders not, says he, why the gold which it produced might not be brought by land carriage to some part of the Tigris or Euphrates, which, at that time, were a great way navigable. Grotius, as well as Calmet, is of opinion, that Solomon did not send his fleet to any part, either of the East or West Indies, but only to a part of Arabia, by Arian called Aphar, by Pliny, Saphar, and by Ptolemy, Sapphera, situate on the main ocean; and that the Indians brought down their merchandises thither, to be bought by Solomon's factors, and shipped on board his fleet. And to name no more, Huetius, in his dissertation upon the subject, endeavours to persuade us, that Ophir lay upon the east coast : 1 Gen. x. 30. : Dissertation on the country of Ophir. Calmet's Dictionary. under the word Os kie | of Africa, and more particularly, was that small country which is called Sophala; that Solomon's fleet went out of the Red sea, and from the harbour of Ezion-Geber, entered into the Mediterranean, by a canal of communication which joined the two seas; and that, having doubled the Cape of Guadarfay, and coasted along the African shore, it came at length to Sophala, and there met with plenty of all the merchandises and curiosities that the sacred history specifies. 4 Which of these conjectures, for conjectures they are all, make the nearest approaches to truth, it is hard to determine; only we may adventure to say, that, if any part of Arabia did furnish the world, in those days, with the best gold, and in the greatest quantity, as some good authors seem to say, they who would have the Ophir of the Holy Scriptures to be there situated, seem of all others, to have the best foundation for their conjecture; especially considering that the use of the compass not being then known, the way of navigation was, in those days, by coasting, which would carry a ship into Africa much better than either into the East or West Indies. Before the reign of king David, to inquire a little into this history of the Ophir trade among the Hebrews, the Hebrews did not much apply themselves to maritime affairs. From the time of Joshua they had been almost perpetually engaged in wars, and had therefore had no leisure or opportunity to think of navigation. The Tyrians and Phoenicians were then in possession of all the commerce of the Mediterranean; and on the main ocean the Hebrews had not the least footing until David made a conquest of Idumea, and thereby became master of two sea port towns on the Red sea, Elah and EzionGeber; and seeing the advantage that might be made of the situation of these two places, wisely took the benefit of it, and there began this traffic. After the death of his father, Solomon continued the trade to Ophir from these two ports, whither himself went in person; and having ordered more ships to be built, and the harbours to be repaired and fortified, he settled every thing else that might tend to the effectual carrying on of this traffic, not only to Ophir, but to all other parts to which the sea whereon those ports lay opened him a passage. But his chief care was to plant in those two towns such inhabitants as were best qualified to carry on his design ; for which reason he brought thither, from the sea coasts of Palestine, as many sailors as he could get, but especially of the Tyrians, with whom his good friend and ally, king Hiram, supplied him in great numbers: so that in a short time he drew to these two ports, and from thence to Jerusalem, all the trade of Africa, Arabia, Persia, and India, which was the chief fountain of the immense riches for which his reiga was so renowned. After the division of the kingdom, the kings of Judah, who kept possession of these ports in Idumnea, still carried on the trade, especially from Ezion-Geber, which they chiefly made use of until the time of Jehoshaphat; who having prepared a fleet to go to Ophir, in conjunction with Ahaziah king of Israel, had the misfortune to have them destroyed and dashed to pieces against a ridge of rocks which lay at the mouth of the harbour, before they could get to sea, which gave him such a Prideaux's Connexion part 1. b. 1. |