ora.ole, the place of the Divine presence. is 130 miles, the latter 90 milee long) , 1n the Bee on oh. vi. 22] . So he flnJehed the land of Edom. [The subjugation of Edom house. [;Same word, but in the Ka.I form ie mentioned 2 Sam. viii. 14.] in eh. VIi. 61. The Piel form, used here, Ver. 27.-And B1ra.m senttn the navy his may convey the deeper meaning, " he per- servants, shipmen that had knowledge of fected," i.e., by devoting it to its proper the sea with the servants of Solomon. [The use. It wa.s to be " o. house of sacrifice" chronicler states (2 Chron. viii. 18) that he (2 Chron. vii. 12). sent ships as well as servants, and it ha.a Ver. 26.-And king Solomon made a navy been thought that ships were transported, ofslllps [Heb. ''~' a.collective n?un, classis. in parts or entire, by land across the Isthmus The chronicler para.phrases by ni•.)~, ploral. of Suez, and there are certainly instances on record of the land transport of fleets. (Keil This fact finds a record here, probably be- reminds us that Alexander the Great, accord- cause it was to the voyages of this fleet that ing to Arrian, had ships transported-in the king was indebted for the gold which pieces-from Phc:enicia to the Euphrates, enabled him to erect a.nd adorn the buildings and that, according to Thncydides (Bell. recently described. (As to form, &c., of the Pelop. iv. 8) the Peloponnesians conveyed ships, see Diet. Bib. ii. p. 1014). But no 60 ships from Corcyra across the Leucadian historian could pass over without notice an Isthmus, &c.) But this, especially when the event of such profound importance to Israel state of engineering science, &c., among the as the construction of its first ships, which, Hebrews is taken into account, is hardly to next to the temple, was the great event of be thought of. It is quite possible, however, Solomon's reign] 1n Ezlon-geber [lit., the that timber for shipbuilding was floated on backbone of a man (or giant). CI. Num. the Mediterranean down to the river of xxxiii. 35 ; Dent. ii. 8 ; 2 Kings xiv. 22 ; Egypt, or some such place, and then trans- 2 Chron. viii 17, The name is probably ported either to Suez or to Akaba.. Probably due, like Shechem (see note on eh. xii. 25) all that the chronicler means is that Hiram to a real or fancied resemblance in the provided the materials and had the ships physical geography of the country to that built. The Israelites, having hitherto had part of the human body. Stanley (S. and P. no fleet, and little or no experience of the p. 84) speaks of "the jagged ranges on each sea, were unable to construct ships for them- side of the gulf." Ak.aba, the modern name, selves. And the Tyrians may have seen also means baclc. 2 Chron. l.c. says Solo- in the construction of a fleet for eastern mon went to Ezion-geber, whioh it is highly voyages, an opening for the extension of probable he would do], which is beside their own maritime trade. Possibly in the [Heb. n~ =apud (Gesen., Lex. s.v.)] Eloth first voyages Tyrians and Jews were co- [lit., trees akin to Elim, where were palm po.rtners.] trees (Exod. xv. 27; xvi. 1). The name is Ver. 28.-And they ea.me to Ophlr [It is interesting as suggesting that Solomon may perhaps impossible to identify this place have found some of the timber for the con- with any degree of precision. The opinions struction of his fleet here. A grove of po.Im of soholars me.y, however, be pmctic:illy trees " still exists a.t the head of the gulf of reduced to two. The first would place Ako.ba" (Stanley S. and P. p. 20). Palms, Ophir in India; the seoond in southern it is true, are not adapted to shipbuilding, Arabia. In favour of India. is (1) the three but other timber may have grown there iu a yerLrs' voyage (but see on eh. x. 22) ; (2) most prLst age. But see note on ver. 27. For of the other treasures brought back by the Elath, see Porter, p. 40; Deut. ii. 8; 2 Sam. fieet, exclusive of gold, are lndi,\n products. ,·iii 14 (which shows how it passed into the But against it is urged the important fa.et hand of Israel); 2 Kings viii. 20 ; xiv. 22 ; that no gold is now found there, south of xvi. 6. It gave a. name to the Elanitic Gulf, Cashmere, whilst south Arabia was famed now the Gulf of Ak,!,ba], on the shore [Heb. for its abundant gold {Psn. l.u.ii. 15 ; Ezek. lip] of the Red sea [Heb. Sea of Rushes. xxvii. 22). On the other hand, it is alleged LXX. ;, ipv9pa 9ci\aaaa, The redness is that in anoient times IndiJI. was rich in gold due to subaqueous vegetation. "Fragments (Ewa.Id, iii. p. 264), and that there are no of red ooral o.re for ever being thrown up traces of gold mines in Arabia.. The ques- from the stores below, and it is these coral- tion is discussed at considerable length and line forests which form the true • weeds' of with great learning by Mr. Twisleton (Diet. this fantastic sea" {Stanley, S. and P. p. Bib. art. " Ophir "). He shows that it is 83). There is also apparently a bottom of reasonably certain (1) the.t the Ophir of red sandstone (ib. p. 6, note). It is divided Gen. x. 29 is the name of some city, by the Sinaitio peninsula into two arms or region, or tribe in Arabia, and (2) that the gulfs, the western being the Gulf of Suez, and Ophir of Genesis is the Ophir of the Book ~he eastern the Gulf of Aka.bah. The former of Kings. And Gesenins, Bahr, Keil, al. 198 THE FIRST BOOK OF KINGS. [oB, IX. 10-28,
agree with him in locating Ophir in the generale for " all the countdes lying on tho latter country. Ewald, however, sees in African, Arabian, or Indian eeae, so far e.s Ophir "the most distant coasts of India," at that time known" (Heeren). See on eh. and it ie probable that the Hebrews used x. 6) , and fetched from thence gold, four the word somewhat loosely, as they did the hundred and twenty talents [The chronicler corresponding word Tarshish, aud as we do says 450. The discrepo.ncy is easily acconn. the words East and West Indies. They were ted for, 20 being expressed by :, ; 60 by ), not geographers, and Ophir may have been Wordsworth suggests that " perhaps thirty merely an emporium where the products of were assigned to Hiram for his help"] and differeni countries were collected, or a nomen brought it to king Solomon.