140 Jccumulation of Wealth zvith the Hebrew Nation. 



We learn from the Book of Kings*, that the king brought by 

 his ships from Ophir four hundred and twenty talents of gold, 

 or about L. 190,800. The Book of Chroniclesf represents the 

 amount greater as four hundred and fifty talents, or L. 203,000, 

 a difference of no great moment, and one which, perhaps, a col- 

 lation of manuscripts might reconcile. 



Without attempting to calculate the quantity of metallic trea- 

 sure heaped up by Solomon, we may best describe it in the lan- 

 guage of his day. We read that " his throne was of ivory, 

 overlaid with the best gold ; that all the drinking vessels were of 

 gold ; that all the vessels of the forest of I^ebanon were of pure 

 gold : none were of silver, for that metal was nothing accoimted 

 of in the days of Solomon ;" and, in short, " the king made silver 

 to be as stones in Jerusalem •(•." 



After this short intimation of the store of silver and gold ac- 

 cumulated by the Hebrew nation, it may be now proper to defer, 

 to another branch of the subject, the consideration of the way 

 in which such a store of the precious metals may probably have 

 been collected under the reign of Solomon. 



In proceeding from the sacred to the profane writers of an- 

 tiquity, the' reader is naturally in some degree surprised at the 

 credulity, or at least apparent credulity, with which the most 

 extraordinary and improbable tales are narrated. This is most 

 remarkable in Herodotus and Diodorus, who are yet far from 

 unworthy of confidence, where nothing supernatural is concerned. 

 The Greek and Roman writers relate prodigies, which, at this 

 day, we know not whether to attribute to their own credulity, 

 or to that of the community for which they composed their 

 works. In either case it does not render them utterly un- 

 worthy of credit, nor destroy their testimony in matter of his- 

 tory, of geography, of mannersj^ of laws, or of government. 



I'he history of all ancient nations is filled with prodigies 

 which are no longer believed ; but if, on that account, their 

 authority on other subjects be discarded, it will become impos- 

 sible to trace the progress of mankind through the several stages 

 of society, from the most rude to the most civilized state. It 

 is scarcely two centuries since in every part of Europe, with all 

 the knowledge and civilization which had been imbibed, the 

 • 1 Kings X. 28. f Chronicles viii. 18. $ Kings x. 



