THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 4^9 



great and trading ftate, which he united to his empire; 

 would yet have loft him the trade he fought to cultivate, by 

 the very means he ufcd to obtain it, had not Tyre been in 

 a capacity to fucceed to Edom, and to colled its mariners 

 and artificers, fcattcred abroad by the conqucft. 



David took poflemon of two ports, Eloth and Ezion-ga- 

 ber *, from which he carried on the trade to Ophir and Tar- 

 ihifh, to a very great extent, to the day of his death. We are 

 ftruck with aftonifhment when we rcnecl upon the fum 

 that Prince received in fo fhort a time from theie mines of 

 Ophir. For what is faid to be given by King David f and his 

 Princes for the building of the Temple of Jcrufalem, ex- 

 ceeds in value eight hundred millions of our money, if the 

 talent there fpoken of is a Hebrew talent fc and not a weight 

 of the fame denomination, the value of which was lefs, and 

 peculiarly referved for and ufed in the traffic of thefc pre- 

 cious metals, gold and filver. It was, probably, an African 

 or Indian weight, proper to the fame mines, whence was 

 gotten the gold appropriated to fine commodities only, as is 

 The cafe with our ounce Troy different from the Averdu* 

 poife. 



Solomon, who fucceeded David in his kingdom, was his 

 fucceffor likewife in the friendfhip of Hiram king of Tyre 



Solomon ' 



* 1 Kings, chap. ix. ver. 26. 2 Chron. chap. viii. ver. 17. f l Chron. chap. xxii. ver, 1 ;, 



3", 16. Chap; xxix. ver. 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 Three thoufand 'Hebrew talents of gold, reduced to 



our money, amount to twenty-one millions and fix hundred thoufand pounds Sterling. 



t The value of a Hebrew talent appears from Exodus, chap. xrexviii. ver. 25, 26. For 

 603,550 perfons being taxed at half a mekel each, they muft have paid in the whole 301,77; '■ 

 now that fum is faid to amount to 100 talents, 1775 fhekels only ; deduct the two latter funis 

 and there will remain 300,000, which, divided by icS, wiiMeave 3000 mekels for each of- 

 ibefe talents. 



