OPHIR. 
prifed the difcovery of its fituation fhould be - very sak 
if 
cult, an 
and mon That t Ophir not ps afforded o “preatelt 
quantity of aay but that it alfo exceeded all other gold in 
finenefs ‘and value o thefe marks of the fituation of 
Ophir, fupplied by {cripture, they add that, according to 
upolemus, an ancient 
underftood by that appellation, which lies between Arabia 
and Egypt, but the great Southern ocean, which extends 
between India and Africa, and wafhes up to the coaft of 
aken for granted, 
a 
@ 
o 
rel 
g. 
Qa 
fo] 
3 
=p 
p~ 
iv) 
wr 
t ma 
be pr tad rto examine into it with fome degree of caution and 
attentio 
In oe firft place, the oS in so hig by no means 
warrant the opinion, that els which made a 
voyage to Ophir, at the fame cane ae eS Tharfhifh; and that 
thefe two ai lay nearly in the fame direction, and there- 
ore mutt ought for, either in the fame, or an adjoin- 
ing suites 3; or, at leaft, in the courfe of the voyage which 
the fhips of Sélomon and of Hiram m n examina- 
i e words in 1 Kings, 
e king “had Tharfhith, 
Hiram, feem to indicate Oat there were 
It 
fame time to Ophir and Tharfhifh, the commodities brought 
from thefe places could not have been fo clearly diftinguifhed 
‘as they are, nor would - fee have been called, as it is ex- 
By thie ve aewe para I Pre XK. r Ps 
king had at fea a f ‘Tharfhifh, it is more reafon 
able to underftand that this navy as either hired from 
Tharfhifh by Solomon, or was compofed of fhips built 
after the manner of the fhips of that place, thaa that it 
was a fleet which had failed fe Tharfhifh: the firft of thefe 
fuppofitions is ae by the context, the vat ak . ac 
ioned immediately in conneGion the 
navy of Hiram, which feems to imply, that as the latter 
was lent to Solomon by that monarch, the former was pro- 
cured from Tharfhifh. The other idea, that by the navy 
of Tharfhith is meant, fhips built after the manner of the 
ich correfponds with 1 Kings, 
xxi. 48, Jeh oherht is 3 faid to have hae himfelf with 
Ahaziah, king of Ifrael, to make fhips to go to Thar- 
ifh, and not, as in the paflage of Kings, to make fhips of 
Tharthifh to go to Ophir for gold. 
As thefe paffages feem not to accord very well together, 
and confequently cannot be brought forward of themfelves 
abfolutely to determine whether Tharfhifh were a diftant 
country, vifited by Solomon’s fhips, at the fame time that 
they made their voyage to Ophir; or whether Solomon 
merely hired ies from Tharfhifh, a neighbouring city or 
territory, or built his own veffels on the model ufed here, 
it will be neceflary to examine other paflages, which 
Thar is mentioned. It may fairly be inferred, that 
as the Tharfhith fpoken of, in the paffages already quoted, 
is not particularized by any epithet, or circumftance, to 
diftinguifh it from the Tharfhifh mentioned repeatedly in 
other parts of fcripture, that it is the fame pie ace; cer- 
tainly, if it had been a very diftant and comparatively uns 
known place, it would have been fo diftinguithed from the 
Tharfhifh that was nee 2 the Jews. 
Tharfhifh was the fon of Javan, and according to the 
opinion of Jofephus, his a ends: firft peopled Cilicia, 
whence the whole country, as well as the city of Tarfis, 
took its name. ‘That this place was celebrated for its rie 
and commerce, and that it was vifited by the Jews, the 
following paflages, befides others, will (laces tly prove 
In the 27th chapter of Ezekiel, where the prophet foretell 
the deftruction of Tyre, he exprefsly mentions Tharfhi 
one of the places which traded with that city: ver. 
Tharfhifh- was thy merchant, »Y reafon of the multitude 
of all kinds of riches; ver. 25. The 
fing of thee in thy market. 
celebrated for its fhips 
of ‘a 
ye inhabitants of the if > In 
onnectio on and intercourfe of T 
e wor 
OQ 
oo 
@ 
wil pointed out in the fecond verfe of the firft chapter 
of Jonah; “ But Jonah rofe up to flee unto Tharfhith 
9 
