OPHIR. 
the prefence of the Lord, and went down to Joppa; and he 
found a fhip going to Tharfhith : fo he paid the fare thereof, 
and went down into it, to go with them unto Tharfhifh, from 
1 ? 
there, or build them after the models of that place, (though, 
as we have feen, there are paflages in fcripture which c 
tenance thefe opinions), yet th 
that the fleet which vifited Ophir, at the fa 
Tharfhith, or that the voyage to thefe places lay in the fame 
trac ° 
In 
at the navy of Solomon was three years on 
reforted to only as a depot for merchandize, not as the na- 
age to i 
pele ged have been already given, but it will not be amifs 
t in. 1 Kings, x.22: for the king had 
at fea a navy of Tharfhifh with the navy of Hiram: 
bringing 
gold and filver, ivory, and apes, and peacocks, 2 Chron. 
wx. 21: for the ki fhips went to ‘Tharfhifh with 
the fervants of Hu 
made, no intimation given, no reafon fup- 
] 
that, in order to procure gold an e other com tie 
enumerated in the paffages cited, Solomon fent directly to 
Ophir, in his own fhips, in thofe of his friend and ally, 
Hiram, king of Tyre, or in the fhips of Tharfhifh, which 
he probably procured through Hiram, who had regular 
and extenfive commercial intercourfe with that place ; while, 
at the fame time, Solomon traded direQly with Tharfhifh, 
of the principal depdts for the merchandize in the 
Mediterranean. 
Having thus thrown out our own ideas on one point of 
this queftion, we fhould now proceed to ftate the various 
hypothefes refpeCting the fituation of Ophir ; all of which it 
will be feen proceed on the aflumptions, that Tharfhifh lay 
on the fame route with it, was vifited at the fame time, and 
that the voyage occupied a {pace of three years: but it 
may be proper to premife fome mifcellaneous obfervations, 
which will clear the way for the more accurate and fatif- 
factory itatement of thefe hypothefes. 
Ophir muft have been vifited long before the time of Solo- 
mon; fince the gold of Ophir is particularly mentioned in 
the book of Job, chapter xxii. verfe 24. “* Then fhalt thou 
lay up gold as duft, and the gold of Ophir as the ftones of 
the brooks ;”’ or, as it is otherwife tranflated, * Then fhalt 
thou lay up gold as duft, and wealth as in the brooks of 
° 
believe, that either David or the princes gave more than a 
certain proportion of it; fuppofing that it was a third part 
of all they poffeffed, there muft have been at leaft 24,000 
talents of that metal in the kingdom. On this head, it 
ay be remarked, that the Talmud reckons feven kinds of 
gold, of which the gold of Ophir was the moft celebrated, 
and the moft abundant. Tra. Joma, fol. xliv. p. 2. 
Although the fituation of Ezion-geber feems plainly and 
fatisfaGtorily pointed out, yet fome authors are of opinion, 
that it was not a port on the Red fea, but on the Mediter- 
feem to have embraced, in order 
between Ezion-geber and the Mediterranean; for even al- 
lowing that ifh was on the eaft of Africa, and, 
therefore, could be reached by veflels from the Red ; 
on the Red fea. 
The almug-trees, which were part of the cargo peona™ 
rom 
