SOLOMON THE TRADER

The great building enterprises and all the other expenses soon emptied the coffers. They had to be refilled. For this purpose Solomon established State trading monopolies. There were three of them: the exporting and importing of horses; the quest for maritime markets in the Mediterranean; and commercial enterprises in the far-off and fabulous country of Ophir, to the south of the Red Sea.

Solomon as horse trader

Here the texts are not very clear. Scholars still argue about how they are to be translated. It seems, on a final analysis, that through his officials Solomon bought horses in Egypt where for a long time past they had raised a breed that was specially adapted to chariot work. Great caravans of these horses crossed the land of Canaan from south to north; and the king's officials resold them to some of the kings of Asia Minor. A similar method was followed with the chariots. It is doubtful, however, whether these transactions, of necessity fairly limited in scope, had much effect on the balancing of the budget.

Trading in the Mediterranean

More substantial results could be expected from the organization of a vast export business to certain carefully chosen places of the Mediterranean coast. Solomon was able to observe the example of the Phoenicians.

This relatively unimportant people, settled on a part of the coast with very limited agricultural resources, had succeeded in establishing a series of warehouses throughout the western Mediterranean, which enabled first Sidon and then Tyre to amass enormous wealth. It seemed obvious that Solomon should seek to follow in the footsteps of his friend Hiram I.

It was an imposing plan but somewhat too ambitious. In the first place the land of Canaan had none of the wood (pine and cedar) necessary for shipbuilding which the Phoenicians had at their disposal on the slopes of Lebanon. Then, the Hebrews had never been sailors: in most of the circumstances of their history we find them showing considerable fear when they had to cross the water.

It should be added that to carry out his plan Solomon was obliged to ask for help and advice from the king of Tyre, his appointed supplier. Now we know from various sources that the Phoenicians were extremely jealous of their threefold monopoly as manufacturers, navigators and exporters. They had no intention of leaving the field open to competitors. Hiram might well be the friend, and even the relation 34 of Solomon, but his goodwill could hardly be expected to assist the commercial expansion of the Yisraelites in the Mediterranean. Hiram was clever and sly enough to cause serious difficulties to Solomon's fleet. It was hardly surprising that very soon Solomon abandoned his maritime under takings in the Mediterranean.

 

Ezion-geber became the port for Solomon's trade with Ophir

34 It seems that one of Hiram's sisters was given in marriage to Solomon, one more woman added to the already well populated harem of the Hebrew king. It was a sort of tradition in the East thus to strengthen political ties between neighbours.

Trading activity in the Red Sea

Since the Phoenicians seemed determined to prevent the Yisraelites from trading in the Mediterranean, Solomon decided to turn towards the Red Sea. In this region the Phoenicians had obviously not the same reasons for resenting the Yisraelite commercial projects. Solomon had every reason to think that in the Red Sea he could pursue his commercial activities with a free hand. He counted on his fleet being able to reach the fabulous land of Ophir, 'the country of gold', 'the land of incense', a land whose wealth was legendary. On that remote coast, according to travelers' reports, there lived tribes in a primitive stage of development, where it would be easy to trade cheap goods for goods of great value. As head of a government whose financial position was unstable, Solomon would have found such an enterprise very attractive.

Solomon's plan was not wanting in boldness. Before being sold overseas the cheap goods for export had to be manufactured; for this purpose he proposed to build a group of factories on the desert shore of the Red Sea. To transport the merchandise to the new countries a fleet was necessary; it would be built. To sail these ships to their destination experienced crews were necessary, for this sea is full of hazards, and terrible storms are apt to rise suddenly in the narrow seas; these crews would be recruited.

In fact the whole enterprise depended almost entirely on a close collaboration with the Phoenicians. The factories for the copper objects intended for the back ward populations of the land of Ophir would be built by the architects of Tyre; they alone, as specialists in this kind of building, were capable of drawing up the plans and seeing to their execution. The ships required for the undertaking would be obtained from the Phoenicians; they would build the component parts of wood from Lebanon, then transport these parts on camels across the deserts of Yahudah and Edom as far as the coast of the Red Sea. The crews for these vessels would be formed by Phoenician sailors who alone were capable of sailing a fleet of the kind. Solomon was well aware that for a suitable financial consideration, his friend Hiram was always ready to help with his plans, provided they did not compete with Phoenician trade in the Mediterranean.

Solomon established his national port in Ezion-geber

The Red Sea terminates in the north in two deep channels which penetrate a long way inland: on the western side there is the inlet which is now called the Gulf of Suez, and to the east there is the Gulf of Elath (Aqaba); it was at the end of the latter that Solomon decided to establish his national port, Ezion-geber (see map).

The American archaeologist, Nelson Gluek, who between 1933 and 1939 carried out a series of excavations on these sites, was rewarded by some wonderful results; he was able to prove that Ezion-geber had been built by Solomon on a site hitherto uninhabited. Under the foundations of Solomon's city the excavators came to the rock. In addition, he was able to show that the plan of the city had been very cleverly arranged, and the city built with surprising expertise.

The mushroom town which rose on this site had a threefold function; it was built to be a fortress, an industrial centre and the home port of a shipping line to the south.

The walls, enclosing the city area of about 1500 acres, were on an average 25 feet high and in places 13 feet thick. Their principal purpose was to protect the city against the onslaughts of the nomads of Edom. Thus with its imposing fortifications Ezion-geber was safe from surprise attack. Its system of defenses was on the same pattern as that of Megiddo and the other citadels built by Solomon at various strategic points of the land of Canaan. Here the fortifications were provided with gates at three places, each with its own guard-post; the principal entrance was to the south towards the sea, opposite the port.

Obviously, this enormous mass of building was put up by forced labour. It is probable that contingents of Canaanite labour were requisitioned in the first place, but the Yisraelites themselves also provided a considerable part of the labour force. On the beach in the burning heat of the sun, in the worst of unhygienic conditions and with great difficulties of food supplies, an architectural achievement of this magnitude was realized at the cost of many lives. It was a repetition of the inhuman scenes which marked the building of the Egyptian pyramids and the immense royal cities of Mesopotamia.

Inside the fortifications stood what was essentially an industrial city. Archaeologists expected to find streets and houses, squares and market places. In reality Ezion-geber seems to have been made up of a series of metallurgical factories, each performing one process in the manufacturing chain. In one quarter copper or iron ore was crushed. In another there was a foundry in which the ore was smelted. The metal thus obtained was passed to the refineries; finally it came to the workshops where it was fashioned. This enormous conglomeration was completed by shops in which the semi-finished article underwent the final process.

Archaeologists have discovered that to activate the fires the metal-workers of Ezion-geber harnessed the strong wind which blew between the valley to the north and the extremity of the Gulf of Aqaba to the south. The flues of the furnaces were so arranged as to take advantage of this natural draught. This continual wind was very unhealthy; it could have been avoided merely by sitting  the city some six miles to the east or west of the place chosen. But the Phoenician architects established the city at this windy spot in order to make use of the natural draught for the furnaces.

The Scripture describes Ezion-geber as a port where merchandise was landed -the most valuable produce of the land of Ophir. But we know now, as a result of excavations, that Ezion-geber also dealt in the export of metallurgical products manufactured in the newly built city. The factories turned out goods of small value that could be used for barter -fish hooks, harpoons, buckles, little idols, figurines of animals, vessels of various sizes, nails, etc. In fact, a collection of cheap goods for savages that the merchants could trade for the valuable articles in Ophir.

It should be added that the copper ore was obtainable from a neighbouring region, the 'Valley of the Black smiths' (EI Arabah) where prospecting was carried out methodically. Archaeologists and geologists have identified the pits made in connection with this work together with remains of furnaces and the huts for the workmen. There were a great number of these copper mines; traces of them are to be found all along the valley as far as the south of the Dead Sea.

The port itself had no docks, breakwaters or moles. The navigators made do with a beach of fine sand, fortunately without rock. After their voyage the boats were beached, just as the inhabitants of the Red Sea coast do nowadays. Owing to the small draught of the boats no deep water harbour was necessary. On the other hand, Ezion-geber possessed an outer harbour at Leuke Come.

Ezion-geber, therefore, was an industrial city built by Yisraelite forced labour working under the orders of Phoenician architects and foremen; there were work shops manned by Phoenician craftsmen, a home port with ships built of wood from the Lebanon by Phoenician carpenters; and on these vessels there were Phoenician sailors in charge of the navigation. 35 All this was for the benefit of King Solomon who, of course, footed the bill. We must understand what is implied when we read of 'the expedition of the Yisraelites to the land of Ophir'.

 

Solomon's copper mines near Ezion-geber

35 The Scripture gives precise information, at least if we read between the lines, concerning the organization of the crews of the vessels sailing from Ezion-geber: Hiram sent men of his, sailors who knew the sea, to serve with Solomon's men. (1 Melechim 9:27). To sail in the Red Sea, where sailing is extremely difficult an expert sailor is required. On this point the Phoenicians had nothing to learn, as the Scripture acknowledges. On the other hand the chronicler is careful not to attribute great nautical proficiency to 'Solomon's men' who sailed on the same voyage; they were probably few in number, unskilled labourers, stevedores, cooks, servants; and also, very probably, scribes and stewards responsible for the administrative side of the undertaking.

Geographical details: land of Ophir

Land of Ophir, also called land of Pount, of Pouanit, of Tarshish. Ophir, the Scripture informs us, was the land of gold. And also of silver, and especially of incense. From this country, according to the travelers, were brought back sandalwood, precious stones, ivory, and exotic animals. Some scholars would identify Ophir with India, or at least with Ceylon. Others would go further; for them Ophir was in New Zealand, perhaps in Australia and even -why not? -in Peru. Modern scholarship is satisfied with locating Ophir at the mouth of the Red Sea on each side of the strait of Bab el Mandeb, partly on the south-west horn of Arabia, partly on the coast of Ethiopia.

It could be objected that in this 'land of gold' geologists have only found very poor veins of the metal. But it should be borne in mind that Ophir was principally an international market in which Arabian, Hindu and African ships unloaded the most costly merchandise. To this region merchants made periodical visits to trade among themselves in the valuable products coming from Africa, the Persian Gulf and from India. The one native product was incense, which was remarkable for its outstanding quality.

Land of Pount (or Pouanit, a variant of the same name).
This name designates the same territory of Ophir, either on the Arabian coast or on the Somali coast facing it, or even both these southern shores of the Red Sea where it joins the Indian ocean. The Egyptians knew of the existence of Pount which they called 'the terraces of incense'.

Tarshish. And the king [Solomon] also had a fleet of Tarshish at sea with Hiram's fleet (1 Melechim 10:22). The name Tarshish also occurs in Yehezqel (27:12) and in the Tehillim (72:10) where it is used as a poetical designation of the most remote regions, those situated at the ends of the earth. The Phoenicians sailing in the Mediterranean called 'ships of Tarshish' or 'ships of Tartessos' the ocean-going vessels which they used to load tin (and also gold and copper) in the region of Tarshish in the south of Spain. This referred to the valley of Boetis, the modern Guadalquivir. 36 Subsequently, any ship built on this pattern was called a 'ship of Tarshish', even when it was on other trading routes than those to Spain.

Whatever the geographical names used by the writers in the Scripture or by the historians of antiquity we may regard Pount and Ophir as synonyms. For long they have led orientalists astray. In fact they designate, as was said above, the two shores of the Red Sea where it opens out in to the Indian Ocean. It should be pointed out, however, that the Yisraelite-Phoenician expedition seems to have been confined to the Arabian side, to that part which is now called Aden.

SOLOMON'S COMMERCIAL EXPEDITION TO THE LAND OF OPHIR

The ships sailed from Ezion-geber on the Gulf of Aqaba.

They went down the Arabian coast to avoid Egyptian reactions.

The land of Ophir or land of Pount. These names designate generally the two coastal regions of Asia and Africa stretching on either side of the strait of Bab el-Mandeb, the key to the Red Sea.

Note that almost certainly the Hebrew-Phoenician convoy was obliged to keep to the south-western extremity of Arabia (near the modern territory of Aden).

In this region the capital was Mareb and the cities were Sheba, Sana. Here were markets for the rare merchandise coming from the Persian Gulf, India, and also from the eastern coast of Africa.

Nowadays it is thought that the queen of Sheba, who led a commercial mission to Yerusalem, came not from the southern kingdom of Sheba in Arabia, but from a northern Sabaean group, situated in the region of Hedjaz. The question is still under discussion, however.

 Solomon's fleet took three years for the voyage from Ezion-geber and back. It appears that there was only one expedition of this kind.

36 Historians of geography have recently contested this identification, though they offer no very clear solution in its place. Nowadays many of the experts in these matters have returned to the old well-known explanation, namely, the sitting of Tarshish in the southern region of Spain near the Straits of Gibraltar, but on the Mediterranean side, and this solution of the difficulty would appear to carry the greater weight. In addition, the port of Cadiz bears a Phoenician or Canaanite- Hebrew name. It was used by the Phoenicians as a trading centre; here they received the fleets from Gaul which carried tin by stages from the Cassiterides, that is, the Scilly Isles, off the coast of Cornwall.

Back    Solomon The Magnificent    Next

Solomon The Magnificent Index   Solomon Sitemap  Scripture History Through the Ages  Solomon The Historian  RADIANT DAWN  Solomon's Wisdom  SOLOMON IN ALL HIS HONOR  David's role in building the Temple  Dates of the building of the Temple  Division of the Temple  The Ark of the Covenant  The most Kodesh Place  Dedication of the Temple  SOLOMON Prince of Peace  SOLOMON THE TRADER   Solomon's Ophir expedition  The queen of Sheba  LITERARY ACHIEVEMENTS OF SOLOMON  First historical works of the Hebrews  What did Solomon write  THE SHADES OF NIGHT  Political and social failure  Solomon's spiritual failure  The moral failure of Solomon  CONCLUSION of Solomon