Information Related to "International Trade: A Source of Solomon's Wealth"
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Chapter 2 : International Trade - A Source of Solomon's Wealth |
Solomon
built many merchant ships manned by both Israelite and Phoenician sailors. The wealth
accumulated by this maritime traffic is astounding, even by modern standards.
How far did those fleets travel to amass such wealth? We don't know, but the Scriptures
tell us the sailors sometimes required three years to make a round-trip voyage because
the distance was so great. They brought back valuable commodities such as gold, silver
and ivory along with exotic curiosities such as apes and monkeys (1Kings 10:22).
More than two millennia later Ferdinand Magellan sailed around the world on a voyage
that also took three years. The fleets of Solomon and the Phoenicians could sail
far and wide over the oceans. The Scriptures note that King Hiram's seaman "knew
the sea" (1Kings 9:27).
Having an international fleet of ships, an alliance with the Phoenicians and control
of the major Middle Eastern inland trade routes, Solomon engaged in his own import
and export ventures. For example, "Solomon's import of horses was from
Egypt and Kue, and the king's traders received them from Kue at a price. A chariot
could be imported from Egypt for six hundred shekels of silver, and a horse for one
hundred fifty; so through the king's traders they were exported to all the
kings of the Hittites and the kings of Aram" (1Kings 10:28-29, NRSV).
The Bible notes that Solomon's yearly base revenues amounted to 50,000 pounds of
gold, not counting the gold he received from gifts and tribute (2Chronicles 9:13-14).
Having access to this vast wealth, Solomon built a magnificent temple for God and
a palace complex for himself in Jerusalem.
He covered the inside walls and even the floors of the temple with pure gold. Images
of two cherubim, each with two almost eight-foot-wide outstretched wings, overshadowed
the mercy seat on the Ark of the Covenant. Artisans overlaid these likenesses with
pure gold. Craftsmen made the seven-branched menorah, table for the showbread, bowls,
pans, other lamp stands, lamp trimmers, ladles and censers of solid gold (2Chronicles 3-4).
Solomon had a large throne of ivory overlaid with gold. He supplied his guards with
hundreds of golden ceremonial shields, the large ones made with about 71/2 pounds
of hammered gold. His palace's dining service included solid-gold cups and plates.
The Scriptures note that none of them was made of silver during Solomon's time because
it was considered too ordinary (1Kings 10:21). This was literally Israel's golden
era.
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