proves, 4. That no vessel could perform the ancient Coptic lexicographers, (whose this voyage in less than THREE years, be- authority, however, is not very great,) is the cause of the monsoons; that more time need name for India. c) There exists in India a not be employed, and that this is the precise district from the name of which both the time mentioned in chap. x. 22. 5. That names Ophir and Sophir may be readily this is the country of the Queen of Sheba. explained, viz. Zovnáраa, the Оuπлара of or Sabia or Azeba, who, on her visit to Arrian (Sanser., Uppara upper), situated in Solomon, brought him one hundred and the hither Chersonesus where is now the twenty talents of gold, and of spices and celebrated emporium of Goa, and mentioned precious stones great store, ver. 10. And by Ptolemy, Ammianus, and Abulfeda. Of that gold, ivory, silver, &c., are the natural not less weight are the arguments brought productions of this country. To illustrate in favour of Arabia; which view is supand prove his positions he has given a map ported among the moderns by Michaëlis on a large scale, "showing the tract of (Spicil. ii., p. 184, sq.), Gosselin, Vincent, Solomon's fleet in their three years' voyage Bredow (Histor. Unters. ii. 253), T. C. from the Elanitic Gulf to Ophir and Thar- Tychsen, Seetzen in Zach's Monatl. Corshish; to which, and his description, I resp. xix., p. 331 sq. and others. It is must refer the reader. said: a) That Ophir, in Gen. x. 29, is enuGesen.-pix, pis, TE, pr. n. Ophir, a merated among other regions inhabited by celebrated region, abounding in gold, which the descendants of Joktan; all of which, so the seamen of Solomon in company with the far as known to us, are to be sought in the Phoenicians were accustomed to visit, taking southern part of Arabia, and especially their departure from the ports of the between Sabæa and Havilah, both of which Elanitic gulf, and bringing back every three are rich in gold; although it cannot be years gold, precious stones, and sandal-wood, denied that Ophir, even if more remote and also silver, ivory, apes, and peacocks; situated in India, might have been referred, 1 Kings ix. 28; x. 11; 2 Chron. viii. 18; in this genealogical list of nations, to the ix. 10; especially 1 Kings x. 22, where colonies of the Joktanidæ. b) of the Ophir is to be understood, although not expressly mentioned. The gold of Ophir is frequently mentioned in the Old Testament as Job xxviii. 16; Ps. xlv. 10; Is. xiii. 12; 1 Chr. xxix. 4; once also is itself is put for gold of Ophir, Job xxii. 24. As to the geographical situation of Ophir, there is the greatest diversity of opinion among commentators. Yet among modern interpreters, the best hesitate only between two regions, viz. India, and some part of Arabia. That Ophir is to be sought in India, was the opinion of Josephus (Ant. viii. 6, 4), and among the moderns, of Vitringa, Reland, and others; and this view is supported by the following arguments: a) The countries of India abound in the articles of traffic above-mentioned; and several of these, as ivory and sandal-wood, are found only in India; also the words for apes and peacocks correspond entirely with the Indian words for the same on the coast of Malabar, and are doubtless derived from these latter; see reip. b) The LXX have everywhere (except once in Gen. x. 29) for TN put Σουφίρ, Σουφείρ, Σωφίρ, Σωφείρ, Σωpapá, Ewpŋpá. But cop, according to articles of traffic above-mentioned, only certain ones, indeed, as gems and apes, are now found in Arabia; and in modern times no gold whatever is found there. But that formerly certain districts at least of Arabia abounded in gold, and that too native and rupos, is testified not only by the writers of the Old Testament. e. g. Num. xxxi. 22, 50; Judg. viii. 24, 26; Ps. lxxii. 15; but also by Diod. Sic. ii. 50; ib. iii. 44, 47 (comp. in 1), by Agatharchides ap. Phot. Cod. 250, Artemid. ap. Strab. xvi. 4, 22; Pliny H. N. vi. 28, 32. The authority of all these witnesses cannot well be impeached; since the mines may have been exhausted or wholly neglected, as in Spain; or the globules of native gold formerly found in the sand may have failed. c) Ophir is expressly mentioned as an island of Arabia by Eupolemus ap. Euseb. Præp. Evang. ix. 30; and at the present day there exists a place called elOphir in the district of Oman, a few miles from the city Sohar towards the interior. However it may be as to the respective merits of these two hypotheses (for we cannot here exhaust the discussion), they are both far more probable than that which assigns Ophir to the eastern coast of Africa, making it to comprise Nigritia and the Sofala of Arabian writers, now Zanguebar and Mosambique, where there is a gold district called Fura; an opinion held by Grotius, Huet, D'Anville, Bruce, Schulthess, and others. salem, and really in the ends of the earth, and bordering upon the southern sea; for there, much more than in Ethiopia, were the commodities which she brought, ver. 2, 10. Bp. Patrick. When the queen of Sheba.] Josephus thinks she was queen of Meroe, Prof. Lee.-is, or E, the name of a which was anciently called Saba. But a place celebrated for its gold. It probably great many of his countrymen more rightly took its name from is, one of the descend-understand this matter; who say she came ants of Eber, Gen. x. 29, who fixed them- from Aljemin, which was the south part of selves in Arabia for the most part. The Arabia Felix, near the Red Sea; and so our gold of Sheba, Havilah, and Ophir, is often Saviour calls her the " queen of the south," mentioned in Scripture. The two former which is the signification of Jewin in places certainly were in Arabia (Gen. Hebrew; and in Arabic, with the addition xxv. 18, &c.). Seetzen, too, found a place of Al, is called Aljemin. so named near the Persian Gulf. Bochart Dr. A. Clarke.-Queen of Sheba.] As our and others, however, after placing the ori- Lord calls her queen of the south (Matt. ginal Ophir in Arabia, look out for another xii. 42), it is likely the name should be in the East Indies, or elsewhere; because written Saba, Azab, or Azaba, all of which Arabia seems too near to account for the signify the south. She is called Balkis by three years' voyages of Solomon's ships for the Arabians, but by the Abyssinians Mathe purpose of transporting the gold, pea- queda. cocks, &c., to Palestine. Hence too, the Σοφίρ, Σώφειρα, or Σώφερα of the LXX, has been supposed to be an Egyptian name of 1. Three men in the genealogical tables the East Indies, which has been thought in Genesis and 1 Chron. founders of families Gesen.- (comp. Ethiop. nă: man) Sheba, pr. n. corroborated by the 8, Sufara of Abul- or tribes in Arabia. a) A son of Raamah and grandson of Cush, also brother of feda, situated on the coast of Malabar. So- Dedan, Gen. x. 7; 1 Chron. i. 9. b) A fala again, on the eastern coast of Africa son of Joktan, and brother of Uzal, Ophir, opposite to Madagascar, has also been sup- &c., Gen. x. 28; 1 Chron. i. 22. Comp. posed to be the Ophir of Scripture. See Abulfeda, p. 98, Paris. c) A son of JokBochart's Phaleg., p. 147, &c.; Reland's shan and grandson of Abraham and KetuDissert. Miscel. i. 4; Spicileg. Geogr. Sacr. rah, also brother of Dedan, Gen. xxv. 3; Michaëlis ii. 184, &c. also my notes on Job 1 Chr. i. 32. Comp. in No. 2 fin. xxii. 24, &c. kaì Baσíλioσa Ɛaßà йkovσe тò ovoμa Eaλwμὼν καὶ τὸ ὄνομα Κυρίου, καὶ ἦλθε πειράσαι αὐτὸν ἐν αἰνίγμασι. Au. Ver. 1 And when the queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon concerning the name of the LORD, she came to prove him with hard questions. Sheba. 2. Sheba, the Sabæans, a region and people in Arabia Felix, abounding in frankincense, spices, gold, and precious. stones, 1 Kings x. 1, sq. Is. lx. 6; Jer. vi. 20; Ez. xxvii. 22; Ps. lxxii. 15; celebrated also for their great traffic, Ez. 1. c. Ps. lxxii. 10; Joel iv. 8; Job vi. 19; but in Job i. 15 driving of plunder in the vicinity of Uz or Ausitis. With all this accords what Greek and Arab say of the Sabæans (Ɛaßaîoi), whose chief city they call Saba and Mariaba (Mapiáßa, now e Mâreb), مارب three or four days' journey distant from Pool. The queen of Sheba; either, first, Sana'a; see Strabo xvi., p. 768, 777, 780. Of Ethiopia, as that people by constant tra- Agatharch., p. 64; Diod. Sic. iii. 38, 46; dition from their ancestors affirm, which also Plin. vi. 32; Abulfeda, p. 96 Par.; Edrisi was truly in the ends of the earth, whence i., p. 53, 147, ed. Jaubert. See Thesaur., she came, Matt. xii. 42. Or rather, seP. 1351. Comparing now the three names condly, Of that part of Arabia called Sabæa, in Genesis (No. 1, a, b, c), it appears that which was at a great distance from Jeru- the Sabæans of Arabia Felix adjacent to Ver. 4. Sana'a are descendants of Joktan, Gen. Ged., Booth. King Solomon [Syriac, x. 28, lett. b. Nor is it less evident that Vulg., with thirty MSS., and several Ed.]. the other two passages, Gen. x. 7 and xxv. 3, lett. a, c, refer to one and the same people, although a different origin is assigned; since in both, Sheba is coupled with Dedan and Raamah. We may therefore assume two tribes of Sabæans; one of which Au. Ver. 4 And when the queen of Sheba had seen all Solomon's wisdom and the house that he had built. Pool. The house, or, the houses, the sin (b), the more powerful and noble, was in gular number being put for the plural, to Arabia Felix; while the other (a, c) dwelt wit, both the temple and the king's house. towards the Persian Gulf, not far from the mouths of the Euphrates. This latter tribe is not mentioned except in Genesis 1. c. Concerning the name of the Lord. Ver. 5. i. e., concerning the great work which he had done for the name, i. e., the honour, and service, and worship, of the Lord, as it καὶ τὰ βρώματα Σαλωμὼν, καὶ τὴν καθέδραν is expressed chap. viii. 17, and elsewhere. παίδων αὐτοῦ, καὶ τὴν στάσιν λειτουργών Or, concerning God; the name of God being αὐτοῦ, καὶ τὸν ἱματισμὸν αὐτοῦ, καὶ τοὺς οἶνοoft put for God, as hath been noted before ; χόους αὐτοῦ, καὶ τὴν ὁλοκαύτωσιν αὐτοῦ, ἣν concerning his deep knowledge in the ἀνέφερεν ἐν οἴκῳ Κυρίου, καὶ ἐξ ἑαυτῆς things of God. Or, concerning the great éyéveTo. things which God had done for him, Au. Ver.-5 And the meat of his table, especially in giving him such incomparable and the sitting of his servants, and the wisdom, and that in an extraordinary manner. Ged." When the queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon (through the name of the Lord), she came," &c. Through. LXX, Syr., Arab., read and. The whole parenthesis is wanting in p.p. 2 Chron. ix. 1. Houb., Hallet, Dathe, Booth.-1 And when the queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon, and of the name of Jehovah, &c. Pro legendum videtur . Sic oi ó, Syrus et Arabs. Codex Kennicotti 173 habet a prima manu 1 vel 2, et in cod. 4905 deest. Dathe. attendance [Heb., standing] of his ministers, and their apparel, and his cupbearers [or, butlers], and his ascent by which he went up unto the house of the LORD; there was no more spirit in her. Cup-bearers. may Dr. A. Clarke.-The original as well be applied to his beverage, or to his drinking utensils, as to his cup-bearers. Gesen. m. (r. to drink). 1. Part. Hiph. cup-bearer, see the root. 2. Drink, espec. wine, Gen. xl. 21; Lev. xi. 34; 1 Kings x. 5, 21, m, drinking vessels. And his ascent by which he went up unto the house of the Lord. Pool. His ascent by which he went up Gr. min. § 138, 2. Cf. ejusd. Chrestom., de unto the house of the Lord from his own Wettius, alii: famam Salomonis per nomen palace. See 2 Kings xvi. 18. But the Jovæ per Jovam, h. e., famæ celebritatem, ancients, and some others, translate the quam per Jovam consecutus erat Salomo. Dubito autem vehementer, num loci natura passivam constructionem admittat. Magis placeret Sonnius, statuens, esse genitivi, quamquam hæc quoque interpretatio non omni caret difficultate. Simplicissimum esse videtur, ut vertamus: famam Salomonis in gloriam Jova, h. e., famam Salomonis summæ dei Israelitarum sapientiæ nuntiam. Ver. 2. Au. Ver.-Solomon. words thus, and the burnt-offerings which he offered up in the house of the Lord [so Houb., Dathe, Horsley, Clarke, Booth.]; under which, as the chief, all other sacrifices are understood: when she saw the manner of his offering sacrifices to the Lord. Dr. A. Clarke.-And his ascent by which he went up.] It seems very strange that the steps to the temple should be such a separate matter of astonishment. The original is, And the holocausts which he offered in the house of the Lord. The Vulgate, Septuagint, de regina Saba narrantur; quæ quidem male Chaldee, Syriac, and Arabic, all express this abrumpit id, quod de navibus Hiram et sense; so does the German translation of Salomonis memoratur: vide, Lector, et Luther, from which, in this place, we have attende. most pitifully departed: And seine brond opfer die er in dem house des Herrn opferte; "And his burnt-offering which he offered in the house of the Lord.' Ver. 7. Au. Ver.-7 Howbeit I believed not the words, until I came, and mine eyes had seen it: and, behold, the half was not told me: thy wisdom and prosperity exceedeth the fame [Heb., thou hast added wisdom and goodness to the fame] which I heard. the Pool. I believed not the words, or, things reported; Prosperity; or, happiness; or, virtue; Heb., goodness. Ophir. See notes on ix. 28, p. 795. Bp. Patrick.-It is very uncertain what the next verse, and is still in India. And R. D. Kimchi, upon that place in the Chronicles, saith it was a red wood which is now called brezil, by which cannot be meant the wood that comes from Brazil, for that country was not known in his days, but probably he calls it brezil, from the Hebrew word barzel, which signifies iron; it being of such a dark Au. Ver.-10 And she gave the king an colour. And such a wood there is now in hundred and twenty talents of gold, and of the kingdom of Java, as Gousset observes spices very great store, and precious stones: out of Thevet, and other authors, in his there came no more such abundance of Comment. Linguæ Hebr. spices as these which the queen of Sheba gave to king Solomon. Ver. 10. Dr. A. Clarke. After this verse the 13th should be read [so Houb., Ged., Booth.], which is here most evidently misplaced; and then the account of the queen of Sheba will be concluded, and that of Solomon's revenue will stand without interruption. Ver. 11. Dr. A. Clarke. - Almug-trees.] In the parallel place, 2 Chron. ix. 10, 11, these are called algum-trees, the and the a being transposed; probably the latter is the more correct orthography. What the algum-trees were we do not exactly know. The Vulgate calls it ligna thyina, the thya or lignum vitæ wood; and Mr. Parkhurst thinks that the original, D, comes from, not, and , to fill; because the lignum vitæ is of so close a texture that it can imbibe no water, and cannot be affected by wet מֵאוֹפִיר הֵבִיא מֵאֹפִיר עֲצֵי אַלְמָנִים הַרְבֵּה מְאֹד וְאֶבֶן יְקָרָה : weather. The Septuagint translate it έvλa καὶ ἡ ναῦς Χιρὰμ ἡ αἴρουσα τὸ χρυσίον ἐκ πυκινα, pine timber; the Syriac, mo Σουφὶρ, ἤνεγκε ξύλα πελεκητὰ πολλὰ σφόδρα (2em.cy, probably cypress wood, or what καὶ λίθον τίμιον. And the navy. Au. Ver.-11 And the navy also of the translators render ligna brasilica. The Hiram, that brought gold from Ophir, Arabic translates coloured wood, and subbrought in from Ophir great plenty of joins a paraphrase, for that wood was by almug-trees [2 Chron. ii. 8, and ix. 10, 11, nature painted with various colours. Perhaps algum trees], and precious stones. the Arabic comes nearest the truth; wood shaded of different colours, such as the rose wood and such like, which are brought to us from various parts of the East Indies. The whole passage as it stands in the Arabic is this: "And the ships of Hiram brought gold from the land of Hind (India), and they carried also much coloured wood (but this wood is naturally painted of various colours), and very precious jewels. And Solomon put some of that same painted Houb.-' D, cæterùm navis Hiram. Ita Græci Intt. vaûs, navis, non naves, seu classis, quia in unam navim conveniunt hæc, quæ narrantur. Ut non necesse sit habere ", numero sing. ut naves, seu classem, quod fecit Clericus. TEND, mendose pro TOND, ex Ophir, ut lego in tribus Codicibus. Cæterum melius versus duo 11 et 12 post 13um collocarentur, ubi desinunt ea, quæ ... wood which was brought to him in the house | without any other price than a few articles and were transported accordingly in great abundance by the merchants. That precious Gesen.- m. plur. 1 Kings x. 11, 12, stones particularly the ruby abounded in and by transpos. 2 Chron. ii. 7; Ceylon, the same author attests, p. 187, and ix. 10, 11, almug-trees, a kind of precious that pearls abounded in the pearl-fisheries. wood, brought along with gold and precious If then Solomon and Hiram's merchants stones in the time of Solomon from Ophir. traded to this place, they would readily According to 2 Chron. ii. 7, growing also on | obtain these articles in exchange for others. Lebanon. It seems to correspond to Sanser. Now we are told (1 Kings x. 12) that the micata (from simpl. mića, so Bohlen) with king made out of this wood, whatever it was, ', A MISHAD, or support, the Arab. art. J, lignum Santalinum, &c., for the house of Jehovah, and for the have been so named from its resemblance to coral, q. d., coral-wood. Kimchi:, NT, Brazil-wood. ment, the Targumist by T, fulcimentum; Prof. Lee.ph, m. pl. i. q. oupuje, metath. The word is apparently foreign, the second by lm, seats, or benches; and occurs only in 1 Kings x. 11, 12; 2 Chr. and T, steps to ascend; but, with ii. 7; ix. 10, 11. It is, perhaps, the no claim to probability, can either of them Sanscrit ăgămah, a tree; and as the He- be rendered pillars. Our Authorized Verbrews have no short syllables in their lan- sion gives terraces for the second. If then, guage (Gram. art. 31, note), the may we are here to understand benches, brackets, have been introduced, just as the is in terraces, or something similar, we need not In the next place, lyres and nablia are ppp (Arab.) for the purpose of (عود) و عود ỤD, the very word which designates the wood in question! And the author of the Kamoos tells us, that it is the name of a stringed instrument, the |