Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1904-11-08
THE WEALTH OF BIBLE TIMES.
There Were Richer Men Then Thar
There Ara Now.

There Were Richer Men Then Than
There Are Now.
Quite q young lad asked his father:
Gould 1 have been a millionaire
when Joseph was in Egypt?"
Recent historical researches and
statistics in ancient Jewish papers
tend to show that in the days preced-
ing the birth of Christ there probably
were wealthier men than the world
has even now. To illustrate, there
was one Jewish ruler by the name Of
Korah. To form an idea Of his for
tune it is stated that it required no
less than 300 white mules to carry the
keys of his grain storehouses, and
these keys were not made of heavy
metal, but of light leather strips. Five
Of these leather strips weighed a
pound. The carrying capacity Of each
mule was about 200 pounds. There
fore Korah had so many store-houses
that he required 100000 keys to get
into them. ~.
The mathematician who took these
figures from the Talmud estimates
that Korah was worth $4,000, 900, 900,
or three times the amount credited to
any single man in the world today.
King Solomon himself was an extra
ordinarily wealthy man. He had 40
900 stable horses and 1000 stables for
1,400 chariots, with $4,000 horsemen.
Every horse was worth $50 shekels
and every chariot 600 shekels as any
boy may learn by consulting the books
Of Kings and Chronicles.
A shekel Is worth about fifty cents
in American money, so that 1t Is es-
timated that Solomon's stables and
horsemen represented an investment
Of nearly $6,000,000. The gifts which
the Queen of Sheba brought to Solo
mon have been valued at the equiva-
lent Of 100000 German thalers.
What Solomon himself expended upon
the building Of his temple Is put at
the enormous sum Of $250,000,000. II
with this are included the precious
stones, marble and other rare build
ing material used, it is believed that
an exact reproduction Of the temple
today would make it's cost approx
mate $500,000,000 in American money
The boy who Is interested in figures
may take his own Testament and de-
termine that in the building Of the
temple King Solomon gave to Hiram,
king of Tyre, nearly 100000 bushels
Of wheat, nearly the same amount Of
barley, nearly a million gallons Of
bath wine and any quantity Of bath
oil. At the current price Of wheat
today this quantity would be worth
near $4,000,OO0, and the barley would
be worth s1,5O0,0O0. The 5000 talents
Of gold would be valued at $4,000
900; the 1900 talents Of silver at
s11, 100000 and the $4,000 talents Of
the laborers employed for nearly sew
en- years would equal over $37,000,000.
The temple of King Herod repre-
sented an enormous expenditure. 1t
was built Of intersecting bevelled-
edged alabaster and marble that re-
sembled the waves Of the sea. But
this temple Of Herod's was surpassed
by the magnificent one built in Alex
andria by the Jews. This was called
a labyrinth and contained seventy-one
cathedrals. Each cathedral cost no
less than 100000 talents Of gold, and
talent of gold was valued at $4,000.
When Jerusalem was beseiged be-
fore its second destruction, there were
three rich Jews living there. They
resolved rather than surrender to the
enemy to feed all the inhabitants Of
the city for twenty-one years II nee
essary. One Of them stipulated to fur
nish wheat and barley, another to fur
nish wine and oil and another fire
wood. Assuming that the population
was 100000 (by actual census at the
Passover festival in the year Sc, or
three years before the destruction)
and allowing 500 a year for mainten-
ance of a person, this would have cost
the three men over $2,000,000.
There is little doubt but that there
were enormously rich men in those
days, but the people who worked and
the people who believed that money
should not be the sole end Of life
were not as we'll off, and did not have
as much means as they do today.
Wealth is more generally distributed
today, and it is possible for any boy
who Is willing to work and be true to
himself to acquire a comfortable liv-
| ing and business.