The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1920-12-26
winch SLAVES 1OILed IN OLd Testament
Times NoW Being Unearthed by Modern
MUchineTy
and Explosives
The Gold of OpMr in
the Bible.

And they came to Ophir, and
fetched from thence gold. four hun
dred and twenty talents, and brought
sit to King Solomon.-I. Kings. tx. as.
And she (the Queen of Sheba)
Came to Jerusalem with very great
train, with camels that bore spices,
and very much gold and precious
stones.-I. Kings. X, 2.
q And she gave the King hundred
and twenty talents OF gold, and of
spices very great store, and precious
stones.-I. Kings. K. 10.
And the navy also of Hiram, that
brought gold from Ophir. brought in
from Ophir great plenty of almug
trees, and precious stones.--I. Kings.
T., II.
Even three thousand talents of gold,
of the gold Of Ophir, and seven thou
sand talents of refined silver, to over
lay the walls withal.-I Chronicles.
xxx, q.
1t cannot be valued with the gold
81 Ophir, with the precious onyx or
The sapphire.-Job. xviii, rs.
And Huram sent him, by the hands
of his servants, ships, and servants
that had knowledge of the sea; and
they went with the servants of Solo,
mon to Ophir, and took thence four
hundred and fifty talents of gold
II. Chronicles. viii, IS.
-HE enormously rich mines OF Ophir
from which King Solomon. the
Queen Of Sheba and other rulers o!
Did Testament days obtained the wealth
81 gold that made their cities places o!
jaz2ling magnificence. have been found
again and are proving one OF the worlds
most valuable sources of supply Of the
precious yellow metal.
The thousands of shafts which were
sunk into these veins Of gold-bearins
iuarts thousand years before the Chris
ian era and which have for centuries lair
die and forgotten, are fast being reopened
and new ones dug. Where armies OF blacl
slaves formerly toiled under the pitiless
ash Of the overseers, high explosives and
iodern labor-saving machinery now do the
work, producing in a few days more golt
than was possible by years OF painful
iaborious effort in King Solomon's time.
As psychologists have found out the
land Of Ophir, so frequently mentioned in
The Old Testament. was vast region ir
southeastern Africa-a part OF what Is now
Jthodesia Although the ancients worked
the mines here for centuries they were
able with their primitive methods to do nc
more than scratch the surface OF the golJ
deposits which are now known to be among
he worlds richest and most extensive.
II was undoubtedly from Ophir that the
Queen OF Sheba obtained the gold she
brought to Jerusalem and presented Will
Il great quantity OF other treasure, to Kint
Solomon. Her people and some OF theil
neighbors were the discoveries OF this
african Eldorado and the first to delve into
It's treasures. long, difficult and dan
Berous journey by caravan on land and In
curious sailing vessels called dhows on the
water, brought the golden ingots from
Ophir to the cities of Sheba, where they
we're refined and wrought into all sorts oil
beautiful and useful things.
1t 10 suggested by some students thai
he real purpose OF the Queens visit e
Jerusalem was to interest It's wise and
wealthy monarch In pushing these minine
lperations still more vigorously. At any
ate, II was not long before Solomon had
more and more OF his own caravans and
leets OF dhows bringing gold from the fal
.lstant African MINIS.