(And the servants also of Huram, and the servants of Solomon, who brought gold from Ophir, brought sandal-wood and precious stones.
The queen of Sheba has just laid her lavish gifts before Solomon, and this verse turns aside to a second stream of wealth: cargo carried home in ships. Why does Scripture stop to name a wood, and what do gold, stones and timber pouring into Jerusalem show us?
Ophir is the place the gold came from. A Bible dictionary sums up what shipped from there, and where it may have been:
Morrish Bible DictionaryThe place from which Solomon imported gold, precious stones, and almug trees. Ships brought these to the Gulf of Akaba. Perhaps southern Arabia is the place meant; but others have suggested India and Africa.
This verse calls the wood "algum"; 1 Kings calls it "almug." The same dictionary weighs the two names, and the puzzle of where the tree grew:
Morrish Bible DictionaryCompare 1 Kings 10:11 with 2 Chronicles 9:10-11, and it is clear that the two names refer to the same tree. It came from the same place, Ophir. It served the same purposes: pillars or props, terraces or stairs, harps and other stringed instruments. 2 Chronicles 2:8 raises a difficulty. It seems to say that algum trees came from Lebanon. Yet the same trees could hardly grow naturally in two places as unlike each other as Lebanon and Ophir. In that passage the writer may list the trees Huram sent together, without meaning that all of them came from Lebanon. The tree is thought to be sandalwood.
Commentators read this verse as an aside placed on purpose. It sets a shipment beside a personal offering:
Leslie M. GrantVerses 11 and 12 are a parenthesis, showing both a comparison and a contrast to the gifts of the queen of Sheba. Her gifts showed lovely personal affection, a most valuable presentation. But the ships of Hiram brought great amounts of almug trees and precious stones from Ophir.
The next verse tells what they made from the wood. The same writer draws out its two uses:
Leslie M. GrantThey made the almug trees into steps (or a railing) for the house of the Lord and for the king's house. They also made harps and other stringed instruments from them. Servants of Solomon brought this wood. It served the support (the railings) and the joy (the music) of the people. So Israel will be supported and rejoicing in the coming kingdom of the Lord Jesus.
So how does this cargo compare with the queen's own gifts?
Leslie M. GrantThe queen of Sheba's gifts speak of worship to the Lord. The others come second to worship, yet they are precious all the same. They speak of walking in God's ways and rejoicing in what pleases God.
The cargo held precious stones as well as wood. The same writer reads those stones as a picture of what God's Spirit produces:
Leslie M. GrantThe precious stones, speaking of the fruit of the Spirit of God, will not be lacking in the servants of God in the coming thousand-year kingdom, even in those who are not as fully devoted as some others are.
The verse names servants of Hiram and servants of Solomon together. A foreign king's crews worked alongside Israel's. The same partnership appears earlier, in the timber trade:
Leslie M. GrantSolomon also asked Hiram for cedar, cypress and algum logs from Lebanon, since he knew that Hiram's servants were skilled in work with timber. He would also have his own servants join Hiram's servants in this work. That is another picture of the friendship between Jews and Gentiles in the thousand-year kingdom to come.
This cargo was part of something larger. The wealth of the world was moving toward one city and one throne:
Henri L. RossierEvery treasure flows to Jerusalem, the centre to which the king was drawing the riches of the entire world. "All the kings of Arabia" and the governors of various districts bring him gold, spices, precious stones, and rare sandalwood. Spices played a large role in eastern courts. Gold in particular, that emblem of divine righteousness, came from all parts.
Solomon's glory pictures Christ reigning. One writer marks the limit of the picture:
William KellyStill, whatever might be true of Solomon was only a shadow of Christ — of what Christ will be on the earth… we never have the full truth of God about anything until it puts everything else in its place.
- Cargo. Ships brought Solomon gold, precious stones and algum wood from Ophir. Commentators differ on whether Ophir lay in southern Arabia, India or Africa.
- One wood. "Algum" here and "almug" in 1 Kings name one tree, thought to be sandalwood.
- Crews. Hiram's servants and Solomon's servants sailed together — a picture of Jews and Gentiles joined in the kingdom to come.
- Support and joy. The wood became steps for the two houses and harps for the music — a people held up and singing under their king.
- Shadow. All this magnificence is only a shadow of what Christ will be on the earth.
And the king made of the sandal-wood stairs for the house of Jehovah, and for the king's house, and harps and lutes for the singers. And there were none such seen before in the land of Judah.)
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.