Ophir

Ophir

Thomas Allen

King Solomon built a fleet of ships at Ezion Geber, which is near Eloth on the shore of the Red Sea, in the land of Edom. And Hiram sent with the fleet his servants, seamen who were familiar with the sea, together with the servants of Solomon; and they went to Ophir, and brought from there gold, to the amount of four hundred and twenty talents; and they brought it to King Solomon. (1 Kings 9:26–28)

Ophir was famous for its gold: “. . . three thousand talents of gold, of the gold of Ophir . . .” (1 Chronicles 29:4) and, also, Isaiah 13:12, “I will make men more rare than fine gold, and mankind than the gold of Ophir.” Psalm 45:9 reads, “. . . at your right hand stands the queen in gold of Ophir.” Job 28:16 reads, “It cannot be valued in the gold of Ophir. . . .” Other verses mention Ophir concerning gold.
To voyage from Ezion-Geber to Ophir and back required three years: “For the king had a fleet of ships of Tarshish at sea with the fleet of Hiram. Once every three years the fleet of ships of Tarshish used to come bringing gold, silver, ivory, apes, and peacocks [or baboons]” (1 Kings 10:22). Ezion-Geber was a seaport of Edom (Idumaea) on the northern extremity of the Gulf of Aqaba near modern Aqaba and Eilat (Elat) and was part of Solomon’s kingdom.
Ophir must have been a port and located where ivory, apes, and peacocks (or baboons) were naturally available or could be imported. Several locations have been proposed for Ophir. They are the Arabian Peninsula, India, southern East Africa, Malaysia, and Peru.
1. The Arabian Peninsula is the most popular location, although people disagree where on the peninsula Ophir is located.
One possibility is the southwest coast along the Red Sea, where gold was once mined. Thus, Ophir was located in modern-day Yemen. According to Genesis 10:29, Ophir was adjacent to Havilah and Jobab and was associated with the Queen of Sheba (1 King 10:1–10), “the queen of the south” (Matthew 12:42). Ophir may have included part of the adjacent African coast. In ancient times, Yemen was known for its gold production. (To traverse the length of the Red Sea and return should have taken much less than three years. An excuse offered for taking three years is that the ships had to halt when the weather became excessively hot.) Unger, Fausset, Davis, and the Millers favor this location.
Another proposed location is southern Arabia (modern-day Oman) bordering the India Ocean. Smith favors this location.
Still, another possible location of Ophir is between Susa and the Persian Gulf. Because of the winds, a voyage from Ezion-Geber to this location and back might have taken three years. (If this was the location of Ophir, then overland caravans would have been quicker.) Thayer favors this location.
2. India offers several possibilities for the home of Ophir. Favoring India is the algum or almug tree, which is apparently sandalwood, a native of India. Also, the other products mentioned being obtained in Ophir are found in India.
One of the proposed locations of Ophir is the Malabar Coast near Goa. Another possible location is the east side of the Indus River delta. If this is the correct location, the gold of Ophir would have come from Kashmir. Josephus favors the Indus River delta.
3. Several locations along the east coast of Africa have been suggested. They range from the Red Sea to Mashonaland (a region in Zimbabwe). The ruins found in Zimbabwe have been offered as the location of Ophir. Gold has been mined in this area. However, Sofala, an old but now ruined port in Mozambique, which was once known for exporting gold, is a more logical location.
4. Mount Ophir in Johor, Malaysia, is a possible location. This area is known for producing gold. Three years may be needed to journey to here from Ezion-Geber and back.
5. Dankenbring presents the most speculative location of Ophir: Peru. In the evidence that he gives to support Peru is that hieroglyphs on tablets similar to those used in Solomon’s time have been found in Peru and Brazil. Moreover, gold was abundant in ancient Peru. Traveling from the northern part of the Red Sea to Peru and back certainly would have required three years.
Although the location of Ophir is not known and may never be known with certainty, many places have been offered as possible locations. They include Arabia, India, Africa, Malaysia, and Peru.

References
Dankenbring. William F. Beyond Star Wars. Omak, Washington: Triumph Prophetic Ministries 2009.

Davis. John D. A Dictionary of the Bible. Fourth Revised Edition. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Book House, 1957.

Davis, John D. The Westminster Dictionary of the Bible. Revised by Henry Snyder Gehman. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: 1944.

Fausset, A.R. Fausset’s Bible Dictionary. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan Publishing House, 1949.

Miller, Madeleine S. and J. Lane Miller. Harper’s Bible Dictionary. 6th ed. New York, New York: Harper & Brothers, Publishers, 1959.

Smith, William. A Dictionary of the Bible. Revised and edited by F. N. and M. A. Peloubet. Nashville, Tennessee: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1979.

Thayer, Charles S. “Ophir.” A New Standard Bible Dictionary. Melanchthon W, Jacobus, Edward E. Norse, and Andrew C. Zenos, editors. New York, New York: Funk & Wagnalls Co., 1926.

Unger, Merrill F. Unger’s Bible Dictionary. 3rd edition. Chicago, Illinois: Moody Press, 1960.

Copyright © 2021 by Thomas Coley Allen.

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