Discussion Board Replies

BUSI 303-B07

Faith and Integration Forum: Question 6

Question 6: I Kings chapters 7-10 provide a wealth of insight into the concept of cross-border trade. After reading these chapters, compile a list of the nation’s King Solomon traded with, as well as, the details regarding goods and services traded. Include prices and other details, if available.

Discussion

The book of 1 Kings has much to say about the cross-border trading sanctioned by King Solomon. In chapter seven, for instance, it is written that Hiram made pots, shovels, and basins of bronze “in the clay ground between Succoth and Zarethan.” (I Kings 7:46, ESV). In addition to this, chapter nine adds that King Solomon also traded King Hiram of Tyre twenty cities in Galilee for the gold and cedar and cypress timbers that were used in the building of two houses. In fact, verse fourteen of chapter nine specifically states that the amount of gold that King Hiram traded King Solomon was 120 talents. Also in chapter nine it is recorded that both the servants of King Hiram and King Solomon traveled to Ophir and bought four hundred and twenty talents of gold, which were subsequently delivered to King Solomon. Ophir, then, must have been a hub for trading activity, for the eleventh verse of chapter ten also mentions that the same servants of King Solomon and King Hiram also acquired “almug wood and precious stones” there (1 Kings 10:11, ESV). In this year of rapid wealth accumulation, chapter ten records that King Solomon ended up receiving six hundred and sixty-six talents of gold, which is an extremely weighty amount. One interesting bit of information lies in the biblical recordings of the animals that King Solomon acquired in cross-border trade. It is recounted in the tenth chapter in verse twenty-two that King Solomon had ships bring him “gold, silver, ivory, apes, and peacocks” from Tarshish. (1 Kings 10:22, ESV). As a result of this great accumulation of assets, the Bible states that “King Solomon excelled all the kings of the earth in riches and in wisdom.” (1 Kings 10:23, ESV).