SOLOMON’S DOMINIONS,
THE
KINGDOMS OF JUDAH & ISRAEL
AND THE
LANDS OF THE CAPTIVITIES.
London: Macmillan & Co.
His reign was a period of great commercial activity. On the North-west the important kingdom of Phœnicia was united with him by the bonds of a strict alliance. Once only did Hiram, king of Tyre, express any dissatisfaction with the dealings of his powerful friend. Solomon had bestowed upon him twenty cities which he had conquered in the land of Galilee, on the borders of Asher. But when the Tyrian king came forth to see them, he was much dissatisfied. One of them namedCabul, now Kabûl, about 8 or 9 miles east of Akka, in his own Phœnician tongue denoted displeasure, and this name he gave to them all (1 K. ix. 10–13).
1. But Phœnician enterprise was turned to account in other directions. Having possession of the Eastern shore of the Red Sea, Solomon strengthened the ports of Elath and Ezion-geber (the giant’s backbone), and with the assistance of Tyrian shipwrights, constructed a fleet, which sailed to Ophir[334], and returned with gold, silver, ivory, and other products (1 K. ix. 26–28).
2. The Tyrian alliance opened up also the traffic of the Mediterranean. On every shore washed by this sea Phœnician energy had founded colonies, and opened trading ports, of which the chief was Tarshish, or Tartessus—“the Peru of Tyrian adventure[335]”—on the southern coast of Spain, at this time abounding in gold and silver mines. Hither Solomon’s fleet sailed in company with that of Hiram, and brought back every three years of its precious products (1 K. x. 22).