David would seem to have been the first, in connection with caravans from Petra and from the west, to open up, by means of a line of ships, that trade with “Ophir” which his son Solomon afterwards made so famous. Where and what “Ophir” was, has been the subject of innumerable essays by men of learning, but to enter into a discussion of this uncertain though interesting inquiry, would be out of our province. Let it suffice that the first notice in the Bible[127] clearly means by “Ophir” someplace in Arabia, where great wealth was found, and was no doubt applicable afterwards to all other similar places. Those writers who, relying on the native Indian names of some of the products said to have come thence, assert Ophir to be the name of a people near the mouths of the Indus, advance opinions more ingenious than convincing. If Ophir were an Arabian entrepôt for the trade of India, the occurrence of Indian names for certain Indian products would be as natural as the use in English of the Persian word _shâl_, which we pronounce as they do, “shawl.” Then David’s “gold of Ophir” may have been simply descriptive of quality, as we used to speak of “guinea-gold.”[128] Be this, however, as it may, it is certain that to David the Jews owe their first practical knowledge of the result of successful commerce, though a careful consideration of the story of his life suggests that his coffers were filled, not so much by any legitimate trade, however extended, as by the conquest and plunder of his neighbours. Though probably not averse to royal monopolies, the fashion of his day, David was a great warrior, and it is likely, indeed it is so stated on more than one occasion, that it was by the capture of Philistine (Phœnician) towns, the overthrow of Moab, the plunder of Hadadezer, the garrisoning of Syria and of its chief city, Damascus, and the extortion of heavy tribute as the condition of peace, that David accumulated the enormous wealth which he proposed devoting to the building and decoration of the future Temple at Jerusalem:[129] but God said, “Thou shalt not build an house unto my name, because thou hast shed much blood upon the earth in my sight.”[130] To Solomon more strictly belongs the great commercial results of a long and peaceful reign, materially aided as this was by the king’s personal superintendence, by his visits to Elath and Ezion-geber, by his treaty of amity, mutual forbearance, and important commercial arrangements with Hiram, King of Tyre, and last, not least, by the extraordinary fame he thus obtained, leading, to the memorable visit to him by the Queen of Sheba, and to the display of his wisdom and wealth, till she felt, on beholding them, that “there was no more spirit in her.”[131] [Sidenote: Port of Ezion-geber.]