Ophir

We read much in Scripture of the gold of Opher, 1 Kings ix. 28. The word is perhaps derived from Aupher or Epher, which means ashes; probably from the dust to which gold in the process of melting is brought. But be this as it may, certain it is that the gold of Ophir, supposed to be the purest of all gold, is after all but ashes; and the very name serves to set forth its emptiness and vanity. Was it not with this view (I do but ask the question, and not determine it) the Holy Ghost by the prophet said, "I will make a man (or moreproperly, the man Christ Jesus) more precious than fine gold, even a man, than the golden wedge of Ophir?" (Isa. 13. 12.)

a place or country remote from Judea, to which the ships of Solomon traded. There has been much discussion respecting the situation of this place; some supposing it to have been the island of Socotora, without the straits of Babelmandel; others, that anciently called Tabrobana, which is supposed by some to have been Ceylon, and by others Sumatra; while others fix its situation on the continent of India. M. Huet and, after him, Bruce, place Ophir at Sofala, in South Africa, where mines of gold and silver have been found, which show marks of having been very anciently and extensively worked. The latter says, also, that the situation of this place explains the period of three years which the Ophir ships were absent, from the different courses of the monsoons and trade winds, which they would have to encounter going and returning. Ruins of ancient buildings have also been found in the neighbourhood of these mines. In confirmation of this opinion, Bruce says there was a place called Tarshish near Melinda.

In the same direction with Ophir lay Tarshish; the voyage to both places being accomplished under one, and always, as it would seem, in the same space of time, three years; by which it may be inferred that, notwithstanding the imperfect navigation of the times, they must be at a considerable distance from the ports of Judea. But the true situation of these places must ever remain matter of conjecture; and all that can be considered as certain respecting them is, that from the articles imported from them, namely, gold, silver, ivory, apes, peacocks, and precious stones, they must have been situated in the tropical parts of either Africa or Asia.

O´phir occurs first, as the proper name of one of the thirteen sons of Joktan, the son of Eber, a great-grandson of Shem, in Gen 10:26-29. Many Arabian countries are believed to have been peopled by these persons, and to have been called after their respective names, as Sheba, etc. and among others Ophir. Ophir occurs also as the name of a place, country, or region, famous for its gold, which Solomon’s ships visited in company, with the Phoenician. The difficulty is to ascertain where Ophir was situated. The first theory which appears to be attended with some degree of evidence not purely fanciful is that Ophir was situate in Arabia. In Gen 10:29, Ophir stands in the midst of other Arabian countries. Still, as Gesenius observes, it is possibly mentioned in that connection only on account of its being an Arabian colony planted abroad. Though gold is not now found in Arabia, yet the ancients ascribe it to the inhabitants in great plenty (Jdg 8:24; Jdg 8:26; 1Ch 18:11; 1Ki 10:1-2; Psa 72:15). This gold, Dr. Lee thinks, was no other than the gold of Havilah (Gen 2:11), which he supposes to have been situate somewhere in Arabia. But Diodorus Siculus ascribes gold-mines to Arabia. He also testifies to the abundance of ’precious stones’ there (Diodorus ii. 54), especially among the inhabitants of Sabas (Diodorus iii. 46; comp. Gen 2:12; 2Ch 9:1; 1Ki 10:1-2). Others suppose that, though Ophir was situate somewhere on the coast of Arabia, it was rather an emporium, at which the Hebrews and Tyrians obtained gold, silver, ivory, apes, almug-trees, etc. brought thither from India and Africa by the Arabian merchants, and even from Ethiopia, to which Herodotus (iii. 114) ascribes gold in great quantities, elephants’ teeth, and trees and shrubs of every kind. In behalf of the supposition that Ophir was the Arabian port Aphar, it may be remarked that the name has undergone similar changes to that of the Sept. of Ophir; for it is called by Arrian Aphar, by Pliny Saphar, by Ptolemy Sapphera, and by Stephanus Saphirini. Grotius thinks his to be Ophir. The very name El Ophir has been lately pointed out as a city of Oman, in former times the center of a very active Arabian commerce. In favor of the theory which places Ophir in Africa, it has been suggested that we have the very name in afri, Africa. Origen also says, on Job 22:24, that some of the interpreters understood Ophir to be Africa. Michaelis supposes that Solomon’s fleet, coming down the Red Sea from Ezion-geber, coasted along the shore of Africa, doubling the Cape of Good Hope, and came to Tarshish, which he, with many others, supposes to have been Tartessus in Spain, and thence back again the same way; that this conjecture accounts for their three years’ voyage out and home; and that Spain and the coasts of Africa furnished all the commodities which they brought back. Strabo indeed says that Spain abounded in gold, and immensely more so in silver (see 1Ma 8:3). Others have not hesitated to carry Solomon’s fleet round from Spain up the Mediterranean to Joppa. In behalf of the conjecture that Ophir was in India, the following arguments are alleged: that it is most natural to understand from the narrative that all the productions said to have been brought from Ophir came from one and the same country, and that they were all procurable only from India. The Sept. translators also appear to have understood it to be India. Josephus also gives to the sons of Joktan the locality from Cophen, an Indian river, and in part of Asia adjoining it (Antiq. i. 6. 4). He also expressly and unhesitatingly affirms that the land to which Solomon sent for gold was ’anciently called Ophir, but now the Aurea Chersonesus, which belongs to India’ (Antiq. viii. 6. 4). There are several places comprised in that region which was actually known as India to the ancients [INDIA], any of which would have supplied the cargo of Solomon’s fleet: for instance, the coast of Malabar. Perhaps the most probable of all is Malacca, which is known to be the Aurea Chersonesus of the ancients. It is also worthy of remark that the natives of Malacca still call their gold mines ophirs. On the other hand, some writers give a wider extent to the country in question. Heeren observes that ’Ophir, like the name of all other very distant places or regions of antiquity, like Thule, Tartessus, and others, denotes no particular spot, but only a certain region or part of the world, such as the East or West Indies in modern geography. Hence Ophir was the general name for the rich countries of the south lying on the African, Arabian, or Indian coasts, as far as at that time known.’

1. One of the sons of Joktan, who settled in southern Arabia, Gen 10:26-29 .\par 2. A country to which the ships of Solomon traded, and which had for a long time been celebrated for the purity and abundance of its gold, Job 22:24 28:16. "Gold of Ophir" was proverbially the best gold, Psa 45:9 Isa 13:12 . The only passages which give us any information as to the location of Ophir are 1Ki 9:26-28 10:11,22 22:48, with the parallel passages in 2Ch 8:18 9:10,21 20:36,37; from which it appears that the so called "ships of Tarshish" went to Ophir; that these ships sailed from Ezion-geber, a port of the Red Sea; that a voyage was made once in three years; that the fleet returned freighted with gold, peacocks, apes, spices, ivory, algumwood, and ebony. Upon these data interpreters have undertaken to determine the situation of Ophir; but they have arrived at different conclusions. Josephus places it in the peninsula of Malacca. Others have placed it at Sofala, in South Africa, three mines of God and silver have been found, which appear to have been anciently and extensively worked. Others still suppose it to have been Southern Arabia.\par

O’phir. (abundance).

1. The eleventh, in order, of the sons of Joktan. Gen 10:29; 1Ch 1:23. (B.C. after 2450).

2. A seaport or region from which the Hebrews, in the time of Solomon, obtained gold. The gold was proverbial for its fineness, so that "gold of Ophir" is several times used as an expression for fine gold, 1Ch 29:4; Job 28:16; Psa 45:9; Isa 13:12, and in one passage, Job 22:24, the word "Ophir" by itself is used for gold of Ophir, and for gold, generally. In addition to gold, the vassels brought from Ophir, almug wood and precious stones.

The precise geographical situation of Ophir has long been a subject of doubt and discussion. The two countries which have divided the opinions of the learned have been Arabia and India, while some have placed it in Africa. In five passages, Ophir is mentioned by name -- 1Ki 9:28; 1Ki 10:11; 1Ki 22:18; 2Ch 8:18; 2Ch 9:10. If the three passages of the book of Kings are carefully examined, it will be seen that all the information given respecting Ophir is that, it was a place or region accessible by sea from Ezion-geber on the Red Sea, from which imports of gold, almug trees, and precious stones were brought back by the Tyrian and Hebrew sailors.

The author of the tenth chapter of Genesis certainly regarded Ophir as the name of some city, region or tribe in Arabia. It is almost certain that the Ophir of Genesis is the Ophir of the book of Kings. There is no mention, either in the Bible or elsewhere, of any other Ophir; and the idea of there having been two Ophirs, evidently arose from a perception of the obvious meaning of the tenth chapter of Genesis, on the one hand, coupled with the erroneous opinion, on the other, that the Ophir of the book of Kings could not have been in Arabia.

(Hence, we conclude that Ophir was in southern Arabia, upon the border of the Indian Ocean; for even if all the things brought over in Solomon’s ships are not now found in Arabia, but are found in India, yet, there is evidence that they once were known in Arabia and, moreover, Ophir may not have been the original place of production of some of them, but the great market for traffic in them -- Editor).

Gen 10:29. Placed between Sheba and Havilah, Ophir must be in Arabia. Arrian in the Periplus calls Aphar metropolis of the Sabeans. Ptolemy calls it Sapphara, now Zaphar. Eleventh of Joktan’s sons. Gesenius explains Ophir, if Semitic, "fruitful region." The Himyaritic ofir means "red". The Mahra people call their country "the ofir country" and the "Red Sea" Bahr Ofir. Aphar means "dust". In 1Ki 9:26-28; 1Ki 10:11, Solomon’s navy on the Red Sea fetched from Ophir gold and almug trees; and in 1Ki 10:22, once in three years (which included the stay in Ophir as well as the long coasting voyage) Tarshish ships (i.e. like our term for far voyaging ships, "Indiamen") brough; "gold, silver, ivory, apes, and peacocks." Mauch, an African traveler, found at latitude 20 degrees, 15 minutes S.l longitude 26 degrees 30 minutes E., ruins resembling Solomon’s temple, which he connects with Ophir.

The gold of western Asia was anciently obtained principally from Arabia. Saba in the southwestern part of Yemen is the only other place for gold besides Ophir mentioned in Scripture (Isa 60:6). Strobe, 16:777, 778, 784, Diodorus Siculus, 2:50; 3:44, describe Arabia as rich in gold. No gold is now found there; whether it has been exhausted as in Spain, or we know not the interior sufficiently to be sure there is no gold left. (See PARAN.) The "al" in almug or algum is the Arabic article "the," and mica is "sandalwood" (Gesenius), so that that wood must have come to the Hebrew through Arabic merchants. But Lassen derives it from Sanskrit valgu or valgum, "sandalwood." The wares and animals, from India or Africa, if such was their source (as the Sanskrit, Tamil, and Malay origin of the words ivory, peacocks, and apes respectively implies), came through Arabia.

Ophir probably therefore was the entrepot there. In Palestine and Tyre the articles even of India and Africa would be designated from Ophir, from which they more immediately came. The indigo used in Egyptian dyeing from of old must have come from India; muslins of Indian origin are found with the mummies; Josephus (Ant. 8:6, section 4) connects Ophir with India (Malacca, so Sir J. E. Tennant); Chinese porcelain vases have been found in the tombs of kings of the 18th dynasty, i.e. before 1476 B.C. Gold of Ophir was proverbial for fineness (Psa 45:9; Job 28:16; Job 22:24; Isa 13:12; 1Ch 29:4; 1Ki 22:48). The Ishmaelites abounded in gold: Num 31:22; Jdg 8:24-26; Psa 72:15 "gold of Sheba (Arabia)." Agatharchides in the second century B.C. (in Photius 250, and Hudson’s Geograph. Minores, 1:60), living in Egypt, and guardian to a Ptolemy in his minority and so familiar with the commerce between Egypt and Arabia, attests that gold was found in Arabia. Two of his statements have been confirmed: (1) that there were gold mines in Egypt, Linant and Bonomi found theta (?) in the Bisharce desert (Wilkinson, Ant. Egypt. 9); (2) that there were large gold nuggets.

Ophir (ô’fir), abundance. 1. One of the sons of Joktan. Gen 10:29; 1Ch 1:23. 2. A seaport or region from which the Hebrews in the time of Solomon obtained gold. The gold was proverbial for its fineness, so that "gold of Ophir" is several times used as an expression for fine gold, 1Ch 29:4; Job 28:16; Psa 45:9; Isa 13:12; and in one passage, Job 22:24, the word Ophir by itself is used for gold of Ophir and for gold generally. In addition to gold the vessels brought from Ophir almug wood and precious stones. The precise situation of Ophir has long been a subject of discussion. It is safe to conclude that Ophir was in southern Arabia, upon the border of the Indian Ocean; for even if all the things brought over in Solomon’s ships are not now found in Arabia, but are found in India, yet there is evidence that they once were known in Arabia.

[O’phir]

1. Son of Joktan, a descendant of Shem. Gen 10:29; 1Ch 1:23. He is judged to have settled in Arabia.

2. Place from whence Solomon imported gold, precious stones, and almug trees. These were brought by ships to the Gulf of Akaba. Possibly southern Arabia is alluded to; but India and Africa have also been suggested. 1Ki 9:28; 1Ki 10:11; 1Ki 22:48; 1Ch 29:4; 2Ch 8:18; 2Ch 9:10; Job 22:24; Job 28:16; Psa 45:9; Isa 13:12.

By: Emil G. Hirsch, Immanuel Benzinger

District first mentioned in the Old Testament as a Joktanite or south-Arabian tribe (Gen. x. 29 et seq.), and later as the port of destination of Solomon's fleet. The earliest reference to Ophir in this connection is in I Kings ix. 26 et seq. (= II Chron. viii. 17 et seq.), where it is said that King Solomon built a navy of ships in Ezion-geber, near Eloth on the Ælanitic Gulf in the Red Sea, manned them with the expert crew given him by Hiram, and sent them to Ophir, whence they brought him 420 talents of gold. A later reference (ib. x. 11 et seq.= II Chron. ix. 10 et seq.) says that the navy of Hiram (or of Solomon) brought back from Ophir "great plenty of almug-trees and precious stones." From that time Ophir was to the Hebrews the land of gold par excellence (comp. Isa. xiii. 12; Ps. xlv. 10 [A. V. 9]; Job xxii. 24, xxviii. 16; I Chron. xxix. 4). The Septuagint renders the name in Gen. x. by Οὐφείρ, but in other passages by Σουφείρ, Σωφείρ, Σωφείρá, Σωφείρα, etc., while Josephus writes Σώφειρα.

Site.

The land of Ophir has been assigned to the most various points of the compass, including Armenia, South Africa, Arabia, the West Indies, Peru, the coast of India, Spain, and Ceylon. Only a few of these identifications, however, deserve serious consideration. Reland, Lassen, the geographer Ritter, and others place Ophir in India, near the mouth of the Indus, equating the word with the Sanskrit "Abhira" (the name of a shepherd tribe) and the "Aberia" of Ptolemy. Others identify it with the port Σοήπαρα mentioned by Ptolemy, the Οὔππαρα of Arrian. Although the name Σώφειρα in the Septuagint and in Josephus designates a part of India proper, as may be shown from Coptic vocabularies, this merely proves that Josephus and others identified Ophir with India, basing their conclusions on the fact that at that time India was regarded as the land of gold.

Still less convincing is the argument that the exports from Ophir were of Indian origin, a view based on I Kings x. 22, which says that in addition to gold and silver the ships brought also "habbim," "ḳopim," and "tukkiyim." The renderings "ivory," "apes," and "peacocks," and the view that these terms are loan-words from the Sanskrit, are very doubtful; and the same criticism applies to the purely conjectural translation of "almuggim" as "sandal-wood" (see Algum). Moreover, in the only passage(I Kings x. 22) in which these products are mentioned Ophir is not named as the port of destination of the ships, the reference being merely to the fleet of Tarshish, which made the voyage once every three years, while the parallel passage, II Chron. ix. 21, states that the ships went to Tarshish. It must also be taken into account that no gold was exported from that part of India, and that the Jews became acquainted with India only in the Greco-Persian period.

Sofala Theory.

The view, of which Peters is the protagonist, that Ophir was situated in South Africa in the coast district of Sofala opposite Madagascar, is still more improbable. In 1871 the African traveler Mauch found at Zimbabiye on Mount Afura, forty German miles inland from Sofala, certain remarkable ruins which are traced by tradition to the Queen of Sheba or to Solomon. These remains are situated in rich gold-fields; in a neighboring river topazes and rubies are found, and large yew forests are said to have furnished the almug-wood. Although silver has not yet been found there, ivory is one of the chief articles of commerce of East Africa; and apes abound. On the other hand, the gold-mines of Sofala have become known only since the time of Ptolemy, while it is most improbable that the servants of Hiram and Solomon should have exploited gold-mines almost 200 miles from the sea when they could have gone to others nearer home. The name of Sofala has no connection with Ophir (= Σωφείρα), but is derived from the Arabic "safala" = "to be low" and denotes "lowland" (Hebr. "shefelah").

Probably South Arabia.

The most probable view is that Ophir was situated in Arabia. This is indicated, as mentioned above, by the Biblical reference in Gen. x. 29. An old tradition recorded by Eupolemus (c. 150 B.C.) also assigns Ophir to this region, identifying it with the island of Uphre in the Red Sea. Both the east and west coasts have been considered as the site. Glaser assigns Ophir to the east coast, in view of the three years' voyage, which would be much too long if it were on the west coast; and he also compares it with the cunciform name "Apir" applied to the northeast and the northwest coast of the Persian Gulf. The Arabic geographer Hamadani says that gold-mines were situated in the northeastern part of Arabia. Glaser locates Havilah here (Gen. ii. 11) and identifies Ophir with the coast district belonging to it.

Since the reference to the three years required for the voyage is not found in the earlier account, there is ample justification for the view which prefers the western coast of Arabia, especially as there are a number of references in the ancient authors to the rich gold of the southwestern coast of Arabia. According to Agatharchides, these mines contained pieces of gold as large as walnuts: but this metal was of little value to the inhabitants, and iron and copper were worth two and three times as much. It is hardly probable that Solomon and Hiram would have sent their ships past Yemen to fetch gold from the Gulf of Persia, which was much farther away.

To the southwest coast of Arabia, the coast of Somaliland, which lies opposite it, may perhaps be added, for the Egyptians designated both coasts by the common name of Punt. This theory gains in probability if the author of I Kings x. 22 meant to imply that the exports were native to Ophir itself; for apes, ivory, and ebony are among the commercial products of Somaliland.

Bibliography:

C. Lassen, Indische Altertumskunde, 1844-1863, i. 538 et seq., 651 et seq., ii. 553 et seq.;

Ritter, Erdkunde, 1848, xiv. 343-387;

E. Glaser, Skizze der Gesch. und Geographie Arabiens, 1890, ii. 345 et seq.;

K. Peters, Das Goldene Ophir, 1895;

J. Kennedy, Early Commerce of Babylon with India, in J. R. A. S. 1898, pp. 421 et seq.;

K. Keane, The Gold of Ophir, 1901.

OPHIR.—A region most probably in Arabia (as it is mentioned between Sheba and Havilah in Gen 10:29), famous for the excellence of its gold, which was brought to Solomon by his Red Sea navy (1Ki 9:28). Jehoshaphat, essaying to send to Ophir, lost his ships (1Ki 22:48). It has been disputed whether South or East Arabia was the true Ophir; the only datum is the length of the voyage thither from Ezion-geber—eighteen months, as the double voyage took three years (1Ki 10:22). As the vessels probably coasted from port to port, the journey would naturally occupy a considerable time. It need not be supposed that the other imports—sandalwood, ivory, apes, and peacocks—all came from the same place. The most careful study that has been given to the subject is that of Glaser (Skizze der Gesch. und Geog. Arabiens, ii. pp. 353–387), who has concluded that it was in S.E. Arabia, in the territory of the Gulfs of Oman and of Persia.

Other theories have been put forward in plenty. The most popular recent view sees in Ophir certain parts of Mashonaland. This theory, apart from other difficulties which it presents, stands or falls with the explanation of certain ruins at Zimbabwe, about 200 miles from Sofala. Like Stonehenge and the Great Pyramid, these remains have been made the centre of much visionary speculation, but their true character seems to have been settled by the recent researches of Randall-MacIvor. who has shown that they are native structures of no great antiquity.

Besides S. Africa, various places in India have been fixed upon, such as the mouth of the Indus, Supara in Goa, and ‘Mount Ophir’ in Johore. Nothing convincing has been said in support of any of these views. For instance, we are reminded that the peacocks are confined to India and Malaya; but it is nowhere said that the peacocks came from Ophir, and even if they did, they may well have been brought thither by further Eastern trade quite independently of Solomon’s Phœnician navigators.

On the whole, the view that Ophir was in Arabia (known to the Phœnicians as auriferous, Eze 27:22) is the simplest and most in accordance with the scanty data.

R. A. S. Macalister.

Ophir, in the Bible, designates a people and a country.The people, for whom a Semitic descent is claimed, is mentioned in Gen., x, 29, with the other "sons of Jectan", whose dwelling "was from Messa as we go on as far as Sehar, a mountain in the east" (Genesis 10:30).The place Ophir was that from which the Bible represents Solomon’s fleet bringing gold, silver, thyine (probably santal) wood, precious stones, ivory, apes, and peacocks (1 Kings 9:26-28; 10:11, 22; 2 Chronicles 8:17-18; 9:10). Its location has been sought where the articles mentioned are native productions; still, while Ophir is repeatedly spoken of as a gold-producing region (Job 22:24; 28:16; Psalm 44:10; Isaiah 13:12), it does not follow that the other articles came from there; whether they were natural products, or only bought and sold there, or even purchased by the merchantmen at intervening ports, cannot be gathered from the text, as it states merely that they were fetched to Asiongaber. The Bible does not give the geographical position of Ophir; it only says that the voyage out from Asiongaber and back lasted three years (1 Kings 10:22). Scholars have been guided in their several identifications of the site by the importance they attach to this or that particular indication in the sacred text–especially the products brought to Solomon–also by resemblances, real or fanciful, between the Hebrew names of Ophir and of the articles mentioned in connexion therewith and names used in various countries and languages. The Greek translators of the Bible, by rendering the Hebrew Ophir into Sophir, the Coptic name for India, would locate the Biblical El Dorado in India, according to some in the land of the Abhira, east of the delta of the Indus, according to others, on the coast of Malabar or at Ceylon, and according to others still in the Malay Peninsula. The opinion that it was situated on the southern or south-eastern coast of Arabia has many advocates, who contend from the text of Gen., x, 29, 30, that Ophir must be located between Saba and Hevilath. Another opinion says it was not in Asia, but either on the south-eastern coast of Africa (Sofala) or inland in Mashonaland.-----------------------------------HALL AND NEAL, The Ancient Ruins of Rhodesia (London, 1902); CORY, The Rise of South Africa (London, 1909); LOW Maritime Discovery, I (London, 1881); PEYRON, Lexicon Linguæ Copticæ (Turin, 1835); HUEY, Commentaires sur les navigations de Solomon in BRUZEN DE LA MARTINIÈRE, Traités géographiques et historiques pour faciliter l’intelligence de l’Ecriture Sainte, II (The Hague, 1730); QUATREMÈRE, Mémoires sur le pays d’Ophir in Mémoires de l’Academie des Inscriptions, XV (Paris, 1842); VIGOUROUX, La Bible et les découvertes modernes, III (6th ed., Paris, 1896); VIVIEN DE SAINT-MARTIN, Histoire de la géographie et des découvertes géographiques (Paris, 1875); GESENIUS, Ophir in ERSCH AND GRUBER, Encyklopädie der Wissenschaften (1833); GLASER, Skizze der Geschichte und Geographie Arabiens, II (1890); GUTHE, Kurzes Bibelwörterbuch (Tübingen, 1903); HERZFELD, Handelsgeschichte der Juden der Alterthums (1879); LASSEN, Indische Alterthumskunde, I (1866); LIEBLEIN, Handel und Schiffahrt auf dem rothen Meer in alten Zeiten (Leipzig, 1886); MAUCH, Reisende in Ost-Afrika (1871); MERENSKY, Beiträge zur Kenntniss Sud-Afrikas (1875); MÜLLER, Asien und Europa nach altägyptischen Denkmälern (1893); PETERS, Das goldene Ophir Salomons (Munich, 1895); SOETBEER, Das Goldland Ophir (1880). CHARLES L. SOUVAY. Transcribed by WGKofron With thanks to St. Mary’s Church, Akron, Ohio The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume XICopyright © 1911 by Robert Appleton CompanyOnline Edition Copyright © 2003 by K. KnightNihil Obstat, February 1, 1911. Remy Lafort, S.T.D., CensorImprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York

ō´fẽr, ō´fir (אופיר, ’owphiyr (Gen 10:29), אופר, ’owphir (1Ki 10:11), אפיר, ’ōphı̄r):

1. Scriptural References:

The 11th in order of the sons of Joktan (Gen 10:29 = 1Ch 1:23). There is a clear reference also to a tribe Ophir (Gen 10:30). Ophir is the name of a land or city somewhere to the South or Southeast of Palestine for which Solomon’s ships along with Phoenician vessels set out from Ezion-geber at the head of the Gulf of Aqabah, returning with great stores of gold, precious stones and “almug”-wood (1Ki 9:28; 1Ki 10:11; 2Ch 9:10; 1Ki 22:48; 2Ch 8:18). We get a fuller list of the wares and also the time taken by the voyage if we assume that the same vessels are referred to in 1Ki 10:22, “Once every three years came the navy of Tarshish, bringing gold, and silver, ivory, and apes, and peacocks.” The other products may not have been native to the land of Ophir, but it is certain that the gold at least was produced there. This gold was proverbial for its purity, as is witnessed by many references in the Old Testament (Psa 45:9; Job 28:16; Isa 13:12; 1Ch 29:4), and, in Job 22:24, Ophir is used for fine gold itself. In addition to these notices of Ophir, it is urged that the name. occurs also in two passages under the form “Uphaz” (Jer 10:9; Dan 10:5).

2. Geographical Position:

At all times the geographical position of Ophir has been a subject of dispute, the claims of three different regions being principally advanced, namely (1) India and the Far East, (2) Africa, (3) Arabia.

(1) India and the Far East.

All the wares mentioned are more or less appropriate to India, even including the fuller list of 1Ki 10:22. “Almug”-wood is conjectured to be the Indian sandal-wood. Another argument is based on the resemblance between the Septuagint form of the word (Sōpherá) and the Coptic name for India (Sophir). A closer identification is sought with Abhira, a people dwelling at the mouths of the Indus. Supara, an ancient city on the west coast of India near the modern Goa, is also suggested. Again, according to Wildman, the name denotes a vague extension eastward, perhaps as far as China.

(2) Africa.

This country is the greatest gold-producing region of the three. Sofala, a seaport near Mozambique on the east coast of Africa, has been advanced as the site of Ophir, both on linguistic grounds and from the nature of its products, for there all the articles of 1Ki 10:22 could be procured. But Gesenius shows that Sofala is merely the Arabic form of the Hebrew sh^ephēlāh. Interest in this region as the land of Ophir was renewed, however, by Mauch’s discovery at Zimbabye of great ruins and signs of old Phoenician civilization and worked-out gold mines. According to Bruce (I, 440), a voyage from Sofala to Ezion-geber would have occupied quite three years owing to the monsoons.

(3) Arabia.

The claim of Southeastern Arabia as the land of Ophir has on the whole more to support it than that of India or of Africa. The Ophir of Gen 10:29 beyond doubt belonged to this region, and the search for Ophir in more distant lands can be made only on the precarious assumption that the Ophir of Ki is not the same as the Ophir of Gen. Of the various products mentioned, the only one which from the Old Testament notices can be regarded as clearly native to Ophir is the gold, and according to Pliny and Strabo the region of Southeastern Arabia bordering on the Persian Gulf was a famous gold-producing country. The other wares were not necessarily produced in Ophir, but were probably brought there from more distant lands, and thence conveyed by Solomon’s merchantmen to Ezion-geber. If the duration of the voyage (3 years) be used as evidence, it favors this location of Ophir as much as that on the east coast of Africa. It seems therefore the least assailable view that Ophir was a district on the Persian Gulf in Southeastern Arabia and served in old time as an emporium of trade between the East and West.