1Ki 9:28; 2Ch 8:18.
Ophir (Heb. zí”fir, zí”fir). 1. Descendant or descendants of Joktan (Gen 10:29; 1Ch 1:23). 2. Land famous for its gold (1Ch 29:4; Job 22:24; 28:16; Psa 45:9; Isa 13:12). It is also mentioned in an ancient Hebrew inscription on a piece of written potsherd from Tell Qasîleh. Solomon sent expeditions to Ophir from Ezion in the Gulf of Aqaba (1Ki 9:26-28; 10:11). A similar enterprise started by Kings Jehoshaphat and King Ahaziah failed, because their ships were wrecked at Ezion-geber (22:48). The location of Ophir has been much discussed and India, Elam, southern Arabia, the east, and southern Africa have been suggested. Recent studies have made plausible the idea that Ophir was in southern Arabia or Somalia, the probable Punt, or even that it included both countries. Map IV, D-6.
Source: Evangelical Bible Dictionary
1. Son of Joktan, son of Eber (Gen 10:29). Names on the Table of Nations (Genesis 10) often indicate localities. Ophir is located between Sheba and Havilah both located in southern Arabia.
2. Land occupied by the descendants of Ophir. In 1Ki 9:28 it is mentioned that it is rich in gold (compare Gen 2:11-12 where neighboring Havilah is renowned for her good gold). Ophir in Arabia was not only a place where there was gold, but it may have been a stopover for ships from Tarshish heading west from India: if monkeys, ivory, and peacocks (1Ki 10:22 ) and sandalwood (1Ki 10:11-12) came from India. Ophir was famous for its gold from very ancient times (Job 22:24; Job 28:16).
Source: Hispanic World Bible Dictionary
Name of a person and a place from the OT.
1. Descendant of †¢Shem Son of †¢Joktan (Gen 10:29; 1Ch 1:23). The Arab peoples of which O. is the eponym are generally thought to have inhabited eastern Canaan, towards what is now Oman.
. Gold-rich region, far from Israel. To reach it, one had to go by sea from the port of †¢Ezión-geber. Solomon organized at least one expedition to O., which required extensive preparations and the assistance of skilled Phoenician sailors (1Ki 9:26-28), bringing back gold, sandalwood, and precious stones (1Ki 10:11; 2Ch 8:18). But even before that there was a lot of traffic with this region, since David accumulated “three thousand talents of gold, of gold from O.†, for the purpose of being used in the “temple” (1Ch 29:4). O.’s gold is set forth in the Scriptures as the finest and most prized. Thus, the queen described in Ps 45:9 is adorned with that gold. In Jehovah’s day he will make “a man more precious than fine gold, and a man more precious than O. gold” (Isa 13:12). There has been much speculation about the exact location of O. Columbus said of the island of Hispaniola that it was O. Other alternatives are India, the lands in the SE of the Arabian Peninsula or in the region known as †œthe horn of í africa† . India fits the description of the products that were brought from O quite well. But what can be understood from the biblical text is that it was a distant place and that a lot of preparation was required to reach it and get the ore. = †¢Uface.
Source: Christian Bible Dictionary
type, TRIB COUNTRY
vet, Tribe sprung from Joktan (Gen. 10:29; 1 Chron. 1:23) and the country occupied by her; it was a region famous for its gold (1 Chr. 29:4; Jb. 22:24; 28:16; Ps. 45:10; Isa. 13:12). Hiram and Solomon sent a fleet from Ezion-geber to Ophir (1 Kings 9:26-28); perfumed woods (possibly sandalwood) were also brought from there, in addition to gold (1 Kings 10:11). It is also likely that it was from Ophir that the silver, ivory, monkeys, and peacocks of 1 Kings 10:22 came (cf. 1 Kings 22:49). Jehoshaphat tried to imitate this undertaking, but his ships were shipwrecked at Ezion-geber (1 Kings 22:49) in the Gulf of Ikaba. Therefore, it is evident that Ophir’s route passed through the Red Sea, not the Mediterranean. Ophir has not been identified in a certain way. Josephus assimilates the land of gold with India (Ant. 8:6, 4), stating that it was possibly the Cophenes river basin (Ant. 1:6, 4). Therefore, there are those who have thought of the mouth of the Indus, in the Abhira region. Southern Arabia, the Persian Gulf in eastern Arabia, and Africa, perhaps the area of Somalia, have also been suggested. The location of India is quite plausible, considering that the journey lasted three years, although the Transvaal region of South Africa has also recently been pointed out.
Source: New Illustrated Bible Dictionary
Mythical country where the Israelite ships, from Solomon, went to trade gold, silver, ivories, spices and perfumes from the southern port of Esyon-Geber (today Elat): 1 King. 9.28; 1 King. 22.49; Isaiah 13.12; Psalm. 45.10. It was probably located in Yemen or Eritrea.
Pedro Chico González, Dictionary of Catechesis and Religious Pedagogy, Editorial Bruño, Lima, Peru 2006
Source: Dictionary of Catechesis and Religious Pedagogy
1. Descendant of Shem through Arpaksad, Selah, Eber, and Joqtan, by whom he was the eleventh of his thirteen sons. (Ge 10: 22-29; 1Ch 1: 17-23) He was probably born about two hundred years before Abraham, who descended from his paternal uncle Peleg. (Ge 10:25; 11: 18-26) Like his brothers, Ophir seems to have headed one of the Semitic tribes listed as descendants of Noah † œaccording to their families, according to their languages, in their lands, according to their nations †. (Ge 10:31, 32) For the possible locations of the land of Ophir in which this tribe eventually settled, see No. two.
2. Place renowned as a source of much gold of the best quality. By Job’s time (c. 1600 BCE) “precious ore in dust” and “pure gold” were already associated with “Ophir’s gold”. (Job 22:24; 28:15, 16) Psalm 45:9 describes the royal consort decked out in precious gold from Ophir, and Isaiah 13:11, 12—in the statement against Babylon—uses the relative rarity of Ophir’s gold to symbolize the scarcity of tyrannical men that would be in Babylon after its fall.
David donated 3,000 talents of gold from Ophir, valued at $1,156,050,000 (US), for the construction of the temple. (1Ch 29:1, 2, 4) Later, David’s son Solomon’s trading fleet regularly shipped 420 talents of gold from Ophir. (1Ki 9:26-28) On the other hand, the parallel account at 2 Chronicles 8:18 gives the figure of 450 talents. Some scholars believe that this discrepancy appeared when the letters of the alphabet began to be used instead of numbers, and that perhaps some copyist confused the letter nun (× ), which represented the number 50, with the letter kaf (×›), which meant 20, or vice versa. However, there are clear indications that the numbers were not represented by letters in the Hebrew Scriptures, but that the corresponding word was written for each one. A more likely explanation, therefore, is that both figures are correct and that the gross amount taken was 450 talents, of which 420 made up the net profit.
Confirming these biblical accounts of the importation of gold from Ophir, a pottery shard was unearthed to the NE in 1946. from Tel Aviv-Yafo with the inscription: †œGold of Ophir a bet horón, 30 shekels†. (Journal of Near Eastern Studies, 1951, vol. 10, pp. 265, 266.)
In addition to producing an enormous amount of gold, the land of Ophir also produced the algum trees and precious stones that Solomon imported. (1Ki 10:11; 2Ch 9:10) King Jehoshaphat’s expedition to that land a century later, however, failed, for his “ships from Tarshish” were shipwrecked at Ezion-geber in the Gulf of `Aqaba. (1Ki 22:48; see TARSHISH No. 4.)
Location. The exact location of Ophir cannot currently be determined with certainty. Of the various places proposed, there are three with more overtones of reality: India, Arabia and the NE. Africa, all accessible to a fleet operating from Ezion-geber, at the northern end of the eastern arm of the Red Sea. In relation to India, it must be said that all the articles carried by the ships of Solomon and Hiram could have been obtained there. Josephus, Jerome, and the Septuagint may also be cited in support of the theory that Ophir was in India. On the other hand, those in favor of locating Ofir in the NE region. from Africa near Somalia, at the southernmost point of the Red Sea, point out that all the imported items could have been obtained from a place much closer than India.
However, the general opinion is that Ophir was a region of the SW. of Arabia, in the vicinity of modern Yemen. This view is based on the premise that the descendants of Ophir, the son of Joqtan, settled in the Arabian Peninsula along with other sister tribes, such as the descendants of Sheba and Havilah. (Ge 10:28, 29) The account of the visit of the queen of Sheba (probably from S. Arabia) is found between the two references to Solomon’s trade with Ophir. (1Ki 9:26–10:11.)
Source: Dictionary of the Bible
(heb. ˒ôfir, Gen. 10.29; ˒ôfı̂r, 1 Kings 10.11). 1. Name of the son of Joktán in the genealogy of Sem (Gn. 10.29 = 1 Cr. 1.23). This tribe is known from pre-Islamic inscriptions (G. Ryckmans, Le noms probres sub-sémitiques, 1934, pp. 298, 339f). The corresponding region is between Seba in Yemen and Havilah (Havlan), as described in Gn. 10.29. Islamic tradition equates Joktan with Qahtan, son of Ishmael and “father of all Arabs.”
2. Country from which fine gold was imported to Judah (2 Chr. 8.18; Job 22.24; 28.16; Sal. 45.9; Is. 13.12), sometimes in large quantities (1 Chr. 29.4), and with valuable sandalwood ( 1 Kings 10.11), silver, ivories, monkeys and peacocks (1 Kings 10.22), and precious stones (2 Chron. 9.10). Solomon’s fleet arrived there from Ezion-geber in the Gulf of Ahab (1 Kings 9.28), employing “ships from Tarshish,” which may have been *ships normally used to carry minerals (1 Kings 22.48). The trip lasted “three years”, which perhaps means a whole year and part of another two. This trade was well known enough that Ophir became synonymous with the fine gold that was its main product (Job 22.24). In Is. 13.12 Ophir appears next to ˒ôqir, “I will make more precious” (HUCA 12–13, 1937–8, pp. 61). There is confirmation of this trade in an ostraca found at Tell Qasileh, NE of Tel Aviv, in 1946, bearing the inscription zhb ‘fr lbyt ḥrn š = “ophir gold for Beth Horon 30 shekels” (JNES, 10, 1951, pp. 265–267).
Several theories have been formulated regarding Ophir’s location.
a. The S of Arabia, as in 1, sup. R. North relates (S)ōfa(i)r(a) (= Ophir) with Parvaim (= Farva) in Yemen as the source of Sheba’s gold (cf. Ps. 72.15; Is. 60.6).
b. The SE of Arabia: Oman. These points are not far from Ezion-geber, and we have to assume that the three-year journey included inactivity during the hot summer, and that some merchandise (eg.. ..