MYSTERY OF OPHIR
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With the fourth e-book of the series Arabia The Untold Story nearing its completion (due in about 10 days), I think now would be a good time to whet the appetites of those who have been eagerly awaiting its release, by giving a snippet from a research paper regarding the true theater of the Biblical events.
The Old Testament relates to us the story of King Solomon?s servants going on a trip to the ?mysterious? land of Ophir, accompanied by Hiram, the King of Tyre, who was a friend of Solomon. The story has it that in order to reach their destination (which the Bible describes as being a land rich in gold and precious stones) Solomon built ships at a coastal location called Ezion-Geber, on the Red Sea, and the entire regiment sailed to Ophir from there.
Here is what the common man?s resource, Wikipedia, says regarding Ezion-Geber
Ezion-Geber (Classical Hebrew , Etzyon Gever) was a city of Idumea (Edom) a biblical seaport on the northern extremity of the Gulf of Aqaba, in the area of modern Aqaba and Eilat. According to the Book of Numbers, Ezion-Geber was one of the first places where the Israelites camped after the Exodus from Egypt.
The map below shows where the alleged location of this sea-port is, with the red arrow showing the direction of Solomon?s ships, as they sailed into the Red Sea to Ophir.
http//i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb386/Gorefiendel/vbn_zps44eb0368.jpg
Map #1
Of course, those members who have read the previous three books of the series know by now that the Israelites never set foot in Egypt, and that the followers of the three ?Abrahamic Faiths? have been victims of a massive deception.
Here is a passage from the 2nd Book of Chronicles
Also, the servants of Hiram and the servants of Solomon, who brought gold from Ophir, brought algum wood and precious stones.
And a passage from the 1st Book of Kings
And King Solomon made a navy of ships in Eziongeber, which is beside Eloth, on the shore of the Red sea, in the land of Edom. And Hiram sent in the navy his servants, shipmen that had knowledge of the sea, with the servants of Solomon. And they came to Ophir, and fetched from thence gold, four hundred and twenty talents, and brought it to king Solomon. And when the queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon concerning the name of the LORD, she came to test him with hard questions.
Where is this land of Ophir?
This is supposedly a ?mystery? that has never been solved. The truth of the matter is that there are no mysteries in the Biblical geography. This is something that scholar Edward Saeed once pointed to in his book entitled ?Orientalism? (first printing 197, wherein he exposed to us the imperial West?s tendency to always view the East as a land of magic and mysticism, for reasons which ultimately proved to be more nefarious than a simple romantic imagination.
Let us give you examples of the conjecture regarding the location of Ophir
Africa?
Biblical scholars, archaeologists and others have tried to determine the exact location of Ophir. Vasco da Gama's companion Tom? Lopes reasoned that Ophir would have been the ancient name for Great Zimbabwe in Zimbabwe, the main center of sub-African trade in gold in the Renaissance period ? though the ruins at Great Zimbabwe are now dated to the medieval era, long after Solomon is said to have lived. The identification of Ophir with Sofala in Mozambique was mentioned by Milton in Paradise Lost (11399-401), among many other works of literature and science.
America?
On the other hand, the theologian Benito Arias Montano (1571) proposed finding Ophir in the name of Peru, reasoning that the native Peruvians were thus descendants of Ophir and Shem. He also claimed, that the province of Yucatan, had the same name that Ioktan father of Ophir. Proponents of pre-Columbian connections between Eurasia and the Americas have suggested even more distant locations such as modern-day Peru or Brazil.
Asia?
In the 19th century, Max M?ller and other scholars identified Ophir with Abhira, at the mouth of the Indus River in modern-day Pakistan. According to Benjamin Walker, Ophir is said to have been a town of the Abhira tribe. Most modern scholars still place Ophir on the coast of either Pakistan or India, in what is now Poovar, or somewhere in southwest Arabia in the region of modern Yemen. This is also the assumed location of Sheba.
Elsewhere?
Other assumptions vary as widely as the theorized locations of Atlantis. Portuguese mythology locates it in Ofir, a place in F?o, Esposende. The Bavarian antiquarian Aventinus (c. 1530) implied it to be Epirus, on the Balkan Adriatic coast.
Perhaps Ophir is on another planet altogether. They like to keep it a mystery, as long as that serves an ideological agenda.
There are some comments regarding the highlighted statements above
First of all, the Yemen is not ?assumed? to be the location of Sheba. It IS the location of Sheba, whether they like it or not. And I have, at my disposal, photographs of over 30 numbered inscriptions unearthed in Ma?rib and Shabwah, written in the old South Arabian Musnad script, which clearly place Sheba (أ in the Badia (wilderness) region of Yemen. I will include some of these photos in Book 4, so you can see them for yourselves.
Second, who is Ioktan, father of Ophir?
Let us pause a little to analyze this name. Joktan or Ioktan is a corruption of the Arabic name Qahtan (ن, who is the legendary father of the tribes of Hadramaut and Shabwah . The name has nothing to do with the Yucutan Peninsula of Mexico, nor with Mozambique in Africa.
Since time immemorial, the Arabs have traced their roots to legendary father figures. But we need to be aware that legends are not synonymous with myths, nor should they be mistaken as such. A legend is a story that has firm historical basis, but is retold within a symbolic, romantic mold, to allow it to be carried down through the memory of the generations, in the form of traditional folklore. In these legends, the names of places are merged in a symbolic way with the names of heroes or ancestors. The very word Qahtan is derived from the root qht (ط, which means dry, barren land; or the land whose inhabitants are forced to move from one place to another, in search of grazing grounds for their livestock. Meaning, that the Qahtan are Bedouins or Hebrews.
The Bible tells us that Qahtan was the father of Sheba (أ Hazarmaveth (ت Havila (ا and Ophir. This symbolic lineage simply means that the four regions in question were located in territories that were not as green or fertile as the mountainous regions of the Adnan (ن. This latter term is derived from the root ?Adn (ن, which designates pastoral areas and green oases, whose residents are sedentary, and practice agriculture. Among the residents of these pastoral regions are Kinanah (ة Mudar (ر Ma?d (د, and Rabee3ah (ة
The Bible also tells us that the Queen of Sheba heard the news of Solomon, immediately after the ships he dispatched made the trip to Ophir. This means that, within the context of the Biblical narrative, Ophir was another fringe territory, which certainly shared borders with Sheba.
Since Havila, Hazarmaveth and Sheba are all South Arabian nations, whose lineage appears, to the letter, in the ancestral trees of Yemen, the question is where do we find, in those South Arabian lineages, mention of the name Ophir?
For those who can read Arabic, the link provided below is a blog featuring the historical roots of the clans of Oman, among whom was the clan of Kindah Ibn ?Ofeer ( ر. These clans migrated from Hadramawt (the ancestral home of Kindah), with some settling north in al-Yamamah, while others settling in or around the area known today as Zhofar, in Oman.
http//mnhalhabsi.blogspot.com/p/blog-page_9699.html
Hence the Biblical Ophir was in Oman, directly to the east of Sheba, and its ports lay on the Southern shores of Arabia, which was known to the ancient Greeks and Romans as Arabia Eudaemon / Arabia Felix, with its mythical coast of Myrrh and Frankincense.
http//www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/160809/Dhofar
http//i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb386/Gorefiendel/yemen-map_zps4a9c8bda.jpg
Map #2
This leads us to the second question where exactly is the port of Ezion-Geber, where Solomon built the ships that sailed to Oman?
We know that it must be a port on the Red Sea.
And we have seen that Solomon?s Kingdom was centered around San?a.
Therefore, we have to search the coastal region of Tihamah, beginning from Bab-al-Mandab (the narrow straight between Yemen and Djibouti) to find such a place.
Before we do that, let?s make a brief analysis of the name Etzion-Geber. The Old Testament commentators could not find any explanation for the term ?Etzion?, and assumed it to be somehow part of the name, which explains why some translations rendered it as Asiongeber of Etziongeber. Furthermore, because of the European (Yiddish) influence, the sad letter (ص is rendered as tzade. This explains why the Arabic translations of the text feature the name Etzion-Geber as .
In his massive geographical gazetteer of Arabia (Description of Arabia), al-Hamadani gives us, with pinpoint accuracy, a description of all the ?heads? (س which stick out of the Tihamah Coast (Red Sea), from Abyan (east of Aden) all the way to Jeezan (Jazan) in the north. One such ?head? (meaning isthmus or natural promontory) is mentioned on page 92, and is called Manfahaq Jaber ( ر. Here?s the passage
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Here is the paraphrase, focusing only on the highlighted names, which can be followed in succession
"And then the Sea curves west and north around Yemen from Abyan , to Lahj, to Adan and the coast of Bani Majeed, up around Mandab, to the coast of Zabid, and then Kamran, to Manfahaq Jaber, which is a very windy isthmus surrounded by deep water, and all the way north to Sharjah and Jazan"
You can follow the coastline according to Al-Hamadani?s description, on map #2. Once you reach Zabid, switch to map #3 below, which shows the enlarged area where the Kamran Islands (red circle) and Manfahaq Jaber (blue circle) are located.
The Bible tells us that Ezion-Jaber lay at the edge of the land of Edom, on the Red Sea. There happens to be a Mountain called Jabal Adum ( م in Yemen, mentioned several times in Description of Arabia, as being west of Sana?a, overlooking the Tihama coast. Another geographer, al-Bakri, substantiates this fact in his famous Glossary, wherein he places Adum (Edom) in the Sana?a Precinct (ء.
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http//i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb386/Gorefiendel/Geber_zps68828a09.png
Map #3
Anyone who stands on this peak and glances towards the sea on a clear day, will spot Manfahaq Jaber (Ezion Geber). And the ?Hebrew? tern ?Ezion?, which corresponds to the Arabic ??, means exactly that isthmus / promontory.
If you have Google Earth, you can enlarge the photo as much as you want, and you will see that the isthmus that was once called Manfaq Jaber coincides with a coastal town called Luhayyah (ة. Incidentally, ships are still built there even today! If you don?t have access to Google Earth, here are the photos
http//i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb386/Gorefiendel/Luhayyah_zps7e6ead72.jpg
Shipmaking
http//i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb386/Gorefiendel/Luhayyah2_zps8a4f1b39.jpg
An old ruin, by the sea.
The contemporary commentator of Al-Hamadani?s book, in his footnote at the bottom of page 92, tells us that Manfahaq Jaber lay south of the ruins of al-Sharjah (in the Hajjah Province of Yemen), and its name vanished from memory long ago. The following link shows us where Hajjah is
http//ar.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B4%D8%B1%D8%AC%D8%A9_(%D9%82%D8%A7%D8%B1%D8%A9)
A member on this forum asked, on another post, where the name of the Prophet Haggai in the Old Testament came from. There?s the answer Hajjah .(ة
As for the ancient city of Eelath (Eelon), you will see, in Book 4, that it was located in Jeezan.
And now we can trace the true path of the ships, and see that Solomon used the wind currents around the Red Sea to reach Oman (Ophir)
http//i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb386/Gorefiendel/Geber2_zpsc702473a.jpg
Trip to Ophir (Oman)
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Salam @pazuzu,
nice to read you are continuing the arduous work of remapping the geography of the events described in the Scriptures (mainly Tanakh and Quran),
it will be great one day to draw a complete map of the Arabian Peninsula with the correct names and positions of these "biblical" signposts of prophetic history.
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Congratulations for the new book.
Thank you
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Found this book(The Historical Geography of Arabia) which locates Ophir in Oman
https//books.google.com.au/books?id=k2IsGkCgLgwC&pg=PA165&lpg=PA165&dq=ophir+oman&source=bl&ots=Ta_QItApMk&sig=j95pm2unM_A48m8I1kLnQ3JnzS4&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiOtLONs57NAhWEUZQKHfd8AnYQ6AEIQzAH#v=onepage&q=ophir%20oman&f=falseOphir. ? The connection indicated, in the
passage just cited, between Sheba and Ophir,
naturally suggests the inference, at the outset,
that they were neighbouring countries an in
ference materially strengthened by the con
sideration, that the name of Ophir stands next,
also, to that of Sheba, in the Mosaic catalogue
of the sons of Joktan. And since, accord
ing to all ancient authorities, the kingdom of
the Joktanite Sabeans appears to have extended
across the south of the Arabian peninsula, from
the Straits of Bab-el-Mandeb to the mountains
of Oman, Ophir, which the naval expedition of
Solomon argues to have lain beyond, or east
ward, of Sheba, and in the vicinity of the sea,
antecedently of proof might be sought, with
every verisimilitude, in the direction of the coast
of Oman a quarter of Arabia, we have elsewhere
seen, inhabited largely by other Joktanite tribes.
The contradictory opinions of the learned, who
alternately transport the Ophir of the Old Testa
ment to Africa, or to India, to the coast of Sofala,
or the island of Ceylon , rest wholly on the plea
in which they altogether originated, that the
name and dwelling-place of Ophir are no where
to be found, among the settlements of his brethren
in Arabia.Consequently, if we recover, in an
appropriate part of the peninsula, not only the
name and seat of this patriarch, but his name and
seat in unquestionable connection with an old
and famous Arabian mart of gold, specious learned
theories must at once give way, before conclusive
historical facts. With this view, the attention
of the reader is invited to the following plain,
though hitherto unnoticed facts ; the result of
the writer's researches upon a question of sacred
geography so interesting in itself, and which has
so long divided the learned world.
The intrinsic value of these facts, together with
their force as an argument, may be best brought
out by a simple statement of the process of
investigation. Satisfied, by the whole analogy of
the case, that Ophir had settled among his
brethren in Southern Arabia, and sanctioned, by
the Scripture narrative of the Queen of Sheba, in
the opinion that his settlements lay somewhere
to the east of that famous kingdom, it caused me
no surprise to find the scepticism of preceding
writers, as to the existence of the name in
Arabia*, confuted on my first reference to
authorities in every body's hands, the maps of
Sale and d'Anville ; where, as indeed in all our
modern maps, " Ofor or Ofir" appears, as the
name of a city and district in the mountains of
Oman, seated on their eastern side, near the
sources of the Oman river, and within about a
degree, or a degree and a quarter, of the coast.
On reference to Ptolemy, it further came to light,
that the mountain district in question was, in his
time, inhabited by the Kottabani, or Beni Kahtan
or Joktanf ; a tribe expressly contradistin-guished,
by this geographer, from their neigh
bours of the same stock, the Jerachaei, or Beni
Jerah, and the Darrae, or Beni Hadoram, . . . the
former adjoining the Kottabani on the north, the
latter extending southward of them to his Corodamum
promontorium, or Ras al Had ; and whom
the existing name of their town and district
seems very plainly to designate as the descendants
of the Joktanite Ophir. But the probable con
clusion formed on these grounds, was most un
expectedly advanced towards certainty by the
subsequent discovery, that the adjoining coast of
Oman, lying due east under Ofir, was still cele
brated, in the time of the elder Pliny, for its
traffic in native gold.
When laying down the ancient geography of
Oman, after the minutely accurate delineations
of this great naturalist, my attention was arrested
by the mention of a gold coast, . . . littus Hammceum
ubi auri metalla. On reference to my
MS. map, it appeared, that its previous adjust
ments of Pliny's localities very exactly concurred
with the obvious agreement of the two names,
to identify his littus Hammceum with the town
and coast of Maham, lying between the Oman and
Thamar rivers, opposite to the isles of Sohar, and
due east of Ofir. This identification was noted
down, accordingly, in the classical map; whichwas
actually in the hands of the engraver, before
a passage of Niebuhr fell under my observation,
containing demonstrative proof, arising from the
physical character of this iron-bound coast, that
the littus Hammaeum of Pliny can be no other
than the strand or shore of Maham ; the entire
coast of Om&n, from Cape Mussendom to Cape
Ras al Had, being mountainous to the water's
edge, with the exception of one day's journey,
between the towns of Sib and Sohar, at the
mouths of the two rivers discharging themselves
near these towns * ; in other words, with the ex
ception of the strand, in the centre of which is
seated the town of Maham, and which is thus
physically, as well as etymologically, proved to
be the littus Hammaeum ubi auri metalla .
Before we take leave of the settlements of
Ophir, it may be well, on a question so long at
issue, briefly to resume the chief points of the
proof through which we have just passed. 1. The
recovery of the name of Ophir, as that of a town
and district of Southern Arabia, in the midst of
other Joktanite settlements, is a strong pre
sumption in favour of the inference, that the dis
trict so named had been peopled by that patriarch.
2. This natural inference is corroborated by the
testimony of Ptolemy, who places the Kottabani,
or Beni Joktan, in the mountains of Ophir.
3. The position of this mountain district, beyond
the kingdom of Sabea, in the direction of the
eastern coast, tallies most accurately, with the
scriptural accounts of the expedition planned by
Solomon, and with the manner in which the
sacred recorders of that expedition connect Ophir
with Sheba. 4. A mountain district, communi
cating, as the modern Ofir does, by a river with
the sea, presents the character of country most
favourable to the production of gold. 5.
Theactual existence of gold, in this neighbourhood,
as a staple article of traffic, so late as the com
mencement of the Christian era, is proved beyond
controversy by the unexceptionable testimony of
Pliny.From these collective premises may unpresumptuously
be drawn the conclusions, 1. that
the Ofor of Sale and d'Anville, a town and dis
trict in the mountains of Oman west of the coast
of Maham, is the Ophir of the Old Testament
2. that the littus Hammaeum ubi auri metalla, or
Gold Coast mentioned by Pliny, was the true
term of the famous voyage, in the reign of So
lomon, from Ezion-geber, or Akaba, at the head
of the gulf of Elah 3. and, lastly, that this
Ophir or Ofor, the country of the Kottabani of
Ptolemy, one of the many tribes known generically
in Arabia by the denomination of Beni Kahtan
or Kahtanys, was the primitive and proper seat
of the family of Ophir, the son of Joktan, which,
like so many other districts denominated from
the brethren of this patriarch, still preserves, at
the presentday, the name and memory of their
father.