2 Chronicles 8:18

“Huram sent him . . . ships--either sent him ship-men, able seamen, overland; or, taking the word "sent" in a looser sense, supplied him, that is, built him ships--namely, in docks at Eloth (compare Kg1 9:26-27). This navy of Solomon was manned by Tyrians, for Solomon had no seamen capable of performing distant expeditions. The Hebrew fishermen, whose boats plied on the Sea of Tiberias or coasted the shores of the Mediterranean, were not equal to the conducting of large vessels laden with valuable cargoes on long voyages and through the wide and unfrequented ocean. four hundred and fifty talents of gold--(Compare Kg1 9:28). The text in one of these passages is corrupt. Next: 2 Chronicles…”

“It has been supposed that these ships were conveyed from Tyre to Ezion-geber, either (1) round the continent of Africa, or (2) across the isthmus of Suez. But the writer probably only means that ships were given by Hiram to Solomon at this time, and in connection with the Ophir enterprise. These vessels may have been delivered at Joppa, and have been there carefully studied by the Jewish shipwrights, who then preceeded to Ezion-geber, and, assisted by Phoenicians, constructed ships after their pattern. Four hundred and fifty talents - “Four hundred and twenty talents” in Kings 1 Kings 9:28. One or other of the two texts has suffered from that corruption to which numbers are so especially…”

“Kg1 9:27, Kg1 9:28, Kg1 10:22, Hiram Huram: Ch2 9:10, Ch2 9:13 Ophir: Conjectures respecting the situation of Ophir are endless. Grotius conjectures it to be a part of Arabia called Aphar by Arrian; while Bochart and others have placed it in the island of Ceylon. Calmet supposes it to have been situated in Armenia; but his late editor places it at the head of the Indus. Josephus says that Ophir is the Indies, called the Gold country; by which he is supposed to mean Chersonesus Aurea, now Malacca, opposite Sumatra; and Lev. Poivre observes that the inhabitants of these places call their gold mines ophirs. took thence: Ecc 2:8 Next: 2 Chronicles Chapter 9”