Bible Answer: The source of Solomon's riches goes back to an event that occurred shortly after he took over the throne of his father, King David, when he was apparently still a young man.

He had gone to Gibeon to sacrifice to the Lord, and there the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream and said, "Ask! What shall I give you?" in 1 Kings 3:5.

Solomon described himself as "a little child" in 1 Kings 3:7, and made but one request of the Lord in 1 Kings 3:9, "Therefore give to your servant an understanding heart to judge Your people, that I may discern between good and evil. For who is able to judge this great people of Yours?"

So the Lord granted Solomon's wish for wisdom, in 1 Kings 3:12, "Behold, I have done according to your words; see I have given you a wise and understanding heart, so that there has not been anyone like you before you, nor shall any like you arise after you."

Read the Book of Proverbs and you will get a taste of Solomon's wisdom, which God said is greater than anyone before or after him.

And then God gave two additional blessings to Solomon, in 1 Kings 3:13, "And I have also given you what you have not asked: both riches and honor, so that there shall not be anyone like you among the kings all your days."

So the source of Solomon's riches, greater than any king of his time, was the blessing of God, which the Lord conferred upon him.

As to the source of Solomon's gold, this came about as the result of an alliance with Hiram king of Tyre, a seaport just north of Israel. Hiram was a friend of King David's, and he supplied the cedar and cypress trees, which Solomon used to build the temple in Jerusalem.

The first mention of gold from Ophir is when King David began collecting for the building of the temple by his son Solomon, in 1 Chronicles 29:4, so apparently David knew the location of Ophir.

After the building of the temple, 1 Kings 9:26 says Solomon built a fleet of ships on the Red Sea, which leads into the Indian Ocean.

"Then Hiram sent his servants with the fleet, seamen who knew the sea, to work with the servants of Solomon. And they went to Ophir, and acquired four hundred and twenty talents of God from there and brought it to Solomon," 1 Kings 9:27-28 says.

1 Kings 10:22 adds, "For the king had merchant ships at sea with the fleet of Hiram. Once every three years the merchant ships came bringing gold, silver, ivory, apes, and monkeys."

Where was Ophir? Wouldn't we all like to know! The fabled land of Ophir has been sought by explorers ever since, but no one has ever found it.

Apparently, it was in Africa, for the ships also brought ivory (elephant tusks) as well as apes and monkeys, native to Africa.

The trips to Ophir apparently stopped a few generations after Solomon, when Solomon's kingdom had split into northern and southern kingdoms. 1 Kings 22:48, says the king of Judah, the southern kingdom, "Jehoshaphat made merchant ships to go to Ophir for gold; but they never sailed, for the ships were wrecked at Ezion Geber" which was Solomon's seaport on the Red Sea.

And the secret of the location of Ophir apparently died with Jehoshaphat, for he refused to cooperate with Ahaziah, the king of Israel, the northern kingdom, when he proposed a trip to Ophir. "Then Ahaziah the son of Ahab said to Jehoshaphat, 'Let my servants go with your servants in the ships.' But Jehoshaphat would not," 1 Kings 22:49 says.

The next verse records the death of Jehoshaphat, and there is no further mention of trips to Ophir for gold by the following kings.

Submit Bible questions by email to writeme@johnwmyers.com

(John Myers has been a Christian lay speaker, Sunday School adult teacher and newspaper Bible study columnist for more than 20 years.)