In the previous article reviewing Timothy Jay Schwab's testing of the resources of Ophir and Tarshish I covered gold, ivory, apes, and peacocks. The Bible says those items came from Tarshish but Tim says they came from Ophir because he conflates the two places. In this article I will be looking at the "resources of Tarshsish." Remember, we are looking not at Tim's videos but at his book Solomon's Treasure which he claims is "the monumental case for the Philippines no one can dispute."
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| Solomon's Treasure, pg. 106 |
Tarshish is a place next to Ophir. They are in the same direction and region in destination. Now, we have yet more resources we can test and narrow this down beginning with silver as promised. Tarshish is the Biblical land of silver equated to the Greek Argyre which we saw is mapped by Pomponius Mela, Dionysius The Tourist and Behaim as Mindanao, Philippines. By rare occurrence, it just happens that Mindanao is the only place in the Philippines which can fully fit this part of the list for Tarshish especially tin.
According to Tim, Mindanao is Tarshish and the "Biblical land of silver." What? I never knew there was a "biblical land of silver." Let's see what the Bible has to say.
There is no "land of silver" mentioned in the Bible. Did Abraham get his silver from Mindanao?
Genesis 13:2 And Abram was very rich in cattle, in silver, and in gold.
Silver was first mined around 3,000 BCE in Anatolia, now located in modern-day Turkey. The precious metal helped early civilizations in the Near East, Ancient Greece to flourish.In about 1,200 BCE the center of silver production shifted to Greece’s Laurium mines, where it continued to feed the region’s growing empires, even providing currency for ancient Athens. By about 100 CE, the center of silver mining moved to Spain, where the mines became a major supplier for the Roman Empire and an essential trading component along the Asian spice routes.
Silver
“Nickel mines are located in Zambales, Palawan, Agusan del Sur, Surigao del Norte and Surigao del Sur, while the gold with silver mines are in Benguet, Masbate, Camarines Norte, Davao del Norte and Agusan del Sur. The copper with gold and silver mines are located in Benguet, Cebu and Zamboanga del Norte. The copper mine with gold, silver and zinc is in Albay...” –Philippine Daily Inquirer
Notice some attempt to hyper-focus on King Solomon’s copper mines yet no Biblical narrative mentions copper but there is also copper in the Philippines. It even fits narratives outside the Bible. Much of this silver is found with gold thus it has always been abundant in the Philippines and all over the archipelago.
“Of the total of sixteen lode and placer mines which were producing gold and silver bullion in appreciable quantities at the close of 1935, nine are situated in the Benguet mining district.”–Port of Manila and Other Philippine Ports Year Book. (1936)
Solomon's Treasure, pg. 106-107
This is Tim's entire argument that the silver brought back from Tarshish comes from Mindanao. Can you see what is wrong here? There is no argument! There is no proof. In the second quote we are told that nine out of sixteen placer mines producing gold and silver are in Benguet which is Luzon and not Mindanao which undercuts Tim's case that Mindanao is argyre, the land of silver. What was he thinking?? This is stupid. It's not a case, it's not an argument, it's nothing.
Much of this silver is found with gold thus it has always been abundant in the Philippines and all over the archipelago.
Silver is abundant all over the Philippine archipelago? What happened to Mindanao being "the Biblical land of silver?" Let's move on.
Iron
Peruse the many mining reports and you will find the Philippines is not mining iron at present. Does this mean they do not qualify? Iron is one of the largest mineral deposits in the Philippines, even gifted to President Quirino, and the government has shut down the last operation due to environmental infractions. Therefore, you will not see it on reports but it is definitely there and in abundance though few seem to have ever researched.
“Iron ore, one of the Philippines’ largest mineral deposits, is not being extracted at present.” –Philippine Statistics Authority
“The Philippines has suspended the operations of the country’s only iron ore miner due to environmental infractions.” –ABS-CBN, Reuters 2016
Iron ore is found all over the archipelago as well and was referenced in the early 1900s by an American scientist as well as history to 200 A.D.
“There are numerous veins of iron that will well repay working.” – James Walsh, Ih.D, M.D. 1865-1942
“Even as early as the third century, the Chinese reported that gold was mined in Luzon, and it was a principal medium of exchange with Chinese traders. Iron, copper, coal and other minerals were also discovered, but little effort was made to mine them.” –Port of Manila and Other Philippine Ports Year Book. (1936)
Solomon's Treasure, pg. 107-108
Is Tim for real? Is he kidding? This is the entire section on iron and there is no argument. There is no attempt to prove there was an ancient iron trade between the Philippines and Israel. He is citing ABS-CBN and fails to give any ancient witness to a trade in iron. There is no argument here so I am moving on.
Tin
This is one of the largest assumptions that we often see. Some will claim Tin does not originate in the Philippines. However, once again, this thinking is based on distribution maps out there for countries who are mining tin and the Philippines has not been friendly for mining companies who do not take care of their environment. Having said that, even in our travels around the Philippines, in Mindanao, we have had active miners confirm there is definitely tin in Mindanao. However, remember in ancient times, tin mining was akin to gold mining in process.
“Tin is an essential metal in the creation of tin bronzes, and its acquisition was an important part of ancient cultures from the Bronze Age onward. Its use began in the Middle East and the Balkans around 3000 BC. Ancient sources of tin were therefore rare, and the metal usually had to be traded over very long distances to meet demand in areas which lacked tin deposits. It is likely that the earliest deposits were alluvial and perhaps exploited by the same methods used for panning gold in placer deposits.”
Many of the modern sources of tin would not even qualify in ancient times but the Philippines had gold panning operations since the most ancient of times. However, we do not need to rely on just that logic as the Philippines has tin indisputably.
“The economy is primarily agricultural. Tin mining takes place around Mindanao.”–World Encyclopedia 2005 by Oxford University Press“Tin is not so abundant.”–James J. Walsh, , Ih.D., M.D. 1865-1942.Dr. Walsh notes tin is not so abundant in the early 1900s yet it is there but we only affirm Mindanao. In 2005, World Encyclopedia by Oxford University Press and The American Desk Encyclopedia thought it noteworthy enough to mention that Mindanao was mining tin. Although we do not find it on modern mining lists for the Philippines which is no surprise, we have had first hand accounts from miners especially on Mindanao who note that tin is still there though not a focus.
Solomon's Treasure, pg. 108-109
This is awful. This is plain awful. Again, no argument. Just an assertion that tin exists in the Philippines. But so what? Where is the proof that the Philippines was mining tin and trading tin with Israel in the time of King Solomon? The first quote comes from a Wikipedia article about the ancient sources of tin. Here is the map from that article.
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| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tin_sources_and_trade_in_ancient_times |
Here is an interesting fact from this article that Tim ignores completely.
Evidence of direct tin trade between Europe and the Eastern Mediterranean has been demonstrated through the analysis of tin ingots dated to the 13th-12th centuries BC from sites in Israel, Turkey and modern-day Greece; tin ingots from Israel, for example, have been found to share chemical composition with tin from Cornwall and Devon (Great Britain).(Pernicka et al. 2019)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tin_sources_and_trade_in_ancient_times
Tin ingots found in Israel which date to the 13th-12th centuries BC are from Cornwall and Devon. Amazing. Nothing about the Philippines whatsoever in this article. Why? Because there was no tin trade between Europe and the Philippines. If there was Tim does not even remotely try to prove it. He simply asserts that there is currently tin in the Philippines and then moves on. So shall I.
Lead
lead: `owphereth עפרת
Before we delve into lead, take a look at the Hebrew name for lead, owphereth. Is it possible this element may come from Ophir? The Philippines also has lead.
“Although the Philippines is rich in mineral resources, mining activities constitute only a small portion of GDP and employ an even smaller fraction of the population. Most of the country’s metallic minerals, including gold, iron ore, lead, zinc, chromite, and copper, are drawn from major deposits on the islands of Luzon and Mindanao.” –Encyclopaedia Britannica 2019
“An FTAA may be entered into for the exploration, development and utilization of gold, copper, nickel, chromite, lead, zinc and other minerals.” –Primer on the Philippine Minerals Industry
Once again, you will not find this resource on mining lists because it is not currently being mined but that does not mean it is not there. In fact, Encyclopaedia Britannica which updated this reference recently, affirms both lead and even iron ore again on Luzon and Mindanao. The resources of Tarshish are all found natively in the Philippines and specifically on Mindanao as Tarshish. This is after we already found all the Biblical resources of Ophir. Ethiopia and Yemen are already out of the running. Britain is not East of the Red Sea and does not have native peacocks nor almug wood. Spain is also not East and does not have indigenous ivory, apes, peacocks nor almug trees. Even Peru cannot fit the journey timewise and is missing ivory, peacocks and almug wood natively. These aren’t mere misses, they are ludicrous propositions and anyone calling themselves a scholar who did not begin with a resource test, is no scholar on this topic. The only other coherent claim as far as resources are concerned is India yet it’s own history says it had a source of ancient gold and silver, isles to the East thus none of these make any sense except the Philippines. Chapter 3 addressed Malaysia. However, we have one more list to test for the gifts of Sheba and Solomon’s navy.
Solomon's Treasure, pg. 109-110
Once more there is no argument here. There is no proof that there was a robust trade in lead between the Philippines and Israel. There is no proof that the Philippines was mining silver, lead, iron, or tin in the time of Solomon. Remember Tim admits that mining equipment during the time of Solomon was minimal.
This actually fits what would have to be the case in the ancient land of gold from at least 1000 B.C. as there was no major mining equipment in that era
Solomon's Treasure, pg. 96
Silver, tin, lead, and iron ore were all being mined elsewhere and traded within the Mediterranean basin. So, how were these minerals mined in the Philippines? Where is there proof that Filipinos had the technology to mine for these minerals? Tim offers ZERO proof for his assertions.
If there is an argument it is that the Hebrew word for lead sounds like Ophir therefore maybe the lead came from Ophir. But he is testing the resources of Tarshish not Ophir. Once again he is conflating the two regions and basing his theory on shaky linguistic grounds.
Here are some verses from Numbers which Tim does not discuss in this book.
Numbers 31:21 And Eleazar the priest said unto the men of war which went to the battle,This is the ordinance of the law which the LORD commanded Moses;
22: Only the gold, and the silver, the brass, the iron, the tin, and the lead,
23: Every thing that may abide the fire, ye shall make it go through the fire, and it shall be clean: nevertheless it shall be purified with the water of separation: and all that abideth not the fire ye shall make go through the water.
24: And ye shall wash your clothes on the seventh day, and ye shall be clean,and afterward ye shall come into the camp.
Where did the Israelites get this silver, iron, tin, and lead while wandering in the wilderness? From Mindanao? Of course not. They got them from Egypt. That means there was trade in these metals within the Mediterranean basin. Why then would they look to Mindanao for these metals? They wouldn't. It doesn't make any sense.
Tim's goal here is to prove that the Philippines has the resources ascribed to Tarshish. But that is not enough. He has to prove that these resources were brought to Israel from the Philippines and he has not done this. He has not offered any proof for his assertions. He might counter with, "I have already proved that Tarshish is the Philippines therefore these resources were brought back from the Philippines." This is wrong. He has not proven that Tarshish is the Philippines. He has asserted it via a twisted logic that he cannot prove from history or the Bible. There is no proof that Tarshish built ships for Ophir and Havilah and was given Mindanao as his wages. That comes from Tim's head and has no foundation in reality.
He has also lied about the ivory said to be fetched from Tarshish. There are no elephants in the Philippines. Pigafetta does not record their existence in the Philippines. The same goes for peacocks. There are no true peacocks in the Philippines and Pigafetta does not record seeing any though Tim claims he does.
It is mind boggling that this is supposed to be "the monumental case for the Philippines no one can dispute" when there is no case being made. There is assertion after assertion with no proof proffered. In the next article I will look at the gifts of the Queen of Sheba.
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