This is the third and final article in my review of Timothy Jay Schwab's testing of the resources of Ophir and Tarshish. This article will focus on the gifts given to King Solomon by the Queen of Sheba. Though Tim has many videos on this subject I will be confining myself to his book Solomon's Treasure which is "the monumental case for the Philippines no one can disprove.
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| Solomon's Treasure, pg. 119 |
I Kings 10:10-12 KJVAnd she gave the king an hundred and twenty talents of gold, and of spices very great store, and precious stones: there came no more such abundance of spices as these which the queen of Sheba gave to king Solomon. And the navy also of Hiram, that brought gold from Ophir, brought in from Ophir great plenty of almug trees, and precious stones. And the king made of the almug trees pillars for the house of the Lord, and for the king’s house, harps also and psalteries for singers: there came no such almug trees, nor were seen unto this day.First, notice again how the offerings the Queen of Sheba brought essentially match those of Hiram, King of Tyre, admiral of Solomon’s returning navy from Ophir. They arrive and offer their gifts at the same time. The Queen of Sheba came from Ophir which is why her land too is known for gold. She donated gold to the Temple project yet Solomon already had all he needed even before his trip to Ophir. He was replacing what was in the treasury with the gold of Ophir yet she gives her gold to the Temple project as well? This was acceptable because her gold is the gold of Ophir. Even King David equated the gold of Ophir with Sheba. We have well-covered the abundant gold of the Philippines at this point so we already know for both gold is a check.
Here Tim says that the gold brought by the Queen of Sheba, which he claims is Ophir, was to replace the gold used in building in the temple. This disregards what he wrote earlier:
They were building the Temple and to complete the project, Solomon wanted specific resources such as the gold Adam used in the first sacrifice which only comes from one place, the wood of Noah which was used to build the ark from this same land and all the resources of ancient Havilah, the land of his ancient ancestors – Adam and Eve.
Solomon's Treasure, pg. 105
First he says Solomon needed the gold from Ophir to complete the temple and now he is saying he needed the gold to replenish the treasury. He can't even get his scenarios right. There is nothing in the Bible to indicate for what the gold she gave him was intended. Once more this is Tim making stuff up because "that makes sense." Now for the final resources.
Spices
The Hebrew word used here for spices is usually interpreted as frankincense. We are well aware we are all told by the Rabbis that Ethiopia has the only tree on earth which produces frankincense. However, yet again, this is not accurate by any reasonable logic. The Philippines has a frankincense. It’s called “Poor Man’s Frankincense” which we will cover in Chapter 15 in detail not because it is of lesser quality but since it is not designated by the Rabbis as the Biblical Frankincense, it has a lower perceived value. This is why many perfume companies from the U.S. and Europe are buying frankincense from the Philippines. It originates from the Pili Tree as Manila elemi. In fact, in Part 12C of Solomon’s Gold Series, we test every Biblical spice we can find and every one of them is native to the Philippines except one which is unidentified as a lost reference as no one is sure what the plant is. Regardless, the Philippines has frankincense and as a tropical rain forest, most spices and all Biblical ones.
That is Tim's entire argument for the spices brought by the Queen of Sheba originating in the Philippines. This is awful. There is no argument here of any kind. He even directs people to his Youtube videos! This is supposed to "the monumental case for the Philippines no one can disprove" and he is too lazy to prove it. Likewise he places the discussion of frankincense in another chapter when he should be discussing it here where it is relevant.
The Hebrew word used here for spices is usually interpreted as frankincense.
That is wrong and intentionally misleading. The word translated spice in 1 Kings 10:10 is translated spice 24 times in the Old Testament.
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| https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/h1314/kjv/wlc/0-1/ |
Funny that Tim does not mention this Hebrew word in Solomon's Gold. It's as if he is purposefully omitting information that would contradict him. The word translated frankincense is altogether different and does get a mention in his book on page 233.
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| https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/h3828/kjv/wlc/0-1/ |
The Queen of Sheba brought spices. Not frankincense. That makes Tim's discussion of frankincense in chapter 15 irrelevant.
Here is what Josephus has to say about these spices.
Now when the Queen had thus demonstrated in words how deeply the King had affected her, she made that her disposition known by certain presents. For she gave him twenty talents of gold; and an immense quantity of spices, and pretious stones. They say also that we possess the root of that balsam which our countrey still bears by this woman’s gift.
That agrees with one of the meanings of the word translated spice, balsam tree.
Precious Stones
There are some who claim the Philippines does not have precious stones but to say so is to ignore history which we have already covered multiple observations of gemstones in the Philippines. Resource lists and even the United Nations for that matter, record the Philippines as a source for precious stones.
“Aside from gold deposits, the Philippines is also rich in gemstones such as opal, jasper, quartz, tektite, Zambales and Mindoro jade, garnet, epidote,jadeite, and blue and green schist.”–Board of Investments, DTI Business Development Manager for Fashion and Jewelry“Agate, Amethyst, Calcite, Garnet, Hematite, Jade, Pearl, Pyrite, Quartz, Sphalerite” –OKD2
“Chinese silk, porcelain, jars, gold, ivory, and beads were traded for wax, bird’s nest, teakwood, rattan, pearls, precious stones and other marine and forest products [from Philippines].” –United Nations, 2019
The Philippines has every one of these resources natively – gold, spices and precious stones. However, we can also narrow down this lost reference of wood.
The Philippines is rich in gemstones. Great. How does this prove they were mining them and trading with Israel? Here is another section from the Bible Tim does not discuss.
Exodus 28:17 And thou shalt set in it settings of stones, even four rows of stones: the first row shall be a sardius, a topaz, and a carbuncle: this shall be the first row.18 And the second row shall be an emerald, a sapphire, and a diamond.19 And the third row a ligure, an agate, and an amethyst.20 And the fourth row a beryl, and an onyx, and a jasper: they shall be set in gold in their inclosings.21 And the stones shall be with the names of the children of Israel, twelve, according to their names, like the engravings of a signet; every one with his name shall they be according to the twelve tribes.
The Bible does not tell us what this almug or algum wood is as these are the only times it is used without much description. We know it is a foreign wood “never seen in Israel” before which tells us it does not originate from any of it’s normal trading partners which would include Ethiopia and Yemen thus neither are Ophir. Many scholars believe it is a red sandalwood based on descriptions of the Temple from other sources describing pillars in appearance as red sandalwood. Look up the distribution list for red sandalwood and once again, the Philippines does not make it onto some maps. It comes from India but not the Philippines according to some.
There is only one massive problem with this thinking. The national tree of the Philippines, the Narra, is a red sandalwood with incense resin or spices matching the Queen of Sheba’s offering. Why is this the national tree of the Philippines? We do not believe that to be coincidence. We believe Narra is the perfect fit for this narrative as this word also likely has Hebrew origins connected to the Queen of Sheba.
Hebrew: na’ara: נערה: girl, young woman, respectful. “She who must be admired.”
The Hebrew word na’ara is used twenty-four times in scripture such as referring to Dinah the daughter of Jacob and usually associated with a young woman or girl of purity – a virgin. When we see a tie like this as na’ara in Hebrew and the national tree Narra which fits the wood used in the Temple and then, bearing such meaning as “She who must be admired,” we strongly believe this is not chance. This red sandalwood ties to the Temple and to the Queen of Sheba, the wealthiest woman possibly of all time who must be admired indeed. Additionally, we believe this leads even deeper as Noah lived in ancient Havilah, land of Adam and Eve (Havah) and would have used this same wood to build the ark. This is the reason King Solomon sought it out.
Solomon's Treasure, pg. 112-113
What follows is a lot of speculation that does not concern us here. Our primary concern is whether or not this tree originated in the Philippines and whether was the Philippines trading this wood with Israel. Tim offers no proof for such trade instead he gives another fanciful linguistic interpretation. In fact the Narra tree is not found only in the Philippines.
Pterocarpus indicus (commonly known as Amboyna wood, Malay padauk, Papua New Guinea rosewood, Philippine mahogany, Andaman redwood, Burmese rosewood, narra and asana in the Philippines, angsana, or Pashu padauk) is a species of Pterocarpus native to southeastern Asia, northern Australasia, and the western Pacific Ocean islands, in Cambodia, southernmost China, East Timor, Indonesia, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, the Ryukyu Islands, the Solomon Islands, Thailand, and Vietnam.
It is the national tree of the Philippines, as well as the provincial tree of Chonburi and Phuket in Thailand.
If the almug tree is indeed the Narra tree then there are several places from which it could have originated. But as Tim notes no one knows exactly what this tree is. That makes this entire section pure speculation.
Here is how Tim ends his testing the resources of Ophir and Tarshsish.
Every resource of Solomon tests as native to the Philippines and all other claims fail in this chapter except India whose claim already failed the test of it’s own history. We offer a full test of each of the major claims and they are merely fallacious overtures in almost all cases as only the Far East could even fit Ophir on any level. Most fail more than 50 percent of the criteria. India fails it’s own history and Malaysia and Indonesia both were never seriously considered as possibilities after Magellan found Ophir. He was in Malaysia and Indonesia prior and ruled them out as the Portuguese certainly knew they were not Ophir and so did the locals. The British propagate such unsubstantiated myth but that does not make it worthy of review as it fails very quickly and these are not applying scholarship but propaganda. We will demonstrate the British East Indies Company has been paying to suppress this narrative for centuries. The Philippines is Ophir, Sheba, Tarshish, Ancient Havilah and the Land of Creation not because it has to be to fit our narrative but because this is where the evidence leads as these are all the same land in scripture and history and there is no debating that. No one has successfully in three years. Test for yourself.
Solomon's Treasure, pg. 115
The evidence does not lead to the Philippines. When discussing ivory and peacocks Tim fabricated evidence to fit his narrative. Pigafetta never describes elephants or peacocks in the Philippines. Tim also failed to prove there was any robust trade between the Philippines and Israel. He merely asserts that the Philippines had resources ergo that is from where King Solomon got them. He also fails to test all the spices here instead referring to his videos.
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| Solomon's Gold Series - Part 12C: Find the Garden of Eden. Ophir, Philippines |
The reader should not have to watch his videos for more information. This is supposed to be "the monumental case for the Philippines no one can disprove" and Tim cannot even discuss everything thoroughly. It should all be here and it's not. There is much missing. Cinnamon barely gets a mention in this book. And just look at that slide.
Cinnamomum cebuense, the Cebu cinnamon tree, is a species of cinnamon endemic to Cebu Island, Philippines. It was first discovered in Cantipla, Cebu in mid-1980s and described by Kostermans in 1986.
Is Timothy Jay Schwab so dense and unaware that he doesn't realize how this undercuts his case? He thinks the cinnamon not just in the Bible but also in Ceylon and Sri Lanka originates in the Philippines. If that is so then how is it that this tree was not discovered until the mid-1980s? Did the natives just forget about it for a few millennia? This account should have been in Solomon's Gold. That it is not makes Tim's case less thorough than it could have been.
Everything in this chapter is an assertion. Sure the Philippines has some of these resources but that does not prove there was there was trade in these resources with Israel. This is faulty reasoning and jumping to conclusions. To quote The God Culture:
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| Answers in First Enoch Part 14: Land of the Righteous Duidain, Philippines |
That's a rather extreme view. Not one worth consideration. Yah Bless.
After reviewing Timothy Jay Schwab's testing of the resources of Ophir and Tarshish it is plain to see he hasn't got much of a case. He does not bother to prove anything beyond the Philippines having gold, ivory, monkeys, peacocks, silver, tin, iron, lead, gemstones, spices, and trees. But that is really his point. His argument is that the Philippines has these resources. That is all he set out prove. The reader is supposed to think, "Wow, the Philippines has all these resources listed in the Bible. That must mean Solomon's navy sailed to the Philippines." That would be to ignore that Tim says India also has all these resources, that historically India has been identified with Ophir, that no ancient descriptions of the world mention anything past the Malaysian Peninsula, and there is no record of trade routes circumnavigating Africa. As long as Tim has an unthinking audience who cannot discern that underneath all his rhetoric he has no arguments but only unproven assertions he will be able to continue to lure them in.
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