The Wealth of King Solomon

“Now the weight of gold that came to Solomon in one year was six hundred and threescore and six talents of gold;” 2 Chronicles 9:13

“Now the weight of gold that came to Solomon in one year was six hundred threescore and six talents of gold.” 1 Kings 10:14

1 talent was the mass of water needed to fill an amphora, a standard sized two-handled vase with a long neck designed for pouring.  The Greek name for the vase, amphora, came from αμφι (“on both sides”) and φορεύς (“carrier”).  Talanton is a Greek word meaning “scale” or “balance.”

 1 talent (a measure of weight) = 3000 shekels = 60 minas = 34.3 kg = 75 US pounds.  On 20 September 2011, the price of gold was $1798.60 per ounce.  There are 16 ounces in a US pound, so one pound would be valued at $28,777.60.  75 pounds would be valued at $2,158,320.00.  666 talents, at today’s price for gold, would be approximately $142,449,120.00.   Remember, this was just his gold.  Solomon also received silver, jewels, animals, slaves, and wives.

Solomon’s wealth came from commerce, mining, and tribute (1 Kings 4:21) and from gifts brought by visiting dignitaries (1 Kings 10:25}  The Bible describes Solomon as being tremendously wealthy.  Obviously, he was.

There Already, Waiting to Explode

Sequoyah (b. Ca 1760 d. 1843) was a Cherokee silversmith who, although he didn’t speak a word of English, noticed that the white men communicated using “talking leaves.”  He thought that this was a wonderful idea and decided in about 1809 to create a way to make “talking leaves” for the Cherokee language.

His first attempt was a logographic writing system (as in Chinese or Japanese).  He quickly realized that there were far too many Cherokee words for this to be practical.

What Sequoyah finally decided to do, rather than copying the English language alphabetic system, was to use symbols for each sound used in the Cherokee language (a syllabic system).  This resulted in 85 characters which represented all the sounds.

The Cherokee nation had no tradition of a written language, and there was some initial resistance, but Sequiyah’s alphabet began to spread rapidly among an excited populace, and, by 1825, it was declared the official written language of the Cherokee nation.  In the span of sixteen years, the Cherokees went from being totally illiterate to almost 100% literate.  I believe that Sequoyah’s alphabet awakened something which was already there among the Cherokee people.  It just needed a spark to make it explode.

The same principle applies to the unevangelized.  Many are aware that something is missing, that there has to be more to life than just living a few years trying to be happy and staying out of trouble … and then dying.  They are like the Cherokee tribe, ready to explode.  They just need to hear, they need a spark.

“The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork.  Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth knowledge. There is no speech nor language, where their voice is not heard.  Psalm 19:1-3 

“The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.” Romans 1:18-20