TRADE
AND
COMMERCE
the
persons
and
possessions
of
his
subjects.
Before
the
end
of
David's
reign
we
hear
of
permanent
officials
appointed
by
the
Ising;
and
the
need
for
steady
sources
of
revenue
whence
the
stipends
of
such
officials
could
be
supplied
,
is
sufficient
to
cause
the
erection
of
an
elaborate
financial
system,
with
surveys
and
assessments,
tax-gatherers
and
clerks.
The
'numbering
of
the
people,'
which
lived
on
in
popular
tradition
as
an
iniquity
earn-ing
condign
punishment,
doubtless
belonged
to
the
com-mencements
of
orderly
government.
For
Solomon's
time
we
have
something
like
the
fragment
of
a
budget
(1
K
10"-
15),
according
to
which
it
would
appear
that
the
king
had
three
sources
of
revenue
—
one
not
further
specified,
but
probably
a
land-tax;
another,
tribute
from
subject
States,
governed
by
satraps;
and
a
third
con-nected
with
commerce,
and
probably
equivalent
to
excise
and
customs.
The
text
implies
that
these
various
forms
of
revenue
were
paid
in
gold,
which
was
then
stored
by
the
king
in
the
form
of
shields
and
vessels.
This
gold
must
all
have
been
imported,
as
there
are
no
mines
in
Palestine;
and
indeed
we
are
told
that
it
came,
with
other
produce
as
well
as
silver,
from
the
mysterious
Ophir
and
Tarshish;
and
that
the
enter-prise
was
a
joint
venture
of
Solomon
and
the
king
of
Tyre,
the
latter
probably
supplying
the
vessels,
the
former
the
produce
which
was
exchanged
for
these
goods,
unless
indeed
the
gold
was
procured
by
raiding.
If
it
was
obtained
in
exchange
for
commodities,
we
must
suppose
either
that
the
latter
were
identical
with
those
of
which
we
afterwards
read
in
Ezekiel,
or
that
the
com-modities
to
be
exchanged
were
all
supplied
by
the
Phoenicians,
the
service
by
which
the
Israelites
earned
their
share
being
that
of
giving
the
former
access
to
the
harbour
of
Ezion-geber.
In
favour
of
the
latter
sup-position,
it
hEis
been
pointed
out
that
the
commodities
known
to
have
been
exported
from
Palestine
at
one
time,
or
another
were
ill-suited
for
conveyance
on
lengthy
voyages,
and
unlikely
to
be
required
in
the
countries
where
the
gold
was
procured.
There
is
in
the
OT
no
allusion
to
the
practice
of
coining
metal,
and
where
sums
of
money
are
mentioned
they
are
given
in
silver
;
the
effect,
however,
of
the
quantities
of
gold
brought
into
Palestine
in
Solomon's
time
was
not,
according
to
the
historian,
to
appreciate
silver,
as
might
have
been
expected,
but
to
depreciate
it,
and
render
it
unfashion-able.
Yet
the
notice
of
prices
in
the
time
of
Solomon
(1
K
10^')
suggests
that
silver
was
by
no
means
valueless,
whatever
weight
we
assign
to
the
shekel
of
the
time.
While
it
is
clear
that
all
silver
in
use
must
have
come
in
by
importation,
the
notices
in
the
OT
of
transactions
in
which
it
would
probably
be
employed
are
too
scanty
to
permit
of
even
a
guess
as
to
the
amount
in
use;
and
though
it
is
likely
that
(as
in
Eastern
countries
to
this
day)
foreign
coins
were
largely
in
circulation,
there
is
little
authority
for
this
supposition.
4.
If
little
is
known
of
Israelitish
exports,
many
objects
are
mentioned
in
the
OT
which
were
certainly
imported
from
foreign
countries.
These
were
largely
objects
of
luxury,
especially
in
the
way
of
clothes
or
stuffs;
the
material
called
'etun
(Pr
7"
RV
'yam')
was
imported
from
Egypt;
the
ivory,
to
which
reference
is
frequently
made
during
the
period
of
the
kingdom,
from
Ethiopia,
through
Egypt
or
Arabia;
and
the
gems
from
one
or
other
of
these
countries.
Various
objects
are
mentioned
in
connexion
with
Solomon's
enterprises,
as
newly
introduced
into
Palestine.
For
later
(Talmudic)
times
a
list
of
118
articles
has
been
drawn
iip
which
came
from
foreign
countries
into
the
Palestinian
market;
this
list
contains
many
foods
and
food-stuffs,
materials
for
wearing
apparel,
and
domestic
utensils.
We
should
rather
gather
that
in
pre-exilic
times
food
was
not
ordinarily
imported,
except
in
times
of
famine.
Imports
of
raw
materials
must
have
been
considerable
as
soon
as
the
people
began
to
settle
in
towns;
for
there
is
no
native
iron,
and
little
native
wood,
and
these
as
well
as
otiier
materials
would
be
required
for
even
the
simplest
TRADE
AND
COMMERCE
manufactures.
Probably,
in
the
case
of
instruments,
the
more
valuable
and
elaborate
sort
came
from
abroad,
while
the
poorer
classes
had
to
content
themselves
with
home-made
articles.
The
finds
that
have
hitherto
been
made
of
Israelitish
utensils
are
insufficient
to
determine
this
point.
Among
the
more
important
imports
in
Biblical
times
were
horses,
which
seem
to
have
been
procured
regularly
from
Egypt.
Of
the
slave-trade
there
are
very
few
notices
in
the
OT,
and
it
may
be
that
the
reduction
of
the
aboriginal
population
by
the
Israelites
to
serfs,
and
the
almost
continuous
warfare
leading
to
the
constant
capture
of
prisoners,
rendered
the
importation
of
slaves
ordinarily
unnecessary.
According
to
Joel
(3<-'),
the
Phoenicians
acted
as
dealers,
purchasing
prisoners
of
war
(in
this
case
Jews),
and
ex-porting
them
to
foreign
countries.
The
same
may
have
been
the
fate
of
those
persons
who,
for
non-payment
of
debt,
were
assigned
to
their
creditors
(2
K
4').
S.Persons
engaged
in
commerce.
-The
words
used
in
the
OT
for
merchants
are
such
as
signify
primarily
'
traveller'
(1
K
10"
RV
'chapmen,'
'merchants,'
'traffic'),
and
convey
the
ideas
of
spying
and
making
circuits.
The
use
of
the
word
'
Canaanite
'
for
pedlar
has
been
noticed.
In
Jer
37"
there
is
an
allusion
to
a
place
in
Jerusalem
called
'the
booths,'
but
references
to
shop-keeping
are
rare
before
the
Exile.
In
Nehemiah's
time
different
classes
of
dealers
had
their
locations
in
Jerusalem—
gold-smiths
and
grocers
(3'^),
fishmongers
(13i»);
but
most
articles
of
general
consumption
seem
to
have
been
brought
in
day
by
day
by
foreigners
and
others
(10'*
and
132").
and
sold
in
the
streets.
The
distinction
between
wholesale
and
retail
dealers
perhaps
first
occurs
in
the
Apocrypha
(Sir
26^').
It
is
worth
observing
that
in
the
prophetic
denunciations
of
luxury
we
miss
allusions
to
the
shops
or
stores
in
which
such
objects
might
be
supposed
to
be
offered
for
sale
(Is
3"-").
Moreover,
the
verse
of
Ezk.
(7")
'let
not
the
buyer
rejoice
nor
the
seller
mourn'
suggests
that
the
latter
operation
was
not
ordinarily
thought
of
as
it
is
in
com-munities
a
large
portion
of
which
lives
by
trade,
but
rather
as
a
humiliation
required
at
times
by
stern
neces-sity;
and
there
are
few
allusions
to
trade
in
the
codes
embodied
in
the
Pentateuch,
though
such
are
not
abso-lutely
wanting.
Perhaps,
then,
we
are
justified
in
con-cluding
that
the
practice
of
trade
was
in
pre-exilic
times
largely
in
the
hands
of
itinerant
foreigners;
and
it
is
only
in
NT
times
that
merchandise
is
regarded
as
an
occupation
as
normal
as
agriculture
(Mt
22').
To
the
cumbrous
process
of
bargaining
there
is
an
allusion
in
Pr
20".
Allusions
to
the
corn-trade
are
rather
more
common
than
to
any
other
business,
and
to
certain
iniquities
connected
with
it
—
probably,
in
the
main,
forms
of
the
practice
by
which
corn
was
withdrawn
from
the
market
in
the
hope
of
selling
it
at
famine
prices:
this
at
least
seems
to
be
the
reference
in
Pr
11^,
though
Sirach
(3423.
M)
seems
to
have
interpreted
the
passage
merely
of
liberality
and
stinginess.
In
Am
9*-'
the
reference
is
more
distinct,
and
implies
both
the
offence
mentioned
above
and
the
use
of
deceitful
measures,
a
wrong
also
condemned
by
Micah
in
a
similar
context
(6'°).
The
interpretation
of
these
passages
must
remain
obscure
until
more
light
is
thrown
on
land-tenure
in
Israel,
and
the
process
by
which
the
king's_share
in
the
produce
was
collected.
The
foreign
commerce
conducted
in
king
Solomon's
time
is
represented
in
his
biography
as
a
venture
of
his
own,
whence
the
goods
brought
home
were
his
own
possessions;
and
the
same
holds
good
of
commerce
in
the
time
of
Jehoshaphat
(1
K
22<9-
'»).
There
is
no
evidence
that
Israelitish
commerce
was
conducted
on
any
other
principle
before
the
Exile,
after
which
isolated
individuals
doubtless
endeavoured
to
earn
their
liveli-hood
by
trade
ventures.
The
foreign
commerce
of
which
we
occasionally
hear
in
the
OT
was
also
con-ducted
by
communities
(e.g.
On
37"-
''),
to
be
compared
