Verse 22
The merchants of Sheba and Raamah, they were thy merchants ,.... This Sheba was the son of Raamah, Genesis 10:7 who settled in Arabia Felix; where, according to Ptolemy F24 Geograph. l. 6. c. 7. , is a city called Rhegma; and so Raamah is pronounced in the Septuagint version of Genesis 10:7 ,
they occupied in thy fairs with chief of all spices ; as with myrrh and frankincense, with which they abounded: Pliny F25 Nat. Hist. l. 12. c. 17. says that the Arabians paid annually to the kings of Persia a thousand talents of frankincense; and that the Sabaeans F26 "----Solis est thurea virga Sabaeis". Virgil. Georgic. l. 2. boiled their food, some with wood of frankincense, and others with wood of myrrh:
and with all precious stones, and gold ; as jaspers, emeralds, carbuncles, and others, which Pliny F1 Nat. Hist. l. 37. says are found in Arabia; and mention is made of the gold of Sheba, Psalm 72:15 and Bochart thinks that Ophir, from whence the famous gold of that name was fetched, was in Arabia Felix; and it may be observed, that the queen of Sheba gave great quantities of gold, of spices, and of precious stones, to Solomon; and that he had much of these kinds yearly from the spice merchants, and kings of Arabia, 1 Kings 10:10 ; see Gill on Isaiah 60:6 .
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