Exports

The ancient Near East moves by caravan and by ship, and Israel sits in the middle of it. Grain leaves Egypt for Canaan in famine years, balm and spice leave Gilead for Egypt with the Ishmaelite trains, cedar comes south from Lebanon for Israel's palaces, and gold and silver come back from Ophir and Tarshish in the holds of joint-venture fleets. The picture this umbrella holds together is the long ledger of what changes hands across these routes — what goes out from each land and what comes in — anchored in the trade-hymn of Tyre in Ezekiel 27, the Solomon-Hiram partnership, and the Ishmaelite caravan that carries Joseph down to Egypt.

The Joseph Caravan: Spice Out of Gilead

The first export scene in the canon is also the most fully drawn — the caravan from Gilead. "And they sat down to eat bread: and they lifted up their eyes and looked, and noticed a caravan of Ishmaelites was coming from Gilead, with their camels bearing spicery and balm and myrrh, going to carry it down to Egypt" (Gen 37:25). The cargo — spicery, balm, myrrh — and the route — Gilead down to Egypt — recur all through the rest of Scripture's commerce material.

Gilead's signature export is balm. Jeremiah's lament — "Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there? Why then hasn't the health of the daughter of my people recovered?" (Jer 8:22) — and his oracle to Egypt — "Go up into Gilead, and take balm, O virgin daughter of Egypt: in vain you use many medicines; there is no healing for you" (Jer 46:11) — both presume the same trade map. Babylon, in its fall, is told the same: "take balm for her pain, if perhaps she may be healed" (Jer 51:8). Balm is something Gilead has, and the world goes to Gilead for it.

Jacob's gift-package to the Egyptian governor in the famine reads like a reduced manifest of the same caravan: "take of the choice fruits of the land in your⁺ vessels, and carry down to the man a present, a little balm, and a little honey, spicery and myrrh, nuts, and almonds" (Gen 43:11). Honey is also one of the exports Ezekiel attaches to Israel itself — "Judah, and the land of Israel, they were your traffickers: they traded for your merchandise wheat of Minnith, and pannag, and honey, and oil, and balm" (Ezek 27:17). Wheat, oil, honey, balm: the four staples Israelite traders carry to Tyre.

Grain Out of Egypt

The other classic patriarchal export scene runs the route in reverse. Egypt is the granary, and in famine Canaan goes down to buy. "Now Jacob saw that there was grain in Egypt, and Jacob said to his sons, Why do you⁺ look one on another? And he said, Look, I have heard that there is grain in Egypt: you⁺ get down there, and buy for us from there; that we may live, and not die" (Gen 42:1-2). Joseph's brothers go: "And Joseph's ten brothers went down to buy grain from Egypt" (Gen 42:3). They come back loaded — "Then Joseph commanded to fill their vessels with grain, and to restore every man's silver into his sack, and to give them provisions for the way... And they loaded their donkeys with their grain, and departed there" (Gen 42:25-26). Wheat as an export is the older background to the trade in Ezekiel. Grain is also what Solomon pays Hiram for the Lebanon timber: "And Solomon gave Hiram twenty cors of wheat for food to his household, and twenty cors of pure oil: thus gave Solomon to Hiram year by year" (1 Kings 5:11) — wheat and oil moving north to Tyre against cedar and fir coming south.

Solomon's Horse-and-Chariot Trade

The other large state-managed export channel in the historical books is the horse-and-chariot trade run out of Egypt and Kue, with Solomon's merchants as middlemen for the surrounding kings. "And the horses which Solomon had were brought out of Egypt and from Kue. The king's merchants acquired those from Kue for a price. And a chariot came up and went out of Egypt for six hundred [shekels] of silver, and a horse for a hundred and fifty; and so for all the kings of the Hittites, and for the kings of Syria, they would bring them out by their means" (1 Kings 10:28-29). The Chronicler keeps the same prices and the same role: "they fetched up and brought out of Egypt a chariot for six hundred [shekels] of silver, and a horse for a hundred and fifty: and so for all the kings of the Hittites, and the kings of Syria, they brought them out by their means" (2 Chr 1:16-17).

The trade is two-step: Israel buys from Egypt and Kue, then sells on to the Hittites and Aramaeans. The price is fixed in silver. The route doubles as Israel's chariot supply, and the chariot motif runs the length of the canon — from Sisera's "nine hundred chariots of iron" (Judg 4:13) and the Canaanite chariots that keep Joseph's tribe out of the valley (Josh 17:16; Judg 1:19), to Pharaoh's "six hundred chosen chariots" pursuing Israel out of Egypt (Exod 14:7), to Isaiah's reproach of those "who go down to Egypt for help, and rely on horses, and trust in chariots" (Isa 31:1).

Ophir and Tarshish: Gold by Sea

The maritime side of Solomon's exports runs out of Ezion-geber on the Red Sea. "And King Solomon made a navy of ships in Ezion-geber, which is beside Eloth, on the shore of the Red Sea, in the land of Edom" (1 Kings 9:26). Hiram of Tyre supplies the crews — "And Hiram sent in the navy his slaves, shipmen who had knowledge of the sea, with the slaves of Solomon" (1 Kings 9:27) — and the joint fleet sails to Ophir for gold: "And they came to Ophir, and fetched from there gold, four hundred and twenty talents, and brought it to King Solomon" (1 Kings 9:28). The Chronicler records the haul as "four hundred and fifty talents of gold" (2 Chr 8:18) and adds "algum-trees and precious stones" (2 Chr 9:10).

A second fleet runs out of the same yard along the Tarshish route: "For the king had at sea a navy of Tarshish with the navy of Hiram: once every three years the navy of Tarshish came, bringing gold, and silver, ivory, and apes, and peacocks" (1 Kings 10:22; cf. 2 Chr 9:21). The cargo manifest — gold, silver, ivory, apes, peacocks — is the single richest list of named imports/exports in the corpus, and it links half a dozen separate threads: the Ophir gold supply (1 Chr 29:4 — "three thousand talents of gold, of the gold of Ophir, and seven thousand talents of refined silver"), the great ivory throne of 1 Kings 10:18 ("the king made a great throne of ivory, and overlaid it with the finest gold"), and Ahab's "ivory house" of 1 Kings 22:39.

Jehoshaphat tries to revive the route a generation later and the ships break in the yard: "Jehoshaphat made ships of Tarshish to go to Ophir for gold: but they did not go; for the ships were broken at Ezion-geber" (1 Kings 22:48). The same king's joint venture with Ahaziah of Israel "to make ships to go to Tarshish... and they made the ships in Ezion-geber" (2 Chr 20:36) is the one Ahaziah tries to rescue with shared crews — "Let my slaves go with your slaves in the ships. But Jehoshaphat would not" (1 Kings 22:49). The narrative preserves both the boom years and the later breakdown.

The Tarshish route gives the prophets their stock figure for sea-going wealth. Isaiah's "burden of Tyre" opens "Howl, you⁺ ships of Tarshish; for it is laid waste" (Isa 23:1); his coming-glory oracle expects "the ships of Tarshish first, to bring your sons from far, their silver and their gold with them" (Isa 60:9). Psalm 72 makes Tarshish a synonym for distant tribute: "The kings of Tarshish and of the isles will render tribute: The kings of Sheba and Seba will offer gifts" (Ps 72:10). And Jeremiah keeps the same map: "There is silver beaten into plates, which is brought from Tarshish, and gold from Uphaz, the work of the artificer and of the hands of the goldsmith; blue and purple for their clothing" (Jer 10:9). Jonah books passage on the same route in reverse — "But Jonah rose up to flee to Tarshish from the presence of Yahweh; and he went down to Joppa, and found a ship going to Tarshish: so he paid its fare" (Jonah 1:3) — and the mariners who throw the cargo overboard know the trade well: "Then the mariners were afraid, and cried every man to his god; and they cast forth the wares that were in the ship into the sea, to lighten it to them" (Jonah 1:5).

Hiram and the Lebanon Timber

The Tyrian relationship is older than the navy — it begins with David: "And Hiram king of Tyre sent messengers to David, and cedar-trees, and carpenters, and masons; and they built David a house" (2 Sam 5:11). Under Solomon it scales up to a state contract: "Hiram the king of Tyre had furnished Solomon with cedar-trees and fir-trees, and with gold, according to all his desire" (1 Kings 9:11). The cedar pours into the temple — "there was cedar on the house inside, carved with knops and open flowers: all was cedar; there was no stone seen" (1 Kings 6:18) — and into the palace: "the house of the forest of Lebanon... on four rows of cedar pillars, with cedar beams on the pillars" (1 Kings 7:2). Even before Solomon, the supply is moving: "the Sidonians and those of Tyre brought cedar-trees in abundance to David" (1 Chr 22:4). David himself notes the contrast: "I dwell in a house of cedar, but the ark of God dwells inside curtains" (2 Sam 7:2).

Hiram also supplies the metalworker. "King Solomon sent and fetched Hiram out of Tyre. He was the son of a widow of the tribe of Naphtali, and his father was a man of Tyre, a worker in bronze; and he was filled with the wisdom and the understanding and the knowledge to work all works in bronze" (1 Kings 7:13; 7:14). The Chronicler keeps the same picture: "I have sent a skillful man, endued with understanding, of Huram my father's" (2 Chr 2:13). The Tyrian exchange is timber, gold, and craft skill in one direction; wheat, oil, and twenty Galilean cities back the other way (1 Kings 9:11).

Ezekiel's Trade Hymn

The fullest synthesis of the export ledger is Ezekiel's lament for Tyre. The hull itself is a manifest: "They have made all your planks of fir-trees from Senir; they have taken a cedar from Lebanon to make a mast for you. Of the oaks of Bashan they have made your oars; they have made your benches of ivory inlaid in cypress-wood, from the isles of Kittim. Of fine linen with embroidered work from Egypt was your sail, that it might be to you for an ensign; blue and purple from the isles of Elishah was your awning" (Ezek 27:5-7). Six named sources — Senir, Lebanon, Bashan, Kittim, Egypt, Elishah — for one ship.

The trading partners follow. "Tarshish was your merchant by reason of the multitude of all kinds of riches; with silver, iron, tin, and lead, they traded for your wares" (Ezek 27:12). "Javan, Tubal, and Meshech, they were your traffickers; they traded the souls of man and vessels of bronze for your merchandise. They of the house of Togarmah traded for your wares with horses and warhorses and mules" (Ezek 27:13-14). "Syria was your merchant by reason of the multitude of your handiworks: they traded for your wares with emeralds, purple, and embroidered work, and fine linen, and coral, and rubies" (Ezek 27:16). "Judah, and the land of Israel, they were your traffickers: they traded for your merchandise wheat of Minnith, and pannag, and honey, and oil, and balm" (Ezek 27:17). "Damascus was your merchant... with the wine of Helbon, and white wool" (Ezek 27:18). "And the earthenware wine jars of Izalla, for your wares: bright iron, cassia, and calamus, were among your merchandise" (Ezek 27:19). "Arabia, and all the princes of Kedar, they were the merchants of your hand; in lambs, and rams, and goats, in these they were your merchants" (Ezek 27:21). "The traffickers of Sheba and Raamah, they were your traffickers; they traded for your wares with the chief of all spices, and with all precious stones, and gold" (Ezek 27:22). "These were your traffickers in choice wares, in wrappings of blue and embroidered work, and in chests of rich apparel, bound with cords and made of cedar, these were your merchandise" (Ezek 27:24).

The cargo summary at the heart of the hymn: "The ships of Tarshish were your caravans for your merchandise: and you were replenished, and made very glorious in the heart of the seas" (Ezek 27:25). And the reach: "When your wares went forth out of the seas, you filled many peoples; you did enrich the kings of the earth with the multitude of your riches and of your merchandise" (Ezek 27:33). When the hymn turns into lament, the mariners speak: "all who handle the oar, the mariners, [and] all the pilots of the sea, will come down from their ships; they will stand on the land" (Ezek 27:29).

The same Tyre carries the same picture in Zechariah: "Tyre built herself a stronghold, and heaped up silver as the dust, and fine gold as the mire of the streets" (Zech 9:3). And Sheba and Dedan reappear on Tyre's ledger in the Gog oracle: "Sheba, and Dedan, and the merchants of Tarshish, with all its young lions, will say to you, Have you come to take the spoil?... To carry away silver and gold, to take away cattle and goods, to take great spoil?" (Ezek 38:13).

Sheba, Arabia, and the Spice Trade

The southern caravan trade is the second great supply line. Sheba is the spice-and-gold partner: "The traffickers of Sheba and Raamah, they were your traffickers; they traded for your wares with the chief of all spices, and with all precious stones, and gold" (Ezek 27:22). "To what purpose does frankincense from Sheba come to me, and the sweet cane from a far country? Your⁺ burnt-offerings are not acceptable, nor your⁺ sacrifices pleasing to me" (Jer 6:20) — Sheba as the upstream of the frankincense supply. Isaiah's restoration oracle keeps the same map: "The multitude of camels will cover you, the dromedaries of Midian and Ephah; all those from Sheba will come; they will bring gold and frankincense, and will proclaim the good news of the praises of Yahweh" (Isa 60:6). Job names "the caravans of Tema" and "the companies of Sheba" together (Job 6:19).

The queen of Sheba's state visit is the same trade in royal form. "And when the queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon... she came to Jerusalem with a very great train, with camels that bore spices, and very much gold, and precious stones" (1 Kings 10:1-2; cf. 2 Chr 9:1). The Chronicler frames Solomon's silver-and-gold income the same way: "besides that which the traders and merchants brought: and all the kings of Arabia and the governors of the country brought gold and silver to Solomon" (2 Chr 9:14). Tribute in kind is itemized: "they brought every man his tribute, vessels of silver, and vessels of gold, and raiment, armor, and spices, horses, and mules, a rate year by year" (2 Chr 9:24). And Jehoshaphat receives his own version: "some of the Philistines brought Jehoshaphat presents, and silver for tribute; the Arabians also brought him flocks, seven thousand and seven hundred rams, and seven thousand and seven hundred he-goats" (2 Chr 17:11).

The caravan figure carries through. "And she came to Jerusalem with a very great train, with camels that bore spices" (1 Kings 10:2); "Hazael went to meet him, and took a present with him, even of every good thing of Damascus, forty camels' burden" (2 Kings 8:9); "The burden on Arabia. In the forest in Arabia you⁺ will lodge, O you⁺ caravans of Dedanites" (Isa 21:13). The Ishmaelites of Genesis 37:25 are the same kind of train.

Spices, Frankincense, Myrrh

The named spices behave as a unit in the trade rows. Myrrh moves with balm in the Ishmaelite caravan (Gen 37:25; Gen 43:11) and shows up in the temple's anointing oil — "of flowing myrrh five hundred [shekels], and of sweet cinnamon half so much, even two hundred and fifty, and of sweet calamus two hundred and fifty" (Exod 30:23). The Persian court uses it as cosmetic: "six months with oil of myrrh, and six months with sweet odors and with the things for the purifying of the women" (Esth 2:12). The wedding-song imagery keeps the trade register: "All your garments [smell of] myrrh, and aloes, [and] cassia; Out of ivory palaces stringed instruments have made you glad" (Ps 45:8); "Who is this that comes up from the wilderness Like pillars of smoke, Perfumed with myrrh and frankincense, With all powders of the merchant?" (Song 3:6).

Frankincense — the Sheba export of Jer 6:20 and Isa 60:6 — recurs as a sanctuary commodity (Lev 5:11; Lev 24:7; Num 5:15) and as a sweet-smell metaphor (Sir 39:14 — "as frankincense give forth a sweet odor, And put forth flowers as a lily; Spread forth a sweet smell, and sing a song of praise; Bless⁺ the Lord for all his works"). Cassia and calamus surface in the Tyre hymn (Ezek 27:19) and in the anointing-oil recipe alongside myrrh and cinnamon (Exod 30:24 — "of cassia five hundred, after the shekel of the sanctuary, and of olive oil a hin"). Hezekiah's treasure-house display lays the inventory out: "the silver, and the gold, and the spices, and the precious oil, and the house of his armor, and all that was found in his treasures: there was nothing in his house, nor in all his dominion, that Hezekiah did not show them" (2 Kings 20:13). And Asa's funeral: "they buried him in his own tombs... laid him in the bed which was filled with sweet odors and diverse kinds [of spices] prepared by the perfumers' art" (2 Chr 16:14). Mary Magdalene and the others "bought spices, that they might come and anoint him" (Mark 16:1).

Metals and Stones

The trade-hymn names a tight metals list — "silver, iron, tin, and lead" (Ezek 27:12) — and the rest of the canon extends the picture. Tin is what Israel itself becomes when she goes to dross: "Son of Man, the house of Israel has become dross to me: all of them are bronze and tin and iron and lead, in the midst of the furnace; they are the dross of silver" (Ezek 22:18); "I will turn my hand on you, and thoroughly purge away your dross, and will take away all your tin" (Isa 1:25). Israel's own metals stockpile is gathered for the temple: "David prepared iron in abundance for the nails for the doors of the gates, and for the couplings; and bronze in abundance without weight" (1 Chr 22:3); the temple offering totals "of gold five thousand talents... of silver ten thousand talents, and of bronze eighteen thousand talents, and one hundred thousand talents of iron" (1 Chr 29:7). The taxonomy reappears in Numbers 31:22 — "the gold, and the silver, the bronze, the iron, the tin, and the lead" — and as Daniel's image: "its head was of fine gold, its breast and its arms of silver" (Dan 2:32).

Bronze is the Tyrian craftsman's medium (1 Kings 7:14; Exod 25:3 — "gold, and silver, and bronze") and the metal taken back to Babylon in the captivity: "the pillars of bronze that were in the house of Yahweh, and the bases and the bronze sea... the Chaldeans broke in pieces, and carried the bronze of them to Babylon" (2 Kings 25:13). Coral, emeralds, rubies and the precious stones travel the same routes (Ezek 27:16; Job 28:18 — "No mention will be made of coral or of crystal: Yes, the price of wisdom is above rubies"). Gold from Ophir is the standard of value: "It can't be valued with the gold of Ophir, With the precious onyx, or the sapphire" (Job 28:16); the "queen in gold of Ophir" stands at the king's right hand (Ps 45:9); Israel's glory verse keeps the same standard — "I will make common man more rare than fine gold, even man more than the pure gold of Ophir" (Isa 13:12).

Solomon's gold-import boom drives the famous superlative: "the king made silver and gold to be in Jerusalem as stones, and cedars he made to be as the sycamore trees that are in the lowland, for abundance" (2 Chr 1:15). And the export pattern keeps surfacing — Babylon's plunder, the Persian return, the temple vessels: "the gold and silver vessels also of the house of God, which Nebuchadnezzar took out of the temple" (Ezra 5:14); "all those who were round about them strengthened their hands with vessels of silver, with gold, with goods, and with beasts, and with precious things" (Ezra 1:6).

Cloth, Linen, and Purple

The dye-and-fabric trade has its own ledger. Tyre's Syrian merchants trade in "purple, and embroidered work, and fine linen" (Ezek 27:16); the sail of the Tyrian ship is "fine linen with embroidered work from Egypt... blue and purple from the isles of Elishah" (Ezek 27:7). The Tarshish manifest in Jeremiah includes "blue and purple for their clothing" (Jer 10:9). Linen garments are an Israelite craft and an Israelite export: "She makes linen garments and sells them, And delivers belts to the merchant" (Prov 31:24). The wedding figure keeps the register: "She makes for herself carpets of tapestry; Her clothing is fine linen and purple" (Prov 31:22).

Purple is the royal-investiture marker. Mordecai goes out "in royal apparel of blue and white, and with a great crown of gold, and with a robe of fine linen and purple" (Esth 8:15); Daniel's reader is promised "purple, and have a chain of gold about his neck" (Dan 5:7); the rich man of the parable "was clothed in purple and fine linen, faring sumptuously every day" (Luke 16:19). In the Maccabean books the Seleucid kings invest Jonathan and Simon with the same insignia of state: "he sent him a purple robe, and a crown of gold" (1 Macc 10:20); "he commanded that Jonathan's garments should be taken off, and that he should be clothed with purple" (1 Macc 10:62); "he gave him leave to drink in gold, and to be clothed in purple, and to wear a golden buckle" (1 Macc 11:58); "he should be clothed with purple and gold... it should not be lawful for any of the people, or of the priests... to be clothed with purple, or to wear a buckle of gold" (1 Macc 14:43-44). Spoils of the Seleucid camp at Beth-zur include "blue silk, and purple of the sea, and great riches" (1 Macc 4:23). The same dyestuff keeps its trade meaning from Phoenicia through to the Hasmonean court.

Ports and Mariners

The ports the trade moves through are named. Ezion-geber on the Red Sea is Solomon's Ophir yard (1 Kings 9:26; 2 Chr 8:17); Jehoshaphat's Tarshish ships break there (1 Kings 22:48; 2 Chr 20:36). The route runs back through the Arabah from "Elath and from Ezion-geber" (Deut 2:8). On the Mediterranean side, Joppa is the port where Jonah buys passage to Tarshish (Jonah 1:3); Zebulun's tribal blessing reads "Zebulun will stay at the haven of the sea; And he will be for a haven of ships; And his border will be on Sidon" (Gen 49:13). Sidon and Tyre are the Phoenician twins — "the inhabitants of Acco... the inhabitants of Sidon" (Judg 1:31), "those of Ptolemais, and of Tyre, and of Sidon" (1 Macc 5:15) — and the cedar exporters at the head of David's supply line (1 Chr 22:4). The mariners themselves are the trade's specialist labor: "shipmen who have knowledge of the sea" (1 Kings 9:27); "all who handle the oar, the mariners, [and] all the pilots of the sea" (Ezek 27:29); "Sing to Yahweh a new song... you⁺ who go down to the sea, and all that is in it, the isles, and its inhabitants" (Isa 42:10); "Those who go down to the sea in ships, Who do business in great waters" (Ps 107:23). Numbers 24:24 names the same shipping lane — "those who go out from the coast of Kittim" — that Ezekiel makes the source of the Tyrian benches (Ezek 27:6).

Traffic in Persons

The ugliest line on Tyre's ledger is the slave trade: "Javan, Tubal, and Meshech, they were your traffickers; they traded the souls of man and vessels of bronze for your merchandise" (Ezek 27:13). The prophets keep returning to the same export. Joel hears Yahweh indict Tyre and Sidon: "have given a boy for a prostitute, and sold a girl for wine, that they may drink" (Joel 3:3). Amos doubles the charge against Israel itself: "they have sold the righteous for silver, and the needy for a pair of sandals" (Amos 2:6); "that we may buy the poor for silver, and the needy for a pair of sandals, and sell the refuse of the wheat" (Amos 8:6). The shepherd-narrative of Zechariah pegs the price: "they weighed for my wages thirty [shekels] of silver" (Zech 11:12). And the original case study is Joseph: "And there passed by Midianites, merchantmen; and they drew and lifted up Joseph out of the pit, and sold Joseph to the Ishmaelites for twenty [shekels of] silver. And they brought Joseph into Egypt" (Gen 37:28); "And Joseph was brought down to Egypt; and Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh's, the captain of the guard, an Egyptian, bought him of the hand of the Ishmaelites, that had brought him down there" (Gen 39:1). Hiram's joint fleet runs on "slaves" — "the slaves of Huram, and the slaves of Solomon, who brought gold from Ophir" (2 Chr 9:10); "Huram sent him ships by the hands of his slaves, and slaves who had knowledge of the sea" (2 Chr 8:18) — and the Apocalypse, looking back over the same trade inventory, closes the list with "and [merchandise] of horses and chariots and slaves--even souls of men" (Rev 18:13).

Tyre's Reach and Tyre's Lament

What the trade hymn finally turns into is an oracle. Tyre's reach is real — "you did enrich the kings of the earth with the multitude of your riches and of your merchandise" (Ezek 27:33) — but the wealth that "heaped up silver as the dust, and fine gold as the mire of the streets" (Zech 9:3) is the same wealth Isaiah hears Yahweh purpose "to stain the pride of all glory, to bring into contempt all the honorable of the earth" (Isa 23:9). The merchants are princes (Isa 23:8); the merchants are also mourners (Ezek 27:30-32). The cargo manifest of Revelation 18 — "merchandise of gold, and silver, and precious stone, and pearls, and fine linen, and purple, and silk, and scarlet; and all thyine wood, and every vessel of ivory, and every vessel made of most precious wood, and of bronze, and iron, and marble" (Rev 18:12) — closes the loop on the Tyre hymn with the same goods, the same routes, and the same end: "you filled many peoples; you did enrich the kings of the earth" — and then the ships of Tarshish howl (Isa 23:1).

The Apocrypha keeps the picture into the Hasmonean period. The Seleucid wars are fought across the same routes: "he entered into Egypt with a great multitude, with chariots and elephants, and horsemen, and a great number of ships" (1 Macc 1:17); "And the king of Egypt gathered together an army... and many ships" (1 Macc 11:1); Tryphon flees "by ship to Orthosia" (1 Macc 15:37). Simon decorates his memorial at Modein with carved ships "which might be seen by all who sailed on the sea" (1 Macc 13:29); the Romans receive "a great shield of gold, of the weight of a thousand minas" from him (1 Macc 14:24); his own family gets two thousand talents of silver "a buckle of gold... silver also, and gold, and many ornaments" moving back and forth (1 Macc 15:26). The traders in 1 Maccabees 3:41 react to Judas the way the merchants in Revelation 18 react to Babylon: "And the merchants of the countries heard the fame of them: and they took silver and gold exceedingly much, with servants, and came into the camp." The export ledger and the sapiential warning finally meet in Sirach: "He who runs after gold will not be guiltless, And he who loves gain will go astray" (Sir 31:5); "There are many who have been entangled through gold, And those who put their trust in pearls" (Sir 31:6); "Gold and silver make the foot stand sure, But better than both is counsel esteemed before them both" (Sir 40:25).