It Is Not Likely, That Being In The Immediate Vicinity Of This Commercial
City, The Jews Would Not Be Stimulated To Follow Its Example, And Endeavour
To Draw Wealth From The Same Sources.
Indeed, the Old Testament expressly
speaks of Joppa as the port of Judea and Jerusalem, into which foreign
articles, and especially many of the materials used by Solomon in the
building of the temple, were imported.
On the conquest of the Amalekites and Edomites by King David, the Jews
gained possession of some ports in the Red Sea; and during his reign, and
that of Solomon, the Jews certainly employed the ships of their ally, Hiram
king of Tyre, extensively in foreign commerce. Indeed, the commerce of the
Phoenicians from the Red Sea, appears to have been carried on principally,
if not entirely, from the harbours in that sea belonging to the Jews,
though there is no ground for believing that the Jews themselves had any
fleet on it, or were at all engaged in its commerce. These short notices
are all that history supplies us with, on the subject of the navigation and
commerce of the Jews. From the Old Testament we may, however, collect
materials, by which we may estimate the progress they had made in
geography. About 500 years before Christ, they do not appear to have
extended their knowledge of the globe beyond Mount Caucasus to the north,
the entrance of the Red Sea to the south, and the Mediterranean Archipelago
to the west, besides Egypt, Asia Minor, Armenia, Syria, Arabia, and perhaps
a small part of Abyssinia.
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