We read no farther than the second chapter in the Bible when we find mention of gold. There Moses speaks of "the land of Havilah, where there is gold"; and in Genesis, chapter xxiv., we read that Abraham's servant gave Rebekah an earring of half a shekel weight, say 5 dwt. 13 grs., and "two bracelets of ten shekels weight," or about 4 1/2 ozs. Then throughout the Scriptures, and, indeed, in all historic writings, we find frequent mention of the king of metals, and always it is spoken of as a commodity highly prized.
I have sometimes thought, however, that either we are mistaken in the weights used by the Hebrew nation in early days, or that the arithmetic of those times was not quite "according to Cocker." We read, I. Kings x. and xli., that Solomon in one year received no less than six hundred and three score and six talents of gold. If a talent of gold was, as has been assumed, 3000 shekels of 219 grains each, the value of the golden treasure accumulated in this one year by the Hebrew king would have been 3,646,350 pounds sterling. Considering that the only means of "getting gold" in those days was a most