This “navy of Tharshish,” operating with the aid of Hiram of Tyre, seems to have been based at Eziongeber (ch. 9:26); it could have sailed from there to distant ports in Africa, India, possibly even in China. Thus a voyage of three years, with frequent stops at ports of call, would be reasonable. It is expressly stated, however, that Solomon’s ships went to Tarshish (2 Chron. 9:21); Jehoshaphat and Ahaziah made ships at “Ezion-gaber” “to go to Tarshish” (2 Chron. 20:36).

Since a fleet sailing from Ezion-geber, on the Gulf of Aqabah, could hardly have gone to Spain, and since the cargoes included “apes and peacocks” (or apes and baboons, see RSV, note), some have held that this was a Tarshish in Africa, probably in Ophir, or Punt, in Somaliland.

 (more frequently spelled Tharshish). For the name as listed among the descendants of Javan, and as applied to Tartessus in Spain, see on Gen. 10:4. Tartessus was probably the place for which Jonah sailed from Joppa (Jonah 1:3). But Tarshish, meaning “smelting plant,” was probably the name of several places, as in Sardinia or Tunisia, which supplied metals to Tyrian fleets (Isa. 23:1, 6, 14; Eze. 27:12, 25).

 “Ships of Tarshish,” formerly held to mean ships large enough to sail to Spain, are now interpreted as a “refinery fleet.” Solomon’s fleet could not sail from Eziongeber to the Mediterranean, but probably to Ophir (see on ch. 9:26-28).