Trama

Of all the rulers mentioned in the Bible, King Solomon was purportedly the wisest...and the richest! The reason? His access to vast quantities of gold. According to the Bible, the source of his legendary wealth was the goldmines located in the mysterious land of Ophir. Yet, what the Scriptures can't tell us is where Ophir might be found today. Host Josh Bernstein leads us on an epic 4,000-mile journey in search of the lost gold of King Solomon--sailing across the Red Sea, plunging down a Zimbabwean gold mine, and traveling deep into the Ethiopian Bush.—THC

Josh Bernstein travels 4,000 miles in search of the lost gold of the biblical King Solomon, who was so rich that he had shippers supplying him with an estimated 24 tons of gold each year. According to the Bible, the source of Solomon's legendary wealth was the gold mines located in the mysterious land of Ophir. But nobody knows where Ophir was. Josh begins in Negev, Israel, where he does find ancient mines, but they are veined with copper, not gold. Some scholars think Ophir was in Africa, so Josh retraces the ancient mariners' path in a voyage across the Red Sea to Zimbabwe. There, he travels down a mine-shaft almost half a mile below ground level to see workers extracting gold. Josh also visits the ruins of Great Zimbabwe, an ancient city, but cannot prove that it was connected with Solomon. He winds up in Ethiopia, which is alleged to be where the Queen of Sheba reigned, and discovers gold miners who are still using methods thousands of years old.—fkelleghan@aol.com