Ted Walther's Private Diary

The mysterious almug tree of Solomon

1 Kings 10:11,12 And the navy also of Hiram, that brought gold from Ophir, brought in from Ophir great plenty of almug trees, and precious stones. And the king made of the almug trees pillars for the house of the LORD, and for the king's house, harps also and psalteries for singers: there came no such almug trees, nor were seen unto this day.

2 Chronicles 2:8 Send me also cedar trees, fir trees, and algum trees, out of Lebanon: for I know that thy servants can skill to cut timber in Lebanon; and, behold, my servants shall be with thy servants,

2 Chronicles 9:10:11 And the servants also of Huram, and the servants of Solomon, which brought gold from Ophir, brought algum trees and precious stones. And the king made of the algum trees terraces to the house of the LORD, and to the king's palace, and harps and psalteries for singers: and there were none such seen before in the land of Judah.

Scholars today agree that the algum and almug trees of the Bible were one and the same. But noone seems to know what they were. Some speculate that the algum is sandalwood.

Notice, the almug trees came from Ophir. I talked to a Brahmin from Bangalore, India who knew Sanskrit. I asked him what this "almug" tree was. He instantly told me it is spelled Almugg, and refers to the clove tree. Almug is similar to the Hebrew word gephen, in that it seems to be a broad and general word, but actually refers to a specific plant. Generally, almugg refers to a bud. But specifically, it refers to cloves. Likewise, gephen seems to speak of any vine or crawling plant, but actually always refers to the grape vine.

India and the Indonesian chain of islands seem like a good match for the Ophir of Biblical times.

Imagine how Solomon's Temple must have smelled, suffused with the cinnamon scent of the clove trees that were its pillars and supports!

The Clove tree will not grow except within sight of the mountains and within smell of the sea.

The clove is a dried flower bud taken from the highly aromatic tropical evergreen tree of the same name. This tree, which can grow to heights of up to 30 feet, flourishes in the warm, humid climates of places such as Indonesia and Sri Lanka.

Burning off young trees was the Dutch way of regulating supply and keeping prices high. The destruction of the clove trees changed the climate of the Moluccas. They became so unhealthy that Dutch garrisons had to be relieved every six months. According to chroniclers of the times, the clove trees had given off such strong aroma that they had always mitigated the harmful effects of fumes from nearby volcanoes. When the number of trees was reduced so substantially, the remainder could no longer combat the vapors from within the earth.