According to this arrangement it would appear that Solomon paid for the timber that he imported by exporting to Hiram wheat and oil, but it is shown in a later chapter that the transaction was not a purely commercial one.  At the end of twenty years, when Solomon had finished the building of the temple, he gave Hiram as further consideration twenty cities in the land of Galilee, ’and Hiram came out from Tyre to see the cities which Solomon had given him; and they pleased him not.  And he said, What cities are these which thou hast given me, my brother?  And he called them the land of Cabul [explained in the margin as meaning “displeasing” or “dirty”] unto this day.  And Hiram sent to the king sixscore talents of gold.’[25]

Apart from this transaction between the two kings, Solomon appears to have developed a very considerable foreign trade, presumably exporting wheat and oil and other agricultural products.  His imports appear to have been various.  Chapter ten of the first book of Kings states that ’the king had at sea a navy of Tharshish with the navy of Hiram:  once in three years came the navy of Tharshish, bringing gold, and silver, ivory, and apes, and peacocks.’ ...  ’And the king made silver to be in Jerusalem as stones, and cedars made he to be as the sycomore trees that are in the vale, for abundance.  And Solomon had horses brought out of Egypt, and linen yarn:  the king’s merchants received the linen yarn at a price.’

The whole question of Solomon’s balance of trade is a very interesting one, and deserves the attention of some Hebrew scholar who may be able to throw light upon it.  In these days it is rather difficult to see how a purely agricultural country could have found the means of paying for all these articles of pure luxury which Solomon imported so freely.  It must be noted, however, that ’all the earth sought to Solomon, to hear his wisdom, which God had put in his heart.  And they brought every man his present, vessels of silver, and vessels of gold, and garments, and armour, and spices, horses, and mules, a rate year by year’.  From this it appears that Solomon was able to exchange his wisdom for a very considerable part of the imports which came into his country, and so perhaps we may take it that Solomon’s wisdom is the earliest recorded example of what is now known as an invisible export.  A modern equivalent would be the articles which English writers contribute to American newspapers and are paid for, ultimately, by the shipment to England of American wheat and cotton.  It is also interesting to note in these days, when personal economy and simplicity of life are so freely preached, that Solomon’s very luxurious imports were followed by evil consequences, imports of an enormous number of strange women, and a consequent turning away of his heart after false gods.