The merchants of Sheba and Raamah, they were thy merchants,.... This Sheba was the son of Raamah, Genesis 10:7 who settled in Arabia Felix; where, according to Ptolemy x, is a city called Rhegma; and so Raamah is pronounced in the Septuagint version of Genesis 10:7:
they occupied in thy fairs with chief of all spices; as with myrrh and frankincense, with which they abounded: Pliny y says that the Arabians paid annually to the kings of Persia a thousand talents of frankincense; and that the Sabaeans z boiled their food, some with wood of frankincense, and others with wood of myrrh:
and with all precious stones, and gold; as jaspers, emeralds, carbuncles, and others, which Pliny a says are found in Arabia; and mention is made of the gold of Sheba, Psalms 72:15 and Bochart thinks that Ophir, from whence the famous gold of that name was fetched, was in Arabia Felix; and it may be observed, that the queen of Sheba gave great quantities of gold, of spices, and of precious stones, to Solomon; and that he had much of these kinds yearly from the spice merchants, and kings of Arabia, 1 Kings 10:10,
x Geograph. l. 6. c. 7. y Nat. Hist. l. 12. c. 17. z "----Solis est thurea virga Sabaeis". Virgil. Georgic. l. 2. a Nat. Hist. l. 37.