In olden times Arabia was a much more important country than it is to-day.
Before there were large seagoing ships, all the trade between India,
Persia, even China, on the east, and Egypt on the west, was carried on
camels. The caravans at that time used to cross Arabia in all directions,
and the men who drove these camel-trains grew wealthy, as railroad
magnates do to-day. We read about this early traffic on these highways of
the desert in the Old Testament as well as in the old Greek histories. The
province of Yemen was celebrated for its wealth and civilisation as early
as the time of Solomon. It was then called Sheba and the old capital was
called Marib, a little northeast of the present city of Sanaa. There are
still many extensive ruins and inscriptions which testify to the height of
their civilisation. We read of one of the queens of Sheba (the Arabs say
she was named _Bilkis_) who came to prove Solomon with hard questions. She
came with a large caravan of camels bearing spices and gold in abundance;
her present to Solomon consisted of "an hundred and twenty talents of
gold, and of spices great abundance, and precious stones." Gold is no
longer found in Arabia but it was undoubtedly once very plentiful there.
All the old writers speak of Arabia as a-gold country. One of the Greek
geographers speaks of a stream in which large nuggets of gold were found.
Some people think Ophir was in Arabia. However that may be, the traveller
Burton explored the northwestern part of the peninsula and found old mines
and even traces of gold dust. If Job lived in the land of Midian we can
well understand how he could describe mining operations so well as he does
in the twenty-eighth chapter of his book.
[Illustration: BRANCH OF INCENSE TREE.]
Frankincense and myrrh were also carried across Arabia by the caravans,
and both of these precious gums came from Arabia itself and are still
found there. One of the oldest articles of commerce was incense. The gum
was used in sacrifices and in all the heathen temple worship as well as by
the Jews in their worship. One thousand talents' weight of frankincense
was brought every year to Darius, the Persian king, as tribute from
Arabia. The present incense country is southern Arabia, especially
Hadramaut. Here the incense tree (of which you see a small branch in the
picture) grows. The young trees are cut with a knife, and from the
incisions made in the bark a milk-like juice comes out. When it has had
time to harden, the large clear globules are scraped off into baskets and
the inferior kind that has run down the bark is collected separately. It
is shipped from Arabia to Bombay or goes out from Aden and still commands
a good price. In some Roman Catholic churches this incense is burnt every
Sunday and if you will go to a large druggist he may be able to show you
pieces of Arabian incense.
Myrrh and frankincense are frequently mentioned together. Both are
sweet-smelling gums and both came originally from Arabia. According to a
Greek legend, Myrrha was the daughter of one of the kings of Cyprus who
angered her father and when he attempted to stab her, fled to Arabia. Here
she was changed into a tree called myrrh! A few of these trees are still
found in Yemen, but myrrh is not at all as plentiful as it once was in
Arabia. It is a low, thorny, ragged-looking tree with bright green leaves.
The gum exudes from cracks in the bark near the root of the plant. When
dry it is of a rich brown colour and has a bitter taste. The word "myrrh"
in Arabic means bitter, and I think that is the origin of the name given
to the tree and not the foolish story of the Greek mythology. You must
look up all the references in the Bible to myrrh. I wonder whether the
myrrh which Nicodemus used to embalm the body of our Saviour for His
burial came from Arabia? In Matthew's gospel we read of the wise men who
came from the East to worship Jesus. "And when they had opened their
treasures they presented unto Him gifts; gold and frankincense and myrrh."
Do you not think that these wise men came from Arabia, even as the queen
of Sheba did, to see the king of the Jews? Perhaps Isaiah prophesied of
their coming when he wrote concerning Arabia: "The multitude of camels
shall cover thee the dromedaries of Midian and Ephah; all they from Sheba
shall come: they shall bring gold and incense; and they shall shew forth
the praises of the Lord." At any rate we are quite sure that the
frankincense they brought came from Arabia. There is a great deal in the
Bible about this country and there are many beautiful promises for the
redemption of its people. Arabs were present at Pentecost and the first
missionary to Arabia was the Apostle Paul. God has not forgotten His
promises and we must all pray that soon they may be fulfilled. No one has
yet been to tell the children of Hadramaut, who gather the incense-gum,
the story of Jesus' birth and of His death on the cross. There is not a
single missionary in all that country; no one has been to tell the news
that the Babe of Bethlehem is the King of Glory.
"Thou who in a manger
Once hast lowly lain,
Who dost now in glory
O'er all kingdoms reign,
Gather in the heathen
Who in lands afar
Ne'er have see the brightness
Of Thy guiding star."