Or at least the error in my math. But here goes:
King David mentions “100,000 talents of gold and 1,000,000 talents of silver.”
Let’s start with the gold:
As best as I’ve been able to determine, one talent was equal to 3000 shekels. And one shekel was equal to 252 grains (assuming that grains have not significantly changed in several millennia). So. . .
One shekel = 252 grains
One talent = 3000 shekels = 756K grains
756K grains / 7000 (grains/pound av.) = 108 pounds
100K talents * 108 (pounds/talent) = 10.8 M pounds
One cubic foot of gold = 1188 pounds
10.8 M pounds / 1188 (pounds/cubic foot) = 9090 cu. ft.
This would be an ingot of gold 6’ x 6’ x 250’ (more or less).
756K (grains/talent) * 100 K talents = 75.6 B grains
75.6 B grains / 480 (grains/ounce troy) = 157.5 M troy ounces
157.5 M troy oz. * $375 US (dollars/ounce) = 59 B dollars.
That would be 24 kt gold. Let’s say that impurities reduced it to a paltry 18 kt. then it would be approximately 44 B dollars!
Now the silver:
1 M talents * 108 (pounds/talent) = 108 M pounds
One cubic foot of silver weighs 655 pounds
108 M pounds / 655 (pounds/cubic foot) = 165 K cu. ft.
That would make an ingot of silver 6’ x 6’ by about 4500’.
YIKES!
756K (grains/talent) * 1 M talents = 756 B grains
756 B grains / 480 (grains/ounce troy) = 1.575 M troy ounces
1.575 M troy oz. * $5.55 US (dollars/ounce) = 8.7 B dollars
But let’s throw in some impurities and reduce it to about .900 fine. Then we end up with about 7.9 B dollars!
Now the GQ was that much gold and silver even known to exist in ancient times?
(Side note: 2 Chronicles 9:13 mentions Solomon receiving in one year 666 talents of gold. Possibly some archaeological dig might find some receipt stating the donation came from a Mr. Lou C. Furr.)
Have you been reading Chick tracts again Earl?
FTR I am not a bible literalist. I’m a bit suspicious about such round numbers. Did Hebrews use base 10 so those numbers would have been so round or was there fudging in the translation.
your maths seems appoximately right (more info on ancient weights here http://www.ancientroute.com/Answers.htm )
I suspect the verse in question is a bit of a boast rather than to be taken literally. I would be interesting to know the gold avaliable at that time though. As there is only about 120,000 tonnes of gold in the world now, to say that 3000 tones or so was available to David is stretching it a bit
here is an economic breakdown (by a christian) of the wealth of Solomon, but also his running costs. While he seems as wealthy as you suggested. he did have a lot of servants running around to pay for
http://www.angelfire.com/journal/bibleissues/solomon/sconc.htm
scm1001:
Hebrews did use base 10, that much I can tell you.
Do remember that there was a lot more grandeur in the ancient world than we realize…seven wonders, anyone? I can’t speak with authority on how much precious metal is believed to have been mined back then, but let’s not let ourselves be bogged down in perceptions that everything was stone and mud brick in those days.
I’ve read (here’s one of the many sources) that all the gold mined in the world will fit into a cube 60x60x60. “They” (gold bugs, Austrian economists, etc.) also claim that most of that is still around.
Don’t know if that helps or not.
Looks to me like your figures for modern comparison are within an order of magnitude or so. Bear in mind that the weights for ancient balance scales were hand-made, usually out of stone, and nobody was keeping a Standard Shekel for comparison, so there’s rather a lot of wobble in the measurements; but a number of shekel weights (and a few fractional shekels) have survived from ancient Israel, and at least one two-talent weight, so we’ve got some basis for a reasonable guess. Weighing the shekel weights which have been identified gives a talent varying from about 62 pounds to about 66 pounds – accuracy was always approximate, and the weight of the shekel might well vary by area and by century. So we’re talking about something on the order of 6,400,000 pounds of gold.
Now: could King David plausibly have gathered that much gold and silver for building materials?
cmkeller is right in pointing out that the Temple would have been a wonder in its time; and the Pyramids are all the evidence we’d need to verify that the ancient world could do rather spectacular monumental architecture. But as you suggest, this looks rather like a round number; and governmental exaggeration of the ruler’s accomplishments is not exactly new.
I’d be inclined to think that the exact weight isn’t likely to be the point. The statement in Chronicles would be more on the order of “David gathered more gold and silver for building the Temple than I can possibly imagine… and I can imagine a lot!”