Question:
Who is Ophir in reference to in this poem?
The staff turned serpent the story's told
of the ophite in that land of old, so bold!
To heal the hearts of those who mourn
in the desert with souls shorn and torn:
the children borne.
"Enter at the straight and narrow"
He shot me with his bow and arrow.
"My yoke is easy my burden, light!"
My curtains embroidered, they're
couched in white.
My word is bread, my body, meat:
swallow these down into thy feet!
"These are truths" my Testator told.
"I leave you with the most pure gold,
take hold.
Oh, Ophir I covet that tongue of gold
from the land of thirst I've heard of Old.
Plead of light, with tenor high,
wheel three "light years"
and heaven is nigh.
Best Answer - Chosen by Asker:
Ophir in this poem is a reference to the biblical land known for great quantities of God -who decended from a man named Ophir. The idea given is concerned with the gold not the man the land was named after. As said coveted -meaning desired, seemingly more than the God of the bible. The serpent in refering to the evil one who teaches to covet=desire what belongs to another. And supposidly to bring heaven nigh pleading for light as told-yet in truth brings darkness after the spark for gold-as the story does not unfold.
He was a descendant of Shem through Arpachshad, the 11th of Joktan??s 13 sons. (Ge 10:22-29; 1Ch 1:17-23) Ophir was born about 200 years before Abraham, (Ge 10:25; 11:18-26) As in the case of his brothers, it appears that Ophir also headed one of the Semite tribes that were numbered among the descendants of Noah ??according to their families, according to their tongues, in their lands, according to their nations.?? (Ge 10:31, 32)
It was later used to name that land as a place renowned as a source of much gold of the finest quality. Thus already in Job??s time (c. 1600 B.C.E.) ??precious ore in the dust?? and ??pure gold?? were spoken of in parallel with the ??gold of Ophir.?? (Job 22:24; 28:15, 16) Psalm 45:9 describes the queenly consort arrayed in precious gold of Ophir.
David donated 3,000 talents of gold from Ophir for construction of the temple, gold valued at approximately $1,156,050,000. (1Ch 29:1, 2, 4) Later, the trading fleet of David??s son Solomon regularly brought back from Ophir 420 talents of gold. (1Ki 9:26-28)
In 1946, as confirmation of these Biblical accounts about imports of gold from Ophir, a potsherd was unearthed NE of Tel Aviv-Yafo in the dead sea scrolls. It had the inscription saying ??Ophir gold to bet horon, thirty shekels.??—quoted from the Journal of Near Eastern Studies, 1951, Vol. X, pp. 265, 266.
Ophir was a region in SW Arabia in the vicinity of Yemen. Evidence offered for this view is based on the premise that the descendants of Joktan??s son OPHIR settled in the Arabian Peninsula along with such brother tribes as the descendants of Sheba and Havilah. (Ge 10:28, 29) The account of the visit of the queen of Sheba (likely from southern Arabia) is sandwiched in between two references to Solomon??s trade with Ophir.—1Ki 9:26–10:11.