We read much in Scripture of the gold of Ophir, 1 Kings 9:28. The word is perhaps derived from Aupher or Epher, which means ashes; probably from the dust to which gold in the process of melting is brought. But be this as it may, certain it is that the gold of Ophir, supposed to be the purest of all gold, is after all but ashes; and the very name serves to set forth its emptiness and vanity. Was it not with this view (I do but ask the question, and not determine it) the Holy Ghost by the prophet said, "I will make a man (or more properly, the man Christ Jesus) more precious than fine gold, even a man, than the golden wedge of Ophir?" (Isaiah 13:12)