Gold was known and valued in very early times. Abraham was rich in gold (; ); and female ornaments were made of gold ().
To judge from; , the Jews must have been, in their prosperous days, in possession of enormous quantities of this metal, considering the many tons of gold that were spent in the building of the temple alone, though the expression, plenteous as stones (), may be considered as hyperbolical. It is, however, confirmed by the history of the other Asiatic nations, and more especially of the Persians, that the period referred to really abounded in gold, which was imported in vast masses from Africa and the Indies. The queen of Sheba brought with her (from Arabia Felix), among other presents, 120 talents of gold ().