Reference: TREASURES
American
Kings were wont to store their possessions and guard what they most valued in well-fortified cities, hence called treasure-cities, Ex 1:11; 1Ch 27:25; Ezr 5:17. "Treasures in the field," Jer 41:8, were provisions, etc., buried, as is the custom in many parts of the world, in subterranean pits. Numerous ruined granaries of this kind are still found in the vicinity of Bethshean. The "pilgrim fathers" in like manner found heaps of corn buried in the ground by the Indians. In consequence also of the great insecurity of property in the East, it seems to have been usual from the earliest times to hide in the ground gold and jewels; and the owners being killed or driven away, or forgetting the place of deposit, these hidden treasures remain till chance or search brings them to light. They are much sought for by the Arabs at this day, and are believed by them to be the object travelers from the West have in view in exploring ancient ruins, Job 3:21; Pr 2:4; Mt 13:44. But a few years since, some workmen digging in a garden at Sidon, discovered several copper pots, filled with gold coin from the mint of Philip of Macedon and his son Alexander, unmixed with any of later date. This lost treasure, worth many thousands of dollars, had remained apparently undisturbed over two thousand years.