The Merchant’s Treasure
Once, a wealthy merchant booked passage on a ship, accompanied by a friend. He took with him a chest filled with gold and jewels.
As the ship was being loaded, the merchant heard the captain whispering to a sailor, “When we are well out to sea, we will throw both men overboard and take the merchant’s chest.”
Hurriedly, the merchant returned to his cabin. He spent the night reading the Torah and praying. What should he do to save his life?
The next morning, the merchant and his friend rushed to the deck, yelling loudly at each other.
The friend roared at the merchant, “The treasure in this chest belongs to me, not to you!”
The merchant grabbed the chest, screaming, “If I can’t have it, nobody will!” He flung it over the rail.
In silence, all hands watched the chest sink below the waves.
Weeks later, the ship landed. The merchant went straight to a local judge and had the captain summoned.
“Your honor,” the merchant said, “this captain owes me the value of the chest.” He told his story.
Stunned, the captain stammered and at last confessed what he had plotted. The judge ordered the captain to pay.
Then the judge turned to the merchant. “That was so clever of you,” the judge said. “Who gave you the idea of throwing your own money into the sea?”
The merchant smiled.
“It was King Solomon himself who advised me. I was reading Ecclesiastes.
There, the wise king said the words that saved my life: ‘There is a time to keep, and a time to cast away.’”