This is a “through the bible” devotion from 2 Chronicles 9.
I tend to zip through the books of Chronicles, but one verse slows me down and makes me smile. “Once every three years the ships of Tarshish used to come bringing gold, silver, ivory, apes, and peacocks” (2 Chronicles 9:21).
The writer is describing the wealth of King Solomon, an ancient version of Elon Musk or Jeff Bezos. Solomon didn’t have to do much to grow his assets. In addition to gold and silver, every explorer merchant, king, and governor who stopped by brought gold, silver, garments, myrrh, spices, horses, and mules (9:24). And apes!
On the one hand, I have to wonder, “Why apes?” On the other hand, when you’ve got money to burn, why not? My research revealed that nobility would train baboons to climb palm trees and bring down coconuts. I suppose that’s like training your dog to bring in the newspaper in the morning.
Besides the parallel passage in 1 Kings 10, this is the only place that apes are mentioned in scripture. My trips to zoos always include time in the primate exhibit. Watching monkeys, chimpanzees, bonobos, and gorillas is as entertaining as any movie or TV show. Baboons are fun to watch, but they usually don’t do much other than look back at me.
When the first Six Flags Great Adventure park opened in Jackson, NJ, it featured a drive-through safari which included a baboon exhibit. We had to keep our car windows closed because the apes would climb on the car and peer in the window at us. If your car had a vinyl landau roof, forget it. The baboons tore many to shreds!
Solomon didn’t have to worry about that. He had lots of chariots but no vinyl. Plus, I’m confident he had skilled trainers for his collection of palm-tree climbing, coconut grabbing baboons.
Waite for it... 
Some day I have a story to share with you about baboons.
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