In the Bible, he provided sailors with an extract of calomel (7)
I believe the answer is:
absalom
'in the bible he' is the definition.
The definition suggests a singular noun which matches the answer.
'sailors with an extract of calomel' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'sailors' could be 'abs' (I've seen this in other clues) and 'abs' is found in the answer.
'an' could be 'a' and 'a' is present in the answer.
'of' could be 'o' and 'o' is found within the answer.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
'provided' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for absalom that I've seen before include "Son of King David (Bible)" , "Son of King David (OT)" , "David's third son (OT)" , "King's rebellious son" , "King David's rebellious son" .)