Tachash

Paleo-Hebrew alphabet
Paleo-Hebrew alphabet;
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Tachash ^[1] [תחש] is traditionally held to be an animal, from the kind of skin or leather 'orot tachashim [עורות תחשים] referred to in the Bible (Exodus 25, 26, 35, 36 and 39; Numbers 4; and Ezekiel 16:10 [ואנעלך תחש] ), which was used in the setting up of the Tabernacle as the outer covering of the tent of the Tabernacle and to wrap sacred objects used within the Tabernacle for transport.

What animal the word 'tachash' refers to is a matter of some debate. According to the Babylonian Talmud and Rashi's commentary, the tachash was a kosher, multi-colored, one horned desert animal which came into existence to be used to build the Tabernacle and ceased to exist afterward. Others believe the tachash was related to the keresh,^[2] a creature most often identified with the giraffe, with a similar description mentioned in the Gemara.^[3] The King James Version of the Bible translates the word tachash as badger (from the Latin Meles taxus^[4], and the German dachs). Another hypothesis is that the Hebrew term עורות תחשים / " 'orot t'chash'm" / " 'oroth t'hash'm" [lit. "skins of tachashim"] refers to very fine dyed sheep or goat leather, hence the Jerusalem Bible translates the term as "fine leather". A popular hypothesis of the early- to mid-20th century proposed that the term "tachash" means dugong. This translation is based upon the similarity between tachash and the Arabic word tukhas or tukhesh, which means dugong. In accordance with this hypothesis several translations, such as the Jewish Publication Society translation, render tachash as dolphin or sea cow. The New American Bible (USCCB) (1971) translates 'orot tachashim as the more direct, and literal, "tahash skins" (Exodus 25:5):

"5 rams' skins dyed red, and tahash skins; acacia wood;"^[5]

Compare Biblical translations of Exodus 25:5 beginning with New American Bible (USCCB) "tahash."

Compare Biblical translations of Ezekiel 16:10 beginning with New American Bible (USCCB) "fine leather."

It is not explicitly stated in the Tanakh/Bible that skins of tahashim are skins of a mammal, that tahash skins are animal skins. The ancient witnesses before the first century BCE understood tahash to be fine leather work dyed blue, indigo, purple, violet. The editors of the Navigating the Bible II (World ORT) translation (2000) have rendered 'orot tahasim as "blue-processed skins." The most recent scholarship (2000–2006)^[6] says that the term denotes neither a substance nor a color, but a technique of sewing blue faience beads onto leather, making beaded skins the meaning of 'oroth T'Hash'm. Etymology shows that in over 45 centuries a semantic change has occurred in the meaning of Hebrew tahas. The English form of the word has also changed, from tachash to tahash.

In literature

The poet Robert Graves says in The White Goddess the covering skin of the Ark was "dolphin hide", but in I, Claudius, has the narrator describe it as badger skin.

Unclean animals excluded

In light of Leviticus (11:4-8; 11:10-12; 11:27-28; 20:25-26—most translations) interpreting Tahash --"a kind of leather, skin, or animal hide"-- as "badger"^[7] is excluded because the badger does not "chew the cud and divide the hoof" ("of their flesh you shall not eat, and their carcasses you shall not touch; they are unclean to you"..."all that go on their paws, among the animals that go on all fours, are unclean to you"); the dugong, sea cow, seal, porpoise and dolphin are excluded because they do not have "fins and scales" ("everything in the waters that has not fins and scales is an abomination to you"), nor do they "chew the cud and divide the hoof" (therefore, "of their flesh you shall not eat, and their carcasses you shall not touch; they are unclean to you"); and the giraffe is probably excluded because its range was primarily Sub-Saharan Africa.

The Arabs of the Sinaitic peninsula apply the name tucash or tukhas or tukhesh to the seals and dugongs which are common in the Red Sea, and the skins of which are largely used as leather for tent curtains and coverings and for sandals. But whereas other peoples of the Levant use sea mammals, Jewish people cannot.

"I am the LORD your God, who have separated you from the peoples. You shall therefore make a distinction between the clean beast and the unclean; you shall not make yourselves abominable by beast or by bird or by anything with which the ground teems, which I have set apart for you to hold unclean. You shall be holy to me; for I the LORD am holy, and have separated you from the peoples, that you should be mine." (Leviticus 20:24b-26 RSV)

Hence the badger, dugong, sea cow, seal, porpoise and dolphin according to the Torah are unclean and an abomination to the people of Israel; they are not to be touched. (Leviticus 7:21.) ^[8]

This supports the hypothesis that "orot t'chash'm" refers to very fine dyed sheep or goat leather as a parallel with "rams' skins dyed red."^[9]

"5 And rams' skins dyed red, and violet skins, and setim wood:" Exodus 25:5 (DV) (A.D. 1610)

The Jewish Historian Josephus (Antiquities 3.102) says the Israelites brought "sheepskins, some of them dyed of a blue color, and some of scarlet." The New American Bible footnote to Exodus 25:5 (in part) says of Tahash: "The Greek and Latin versions took it for the color hyacinth" (Gr. dermata huakinthina--Lat. pelles ianthinas "violet".)^[10] In this case, we have (Exodus 26:14) "a covering of rams' skins dyed red, and above that a covering of hyacinth skins"--a covering of skins dyed red and an outer covering of skins dyed indigo or royal blue (blue-processed--see indigo dye.)^[11]

Royal Blue
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Indigo
#4B0082

Wilhelm Gesenius (pub. Leipzig, 1905) cites J. H. Bondi (Aegyptiaca, i.ff) who proposes the Egyptian root t-ch-s, making the expression " 'or tahash / 'or tachash" mean "soft-dressed skin" [fine leather work].^[12] In this case, we have "rich skins of hyacinth."^[13] This suits the context in every passage of scripture where the word appears.

"10 And I clothed thee with embroidery, and shod thee with violet coloured shoes: and I girded thee about with fine linen, and clothed thee with fine garments." Ezechiel 16:10 (DV)

So the apparent similarity in sound between the Arabic word tukhas/tucash/tukhesh and the Hebrew word takhas/tachash/tahash may be misleading, just as the similarity in sound between the Hebrew "tahash" and the Latin "Meles taxus" (badger) may be misleading (see linguistic terms "false friend" and "false etymology".) But there is a surprising phonetic similarity between "takhash/tahash" and "addax" which should be considered.^[14]

Addax

The word "addax" is from Native North African speech, as is the Egyptian root "t-ch-s / tj-h-s", and denotes a species of antelope which was and is highly prized for its fine leather, horns and meat; and according to tradition the Jews were in Egypt in North Africa for 450 years where they would not have been unaware of this animal and its name. In ancient times, addax spread from North Africa through Arabia and the Levant. Addax have been domesticated as cattle for nearly 4500 years by nomadic and agricultural peoples. In older English sources (such as the King James Version of the Bible) cattle refers to "livestock", as distinct from deer which refers to "wildlife". (see Leviticus 1:2) The addax differs from other antelopes by having large square teeth like cattle and lacking the antelope's typical facial glands. Although today extremely rare in its ancient native habitat, it is quite common in captivity and is regularly bred on ranches.

Historically, addax [אדש] skins have been made into tent curtains, covers, fine leather goods, and sandals; addax-skin leather would have been among the normal choice materials that were used to fashion the outer covering of a great desert chieftain's moveable pavilion or dwelling. It is arrow-proof,^[15] water-proof, weather-resistant, tough, and very durable. It is also kosher, "clean," in accordance with the prescriptions in the Torah.

"These are the animals you may eat: the ox, the sheep, the goat, the red deer, the gazelle, the roe deer, the ibex, the addax,^[16] the oryx, and the mountain sheep. Any animal that has hoofs you may eat, provided it is cloven-footed and chews the cud." (Deuteronomy 14:4-6 NAB)

Indigo-dyed tagelmust: the deep color is a sign of wealth

Addax-skin can be processed into a very luxuriant soft leather. Indigo-dyed addax leather is strikingly beautiful. (The Tuaregs, for example, are fond of indigo dye. Clothes dyed with indigo signified wealth.) "Soft-dressed addax" skins (t-ch-s addax skins) can also be "blue-processed addax skins" (t-ch-s addax skins), and the addax is a large animal; such skins would have made a very suitable, and [קרן] radiantly^[17] beautiful,^[18] outer covering for the Mishkan, the Tabernacle, the Dwelling.

A covering of valuable antelope skins would have been understood without the necessity of an explicit mention of antelope/addax; and in accordance with the dignity of the Dwelling of the LORD, and the prescription of the Torah, they would have been "specially prepared" antelope skins, "t-ch-s" antelope skins.

"Moses said to the Israelites, 'See, the LORD has chosen Bezalel, son of Uri, son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, and has filled him with a divine spirit of skill and understanding and knowledge in every craft: in the production of embroidery, in making things of gold, silver or bronze, in cutting and mounting precious stones, in carving wood, and in every other craft. He has also given both him and Oholiab, son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan, the ability to teach others. He has endowed them with skill to execute all types of work: engraving, embroidering, the making of variegated cloth of violet, purple and scarlet yarn and fine linen thread, weaving, and all other arts and crafts." (Exodus 35:30-35 NAB)

"Over the tent itself you shall make a covering of rams' skins dyed red, and above that, a covering of tahash skins." (Exodus 26:14 NAB)

Here, we have most probably an implicit connotative play on words, "tahas addax skins," "addax" being implied^[19]; hence the most probable meaning of 'orot tachashim ["skins of tachashim"] is: "soft-dressed indigo-dyed antelope hide"--blue-processed hides, indigo skins; tahash hides, tahash skins. Such skins would have been among the valuable "spoils of Egypt" that the people of Israel carried away with them into the wilderness of Sinai. "Everyone who happened to have violet, purple or scarlet yarn, fine linen or goat hair, rams' skins dyed red or tahash skins, brought them." Exodus 35:23 NAB

Compare addax, 'adash and tahash.

Dugong

The scholarly opinion which prevailed for most of the 19th and 20th centuries (1820–1980), even if it was not the universal consensus, held that Hebrew t-h-sh / t-kh-sh / t-ch-sh, English tahash, either "correctly" or "most probably" denoted dugong or sea cow or manatee or mediterranean monk seal or porpoise or dolphin. The older 19th century scientific names (taxonomy) for the Dugong took account of this view: E. Rupell^[20] designated them Halicore Tabernaculi in 1843.^[21] This opinion is now declining, as witness the more recent translations of the Hebrew Scriptures (Tanakh). (see below, 'Other Biblical Translations', and 'References, Encyclopaedia Judaica, Second Edition, 2007: "Tahash".') As knowledge of Afroasiatic languages continues to increase, tahash as "dugong" will most probably be judged by Biblical scholars and linguists in the coming decades of the 21st century to be an anachronism. (see semantic change; see also "presentism (literary and historical analysis)" and "fallacy".)

The Arabic dukhas or tukhas or tucash is linguistically near to Hebrew takhash or tachash or tahash, and is applied by the Arabs to the dugong and the dolphin, which is also called delfin. Prompted by the similarity to Arabic tukhash, conjectural opinion has favored identification of tahash with the sea cow, a species now extinct. Fossils indicate that Stellar's Sea Cow (Hydrodamalis gigas) was formerly abundant and widespread throughout the North Pacific, all along the North Pacific Coast, reaching west and south to Japan and east and south to California. There is no evidence that the now extinct sea cow ever ranged over the Red Sea area. The term sea cow more generally refers to dugongs and manatees, to any of the sirenian sea mammals including the larger seals that appear on the shores of East Africa and around the Sinai peninsula. The Arabic tukhesh denotes the sea mammal Dugong hemprichi,^[22] (the same animal formerly designated Halicore Tabernaculi) which appears at intervals on the shores of the Sinai and is hunted by the Bedouin, who make tent curtains and shoes from its skin.

Another opinion suggests that tahash should be identified with the sea mammal Monodon monoceros, the narwhal, a medium-sized toothed whale (cetacean) that lives year-round in the Arctic.^[23] It has a mottled skin and (normally) a single horn, in reality a tooth. Narwhal have been harvested for over a thousand years by Inuit people in Northern Canada and Greenland for meat and ivory. It is found primarily in Canadian Arctic and Greenlandic waters rarely south of 65 degrees North Latitude. The narwhal has been deemed particularly vulnerable to climatic change due to a narrow geographical range and specialized Arctic diet: predominantly composed of benthic prey, mostly flatfish, Greenland halibut, polar and arctic cod, shrimp, Gonadus squid, wolf-fish, capelin, and skate eggs. There is no evidence that narwhal ever appeared in ancient times along the Sinai. The narwhal was one of the many species originally described by C. Linnaeus in his Systema Naturae (1758).

The fact that the Arabs of the Sinaitic peninsula apply dukhas/tukhas/tucash to the dugong, sea cow, seal, porpoise and dolphin--to such a varied population of sea mammals—strongly suggests that it denotes, not the kind of animals they are, but some distinguishing characteristic they have in common. With very few exceptions, they have a similar coloring: a dusky "bluish-grey" or "slate-blue" color, ranging from a darker "sky-blue dawn" or "grey-indigo" and "near-black" (a kind of "deep midnight navy" or "indigo dye color"), to a lighter "slate-blue" and pale "bluish-grey", to an even more pronounced "glaucous blue"--any one of which is more pronouncedly blue in tone and beautiful (ultramarine) when viewed under a clear sky and in the waters of the sea.

The effect of this natural camouflage evokes the description of the color of tekhelet:

The sages say that tekhelet resembles the sea,

which resembles the sky,

which resembles the sapphire stone,

which in turn resembles the color of God's seat of glory.^[24]

"Tekhelet...signifies the mysterious. It resembles the sky and sea which intimate distance and inapproachability, things that are beyond one's reach and out of one's control. It expresses infinity, boundlessness and vastness. Tekhelet suggests the irrational and mysterious side of the world."^[25]

Understanding Hebrew tahas (tahash) as a coloring, Targum Jonathan says: "...I put shoes of glory on your feet..."^[26] The Catholic Douay-Rheims Bible (DV), parallel with Targum Jonathan, says: "...and shod thee with violet colored shoes..." (Yechezkel/Ezechiel 16:10.) See Blue in Judaism.

So while Arabic dukhas/tukhas/tucash/tukhesh ("concerning, unfolding, emerging, fear") has been applied over the past several generations to the various "sea-colored" or תהום tehom "deep-colored" sea mammals found along the shores of Egypt and throughout the Red Sea all along and around the coasts of the Sinai peninsula, it does not necessarily follow that in ancient times (prior to A.D. 100, 100 C.E.) the word is identified as denoting only the animals (etymological fallacy). The basic meaning in antiquity simply appears to be "(color) of the sky," "(color) of the sea.," i.e. "marked" as "from heaven" or "from (the) deep", connoting concealment and dread of the unknown. This may be demonstrated from what is known of its etymology and origin within the Afroasiatic family of languages.

Etymology

Etymology is the study of the history of words and how their form and meaning have changed over time (see especially Semantic change.) For languages with a long written history, etymologists make use of texts in those languages, and texts about the languages, to gather knowledge about how words were used at earlier stages, and where and when and how they entered the languages in question. The methods of comparative linguistics are also applied to reconstruct information about languages that are too old for any direct information to be available. Making use of "dialectological" data, the form or meaning of the word might show variation between dialects which may yield clues of its earlier history (e.g. tachash and tukhash). (see dialectology, comparative method, historical linguistics, comparative linguistics and pseudoscientific language comparison; also false etymology.)

Afro-asiatic

The Afroasiatic family of languages (which includes Egyptian, Hebrew, Arabic) appears to be more ancient than Indo-european. The Semitic language family, now called Semitic Languages, which belongs to the larger Afroasiatic family as a subgroup, includes the ancient and modern forms of Akkadian, Hebrew, Phoenician, Aramaic, Arabic, Ge'ez, Habesha, Amharic, Tigre, Tigrinya and Maltese, among others. Egyptian (including Coptic,) Berber, Hausa, Somali, and many other related languages within the wider area of North Africa and the Middle East do not belong to the Semitic group, but to the larger Afroasiatic language family of which the Semitic languages are also a subgroup. (see Language change.)

The etymology of very ancient words begins with a look at the root meanings of the individual sounds that make up the words.

The Afroasiatic primary root t' [2] is common to the ancient forms of Egyptian and Hebrew and Arabic: t', ta', t'h, t'kh, t'ch: ta-ah, taw-aw': mark, mark out, mark off, (to especially) designate, point out, set off, set out, point out, circumscribe, display, flaunt, distinguish, identify, special, singular, noticeable, vivid, admirable, honor, praise [3].

"T"

The Afroasiatic primary root h' [4] is common to the ancient forms of Egyptian and Hebrew and Arabic: h', (k)h', ha', (k)ha', he', (k)heh', hih', (k)hih', lo!, behold!, even (so!), aha!, ah!, bosom (heart), secret, cherish, loved, beloved, secrete (away), hide (self), inner, hidden, removed, reserved, distant [5].

"H"

The Afroasiatic primary root 's [6] is common to the ancient forms of Egyptian and Hebrew and Arabic: 's, 'sh: -'as, -'ash, -'es, -'esh, -'iss, -'ish; 'hesh, 'khesh, 'hish, 'khish, 'chish: ready, eager, prepare, (make) preparation, process; quick(ly), instant(ly), immediate(ly); swift (one), fleet (of foot), heroic, strong, powerful, fiery, flaming, entity, being, creature, man [7].

"S"

The Afroasiatic primary root 'm [8] is common to the ancient forms of Egyptian and Hebrew and Arabic: 'm: 'am, 'im, 'em, 'um, 'uwm; 's'm, 'sh'm, 'sam, 'sham, 'sim, 'shim, 'sem, 'shem, 'sum, 'shum, 'suwm, 'shuwm: mas', mash', mis', mish', mes', mesh', mus', mush', muws', muwsh': --lo!, --how great (how mighty, important, distinguished, high), verily, truly (intense, intensive, intensively); Oh that!, when-..., (asking) whether-...?, what (whatever-...), what (whatsoever-...), that which-..., which-...?; why-..., neither-..., nevertheless-..., nor-..., save (only-...), seeing (that-...), seeing (as-...), surely (not-...), though (of a truth-...), unless-..., whereas-..., when-..., yet-...; whereby, wherefore, wherein, whereto; wherewith-..., what end-..., what good-..., for why-..., for which-...; how long, how oft, howsoever, what purpose, what thing, (no-)thing (else)-...; mother (of, head of), bond (of family, of clan), dam, parting (separating, birth) m' [9].

"M" also "M"

For each primary root t, h, s, m see Strong's Concordance Hebrew Dictionary^[27]

Akkadian

t-h-s appears cognate with Akkadian dusu / tuhsia "goat/sheep leather [dyed and tanned the color of dusu-stone]."

t-h-s-m appears connected to an Assyrian word meaning "sheepskin" and an Egyptian word meaning "to stretch or treat leather."^[28]

Egyptian

Written records of the Egyptian language have been dated from about 3400 BC. In early Egyptian, tj-h-s / t-h-s / t-kh-s means well-tanned leather, richly tanned, soft-processed, deeply-tanned, luxuriantly prepared skin(s) (e.g. "beaded", "bead embroidered".)

Egyptian blue
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The final stage of tanning called "crusting" includes dying with color. Crusting is when the hide/skin is thinned, retanned and lubricated. Often, a coloring operation is included in the crusting process. The chemicals added during crusting have to be fixed in place. The culmination of the crusting sub-process is the drying and softening operations.

A general listing of the names of kinds of leathers or processed skins, ancient and modern, is instructive here for an understanding of Egyptian tahas tahash as a kind of leather production process, and of tahash skin as a kind of specially processed (dark blue, indigo, beaded) leather skin, a luxury item regarded as a sign of wealth.

Aniline leather	Nappa leather	..........Bark tanned skins	Oil Tannage
Blue skins	Nubuck skins	..........Beaded skins	Perforated leather
Boar dy leather	Patent leather	..........Brained skins	Plated leather (glaze finish skin)
Calfskin	Rawhide	..........Bicast leather	Round hand leather
Case leather	Shagreen skin	..........Boiled leather	Saddle leather
Cordovan leather	Slink leather	..........Carved leather	Shoulder skin
Crust leather	Split leather	..........Detailed leather	Side skin
Glove leather	Strap leather	..........Grained leather	Tooled leather
Goldbeater's skin	Suede leather	..........Heavy leather	Top grain leather
Morocco leather	Tahash skins	..........Oak Tannage	Upholstery leather
	Vellum skin		Vat dyed skins

[See Leather glossary, Forms of leather and Leather production processes.]

The names of each of these skins and leathers (including the name from the Egyptian root tj-h-s) are all derived from the names of the finishing processes used to prepare them, none of them from the names of specific animals.

Semitic

The Semitic primary root h's', kh'sh', ch's', H'sh'k'h is common to Hebrew and Arabic: His', khis', chis', Hish', khish', chish', Hes', khes', ches', Hesh, khesh, chesh, Has', khas', chas', Hash', khash', chash', Hos', khos', chos', Hosh', khosh', chosh', Hoos', khoos', choos', Hoosh, khoosh, choosh / Hsh'h / khsh'kh, chsh'ch / H's'm, H'sh'm / H's'm, H'sh'm, cH'sh'm----"cHaShaH" "Hashah" / "HaSheM" "Hashem" / "cHaShuM" "Hashum" / "cHooShaM" "Husham" / ----: hurry, haste, hastily, ready, eager, swift, reserve, set apart (as exclusive, excluding), be reserved (elegant, dignify), withhold, hold back, be silent, be still, withdraw, restrain, forbear, darken, be dark, be black, night, shadow(-colored), shade(-colored), dim, hide (be hidden away), obscure; also wealthy, rich, enriched, full (fullness of).^[29]

"Removed and distant, it flees our grasp;

reserved and dignified, mysterious, inscrutable;

beyond understanding;

as deep as the sea, as high as the sky: who can know it?"^[30]

Hebrew 20th to 4th centuries BCE

The Hebrew alphabet is an abjad, or consonant-only script of 22 letters. The ancient Paleo-Hebrew alphabet is similar to those used for Canaanite and Phoenician. Because of the lack of vowel letters, unambiguous reading of the most ancient texts is difficult, often inconclusive, often speculative, resulting in variant readings and interpretations of meaning (and copious footnotes.)

See in the following order or sequence: Sumer, Proto-Semitic, Semitic languages, History of writing, Proto-Sinaitic alphabet, History of the alphabet, Phoenician alphabet, Northwest Semitic languages, Paleo-Hebrew alphabet, Archaic Biblical Hebrew, Biblical Hebrew, Samaritan Hebrew language, Samaritan script, Aramaic alphabet, Hebrew language.

Hieroglyphs representing celebration, a child, and dancing respectively. The first appears to be the prototype for h₁, while the latter two suggest the prototype for h₂. See Proto-Sinaitic alphabet: Wadi el-Hol inscriptions.

Reconstructed ancestral form
Phoenician

Sound of letters Heth and He

The eighth letter of the Phoenician alphabet, Heth, originally represented a voiceless fricative, either a voiceless pharyngeal fricative or a voiceless velar fricative (the two Proto-Semitic phonemes having merged in Canaanite.) The sound of Archaic Biblical Hebrew Heth was phonetically very much closer to He than it is today (even the Hebrew letters themselves, both ancient and modern are similar in appearance.)

[See orthography. See also Phoenician alphabet: Letter names--scroll down to the chart of letters and sounds—compare appearance and sound of the 5th and 8th letters. See also Hebrew phonology.]

The Phoenician letter gave rise to the Greek Eta (H) and Latin H. While H is a vowel in the Greek alphabet, the Latin equivalent H represents a consonant sound, closer to Archaic Biblical Hebrew letter He. In Modern Israeli Hebrew, the historical phonemes of the letters Heth and Kaph have merged, both becoming voiceless uvular fricatives, making Heth more distant from He than anciently.

The etymology (historical development) of the Hebrew letter Heth presents a huge phonetic consonantal shift between the ancient and modern forms of its articulation or sound. The term THSM, tachashim תחשם (today pronounced "takh-ashim" or "tak-hashim"), in ancient times pre-dating 500 BCE was pronounced "ta-ahshim" or "tah-hashim". Hence, the rendering today of the word TAHASH (THS, tahas), in current English language dictionaries and encyclopedias, is put forth as a closer approximation of the ancient (actual) pronunciation.

In Modern Israeli Hebrew, the letter Heth / Khet / Chet may still be pronounced as a voiceless pharyngeal fricative among Mizrahim (especially among the older generation and popular Mizrahi singers), in accordance with oriental Jewish traditions, and with the still more ancient Biblical Hebrew form. The Semitic primary root T'H, most anciently pronounced ta-, ta-ah-, ta-ha-, is now today usually pronounced ta-akh-, tehk-, tekh-heh-.

Pronunciation of the ancient primary Semitic root: T-H = "ta'-ah, tah'-heh".

Tehom, Tekhelet, Tahashim, Tukhesh

"T-H-M, T-HoM" [10]--(from "H-M, HuwM" [11] make an uproar, agitate greatly: destroy, move, make [roaring] noise)--means abyss, a (deep) surging mass of water, the deep/deep place(s in the earth), depth, the depths, the main sea, subterreanean water-deep. From a Semitic primary root T-H-, t-h-: "tah-, teh-, tah-hah-, teh-hoh-."

"T-H-l-t(h), T-kH-l-tH, T-Helet, T-kHeleth" [12] means blue, indigo, violet color (coloring or colors) like the deep color of the sea and the sky: also, any blue dye (see Semantic change.) This more broad and ancient general meaning is attested in later ancient sources: The Septuagint, Antiquities of the Jews 3.102, The Latin Vulgate, The Jerusalem Talmud Tractate Sabbath 2:3, The Mishnah Qohelet Rabba 1:9, and The Onkelos Targum ssgvn. From a Semitic primary root T-H-, t-ch-: "tah-, teh-, tach-, tehk-."

The Hebrew Torah from the time of Moses to the time of Ezra (c. 459 BCE) says that the outer covering of the Mishkan is to be 'oroth T-Hashim, 'orot T-cHashim. [lit. "skins of tahashim", "skins of tachashim"]

---from 'or (eye-opening) 'orot (skins) + tahash + -im:

---from ta (circumscribe, reserve, designate) + hash (full, dark, deep) + im (multiple, most, intensely):

---skins of tahasim: skins of "exalted-reserved-deep (mark or coloring)". (see below, "Suffix -im as the superlative form".) From a Semitic primary root T-H-, t-ch-: "tah-, teh-, tach-, tekh-."

The Arabs of the Sinai apply the description t-kh-sh, t-h-s, (Arabic) tucash[13], tukhesh[14], tukhas[15] to the dugong and other sea mammals the Jews regard as unclean. From a Semitic primary root T-H-, t-ch-: "tuh-, teh-, tukh-, tekh-."

T-Hom, T-Helet, T-Hash, T-Hesh all share the same Semitic root.

The most probable literal primary root meanings of these four Semitic words appears to indicate a relationship to a perceived color range of blue-gray-black the ancients associated with mystery and dignity: "marked (great) deep" tehom, "marked (from, of) the blue (depth)" tekheleth, "marked (rich) dark/black" tahash, "marked (of) dread/mystery (from the deep)" tukhesh: all four words suggesting "marked of heaven" (the removed, the distant, the set apart).

Charcoal
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Payne's grey
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Slate grey
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Cool grey
#8C92AC

Purple taupe
#50404D

Midnight blue
#123245

Indigo dye
#00416A

Glaucous
#6082B6

These are the varying tukhesh colors and tones of the visual appearance of the skins of the dugongs and seals, and other sea mammals, as they appear both in the water and on and around the shores of the Sinai and Arabian peninsulas. The skins of antelopes can be dyed these colors: skins of gray, of blue, of tahash color.

Suffix -im as the superlative form

The Hebrew suffix [ים] -im added to a singular term normally renders it as a plural form of the word, but it may also indicate the superlative degree, as being of great dignity. For example, the singular word eloahh means "god" or "God", the plural form elohim normally means "gods", but when used of the one LORD it indicates the one God above all gods (Genesis 1:1.)^[31] Hence, with "tahash" as the singular form, and "tahashim (T-H-S-M / M-S-H-T ת ח ש ם)" as the singular superlative form, and the modifier of " 'orot (skins)", the expression "tahashim" can be read as a singular term for color/finish raised to the superlative degree: (skins of) "exceeding/ exquisite/ glorious tahas": "T-Hashim": "Over the tent itself you shall make a covering of rams' skins dyed red, and above that a covering of (superlative) tahash skins--skins of (superlative) tahash (Tehelet dyed? beautifully beaded?) 'oroth T-Hashim."

Sacred word play: Paranomasia

It is highly probable that this is an example of a form of sacred word play frequently found in the Bible^[32], relating THSM תחשם and HSM השם by connotation: Tahashim and Hashem. Word play in oral cultures, primitive and ancient and modern, is a method of reinforcing meaning. It frequently plays an important part in the persuasive force of Biblical rhetoric. Compare the phonetic spelling (audio icon) of each of the following words most relevant here:

addax (specify Hebrew to English)
'adash אדש (see Strong's number 156 and audio Strong's number 156)
tachash תחש
treads (tramples) דוש
grass דשן
antelope דישון (KJV pygarg) דישון Deuteronomy 14:5
tehom תהום
tekhelet תכלת
tahash תחש
cHashem חשם
Hashem השם
Shem שם
heaven שמים
tabernacle משכן
dishon דישון

A protective covering of skins of tahashim was commanded as the outer covering of the Mishkan, and (when the Mishkan was to be transported) as covering of the inner veil (the screen between the holy place and the most holy place within it) and as covering for the plates and cups, and the bowls and pitchers for libations, as covering of the offering of bread on the table of offering together with the table itself, and as covering of the lampstand with its lamps, trimming shears and trays and their various containers of oil, and as covering for the golden altar for incense, and of the utensils of the sanctuary service, and of the altar of burnt offerings together with all of its utensils (firepans, forks, shovels, basins) [Numbers 4:5-14]--all that was sacred to the worship of the LORD was covered with a protective covering of skins of tahashim, a representation and reminder of the covering protection of Hashem, and a reminder of words found earlier in the Torah:

"Fear not, Avram!

I am your shield;

I will make your reward very great." (Genesis 15:1b)

"Our help is in the name of the LORD" (Psalm 124:8)

But there is also a reminder of warning implicit in the shielding covering of skins of tahashim, because of the holiness of Hashem:

"When Aaron and his sons have finished covering the sanctuary and all the furnishings of the sanctuary, as the camp sets out, after that the sons of Kohath shall come to carry these, but they must not touch the holy things, lest they die.... Let not the tribe of the families of the Kohathites be destroyed from among the Levites; but deal thus with them, that they may live and not die when they come near to the most holy things: Aaron and his sons shall go in and appoint them each to his task and to his burden, but they shall not go in to look upon the holy things even for a moment, lest they die." (Numbers 4:15 and 18-20)

Orthographic paranomasia

It is worth noting here that there is also a further implicit sacred word play in the ancient form of the written word THSM / MSHT תחשם. The Hebrew letter Taw ת as a prefix indicates "singular," "designated," "set apart," "reserved." In Judaism the letter Taw ת also means "Truth." ^[33]

When THSM / MSHT תחשם is mentally seen by the reader of the carefully hand-lettered Samaritan Torah text of the ancient Sefer Torah as Taw joined to the word HSM / MSH השם + T ת--when TAcHASHiM is seen as TAH joined to the word "HA-SHEM" (ha+Shem, lit. "the Name")--the alert reader might spontaneously see "the singular Name" suggested: THSM / MSHT תהשם, "Ta-Hashem," "The True Name"--the reader might see the written form of the word "tah-hashim" spontaneously suggesting "ta-haShem."^[34] Where vowel sounds are not indicated in the written text such visual word play can easily occur.

The slight difference in the representation of the letters ח Heth and ה He is no great obstacle to this spontaneous perception of what may be the sacred author's intended form of sacred word play. It is similar to the perception of the English-speaking student of Latin spontaneously (and accurately) seeing the Latin form "Iehovah" as "Jehovah": the Latin I and the German-English J are similar but not identical in form or sound; no matter, the perception is valid. It is the same with the spontaneous visual perception of THSM / MSHT תחשם as suggesting T.HSM / MSH.T תהשם, particularly as it appears in the text of the ancient Sefer Torah, which is written without the diacritical marks of vowel notation according to the much later Masoretic system of Niqqud.^[35] A careless reader or a reader of clever wit having no vowel signs before him can subtly vary the pronunciation of the letters and sounds of the words of the text, producing alternate readings that might be humorous and surprising, or even uplifting and edifying.

תחשם / תהשם

By adverting to the ancient method of sacred word play, the reader can see how in the written text of the Sepher Torah the commandment to make a protective covering of "tahashim" suggests the taking of the protective covering of "The True Name / The Singular Name" ("TaHashem" תהשם). This word play only reinforces the sacred meaning.

"You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain." (Exodus 20:7) (RSV)

"Our help is in the name of the LORD,

who made heaven and earth. (Psalm 124:8) (RSV)

"When they were few in number,

of little account, and sojourners in it,

wandering from nation to nation,

from one kingdom to another people,

he allowed no one to oppress them;

he rebuked kings on their account,

saying, 'Touch not my anointed ones,

do my prophets no harm!" (Psalm 105:12-15) (RSV)

The Aegis of Heaven: T'Hashim and Hashem

The expression 'oroth T'Hashim, skins of tahashim, appears to designate what is to be a visible symbol or sign of the aegis of Heaven, the covering shield of Hashem. (Aegis, Greek αιγἰς, "covering shield".) Among some ancient peoples, the aegis was traditionally a 'goat skin' shield and a symbol or sign of authority and awesome power and of sponsorship under the protection of heaven.^[36] This may be the source of the anthropological conjecture of Biblical scholars that "tahas skins" were "goat skins."

Regarding the color of the covering shield of the skins: the almost universal consensus of the ancients is that the color of heaven (and the seat of God) is a royal blue, indigo, like lapis lazuli. The most common suggestion since antiquity is that tahas, tahash, is a bluish, blackish, reddish color (the sources are rather vague) corresponding to Greek hyacinthos.^[37] The color of the power of heaven is the color of the dark storm cloud where the power is hidden (dark indigo), or the color of lightning (violet, gold), and the color of fire (red.)

The aegis of the Name of Heaven can be seen in the Tanakh/Bible:

"On the morning of the third day there were peals of thunder and lightning, and a heavy cloud over the mountain, and a very loud trumpet blast, so that all the people in the camp trembled. But Moses led the people out of the camp to meet God, and they stationed themselves at the foot of the mountain. Mount Sinai was all wrapped in smoke, for the LORD came down upon it in fire. The smoke rose from it as though from a furnace, and the whole mountain trembled violently." Exodus 19:16-18 NAB

"In whatever place I choose for the remembrance of my name I will come to you and bless you." Exodus 20:24b NAB

"After Moses had gone up, a cloud covered the mountain. The glory of the LORD settled upon Mount Sinai. The cloud covered it for six days, and on the seventh day he called to Moses from the midst of the cloud. To the Israelites the glory of the LORD was seen as a consuming fire on the mountaintop. But Moses passed into the midst of the cloud as he went up on the mountain; and there he stayed for forty days and forty nights." Exodus 24:15-18 NAB

"Over the tent itself you shall make a covering of rams' skins dyed red, and above that, a covering of tahash skins." Exodus 26:14 NAB

"He answered, 'I will make all my beauty pass before you, and in your presence I will pronounce my name, "LORD"; I who show favors to whom I will, I who grant mercy to whom I will. But my face you cannot see, for no man sees me and still lives. Here,' continued the LORD, 'is a place near me where you shall station yourself on the rock. When my glory passes I will set you in the hollow of the rock and will cover you with my hand until I have passed by. Then I will remove my hand, so that you may see my back; but my face is not to be seen.'" Exodus 33:18-23 NAB

"The LORD answer you in time of distress;

the name of the God of Jacob defend you!

May he send you help from the sanctuary,

from Zion may he sustain you."

Psalms 20:2-3 NAB

"You who dwell in the shelter of the Most High,

who abide in the shadow of the Almighty,...

With his pinions he will cover you,

and under his wings you shall take refuge;

his faithfulness is a buckler and a shield."

Psalms 91:1,4 NAB

The rams' skins dyed red and the tahash skins over them can be seen as an image of the fire and the cloud, so that tahas may in fact be the color of the cloud, and the "skins of tahashim" skins of (dark) "cloud-color" covering over the place where God is hidden (Makom, HaMakom). This would be a connotative symbol to the people of the theophany on Mount Sinai, and of the protective covering with which God clothes himself,^[38] to spare a "beloved sinful people"^[39] the deadly peril of gazing on God "as he is."

"In the night watch just before dawn the LORD cast through the column of the fiery cloud upon the Egyptian force a glance that threw it into panic." Exodus 14:24 (NAB)

"And the LORD said to Moses, 'Go down and warn the people, lest they break through to the LORD to gaze and many of them perish. And also let the priests who come near to the LORD consecrate themselves, lest the LORD break out upon them.'" Exodus 19:21-22 (RSV)

"Let them make me a sanctuary, that I may dwell in their midst." Exodus 25:8 (RSV)

"Say to the people of Israel, 'You are a stiff-necked people; if for a single moment I should go up among you, I would consume you.'" Exodus 33:5 (RSV)

"You cannot see my face; for man shall not see me and live." Exodus 33:20 (RSV)

"Moses erected the tabernacle; he laid its bases, and set up its frames, and put in its poles, and raised up its pillars; and he spread the tent over the tabernacle, and put the covering of the tent over it, as the LORD commanded Moses." Exodus 40:18-19 (RSV)

"He spread a cloud for a covering,

and fire to give light by night."

Psalm 105:39 (RSV)

Greek 3rd century to 1st century BCE

According to the Talmud and the Letter of Aristeas seventy-two interpreters (The Seventy) c. 281-246 BCE are chosen to translate the Torah (the Pentateuch) from Hebrew into Greek. Each one of them works alone. When all seventy-two translations are compared they are found to be identical. This is taken as a sign of divine guidance and a mark of authoritative accuracy. This is the Septuagint (LXX). The Septuagint translates 'orot T'cHashim as hyacinth skins. The Seventy understood tahash as the color hyacinth: the same as indigo, or sapphire, or navy, or a deep, clear sky blue (after sunset, evening). (see Tagelmust) The Jews of Alexandria, on hearing the Law read in Greek, request copies and lay a curse on anyone who would change the translation.

This period also sees the beginnings of midrash and aggadah.

Josephus 1st century CE

The Jewish Historian Josephus in his work The Antiquities of the Jews, Book 3:6:1 (Ant.3.102) says:

"Hereupon the Israelites rejoiced at what they had seen and heard of their conductor, and were not wanting in diligence according to their ability; for they brought silver, and gold, and brass (bronze, copper,) and of the best sorts of wood, and such as would not at all decay by putrefaction; camels' hair also, and sheepskins, some of them dyed of a blue color, and some of a scarlet; some brought the flower for the purple color, and others for white". (Whiston)

Josephus understands 'orot tahashim as "skins of blue (indigo)." The "flower for the purple color" in the ancient world of his time is the flower of the Indigofera tinctoria. It is identical to the Dark Tyrian Purple used by rulers of nations.

Dark Tyrian Purple (Dark Imperial Purple)

Aramaic 2nd century CE

Onkelos (c. 35-120 CE.), a famous convert to Judaism, is credited with undertaking the translation of the Tanakh into Aramaic c. 110 CE. This is the authoritative Targum Onkelos, frequently referred to as the Targum. Hebrew קרן keren / qeren means "horn", it also means "shine, radiant." The Targum renders tahash as ssgwn, sasgawna, sas-gona, sas-gavna [lit. "joyous (of) hues"]: understood by the tanaim as a reference to color. ("The joy of all colors, most exalted of colors, the glory of colors!")

"...that is why we translate it sasgawna, [meaning] that it rejoices in many colors..." (Sabbath 28a)

Targum Jonathan understands tahash as the color of "glory" (the color of the sky, the sapphire-stone, the seat of glory):

"...I put shoes of glory on your feet..." (Ezekiel 16:10)^[40] (richest blue, indigo, violet)

Aquila of Sinope, a 2nd Century CE native of Pontus in Anatolia, and a disciple of Rabbi Akiba, produces an exceedingly literal translation of the Tanakh into Greek around 130. There is some (inconclusive) evidence that he retains the Greek ὑακἱνθινος (deep "blue") as the literal translation of the Hebrew תחשים.

Midnight blue

About the same time, according to tradition, or perhaps later, the Physiologus, written in Greek, in Alexandria, by an anonymous compiler and author is now finished. It is a compendium or epitome of animals, plants and stones known to the ancient world, some of them mythological and fantastic, but generally believed to be real, with interpretive meanings associated with them (analogy): it summarizes ancient knowledge and wisdom about animals in the writings of classical authors such as Aristotle's Historia Animalium and various works by Herodotus, Pliny the Elder, Solinus, Aelian and other naturalists. Subjects treated include the Piroboli Rocks, the Charadrius, the Phoenix, the Siren and the Ass-Centaur, the Peridexion Tree and Doves, the Indian-stone, the Unicorn, the Niluus, the Echinemon, the Magnet, the Adamant-stone, and the Sun-lizard, that is, the Sun-eel, together with thirty-six other subjects (such as the Antelope, Pelican, Ant, Fox, Roe, Fig Tree, Panther, Whale, Weasel, Beaver, Ostrich, Stag, Frog, and others.) This didactic text will soon become deeply influential with sages, scholars and teachers of youth. The Panther is the only creature described by the Physiologus as multi-colored: "He is entirely variegated (in color) and is beautiful like Joseph's coat." (Genesis 37:3)

There is no entry in Physiologus for Tahash or Tachash.^[41]

Judah haNasi 3rd century

**תכלת** Tekhelet Techelet Techeiles Blue. A set of tzitzit with blue thread.

The Tanna Judah haNasi (170-220 CE.) compiles the Mishnah c. 200 CE. He renders his opinion that tahash skins are skins dyed altinon (Greek, άλήδινον "aledinon"), seemingly purple.^[42] This could indicate skins tekhelet dyed. Such skins would be most "striking," "vivid," "radiant," "קרן".

About 235 CE Origen of Alexandria incorporates the literal Greek version of Aquila of Sinope in his monumental work Hexapla. This work was seen by Christians as urgently demanded by the confusion which prevailed in Origen's day regarding the true text of Scripture. The Church had adopted the Greek Septuagint of the Jewish community as its own; this differed from the Hebrew Tanakh not only by its original inclusion of several books and passages not anciently included in the Tanakh but also by innumerable variations of text, due partly to the ordinary process of corruption in the transcription of ancient books (inadvertent scribal copying errors), partly due to the "culpable temerity," as Origen called it, of correctors who used not a little freedom in making "corrections", additions, and suppressions in the text, partly due to mistakes in translation, and finally in great part to the fact that the original Septuagint had been made from a Hebrew text quite different from that (hypothetically) fixed at Jamnia as "the one standard" by the Jewish Rabbis under Akiva ben Joseph, one of the earliest founders of Rabbinical Judaism.

Huakinthinos (hyacinth blue) is retained in the Hexapla as the literal Greek translation of tahas (tachash).

Jerome 4th century

The Vulgate is an early 5th century Latin version of the Bible. It was mainly the result of the work of Jerome, who was commissioned by Pope Damasus I in AD 382 to make a revision of the Old Latin (Vetus Latina) translations. The Vulgate is usually credited to have been the first translation of the Old Testament into Latin directly from the Hebrew Tanakh, rather than the Greek Septuagint.

The Vulgate translation of tahash is ianthinas, violet.

Physiologus 5th century

About the year 400 the Physiologus is first translated into Latin. This influencial work is a didactic text originally written or compiled in Greek by an unknown author, in Alexandria, its composition traditionally dated to the second century C.E., but this dating is not certain. The Physiologus is a catalogue of descriptions of animals, birds, and fantastic creatures, sometimes stones and plants, provided with moral content (see Parable). Animals in the Bible are treated. Each animal is described, and an anecdote follows, from which the moral and symbolic qualities of the animal are derived for education and for lessons in character formation.

There is no mention of Tahash or Tachash in any of the initial Latin translations and editions of the Physiologus.

The author introduces his stories from natural history with the phrase, "the physiologus says," meaning, "the naturalist says," that is, "the natural philosophers, the experts and authorities for natural history say." From this phrase comes the name that is given to the work, which the anonymous author himself/herself did not title: Physiologus (lit. "The Naturalist").

The influence of the Physiologus over ideas of the "meaning" of animals is profoundly pervasive and far-reaching among scholars and teachers of all peoples including Jewish Rabbis and Christian exegetes [see common knowledge and consensus theory of truth.] So influencial is the perceived authority of this book that it is later again translated into Latin, in several recensions, and into Ethiopic and Syriac, then into many European and Middle-Eastern languages. Manuscripts are often, but not always, given illustrations, often lavish. (Many illuminated manuscript copies such as the later 9th century Bern Physiologus survive.) It retains its influence over ideas of the moral and symbolic meaning of animals in Europe for over a thousand years.

There is no entry for Tahash in any edition or translation of the Physiologus.

Talmud 6th century

During the period of the development of the Palestinian Talmud and the Babylonian Talmud (200-500 CE.), various sages set forth their opinions; and one of the several important elements present in Talmudic discussion is Aggadah.

Aggadah is a compendium of rabbinic homilies in the Talmud and Midrash that incorporates folklore, parable, historical anecdotes, moral exhortations and practical advice in various spheres, from business to medicine. A parable is a brief, succinct story, in prose or verse, that illustrates a moral or religious lesson. It has come to mean a fictitious narrative, generally referring to something that might naturally occur, by which spiritual and moral matters might be conveyed. It is a short tale—sometimes even wondrous in nature (intended more to excite attention, interest, wonder or reverential awe than to inform with scientific fact)−a short tale that illustrates universal truth. (See Medieval etymology.) Some midrashic discussions are highly metaphorical, and many Jewish authors stress that they are not intended to be taken literally; they sometimes serve as a key to particularly esoteric discussions. This was done to make this material less accessible to the casual reader and to prevent its abuse by detractors.^[43]

The identity of the tahash is a mystery. Let him who has understanding consider.

the skins of tahashim are the covering and protecting skin of the tahash
the tahash is a special creation out of the dust of the earth by God in the desert of Sinai
the tahash has a coat of many colors with which it is clothed like the rainbow of promise that appears in the clouds of heaven and surrounds the throne of glory
the tahash is beautiful in the sight of Heaven and is beloved of the Creator
the tahash is crowned with a single undivided horn of strength that is sharper than any sword, with which it overcomes all opposition and pierces any difficulty and points to Heaven
the tahash treads down the earth before it with its foot dividing plainly to the right and to the left (therefore it is clean)
the tahash devours the wild grasses before it, and tramples them down (therefore it is clean)
the tahash is exceedingly swift and victorious in the pursuit of its enemies
the tahash is brought by the hand of the LORD to the foot of the mountain of God
the tahash comes to the hand of Moses meekly, laying aside all fierceness and violence, and bows its head in willing submission to his authority
the tahash joyfully gives its life for the adornment and protection of the Torah of the LORD
the tahash is hidden from the sight of men in the wilderness
the tahash is always one tahash (it is never a herd of tahashim)^[44]

The identity of the tahash is a mystery. Let him who has understanding consider.

Many of the debates are hypothetically reconstructed by the Talmud's redactors, often imputing a view to an earlier authority as to how he may have answered a question: "This is what Rabbi אאאאא could have argued....". Nevertheless, some of these debates were actually conducted by the Amoraim.

It is most instructive to compare the discussions of the Sages on the possible meanings of tachash, in the Talmud and in Rabbinical writings, with those primary texts of the Torah, Exodus 35:23, Exodus 25:3-5 and Exodus 12:35-36 which demonstrate, on the simplest and most literal level, that valuable finished tahash skins were actually donated by the people from the spoils of Egypt already in their possession. The student who does not take account of the intent of the Sages and the normal modes of expression of their time will not understand the meaning of their words, and can gravely misrepresent them.^[45]

Because the word תחשם is associated in the text with the word for skins, "skins of tachashim" were understood by many to be animal skins; the exact kind of animal was unknown, its identity admittedly only conjecture. IF--and only if—the Targum was rendering a singular form of the word "color" in the superlative degree (glorious skins of the "color of colors") to indicate the great dignity that should be associated with it, some interpreters were understandably led into thinking it meant multiple colors, so that they conjectured that the skins came from a multi-colored animal. Both clean, kasher, and unclean, treif, animals are proposed and discussed.

Addax: note how the tips of the horns appear joined into one (X)

Based on indications put forth by R. Meir (circa 132 CE, the traditional time of the original completion of the Physiologus), many suggested identifications for the tahash are proposed, such as the fleet-footed antelope (taking תחש tahash from חש hish, "fleet"), or the giraffe, which has many of the signs given by R. Meir: multicolored skin, a horn-like protrusion on its forehead, and some of the signs of a clean animal^[46].

"Said R. Elai in the name of R. Simeon b. Lakish, ...R. Judah said, The ox which Adam the first [man] sacrificed had one horn.... But makrin implies two?--Said R. Nahman b Isaac: Mi-keren is written." Shabbath 28b

The student of languages is here immediately alerted to the fact that a description of an animal with an interesting or remarkable kind of horn, an extraordinary horn, having an outstandingly well-developed or dominant or superior horn among its kind, "the most magnificent horn", a "singular horn", a "unique kind of horn" (the horn of an animal such as the screwhorn antelope)--such a description in one language or dialect can be misunderstood and then translated—using extreme formal equivalence--into another language or dialect as a literally translated and faithful description of an animal with a "single horn", an animal with "one horn".

Over a period of two to five centuries the meaning of a word even in its own language can change so much that its current meaning is radically different from its original or ancient meaning (semantic change). In this context it is useful to compare translations of Exodus 34:29-35 for variant meanings and interpretations of keren, especially DV "horned" and NAB "radiant", and the Hebrew/English-parallel MT and JPS 1917 (Mechon Mamre) version's "sent forth beams". The Hebrew קרן qeren literally means "horn", but it also means "radiant / vivid / penetrating". Skins of radiant color in the text—skins of marked appearance—could immediately connote skins of a horned (animal) for reader and audience. Skins bleached and dyed (שש "shesh") a rich, deep indigo blue would provide a radiantly beautiful, and vivid (horned), covering for the משכן Mishkan. R. Judah haNasi (see above) suggests that skins of THSM (Hebrew תחשם) are skins dyed altinon (Greek άγήδινον aledinon), seemingly purple, i.e. skins dyed a royal tekhelet.^[47]

Some restrict the identification of the color Tekhelet (blue)^[48] to a dye obtained only from that mollusk from which royal purple dye is made (see Tyrian purple; see especially Etymological fallacy.) This is the royal purple dye that among the pagan nations is reserved for emperors and rulers and senators and kings.^[49] In the Torah it is written:

"If you will obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my own possession among all peoples; for all the earth is mine, and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation." Exodus 19:5-6a (RSV)

Therefore the use of that particular royal purple dye which is so esteemed among the nations as a mark of royal dignity appears to some to be implied here. Others argue that Tekhelet is a more general term, meaning any blue or purple dye, and they allow the use of the indigo-purple dye obtained from the plant source indigofera tinctoria. (see Karaite Judaism.) The mollusk that is the source of tekhelet--usually designated hillazon/chilazon, although the identity of the actual mollusk that was the ancient source of tekhelet dye is disputed and uncertain even today—the mollusk that is the source of tekhelet does not have "fins and scales," and it is a carnivore [ Leviticus 11:3-44 ]: these are two factors that according to the prescriptions in the Torah identify it as unclean:

"Anything in the seas or the rivers that has not fins and scales, of the swarming creatures in the waters and of the living creatures that are in the waters, is an abomination to you. They shall remain an abomination to you; of their flesh you shall not eat, and their carcasses you shall have in abomination. Everything in the waters that has not fins and scales is an abomination to you." Leviticus 11:10-13 RSV.

However, the processed dye itself is not regarded as unclean, only the creature from which it is obtained: because the creature is not taken as food one cannot say that their flesh is eaten, and because the dye is preferably removed while the creatures are still alive (Shabbat 75a) one cannot say that their carcasses are touched.

Hence, the Talmud identifies the royal purple dye obtained from the chilazon as clean, the only licit dye for ritual use, but designates the common dye obtained from the indigo plant as unacceptible, counterfeit, illicit, unclean. (In fact, according to Tosefta, any blue or purple dye obtained from any source other than from the water mollusk chilazon is unacceptible, counterfeit, illicit unclean.) The indigo-purple blue dye obtained from the indigofera tinctoria plant for the common people is identical in color to the indigo-purple blue dye obtained from the mollusk for the aristocracy, but it is far less expensive to produce.

A vat full of indigo dye is a very dark color called midnight blue, very nearly black. Most human beings with otherwise good eyesight cannot distinguish the various tones of indigo from blue or violet. For this reason more than any other tekhelet is translated variously as blue or violet in the Bible. See Exodus 25:4. The ancients (Aristotle among them) acknowledged six colors, three of them we call "primary" (RYB), three of them "secondary" (OGV). The six colors are red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and violet, with their various shades and tones. Indigo was not defined as a spectral color until Sir Isaac Newton (17th century) arbitrarily increased the number of colors named in the optical spectrum from the traditional six colors to seven, to match the seven musical notes of a western major scale, the seven (known) planets (Sol, Mercury, Venus, Luna, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn), the seven days of the week, and other lists of seven. But before Newton, the color indigo was called blue or violet. Since according to the Sages (Baba Metzia 61b) the color of the indigo dye of the kela ilan indigofera tinctoria plant is identical in color to the indigo dye of the hillazon, the color indigo is the blue of Judaism, but the exact tone of the true tekhelet blue is lost to history.

The lost color tekhelet is referred to by various sources (Shabbat 26a) as being "black as midnight", "blue as the midday sky", and even purple. On tallitot (prayer shawls) the lost tekhelet is symbolized by black, blue or purple. The deepest, richest indigo appears black: according to ancient tradition, a sign of the greatest possible dignity and respect. Professional dyers since ancient times have always been able to produce a true color of all colors from a skillful blending of the six colors (subtractive color mixing), resulting in a rich black blue-black dye which closely resembles the deepest, richest, darkest, near-black indigo-blue: "the color of colors" ("a dye of six colors"). Within the depths of indigo are hid the colors of the world. As suggested above (Addax) the outer covering of the Mishkan was most probably soft-dressed, indigo-dyed antelope hide.^[50] It is worthy of note that in accordance with this most ancient tradition the covering of the holiest shrine of God in Islam, the Kaaba, is also black as a mark of its holiness as a house of God. (See Semitic primary root h-sh, above.)

See history of natural indigo. See Dark Tyrian Purple (Dark Imperial Purple).

Etymologiae 7th century

Following the Physiologus, Saint Isidore of Seville compiles and edits his extensive encyclopaedic work Etymologiae (A.D. 635), which will form a bridge between the condensed epitome of classical learning at the close of Late Antiquity and the inheritance of the 7th century received by the early Middle Ages. Book XII: de animalibus is devoted to Beasts and birds.^[51] The number of creatures catalogued in the Physiologus is expanded: more than 120 categories of creatures are mentioned and discussed. The descriptions of some of these are strongly evocative of the descriptions of the tahash in the Talmud. The Tiger is distinguished by varied markings. The Panther is ornamented with tiny round spots, as if covered and marked with little round eyes, varying black and white against a tawny background. The Pard has a mottled coat, and is extremely swift. The Rhinoceros, monoceron, that is, the unicorn, has a single four-foot horn in the middle of its forehead, so sharp and strong that it tosses in the air or impales whatever it attacks. It often fights with the elephant and throws it to the ground after wounding it in the belly. It has such strength that it can be captured by no hunter's ability; but if a virgin girl is set before it, as it approaches, she may open her lap and it will come to her hand and lay its head there with all ferocity put aside, and thus lulled and disarmed it may be captured.^[52] All animals known to the ancient world and to the peoples of North Africa, the Middle East and Europe at this time are included in this encyclopedic work.

There is no entry for Tahash in the Etymologiae.

The Masoretes 7th to 10th centuries

Groups of mostly Karaite scribes and scholars called Masoretes compile a system of pronunciation and grammatical guides in the form of diacritical notes on the external form of the Scriptural text in an attempt to standardize or fix the pronunciation, paragraph and verse divisions and cantillation of the Tanakh, the Jewish Bible, for the entire Diaspora, the worldwide Jewish community. The Masoretes devised the vowel notation (diacritic) system "Niqqud" for Hebrew that is still widely used. The textual context of the words was considered, but primarily the traditional interpretation of the meanings of the Hebrew words was determinative and decisive for what they considered to be an acceptable understanding of the meaning of Sacred Scripture. Divergent readings of the text, variations in pronunciation of the letters and words of the text by individual readers of the Sefer Torah in the synagogue, and therefore alternative interpretations of the text not fully accepted by Rabbinical tradition, the Mishnah and the Gemara, were minimized or excluded. One notable example is that the ancient Septuagint Greek translation, parthenos (virgin), of the corresponding Hebrew word in the text of Isaiah 7:14 is rendered ambiguous or misleading or invalid by the Masoretic Text reading 'almah (young woman) instead of b'th(uw)lah (virgin maid).^[53] See Samaritan Torah for a discussion of divergent readings and texts.

Several factors led most Jews to abandon use of the (previously) authoritative Greek LXX. Perhaps most significant for the LXX, as distinct from other Greek versions, was that the LXX began to lose Jewish sanction after differences between it and contemporary 2nd to 5th century C.E. Hebrew scriptures were discovered. Even Greek-speaking Jews—such as those remaining in Palestine—tended less to the LXX, preferring other Jewish versions in Greek, such as that of Aquila, which seemed to be more concordant with contemporary 2nd century CE Hebrew texts. Origen of Alexandria incorporated the Greek version of Aquila in the Hexapla.

The finished Masoretic Text is represented by the finished standard Ben Asher text and the finished alternate Ben Naphtali text. Both texts are called Masoretic Text(s). It is because of their work that the words shaym, shem, shuwm, for example, with their distinct meanings, can be distinguished from each other. The meaning of T'Hash'm תחשים is not to be confused with the meaning of Hash'm השם. (see above, "Sacred word play: Paranomasia".)

Rashi's Commentary 12th century

Rashi (1040–1105), in his commentary on Exodus 25:5 (Shabbat 28a,b) "tachash skins", says that tachash denotes a species of animal that existed only for a (short) time, strikingly beautiful, with many hues; and that is why Onkelos (Targum) renders it (in Aramaic) ssgwn, "sasgawna", because it rejoices ("ss") and boasts of its hues ("gwn").

Tachash was a kind of wild beast. It existed only at that time. It was multi-colored and therefore it is translated in the Targum as sasgona: delights and prides itself in its colors. Rashi. (Terumah)

In accordance with the tradition of the sages, "tachash" denotes a kosher, multi-colored, one-horned קרן desert animal (a kind of rainbow-colored unicorn) which came into existence to be used to build the Mishkan and ceased to exist afterward.

Rabbi Yehudah said: It was a huge kosher animal in the desert, and it had one horn in its forehead, and its hide had six colors from which they made the curtains of the Mishkan.^[54]

Each tachash skin could be made into a single finished curtain 30 cubits in length and 4 cubits in width. (With a standard ancient cubit estimated at 17.5 inches, that makes a single finished curtain measure 58 feet, 4 inches long, by 5 feet, 9 and 15/16 inches wide.)

Rashi's commentary on Yechezkel/Ezekiel 16:10 states first the reading that tachash is a member of the badger family, and then gives an alternative reading of the same text, saying: "and I shod you with badger: [Jonathan renders:] And I put shoes of glory on your feet."^[55] For further discussion of this reading of תחשים as a color see the article "Blue in Judaism".

Medieval Bestiaries: 12th to 16th centuries

Bestiaries are popular compendiums of beasts in illustrated volumes that describe various real and mythological animals and birds, and even rocks, each entry in them usually accompanied by a moral lesson (see Medieval etymology.) They are particularly popular in England and France around the 12th century and are mainly compilations of earlier texts.

Aberdeen Bestiary: Folio 15 recto : Monoceros (*Monoceros*).

The earliest bestiary in the form in which it was later popularized during this period was an anonymous 2nd century CE Greek volume called the Physiologus, which was itself a summary of ancient knowledge and wisdom about animals in the writings of classical authors such as Aristotle's Historia Animalium and various works by Herodotus, Pliny the Elder, Solinus, Aelian and other naturalists. Following the Physiologus Saint Isidore of Seville (Book XII of the Etymologiae, A.D. 635) and Saint Ambrose expanded the religious message with reference to passages from the Bible and the Septuagint. They and other authors freely expanded or modified the pre-existing models they drew upon, constantly refining the moral content without interest in or access to much more detail regarding the factual content (parable). Nevertheless, the often fanciful accounts of these beasts and birds are widely read and generally believed to be true. Outstanding examples are the Aberdeen Bestiary and the Ashmole Bestiary.

The opinions of the Talmud and of Rashi's Commentary are also taken as authoritative support for the generally held Medieval belief that "tahash" (because of semantic change) now denotes a wondrous animal, a large, kosher, rainbow-colored unicorn of the desert, which was brought into existence solely to supply the skin for the outer covering of the Tabernacle, and which ceased to exist afterward when the Tabernacle was completed.^[56] Some justification for this view is also found in the Bible:

"For thy almighty hand which made the world of matter without form, was not unable to send upon them a multitude of bears, or fierce lions, or unknown beasts of a new kind, full of rage: either breathing out a fiery vapour, or sending forth a stinking smoke, or shooting horrible sparks out of their eyes: whereof not only the hurt might be able to destroy them, but also the very sight might kill them through fear." (Wisdom 11:18-19a Douay)

Douay-Rheims Bible 16th and 17th centuries

In the second half of the 16th century (years 1550-1600 CE) Catholic scholars (The English College) exiled from England begin work on a new English translation of the Bible from the Latin Vulgate of Jerome which had been translated from the Hebrew Tanakh/Bible. Comparing the Hebrew Tanakh tahas and the Greek Septuagint huakinthina with various Jewish and Christian commentaries and the standard Latin Vulgate ianthinas together with what is known to them at the time of the ancient languages, they render tahas as the color violet in all the passages of the Biblical text where it appears; for example:

"Thou shalt make also another cover to the roof, of rams' skins dyed red; and over that again another cover of violet coloured skins." Exodus 26:14 (DV)

*How graceful are your feet in sandals, O queenly maiden!* (Song of Solomon 7:1 RSV)

"And I clothed thee with embroidery, and shod thee with violet coloured shoes: and I girded thee about with fine linen, and clothed thee with fine garments." Ezechiel 16:10 (DV)

"How beautiful are thy steps in shoes, O prince's daughter!"

Canticle of Canticles 7:1b (DV) (Song of Songs / Song of Solomon)

The New Testament was published by The English College at Rheims, France, A.D. 1582, the Old Testament by The English College at Douay, France, beginning A.D. 1609 (the first volume: Genesis to Job) and completed A.D. 1610 (the second volume: Book of Psalms to 2 Machabees, plus the apocrypha of the Clementine Vulgate: Prayer of Manasses, 3 Esdras and 4 Esdras, and Prayer of Solomon).

Authorized King James Version 17th century

See ignorance, pseudoscientific language comparison, Medieval etymology, false etymology and History of the scientific method.

In 1604 the English translation known today as the Authorized Version (AV) or the King James Version (KJV) is first commissioned. The translators see a similarity between the Latin taxus (Meles taxus, a badger,) the German dachs (badger,) and the Hebrew tahas--also, Rashi on Ezekiel 16:10 gives the reading that it is a member of the badger family—and accordingly they translate the Masoretic Text of the word תחשים as "badger": "badgers' skins".

According to Jewish Hebrew scholars this translation of TaHaShM has no basis in fact.^[57] And the Vetus Latina and Vulgate Latin translations of the Hebrew text never render tahas as taxus (or as any form of Meles taxus, either singular or plural.) Meles taxus is the 17th century Latin taxonomic designation for "badger", but the Latin word for "badger" does not appear in any of the Latin versions of the Bible anywhere in the text as the Latin translation of Hebrew tahas.

The KJV translators seem to have been influenced by their "Christological" interpretation of a text in the book of Isaiah linked to a symbolic interpretation of the tabernacle as a type of the Incarnation of the Word of God:

"...he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him." Isaiah 53:2 KJV

"...observe here, that the outside of the tabernacle was coarse and rough, the beauty of it was in the inner curtains..." "The curtains of meaner materials, being made both longer and broader, covered the others, and were defended by coverings of skins... which outwardly are mean... (representative texts from 17th century commentaries on Exodus 26:7-14.)

This is in distinct contrast to the description of the garments of the high priest in Exodus:

"And thou shalt make holy garments for Aaron thy brother for glory and for beauty. Exodus 28:2 KJV

"And for Aaron's sons thou shalt make coats, and thou shalt make for them girdles, and bonnets shalt thou make for them, for glory and for beauty." Exodus 28:40 KJV

"And there I will meet with the children of Israel, and the tabernacle shall be sanctified by my glory." Exodus 29:43 KJV (italics according to KJV text)

"Give unto the LORD the glory due unto his name; worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness." Psalm 29:2 KJV

The Authorized Version is completed in 1611 by the Church of England, and then later revised, twice, in two authorized editions issued by Cambridge University, the first in 1629 and the second in 1638.

18th century

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary on the Bible 1708-1710, first published in 1706, offers a critique of the King James Version's translation "badgers' skins" in the commentary on Exodus 26:7-14:

"...badgers' skins, so we translate it, but it should rather seem to have been some strong sort of leather (but very fine), for we read of the best sort of shoes being made of it, Eze. 16:10. Now we observe here, (1.) That the outside of the tabernacle was coarse and rough, the beauty of it was in the inner curtains...in the eye of the world as black as the tents of Kedar..."

It is instructive here to compare Matthew Henry's concise commentaries on Isaiah 53:1-3 "...He had nothing of the glory..." and Exodus 26:7-14 "...meaner materials...which outwardly are mean..." --- to contrast these with Matthew Henry's concise commentaries on Exodus 25:1-9 "...a royal palace...(made of) worldly wealth...", Exodus 26:1-6 "...the curtains of the tabernacle were to be very rich...", Exodus 26:15-30 "...The materials were very costly...", Exodus 28:1-14 "...the glory and beauty, the work of ministers of religion, without which their persons and ministries will be had in contempt...the glory of the Divine majesty, and the beauty of complete holiness...", Exodus 28:40-43 "...a High Priest, appointed of God, and set apart for his work; furnished for his high office by the glory of his Divine majesty, and the beauty of perfect holiness...light...wisdom...perfection...glory...beauty", Exodus 29:1-37 "...clothed with glory and beauty...", Exodus 31:1-11 "...qualified for curious workmanship..." (i.e., excellence in every craft), and Exodus 39:1-31 "...The priests' garments were rich and splendid...crowned...clean linen...splendor of his appearance".

All of this provides interpreters and translators with what is called the semantic field of the word tehasim. A semantic field denotes a segment of reality symbolized by a set of related words. The words in a semantic field are not synonymous, but they are all used to talk about the same general phenomenon of reality. In the case of the tabernacle it is the manifested desire of the LORD to Moses and to the people to show forth the beauty and glory and honor of his Name in the sight of all the nations. The word chosen to translate tehasim should convey that meaning, which "badger" does not.

Matthew Henry's concise commentary lists the gold and the silver, the precious stones and wood, the expertly woven cloths and fine materials, all prepared with willing devotion and expert skill according to the best that each person could render, in "heartfelt" worship to the LORD. The overall impression is one of richness and glory and great beauty. It is the same with the text of Ezekiel 16:10-13 "I clothed thee also with broidered work...and I girded thee about with fine linen, and I covered thee with silk. I decked thee also with ornaments, and I put bracelets upon thy hands, and a chain on thy neck. And I put a jewel on thy forehead, and earrings in thine ears, and a beautiful crown upon thy head. Thus wast thou decked with gold and silver; and thy raiment was of fine linen, and silk, and broidered work...and thou wast exceeding beautiful..." None of these texts supports the interpretation that anything pertaining to the worship of God and to the Dwelling of the LORD was to be "coarse and rough" or "mean" (profane, debased, or common) in appearance. The Rabbinical tradition does not support it. It would appear contemptible, ugly, absurd, ridiculous; it would be "had in contempt". (The main commercial value of the badger is found in its coarse hair, which is used to make shaving brushes, and various paint brushes.) Only the conviction that tehasim means "badger" could possibly prompt support for such an interpretation and prompt the interpreters to seek some means to justify it. Matthew Henry's commentary says instead that 'orot tehasim "should rather seem to have been some strong sort of leather (but very fine) for we read of the best sort of shoes being made of it".

The first edition of the Systema Naturae (Carolus Linnaeus) is published in 1735. Its fundamental philosophy, its form and structure, reflects the influence of the Etymologiae. This is the beginning of the modern system of taxonomy using Latin as the standardized form of scientific nomenclature. Using an academic vocabulary already current at this time, the European badger is officially classified as Meles taxus.

The Douay-Rheims Bible of 1610 is now extensively revised by Bishop Richard Challoner: the New Testament, in three editions 1749, 1750, and 1752 (this last edition of the New Testament having important changes from the 1749 edition in both text and notes, the variations numbering over two thousand); and an edition of the Old Testament (minus the Vulgate apocrypha), in 1750. The 1750 edition of the complete Douay-Rheims Bible is in fact a new version, taking as its base the KJV rigorously checked and extensively adjusted for improved readability and consistency with the Clementine edition of the Vulgate: --"violet coloured skins" is retained as the translation of Latin "pelles ianthinas" (hyacinth skins) from Hebrew 'orot tahasim. Most 20th century printings and on-line versions of the D.V. follow Challoner's 1750 text. The Challoner revision is still often the Bible of choice of English-speaking Traditionalist Catholics.

The tenth edition of Systema Naturae, 1758, is today regarded as the beginning of modern zoological nomenclature.

The thirteenth and final definitive edition of the Systema Naturae is published in 1767.

The Authorized King James Version is twice again corrected and updated with revisions at Cambridge, first in 1762, and finally in 1769 (some 24,000 places in the text) in the now standardized form of the text of the King James Version most familiar to modern readers today: --"badgers' skins" is retained as the translation of 'orot tahasim. (see King James Only movement, and Protestant divisions, and Argument from authority.)

The Arabic tukhesh (dugong) is first classified by Muller in 1776 as Trichechus dugon, a member of the manatee genus previously defined by Linnaeus.

The tachash, as described in the 12th-15th centuries, an enormous, multi-colored, one-horned, animal of the desert, not found since the completion of the tabernacle by Moses, is now regarded as a legendary creature of Jewish folklore, along with Metatron, the merkabah, the chayot, the ophan, the hashmal, the seraph, the malakh, the cherub, the Agrat Bat Mahlat, the ashmedai, the Watcher, the lilith, the dybbuk, the Magura-Schendel, the rachab, the basilisk^[58], the dragon, the behemoth, the leviathan, the Bar Juchne called Ziz, the unicorn (re'em), the keresh and the tigris of Dvei Ilai,^[59] the Nephilim, the golem, and Og. This traditional understanding of the identity of the tachash becomes an enduring part of our cultural heritage and a colorful thread included in the richly woven complex tapestry of Jewish cultural identity.

Trichechus dugon (dugong) is classified Trechechus dugung by Erxleben 1777.

While the Arabs at this time apply the descriptive tukhas to dugongs and sea cows, to dolphins and porpoises, from which they harvest skins for leather for their tents and curtains and sandals, the Jews apply the word tukhas to derrieres, i.e. buttocks. (see Language change--see Yiddish language--see linguistic term "false friend.") To "leather" or "tan" someone's tukhas is to administer a prudent corrective physical punishment for disobedient naughtiness.

"Folly is bound up in the heart of a child,

but the rod of discipline drives it far from him."

(The Proverbs of Solomon 22:15, RSV)

Trechechus dugung (dugong) is classified Dugong indicus by Lecepede 1799.

19th century

Dugong indicus (dugong) is classified Dugong dugong by Illiger 1811.

The comparative method of the academic field of philology within the discipline of historical linguistics, developed over many years, now culminates in the nineteenth century.

Dugong dugong (dugong) is classified Halicore lottum and Halicore hemprichii by Ehrenberg 1832.

Scientists, linquists and Bible translators have the following facts at this time:

The Masoretic Text of Ezekiel 16:10 lists "...sandals of tahash..."
The Bedouin make leather sandals from the skins of very large sea-mammals they call tucash.
Linguists using the comparative method of historical linguistics see tucash and tahash as cognates.
The Masoretic Text of Exodus 26:14 states that the outer covering of the Mishkan, the Tabernacle, is to be made of "skins of tachashim."
The Sages of the Talmud say that tachash denotes a very large animal.
Sirenia (dugongs and manatees) have recently been biologically classed as belonging to the order Ungulata (which includes cattle/bison, goats, sheep, giraffe, elk, deer, antelope and gazelle.)

Accordingly, E. Rupell classifies the large sea-mammals the Bedouin call tucash (dugong) as "Halicore tabernaculi" (1843) (Rupell and Leuckart, 1828, 1831.) The rationalist principles accepted by nineteenth century Biblical Criticism and the gradual development of the Documentary hypothesis appear to many scholars adopting the methods of higher criticism to explain away the fact that, against this taxonomic designation, texts in the Book of Leviticus say without any qualification,

"Everything in the waters that has not fins and scales is an abomination to you."

"I am the LORD your God, who have separated you from the peoples."

They posit that the discrepancy of these texts, so contradictory to their understanding of the meaning of תחשים, is due to different authors, different theologies, different schools of thought in Israel which ancient redactors and editors were unable or unwilling to fully harmonize. Someone about ten centuries after Moses decided to condemn dugongs as unclean, wrote it down, inserted it into the Torah as one among a multitude of new ordinances and regulations of worship, and successfully persuaded the leaders of the people in the temple and the synagogue that although they had no memory of this as being the ancestral custom it was nevertheless an ancient tradition revealed to Moses which their fathers had neglected. Underlying their hypothesis is the assumption that there was no unifying ethno-religious ancestral oral tradition present for these "independent authors and schools" to draw upon for development of their writings. There is no "Biblical unity" underlying these texts, which are to be analysed and critiqued as isolated and independent from one another. Supporters of this school of thought do not appear to consider that the translation of tahasim as "dugongs" could be an error, that the texts in the book of Leviticus could have possibly been written at the time of Moses.

In the context of the sometimes heated debates that arise at this time the words of Jeremiah speak loudly: both traditionalist scholars and higher critics quote them:

How can you say, "We are wise,

and the law of the LORD is with us"?

But behold, the false pen of the scribes

has made it into a lie. Jeremiah 8:8 (RSV)

Easton's Bible Dictionary (1823–1894) "Badger" says,

"Our translators seem to have been misled by the similarity in sound of the Hebrew tahas and the Latin taxus, 'a badger'. The revisers have correctly substituted 'seal skins.' The Arabs of the Sinaitic peninsula apply the name tucash to the seals and dugongs which are common in the Red Sea, and the skins of which are largely used as leather and for sandals."

Dugongs are larger than seals. The adult female dugong is larger than the male: they have been known to attain a length of 4 meters and a weight of over 1,000 kilograms (over 13 feet in length and a weight of over 2,200 lbs.^[60])

The Arabic t'kh's, t'h's is transliterated alternately and interchangeably "tucash," "tukhesh," "tukhas." Many scholars, from the mid-19th century through the mid-20th century, continue to see a linguistic closeness between the words tachash and tukhas in both sound and meaning, and accordingly render their expert opinion that the outer covering of the Tabernacle of the LORD was made of well-tanned tukhas hides.

Halicore tabernaculi (dugong) is classified Halicore australis by Owen in 1847.

Wilhelm Gesenius (pub. Boston, 1850) under the word "tachash" states that the Arabs of Sinai wear sandals of dugong skin. This is taken to explain the meaning of the phrase in the Book of Ezekiel (16:10), "I gave you sandals of tahash skin." Later (pub. Leipzig, 1905) he cites J. H. Bondi (Aegyptiaca, i.ff) who adduces the Egyptian root t-ch-s and makes the expression 'or tahash mean "soft-dressed skin."

Halicore australis (dugong) is classified Halicore cetacea by Heuglin in 1877.

Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (1890) under "BADGERS' " gives fourteen biblical references of the word, each associated with only one lexical number reference (popularly called Strong's number) directing the reader to the Hebrew Lexicon in that work, entry 8476, which gives the Hebrew characters (Tav-CHeyth-SHiyn), the older English word tachash, its phonetic pronunciation takh'-ash, and tells the reader that the word is probably of foreign derivation, and that it denotes "a (clean) animal with fur, probably a species of antelope:--badger." (The badger is not a species of antelope.) According to the Torah the badger is unclean:

"And whatsoever goeth upon his paws, among all manner of beasts that go on all four, those are unclean unto you: whoso toucheth their carcase shall be unclean until the even." Leviticus 11:27 (KJV)

Anthonie Cornelis Oudemans publishes his 1892 study The Great Sea Serpent. This marks the very beginning of a scholarly discipline that will later be called "cryptozoology." (see below)

Halicore cetacea (dugong) is recombined and classified Halicore dugung by Trouessart in 1898.

20th century

1906 sees the publication of the influencial (Protestant) Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew Lexicon, based on the Hebrew-German lexicon of William Gesenius as translated by Edward Robinson: A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament, with an appendix containing the Biblical Aramaic, written by Francis Brown, Samuel Rolles Driver and Charles Augustus Briggs, based on the lexicon of William Gesenius as translated by Edward Robinson. At the bottom of the linked page site locate Index number [1089] and click it to see the Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew Lexicon page 1065 for entry תחש tahas^[61]

"a kind of leather or skin, and perhaps the animal yielding it (probably the dugong, cf. the Arabic t_kh_sh for dolphin; Assyrian tahjsu), for which Dl conj. the meaning sheep(skin); Bondi cp. Egyptian ths, leather...--leather used for (woman's) sandals Ez. 16:10; elsewhere for cover of tabernacle...."

S. M. Perlmann^[62](Zoologist, set 4, XII, 256, 1908) suggests that the okapi, "a species of antelope," is the animal indicated by tachash.^[63] But the okapi is most closely related to the giraffe. (The okapi and the giraffe belong to the family giraffidae, the antelope belongs to the family bovidae: the okapi is not a species of antelope.)

The Catholic Encyclopedia, 1907–1914, (in use to this day) under "Tabernacle" states simply and directly:

"...Two outer coverings (no dimensions are given), one of dyed rams' skin and one of dugongs' skin, protected the whole structure."

The only English Catholic Bible in common use (1915) is the Douay-Rheims Version (DV), which says in Exodus 26:14:

"Thou shalt make also another cover to the roof, of rams' skins dyed red; and over that again another cover of violet coloured skins."

The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (ISBE), 1915, (in use to this day) under the entry "BADGER" states:

"baj'er: tachash: ...Septuagint dermata huakinthina. The Septuagint rendering would mean purple or blue skins, which however is not favored by Talmudic writers or by modern grammarians, who incline to believe that tachash is the name of an animal. The rendering 'badger,' is favored by the Talmudic writers and by the possible etymological connection of the word with the Latin taxus and the German dachs."

The ISBE does not specify the reasons why Talmudic writers and "modern grammarians" (1915, not identified) do not favor the Septuagint rendering "purple or blue skins," it does not specify the reasons why Talmudic writers and modern grammarians incline to believe that tachash is the name of an animal, and it does not specify the reasons why Talmudic writers (not identified) favor the rendering "badger" over any other rendering, since the badger is unclean according to Leviticus 11:27-28.

The Soncino Babylonian Talmud, 1938, 1948, 1952, 1962, Shabbath 28b says:

"R. Meir used to maintain, The tahash of Moses' day was a separate species, and the Sages could not decide whether it belonged to the genus of wild beasts or to the genus of domestic animals; and it bad [sic] one horn in its forehead, and it came to Moses' hand [providentially] just for the occasion, and he made the [covering of the] Tabernacle, and then it was hidden. Now, since he says that it had one horn in its forehead, it follows that it was clean."

The Revised Standard Version of the Bible, an English translation published in the mid-20th century, poses the first serious challenge to the popularity of the King James Version, aiming to be a readable and literally accurate modern English translation. The translation panel appointed by the International Council of Religious Education (ICRE) uses the traditional Hebrew Masoretic Text for the Old Testament, rendering 'oroth T'Hashim as goatskins.

Halicore Dugung (dugong) is recombined and classified Dugong dugon by Scheffer and Rice in 1963.^[64]

Cryptozoology: cryptids

The first use of the term Cryptozoology ("study of hidden animals") is attributed to Bernard Heuvelmans whose book On the Track of Unknown Animals (1955) traces the origins of the scholarly discipline of cryptozoology to Oudemans' 1892 study "The Great Sea Serpent."

Willy Ley's collection Exotic Zoology (1959) discusses the possibility that some legendary creatures (like the sirrush, the unicorn or the cyclops) might be based on actual animals (sightings) through misinterpretation of the animals and/or their remains. He argues that folktales, while often layered in unlikely and fantastic elements, can have small grains of truth and important information regarding undiscovered organisms.

In Chapter 1, "The Legend of the Unicorn," he refers to several ancient sources, including the Talmud. From these sources he names, describes and discusses the Hebrew re'em together with the Greek Septuagint word monokeros, Latin unicornus, French licorne, German Einhorn; he discusses the oryx, the urus (Bos primigenius), Ctesias's "wild ass of India," the black rhinoceros, the Indian black buck, Aelian's Greek cartazonos (probably from Indian Sanskrit kartajan); he talks about uses of the unicorn horn "alicorn" (the unicornum verum mammoth tusk, and the unicornum falsum narwhal tusk); he discusses the Elasmotherium sibiricum, the walrus tusk, the Persian karkadann (rhinoceros) and the controversies over the artificially "unicorned" cow or bull, or sheep (ram), made by surgically transplanting and fusing the animal's two horn buds together, as is occasionally done among the Kaffirs, the Dinkas and the Nepalese.

The Tahash or Tachash is not mentioned in Chapter 1, and there is no reference to the Tabernacle.

Chapter 22, "African Rhapsody," includes a discussion about the coney, or hyrax, mentioned in the Bible as Saphan, which Cuvier called une sorte de rhinoceros en miniature; he discusses egg-laying monotremes, marsupials, elephant shrews (Macroscelides), river weasels (Potamogale velox), aardvarks, the pangolin, the Helladotherium and Samotherium and their relative the okapi (called "a living fossil"), pygmy hippos (nigbvi), and the Congo peacock Afropavo congenis. The okapi is not even suggested as being in reality the animal described in the Talmud and by succeeding generations of Rabbinical authorities as the Tahash.

There is no mention of Tahash or Tachash in Willie Ley's Exotic Zoology.

The Book of Imaginary Beings (1957, 1967, 1969) lists 120 mythical beasts. Between the (alphabetical) entries for Sylph and Talos there is no entry for Tahash/Tachash.

The International Society of Cryptozoology (ICS) is founded in 1982. The Society's journal Cryptozoology is published beginning 1982, and remains in publication until 1996.

In 1983 John E. Wall coins the useful term Cryptid. Cryptids are creatures that are rumored or suspected to exist but for which conclusive evidence is still missing. Cryptids also include Unidentified Mysterious Animals (UMA) and species that are hard to classify. (See List of megafauna discovered in modern times.)

File:Elasmotherium.jpg

Elasmotherium as the "zhi"

Some cryptozoologists devote a large portion of their substantial efforts to investigations of animals that most scientists believe are unlikely to have existed. The legendary creature we call the tahash, as described in the Talmud and Rashi's commentary, might possibly qualify as one of these. However, the tahash is not listed among the "Categories of controversial taxa" nor among the approximately 50 currently listed zoological cryptids being investigated. These include the interesting parallel descriptions of the cryptids Elasmotherium, Emela-ntouka and Mokele-Mbembe, the Persian Karkadan and the Chinese Zhi, all large multicolored land animals each with a horn, descriptions strongly suggestive of the tahash. Even so, the term 'orot tahasim ("skins of tahashim") in the Tanakh/Old Testament does not persuade cryptozoologists to regard the word tahash as denoting a cryptid. (see below, "October 2007...") Linguists at this time are beginning to be persuaded that the word in fact originally denoted a kind of treated/colored leather. The fact remains that the curtains of the Tabernacle could not have been made of the skins of an imaginary animal with no basis in reality, and could have been made of specially processed and finished antelope hides or sheepskins dyed blue.

The International Society of Cryptozoology (ICS) ends its activities in 1998 due to financial problems. The website continues until 2005.

Mid-20th century to beginning 21st century -- tachash to tahash

The Anchor Bible Series, a scholarly and commercial co-venture begun in 1956, initiates "a new era of cooperation among scholars in biblical research," which continues over several decades, producing a body of work consisting of a Commentary Series, Bible Dictionary, and Reference Library. According to their research the precise meaning of tehasim is uncertain: during the 20th century Hebrew tahas is often treated as the same as the Arabic term tuhas (cf. duhas) for "dolphin," but this interpretation is not certain. tehasim has been connected to an Assyrian word meaning "sheepskin" and an Egyptian word meaning "to stretch or treat leather": tahas seems to be cognate with Akkadian dusu tuhsia "goat/sheep leather [dyed and tanned the color of dusu-stone]" out of which the tabernacle cover (Exodus 26:14; Numbers 4:6) and luxury boots and sandals were made (Ezekiel 16:10.)^[65] (This cognate with Akkadian dusu/duhsu, Hurrian tusiwe, Sumerian DUH.SI.A,^[66] may indicate that the Hebrew singular should be vocalized tohas, not tahas.)^[67] According to this scholarship, "tanned and (blue-)dyed skins" seems to be a more probable meaning for 'orot tehasim than "dugong hides." The editors and translators of the Jewish World ORT translation, Navigating the Bible II, render 'orot tahasim as "blue-processed skins":

Exodus 25:5: "...reddened rams' skins, blue-processed skins, acacia wood,..."

Stephanie Dalley (2000, Journal of Semitic Studies 45:1-19, Faience and Beadwork, Hebrew tahas, Akkadian duhsu) marshalls philological and archaeological evidence as proof that dusu/duhsu/tahas is neither a substance (leather, dye) nor a color, but a technique of sewing blue faience beads onto leather to attain various chromatic effects. William H. C. Propp (2006) cites this research, translating tahas/tahasim as "beaded" ("beaded skins"), in his translation of Exodus in The Anchor Bible: Exodus 19-40.^[68]

The form of the English word for Hebrew tahas is also changed. The Anchor Bible Dictionary's entry and treatment is for TAHASH, not "tachash" (it has no entry for TACHASH.)

The fact that English readers and beginning students of the Bible unfamiliar with articulation of Egyptian, Hebrew and Arabic speech tend to pronounce the "ch" of tachash as in chastity, charity, church, chastise, chore, chosen, instead of the hard sound of "ch," actually intended by translators, as in chronology, character, Christ, choreography, choir, mechanic, archangel, architect, Loch (Scottish), CHanukkah or Hanukkah, leads some editors of English Bible translations, footnotes, commentaries, textbooks and reference works to spell the word without the "c," as a prompt to the reader to more closely approximate the breath sound of the eighth letter of the Hebrew alphabet: "Heth," "kHayth," "cHeyth." Two examples are the New American Bible's tahash (1970) and the Encyclopaedia Judaica's entry and treatment of Tahash (2007) (there is no entry there for "Tachash.")

The Encyclopaedia Judaica article TAHASH says, "...the identity of the tahash remains obscure. The AV and JPS translation of 'badger' has no basis in fact." (The editors also state that because the Arabic tukhesh means the sea-mammal Dugong hemprichi, some endeavor to identify it with the tahash.)

Students of the Talmud, and of Jewish culture in general, today are fully persuaded by tradition that tekheleth is a blue dye produced by snails and not the color blue, and that Aramaic sasgawon, Masoretic tahas, is a legendary multi-colored animal and not a specially prepared and finished leather (see Etymological fallacy.) This is in fact the modern meaning which researchers must understand when presenting the results of their studies of the ancient sources.

October 2007 the Wikipedia page "Category: Controversial taxa" first appears. "Tahash" is not listed among the pages linked to the site.

With the increasing usage of the past few decades cited here as a kind of "established" precedent, in June 2010 the title of this Wikipedia article is changed from the older "Tachash" to the current "Tahash."

17 June 2010 "Tahash" appears on the automatically updated Wikipedia page "Category: Controversial taxa", increasing the number of pages linked to that site from 30 to 31. (see Categories below.)

Importance of textual and cultural and religious context

Given the prohibitions in the Torah (Pentateuch) forbidding the Israelites to touch anything they are to regard as unclean, abhorrent, abominations, this raises the question of why scholars and translators and interpreters familiar with the Biblical text, and familiar with the importance of textual and cultural context, should propose the skin of an unclean, non-kosher "abhorrent" (KJV) animal "abomination" (RSV) as the outer covering of the Tabernacle, rather than the skin of a clean, kosher animal, such as the goat or antelope instead. A great number of commentaries and scholarly articles over the centuries, beginning with the Talmud, have been written discussing this very question.^[69]

"[To revert to] the main text: 'R. Eleazar propounded: can the skin of an unclean animal be defiled with the defilement of tents?' What is his problem?--Said R. Adda b. Ahabah: His question relates to the tahash which was in the days of Moses,--was it unclean or clean? R. Joseph observed, What question is this to him? We learnt it! For the sacred work none but the skin of a clean animal was declared fit.

"R. Abba objected: R. Judah said: There are two coverings, one of dyed rams' skins, and one of tahash skins. R. Nehemiah said: There was one covering and it was like a squirrel['s]. But the squirrel is unclean!--This is its meaning: like a squirrel['s], which has many colors, yet not [actually] the squirrel, for that is unclean, whilst here a clean [animal is meant]. Said R. Joseph: That being so, that is why we translate it sasgawna [meaning] that it rejoices in many colors. ...

"What is our conclusion with respect to the tahash which existed in Moses' days?--Said R. Elai in the name of R. Simeon b. Lakish, R. Meir used to maintain, The tahash of Moses' day was a separate species, and the Sages could not decide whether it belonged to the genus of wild beasts or to the genus of domestic animals; and it bad^[70] one horn in its forehead, and it came to Moses' hand [providentially] just for the occasion, and he made the [covering of the] Tabernacle, and then it was hidden. Now, since he says that it had one horn in its forehead, it follows that it was clean. For R. Judah said, The ox which Adam the first [man] sacrificed had one horn in its forehead, for it is said, and it shall please the Lord better than an ox, or a bullock that hath a horn [sic] and hoofs. But makrin implies two?--Said R. Nahman b. Isaac:^[71] Mi-keren is written. Then let us solve thence that it was a genus of domestic animal?--Since there is the keresh, which is a species of beast, and it has only one horn, one can say that it [the tahash] is a kind of wild beast."

Babylonian Talmud: Tractate Shabbath, Chapter II, Folio 28a and b^[72]

Skilled indigo work

Today it seems that, because of an increase in knowledge of the languages, and because the ancients were closer to the time of the ancient usages of the text, the opinions of the ancient witnesses prior to 100 CE / AD 100 have influenced recent translators to render the Hebrew word תחש tahas, t'ch'sh, as English tahash, most probably as an acknowledgement of its obscure meaning to us today, or to render it as the ancient translators variously suggested: fine leather, and blue-processed skins, i.e. soft-dressed indigo-dyed antelope hide, skins of skilled indigo work, or sheepskins dyed blue.

Importance of tahash

The numerous debates centered on the meaning of tahash over the centuries demonstrate that it has not been regarded as a silly or trivial matter, but as somehow mysteriously contributing to our understanding of God who commanded Moses to command the Israelites to use tahash skins as the outer covering of the Tabernacle. As it is written:

"Let them make me a sanctuary, that I may dwell in their midst." (Exodus 25:8 RSV)

Other Biblical Translations

The Anchor Bible: Exodus 19-40: Volume 2A (2006) translates tahas (t'hasim) as beaded (beaded skins).

The ^[73]Navigating the Bible II World ORT translation (2000) translates tahas (t'hasim) as blue-processed (skins).

The New American Bible (NAB) (1991–2005) renders tachash as tahash.

The God's Word Translation (GW) (1995) translates tachash as fine leather.

The New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) (1989–2005) translates tachash as fine leather.

The Revised English Bible (REB) (1989) translates tachash as dugong (dugong-hides).

The New Jerusalem Bible (NJB) (1985) translates tachash as fine leather.

The New Jewish Publication Society translation (JPS Tanakh) (1985) translates tachash as dolphin, or sea cow.

The New International Version (NIV) (1978) translates tachash as sea cow (sea cow hides).

The New American Standard Bible (NASB) (1971–1995) translates tachash as porpoise (porpoise skins).

The New World Translation (NWT) (1961) translates tachash as seal (sealskins).

The Revised Standard Version (RSV) (1952–2000) translates tachash as goat (goatskins).

The Bible in Basic English (BBE) (1949–1965) translates tachash as leather.

The Jewish Publication Society of America Version (JPS) (1917) translates tachash as badger (badgers' skins).

The World English Bible (WEB) (1997-2000 version of 1901 ASV) translates tachash as sea cow (sea cow hides).

The American Standard Version (ASV) (1901) translates tachash as seal (sealskins).

Young's Literal Translation (1862–1898) translates tachash as badger (badgers' skins).

The American King James Version (AKJV) (1999 version of KJV) translates tachash as badger (badger's skins).

The Authorized King James Version (AV, KJV) (1611–1769) translates tachash as badger (badgers' skins).

The Douay-Rheims Bible (Douai, D-R, DV) (1610–1750) translates tachash as violet (violet skins).

The Latin Vulgate (L.V.) (405) translates tachash as ianthinas, violet (violet skins).

The Mishnah (Mish.): Tanna Rabbi Judah ha-Nasi (170-220) translates tachash as altinon (Greek, aledinon), purple (skins dyed purple).

The Targum Onkelos (Tar. Onq.) (110) translates tachash as ssgwn (sas-gona, sas-gavna), i.e. joy (of all) colors, glowing (of) colors, radiant(-like worm-)colors, (most) blessed (of) colors, richest (of) colors, royal color (?)---(glory-colored skins?).

The Septuagint (LXX) (3rd to 1st century B.C.E.) translates tachash as huakinthina, hyacinth (indigo-blue) (hyacinth skins).

References

Notes and Comments

^ Hebrew TaHaS, tahas, תחש Tahash, Tachash: spelled (Hebrew letters) ת "Tav"-ח "Heth"-ש "Shiyn" (approximate articulation "tawv"-"khayth"-"sheen") תחש "T-H-S" or "T-CH-SH": pronounced takhash, takh'-ash, (or "tak'-Hash") with hard "ch" as in "CHanukkah / Hanukkah," German ch = Greek X (nearly "kh") as in "XP" ("chi-rho", i.e. "khee-hro"), or the Scottish word "loch," not the soft "ch" as in "church." The editors of the Soncino Babylonian Talmud (1961), the New American Bible (NAB) (1971), and the Encyclopaedia Judaica 2nd ed. (2007) have rendered the eighth letter of the Hebrew alphabet ח ("KHayth--CHeyth--Heth") as "h": hence, Tahash.
^ Talmud: Shabbat 28b see Kolel's Parasha Study, number 1999 (which says) "...'Keresh,' a large rainbow colored unicorn. ...Contemporary scholarship may be correct that tachash refers to tanned skins and not an animal at all, but it seems much more fun to imagine that the tachash could be a giraffe, a narwhal, or a mythical unicorn." Talmud: Shabbat 28b see REVIEW QUESTIONS ON GEMARA AND RASHI: Shabbos 28: scroll down to question 7 (a)(b)(c)(d), read, then scroll down to "Answers to questions", click, and scroll down to answer 7 (a)(b)(c)(d) (which says) (d) "There is also an animal called 'Keresh', a species of Kasher *Chayah* that has only one horn. Consequently, it cannot be taken for granted that the Tachash was a Beheimah (like Adam's bull), when it could equally have been a Chayah (like the Keresh)." (Kasher means kosher. see kashrut. see CHAYAH--Hebrew lexicon.)
^ Identification of Biblical animals
^ Meles taxus: never used in the Latin Bible as translation of Hebrew tahas. "The badger, Meles taxus, while fairly abundant in Lebanon and Anti-Lebanon, does not seem to occur in Sinai or Egypt."--Alfred Ely-Day, "Badger", The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, 1915. Ely-Day references the 17th-19th c. scientific name for the Eurasian badger, now European badger, indigenous to most of Europe and to parts of Asia. Taxonomic designation today "Meles meles". (see American badger "Taxidae taxus.")
^ see NAB version of: Exodus 25, 26, 35, 36 and 39; Numbers 4; Ezekiel 16:10.
^ S. Dalley, Journal of Semitic Studies 45:1-19, Faience and Beadwork, 2000, and William H. C. Propp, The Anchor Bible: Exodus 19-40 Volume 2A, Nov. 2006, p. 374.
^ Strong's Exhaustive Concordance Hebrew Lexicon "badger" 8476 tachash (antelope?) see addax. In ancient times, addax spread from North Africa through Arabia and the Levant. Pictures from Egyptian tombs show them being kept as domesticated animals in around 2500 BC. They are amply suited to live in the deep desert under extreme conditions.
^ see Leather: "Religious sensitivities to leather". see kashrut
^ Several Bible translations: DV, BBE, RSV, NJB, NRSV, GW, NavBib-II--see section "Other Biblical Translations" (this article.)
^ hyacinth see SearchGodsWord: The New Testament Greek Lexicon: huakinthos and huakinthinos click the audio icon. See Strong's Concordance Greek Dictionary jacinth: compare phonetic spelling (sound) of tekhelet (blue) and huakinthinos.
^ It is worth noting that indigo dye obtained from plants (i.e. indigofera tinctoria) is "unclean," "treif," "non-kasher," according to the Talmud, while the purple and indigo purple dye obtained from the murex snail (which does not have fins and scales and is a carnivore) is "clean," "kasher," according to the Talmud. see Tzitzit: "Karaite tzitzit." see Tekhelet: "Talmudic source" and "Lost knowledge"
^ Alfred Ely-Day, International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (1915) "Badger" (end of entry). ---See also Tyndale Bulletin 5-6 (April 1960) "Some Egyptian Background To The Old Testament" [search this title] by K. A. Kitchen, University of Liverpool, p. 7-8, footnote 29: (which says) "Heb. tahash is probably best derived from the old Egyptian word tj-h-s, "to treat leather," Erman & Grapow, Worterbuch d. Aeg. Sprache, V, 396, 7. So Bondi, Aegyptiaca, 1-4, corrected by Griffith, in Petrie, Deshasheh, 1898, 45-6, and revival by Albright and Cross, Bibl. Archaeol., 10, (1947), 62 and n. 22." ---[search title Full text of "Deshasheh, 1897".] ---The title Aegyptiaca refers to the ancient original classic Egyptian work by Manetho.
^ see extensive discussion ANCIENT DYES (courtesy Flags of the World), specifically the commentaries on "--sky-blue" and "--blue processed skins"; reference is also made there to "The Dying of Purple in Ancient Israel" by Rabbi Yitzchak Isaac HaLevi Herzog, 1999, unpublished----see "Garments of Salvation--The Meaning of Tekhelet" Dr. Baruch Sterman.
^ see any of the various on-line dictionaries with phonetic aid for entry "addax" click on audio icon. see also Phonetic Spelling addax, 'adash, tahash , grass and antelope. see also Google Translate: first, "addax": Translate from [select language] Hebrew, Translate into English: click the audio icon: next, "takhash": Translate from [select language] Hebrew, Translate into English: click the audio icon: second, "addax": Translate from [select language] Arabic, Translate into English: click the audio icon: next, "tukhesh": Translate from [select language] Arabic, Translate into English: click the audio icon.
^ see adarga
^ NAB addax: KJV pygarg: RSV NRSV NJB antelope: REB long-horned antelope--Strong's Concordance "PYGARG" number 1788 actual text "diyshon"--from 1758 ("duwsh," "dowsh," "diysh")--"(ad)dash": addax)
^ Heb. קרן qeren / keren means "radiant", more literally "horned": to push, to shoot out (horns, rays), shine/shone, project/projecting, to have horns, (be) penetrating, striking (vivid), flask/"horn" (container, vial, "horn" of cosmetics), power, projection, ray, tooth, corner (of the altar), hill, peak: "radiant, vivid, striking" (color).
^ The Babylonian Talmud: Tractate Shabbat 28a "Sas-gavna" The word "Sas" comes from the Hebrew and means joy, "gavna" means colors. Parshat Vayakhel-----"...Gavna, which is Aramaic for 'shades' (as in shades of color)" (Photo Feature: Hilltop Restaurant Bridges Shades of Old and New [search title])-----"...gavna (from the Aramaic word for varieties)" (Gush Etzion [search title])-----"Sas" can mean "joy," "joy-causing," "rejoicing," "vivid," "vibrant," "radiant," "beautiful," "exquisite(ly)"--"Gavna" can mean "colors," "varieties," "shades," "multiple-dyed (double-dyed, triple-dyed, dyed seven times over)," "rich color," "luxuriant color," "greatly dignified color," "awe-inspiring color." (see translation: "dynamic and formal equivalence") It does not necessarily mean rainbow colors. It can mean instead various shades or tones of one kind of color (in this case, various shades or tones of indigo blue--see indigo: see violet (color).) The Onkelos Targum "sas-gavna" ("joy-colors") can be translated: "radiantly colored" (skins, leather)--"richly colored" (skins, leather).
^ "implied": just as today we say "patent leather" and understand it to mean "patent-processed fine-grain cow-hide leather," "processed fine-grain cow-hide" being implied. No one says, "What mysterious kind of animal is the patent?: its leather has been used for shoes, but today there is no known animal called the patent; we may therefore safely conclude that the patent may now be extinct, or that it simply ceased to exist." Again, we know what "glove leather" means, just as Moses and the descendants of Israel understood what "tahash skin" means. Translators and commentators centuries after Moses may perhaps be excused for taking what had become (for them) an obscure term as the name of an animal--especially when it is associated in the text with the word for leather skin. But this then raises a more penetrating question: "Why do some translators propose as a translation of the word 'tahash' the hide or skin of an unclean animal or unclean 'abomination' as the covering of the most holy Tabernacle of the LORD?" It is an absolute contradiction. Whoever touched it would become unclean and abominable. "...if anyone touches an unclean thing, whether the uncleanness of man or an unclean beast or an unclean abomination, and then eats of the flesh of the sacrifice of the LORD's peace offerings, that person shall be cut off from his people." (Leviticus 7:21) "...their carcasses you shall not touch; they are unclean to you." (Leviticus 11:8) "...their carcasses you shall have in abomination. Everything in the waters that has not fins and scales is an abomination to you." (Leviticus 11:12) "...all that go on their paws, among the animals that go on all fours, are unclean to you; whoever touches their carcass shall be unclean until the evening, and he who carries their carcass shall wash his clothes and be unclean until the evening; they are unclean to you." (Leviticus 11:27-28) "...you shall keep the people of Israel separate from their uncleanness, lest they die in their uncleanness by defiling my tabernacle that is in their midst." (Leviticus 15:31) "...you shall not make yourselves abominable by beast or by bird or by anything with which the ground teems, which I have set apart for you to hold unclean." (Leviticus 20:25) "...If any one of all your descendants throughout your generations approaches the holy things, which the people of Israel dedicate to the LORD, while he has an uncleanness, that person shall be cut off from my presence: I am the LORD." (Leviticus 22:3) "...appoint the Levites over the tabernacle of the testimony, and over all its furnishings, and over all that belongs to it; they are to carry the tabernacle and all its furnishings, and they shall tend it, and shall encamp around the tabernacle. When the tabernacle is to set out, the Levites shall take it down; and when the tabernacle is to be pitched, the Levites shall set it up. And if anyone else comes near, he shall be put to death. ...the Levites shall encamp around the tabernacle of the testimony, that there be no wrath upon the congregation of the people of Israel; and the Levites shall keep charge of the tabernacle of the testimony."(Numbers 1:50-51 and 53) "Command the people of Israel that they put out of the camp every leper, and everyone having a discharge, and every one that is unclean through contact with the dead; you shall put out both male and female, putting them outside the camp, that they may not defile their camp, in the midst of which I dwell." (Numbers 5:2-3) "Because the LORD your God walks in the midst of your camp, to save you and to give up your enemies before you, therefore your camp must be holy, that he may not see anything indecent among you, and turn away from you." (Deuteronomy 23:14) (text references RSV)
^ Rupell & Leuckart, 1828, 1831 see Phaneropthalmus smaragdinus: Rupell and Leuckart, 1828 and Hexabranchus pulchellus: main page: Taxonomic notes: "This species is listed as Hexabranchus sanguineus (Rupell and Leuckart, 1831.)"
^ see Rothauer's Dugong Page (english): Mermaid Myths (scroll down to bottom of the page of the article, the last sentence.) --see The Probert Encyclopedia: Dugong: "A variety was discovered in the Red Sea by Ruppell, and called Halicore tabernaculi."(1843) Its zoological name has been changed several times: see The Paleobiology Database: enter Halicore tabernaculi in top field, click [SEARCH]: then select view classification of included taxa: Classification of Trichechus dugon (Halicore tabernaculi Ruppell/Rupell 1843): Trichechus dugung Erxleben 1777, Dugong indicus Lacepede 1799----Dugong dugong Illiger 1811----Halicore hemprichii and Halicore lottum Ehrenberg 1832, Halicore tabernaculi Ruppell 1843, Halicore australis Owen 1847, Halicore cetacea Heuglin; it was recombined as Halicore dugung Trouessant 1898, it was recombined as "Dugong dugon" Scheffer and Rice 1963, also Husar 1978, Domning 1994, 1996, and Rice 1998.
^ Encyclopaedia Judaica, 2nd ed., Vol. 19: SOM-TN, 2007, p. 435: "TAHASH"
^ Encyclopaedia Judaica: Tahash; and Kolel's Parasha Study number 1999 "...it seems much more fun to imagine that the tachash could be a giraffe, a narwhal, or a mythical unicorn."
^ The Mishnah: Kodashim: Menahot 43b. see also Exodus 24:9-11 and Ezekiel 1:26 :---"10 and they saw the God of Israel; and there was under his feet as it were a pavement of sapphire stone, like the very heaven for clearness."---"26 And above the firmament over their heads there was the likeness of a throne, in appearance like sapphire; and seated above the likeness of a throne was a likeness as it were of a human form.'" RSV
^ Dr. Baruch Sterman, The Meaning of Tekhelet: "The Symbolism of White and Blue".
^ Judaica Press Complete Tanach with Rashi (Chabad.org): Yechezkel-Ezekiel-Chapter 16 (verse 10). See again Compare Bible translations of Ezekiel 16:10, beginning with The New American Bible (USCCB), above.
^ see Strong's Concordance Hebrew Dictionary numbers 8372, 8376, 1887 and 784, 785, 786, 787, 803, 376, 4100, 4101, 517 and 518.
^ Anchor Bible Series: Anchor Bible (Ezekiel 16:10, Comments) and Anchor Bible Dictionary "TAHASH"
^ see Strong's Concordance Hebrew Dictionary numbers 2363, 2820, 2821, 2822, 2823, 2824, 2044.
^ Michael Paul Heart, poem "search", c. 2005, unpublished, by permission.
^ "In the beginning Elohim created the heavens and the earth." see Strong's Exhaustive Concordance: "GOD": 430:elohiym: gods in the ordinary sense; but specifically used (in the plural thus, especially with the article) of the supreme God; occasionally applied by way of deference to magistrates; and sometimes as a superlative: angels, exceeding, God (gods) (-dess, -ly), (very) great, judges, mighty.
^ Examples of Biblical paranomasia (pun) are abundant (consult the textual footnotes and the study notes provided by the editors of the various published English translations of the Bible for explanations of the kinds of word play, paranomasia, used by the sacred author in the following texts): Genesis 2:7-8,23; 3:20; 4:1,25; 5:29; 9:27; 10:25; 11:9; 19:20,37-38; 25:25,30; 27:36; 29:32-35; 30:6,8,11,13,18,20,24; 31:47,49; 32:29,31; 38:30; 41:51-52; 49:16,19. Exodus 2:10,22; 12:11; 25:5. Deuteronomy 14:4-5 (addax); 32:15. Joshua 5:9. Judges 6:32. 2 Kings 1:12; 23:13. 1 Chronicles 25:4. Tobit 5:13-14. 1 Maccabees 1:54. 2 Maccabees 1:36; 5:24 and Revelation 9:11. Psalm 104:4. Sirach 6:23. Isaiah 15:9; 65:11-12. Jeremiah 1:11; 9:3; 23:33-40; 46:17. Ezekiel 16:8 (aegis). Daniel 8:13; 13:55-59. Hosea 4:15. Joel 2:23. Matthew 2:23; 16:18; 27:16-17,62 (preparation/I go to prepare a place for you). Matthew 26:50 and Mark14:46 (laid hands on--Exodus 29:10,15; Leviticus 4:15; 8:14,18,22; 16:21; 24:14; Numbers 27:22-23; Deuteronomy 34:9). John1:11; 3:8; 7:6,8; 19:13,30. Romans 3:27; 7:21,23; 8:2. 1 Corinthians 11:29-32. 2 Corinthians 1:18-22; 2:14-16; 8:1; 9:11-15; 10:2-4,13; 13:5-9. Ephesians 3:14-15. Philippians 3:2. 1 Thessalonians 5:10. 1 Timothy 1:18. Philemon 11. Hebrews 4:8,14; 9:28 and John 1:29 (to take away / to bear). Revelation 2:9 and 3:17; 9:11 and 1 Maccabees 3:10 (Apollonius / Apollyon); Revelation 13:18.
^ see individual letters Taw ת marked---Het ח separate---Shin ש fire/Shaddai---Mem ם fullness (of)---and the list under Biblical Hebrew Phonology for extended significations and meanings. The wild addax itself is also a (beautifully) marked, (shy) separated, (devouring) grazing, (spirited) resourceful creature of the desert: THSM / MSHT תחשם. Moreover, the horns of the mature animal can join and cross (Taw) at the tip, appearing to have become one. (see photographs of the addax.)
^ The (three letter) Hebrew word HSM / MSH השם, "He' ה, Shin ש, Mem ם," M-S-H ה ש ם, is rendered variously in English as ha-Shem, haShem, HaShem, Hashem, (MSH,) and also as Hashshem, HashSham, Hash-Shem, (MSH השם)--each of the seven forms given here is usually explained to readers as [ ha + shem = "the + name" ]. The rendering "HashShem" appears to the reader unacquainted with this particular alternative traditional spelling to be a transliteration of a (four letter) word HSSM / MSSH הששם: Hash + Shem = "dark + name" (powerfully-swift name, lightning-quick name, i.e. quiet/ silence!/ be still!/ hidden/ removed/ reserved/ mystery/ withheld/ sacred + name.) The three-letter Hebrew word MSH can be rendered in English as the eight-letter form HashSham and as the six-letter form Hashem. HashShem השם is in fact the same as Hashem השם: both traditional forms signify "The Name." There has long been a lack of a standardized transliteration of Hebrew letters into English which is recognized by all. This is simply another example of language change.
^ It should be noted that for modern students of Hebrew this perception is far more visual than phonetic, when it occurs: tahashim does not today normally phonetically suggest to them the word Hashem as it would have suggested to the ancients, and as it suggests to professional Semitic scholars today, primarily due to the influence of the much later phonetic forms of Hebrew represented in the Masoretic Text they have read and studied and the shift in the pronunciation of Heth ח from a sound similar to He ה to a sound now closer to Kaph כ: they are confronted with language forms that have changed over a period of 1500-2000 years--see above 'The Masoretes 7th to 10th centuries'--see presentism (literary and historical analysis)--see Argument from authority.
^ About 750 years after the Exodus of the Israelites from Egypt this concept of the goatskin shield as a sign of the shielding protection and sponsorship of heaven, current among the ancient peoples of the Levant at the time of Moses, had spread into Europe and into the culture of Homer and the Greeks and become a part of the development of their mythology as the aegis of Zeus and Athena. see Iliad of Homer.
^ William H. C. Propp. See huakinthos, huakinthinos: LXX, Josephus Ant. 3.102, Vulgate, Palestinian/Jerusalem Talmud Tractate Sabbat 2:3, mishnah Qohelet Rabba 1:9, and Aramaic sasgawna / sasgona (Tgs.-Syr.): according to William H. C. Propp, The Anchor Bible: Exodus 19-40: Volume 2A: A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary, Nov. 2006, p. 374.
^ Covering of light, and fire, and cloud round about him: Exodus 13:21,14:24,16:10,19:9,20:18,24:16,33:9-11,34:5,40:34-36. Leviticus 16:2,16:13. Numbers 9:15-22,11:24-25,12:5,14:14. Deuteronomy 4:11-12. 1 Kings 8:10-11 (in context vv.6-11). 2 Chronicles 5:11-14 (in context vv.7-14). Job 22:13-14. Psalms 18:12,97:2,104:1-4,105:39. Song (of Songs, of Solomon) 3:6. Sirach (Ecclesiasticus) 24:4. Isaiah 6:4 (in context vv.1-4). Lamentations 3:44. Ezekiel 1:4,1:27-28,10:3-4. Daniel 7:9-10 and 13. Matthew 17:5. Mark 9:7. Luke 9:34-35. Acts 1:9. 1 Timothy 6:15-16. Revelation 15:8.
^ "beloved sinful people" see Deuteronomy chap. 9 and 10
^ The Complete Jewish Bible With Rashi Commentary: "[Jonathan renders] I put shoes of glory on your feet."
^ Physiologus, Translated by Michael J. Curley: First translation into English of the Latin versions of Physiologus as established by Francis Carmody, 92 pages, c. 1979 by the University of Texas Press. Woodcuts in this edition are reproduced from the 1587 G. Ponce de Leon edition of Physiologus, courtesy of the Newberry Library, Chicago. ISBN 0-292-76456-1. Notes included tell the reader, "The legend of the unicorn arises out of reports concerning the rhinoceros." p. 86
^ (Eccles. R. 1:9) Encyclopaedia Judaica: "Tahash". The reference Eccles. R. 1:9 designates a textual passage in the mishnaic compendium: Ecclesiastes Rabba 1:9 or Qohelet Rabba 1:9 (Qoh. Rab. 1:9): in context, the notation R. or Rab. designates the mishnaic compendium within the Talmud. see Midrash and Aggadah.
^ The same Rabbinical tradition appears in the Christian New Testament: "Do not give dogs what is holy; and do not throw your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under foot and turn to attack you." "The disciples came and said to him, 'Why do you speak to them in parables?' He answered them, 'To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. For to him who has will more be given, and he will have abundance; but from him who has not, even what he has will be taken away." (Matthew 7:6; 13:10-12 RSV)
^ The number of skins of tehasim required to make the outer covering of the Mishkan is estimated but never defined--the idea of a herd of individual tehasim males and females is not discussed and is unheard of. It is not known with certainty that anyone has ever rendered an artistic representation of a herd of tehasim. (Opportunity to update, with photo illustration!)
^ "...normal modes of expression..." For an outstanding example of sage counsel universally applicable to all students, translators and interpreters, see the full text of the Roman Catholic Papal Encyclical Divino Afflante Spiritu on the interpretation of Sacred Scripture, which says, 3 ..."there is no error whatsoever...in figurative language, or in terms which were commonly used at the time, and which in many instances are in daily use at this day, even among the most eminent men of science"...12 ..."in fine the manner of speaking, relating and writing in use among the ancients is made clear by innumerable examples".... Four levels of interpretation are set forth in Catechism of the Catholic Church: "115 According to an ancient tradition, one can distinguish between two senses of Scripture: the literal and the spiritual, the latter being subdivided into the allegorical, moral, and anagogical senses. 116 The literal sense is the meaning conveyed by the words of Scripture and discovered by exegesis, following the rules of sound interpretation: 'All other senses of Sacred Scripture are based on the literal.' 117 The spiritual sense. Thanks to the unity of God's plan, not only the text of Scripture but also the realities and events about which it speaks can be signs." These principles apply equally to the debates of the Sages in the Talmud.
^ Terumah. The addax seems to be indicated. It is adapted for life in the desert. The coloring of its coat varies with the season. In the winter it is greyish brown with white hind quarters and legs. In the summer, the coat turns almost completely white or sandy blonde. The head is marked with brown or black patches that form an X over the nose. Horns, found on both males and females, have two to three twists, and at maturity they can cross at the tip and appear joined as one horn X. The horn of the addax can reach 80 centimetres in females and 120 centimetres in males. Moreover, the addax is a member of the Bovidae family of mammals: it chews the cud and divides the hoof. The description of the unicorn, the monoceras, in the Physiologus XXXVI "On the Unicorn" is strongly suggestive of the addax.
^ Encyclopaedia Judaica, 2nd ed. 2007, "TAHASH". see commentaries under ANCIENT DYES for discussions of "tekhelet", "sky-blue" and "blue processed skins".
^ see Strong's Exhaustive Concordance: "BLUE": 40 bible-verse references: 39 of them keyed to Strong's (Hebrew Lexicon) number 8504 "tkeleth", and 1 to Strong's number 8336 "shesh". There is also 1 related entry there for "BLUENESS" keyed to number 2250 which begins with the root "cH' / kH'."[1] Notice in particular at entry for 8504 the words: "...i.e. the color violet...or stuff dyed therewith:--blue." The related entries 7826 and 7827 strongly suggest "immediate attention", even "vivid warning" (audio or visual). The English expression "loud color" comes to mind ("eye-opening"). Taken together, "tkeleth" and "kha-" and "shesh" are strongly evocative of "TkHash," which is not altogether unexpected since they seem to share the same phonetic roots: ta', h', 'sh. This in turn suggests that tahash means "bleached, dyed blue". see again 8336 "shesh". Tahash skins, then, would be "bleached skins dyed blue." They certainly would be "vivid" enough to draw immediate "attention". Even the word " 'or" (skin) [Strong's number 5783] connotes the meaning of "eye-opening"--vivid skins of intense (superlative) blue. The source of the blue or purple violet color used by the ancients at the time of Moses is the subject of the debate. see Semantic change.
^ Simon Thassi also called Simon Maccabeus (140 BCE) high priest and ethnarch of the Jews was "clothed in purple" and wore gold. "And the Jews and their priests decided that Simon should be their leader and high priest for ever...and that he should be clothed in purple and wear gold." 1 Maccabees 14:41-43 (RSV)
^ This indigo dye may be the source of later (parabolic) descriptions of the tachash as a creature with a "skin of six colors". "Six days you shall labor and do all your work." Exodus 20:9 Tekhelet and Tahash: Taking the primary root "ta-", true/truth/circumscribe/reserved, and "h-sh", dark/black/silence/reserved/rich, and the suffix "-im", intense/multiple/highest, the Hebrew term for "skins of tahashim" may literally mean "skins of richest deep dark color", or more simply "skins of pure depth" (the color being understood). Moreover, the Arabic Tukhesh, cognate with Hebrew Tahash, as a descriptive of those large sea mammals appearing on and around the Sinai and Arabian peninsulas can literally mean marked by the deep, by depth of mystery, by dread, emerging (from below, out of darkness), or more simply (and anciently) "deep one/dark one" (from beyond): from a Semitic primary root : "hash"
^ The Etymologies of Isidore of Seville, translation and c. by Stephen A. Barney, W. J. Lewis, J. A. Beach, and Oliver Berghof, 2006, Cambridge University Press, The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge CB2 2RU, UK. information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9780521837491 . ISBN 0-521-83749-9. {{cite book}}: Missing or empty |title= (help).
^ Etymologies of Isidore of Seville, pp. 251-2.
^ see Strong's Exhaustive Concordance: "VIRGIN": Hebrew Dictionary entries 1330 "b'thuwlah" and 5959 " 'almah". See also related entries under number 5956.
^ Shabbat 28a,b. The zebra, okapi, antelope, giraffe, tiger and many other kinds of animals are multi-colored. Two possible patterns of (six-colored) coloration in nature are: black, brown, red, yellow, orange, white (e.g. the gazelle); and black, blue-black, dark grey, ash grey, brown, tan, red, orange, silver, white (e.g. the blackbuck): see also Bos aegyptiacus and natural camouflage.
^ see Bible Verse Finder (bibref) link: Judaica Press Complete Tanach with Rashi (Chabad.org)--scroll down to the link, click, then scroll down to the commentary on verse 10.
^ See Jewish Folklore and [search title] "The Legends of the Jews" by Rabbi Louis Ginzberg.
^ Encyclopaedia Judaica, Vol. 19 SOM-TN, page 435.
^ basilisk: see Isaiah 14:29, Psalm 90:13, Biblia Sacra Vulgata, Douay-Rheims Bible (Psalm 91:13 Hebrew/Protestant versions)
^ Talmud: Chullin 59b. The keresh is a giant deer, the tigris is a giant lion, Dvei Ilai is a dense forest.
^ Another intriguing possibility (not mentioned) is presented by the Pygmy Blue Whale, the skin of an adult being large enough to make a single finished leather curtain 30 cubits long, 4 cubits wide. They range throughout the Indian Ocean, from the Sub-Antarctic waters in the south, along the eastern shores of Africa sometimes as far north as the Arabian Peninsula (possibly even up into the Red Sea), and east just north of the equator through the Indian Ocean and the Southwest Pacific as far as the Philippines and Australia. However, their skin is not mottled or multi-colored, they have no horn, and they have never lived in the desert. They live in the waters of the seas and they have no fins and scales. Nevertheless, their color is tahas, tuhes (tahash, tukhesh).
^ Brown-Driver-Briggs: at linked site locate index number [1089], click it: image of page 1065 will appear on right, enlarge the page, locate fourth entry down †i. תחש tahas...
^ S. M. Perlmann, Shanghai businessman and scholar. See article Kaifeng Jews "History" 9th paragraph, "Despite their isolation...", 6th sentence, "S. M. Perlmann, a Shanghai businessman..."
^ Alfred Ely-Day, International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (1915) "Badger" (end of entry).
^ V. B. Scheffer and D. W. Rice. 1963. A list of the marine animals of the world. United States Fish and Wildlife Service Special Scientific Report--Fisheries 143:1-12.
^ The Anchor Bible, Vol. 22, Ezekiel 1-20, 1964, page 270: "XV. Jerusalem the Wanton. Ezekiel 16:10", page 278: Comment: "tahas, out of which..." The Anchor Bible Dictionary, Vol. 6 Si-Z, 1992, page 298, TABERNACLE: d. The Outer Enclosures; and page 307, TAHASH: "Heb. tahas..."
^ dusu/duhsu a reddish-yellow stone or leather of that color used for sandals and other purposes. William H. C. Propp, The Anchor Bible: Exodus 19-40: Volume 2A: A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary, Nov. 2006 (First Edition) p. 374.
^ William H. C. Propp, The Anchor Bible: Exodus 19-40: Volume 2A, p. 374.
^ The Anchor Bible: Exodus 19-40: Volume 2A, p. 310 "5 and reddened ram skins and beaded skins and acacia wood," and p. 374 "beaded skins T'hasim (singular tahas) is an ancient riddle..."
^ Talmud: Tractate Shabbath 28a,b.---See "Articles and External Links" below---See also Wikipedia articles "Informal fallacy," "Cognitive bias," and "Intellectual dishonesty," as an expanded discussion relating to this particular question, and more generally as an aid to understanding how very human researchers can make mistakes in judgment and offer findings inconsistent with the whole entire body of data available to them. see also ignorance.
^ "bad" is the older form of the past tense for "bear": i.e. "and it bore one horn on its forehead..."
^ search "Nahman bar Isaac" (not "ben Isaac") then click on "JewishEncyclopedia.com- NAHMAN BAR ISAAC" for article.
^ Soncino Babylonian Talmud: Translated into English, with notes, glossary and indices, under the editorship of Rabbi Dr. I. Epstein, B.A., Ph.D., D. Lit., c. 1938, 1948, 1952, 1961, The Soncino Press, London.
^ The link "Navigating the Bible II" takes the reader to Wikipedia Article "Tabernacle: Priestly account"--move cursor to link [4] at "Chapter 25 [4]" and click for menus and text of this Biblical translation of the Torah, move cursor to upper right corner of page of the site and click "contents" for contents and for information about the translation and the World ORT organization.

Articles and External Links

Bible Verse Finder (bibref) (Bible version text comparison)

Strong's Concordance (1890)

Strong's Concordance Hebrew Dictionary

Strong's Concordance Greek Dictionary

Multi-Version Bible Concordance "badger"

Easton's Bible Dictionary (1823–1894)

Easton's Bible Dictionary "badger"

Brown Driver Briggs Hebrew Lexicon (1906) "BDB"

A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament, written by Francis Brown, Samuel Rolles Driver and Charles Augustus Briggs: Index [1089], page 1064, "תחש tahas..."

The Catholic Encyclopedia (1914)

The Catholic Encyclopedia "Tabernacle"

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (1915)

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia "badger"

Soncino Babylonian Talmud, Translated into English with notes, glossary and indices, under the editorship of Rabbi Dr. I. Epstein, B.A., Ph.D., D.Lit. c. 1938, 1948, 1952, 1961 The Soncino Press, London

Encyclopaedia Judaica, Second Edition, Volume 19: SOM-TN, c. 2007, Keter Publishing House, Ltd., page 435: "Tahash."

Search God's Word Hebrew and Greek Lexicons: specific words addax, tahash, tekhelet, Hashem, shem, heaven, tabernacle.

[1] Hebrew TaHaS, tahas, תחש Tahash, Tachash: spelled (Hebrew letters) ת "Tav"-ח "Heth"-ש "Shiyn" (approximate articulation "tawv"-"khayth"-"sheen") תחש "T-H-S" or "T-CH-SH": pronounced takhash, takh'-ash, (or "tak'-Hash") with hard "ch" as in "CHanukkah / Hanukkah," German ch = Greek X (nearly "kh") as in "XP" ("chi-rho", i.e. "khee-hro"), or the Scottish word "loch," not the soft "ch" as in "church." The editors of the Soncino Babylonian Talmud (1961), the New American Bible (NAB) (1971), and the Encyclopaedia Judaica 2nd ed. (2007) have rendered the eighth letter of the Hebrew alphabet ח ("KHayth--CHeyth--Heth") as "h": hence, Tahash.

[2] Talmud: Shabbat 28b see Kolel's Parasha Study, number 1999 (which says) "...'Keresh,' a large rainbow colored unicorn. ...Contemporary scholarship may be correct that tachash refers to tanned skins and not an animal at all, but it seems much more fun to imagine that the tachash could be a giraffe, a narwhal, or a mythical unicorn." Talmud: Shabbat 28b see REVIEW QUESTIONS ON GEMARA AND RASHI: Shabbos 28: scroll down to question 7 (a)(b)(c)(d), read, then scroll down to "Answers to questions", click, and scroll down to answer 7 (a)(b)(c)(d) (which says) (d) "There is also an animal called 'Keresh', a species of Kasher *Chayah* that has only one horn. Consequently, it cannot be taken for granted that the Tachash was a Beheimah (like Adam's bull), when it could equally have been a Chayah (like the Keresh)." (Kasher means kosher. see kashrut. see CHAYAH--Hebrew lexicon.)

[3] Identification of Biblical animals

[4] Meles taxus: never used in the Latin Bible as translation of Hebrew tahas. "The badger, Meles taxus, while fairly abundant in Lebanon and Anti-Lebanon, does not seem to occur in Sinai or Egypt."--Alfred Ely-Day, "Badger", The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, 1915. Ely-Day references the 17th-19th c. scientific name for the Eurasian badger, now European badger, indigenous to most of Europe and to parts of Asia. Taxonomic designation today "Meles meles". (see American badger "Taxidae taxus.")

[5] see NAB version of: Exodus 25, 26, 35, 36 and 39; Numbers 4; Ezekiel 16:10.

[6] S. Dalley, Journal of Semitic Studies 45:1-19, Faience and Beadwork, 2000, and William H. C. Propp, The Anchor Bible: Exodus 19-40 Volume 2A, Nov. 2006, p. 374.

[7] Strong's Exhaustive Concordance Hebrew Lexicon "badger" 8476 tachash (antelope?) see addax. In ancient times, addax spread from North Africa through Arabia and the Levant. Pictures from Egyptian tombs show them being kept as domesticated animals in around 2500 BC. They are amply suited to live in the deep desert under extreme conditions.

[8] see Leather: "Religious sensitivities to leather". see kashrut

[9] Several Bible translations: DV, BBE, RSV, NJB, NRSV, GW, NavBib-II--see section "Other Biblical Translations" (this article.)

[10] hyacinth see SearchGodsWord: The New Testament Greek Lexicon: huakinthos and huakinthinos click the audio icon. See Strong's Concordance Greek Dictionary jacinth: compare phonetic spelling (sound) of tekhelet (blue) and huakinthinos.

[11] It is worth noting that indigo dye obtained from plants (i.e. indigofera tinctoria) is "unclean," "treif," "non-kasher," according to the Talmud, while the purple and indigo purple dye obtained from the murex snail (which does not have fins and scales and is a carnivore) is "clean," "kasher," according to the Talmud. see Tzitzit: "Karaite tzitzit." see Tekhelet: "Talmudic source" and "Lost knowledge"

[12] Alfred Ely-Day, International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (1915) "Badger" (end of entry). ---See also Tyndale Bulletin 5-6 (April 1960) "Some Egyptian Background To The Old Testament" [search this title] by K. A. Kitchen, University of Liverpool, p. 7-8, footnote 29: (which says) "Heb. tahash is probably best derived from the old Egyptian word tj-h-s, "to treat leather," Erman & Grapow, Worterbuch d. Aeg. Sprache, V, 396, 7. So Bondi, Aegyptiaca, 1-4, corrected by Griffith, in Petrie, Deshasheh, 1898, 45-6, and revival by Albright and Cross, Bibl. Archaeol., 10, (1947), 62 and n. 22." ---[search title Full text of "Deshasheh, 1897".] ---The title Aegyptiaca refers to the ancient original classic Egyptian work by Manetho.

[13] see extensive discussion ANCIENT DYES (courtesy Flags of the World), specifically the commentaries on "--sky-blue" and "--blue processed skins"; reference is also made there to "The Dying of Purple in Ancient Israel" by Rabbi Yitzchak Isaac HaLevi Herzog, 1999, unpublished----see "Garments of Salvation--The Meaning of Tekhelet" Dr. Baruch Sterman.

[14] see any of the various on-line dictionaries with phonetic aid for entry "addax" click on audio icon. see also Phonetic Spelling addax, 'adash, tahash , grass and antelope. see also Google Translate: first, "addax": Translate from [select language] Hebrew, Translate into English: click the audio icon: next, "takhash": Translate from [select language] Hebrew, Translate into English: click the audio icon: second, "addax": Translate from [select language] Arabic, Translate into English: click the audio icon: next, "tukhesh": Translate from [select language] Arabic, Translate into English: click the audio icon.

[15] see adarga

[16] NAB addax: KJV pygarg: RSV NRSV NJB antelope: REB long-horned antelope--Strong's Concordance "PYGARG" number 1788 actual text "diyshon"--from 1758 ("duwsh," "dowsh," "diysh")--"(ad)dash": addax)

[17] Heb. קרן qeren / keren means "radiant", more literally "horned": to push, to shoot out (horns, rays), shine/shone, project/projecting, to have horns, (be) penetrating, striking (vivid), flask/"horn" (container, vial, "horn" of cosmetics), power, projection, ray, tooth, corner (of the altar), hill, peak: "radiant, vivid, striking" (color).

[18] The Babylonian Talmud: Tractate Shabbat 28a "Sas-gavna" The word "Sas" comes from the Hebrew and means joy, "gavna" means colors. Parshat Vayakhel-----"...Gavna, which is Aramaic for 'shades' (as in shades of color)" (Photo Feature: Hilltop Restaurant Bridges Shades of Old and New [search title])-----"...gavna (from the Aramaic word for varieties)" (Gush Etzion [search title])-----"Sas" can mean "joy," "joy-causing," "rejoicing," "vivid," "vibrant," "radiant," "beautiful," "exquisite(ly)"--"Gavna" can mean "colors," "varieties," "shades," "multiple-dyed (double-dyed, triple-dyed, dyed seven times over)," "rich color," "luxuriant color," "greatly dignified color," "awe-inspiring color." (see translation: "dynamic and formal equivalence") It does not necessarily mean rainbow colors. It can mean instead various shades or tones of one kind of color (in this case, various shades or tones of indigo blue--see indigo: see violet (color).) The Onkelos Targum "sas-gavna" ("joy-colors") can be translated: "radiantly colored" (skins, leather)--"richly colored" (skins, leather).

[19] "implied": just as today we say "patent leather" and understand it to mean "patent-processed fine-grain cow-hide leather," "processed fine-grain cow-hide" being implied. No one says, "What mysterious kind of animal is the patent?: its leather has been used for shoes, but today there is no known animal called the patent; we may therefore safely conclude that the patent may now be extinct, or that it simply ceased to exist." Again, we know what "glove leather" means, just as Moses and the descendants of Israel understood what "tahash skin" means. Translators and commentators centuries after Moses may perhaps be excused for taking what had become (for them) an obscure term as the name of an animal--especially when it is associated in the text with the word for leather skin. But this then raises a more penetrating question: "Why do some translators propose as a translation of the word 'tahash' the hide or skin of an unclean animal or unclean 'abomination' as the covering of the most holy Tabernacle of the LORD?" It is an absolute contradiction. Whoever touched it would become unclean and abominable. "...if anyone touches an unclean thing, whether the uncleanness of man or an unclean beast or an unclean abomination, and then eats of the flesh of the sacrifice of the LORD's peace offerings, that person shall be cut off from his people." (Leviticus 7:21) "...their carcasses you shall not touch; they are unclean to you." (Leviticus 11:8) "...their carcasses you shall have in abomination. Everything in the waters that has not fins and scales is an abomination to you." (Leviticus 11:12) "...all that go on their paws, among the animals that go on all fours, are unclean to you; whoever touches their carcass shall be unclean until the evening, and he who carries their carcass shall wash his clothes and be unclean until the evening; they are unclean to you." (Leviticus 11:27-28) "...you shall keep the people of Israel separate from their uncleanness, lest they die in their uncleanness by defiling my tabernacle that is in their midst." (Leviticus 15:31) "...you shall not make yourselves abominable by beast or by bird or by anything with which the ground teems, which I have set apart for you to hold unclean." (Leviticus 20:25) "...If any one of all your descendants throughout your generations approaches the holy things, which the people of Israel dedicate to the LORD, while he has an uncleanness, that person shall be cut off from my presence: I am the LORD." (Leviticus 22:3) "...appoint the Levites over the tabernacle of the testimony, and over all its furnishings, and over all that belongs to it; they are to carry the tabernacle and all its furnishings, and they shall tend it, and shall encamp around the tabernacle. When the tabernacle is to set out, the Levites shall take it down; and when the tabernacle is to be pitched, the Levites shall set it up. And if anyone else comes near, he shall be put to death. ...the Levites shall encamp around the tabernacle of the testimony, that there be no wrath upon the congregation of the people of Israel; and the Levites shall keep charge of the tabernacle of the testimony."(Numbers 1:50-51 and 53) "Command the people of Israel that they put out of the camp every leper, and everyone having a discharge, and every one that is unclean through contact with the dead; you shall put out both male and female, putting them outside the camp, that they may not defile their camp, in the midst of which I dwell." (Numbers 5:2-3) "Because the LORD your God walks in the midst of your camp, to save you and to give up your enemies before you, therefore your camp must be holy, that he may not see anything indecent among you, and turn away from you." (Deuteronomy 23:14) (text references RSV)

[20] Rupell & Leuckart, 1828, 1831 see Phaneropthalmus smaragdinus: Rupell and Leuckart, 1828 and Hexabranchus pulchellus: main page: Taxonomic notes: "This species is listed as Hexabranchus sanguineus (Rupell and Leuckart, 1831.)"

[21] see Rothauer's Dugong Page (english): Mermaid Myths (scroll down to bottom of the page of the article, the last sentence.) --see The Probert Encyclopedia: Dugong: "A variety was discovered in the Red Sea by Ruppell, and called Halicore tabernaculi."(1843) Its zoological name has been changed several times: see The Paleobiology Database: enter Halicore tabernaculi in top field, click [SEARCH]: then select view classification of included taxa: Classification of Trichechus dugon (Halicore tabernaculi Ruppell/Rupell 1843): Trichechus dugung Erxleben 1777, Dugong indicus Lacepede 1799----Dugong dugong Illiger 1811----Halicore hemprichii and Halicore lottum Ehrenberg 1832, Halicore tabernaculi Ruppell 1843, Halicore australis Owen 1847, Halicore cetacea Heuglin; it was recombined as Halicore dugung Trouessant 1898, it was recombined as "Dugong dugon" Scheffer and Rice 1963, also Husar 1978, Domning 1994, 1996, and Rice 1998.

[22] Encyclopaedia Judaica, 2nd ed., Vol. 19: SOM-TN, 2007, p. 435: "TAHASH"

[23] Encyclopaedia Judaica: Tahash; and Kolel's Parasha Study number 1999 "...it seems much more fun to imagine that the tachash could be a giraffe, a narwhal, or a mythical unicorn."

[24] The Mishnah: Kodashim: Menahot 43b. see also Exodus 24:9-11 and Ezekiel 1:26 :---"10 and they saw the God of Israel; and there was under his feet as it were a pavement of sapphire stone, like the very heaven for clearness."---"26 And above the firmament over their heads there was the likeness of a throne, in appearance like sapphire; and seated above the likeness of a throne was a likeness as it were of a human form.'" RSV

[25] Dr. Baruch Sterman, The Meaning of Tekhelet: "The Symbolism of White and Blue".

[26] Judaica Press Complete Tanach with Rashi (Chabad.org): Yechezkel-Ezekiel-Chapter 16 (verse 10). See again Compare Bible translations of Ezekiel 16:10, beginning with The New American Bible (USCCB), above.

[27] see Strong's Concordance Hebrew Dictionary numbers 8372, 8376, 1887 and 784, 785, 786, 787, 803, 376, 4100, 4101, 517 and 518.

[28] Anchor Bible Series: Anchor Bible (Ezekiel 16:10, Comments) and Anchor Bible Dictionary "TAHASH"

[29] see Strong's Concordance Hebrew Dictionary numbers 2363, 2820, 2821, 2822, 2823, 2824, 2044.

[30] Michael Paul Heart, poem "search", c. 2005, unpublished, by permission.

[31] "In the beginning Elohim created the heavens and the earth." see Strong's Exhaustive Concordance: "GOD": 430:elohiym: gods in the ordinary sense; but specifically used (in the plural thus, especially with the article) of the supreme God; occasionally applied by way of deference to magistrates; and sometimes as a superlative: angels, exceeding, God (gods) (-dess, -ly), (very) great, judges, mighty.

[32] Examples of Biblical paranomasia (pun) are abundant (consult the textual footnotes and the study notes provided by the editors of the various published English translations of the Bible for explanations of the kinds of word play, paranomasia, used by the sacred author in the following texts): Genesis 2:7-8,23; 3:20; 4:1,25; 5:29; 9:27; 10:25; 11:9; 19:20,37-38; 25:25,30; 27:36; 29:32-35; 30:6,8,11,13,18,20,24; 31:47,49; 32:29,31; 38:30; 41:51-52; 49:16,19. Exodus 2:10,22; 12:11; 25:5. Deuteronomy 14:4-5 (addax); 32:15. Joshua 5:9. Judges 6:32. 2 Kings 1:12; 23:13. 1 Chronicles 25:4. Tobit 5:13-14. 1 Maccabees 1:54. 2 Maccabees 1:36; 5:24 and Revelation 9:11. Psalm 104:4. Sirach 6:23. Isaiah 15:9; 65:11-12. Jeremiah 1:11; 9:3; 23:33-40; 46:17. Ezekiel 16:8 (aegis). Daniel 8:13; 13:55-59. Hosea 4:15. Joel 2:23. Matthew 2:23; 16:18; 27:16-17,62 (preparation/I go to prepare a place for you). Matthew 26:50 and Mark14:46 (laid hands on--Exodus 29:10,15; Leviticus 4:15; 8:14,18,22; 16:21; 24:14; Numbers 27:22-23; Deuteronomy 34:9). John1:11; 3:8; 7:6,8; 19:13,30. Romans 3:27; 7:21,23; 8:2. 1 Corinthians 11:29-32. 2 Corinthians 1:18-22; 2:14-16; 8:1; 9:11-15; 10:2-4,13; 13:5-9. Ephesians 3:14-15. Philippians 3:2. 1 Thessalonians 5:10. 1 Timothy 1:18. Philemon 11. Hebrews 4:8,14; 9:28 and John 1:29 (to take away / to bear). Revelation 2:9 and 3:17; 9:11 and 1 Maccabees 3:10 (Apollonius / Apollyon); Revelation 13:18.

[33] see individual letters Taw ת marked---Het ח separate---Shin ש fire/Shaddai---Mem ם fullness (of)---and the list under Biblical Hebrew Phonology for extended significations and meanings. The wild addax itself is also a (beautifully) marked, (shy) separated, (devouring) grazing, (spirited) resourceful creature of the desert: THSM / MSHT תחשם. Moreover, the horns of the mature animal can join and cross (Taw) at the tip, appearing to have become one. (see photographs of the addax.)

[34] The (three letter) Hebrew word HSM / MSH השם, "He' ה, Shin ש, Mem ם," M-S-H ה ש ם, is rendered variously in English as ha-Shem, haShem, HaShem, Hashem, (MSH,) and also as Hashshem, HashSham, Hash-Shem, (MSH השם)--each of the seven forms given here is usually explained to readers as [ ha + shem = "the + name" ]. The rendering "HashShem" appears to the reader unacquainted with this particular alternative traditional spelling to be a transliteration of a (four letter) word HSSM / MSSH הששם: Hash + Shem = "dark + name" (powerfully-swift name, lightning-quick name, i.e. quiet/ silence!/ be still!/ hidden/ removed/ reserved/ mystery/ withheld/ sacred + name.) The three-letter Hebrew word MSH can be rendered in English as the eight-letter form HashSham and as the six-letter form Hashem. HashShem השם is in fact the same as Hashem השם: both traditional forms signify "The Name." There has long been a lack of a standardized transliteration of Hebrew letters into English which is recognized by all. This is simply another example of language change.

[35] It should be noted that for modern students of Hebrew this perception is far more visual than phonetic, when it occurs: tahashim does not today normally phonetically suggest to them the word Hashem as it would have suggested to the ancients, and as it suggests to professional Semitic scholars today, primarily due to the influence of the much later phonetic forms of Hebrew represented in the Masoretic Text they have read and studied and the shift in the pronunciation of Heth ח from a sound similar to He ה to a sound now closer to Kaph כ: they are confronted with language forms that have changed over a period of 1500-2000 years--see above 'The Masoretes 7th to 10th centuries'--see presentism (literary and historical analysis)--see Argument from authority.

[36] About 750 years after the Exodus of the Israelites from Egypt this concept of the goatskin shield as a sign of the shielding protection and sponsorship of heaven, current among the ancient peoples of the Levant at the time of Moses, had spread into Europe and into the culture of Homer and the Greeks and become a part of the development of their mythology as the aegis of Zeus and Athena. see Iliad of Homer.

[37] William H. C. Propp. See huakinthos, huakinthinos: LXX, Josephus Ant. 3.102, Vulgate, Palestinian/Jerusalem Talmud Tractate Sabbat 2:3, mishnah Qohelet Rabba 1:9, and Aramaic sasgawna / sasgona (Tgs.-Syr.): according to William H. C. Propp, The Anchor Bible: Exodus 19-40: Volume 2A: A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary, Nov. 2006, p. 374.

[38] Covering of light, and fire, and cloud round about him: Exodus 13:21,14:24,16:10,19:9,20:18,24:16,33:9-11,34:5,40:34-36. Leviticus 16:2,16:13. Numbers 9:15-22,11:24-25,12:5,14:14. Deuteronomy 4:11-12. 1 Kings 8:10-11 (in context vv.6-11). 2 Chronicles 5:11-14 (in context vv.7-14). Job 22:13-14. Psalms 18:12,97:2,104:1-4,105:39. Song (of Songs, of Solomon) 3:6. Sirach (Ecclesiasticus) 24:4. Isaiah 6:4 (in context vv.1-4). Lamentations 3:44. Ezekiel 1:4,1:27-28,10:3-4. Daniel 7:9-10 and 13. Matthew 17:5. Mark 9:7. Luke 9:34-35. Acts 1:9. 1 Timothy 6:15-16. Revelation 15:8.

[39] "beloved sinful people" see Deuteronomy chap. 9 and 10

[40] The Complete Jewish Bible With Rashi Commentary: "[Jonathan renders] I put shoes of glory on your feet."

[41] Physiologus, Translated by Michael J. Curley: First translation into English of the Latin versions of Physiologus as established by Francis Carmody, 92 pages, c. 1979 by the University of Texas Press. Woodcuts in this edition are reproduced from the 1587 G. Ponce de Leon edition of Physiologus, courtesy of the Newberry Library, Chicago. ISBN 0-292-76456-1. Notes included tell the reader, "The legend of the unicorn arises out of reports concerning the rhinoceros." p. 86

[42] (Eccles. R. 1:9) Encyclopaedia Judaica: "Tahash". The reference Eccles. R. 1:9 designates a textual passage in the mishnaic compendium: Ecclesiastes Rabba 1:9 or Qohelet Rabba 1:9 (Qoh. Rab. 1:9): in context, the notation R. or Rab. designates the mishnaic compendium within the Talmud. see Midrash and Aggadah.

[43] The same Rabbinical tradition appears in the Christian New Testament: "Do not give dogs what is holy; and do not throw your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under foot and turn to attack you." "The disciples came and said to him, 'Why do you speak to them in parables?' He answered them, 'To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. For to him who has will more be given, and he will have abundance; but from him who has not, even what he has will be taken away." (Matthew 7:6; 13:10-12 RSV)

[44] The number of skins of tehasim required to make the outer covering of the Mishkan is estimated but never defined--the idea of a herd of individual tehasim males and females is not discussed and is unheard of. It is not known with certainty that anyone has ever rendered an artistic representation of a herd of tehasim. (Opportunity to update, with photo illustration!)

[45] "...normal modes of expression..." For an outstanding example of sage counsel universally applicable to all students, translators and interpreters, see the full text of the Roman Catholic Papal Encyclical Divino Afflante Spiritu on the interpretation of Sacred Scripture, which says, 3 ..."there is no error whatsoever...in figurative language, or in terms which were commonly used at the time, and which in many instances are in daily use at this day, even among the most eminent men of science"...12 ..."in fine the manner of speaking, relating and writing in use among the ancients is made clear by innumerable examples".... Four levels of interpretation are set forth in Catechism of the Catholic Church: "115 According to an ancient tradition, one can distinguish between two senses of Scripture: the literal and the spiritual, the latter being subdivided into the allegorical, moral, and anagogical senses. 116 The literal sense is the meaning conveyed by the words of Scripture and discovered by exegesis, following the rules of sound interpretation: 'All other senses of Sacred Scripture are based on the literal.' 117 The spiritual sense. Thanks to the unity of God's plan, not only the text of Scripture but also the realities and events about which it speaks can be signs." These principles apply equally to the debates of the Sages in the Talmud.

[46] Terumah. The addax seems to be indicated. It is adapted for life in the desert. The coloring of its coat varies with the season. In the winter it is greyish brown with white hind quarters and legs. In the summer, the coat turns almost completely white or sandy blonde. The head is marked with brown or black patches that form an X over the nose. Horns, found on both males and females, have two to three twists, and at maturity they can cross at the tip and appear joined as one horn X. The horn of the addax can reach 80 centimetres in females and 120 centimetres in males. Moreover, the addax is a member of the Bovidae family of mammals: it chews the cud and divides the hoof. The description of the unicorn, the monoceras, in the Physiologus XXXVI "On the Unicorn" is strongly suggestive of the addax.

[47] Encyclopaedia Judaica, 2nd ed. 2007, "TAHASH". see commentaries under ANCIENT DYES for discussions of "tekhelet", "sky-blue" and "blue processed skins".

[48] see Strong's Exhaustive Concordance: "BLUE": 40 bible-verse references: 39 of them keyed to Strong's (Hebrew Lexicon) number 8504 "tkeleth", and 1 to Strong's number 8336 "shesh". There is also 1 related entry there for "BLUENESS" keyed to number 2250 which begins with the root "cH' / kH'."[1] Notice in particular at entry for 8504 the words: "...i.e. the color violet...or stuff dyed therewith:--blue." The related entries 7826 and 7827 strongly suggest "immediate attention", even "vivid warning" (audio or visual). The English expression "loud color" comes to mind ("eye-opening"). Taken together, "tkeleth" and "kha-" and "shesh" are strongly evocative of "TkHash," which is not altogether unexpected since they seem to share the same phonetic roots: ta', h', 'sh. This in turn suggests that tahash means "bleached, dyed blue". see again 8336 "shesh". Tahash skins, then, would be "bleached skins dyed blue." They certainly would be "vivid" enough to draw immediate "attention". Even the word " 'or" (skin) [Strong's number 5783] connotes the meaning of "eye-opening"--vivid skins of intense (superlative) blue. The source of the blue or purple violet color used by the ancients at the time of Moses is the subject of the debate. see Semantic change.

[49] Simon Thassi also called Simon Maccabeus (140 BCE) high priest and ethnarch of the Jews was "clothed in purple" and wore gold. "And the Jews and their priests decided that Simon should be their leader and high priest for ever...and that he should be clothed in purple and wear gold." 1 Maccabees 14:41-43 (RSV)

[50] This indigo dye may be the source of later (parabolic) descriptions of the tachash as a creature with a "skin of six colors". "Six days you shall labor and do all your work." Exodus 20:9 Tekhelet and Tahash: Taking the primary root "ta-", true/truth/circumscribe/reserved, and "h-sh", dark/black/silence/reserved/rich, and the suffix "-im", intense/multiple/highest, the Hebrew term for "skins of tahashim" may literally mean "skins of richest deep dark color", or more simply "skins of pure depth" (the color being understood). Moreover, the Arabic Tukhesh, cognate with Hebrew Tahash, as a descriptive of those large sea mammals appearing on and around the Sinai and Arabian peninsulas can literally mean marked by the deep, by depth of mystery, by dread, emerging (from below, out of darkness), or more simply (and anciently) "deep one/dark one" (from beyond): from a Semitic primary root : "hash"

[51] The Etymologies of Isidore of Seville, translation and c. by Stephen A. Barney, W. J. Lewis, J. A. Beach, and Oliver Berghof, 2006, Cambridge University Press, The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge CB2 2RU, UK. information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9780521837491 . ISBN 0-521-83749-9. {{cite book}}: Missing or empty |title= (help).

[52] Etymologies of Isidore of Seville, pp. 251-2.

[53] see Strong's Exhaustive Concordance: "VIRGIN": Hebrew Dictionary entries 1330 "b'thuwlah" and 5959 " 'almah". See also related entries under number 5956.

[54] Shabbat 28a,b. The zebra, okapi, antelope, giraffe, tiger and many other kinds of animals are multi-colored. Two possible patterns of (six-colored) coloration in nature are: black, brown, red, yellow, orange, white (e.g. the gazelle); and black, blue-black, dark grey, ash grey, brown, tan, red, orange, silver, white (e.g. the blackbuck): see also Bos aegyptiacus and natural camouflage.

[55] see Bible Verse Finder (bibref) link: Judaica Press Complete Tanach with Rashi (Chabad.org)--scroll down to the link, click, then scroll down to the commentary on verse 10.

[56] See Jewish Folklore and [search title] "The Legends of the Jews" by Rabbi Louis Ginzberg.

[57] Encyclopaedia Judaica, Vol. 19 SOM-TN, page 435.

[58] basilisk: see Isaiah 14:29, Psalm 90:13, Biblia Sacra Vulgata, Douay-Rheims Bible (Psalm 91:13 Hebrew/Protestant versions)

[59] Talmud: Chullin 59b. The keresh is a giant deer, the tigris is a giant lion, Dvei Ilai is a dense forest.

[60] Another intriguing possibility (not mentioned) is presented by the Pygmy Blue Whale, the skin of an adult being large enough to make a single finished leather curtain 30 cubits long, 4 cubits wide. They range throughout the Indian Ocean, from the Sub-Antarctic waters in the south, along the eastern shores of Africa sometimes as far north as the Arabian Peninsula (possibly even up into the Red Sea), and east just north of the equator through the Indian Ocean and the Southwest Pacific as far as the Philippines and Australia. However, their skin is not mottled or multi-colored, they have no horn, and they have never lived in the desert. They live in the waters of the seas and they have no fins and scales. Nevertheless, their color is tahas, tuhes (tahash, tukhesh).

[61] Brown-Driver-Briggs: at linked site locate index number [1089], click it: image of page 1065 will appear on right, enlarge the page, locate fourth entry down †i. תחש tahas...

[62] S. M. Perlmann, Shanghai businessman and scholar. See article Kaifeng Jews "History" 9th paragraph, "Despite their isolation...", 6th sentence, "S. M. Perlmann, a Shanghai businessman..."

[63] Alfred Ely-Day, International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (1915) "Badger" (end of entry).

[64] V. B. Scheffer and D. W. Rice. 1963. A list of the marine animals of the world. United States Fish and Wildlife Service Special Scientific Report--Fisheries 143:1-12.

[65] The Anchor Bible, Vol. 22, Ezekiel 1-20, 1964, page 270: "XV. Jerusalem the Wanton. Ezekiel 16:10", page 278: Comment: "tahas, out of which..." The Anchor Bible Dictionary, Vol. 6 Si-Z, 1992, page 298, TABERNACLE: d. The Outer Enclosures; and page 307, TAHASH: "Heb. tahas..."

[66] dusu/duhsu a reddish-yellow stone or leather of that color used for sandals and other purposes. William H. C. Propp, The Anchor Bible: Exodus 19-40: Volume 2A: A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary, Nov. 2006 (First Edition) p. 374.

[67] William H. C. Propp, The Anchor Bible: Exodus 19-40: Volume 2A, p. 374.

[68] The Anchor Bible: Exodus 19-40: Volume 2A, p. 310 "5 and reddened ram skins and beaded skins and acacia wood," and p. 374 "beaded skins T'hasim (singular tahas) is an ancient riddle..."

[69] Talmud: Tractate Shabbath 28a,b.---See "Articles and External Links" below---See also Wikipedia articles "Informal fallacy," "Cognitive bias," and "Intellectual dishonesty," as an expanded discussion relating to this particular question, and more generally as an aid to understanding how very human researchers can make mistakes in judgment and offer findings inconsistent with the whole entire body of data available to them. see also ignorance.

[70] "bad" is the older form of the past tense for "bear": i.e. "and it bore one horn on its forehead..."

[71] search "Nahman bar Isaac" (not "ben Isaac") then click on "JewishEncyclopedia.com- NAHMAN BAR ISAAC" for article.

[72] Soncino Babylonian Talmud: Translated into English, with notes, glossary and indices, under the editorship of Rabbi Dr. I. Epstein, B.A., Ph.D., D. Lit., c. 1938, 1948, 1952, 1961, The Soncino Press, London.

[73] The link "Navigating the Bible II" takes the reader to Wikipedia Article "Tabernacle: Priestly account"--move cursor to link [4] at "Chapter 25 [4]" and click for menus and text of this Biblical translation of the Torah, move cursor to upper right corner of page of the site and click "contents" for contents and for information about the translation and the World ORT organization.

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