And upon all the ships of Tarshish
(תַּרְשִׁישׁ), and upon all pleasant pictures. (Isa 2:16 | KJV)
And upon all the ships of the
sea, and upon all the ships of Tarshish, and upon all pleasant pictures.
(2 Nephi 12:16)
I recently came across the claim that "Tarshish"
in the Book of Mormon's quotation of Isa 2:16 is a problem for the text.
According to this critic (former Jehovah's Witness), "Monks just invented
the word 'Tarshish' (it's a meaningless word).'" This is an unusual argument,
to be sure. Most discussions of 2 Nephi 12:16 and its quotation of Isa 2:16 revolve
around the addition of “all the ships of the sea.” On this, see:
Dana M. Pike and David R. Seely, “’Upon All the Ships
of the Sea, and Upon All the Ships of Tarshish’: Revisiting 2 Nephi 12:16 and
Isaiah 2:16,” Journal of Book of Mormon Studies 14, no. 2 (2005):
12-25, 67-71.
This post will focus on whether “Tarshish” is a “meaningless
word” that was invented by monks(!)
The term Tarshish appears in the text of Isa 2:16 in
the Dead Sea Scrolls. Col. II, line 23 of 1QIsaa:
ועל כול אניות תרשיש ועל כול
שכיות החמדה
The following is from The Great Isaiah Scroll (1QIsaa):
A New Edition, ed. Donald W. Parry and Elisha Qimron (Studies on the Texts
of the Desert of Judah 32; Leiden: Brill, 1998), 4:
Modern translations of the Bible, such as the NRSV, RSV,
NJB, 1985 JPS Tanakh, and NASB all render the Hebrew as “Tarshish.” These
translators do not believe “Tarshish” is a “meaningless word.”
Heb “the ships of
Tarshish.” This probably refers to large ships either made in or capable of
traveling to the distant western port of Tarshish. (Biblical Studies Press, The
NET Bible First Edition Notes [Biblical Studies Press, 2006], Logos Bible
Software edition)
In the Biblia Hebraica Quinta text of Jonah 1:3, we
read:
וַיָּ֤קׇם יוֹנָה֙ לִבְרֹ֣חַ ⌝תַּרְשִׁ֯֔ישׇׁה⌜ ⌝מִלִּפְנֵ֖י
יְהוָ֑ה⌜ וַיֵּ֨רֶד
יָפ֜וֹ וַיִּמְצָ֥א אׇנִיָּ֣ה ׀ ⌝בׇּאָ֣֯ה⌜ תַרְשִׁ֗ישׁ וַיִּתֵּ֙ן שְׂכׇרָ֜הּ וַיֵּ֤רֶד בׇּהּ֙ לׇב֤וֹא עִמׇּהֶם֙ תַּרְשִׁ֔ישׇׁה
מִלִּפְנֵ֖י יְהוָֽה׃
The NRSV reads:
But Jonah set out to flee to Tarshish
from the presence of the Lord. He went down to Joppa and found a ship going to
Tarshish; so he paid his fare and went on board to go with them to Tarshish,
away from the presence of the Lord.
Tarshish is an ancient place name. Consider:
תַּרְשִׁישׁ III 24.0.0.1 pl.n. Tarshish—I תרשש; + ה- of direction תַּרְשִׁ֫ישָׁה—distant
port or region, perh. Tartessus in SW Spain or Carthage in N. Africa, land and
nation perh. descended from תַּרְשִׁישׁ II §1 (Is 66:19; Ps
72:10), <subj> נתן give Ezk 27:12. <nom cl> תַּרְשִׁישׁ
סֹחַרְתֵּךְ Tarshish
was your merchant Ezk 27:12. <cstr> מַלְכֵי תַרְשִׁישׁ kings of Tarshish
Ps 72:10, בַּת־ daughter of Is 23:10, סֹחֲרֵי merchants of Ezk 38:13, אֳנִי fleet of 1 K
10:22, 22, אֳנִיּוֹת ships of 1 K 22:49; Is 2:16; 23:1, 14; 60:9; Ezk 27:25; Ps 48:8; 2
C 9:21, כסף תרשש silver of Tarshish Payment docket3 (7th cent.). <app>
גּוֹי nation Is 66:19. <prep> מִן
of direction, from, + בוא
ho. be brought Jr 10:9; אֶל to,
+ שׁלח pi. send
Is 66:19; ה- of direction, to, + הלך go 2 C 20:37, בוא come Jon 1:3, עבר pass Is 23:6, ברח flee Jon 1:3; 4:2; תַּרְשִׁישׁ without preposition
or ה- of direction, (to) Tarshish, + הלך go 2 C 9:21; 20:36, בוא come Jon 1:3. (David J. A. Clines, תַּרְשִׁישׁ,
The Dictionary of Classical Hebrew, 8:681)
II. Toponym. As is shown by an inscription of Esarhaddon as well as
Ps. 72:10 and Jon. 1:3, Tarshish is a site at the extreme western end of the
Mediterranean. To emphasize his worldwide sway, Esarhaddon claims that “all the
kings in the midst of the sea, from Cyprus and Ionia to Tarshish (kurtar-si-si),” have done obeisance to him.
In Ps. 72:10 the world dominion of the king is manifested in the tribute that
is brought by “the kings of Tarshish and of the isles”; at Joppa Jonah boards a
ship bound for Tarshish to evade his mission to Nineveh, fleeing as far as
possible in the opposite direction.
The identification of Tarshish
with Baetica (Tharseís hē Baitikḗ) in
a Greek lexicon of the late Roman period was accepted by Bochart; if so,
Tarshish and the Tartessos of classical tradition could be variants of the same
name. This identification is probably correct. The identification with Tarsus,
first found in Josephus, is out of the question, since the Semitic form of this
name is trz/tarzu. Furthermore, the
earliest occurrence of tršš is in a
late-9th-century inscription from Nora on Sardinia, and the latest Punic
occurrences of the gentilic *taršīšī
> taršī (with elision of a
syllable) find an echo in Polybius in the forms tarsḗion and Thersítai.
The alternation of the forms taršîš
(Semitic) and tartḗs(sos) (Greek), as
well as the Latin form Turdet(ani),
reflects different articulations of an indigenous phoneme, probably an
interdental sibilant. The name Tarshish, then, is Iberian or “Tartessian”; it
is pointless to look for a Semitic etymology.
The expression “Tarshish ships” (ʿonîyôṯ taršîš) should
therefore refer to ships bound for Spain. This can actually be the case when
they are mentioned in conjunction with Tyre (Isa. 23:1, 14; Ezk. 27:25). It is
also possible in Isa. 60:9, where Tarshish ships bring back the sons “from the
isles,” although this expression more likely means the Mediterranean coastlands
in general. The Tarshish ships of Jehoshaphat sailed to Ophir, from which they
transported gold to the harbor of Tell Qasile on the Mediterranean, whence it
was brought inland. It is therefore inconceivable that these ships ran aground
near Ezion-geber (1 K. 22:49).
No places are mentioned in
conjunction with Solomon’s Tarshish ships (1 K. 10:22//2 Ch. 9:21), but since
they appear together with the fleet of Hiram, we should probably think in terms
of Mediterranean destinations. One may assume that the expression gradually
took on the sense of “long-distance ships.” The commodities imported on these
ships include gold (1 K. 10:22//2 Ch. 9:21; cf. 1 K. 22:49; Isa. 60:9), silver
(1 K. 10:22; Ezk. 27:12; cf. Isa. 60:9), ivory (1 K. 10:22; cf. Ezk. 27:15),
iron, tin, and lead (Ezk. 27:12), as well as “chased and polished (precious)
stones” (LXX 3 K. 10:22).
In Isa. 2:16 the Tarshish ships,
especially beautiful and impressive, are the embodiment of human hubris. In a
similar vein, Ps. 48:8(Eng. 7) speaks of hostile ships in revolt against
Yahweh, which he shatters with an east wind. (E. Lipiflski, “תַּרְשִׁישׁ,”
in Theological Dictionary of the Old
Testament, 15:791-93)
I תַּרְשִׁישׁ,
locative תַּרְשִֽׁישָׁה: place name, name of a territory.
A. The name תַּ׳ can be traced back to the Iberian tart(uli) and preserves the Anatolian
suffix -issos/essos > Tartessos (see Galling BRL2
332a); SamP. taršəš; the etymological
derivation of תַּ׳ is uncertain; for attempted explanations
see Albright BASOR 83 (1941) 21f with note 29; also Albright Archaeology and the Religion of Israel
(1946) 133, 136 = Die Religion Israels im
Lichte der archäologischen Ausgrabungen (1956) 151, 153; see Noth Könige 232; Wildberger BK 10: 110f ::
869; and Silvia Schroer In Israel gab es
Bilder (OBO 74; 1987) 205.
B. —a) the actual site of תַּ׳ within the lands of the Mediterranean has
not been established, as can be seen from the cautious remark in Reicke-Rost Hw. 1963: it is one of the islands (or
coastal territories) to the west of Palestine; cf. also Westermann BK 1/1: 678.
For the various different suggestions see e.g. Rudolph Jer.3 70 (on Jr 10:9, with bibliography); Reicke-Rost Hw. loc. cit.; IDB 4, 517; Wolff BK
14/3: 79; older suggestions are in Gesenius-Buhl Handw.; KBL (where תַּ׳ is identified as Tunis (modern site of Carthago, see b).
—b) the oldest information on the
site is probably to be found in Sept., which identifies תַּ׳
with Carthage/Καρχηδών (see
below C b); see now Berger WdO 13 (1982) 61-77, 76f: Taršiš is to be identified with Carthage.
—c) goods which were exported
from תַּ׳ included silver (Jr 10:9), iron, tin and
lead (Ez 27:12), and these point to Spain with its rich mineral resources. תַּ׳ could be a town the territory of which is in the region of the
mouth of the Guadalquivir. With some variation this is probably the most widely
accepted view today, see e.g. Zimmerli Ez.
652; Wildberger BK 10: 110f; Noth Könige
232; Wolff BK 14/3: 78; Cintas Semitica 16 (1966) 5-37; Peter Welten Geschichte und Geschichtsdarstellung in den
Chronikbüchern (WMANT 42; 1973) 38129; more hesitantly Galling
ZDPV 88 (1972) 4, and especially BRL2 332b: a precise location of
Tarshish as a place in the marshes of the Guadalquivir, perhaps near Asta Regia
or Huelva, is as yet without any archaeological foundation; for Huelva see also
Kaiser ATD 18, 133; and still compare Fohrer Ezechiel 157.
—d) תַּ׳
is a symbolic name to express a distant land which was the source of costly
products (Görg BN 15 (1981) 81f, who provides an Egyptian etymology).
C. The name תַּ׳ occurs in other sources outside the Hebrew
Bible as follows: —a) Neo-Assyrian KURTar-si-si
(Borger Inschriften p. 86 §57 line
10); Greek Ταρτησσός.
—b) Sept. mostly Θαρσις, together with Καρχηδών (Καρχηδόνος Is 23:1, 10, 14, Καρχηδόνα 23:6); adj. Καρχηδόνιοι
(ἔμποροι) Ezk 27:12 38:13.
—c) Josephus Θάρσος (Schalit Namenwb. 53).
D. For bibliography see already under A; see further e.g. Simons Geog. §251; Brandenstein in Debrunner Fschr. 75ff; J.S. Hanis ALUOS 5
(1963-65) 55ff; Gordon The Wine-Dark-Sea
(JNES 37; 1978) 51ff; also for still more see below, E and F).
E. תַּרְשִׁישׁ: Tarshish:
—aα) the name of a town, or
alternatively of a region (for the geographical site see above B) Is 23:6 Jr
10:9 Ezk 27:12 38:13 Jon 1:3, 3, 3. 4:2 2C 9:21 20:36, 37; β) the name of a distant land in the
Mediterranean Ps 72:10, or alternatively of a people Is 66:19.
—b) collocations: α) אֳנִיּוֹת תַּ׳: originally ships
which sailed to Tarshish in Spain, then more generally sea-going vessels, ships
for the high-seas; אֳנִיּוֹת תַּ׳ has about it the idea of quality, see
Rudolph Chr. 224, on 1C 9:21; cf.
also Keel Visionen 263: Is 2:16 23:1,
14 60:9 Ezk 27:25 Ps 48:8; β)
so (as a Tarshish vessel) it comes to designate also ships which ply to Ophir: אֳנִיּוֹת תַּ׳ לָלֶכֶת אוֹפִֽירָה 1K 22:49; other references to ships for
this purpose are probably also to be found in 2C 9:21 20:36 (cf. Rudolph Chr. 224, 264); also sg. (for the sg.
with pl. meaning see Brockelmann Heb.
Syn. §17) אֳנִי תַ׳ 1K 10:22, see Noth Könige 232f. γ) בַּת־תַּ׳ Is 23:10 textual uncertainty (corruption ?) see Wildberger BK
10: 854, 857.
F. תַּ׳ is the personification of a town or
alternatively of a people: the son of יָוָן Gn 10:4 1C 1:7, on
which see Wildberger BK 10: 869, and Wolff BK 14/3: 78f, who here take תַּ׳ as meaning the Greek settlements in the east and in the west of
the Mediterranean. † (Hebrew-Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament)
The name Tarsus (tar-si-si), believed by many
to be the Tarshish mentioned in the books of Isaiah and Jonah, is
attested in the Inscription of Esarhaddon:
9b’-14a’) I wrote to all of the
kings who are in the midst of the sea, from Iadnana (Cyprus) (and) Ionia to
Tarsus, (and) they bowed down at my feet. I received [their] heavy tribute. I achieved
victory over the rulers of the four quarters and I sprinkled the venom of death
over all of (my) enemies). I carried off gold, silver, goods, possessions,
people—young (and) old—horses, oxen, (and) sheep and goats, their heavy booty
that was beyond counting to Assyria. (Erle Leichty, The Royal Inscriptions
of Esarhaddon, King of Assyria (680-669 BC) [The Royal Inscriptions of the
Neo-Assyrian Period 4; Winona Lake, Ind.: Eisenbrauns, 2011], 135)
In The Lexham Bible Dictionary for “Tarshish,” we
read the following commentary on this inscription:
The inscription, which suggests
the range of Assyrian King Esarhaddon’s reach across the Mediterranean Sea,
uses Tarshish as the farthest extent of his influence. It is closer to Joppa
than Spain; Sardinia was also a major trading partner with the Phoenicians, so
the Assyrian Empire was well known. On the other hand, the inscription itself
makes no mention of the location of Tarshish, and uses it, much like the book
of Jonah, to refer to a place as far away as can be imagined—not necessarily in
a historically accurate manner. Tarshish appears in Assyrian lists of
geographical names, but without specifying the location.
Tarshish is a genuine word, denoting a placename. The
only debate is where it is located. To quote a recent scholarly commentary
on the book of Jonah:
TARSHISH
The role of Tarshish is likewise
limited in Jonah to the prophet’s destination from Joppa (1:3). But unlike
Nineveh and Joppa, the location of Tarshish is disputed. As early as the
Septuagint it was identified with Carthage (Isa 23:1, 6, 10, 14; Ezek 27:12,
25; 38:13), and Josephus (A.J. 1.6.1)
located it at Tarsus in Cilicia.
Tarshish in the Hebrew Bible
refers to a geographical site (Gen 1:4; 1 Chr 1:7; 2 Chr 9:21; Pss 72:10; 23:6;
Isa 23:6; 66:19; Jer 10:9; Ezek 27:12; 38:13; Jonah 1:2; 4:3) renowned for its
trade in metals, especially silver (Jer 10:9; Ezek 27:12, 25; 38:13). Its
coastal location and considerable distance from Israel (Ps 72:10) account for
its additional use as a type of ship (1 Kgs 10:22; 22:48; 2 Chr 9:21; 20:36–37;
Ps 48:8; Isa 2:16; 23:1, 10, 14; 60:9; Ezek 27:25), probably intended to carry
large cargoes. The leading candidate for Tarshish has long been Tartessos on
the southwestern coast of the Iberian Peninsula at the mouth of the
Guadalquivir River, not least because of its great distance from Israel at the
western end of the Mediterranean and its semilegendary reputation as a place of
incredible wealth, especially in metals. However, this identification has been
questioned in recent years with arguments put forward particularly in favor of
Tarsus in Cilicia, now south central Turkey (Padilla Monge 1994, 66–70; van der
Kooij 1998, 40–47; Lemaire 2000, 51–57; Lessing 2002), and an unidentified
place on the coast of the Arabian Sea or Indian Ocean (Montenegro and del
Castillo 2016).
Tarsus
Scholars who have recently agreed
with Josephus and promoted the identification of Tarshish with Tarsus, perhaps
better known as the hometown of the apostle Paul, typically eliminate Tartessos
as a possibility on philological grounds and because Tartessos lay outside of
the horizon of the Hebrew Bible, which does not mention places in the western
Mediterranean such as Spain, Malta, Sicily, Sardinia, or Carthage. Rather, the
Bible places Tarshish in the company of Javan (Greece), Rhodes, and Cyprus,
suggesting a location in Asia Minor. Similarly, the single Assyrian inscription
that mentions Tarshish (Tarsisi)—a commemorative inscription of
Esarhaddon—lists it in conjunction with Cyprus and Javan, while Tartessos lay
outside Assyrian domination (ANET
290). Tarsus was in the eastern Mediterranean and in the vicinity of Cyprus and
of Israel. It fits with other features of Tarshish as described in the Bible,
including its lively international commerce, close relations with the
Phoenicians, and likely status as the capital of a kingdom (Lemaire 2000,
47–53). A serious drawback to the identification of Tarshish with Tarsus where
Jonah is concerned is that it makes Jonah’s trek to Joppa all the more
peculiar, since the ports at Akko and even Tyre were closer to Gath-Hepher and
more likely choices for finding a ship headed to Tarsus.
A Non-Mediterranean Site
Montenegro and del Castillo
(2016) favor an unidentified place on the coast of the Arabian Sea or Indian
Ocean primarily on the basis of trading expeditions and their cargoes mentioned
in the Bible for Solomon and Jehoshaphat (1 Kgs 9:26–28 // 2 Chr 8:17–18; 1 Kgs
10:22 // 2 Chr 9:20–21; 1 Kgs 22:49 // 2 Chr 20:35–37). Such passages describe
the use of the port at Ezion-geber, which is in the Gulf of Aqaba, and thus
imply a location for Tarshish southeast of Israel rather than in the
Mediterranean. These passages also link Tarshish with Ophir, which is variously
located in India, Arabia, or Ethiopia—in any case implying navigation on the
Red Sea and the Indian Ocean rather than the Mediterranean. References to goods
traded with Tarshish also include some items not found in the Mediterranean
(peacocks, monkeys, and ivory). Montenegro and del Castillo argue that the
Esarhaddon inscription makes use of Assyrian tripartite geography, which
divides the world into the central continent, the sea, and the lands beyond the
sea, without distinguishing the western and eastern seas. By referring to one
place from the vantage point of the other, the inscription indicates that
Tarshish is not in the vicinity of Javan and Cyprus, but that all three are
within the Assyrian domain as countries of the sea that submitted to Assyria.
Since Iberia lay beyond the Assyrian sphere, Tarshish was not in the far west
but more likely on the coast of the Red Sea or Indian Ocean. Concerning Jonah,
they contend that the reference to Tarshish assumes the canal built by King
Darius of Persia (522–486 BCE) that ran from the Nile to the Gulf of Suez.
Jonah would have fled south or southeast from Joppa, the opposite direction of
Nineveh, and this explains why he chose the port at Joppa.
Back to Tartessos
These proposals of non-Tartessos
locations for Tarshish have been answered in an article by Day (2012). Day’s
main target is the identification of Tarshish with Tarsus, but the evidence he
adduces also pertains to the proposal for an Arabian/Indian location. He begins
with Ps 72:10, noting that it juxtaposes Sheba (= Yemen) and Seba (East Africa)
on the one hand with Tarshish and the islands on the other as the farthest
points of the known world. This fits well for Tartessos at the western end of
the Mediterranean but not at all for Tarsus. The identification of Tartessos
with Jonah’s Tarshish fits well with his flight from a Mediterranean port
(Joppa) in essentially the opposite direction from and toward a place a great
distance from Nineveh—for all practical purposes the other end of the known
world. Day then tackles the philological question, showing that Tarshish is
compatible with Tartessos but not with Tarsus. The -os is a Greek ending; the -ss-
renders Semitic sh, which is not a
Greek letter; and the middle -t-
reflects Greek reproduction of an indigenous sound that appears as sh in Semitic (Day 2012, 366). Tarsus,
however, is written TRZ on
fifth-century BCE coins and Tarzu/i
in Assyrian inscriptions, which is incompatible with Tarshish, all the more
when it is recognized that the final -s
on Tarsus is a Greek ending (Tarsos) (Day 2012, 361; cf. also Babelon 1893,
xxvi, 17–18; Parpola 1970, 349).
Esarhaddon’s mention of Tarshish
is in the context of his conquest of Tyre, and Tartessos was a Phoenician
colony, so the Assyrians could claim to have conquered Tarshish/Tartessos by
virtue of conquering Tyre. As for the other biblical references, the great
distance of Tarshish from Israel is already suggested by the designation “ships
of Tarshish,” as mentioned. The west-to-east orientation named in Ezek 27:12–24
and Isa 66:19 indicates that Tarshish was the westernmost site of the places
named in each passage. In Gen 10:4 and 1 Chr 1:7 the order is not determined by
geography, as is clear from the identification of Elishah and Kittim as
different locations on Cyprus. Rather, the organizational scheme is
grammatical, with singular names (Elishah, Tarshish) followed by plurals
(Kittim, Rodanim [correcting MT Gen 10:4 Dodanim]). Tarshish occurs here with
Javan (Ionia) because Tartessos had come under Greek influence by the time of
this list (P, Chronicles). In line with Jer 10:9 and Ezek 27:12, there is archaeological
evidence at Tartessos of an elaborate industry of mining, smelting, and
maritime transport of metals from inland deposits—including lead, tin, copper,
silver, and gold—from at least the ninth century BCE, mostly under the
direction of the Phoenicians. An eighth–seventh-century ostracon mentions
“silver of Tarshish for YHWH’s temple” (Bordreuil and Pardee 1996). While
Tarsus was also associated with metals deriving from the Taurus Mountains,
classical sources do not highlight it as a trade center for metals as they do
Tartessos. The passages in 2 Chr 9:21 and 20:36–37 do indeed presuppose a
different location for Tarshish—one in Arabia, to be reached by navigation in
the Red Sea rather than in the Mediterranean. But this is because the
Chronicler misunderstood the references to the ships of Tarshish in his source
text (1 Kgs 10:22; 22:48) as referring to the ships’ destination rather than
their type.
Day’s (2012) explanations are
convincing and establish the identification of Tarshish with Tartessos in
southern Spain for all biblical references, except those in Chronicles. As
noted, Tartessos fits especially well for Jonah. This does not necessarily mean
that the writer of Jonah had ever visited Tarshish or had any detailed
information about it. The name Tarshish may well have taken on symbolic
significance as an exotic and distant place of wealth, quite apart from
historical reality—much like Kathmandu or Timbuktu in the modern Western
imagination. Tarshish certainly has symbolic meaning for the story of Jonah. It
was as far as Jonah could flee in the opposite direction from Nineveh. Hence,
far from being inconsequential to the narrative, as sometimes claimed (e.g.,
Erickson 2021, 268), the location of Tarshish highlights Jonah’s disobedience
of YHWH and the length to which he is willing to go to evade his assignment as
a prophet. (Steven L. McKenzie, John Kaltner, and Rhiannon Graybill,
Jonah: A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary [AYB 24H; New
Haven: Yale University Press, 2023], 12-14)
So, as we have seen, “Tarshish” is (1) a genuine ancient word;
(2) a genuine placename in antiquity known to Isaiah and other biblical authors
(even if we do not know the exact location thereof) and (3) is not
a “meaningless word,” let alone one invented by post-New Testament monks.
I will admit, this particular argument is one I never heard
of until yesterday. However, as I hope to have a zoom meeting with this fellow,
and he told the missionaries that this is, for him, THE biggest problem
he perceives in the Book of Mormon, I thought I would produce this blog post to
(1) share with him to show him it is not a good argument and (2) in case anyone
ever encounters a similar argument vis-à-vis Isa 2:16 and/or its quotation in 2
Nephi 12:16.