Tammuz – Target

Tammuz

tam'-uz, tam'-mooz (tammuz; Thammouz):

(1) The name of a Phoenician deity, the Adonis of the Greeks. He was originally a Sumerian or Babylonian sun-god, called Dumuzu, the husband of Ishtar, who corresponds to Aphrodite of the Greeks. The worship of these deities was introduced into Syria in very early times under the designation of Tammuz and Astarte, and appears among the Greeks in the myth of Adonis and Aphrodite, who are identified with Osiris and Isis of the Egyptian pantheon, showing how widespread the cult became. The Babylonian myth represents Dumuzu, or Tammuz, as a beautiful shepherd slain by a wild boar, the symbol of winter. Ishtar long mourned for him and descended into the underworld to deliver him from the embrace of death (Frazer, Adonis, Attis and Osiris). This mourning for Tammuz was celebrated in Babylonia by women on the 2nd day of the 4th month, which thus acquired the name of Tammuz (see CALENDAR). This custom of weeping for Tammuz is referred to in the Bible in the only passage where the name occurs (Ezekiel 8:14). The chief seat of the cult in Syria was Gebal (modern Gebail, Greek Bublos) in Phoenicia, to the South of which the river Adonis (Nahr Ibrahim) has its mouth, and its source is the magnificent fountain of Apheca (modern `Afqa), where was the celebrated temple of Venus or Aphrodite, the ruins of which still exist. The women of Gebal used to repair to this temple in midsummer to celebrate the death of Adonis or Tammuz, and there arose in connection with this celebration those licentious rites which rendered the cult so infamous that it was suppressed by Constantine the Great.

The name Adonis, by which this deity was known to the Greeks, is none other than the Phoenician 'Adhon, which is the same in Hebrew. His death is supposed to typify the long, dry summer of Syria and Palestine, when vegetation perishes, and his return to life the rainy season when the parched earth is revivified and is covered with luxuriant vegetation, or his death symbolizes the cold, rough winter, the boar of the myth, and his return the verdant spring.

Considering the disgraceful and licentious rites with which the cult was celebrated, it is no wonder that Ezekiel should have taken the vision of the women weeping for Tammuz in the temple as one of the greatest abominations that could defile the Holy House.

See ADONIS.

(2) The fourth month of the Jewish year, corresponding to July. The name is derived from that of a Syrian god, identified with Adonis (Ezekiel 8:14).

See above, and CALENDAR.

H. Porter

Tanach

See TAANACH.

Tanhumeth

tan-hu'-meth (tanchumeth): One of those who were left in Judah by Nebuchadnezzar under the governorship of Gedallah (2 Kings 25:23; Jeremiah 40:8).

Tanis

ta'-nis (Tanis (Judith 1:10)).

See ZOAN.

Tanner

tan'-er (burseus, from bursa "a hide"): The only references to a tanner are in Acts 9:43; Acts 10:6,Acts 10:32. The Jews looked upon tanning as an undesirable occupation and well they might, for at best it was accompanied with unpleasant odors and unattractive sights, if not even ceremonially unclean. We can imagine that Simon the tanner found among the disciples of Jesus a fellowship which had been denied him before. Peter made the way still easier for Simon by choosing his house as his abode while staying in Joppa. Simon's house was by the seashore, as is true of the tanneries along the Syrian coast today, so that the foul-smelling liquors from the vats can be drawn off with the least nuisance, and so that the salt water may be easily accessible for washing the skins during the tanning process. These tanneries are very unpretentious affairs, usually consisting of one or two small rooms and a courtyard. Within are the vats made either of stone masonry, plastered within and without, or cut out of the solid rock. The sheep or goat skins are smeared on the flesh side with a paste of slaked lime and then folded up and allowed to stand until the hair loosens. The hair and fleshy matter are removed, the skins are plumped in lime, bated in a concoction first of dog dung and afterward in one of fermenting bran, in much the same way as in a modern tannery. The bated skins are tanned in sumach (Arabic summak), which is the common tanning material in Syria and Palestine. After drying, the leather is blackened on one side by rubbing on a solution made by boiling vinegar with old nails or pieces of copper, and the skin is finally given a dressing of olive oil. In the more modern tanneries degras is being imported for the currying processes. For dyeing the rams' skins red (Exodus 25:1–40) they rub on a solution of qermes (similar to cochineal; see DYEING), dry, oil, and polish with a smooth stone.

Pine bark is sometimes used for tanning in Lebanon. According to Wilkinson (Ancient Egypt, II, 186), the Arabs use the juice of a desert plant for dehairing and tanning skins. The skins for pouches are either tawed, i.e. tanned with a mineral salt like alum, or treated like parchment (see PARCHMENT). About Hebron oak branches, chopped into small chips, are used for tanning the leather bottles or water skins. In this case the hair is not removed. The tanning is accomplished, after removing the fleshy matter, by filling the skin with oak chips and water, tying up all openings in the skins, and allowing them to lie in the open on their "backs," with "legs" upright, for weeks. The field near Hebron where they arrange the bulging skins in orderly rows during the tanning process presents a weird sight. These are the bottles referred to in the King James Version (the Revised Version (British and American) "skins") (Joshua 9:4,Joshua 9:13; Hosea 7:5; Matthew 9:17; Mark 2:22; Luke 5:37).

Leather was probably used more extensively than any records show. We know that the Egyptians used leather for ornamental work. They understood the art of making stamped leather. The sculptures give us an idea of the methods used for making the leather into sandals, trimmings for chariots, coverings of chairs, decorations for harps, sarcophagi, etc. There are two Biblical references to leather, where leather girdles are mentioned (2 Kings 1:8; Matthew 3:4).

See also CRAFTS, II, 17.

James A. Patch

Tapestry

tap'-es-tri (marebhaddim, from rabhadh, "to spread"): "Carpets of tapestry" are mentioned in Proverbs 7:16; Proverbs 31:22. We have no means of knowing just what form of weaving is here referred to.

See WEAVING.

Taphath

ta'-fath (taphath): Daughter of Solomon and wife of Ben-abinadab (1 Kings 4:11).

Taphon

ta'-fon

See TEPHON.

Tappuah (1)

tap'-u-a, ta-pu'-a (tappuach, "apple"):

(1) A royal city of the Canaanites, the king of which was slain by Joshua (12:17). It is named between Beth-el and Hepher, and may possibly be identical with the city named in Joshua 16:8; see (3) below. There is nothing to guide us to a decision.

(2) (Omitted by Septuagint.) A city in the Shephelah of Judah (Joshua 15:34). It is named between Engannim and Enam in a group of cities that lay in the Northwest of the territory of Judah. Tristram suggested identification with `Artuf, about 1 1/2 miles Southeast of Zorah. G.A. Smith places it in Wady el `Afranj, possibly identifying it with Tuffuch, fully 4 miles West of Hebron. This position, however, is not in the Shephelah. The place probably represents "Beth-tappuah" of Joshua 15:53. No quite satisfactory identification has yet been suggested.

(3) A place on the border between Ephraim and Manasseh (Joshua 16:8). "The land of Tappuah," i.e. the land adjoining the town, belonged to Manasseh, but the town itself belonged to Ephraim (Joshua 17:8). En-tappuah was probably a neighboring spring. Tappuah was to the South of Michmethath, and the border ran from here westward to the brook Kanah. Some would place it at Khirbet `Atuf, about 11 miles Northeast of Nablus. More probably it should be sought to the Southwest of the plain of Makhneh (Michmethath). It may be identical with Tephon, which, along with Timnath, Pharathon, and other cities, Bacchides fortified "with high walls and gates and bars" (1 Macc 9:50). No identification is possible.

W. Ewing

Tappuah (2)

(Tappuach; Codex Vaticanus Thapous; Codex Alexandrinus Thaphphou; Lucian, Phethrouth): A "son" of Hebron (1 Chronicles 2:43).

Tarah

ta'-ra, tar'-a (Numbers 33:27 f the King James Version).

See TERAH.

Taralah

tar'-a-la (tar'alah; Codex Vaticanus Thareela; Codex Alexandrinus Tharala): A town in the territory of Benjamin named between Irpeel and Zelah (Joshua 18:27). Eusebius, Onomasticon (s.v. "Therama") simply says it was in the tribe of Benjamin. In the times of Eusebius and Jerome, therefore, the site was already lost, and has not since been covered.

Tarea

ta'-re-a, ta-re'-a (ta'area`, a copyist's mistake (1 Chronicles 8:35) for tacharea, "the shrewd one," in 1 Chronicles 9:41; Codex Vaticanus Theree; Codex Alexandrinus Tharee; Lucian, Tharaa; in 1 Chronicles 9:41, Codex Vaticanus Tharach; Codex Alexandrinus Thara; Lucian, Tharaa; see TAHREA): A descendant of Saul mentioned in a genealogy of Benjamin (1 Chronicles 9:41).

Tares

tarz (zizania (Matthew 13:25), margin "darnel"): Zizania is equivalent to Arabic zuwan, the name given to several varieties of darnel of which Lolium temulentum, the "bearded darnel," is the one most resembling wheat, and has been supposed to be degenerated wheat. On the near approach of harvest it is carefully weeded out from among the wheat by the women and children. Zuwan is commonly used as chickens' food; it is not poisonous to human beings unless infected with the mold ergot.

Target

tar'-get.

See MARK.