Taanach – Tarpelites, The

Taanach

(sandy), an ancient Canaanitish city whose king is enumerated among the thirty-one kings conquered by Joshua. (Joshua 12:21) It came into the half tribe of Manasseh, (Joshua 17:11; 21:25; 1 Chronicles 7:29) and was bestowed on the Kohathite Levites. (Joshua 21:25) Taanach is almost always named in company with Megiddo, and they were evidently the chief towns of that fine rich district which forms the western portion of the great plain of Esdraelon. (1 Kings 4:12) It is still called Ta’annuk , and) stands about four miles southeast of Lejjun and 13 miles southwest of Nazareth.

Taanathshiloh

(approach to Shiloh), a place named once only -- (Joshua 16:6) --as one of the landmarks of the boundary of Ephraim. Perhaps Taanath was the ancient Canaanite name of the place, and Shiloh the Hebrew name.

Tabbaoth

(rings). The children of Tabbaoth were a family of Nethinim who returned with Zerubbabel. (Ezra 2:43; Nehemiah 7:46) (B.C. before 536.)

Tabbath

(celebrated), a place mentioned only in (Judges 7:25) in describing the flight of the Midianite host after Gideon’s night attack; (probably the present Tubukhat-Fahil , a very striking natural bank 600 feet high, with a long horizontal top, embanked against the western face of the mountains east of the Jordan, and descending with a steep front to the river. --Robinson, Bib. Res.)

Tabeal

(God is good). The son of Tabeal was apparently an Ephraimite in the army of Pekah the son of Remaliah, or a Syrian in the army of Rezin, when they went up to besiege Jerusalem in the reign of Ahaz. (Isaiah 7:6) The Aramaic form of the name favors the latter supposition. (B.C. before 738.)

Tabelel

(God is good), an officer of the Persian government in Samaria in the reign of Artaxerxes. (Ezra 4:7) His name appears to indicate that he was a Syrian. (B.C.519.)

Taberah

the name of a place in the wilderness of Paran. (Numbers 11:3; 9:22) It has not been identified.

Tabering

an obsolete English word used in the Authorized Version of (Nahum 2:7) The Hebrew word connects itself with toph , "a timbrel." The Authorized Version reproduces the original idea. The "tabour" or "tabor" was a musical instrument of the drum type which with the pipe formed the band of a country village. To "tabour," accordingly, is to beat with loud strokes, as men beat upon such an instrument.

Tabernacle

The tabernacle was the tent of Jehovah, called by the same name as the tents of the people in the midst of which it stood. It was also called the sanctuary and the tabernacle of the congregation. The first ordinance given to Moses, after the proclamation of the outline of the law from Sinai, related to the ordering of the tabernacle, its furniture and its service as the type which was to be followed when the people came to their own home and "found a place" for the abode of God. During the forty days of Moses’ first retirement with God in Sinai, an exact pattern of the whole was shown him, and all was made according to it. (Exodus 25:9,40; 26:30; 39:32,42,43; Numbers 8:4; Acts 7:44; Hebrews 8:5) The description of this plan is preceded by an account of the freewill offerings which the children of Israel were to be asked to make for its execution. I. THE TABERNACLE ITSELF.--

1. Its name . --It was first called a tent or dwelling , (Exodus 25:8) because Jehovah as it were, abode there. It was often called tent or tabernacle from its external appearance.

2. Its materials . --The materials were-- (a) Metals: gold, silver and brass. (b) Textile fabrics: blue, purple, scarlet and fine (white) linen, for the production of which Egypt was celebrated; also a fabric of goat’s hair, the produce of their own flocks. (c) Skins: of the ram, dyed red, and of the badger. (d) Wood the shittim wood, the timber of the wild acacia of the desert itself, the tree of the "burning bush." (e) Oil, spices and incense for anointing the priests and burning in the tabernacle. (f) Gems: onyx stones and the precious stones for the breastplate of the high priest. The people gave jewels, and plates of gold and silver and brass; wood, skins, hair and linen; the women wove; the rulers offered precious stones, oil, spices and incense; and the artists soon had more than they needed. (Exodus 25:1-8; 35:4-29; 36:5-7) The superintendence of the work was intrusted to Bezaleel, of the tribe of Judah, and to Aholiab, of the tribe of Dan, who were skilled in "all manner of workmanship." (Exodus 31:2,6; 35:30,34)

3. Its structure. --The tabernacle was to comprise three main parts, --the tabernacle more strictly so called, its tent and its covering. (Exodus 35:11; 39:33,34; 40:19,34; Numbers 3:25) etc. These parts are very clearly distinguished in the Hebrew, but they are confounded in many places of the English version. The tabernacle itself was to consist of curtains of fine linen woven with colored figures of cherubim, and a structure of boards which was to contain the holy place and the most holy place; the tent was to be a true tent of goat’s hair cloth, to contain and shelter the tabernacle; the covering was to be of red ram-skins and seal-skins, (Exodus 25:5) and was spread over the goat’s hair tent as an additional protection against the weather. It was an oblong rectangular structure, 30 cubits in length by 10 in width (45 feet by 15), and 10 in height; the interior being divided into two chambers, the first or outer, of 20 cubits in length, the inner, of 10 cubits, and consequently and exact cube. The former was the holy place , or first tabernacle , (Hebrews 9:2) containing the golden candlestick on one side, the table of shew-bread opposite, and between them in the centre the altar of incense. The latter was the most holy place , or the holy of holies , containing the ark, surmounted by the cherubim, with the two tables inside. The two sides and the farther or west end were enclosed by boards of shittim wood overlaid with gold, twenty on the north and twenty on the south side, six on the west side, and the corner-boards doubled. They stood upright, edge to edge, their lower ends being made with tenons, which dropped into sockets of silver, and the corner-boards being coupled at the tope with rings. They were furnished with golden rings, through which passed bars of shittim wood, overlaid with gold, five to each side, and the middle bar passing from end to end, so as to brace the whole together. Four successive coverings of curtains looped together were placed over the open top and fell down over the sides. The first or inmost was a splendid fabric of linen, embroidered with figures of cherubim in blue, purple and scarlet, and looped together by golden fastenings. It seems probable that the ends of this set of curtains hung down within the tabernacle, forming a sumptuous tapestry. The second was a covering of goats’ hair; the third, of ram-skins dyed red and the outermost, of badger-skins (so called in our version; but the Hebrew word probably signifies seal-skins). It has been commonly supposed that these coverings were thrown over the wall, as a pall is thrown over a coffin; but this would have allowed every drop of rain that fell on the tabernacle to fall through; for, however tightly the curtains might be stretched, the water could never run over the edge, and the sheep-skins would only make the matter worse as when wetted their weight would depress the centre and probably tear any curtain that could be made. There can be no reasonable doubt that the tent had a ridge, as all tents have had from the days of Moses down to the present time. The front of the sanctuary was closed by a hanging of fine linen, embroidered in blue, purple and scarlet, and supported by golden hooks on five pillars of shittim wood overlaid with gold and standing in brass sockets; and the covering of goat’s hair was so made as to fall down over this when required. A more sumptuous curtain of the same kind, embroidered with cherubim hung on four such pillars, with silver sockets, divided the holy from the most holy place. It was called the veil, (Sometimes the second veil, either is reference to the first, at the entrance of the holy place, or as below the vail of the second sanctuary;) (Hebrews 9:3) as it hid from the eyes of all but the high priest the inmost sanctuary, where Jehovah dwells on his mercy-seat, between the cherubim above the ark. Hence "to enter within the veil" is to have the closest access to God. It was only passed by the high priest once a year, on the Day of Atonement in token of the mediation of Christ, who with his own blood hath entered for us within the veil which separates God’s own abode from earth. (Hebrews 6:19) In the temple, the solemn barrier was at length profaned by a Roman conqueror, to warn the Jews that the privileges they had forfeited were "ready to vanish away;" and the veil was at last rent by the hand of God himself, at the same moment that the body of Christ was rent upon the cross, to indicate that the entrance into the holiest of all is now laid open to all believers by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh." (Hebrews 10:19,20) The holy place was only entered by the priests daily, to offer incense at the time of morning and evening prayer, and to renew the lights on the golden candlesticks; and on the sabbath, to remove the old shew-bread, and to place the new upon the table. II. THE SACRED FURNITURE AND INSTRUMENTS OF THE TABERNACLE. --These are described in separate articles, and therefore it is only necessary to give a list of them here.

4. In the outer court. The altar of burnt offering and the brazen laver . [ALTAR; LAVER]

5. In the holy place. The furniture of the court was connected with sacrifice; that of the sanctuary itself with the deeper mysteries of mediation and access to God. The first sanctuary contained three objects: the altar of incense in the centre, so as to be directly in front of the ark of the covenant (1 Kings 6:22) the table of shew-bread on its right or north side, and the golden candlestick on the left or south side. These objects were all considered as being placed before the presence of Jehovah, who dwelt in the holiest of all, though with the veil between. [ALTAR; SHEW-BREAD; CANDLESTICK, CANDLESTICK]

6. In the holy of holies, within the veil, and shrouded in darkness, there was but one object, the ark of the covenant, containing the two tables of stone, inscribed with the Ten Commandments. [ARK OF THE COVENANT] III. THE COURT OF THE TABERNACLE, in which the tabernacle itself stood, was an oblong space, 100 cubits by 50 (i.e. 150 feet by 75), having its longer axis east and west, with its front to the east. It was surrounded by canvas screens--in the East called kannauts -- 5 cubits in height, and supported by pillars of brass 5 cubits apart, to which the curtains were attached by hooks and filets of silver. (Exodus 27:9) etc. This enclosure was broken only on the east side by the entrance, which was 20 cubits wide, and closed by curtains of fine twined linen wrought with needlework and of the most gorgeous colors. In the outer or east half of the court was placed the altar of burnt offering, and between it and the tabernacle itself; the laver at which the priests washed their hands and feet on entering the temple. The tabernacle itself was placed toward the west end of this enclosure. IV. HISTORY. --"The tabernacle, as the place in which Jehovah dwelt, was pitched in the centre of the camp, (Numbers 2:2) as the tent of a leader always is in the East; for Jehovah was the Captain of Israel. (Joshua 5:14,15) During the marches of Israel, the tabernacle was still in the centre. (Numbers 2:1) ... The tribes camped and marched around it in the order of a hollow square. In certain great emergencies led the march. (Joshua 3:11-16) Upon the tabernacle, abode always the cloud, dark by day and fiery red by night, (Exodus 10:38) giving the signal for the march, (Exodus 40:36,37; Numbers 9:17) and the halt. (Numbers 9:15-23) It was always the special meeting-place of Jehovah and his people. (Numbers 11:24,25; 12:4; 14:10; 16:19,42; 20:6; 27:2; 31:14) "During the conquest of Canaan the tabernacle at first moved from place to place, (Joshua 4:19; 8:30-35; 9:6; 10:15) was finally located at Shiloh. (Joshua 9:27; 18:1) Here it remained during the time of the judges, till it was captured by the Philistines, who carried off the sacred ark of the covenant. (1 Samuel 4:22) From this time forward the glory of the tabernacle was gone. When the ark was recovered, it was removed to Jerusalem, and placed in a new tabernacle (2 Samuel 6:17; 1 Chronicles 15:1) but the old structure still had its hold on the veneration of the community and the old altar still received their offerings. (1 Chronicles 16:39; 21:29) It was not till the temple was built, and a fitting house thus prepared for the Lord, that the ancient tabernacle was allowed to perish and be forgotten. V. SIGNIFICANCE. --(The great underlying principles of true religion are the same in all ages and for all men; because man’s nature and needs are the same, and the same God ever rules over all. But different ages require different methods of teaching these truths, and can understand them in different degrees. As we are taught in the Epistle to the Hebrews, the tabernacle was part of a great system of teaching by object-lessons, and of training the world to understand and receive the great truths which were to be revealed in Jesus Christ and thus really to save the Jews from sin By Jesus dimly seen in the future, as we clearly see him in the past. (1) The tabernacle and its services enabled the Jews, who had no visible representation of God, to feel the reality of God and of religion. (2) The tabernacle as the most beautiful and costly object in the nation and ever in the centre of the camp, set forth the truth that religion was the central fact and the most important, in a persons life. (3) The pillar of cloud and of fire was the best possible symbol of the living God,--a cloud, bright, glowing like the sunset clouds, glorious, beautiful, mysterious, self-poised, heavenly; fire, immaterial, the source of life and light and comfort and cheer, but yet unapproachable, terrible, a consuming fire to the wicked. (4) The altar of burnt offering, standing before the tabernacle was a perpetual symbol of the atonement,--the greatness of sin, deserving death, hard to be removed and yet forgiveness possible, and offered freely, but only through blood. The offerings, as brought by the people were a type of consecration to God, of conversion and new life, through the atonement. (6) This altar stood outside of the tabernacle, and must be passed before we come to the tabernacle itself; a type of the true religious life. Before the tabernacle was also the laver, signifying the same thing that baptism does with us, the cleansing of the heart and life. (8) Having entered the holy place, we find the three great means and helps to true living, --the candlestick, the light of God’s truth; the shew-bread, teaching that the soul must have its spiritual food and live in communion with God; and the altar of incense, the symbol of prayer. The holy of holies, beyond, taught that there was progress in the religious life, and that progress was toward God, and toward the perfect keeping of the law till it was as natural to obey the law as it is to breathe; and thus the holy of holies was the type of heaven. --ED.)

Tabernacles, The Feast Of

(Exodus 23:16) ("the feast of ingathering"), the third of the three great festivals: of the Hebrews, which lasted from the 15th till the 22d of Tisri.

1. The following are the principal passages in the Pentateuch which refer to it: (Exodus 23:16; Leviticus 23:34-36; 39-43; Numbers 29:12-38; 16:13-15; 31:10-13) In Nehe 8, there is an account of the observance of the feast by Ezra.

2. The time of the festival fell in the autumn, when the whole of the chief fruits of the ground, the corn, the wine and the oil, were gathered in. (Exodus 23:16; Leviticus 23:39; 15:13-15) Its duration was strictly only seven days, (16:13; Ezekiel 45:25) but it was followed by a day of holy convocation, distinguished by sacrifices of its own, which was sometimes spoken of as an eighth day. (Leviticus 23:36; Nehemiah 8:18) During the seven days the Israelites were commanded to dwell in booths or huts formed of the boughs of trees. The boughs were of the olive palm, pine, myrtle and other trees with thick foliage. (Nehemiah 8:15,16) According to rabbinical tradition each Israelite used to tie the branches into a bunch, to be carried in his hand to which the name lulab was given. The burnt offerings of the Feast of Tabernacles were by far more numerous than those of any other festival. There were offered on each day two rams, fourteen lambs and a kid for a sin offering. But what was most peculiar was the arrangement of the sacrifices of bullocks, in amounting to seventy. (Numbers 29:12-38) The eighth day was a day of holy convocation of peculiar solemnity. On the morning of this day the Hebrews left their huts and dismantled them, and took up their abode again in their houses. The special offerings of the day were a bullock a ram, seven lambs and a goat for a sin offering. (Numbers 29:36,38) When the Feast of Tabernacles fell on a sabbatical year, portions of the law were read each day in public, to men, women, children and strangers. (31:10-13) We find Ezra reading the law during the festival "day by day, from the first day to the last day." (Nehemiah 8:18)

3. There are two particulars in the observance of the Feast of Tabernacles which appear to be referred to in the New Testament, but are not noticed in the Old. These were the ceremony of pouring out some water of the pool of Siloam and the display of some great lights in the court of the women. We are told that each Israelite, in holiday attire, having made up his lulab , before he broke his fast repaired to the temple with the lulab in one hand and the citron in the other, at the time of the ordinary morning sacrifice. The parts of the victim were laid upon the altar. One of the priests fetched some water in a golden ewer from the pool of Siloam, which he brought into the court through the water-gate. As he entered the trumpets sounded, and he ascended the slope of the altar. At the top of this were fixed two silver basins with small openings at the bottom. Wine was poured into that on the eastern side, and the water into that on the western side, whence it was conducted by pipes into the Cedron. In the evening, both men and women assembled in the court of the women, expressly to hold a rejoicing for the drawing of the water of Siloam. At the same time there were set up in the court two lofty stands, each supporting four great lamps. These were lighted on each night of the festival. It appears to be generally admitted that the words of our Saviour, (John 7:37,38) --"If a man thirst, let him come unto me drink. He that believeth on me as the Scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water" --were suggested by the pouring out of the water of Siloam. But it is very doubtful what is meant by "the last day, that great day of the feast." It would seem that either the last day of the feast itself, that is, the seventh, or the last day of the religious observances of the series of annual festivals, the eighth, must be intended. The eighth day may be meant and then the reference of our Lord would be to an ordinary and well-known observance of the feast, though it was not, at the very time, going on. We must resort to some such explanation if we adopt the notion that our Lord’s words (John 8:12) --"I am the light of the world "-- refer to the great lamps of the festival.

4. Though all the Hebrew annual festivals were seasons of rejoicing, the Feast of Tabernacles was, in this respect, distinguished above them all. The huts and the lulabs must have made a gay end striking spectacle over the city by day, and the lamps, the flambeaux, the music and the joyous gatherings in the court of the temple must have given a still more festive character to the night. The main purposes of the Feast of Tabernacles are plainly set forth in (Exodus 23:16) and Levi 23:43 It was to be at once a thanksgiving for the harvest and a commemoration of the time when the Israelites dwelt in tents during their passage through the wilderness. In one of its meanings it stands in connection with the Passover. as the Feast of Abib, and with Pentecost, as the feast of harvest; in its other meaning, it is related to the Passover as the great yearly memorial of the deliverance from the destroyer and from the tyranny of Egypt. But naturally connected with this exultation in their regained freedom was the rejoicing in the more perfect fulfillment of God’s promise in the settlement of his people in the holy blessing. But the culminating point of was the establishment of the central spot of the national worship in the temple at Jerusalem. Hence it was evidently fitting that the Feast of Tabernacles should be kept with an unwonted degree of observance at the dedication of Solomon’s temple, (1 Kings 8:2,65) Joseph. Ant. viii. 4,5; again, after the rebuilding of the temple by Ezra, (Nehemiah 8:13-18) and a third time by Judas Maccabaeus when he had driven out the Syrians and restored the temple to the worship of Jehovah. 2 Macc. 10:5-8.

Tabitha

(gazelle), also called Dorcas by St. Luke, a female disciple of Joppa, "full of good works" among which that of making clothes for the poor is specifically mentioned. While St. Peter was at the neighboring town of Lydda, Tabitha, died; upon which the disciples at Joppa sent an urgent message to the apostle begging him to come to them without delay. Upon his arrival Peter found the deceased already prepared for burial, and laid out in an upper chamber, where she was surrounded by the recipients and the tokens of her charity after the example of our Saviour in the house of Jairus, (Matthew 9:25; Mark 5:40) "Peter put them all forth," prayed for the divine assistance, and then commanded Tabitha to arise. Comp. (Mark 5:41; Luke 8:51) She opened-her eyes and sat up, and then, assisted by the apostle, rose from her couch. This great miracle, as we are further told produced an extraordinary effect in Joppa, and was the occasion of many conversions there. (Acts 9:38-42) The name "Tabitha" is an Aramaic word signifying a "female gazelle." St. Luke gives "Dorcas" as the Greek equivalent of the name.

Tabor

is mentioned in the lists of 1Chr 6 as a city of the Merarite Levites, in the tribe of Zebulun. ver. (1 Chronicles 6:77) The list of the towns of Zebulun. Josh 19 contains the name of Chisloth-tabor. ver. (Joshua 19:12) It is, therefore, possible, either that Chisloth-tabor is abbreviated into Tabor by the chronicler, or that by the time these later lists were compiled the Merarites had established themselves on the sacred mountain, and that Tabor is Mount Tabor.

Tabor

(a mound), or Mount Tabor, one of the most interesting and remarkable of the single mountains in Palestine. It rises abruptly from the northeastern arm of the plain of Esdraelon, and stands entirely insulated, except on the west where a narrow ridge connects it with the hills of Nazareth. It presents to the eye, as seen from a distance, a beautiful appearance, being symmetrical in its proportions and rounded off like a hemisphere or the segment of a circle, yet varying somewhat as viewed from different directions. The body of the mountain consists of the peculiar limestone of the country. It is now called Jebel-et-Tur . It lies about six or eight miles almost due east from Nazareth. The ascent is usually made on the west side, near the little village of Deburieh --probably the ancient Daberath, (Joshua 19:12) --though it can be made with entire ease in other places. It requires three quarters of an hour or an hour to reach the to the top. The top of Tabor consists of an irregular platform, embracing a circuit of half an hour’s walk, and commanding wide views of the subjacent plain from end to end. Tabor does not occur in the New Testament, but makes a prominent figure in the Old. The book of Joshua (Joshua 19:22) mentions it as the boundary between Issachar and Zebulun, See ver. 12. Barak, at the command of Deborah, assembled his forces on Tabor, and descended thence, with "ten thousand men after him," into the plain, and conquered Sisera on the banks of the Kishon. (Judges 4:6-15) The brothers of Gideon each of whom "resembled the children of a king," were murdered here by Zebah and Zalmunna. (Judges 8:18,19) There are at present the ruins of a fortress round all the summit of Tabor. The Latin Christians have now an altar here at which their priests from Nazareth perform an annual mass. The Greeks also have a chapel, where, on certain festivals they assemble for the celebration of religious rites. The idea that our Saviour was transfigured on Tabor prevailed extensively among the early Christians, and still reappears often in popular religious works. It is impossible, however, to acquiesce in the correctness of this opinion. It can be proved from the Old Testament and from later history that a fortress or town existed on Tabor from very early times down to B.C. 53 or 50; and as Josephus says that he strengthened the fortifications there about A.D. 60, it is morally certain that Tabor must have been inhabited during the intervening Period that is in the days of Christ. Tabor, therefore, could not have been the Mount of Transfiguration [see HERMON]; for when it is said that Jesus took his disciples "up into a high mountain apart, and was transfigured before them (Matthew 17:1,2) we must understand that he brought them to the summit of the mountain, where they were alone by themselves.

Tabor, The Plain Of

This is an incorrect translation, and should be THE OAK OF TABOR, TABOR. It is mentioned in (1 Samuel 10:3) only, as one of the points in the homeward journey of Saul after his anointing by Samuel.

Tabret

[TIMBREL, TABRET]

Tabrimon

(properly Tabrimmon, i.e. good is Rimmon , the Syrian god) the father of Ben-hadad I., king of Syria in the reign of Asa. (1 Kings 15:18) (B.C. before 928.)

Tache

The word thus rendered occurs only in the description of the structure of the tabernacle and its fittings, (Exodus 26:6,11,33; 35:11; 36:13; 39:33) and appears to indicate the small hooks by which a curtain is suspended to the rings from which it hangs, or connected vertically, as in the case of the veil of the holy of holies, with the loops of another curtain.

Tachmonite, The

"The Tachmonite that sat in the seat," chief among David’s captains, (2 Samuel 23:8) Isa in 1Chr 11:11 Called "Jashobeam an Hachmonite," or, as the margin gives it, "son of Hachmoni." Kennicott has shown that the words translated "he that sat in the seat" are a corruption of Jashobeam, and that "the Tachmonite" is a corruption of the "son of Hachmoni," which was the family or local name of Jashobeam. Therefore he concludes "Jashobeam the Hachmonite" to have been the true reading.

Tadmor

(city of palms), called "Tadmor in the wilderness," is the same as the city known to the Greeks and Romans under the name of Palmyra. It lay between the Euphrates and Hamath, to the southeast of that city, in a fertile tract or oasis of the desert. Being situated at a convenient distance from both the Mediterranean Sea and the Persian Gulf, it had great advantages for caravan traffic. It was built by Solomon after his conquest of Hamath-zobah. (1 Kings 9:18; 2 Chronicles 8:4) As the city is-nowhere else mentioned in the Bible, it would be out of place to enter into a detailed history of it. In the second century A.D. it seems to have been beautified by the emperor Hadrian. In the beginning of the third century --211-217 A.D.-- it became a Roman colony under Caracalla. Subsequently, in the reign of Gallienus, the Roman senate invested Odenathus, a senator of Palmyra, with the regal dignity, on account of his services in defeating Sapor, king of Persia. On the assassination of Odenathus, his wife, Zenobia, seems to have conceived the design of erecting Palmyra into an independent monarchy; and in prosecution of this object, she for a while successfully resisted the Roman arms. She was at length defeated and taken captive by the emperor Aurelian, A.D. 273, who left a Roman garrison in Palmyra. This garrison was massacred in a revolt; and Aurelian punished the city by the execution not only of those who were taken in arms, but likewise of common peasants, of old men, women and children. From this blow Palmyra never recovered, though there are proofs of its having continued to be inhabited until the downfall of the Roman empire. The grandeur and magnificence of the ruins of Palmyra cannot be exceeded, and attest its former greatness. Among the most remarkable are the Tombs, the Temple of the Sun and the Street of Columns.

Tahan

(camp), a descendant of Ephraim. (Numbers 26:35) In (1 Chronicles 7:25) he appears as the son of Telah.

Tahanites, The

(Numbers 26:35) [TAHAN]

Tahath

the name of a desert station of the Israelites between Makheloth and Tarah. (Numbers 33:26) The site has not been identified.

Tahath

(station).

1. A Kohathite Levite, ancestor of Samuel and Heman. (1 Chronicles 6:22,37; 9:22) (B.C. about 1415.)

2. According to the present text, son of Bered, and great-grandson of Ephraim. (1 Chronicles 7:20) Burrington, however, identifies Tahath with Tahan, the son of Ephraim.

3. Grandson of the preceding, as the text now stands. (1 Chronicles 7:20) But Burrington considers him as a son of Ephraim.

Tahpanhes, Tehaphnehes, Tahapanes

a city of Egypt, mentioned in the time of the prophets Jeremiah and Ezekiel. The name is evidently Egyptian, and closely resembles that of the Egyptian queen Tahpenes. It was evidently a town of lower Egypt, near or on the eastern border. When Johanan and the other captains went into Egypt "they came to Tahpanhes." (Jeremiah 43:7) The Jews in Jeremiah’s time remained here. (Jeremiah 44:1) It was an important town, being twice mentioned by the latter prophet with Noph or Memphis. (Jeremiah 2:16; 46:14) Here stood a house of Pharaoh-hophra before which Jeremiah hid great stones. (Jeremiah 43:8-10)

Tahpenes

an Egyptian queen, was wife of the Pharaoh who received Hadad the Edomite, and who gave him her sister in marriage. (1 Kings 11:18-20) (B.C. about 1000.)

Tahrea

(cunning), son of Micah and grandson of Mephibosheth. (1 Chronicles 9:41) (B.C. after 1057.)

Tahtimhodshi

(lowlands of Hodshi?), The land of, one of the places visited by Joab during his census of the land of Israel. It occurs between Gilead and Dan-jaan. (2 Samuel 24:6) The name has puzzled all the interpreters, (Kitto says it was probably a section of the upper valley of the Jordan, now called Ard el-Huleh , lying deep down at the western base of Hermon. --ED.)

Talent

[WEIGHTS AND MEASURES AND MEASURES]

Talitha Cumi

two Syriac words, (Mark 5:41) signifying damsel, arise .

Talmai

(bold).

1. One of the three sons of "the Anak" who were slain by the men of Judah. (Numbers 13:22; Joshua 15:14; Judges 1:10) (B.C. 1450.)

2. Son of Ammihud king of Geshur. (2 Samuel 3:3; 13:37; 1 Chronicles 3:2) He was probably a petty chieftain, dependent on David. (B.C. 1040.)

Talmon

(oppressor), the head of a family of door-keepers in the temple, "the porters for the camps of the sons: of Levi." (1 Chronicles 9:17; Nehemiah 11:19) (B.C. 1013.) Some of his descendants returned with Zerubbabel, (Ezra 2:43; Nehemiah 7:45) and were employed in their hereditary office in the days of Nehemiah and Ezra. (Nehemiah 12:25)

Talmud

(i.e. doctrine , from the Hebrew word "to learn") is a large collection of writings, containing a full account of the civil and religious laws of the Jews. It was a fundamental principle of the Pharisees, common to them with all orthodox modern Jews, that by the side of the written law, regarded as a summary of the principles and general laws of the Hebrew people, there was an oral law, to complete and to explain the written law. It was an article of faith that in the Pentateuch there was no precept, and no regulation, ceremonial, doctrinal or legal, of which God had not given to Moses all explanations necessary for their application, with the order to transmit them by word of mouth. The classical subject is the following in the Mishna on this wing: "Moses received the (oral) law from Sinai, and delivered it to Joshua, and Joshua to the elders, and the elders to the prophets and the prophets to the men of the Great Synagogue." This oral law, with the numerous commentaries upon it, forms the Talmud. It consists of two parts, the Mishna and Gemara.

1. The MISHNA, or "second law," which contains a compendium of the whole ritual law, was reduced to writing in its present form by Rabbi Jehuda the Holy, a Jew of great wealth and influence, who flourished in the second century of the Christian era. Viewed as a whole, the precepts in the Mishna treated men like children, formalizing and defining the minutest particulars of ritual observances. The expressions of "bondage," or "weak and beggarly elements," and of "burdens too heavy for men to bear," faithfully represent the impression produced by their multiplicity. The Mishna is very concisely written, and requires notes.

2. This circumstance led to the commentaries called GEMARA (i.e. supplement, completion), which form the second part of the Talmud, and which are very commonly meant when the word "Talmud" is used by itself. There are two Gemaras; one of Jerusalem, in which there is said to be no passage which can be proved to be later than the first half of the fourth century; and the other of Babylon, completed about 500 A.D. The latter is the more important and by far the longer.

Tamah

(laughter). The children of Tamah or Thamah, (Ezra 2:53) were among the Nethinim who returned with Zerubbabel. (Nehemiah 7:55)

Tamar

(palm tree).

1. The wife successively of the two sons of Judah, Er and Onan. (Genesis 38:8-30) (B.C. about 1718.) Her importance in the sacred narrative depends on the great anxiety to keep up the lineage of Judah. It seemed as if the family were on the point of extinction. Er and Onan had successively perished suddenly. Judah’s wife, Bathshuah, died; and there only remained a child, Shelah, whom Judah was unwilling to trust to the dangerous union as it appeared, with Tamar, lest he should meet with the same fate as his brothers. Accordingly she resorted to the desperate expedient of entrapping the father himself into the union which he feared for his son. The fruits of this intercourse were twins, Pharez and Zarah, and through Pharez the sacred line was continued.

2. Daughter of David and Maachah the Geshurite princess, and thus sister of Absalom. (2 Samuel 13:1-32; 1 Chronicles 3:9) (B.C. 1033.) She and her brother were alike remarkable for their extraordinary beauty. This fatal beauty inspired a frantic passion in her half-brother Amnon, the oldest son of David by Ahinoam. In her touching remonstrance two points are remarkable: first, the expression of the infamy of such a crime "in Israel" implying the loftier standard of morals that prevailed, as compared with other countries at that time; and second, the belief that even this standard might be overborne lawfully by royal authority --"Speak to the king, for he will not withhold me from thee." The intense hatred of Amnon succeeding to his brutal passion, and the indignation of Tamar at his barbarous insult, even surpassing her indignation at his shameful outrage, are pathetically and graphically told.

3. Daughter of Absalom, (2 Samuel 14:7) became, by her marriage with Uriah of Gibeah, the mother of Maachah, the future queen of Judah or wife of Abijah. (1 Kings 15:2) (B.C. 1023.)

4. A spot on the southeastern frontier of Judah, named in (Ezekiel 47:19; 48:28) only, evidently called from a palm tree. If not Hazazon-tamar, the old name of Engedi, it may he a place called Thamar in the Onamasticon [HAZAZON-TAMAR), a day’s journey south of Hebron.

Tammuz

(sprout of life), properly "the Tammuz," the article indicating that at some time or other the word had been regarded as an appellative. (Ezekiel 8:14) Jerome identifies Tammuz with Adonis, of Grecian mythology, who was fabled to have lost his wife while hunting, by a wound from the tusk of a wild boar. He was greatly beloved by the goddess Venus, who was inconsolable at his loss. His blood according to Ovid produced the anemone, but according to others the adonium, while the anemone sprang from the tears of Venus. A festival in honor of Adonis was celebrated at Byblus in Phoenicia and in most of the Grecian cities, and even by the Jews when they degenerated into idolatry. It took place in July, and was accompanied by obscene rites.

Tanach

a slight variation of the name TAANACH. (Joshua 21:26)

Tanhumeth

(consolation), the father of Seraiah in the time of Gedaliah. (2 Kings 25:23; Jeremiah 40:8) (B.C. before 582.)

Taphath

(ornament), the daughter of Solomon, who was married to ben-Abinadab. (1 Kings 4:11) (B.C. about 1000.)

Taphon

one of the cities in Judea fortified by Bacchides. 1 Macc. 9:50. It is probably the Beth-tappuah of the Old Testament.

Tappush

(the apple-city).

1. A city of Judah, of the Shefelah or lowland. (Joshua 15:34)

2. A place on the boundary of the "children of Joseph." (Joshua 16:8; 17:8) Its full name was probably En-tappuah. (Joshua 17:7) ("Around the city was a district called the land of Tappuah; the city belonged to Ephraim and the land to Manasseh. (Joshua 17:8) " --Schaff.)

3. One of the sons of Hebron, of the tribe of Judah. (1 Chronicles 2:43) It is doubtless the same as Beth-tappuah. (B.C. before 1450.)

Tarah

(delay), a desert-station of the Israelites between Tahath and Mithcah. (Numbers 33:27)

Taralah

(reeling), one of the towns in the allotment of Benjamin. (Joshua 18:27)

Tarea

the same as Tahreah, the son of Micah. (1 Chronicles 8:35)

Tares

There can be little doubt that the zizania of the parable, (Matthew 13:25) denotes the weed called "darnel" (Lolium temulentum). The darnel before it comes into ear is very similar in appearance to wheat; hence the command that the zizania should be left to the harvest, lest while men plucked up the tares "they should root up also the wheat with them." Dr. Stanley, however, speaks of women and children picking up from the wheat in the cornfields of Samaria the tall green stalks, still called by the Arabs zuwan . "These stalks," he continues, "if sown designedly throughout the fields, would be inseparable from the wheat, from which, even when growing naturally and by chance, they are at first sight hardly distinguishable." See also Thomson ("The Land and the Book" p. 420): "The grain is in just the proper stage to illustrate the parable. In those parts where the grain has headed out , the tares have done the same, and then a child cannot mistake them for wheat or barley; but where both are less developed, the closest scrutiny will often fail to detect them. Even the farmers, who in this country generally weed their fields, do not attempt to separate the one from the other." The grains of the L. temulentum , if eaten, produce convulsions, and even death.

Targum

[See VERSIONS, ANCIENT, OF THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS, VERSIONS, AUTHORIZED]

Tarpelites, The

A race of Assyrian colonists who were planted int he cites of Samaria after the captivity of the northern kingdom of Israel. (Ezra 4:9) They have not been identified with any certainty.