weighing one talent, as referred to at Revelation 16:21, would in either case be unusually great.

TALITHA CUMI

(Talʹi·tha cuʹmi) [Maiden, I say to you, Get up!].

The Semitic expression used by Jesus Christ at the time he resurrected Jairus’ daughter. (Mark 5:41) The transliterations of this expression vary in Greek manuscripts. While it is often referred to as Aramaic, at least the latter part of the phrase (“cuʹmi”) could be either Hebrew or Aramaic, according to W. E. Vine (Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words, Vol. IV, p. 109). Lexicographer Gesenius derives “talʹi·tha” from the Hebrew word for “young lamb” (ta·lehʹ).

TALMAI

(Talʹmai) [furrows, plowman].

1. Son of Anak, and brother to Ahiman and Sheshai, who dwelt in Hebron when the land was spied out by the Israelites in 1512 B.C.E. (Num. 13:22, 28, 33; see ANAKIM.) Upon entering the land forty-five years later, Caleb, one of the original twelve spies, drove Talmai and his brothers out of Hebron. (Josh. 14:10-15; 15:13, 14; Judg. 1:10) Some authorities think that the name Tanmahu, found in a hieroglyphic inscription depicting a tall, light-complexioned man, is the Egyptian equivalent for Talmai. This Canaanite name also occurs in the Ras Shamra Tablets of the period of the Judges.

2. A son of Ammihud; king of Geshur. (2 Sam. 13:37) Talmai’s daughter Maacah bore Absalom to David. (2 Sam. 3:3; 1 Chron. 3:2) After having Amnon killed for violating his sister Tamar, Absalom fled to his grandfather Talmai.—2 Sam. 13:28, 29, 37, 38.

TALMON

(Talʹmon).

Head of a postexilic Levitical family of gatekeepers. After having returned from Babylon with Zerubbabel, he ‘and his brothers’ were chosen to live in Jerusalem.—1 Chron. 9:3, 17; Ezra 2:42; Neh. 7:45; 11:1, 19; 12:25.

TAMAR

(Taʹmar) [palm tree].

1. Daughter-in-law of Jacob’s son Judah. Tamar married Judah’s first son Er, but Jehovah put Er to death for his wickedness, leaving Tamar a widow. She was then given Onan, but Jehovah put him to death for failure to perform brother-in-law marriage, and Tamar still remained a childless widow. Judah procrastinated in giving her his third son; so as to conceal her identity she disguised herself as a prostitute in order to get Judah himself to have relations with her, cleverly taking his seal ring, cord and rod as security. When Judah learned that Tamar was pregnant, he at first wanted her (stoned and then) burned. (Compare Joshua 7:15, 25.) But on learning that through her maneuvering to get an heir he had become the father, Judah exclaimed, “She is more righteous than I am.” In the difficult birth that followed, Tamar produced twins, Perez and Zerah. (Gen. 38:6-30) The Messianic lineage is traced through her son Perez.—Ruth 4:12, 18-22; 1 Chron. 2:4; Matt. 1:3.

2. A beautiful daughter of King David and full sister of Absalom. (1 Chron. 3:9; 2 Sam. 13:1) Her oldest half-brother Amnon became infatuated with her and through craftiness succeeded in violating her, though she resisted him. Absalom consoled her, kept her in his house, and two years later avenged Tamar by having Amnon murdered.—2 Sam. 13:1-33.

3. Daughter of Absalom, likely named after her aunt (No. 2 above). (2 Sam. 14:27) Like her father, she was very attractive in appearance. She may have married Uriel, which would have made her the mother of Rehoboam’s favored wife Maacah.—2 Chron. 11:20, 21; 13:1, 2.

4. One of several cities built (possibly rebuilt or fortified) by King Solomon.—1 Ki. 9:17-19; see TADMOR.

TAMARISK

[Heb., ʼeʹshel].

The Hebrew name of this tree is evidently related to the Arabic ʼathl and the Aramaic ʼath·laʼʹ, which identify one type of tamarisk tree. The tamarisk grows as a tree or shrub. Though its trunk is gnarled, the branches are often wandlike, giving the tree a feathery appearance. The evergreen leaves are tiny, scalelike, and pressed close to the branches, so they lose very little moisture by transpiration, enabling the trees to live in desert regions and even on sand dunes. In spring the tree blossoms with spikes of tiny pink or white flowers, which give welcome color to otherwise barren regions. Salt-loving tamarisks will often grow very near the ocean and on salt marshes. Abundant tamarisks along the banks of the Jordan form junglelike thickets that are the habitat of wild animals, and in Bible times they may have helped compose the “proud thickets along the Jordan” where lions once found cover.—Jer. 49:19; Zech. 11:3.

Though the tamarisk is generally shrub-size, W. Corswant’s Dictionary of Life in Bible Times (p. 269) states that in Egypt, Palestine and Syria the tree can attain remarkable proportions and become of great height. Abraham is recorded as having planted one at Beer-sheba (Gen. 21:33), King Saul sat in the shade of a tamarisk at Gibeon (1 Sam. 22:6), and his bones and those of his sons were buried under a large tamarisk tree in Jabesh-gilead.—1 Sam. 31:13; compare 1 Chronicles 10:12, where the Hebrew word for “big tree” (ʼe·lahʹ) is used.

Dr. Joseph Weitz, a noted authority on reforestation in Israel, said: “The first tree Abraham put in the soil of Beersheba was a tamarisk. Following his lead, four years ago we put out two million in the same area. Abraham was right. The tamarisk is one of the few trees we have found that thrives in the south where yearly rainfall is less than six inches.”—Reader’s Digest, March 1954, pp. 27, 30.

One type of tamarisk (Tamarix mannifera), when pierced by a scale insect, exudes drops of honeylike sap that are gathered and sold to pilgrims in some places as “manna.” This has no relation, however, to the manna provided for Israel in the wilderness, since such true manna was miraculously provided and gathered from the ground.—Ex. 16:13-15.

TAMBOURINE

[Heb., toph].

A percussion instrument used since patriarchal times. The Hebrew word has also been translated as “timbrel,” “tambour” and “tabret.” (Gen. 31:27, Kx, Da, AS) All these renderings essentially are descriptive of the same instrument—a small hand drum of animal skin or parchment stretched on one or both sides of a wooden or metal frame, likely about ten inches (25.4 centimeters) in diameter. In view of its festive use, some models may have had pieces of metal, perhaps jingles, attached to the sides and could have been played like a modern tambourine. Other types probably had more the appearance and use of a tom-tom, being beaten with both hands.

Although the tambourine is not mentioned in connection with temple worship, it was used by both men and women in praising Jehovah and on other joyful occasions such as feasts and weddings. (1 Sam. 10:5; 2 Sam. 6:5; Ps. 150:4; Isa. 5:12) Women especially would accompany themselves with tambourines in singing and dancing. (Ex. 15:20; Judg. 11:34; 1 Sam. 18:6) The tambourine is also associated with the prospective gladness of Israel when the time of her restoration would arrive.—Jer. 31:4.

TAMMUZ, I

(Tamʹmuz).

A deity identified in Babylonian texts as the youthful consort or lover of the fertility goddess Ishtar. Annually the Babylonians bewailed the death of Tammuz, and this feature of his worship was practiced by apostate Hebrew women. (Ezek. 8:14) It has been suggested that Tammuz was the actual name of Adonis, and that the Greeks, who, it is thought, adopted his worship from the Semites of Syria and Babylonia, converted the title “Adonis” (lord) into a proper name. Tammuz or Adonis is generally identified with other gods who were believed to die and come back to life annually, such as the Egyptian Osiris and the Phrygian Attis. The cross was Tammuz’ symbol.

Alexander Hislop, in his book The Two Babylons, pages 21 to 23, identifies Tammuz with Nimrod, “a mighty hunter in opposition to Jehovah” (Gen. 10:9), saying: “In Scripture he is referred to (Ezek. viii. 14) under the name of Tammuz, but he is commonly known among classical writers under the name of Bacchus, that is, ‘The Lamented one.’ To the ordinary reader the name of Bacchus suggests nothing more than revelry and drunkenness, but it is now well known, that amid all the abominations that attended his orgies, their grand design was professedly ‘the purification of souls,’ and that from the guilt and defilement of sin. This lamented one, exhibited and adored as a little child in his mother’s arms, seems, in point of fact, to have been the husband of Semiramis, whose name, Ninus, by which he is commonly known in classical history, literally signified ‘The Son.’ . . . Now, this Ninus, or ‘Son,’ borne in the arms of the Babylonian Madonna, is so described as very clearly to identify him with Nimrod. ‘Ninus, king of the Assyrians,’ says Trogus Pompeius, epitomised by Justin, ‘first of all changed the contented moderation of the ancient manners, incited by a new passion, the desire of conquest. He was the first who carried on war against his neighbours, and he conquered all nations from Assyria to Lybia, as they were yet unacquainted with the arts of war.’ This account points directly to Nimrod, and can apply to no other.”—See ADONIS.

TAMMUZ, II

(Tamʹmuz).

The postexilic name given to the fourth Jewish lunar month of the sacred calendar, but the tenth of the secular calendar. Thus, in the Targum of Jonathan the expression “the tenth month” at Genesis 8:5 is rendered “the month Tammuz.” Tammuz was the name of a Babylonian deity. (Ezek. 8:14) The Bible record does not apply this name to the fourth month but merely refers to the month by its numerical order. (Ezek. 1:1) The name does appear, however, in the Jewish Talmud and other postexilic works. The use of the pagan name “Tammuz” as applying to the fourth month as well as the use of the other postexilic names may have been only a matter of convenience among the Jews. It should be remembered that they were then a subjugated people, obliged to deal with and report to the foreign powers dominating them, and in view of this it is no strange thing if they utilized the names of the months employed by these foreign powers. The Gregorian calendar used today has months named after the gods Janus, Mars and Jupiter, as well as for Julius and Augustus Caesar, yet it continues to be used by Christians who are subject to the “superior authorities.”—Rom. 13:1.

This month, Tammuz, corresponded to part of June and part of July and, therefore, came in the growing heat of summer. By now the grapevines were beginning to yield their first ripe fruit and in some of the lowland areas the olive trees were approaching harvesttime.—Num. 13:20.

It was on the ninth day of this fourth month (Tammuz) that Nebuchadnezzar breached the walls of Jerusalem in 607 B.C.E. after an eighteen-month siege. (2 Ki. 25:3, 4; Jer. 39:2; 52:6, 7) During the seventy years of exile that followed, the Jews customarily fasted on the ninth day of the fourth month in memory of this blow against Jerusalem. (Zech. 8:19) However, following the second destruction of Jerusalem, in the year 70 C.E., the fast was observed on the seventeenth day of the fourth month, the day the walls of the temple were breached by Roman General Titus. There were no festivals appointed by Jehovah for this month.

TANHUMETH

(Tan·huʹmeth) [consolation].

The Netophathite father of Seraiah, a military leader of the Jews left in Jerusalem after the deportation to Babylon.—2 Ki. 25:23; Jer. 40:8.

TANNER

A person skilled in the tanning profession, the craft of converting animal hides into leather that can then be used to make articles of various kinds. (2 Ki. 1:8; Matt. 3:4) Doubtless the tanning operation was performed in the past as it has been recently in the Middle East, in a one- or two-room tannery housing tools and vats for preparing the hides. The basic process of preparing leather involved (1) loosening the hair, usually with a lime solution, (2) removing the hair, bits of flesh and fat adhering to the hide, and (3) tanning the hide with a liquor made from such things as sumac or oak bark, or from certain kinds of plants.

Peter spent “quite a few days . . . in Joppa with a certain Simon, a tanner,” whose house was by the sea.—Acts 9:43; 10:32.

TAPHATH

(Taʹphath).

A daughter of King Solomon and wife of one of his twelve deputies.—1 Ki. 4:7, 11.

TAPPUAH

(Tapʹpu·ah) [apple].

1. One of Hebron’s four sons and a descendant of Caleb. (1 Chron. 2:42, 43) Some suggest that his name is to be connected with Beth-tappuah, a town near Hebron.—See BETH-TAPPUAH.

2. A town in the Shephelah region assigned to the tribe of Judah. (Josh. 15:20, 33, 34) It is thus distinct from Beth-tappuah in the Hebron area. Beit Nettif, about twelve miles (19 kilometers) W of Bethlehem, is tentatively identified as the site.

3. A town on the boundary between Ephraim and Manasseh. (Josh. 16:8) The surrounding area, the “land of Tappuah,” was allotted to Manasseh, but the city to Ephraim. (Josh. 17:8) En-Tappuah (Josh. 17:7) evidently refers to a nearby spring (Heb., ʽAʹyin, or En, meaning “spring,” when used as a prefix) and may have been a more complete name used for the city of Tappuah.

The “king of Tappuah” is mentioned among the rulers vanquished by Joshua in the conquest of Canaan (Josh. 12:17), and there is some difference of opinion as to whether “Tappuah” here refers to the city in the Shephelah or to the Ephraimite city. The more prominent mention made of the latter place, as well as the reference to the “land of Tappuah” (perhaps having some connection with the domain of the king of Tappuah), may indicate the Ephraimite Tappuah as the more likely of the two.

Most authorities identify the Ephraimite Tappuah with Tell Sheikh Abu Zarad, some eight miles (13 kilometers) S of Shechem and just below the town of Yasuf.

TAR

See BITUMEN.

TARALAH

(Tarʹa·lah) [perhaps, reeling].

A Benjamite city, the location of which is today unknown. It is listed, however, with other cities situated in the mountainous region N of Jerusalem.—Josh. 18:25-28.

TAREA

(Ta·reʹa).

A descendant of Saul through Jonathan; also called Tahrea (Tahrʹe·a).—1 Chron. 8:33-35; 9:39-41.

TARSHISH

(Tarʹshish) [perhaps chrysolite, or some gold-colored stone].

1. One of Javan’s four sons born after the Flood. (Gen. 10:4; 1 Chron. 1:7) He is included among the seventy family heads from whom the nations were “spread about in the earth.” (Gen. 10:32) As in the case of Javan’s other sons, the name Tarshish came to apply to a people and region. There are some indications of the direction in which the descendants of Tarshish migrated during the centuries following the Flood.

The prophet Jonah (c. 844 B.C.E.), commissioned by Jehovah to go to Nineveh in Assyria, tried to escape his assignment by going to the Mediterranean seaport of Joppa (modern Tel Aviv—Jaffa) and buying passage on “a ship going to Tarshish.” (Jonah 1:1-3; 4:2)