Pec.4] SOCIETYOF BIBLICAL ARCHEOLOGY. [1894.of Tyre includes all the kingdoms andcities of its coasts." It
is impossible not to feel from the mannerin which Tarshish is
mentionedin connection withJavan, Tubal, Meshech, and other
peoples, as trading with Tyre, that it cannot by any stretch of
latitude in reading be made to pose as "the merchantof Tyre,"
includingall the kingdoms and citiesof its coasts. It is distinctly
spokenof as one among otherpeoples,a merchant of Tyre, andas
tradingin its fairs. " They tradedin thy fairs," are the simple and
concisewordsin Ezekiel xxvii, 12.
Finally,Mr.Renouflooksupon the passage in Psalm lxxii, io,
"Thekings of Tarshish andof the isles shallbringpresents,"as
a reminiscence of Jeremiah xxv, 22, "All the kings of Tyre, and
all the kings of Zidon, and the kings of the isles whicharc by
the sea-side." Thelatter maypossiblyallude to the isles on the
coastof Phoenicia ; but the first quiteas unquestionably refersto
the kings of Tarsus andof the neighbouring isles,of which Cyprus
was the chief.*
There are in reality no tangible proofs of the Phcenike, or
Phoenicia, of the Greeks, ever havingbeen called Tarshish, or
Tharshish. Theidentificationof the lands or territories enumerated
in Ezekiel (chapter xxvii),lendno countenance to such an assump
tion. Noris such an identification corroboratedby any authority,
scripturalor profane, historicalor geographical, legendaryor monu
mental. On the other hand,manyauthorities,as more especially
Josephus, have identified TarshishwithTarsus or Tarsis ; and all
the circumstances of the case —the forests whence the ships of
Tarshish were constructed, the minerals which abound in the
adjacent mountain ranges, andthe ever-enduring commerce and
civilisingimportanceof the city, if not perfectly convincing,attach
all the possibilities of circumstantial evidenceto the identification.
- Tyre is also spokenof separately as a merchant of the people for many
isles(Ezekielxxvii,3).
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