— Edited
Angelika. It is a fair point. It is certainly not a theory without controversy, and, to be fair, while interesting to debate, I don't think the location of Tarshish makes much interpretive difference to the passage -- It's why I put this here, not in the sermon. But if Tarshish here is referring to the location mentioned in Jonah it is also a problem if Tarshish is in Spain. There would be no Ivory there either. From context, it seems that "ships of Tarshish" in 1 Kings (and its parallel passage in 2 Chronicles 9:21) refers to a type of ship that the Israelite's added to their fleet, rather than ships which came from or traded with Tarshish. It is probably a type of ship that became synonymous with trading, and so carried the name of the trading port it originated from, even when they were sailing elsewhere. Based on context many modern translations now translate "Ships of Tarshish" as "Merchant ships" or "Trading Ships" for that reason. (See, for example, NIV, NLT, NKJV, NET Bible, etc). Alternatively, there may be multiple ports called Tarshish, and the Tarshish of Jonah is a different Tarshish In 1 Kings 22:48 we also see Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, commissioning the building of "Ships of Tarshish" to go to Ophir to get Gold, but they never did so, because they were wrecked in the dock where they were built at Ezion-geber before ever setting sail. Ezion-geber is universally accepted to be a port on the Gulf of Aqaba, connecting to the Red Sea in modern day Jordan. This demonstrates clearly that "Ships of Tarshish" in 1 Kings were constructed on the Red Sea, and built to sail to ports around either the Horn of Africa, or the Arabian peninsular. These ships were constructed to sail across the red-sea. So if "Ships of Tarshish" refers to ships which sail to, or from the port Tarshish then this cannot be the same port referenced in Jonah. It would be impossible to sail from Joppa in Israel to any port in the the Red Sea, without going completely through the Mediterranean and around the continent of Africa. The options are either that there are 2 different ports called Tarshish at various points in Israelite history, or that there a type of trading vessel called a "Ship of Tarshish", perhaps which originated the port city referenced in Jonah, but which certain kings of Israel liked, and added to their fleets, and which were used to sail to all kinds of ports, not only to trade with Tarshish.
— Edited
The historians are not sure where Tarshish was exactly. I ruled Spain out because Tarshish had a major trading port in the time of Solomon, but if Tarshish was not in Spain, where was it? That Tarshish traded with the resourses listed in the Bible, doesn't necessarily mean they have been natural resources found in Tarshish.I looked into Biblescribes about Tarshish and came to an interesting conclusion. The Bible tells us that Tarshish stronghold was Tyre. (Isaih 23, 14) Tyre was the main port of the Phoenicians, they established a second important port in Carthage (Tunesia) from there they had connections to other countries like Spain or Morocco, from where they imported resources. I found Carthage interesting, because it was a Phoenician settlement, they spoke Canaanite and other Semitic Languages there. Could it be possible that in Aramaic or Old Hebrew language, Tunesia has been called Tarshish???- Interesting ✝️😊
Tarshish -- Spain or England?
This week, during my sermon I mentioned that I think Tarshish may have been in England, not as many believe, in Spain.
Now, I know I hide it well, but perhaps my accent has given me away -- I'm English. So perhaps I'm biased here, but, I think there are really good reasons to assume that Tarshish may actually be in Cornwall, not Spain.
The common assumption is that Tarshish is the mythical Spanish port city of Tartessus. There is clearly a similarity in name, and, if it could be identified, there is plenty of reason to assume that it have been one of the ports to which vessels from Israel would have sailed. But there are also problems with this theory, and after examining the options, I think England fits better.
As I mentioned in my sermon, first of all, I think it fits the theme of scripture thematically. While Spain would indeed represent running from God, in a book so marked by irony and hyperbole, in a book where people consistently act in the most opposite possible ways it just seems thematically right that Jonah would run to the furthest possible corner of the known world available to him. I don't think running to Spain necessarily negates this point, but I think in a book supposed to catch you off guard, the point lands even more if he's running even further.
But there are loads of things in the scripture that feel like they should fit, but if the evidence doesn't back it up, then we shouldn't preach it
So what is the evidence?
The main evidence for this comes from the other mentions of Tarshish in scripture.
In lamenting over Tyre, Ezekiel 27:12 tells us that Tarshish was a land that travelled far to trade with them. Tyre was a prosperous city, and merchants would come great distances to trade with them, bringing with them precious metals -- silver, iron, tin, and lead.
“Tarshish did business with you because of your great wealth of every kind; silver, iron, tin, and lead they exchanged for your wares." (ESV)
If Tarshish was in Spain, silver, iron, and lead would have been plentiful natural resources for them to trade with Tyre. But tin, that would have been a problem for them. Tin is not a plentiful resource in that part of Spain. In fact, in spite of much archaeological work in the area, no evidence can even be found for the existence of Tartessus, let alone any evidence of Tin in the area.
In the ancient world, the main and most plentiful source of tin used in Europe originated in the British isles. While deposits do exist elsewhere throughout Europe, including large deposits in northern Spain, recent studies have shown that Tin Ingots used throughout the area around Israel did not come from Spain, but Britain. In fact, even though Spain clearly had their own Tin, evidence suggests that Tin used in Mediterranean Spanish bronze production was probably sourced from Britain.
If this is the case, then it seems incredibly unlikely that Tartessus would trade with Cornish miners for tin, only to turn around and hand the raw material over to Tyre. Surely, if Tarshish was Tartessus, it would list the more valuable Bronze, rather than the raw materials.
What do you think?
I've listed some sources you may find interesting below.
https://thelampstand.com.au/tarshish-cornwall-and-tin-and-gold-trade-in-the-ancient-world-when/
http://www.bibleinthenews.com/Podcasts/Print/670
https://www.timesofisrael.com/groundbreaking-study-ancient-tin-ingots-found-in-israel-were-mined-in-england/
https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/authors?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0218326