Tachash

תחש


Genesis 22:24 names him as a son of Re'umah, Betu-El's concubine. Verses 21-24 list the children of Milkah (מלכה) = the Queen of Heaven, and Nachor (נחור) = the bull-god/sun-god, as Uts (עוּץ), Buz (בּוּז), Kemu-El (קְמוּאֵל), Kesed (כֶּשֶׂד), Chazo (חֲזוֹ), Pildash (פִּלְדָּשׁ), Yidlaph (יִדְלָף) and Betu-El (בְּתוּאֵל), significantly the lastborn in the light of the ultiogeniture-primogeniture conflict that will recur throughout the Tanach. Added to these are Rivkah (רִבְקָה - Rebecca), Betu-El's daughter, and the sons of Re'umah: Tevach (טֶבַח), Gacham (גַּחַם), Tachash (תַּחַשׁ) and Ma'achah (מַעֲכָה).

It is surely no coincidence that this gives exactly the same twelve sons and one daughter that Ya'akov would later have; that his list would likewise include sons of concubines; that Ya'akov's mother was Rivkah; that Nachor was Av-Ram's brother; etc etc. What we have is an earlier version or a regional variation on the Beney Yisra-El, and like the Beney Yisra-El it is an astrological chart first; which is to say a family tree of the gods, each represented in the form of a constellation of the heavens, ruled by the sun-father and moon-mother: the Arthurian round table. The same pattern can be seen in the families of Esav and Yishma-El.

Exercise for B'nei Mitzvah classes: Look up the meanings of all these names and work out a zodiacal chart; then compare it with the Ishmaelite and Israelite and Greek and Arthurian and other equivalents. Note that the temple duties of the tribes coincide with their zodiacal month and that often the tribal name denotes the temple duty, or is linked to a particular god of the duadecatheon (to coin a term) - the twelve-god ruling pantheon. Some help may be found in my notes to the Number Twelve.

Tachash is a complex word, taken to be an animal though the etymology is obscure. Orot Tachasim (עורות תחשים) in Numbers 4:6 means "skin", but not of goats, despite the mistranslation in the link. The word appears several times in Exodus (25:5, 26:14, 35:23 et al), always related to the making of specific items for the Sanctuary; Ezekiel 16:10 has women's shoes made of it, from which many logically presume leather; but from which animal? Badger, seal and weasel have been conjectured, though the link here prefers dolphin.



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