Now the word of the Lord came vnto Ionah the sonne of Amittai, saying, Arise, goe to Nineueh that great citie, and cry against it: for their wickednes is come vp before me. But Ionah rose vp to flee vnto Tarshish, from the presence of the Lord, and went downe to Ioppa, and he found a ship going to Tarshish: so he payed the fare thereof, and went downe into it, to goe with them vnto Tarshish from the presence of the Lord.
And indeed, when in the writings of Paracelſus I meet with ſuch Phantaſtick and Un-intelligible Diſcourſes as that Writer often puzzels and tyres his Reader with, father'd upon ſuch excellent Experiments, as though he ſeldom clearly teaches, I often find he knew ; me thinks the Chymiſts, in their ſearches after truth, are not unlike the Navigators of SolomonsTarſhiſh Fleet, who brought home from their long and tedious Voyages, not only Gold, and Silver, and Ivory, but Apes and Peacocks too ; For ſo the Writings of ſeveral (for I ſay not, all) of your Hermetick Philoſophers preſent us, together with divers Subſtantial and noble Experiments, Theories, which either like Peacocks feathers make a great ſhew, but are neither ſolid nor uſeful ; or elſe like Apes, if they have ſome appearance of being rational, are blemiſh'd with ſome abſurdity or other, that when they are Attentively conſider'd, makes them appear Ridiculous.
There remain now only the colonies of Tarſhiſh to be ſpoken of. And whereſoever elſe they ſeated themſelves, it is highly probable, that Tarteſſus, a city and adjoining country in Spain, and much celebrated by the ancients for its wealth, was a colony of Tarſhiſh. For the name Tarſhiſh is, by an eaſy and frequent change, turned into Tartiſh ; from whence Tarteſſus is regularly enough framed.
For the day of the Lord of hosts soon cometh upon all nations ; yea, upon every one; yea, upon the proud and lofty, and upon every one who is lifted up; and he shall be brought low; yea, and the day of the Lord shall come upon all the cedars of Lebanon, for they are high and lifted up; and upon all the oaks of Bashan, and upon all the high mountains, and upon all the hills, and upon all the nations which are lifted up, and upon every people, and upon every high tower, and upon every fenced wall, and upon all the ships of the sea, and upon all the ships of Tarshish, and upon all pleasant pictures.
“And now the time of tide has come; the ship casts off her cables; and from the deserted wharf the uncheered ship for Tarshish, all careening, glides to sea.
2011 March 20, Ben Hartman, “The deepest Jewish encampment?”, in Jerusalem Post[3], archived from the original on 18 July 2013:
According to Jacobovici, “it is generally acknowledged that the Biblical Tarshish is what the historians call Tartessos, which was in southern Spain. In the Tanach, Tarshish is a great city with a huge navy, with silver and gold. Jonah sails towards Tarshish. Solomon has naval expeditions with Tarshish. Tarshish disappears from the Biblical record. Tartessos disappears from the historical record.”
