“231. TELESMES—1 SAMUEL 6:1-5”

Telesmes—1Sa_6:1-5

The men of Ashdod, although impressed by the discomfiture of their idol, were not thereby moved to any immediate action with respect to the ark of Israel. Their obdurate determination still to retain this glorious monument of their triumph, drew down upon them farther judgments to constrain them to render to Jehovah the glory which was his due. Men are most keenly sensible of the evils which touch their skin and their flesh. They were therefore smitten with a painful and grievous disease—the nature of which is not well determined, but which is supposed to have been the hemorrhoids or piles, which seems to have been in many cases fatal. This they rightly ascribed to the wrath of the God whose ark they detained; but instead of seeing at once that their best course was to restore it to the Israelites, their reluctance to part with it induced them to try the experiment of removing it to another of their cities—to Gath, in the hope that as the judgment was confined to Ashdod and its neighborhood, the indignation which had gone forth was against that particular place, and might not be extended to other towns. The people of Gath seem to have placed it in the open fields—if, indeed, it had not been removed to the open ground of Ashdod immediately after the judgment on Dagon, as they might naturally after that apprehend special judgment upon any building in which it was contained. This inference is built upon the language of the text (in the original) that the ark “abode in the field of the Philistines seven months.” The reason indeed is not conclusive, seeing that the word “field” may be understood generally of “land,” or “country,” and is here so understood by our translators. A probability in favor of that opinion is, that the next judgment was upon the fields—the produce of the ground being destroyed by immense swarms of field mice—if this were not indeed simultaneous with the “emerods”—for by that grievous disease the men of Gath also were smitten, as soon as the ark of God arrived. This could not be borne; and the ark was removed to another town called Ekron. But the people there positively refused to receive it. Their language bore most emphatic testimony to the effect which had been produced: “They have brought about the ark of the God of Israel to us, to slay us and our people.” This brought matters to a crisis; the “lords” or magistrates of the five cities constituting this state—as well as those that had not been visited by the ark, as those that had—came together in council to determine the course to be taken. The conclusion reluctantly reached was to send the ark back to the Israelites with all becoming observances, and not without such offerings as might, it was hoped, avert from them the wrath under which they so long had suffered. These were five golden mice, one for each of the Philistine cities; and seven golden emerods—as symbolical of the afflictions they had endured, and in recognition that they came from Jehovah, and that he alone could remove them.

This offering, so remarkable to our ideas, but so familiar to the ideas of the ancients and of the modern Orientals, does in various points of view well merit more attention than our limits allow us to bestow upon it.

It appears to us that these articles are to be regarded not merely as votive or trespass offerings; but as telesmes (talismans), specially formed under astrological calculations, to counteract the plagues, unless their effect were neutralized by the continued implacability of Israel’s offended God; and we have little doubt that this course was suggested by the astrologers, who would not fail to be consulted on the occasion, as the best that under the circumstances could be adopted. The general reader can have little idea of the extent to which notions of this sort, founded on astronomical combinations, pervaded the ancient mind, and were even in Europe prevalent until a comparatively recent period, and are not wholly extinct among ourselves even now. We are not sure of being successful in rendering the principles and the practical jargon of this branch of “science falsely so-called,” intelligible to the reader, rendered, as its peculiar terms must be, out of the Hebrew, Arabic, Geek and Latin languages into our own.

It is, then, held that the forms of things here below correspond with the like forms of things above, and that the celestial forms have a ruling influence upon the sublunary. For example, the scorpion and the serpent in the heavens upon those in the earth. The wise, therefore, it is stated, carefully observing when a planet entered into any of these forms or signs, placed the planet on the horoscope, and engraved the form upon a stone—adding what else might be necessary to fit it for preservation or for destruction, according to the purpose of the operation. The telesme thus rendered efficient for good or for evil, was then completed. A great authority on these subjects, Ali Ibn Rodoan, illustrates this by an anecdote of a Saracen’s servant, who had been stung by a scorpion, but was instantly cured by his master with a telesme, which had the figure of a scorpion engraven on it. In explanation of this the Saracen said, that the figure was cut when the moon was in the sign scorpio, and that the sign was in one of the four angles.

A man of note in this kind of lore was Apollonius Tyaneus, who was reported to have wrought such extraordinary effects by his skill in this branch of occult science, that there were not wanting among the enemies of Christianity, those who dared to compare the wonders wrought, or pretended to be wrought by him, with the miracles of Christ himself; and there were even those who gave the preference to the pagan philosopher—an enormity well shown up by Eusebius of Pamphylia. But it is nevertheless well to notice a few of the deeds of this man which bear upon the subject, and tend to illustrate the ideas concerning it which prevailed. His deeds were such, indeed, as, in their day, excited the doubt and perplexity of even orthodox believers, who, although they were unable to account for them, supposed that this wonderful man had by means of his telesmes stilled the waves of the sea and the raging of the winds, and had protected countries from destructive vermin and the incursions of wild beasts. Take the following from an ancient author, cited by Joannes Antiochenus Melala, in the tenth book of his Chonographia. The original is in Greek, which may be thus translated—“In the reign of Domitian, flourished the most learned Apollonius Tyaneus, who won for himself a great name by travelling about and making telesmes in all the places to which he came, for cities and for the countries to which they belonged. From Rome be went to Byzantium, and entering into that city (now more happily called Constantinople), he made there also many telesmes at the instance of the citizens, as that against the storks, that against the river Lycus, which passes through the middle of the city, that against the tortoises, that against the horses, and other strange things. Then afterwards, leaving Byzantium, he went and did the like in other cities. From Tyanis he came into Syria, and so to Antioch the Great, where also he was requested by the chief men of the city to make such telesmes as they had need of. And he made one against the north wind, and set it up in the east part of the city.”

This author goes on, and describes at some length the charms of Apollonius against the gnats and scorpions; adding, moreover, that walking one day with the chief men of the town to observe the situation of the place, he came to a ruinous pillar, and on inquiring for what object it had been erected, was told that in the days of Caius Caesar, when the city had been shaken by an earthquake, one Debboris, a talismanic philosopher, had set up this pillar as a telesme to protect the city in time to come. On the pillar he had fixed a brazen pectoral inscribed with certain words; but this had in process of time been consumed by lightning, and the citizens were now urgent with Apollonius to set up a new one. But the philosopher, fetching a deep sigh, refused to make any more telesmes against earthquakes.

That which has most bearing upon the present case is the telesmes against scorpions. It is related that Apollonius caned an image of a scorpion to be molten in brass, and set it up upon a small pillar in the midst of the city of Antioch, whereupon the scorpions vanished out of all their coasts.

Telesmes of this kind are noticed as existing in various places. There was one at Hamah (the Hamath of Scripture) in Syria. In the midst of this town, says an Arabian geographer, there is a stone fixed in a wall, having upon it the figure of a scorpion; and when any one is bitten by one of these animals, he takes in clay the figure of this scorpion, and on applying this to the part affected, is immediately cured. It used to be reported that in the lower part of the district in which Cairo is situated, the crocodiles were harmless, but it the upper part devoured the people. To provide against this, the wise men cast a crocodile in lead, and inscribing it with an Egyptian charm, buried it in the foundations of a temple. The crocodiles of the upper region then became as harmless as those of the lower. But when, at the command of the Sultan Achmet-ibn Tulon, the image was melted down, the crocodiles again became as injurious as of old. This superstition was not confined to the East. It is related by Gregory of Tours, that at the repair of an old bridge in Paris, there were found the images of a serpent and a mouse in brass; and when they were taken away, the serpents and the mice came up in great numbers.

Travellers have speculated much upon the possible object of the Serpentine Column (now broken) in the grand square (hippodrome) of Constantinople. It consists of the bodies of three inter-twisted serpents, in hollow bronze. It formerly terminated at the top in three serpents’ heads; but these have now disappeared, and it is related that when the victorious Mohammed the Second entered the city, either flushed with the excitement of triumph, or desirous of exhibiting his personal strength, be struck off one of the serpent’s heads at a single blow. This curious work once belonged to the Persians, and was among the spoils taken from them at the battle of Plataea. It was even then supposed to have been very ancient, and could not well have been less than 3000 years old. The result of our own inquiries on the spot as to the existing notions concerning its original design, coincide with the intimations of old authors—that it was a telesme designed to protect from serpents the locality in which it might be found. It is known that there once existed in the same square an equestrian statue set up against the plague, the destruction of which was supposed to have left the city exposed to fearful periodical mortalities. Note: Leunclav. Pandect, Hist. Turc. 130. Much more of this sort may be found in Mizald, Cent. M.S., and Gaffurel, Curiositez inouyes, sus la sculpture talasmanique des Persans, etc. Paris, 1629; chap. 6.

Again, there is said to have been in the same city a talismanic ship of brass, set up against the dangers of the tempestuous sea. While it stood entire the raging of that sea was repressed; but some parts having been (no one knew how) broken off and removed, the sea became again unruly and troubled. The cause of this being inquired into, the broken parts of the marvellous ship of brass were diligently sought out, and put together, and once more the wind and the seas obeyed the mighty spell thus laid upon them. That it might be seen beyond question whether this were or not really the cause why vessels could not safely come into port, the broken parts were again removed, and forthwith all ships that touched upon the coast were driven back by the violence of the waves. This confirmed the opinion that the injury to the brazen ship was the cause of the impeded navigation, and it was therefore most carefully repaired, to the great comfort of the city. Note: Zonare, Annales, tom. iii. in Anastasio.

The results of these examples, and of many others which might be cited, illustrate the prevalence of the notion that in case of any extraordinary plague, either of disease or of noxious creatures, visiting a town or country, it was usual by way of remedy to erect an image or symbol of the evil under the supposed influence of celestial configurations. That the Philistines meant something of this sort is in the highest degree probable. Had the ark remained among themselves, these memorials would no doubt have been set up in the temple; but as it was to be sent away, there was no mode of proper appropriation, but by placing these things thereon.

As to the mice, Parcelsus thought that he had found the way in which they might be prepared with reference to such an object. He gives this recipe for purging a house of mice—“Make an iron mouse, under the conjunction of Saturn and Mars, in the house of 4. Imprint upon its belly Albamatatox, etc. Then place the telesme in the middle of the house, and the vermin will instantly leave the place.” He furthermore declares that if a live mouse be tied to this image, it will die immediately. Note: Archidox. Mag., iii. 135.

With regard to images of emerods, Maimonides, who lived in an age and country which entertained these old beliefs, supposes that they were so called, not from their external form—which indeed it would be difficult to give—but from a secret influence which resided in them, remedial against the malady. Note: Merem Nevochim, Pt. i, ch. 1.

Again, the Philistine astrologers could not but have heard that this God had shown his divine complacency with the brazen serpent set upon a pole in the wilderness. This they, with their notions, would regard as a telesme, constructed on some such principles as have been indicated; and as that image of a serpent was effectual against the plague of serpents, they might not unreasonably infer that similar images of their own inflictions might be equally effectual—indeed there have not been wanting persons to suggest that the whole of this set of ideas regarding telesmes may have originated in a distorted view of this transaction.

Autor: JOHN KITTO