The White Goddess (62 page)
Authors: Robert Graves
Tags: #Non-Fiction, #Mythology, #Literature, #20th Century, #Britain, #Literary Studies, #Amazon.com, #Mysticism, #Retail
These thirteen (rather than four) spices must belong to an early secret tradition not mentioned in the Law, coeval with the instructions in
Numbers
XXIX,
13
for the sacrifice of thirteen bullocks on the first day of the Feast of Tabernacles. (Incidentally, the total number of bullocks to be sacrificed from the inauguration of the critical seventh month to the end of the seven days of the Feast was the sacred seventy-two again. The sacrifice of a single bullock on the eighth day was a separate matter.) Josephus is hinting that the number thirteen refers to Rahab, the prophetic Goddess of the Sea, Guardian of Sheol (‘the uninhabitable parts of the world’) where God also, however, claims suzerainty.
What appears to have been a jewel-sequence corresponding with Ezekiel’s tree-sequence was arrayed in three rows on the golden breast-plate worn by the High Priest, called in Greek the
logion
or ‘little
word-giver’ (
Exodus
XXVIII,
15
).
It was made by Egyptian craftsmen; and the King of Tyre wore a similar one in honour of Hercules Melkarth (
Ezekiel
XXVIII,
13
).
The jewels, which gave oracular responses by lighting up in the dark of the Sanctuary, were probably hollow-cut with a revolving drum behind them on which was a small strip of phosphorus: when the drum was revolved the message was spelt out in ouija style as the strip of phosphorus came to rest behind different letters in turn.
The account of the breastplate given in
Exodus
mentions twelve precious stones, inscribed with the names of the Twelve Tribes, set in a gold plaque eight inches square. But there is a thirteenth stone which is given such importance elsewhere in the Bible, for example in
Isaiah,
LIV,
12,
that we may assume it to have been part of the original series. This is the
kadkod,
mistranslated in the Authorised Version as ‘agate’, probably the red carbuncle, and we may assign it to the tribe of Gad which disappeared early in Israelite history. All the jewels are mistranslated in the Authorised Version, and a slightly different set appears, in
Revelation,
XXI,
19,
as forming the foundations of the New Jerusalem. The breastplate was still in existence in the time of Josephus, though it no longer lighted up, and probably contained all the original stones except the
kadkod.
We can build up our jewel-sequence from it, relying on J. I. Myers’ solid scholarship to identify the jewels and then re-arranging them in a likely seasonal order. For we may assume that the order given in the Bible, like the order of the elements in the
Song
of
Amer
gin,
has been purposely confused for reasons of security.
We know that amethyst,
ahlamah,
is the wine stone – its Greek name means ‘charm against drunkenness’ – and can be assigned to M, the vine month. Similarly, yellow serpentine,
tarsis,
naturally belongs to G, the yellow-berried ivy month. The banded red agate,
sebo,
belongs to C, the month before the vintage, when the grapes are still red. The white carnelian,
yahalem,
and the yellow cairngorm,
lesem,
may belong to the glaring hot D and T months; the blood-red carbuncle,
kadkod,
to S, the month of the
razzia
or raiding party; and the lapis lazuli,
sappur,
to H, the first month of summer, since it typifies the dark blue sky.
Sappur
is translated ‘sapphire’ in the Authorised Version, and Ezekiel mentions it as the colour of the Throne of God. The light green jasper,
yàsepheh,
and the dark green malachite,
soham,
suit NG and R, the winter rain-months of Palestine.
Nophek,
the bright red fire-garnet, or pyrope, is likely to be F, the month of the Spring equinox. The rusty-red Edomite sard,
odem,
comes first in the year in honour of Adam, the red man – for ‘Edom’, ‘Adam’ and ‘Odem’ are all variants of the same word meaning rust-red:
odem
belongs to the month B. The remaining two stones corresponding with L, the month of Hercules’s golden cup, and N, the month of his sea-voyage, are
pitdan,
clear yellow chrysolite, and
bareketh,
green beryl – the name
beryl
meaning, in Greek, the sea-jewel.
We can go further: with the help of the names given to the tribes by their mothers in
Genesis
XXIX
and
XXX,
and of the prophetic blessings or curses bestowed on them by Jacob in
Genesis
XL
VIII
and
XLIX,
we can assign a letter and month to each tribe. To Ephraim (‘fruitful’) and Manasseh (‘forgetfulness’), the two sons of Joseph who was a ‘fruitful vine’ we can assign the months C and M; and B to Reuben the first-born, who had Edomite connections. To Reuben’s four full-brothers, Gad (‘a robber band’) Levi (‘set apart’) Asher (‘royal dainties are on his plate’) and Simeon (‘the bloody brother whose anger is fierce’), the months of S, H, D and T. Gad has the month of the
razzia
when the corn is invitingly ripe; Levi has the H month because it is the month of peculiar holiness; Asher has the important royal D month because his name is connected with the Ashera, the terebinth groves of the midsummer sacrifice; Simeon has T, the murderous month when the sun is at its fiercest. To Issachar, ‘the strong ass between two burdens’, we can assign L, the month of rest between sowing and harvest. To Zebulon, ‘among the ships’, belongs the sea-voyage month of N; to Judah (‘lion’s whelp’), the Spring solstice month of F; to Naphta’i, ‘he strove’, the ploughing month, R. And to ‘Little Benjamin their ruler’ belongs New Year’s Day, the day of the Divine Child. When we have assigned to Dan, ‘like a serpent’, the serpentine month of G, we naturally fill the Ng month, which alone remains vacant, with the tribe of Dinah: for Dinah, the female twin of Dan, was another tribe that disappeared early (see
Genesis
XXXIV
),
and since the Ng month marks the beginning of the rains and the resumption of the seasonal cycle of growth, a woman naturally belongs there.
In my
King
Jesus
I have tentatively reconstructed the hymn to Hercules Melkarth on which ‘Jacob’s Blessing’ seems to be based. It combines the words of the Blessing with the traditional meanings of the tribal names and begins with Hercules swaying to and fro in his golden cup. I take this opportunity of correcting my misplacement of the brothers Levi, Gad and Asher:
Reuben
– B
SEE
THE
SON
on
the
water
tossed
In
might
and
excellency
of
power,
Issachar
–
L
Resting
at
ease
between
two
feats
–
He
has
paid
the
shipman
all
his
HIRE
–
Zebulon
–
N
DWELLING
secure
in
the
hollow
ship
Until
by
winds
he
is
wafted
home.
Judah
–
F
Hark,
how
he
roars
like
a
lion’s
whelp,
Hark,
how
his
brothers
PRAISE
his
name…
Gad
– S
Though
A
TROOP
of
raiders
cast
him
down
He
will
cast
them
down
in
his
own
good
time.
Levi
–
H
He
is
SET
APART
from
all
his
brothers
And
held
in
service
to
the
shrine.
Asher
–
D
HAPPY
is
he;
his
bread
is
fat,
Royal
dainties
are
on
his
plate,
etc.
Here then, for what it is worth, is a list of the jewels of the months and of the tribes. (The breastplate was made entirely of gold in honour of the Sun: but if a sequence of five metals corresponded with the five vowels A.O.U.E.I. it was probably, to judge from the traditional planetary signs still attached to them: silver, gold, copper, tin, lead.)
| | B | Dec. 24 | Red Sard | Reuben |
| | L | Jan.21 | Yellow Chrysolite | Issachar |
| | N | Feb. 18 | Sea-green Beryl | Zebulon |
| | F | March 18 | Fire-Garnet | Judah |
| | S | April 15 | Blood-red Carbuncle | Gad |
| | H | May 13 | Lapis Lazuli | Levi |
| | D | June 10 | White Carnelian | Asher |
| | T | July 8 | Yellow Cairngorm | Simeon |
| | C | Aug. 5 | Banded Red Agate | Ephraim |
| | M | Sept. 2 | Amethyst | Manasseh |
| | G | Sept. 30 | Yellow Serpentine | Dan |
| | Ng | Oct. 28 | Clear Green Jasper | Dinah |
| | R | Nov. 25 | Dark Green Malachite | Naphtali |
For the extra day, Dec. 23rd, which belongs to Benjamin ‘Son of My Right Hand’, that is to say ‘The Ruler of the South’, (since the Sun reaches its most southerly stage in mid-winter) the jewel is amber, which Ezekiel makes the colour of the upper half of Jehovah’s body; the lower half being fire. Benjamin’s tree was either the hyssop, or wild caper, which grows green in walls and crannies and was the prime lustral tree in Hebrew use, or the holy loranthus, which preys on desert tamarisks.
1
In the North Country ballad of
The
Wife
of
Usher’s
Well
,
the dead sons who return in the dead of winter to visit their mother, wear birch leaves in their hats. The author remarks that the tree from which they plucked the leaves grew at the entrance of the Paradise where their souls were housed, which is what one would expect. Presumably they wore birch as a token that they were not earth-bound evil spirits but blessed souls on compassionate leave.
1
Ninib, the Assyrian Saturn, was the god of the South, and therefore of the noon-day Sun, and also of mid-Winter when the Sun attains its most southerly point and halts for a day. In both these capacities he was the god of Repose, for noon is the time for rest in hot climates. That Jehovah was openly identified with Saturn-Ninib in Bethel before the Northern captivity is proved in
Amos,
V,
26
where the image and star of ‘Succoth-Chiun’ are mentioned as having been brought to the shrine; and that the same was done in Jerusalem before the Southern Captivity is proved by the vision of
Ezekiel,
VIII,
3,
5
where his image, ‘the image of jealousy’ was set up at the north gate of the Temple, so that devotees would face southwards while adoring him; and close by (verse
14
)
women were wailing for Adonis.
1
The cypress occurs in the riddling list of
Ecclesiasticus
XXIV,
13
–
17,
(I quote the text as restored by Edersheim) where Wisdom describes herself as follows:
I was exalted like a cedar in Lebanon and like a cypress-tree on Mount Hermon.
I was exalted like a palm-tree in Engedi and as a rose-tree in Jericho, as an olive in the field, and as a plane-tree.
I exhaled sweet smell like cinnamon and aromatic asphalathus, I diffused a pleasant odour like the best myrrh, like galbanum, onyx and sweet storax, and like the fumes of frankincense.
Like an oleander [‘turpentine-tree’ in A.V.] I stretched out my branches which are branches of glory and beauty.
Like a vine I budded forth beauty and my flowers ripen into glory and riches.
Ecclesiasticus has mixed alphabetic trees with aphrodisiac perfumes and trees of another category; but H for cypress and M for vine suggests that the last-mentioned, or only, trees in verses 13, 14, 16 and 17, spell out
Chokmah,
the Hebrew word for Wisdom:
Ched,
Kaf,
Mem,
He.
(In Hebrew, vowels are not written.) If this is so, the oleander is CH; and the plane is a surrogate for the almond, K, which as the tree of Wisdom herself cannot figure as a part of the tree-riddle of which it is the answer; in the time of Ecclesiasticus the plane had long been associated by the Greeks with the pursuit of wisdom. The four other trees, cedar, palm, rose and sweet olive, represent respectively sovereignty, motherhood, beauty and fruitfulness – Wisdom’s characteristics as a quasi-goddess.
1
The tradition of Nennius’s Seven Ages has survived in an English folk-saying which runs:
The li
ves
of
three
wattles,
the
life
of
a
hound;The
lives
of
three
hounds,
the
life
of
a
steed;The
lives
of
three
steeds,
the
life
of
a
man;The
lives
of
three
men,
the
life
of
an
eagle;The
lives
of
three
eagles,
the
life
of
a
yew;The
life
of
a
yew,
the
length
of
a
ridge;Seven
ridges
from
Creation
to
Doom.A wattle (hurdle) lasts for three years: therefore a hound for 9, a horse for 27, a man for 81, an eagle for 243 and a yew for 729. ‘The length of a
ridge
’
is evidently a mistake, the saying being translated from monkish Latin
aevum,
age, miscopied as
arvum
,
ridge. With the length of an Age averaging 729 years, the total length of the seven Ages is 5103, which corresponds well enough with Nennius’s account.
