tachash
Tachash is an animal referred to in the Bible, the skin of which was used in the in the Tabernacle as the outer covering of the tent of the Tanancle and to wrap sacred objects used within the Tabernacle for transport.
What animal the word 'tachash' refers to is a matter of some debate. According to the Babylonian Talmud and Rashi's commentary, the tanchash was a kosher, multi-colored, one horned desert animal which came into existence to be used to build the Tabernacle and ceased to exist afterward. The King James Version of the Bible translates the word tachash as badger. Another hypothesis is that the Hebrew term "orot t'chashim" refers to very fine dyed sheep or goat leather, hence the Jerusalem Bible translates the term as "fine leather". A currently popular hypothesis is that the term "tachash" means dugong. This translation is based upon the similarity between tachash and the Arabic word tukhas, which means dugong. In accordance with this hypothesis several translations, such as the Jewish Publication Society translation, render tachash as dolphin or sea cow.
The covering skin of the Ark
Robert Graves says in The White Goddess the covering was "dolphin hide", but in I, Claudius, has the narrator describe it as badger skin.
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