Biblical Nations - Spaniards

Spaniards

Key Scripture: Romans 15:24-28

Figures: none

Spain exists at the western extent of the Mediterranean Sea, and for many of the civilizations that surrounded this vital piece of water it represented the edge of the world.  In Scripture, we only get one definite reference to the location, but there are other verses that may well point to this far away point that was seen as an exotic and strange destination.  In each case, it is curious that it also seems to be somewhat unreachable, almost as if God were holding back His people from reaching these distant shores regardless of what their intentions may have been.  Unlike any of the previous locations or civilizations, I have a personal experience with this week's focus that gives it an extra dose of intrigue and appeal to me.  Let's take some time looking into what we know of Spain, and see if we can learn anything new.  Note: I had a technical issue that required me to adjust the map's base image, so it looks different this week.  If I can adjust it at a later date, I'll re-publish with the corrected image.

The name of Spain only shows up in one chapter of the Bible, as Paul is writing to believers in Rome and mentions his future travel plans.  Having already traveled through much of modern Greece, Turkey, and Cyprus, the apostle declares that he intends to visit Rome on his way to the far west.  To the Roman Empire the entire Iberian peninsula was called by the name "Hispania".  During the time between the Old and New Testaments, while the region of Judea was under the control of the Greek Empire, Rome was largely preoccupied with a brilliant commander from Carthage named Hannibal that had been brought to Spain by his father, Hamilcar Barca.  In 218 BC Hannibal responded to the Romans starting the Second Punic War by preparing an army and supplies in the Spanish city of Cartagena in advance of an invasion of the Italian peninsula, including the war elephants he brilliantly marched across the Alps.  Rome eventually triumphed and after Hannibal poisoned himself to avoid capture in approximately 183 BC much of Spain was brought under their control, where it would remain until the 5th century.  It would have been into this situation that Paul could have traveled, but there is debate about whether he ever made it.  The biblical account of Paul's life ends with a two-year imprisonment in Rome under the reign of Nero.  It seems likely that he was freed, judging by the timeline and references found in the epistles to Timothy and Titus, but we have no conclusive evidence where he was able to go before an apparent second imprisonment just a few years later resulted in his execution.  Early church leaders such as Clement of Rome and Chrysostom seem to believe that he did, in fact, accomplish his goal of spreading the gospel to the farthest reaches of the west.

In the Old Testament, there is one location that has consistently been related to Spain, and it shows up numerous times.  Tarshish, made famous by the account of Jonah when he attempted to flee the Lord's command to preach to Nineveh, was a far-away trading partner of Solomon and the two Israelite kingdoms.  If it was actually in Spain, the Bible gives us several additional details that will allow us to unveil more of its shrouded history.  In Genesis 10, Tarshish is listed as the grandson of Noah's son Japheth, descended from Javan.  As most of Japheth's offspring seem to have migrated west after the Great Flood, including Javan's other sons who populated Cyprus and Rhodes, a European location makes sense.  The ship that Jonah boarded for this distant location set sail from the port of Joppa, indicating a destination somewhere along the shores of the Mediterranean.  That assumption is supported later when Ezekiel pronounced judgment on Tyre, at which point ships from Tarshish are mentioned.  The only passage that seems to oppose the view that Tarshish was found in the west can be found in 2 Chronicles, when King Jehoshaphat of Judah created an alliance with Israel's King Ahaziah to build trading ships, but they were to be built in Ezion-geber (a port to the south along the Gulf of Aqaba that would have been suitable for travel to eastern Africa, Arabia, or other locations in southern Asia).  The construction of ships in one location doesn't exclude their use in another region, however, so the western option seems to have the more convincing evidence.  Among the locations that scholars have suggested are Tarsus (Paul's hometown), Carthage (now called Tunis), the island of Sardinia, or one of several coastal cities in Spain such as Cadiz or Tartessos.  Both of those last two ports, interestingly, are just beyond the Strait of Gibraltar and would have represented the final stopping points before reaching the vast unknown of the Atlantic Ocean.

If Tarshish is indeed to be found in Spain, then the Bible presents an interesting contrast between the attempts of Paul and Jonah to get there.  Both men wanted to reach the extreme western edge of civilization, but for opposite reasons.  One wanted to escape from sharing God's message, while the other was driven to tell His Word to as many people as possible.  Whatever their reasons, however, it may have seemed to be a location that seemed to be forever beyond the obstacles that God placed.  When I visited the coast of Spain with my wife a number of years ago, I stood along the beach in Malaga and imagined an aging and infirm Paul on a boat, standing eagerly near the bow with parchments in hand as he prepared to encounter a new group of people in an effort to share the Good News that he had found.  Whether or not that is a realistic vision, it seemed to me an optimistic view of the mission-mindedness of Paul, who at least thought the residents of Spain deserved a chance to learn about Jesus.  Today, it is not just Spain but the majority of Latin America that can claim some measure of historical and genealogical descent from that very same people group from 2000 years ago.