Reference: Teraphim
American
Small idols or superstitious figures, from the possession, adoration, and consultation of which extraordinary benefits were expected. See margin 2Ki 23.24; Eze 21.21. The Eastern people are still much addicted to this superstition of talismans. The ancient teraphim appear to have been household gods, and their worship was sometimes blended with that of Jehovah, Jg 17. They seem in one case to have resembled the human form in shape and size, 1Sa 19:13,16. The images of Rachel,
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Now Laban was gone to shear his sheep, and Rachel stole the teraphim that were her father's.
And now, [though] thou have certainly gone, because thou have been very desirous for thy father's house, [yet] why have thou stolen my gods?
And the man Micah had a house of gods, and he made an ephod, and teraphim, and consecrated one of his sons, who became his priest.
Then the five men who went to spy out the country of Laish, answered and said to their brothers, Do ye know that there is in these houses an ephod, and teraphim, and a graven image, and a molten image? Now therefore consider what y
And the priest's heart was glad, and he took the ephod, and the teraphim, and the graven image, and went in the midst of the people.
And Michal took the teraphim, and laid it in the bed, and put a pillow of goats' [hair] at the head of it, and covered it with the clothes.
And when the messengers came in, behold, the teraphim was in the bed, with the pillow of goats' [hair] at the head of it.
For the sons of Israel shall abide many days without king, and without ruler, and without sacrifice, and without pillar, and without ephod or teraphim.
Easton
givers of prosperity, idols in human shape, large or small, analogous to the images of ancestors which were revered by the Romans. In order to deceive the guards sent by Saul to seize David, Michal his wife prepared one of the household teraphim, putting on it the goat's-hair cap worn by sleepers and invalids, and laid it in a bed, covering it with a mantle. She pointed it out to the soldiers, and alleged that David was confined to his bed by a sudden illness (1Sa 19:13-16). Thus she gained time for David's escape. It seems strange to read of teraphim, images of ancestors, preserved for superstitious purposes, being in the house of David. Probably they had been stealthily brought by Michal from her father's house. "Perhaps," says Bishop Wordsworth, "Saul, forsaken by God and possessed by the evil spirit, had resorted to teraphim (as he afterwards resorted to witchcraft); and God overruled evil for good, and made his very teraphim (by the hand of his own daughter) to be an instrument for David's escape.", Deane's David, p. 32. Josiah attempted to suppress this form of idolatry (2Ki 23:24). The ephod and teraphim are mentioned together in HO 3:4. It has been supposed by some (Cheyne's Hosea) that the "ephod" here mentioned, and also in Jg 8:24-27, was not the part of the sacerdotal dress so called (Ex 28:6-14), but an image of Jehovah overlaid with gold or silver (comp. Jg 17; 17:13; 9/type/acv'>1Sa 21:9; 23:6,9; 30:7-8), and is thus associated with the teraphim. (See Thummim.)
Illustration: Teraphim
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And they shall make the ephod of gold, of blue, and purple, scarlet, and fine twined linen, the work of the skilful workman. It shall have two shoulder-pieces joined to the two ends of it, that it may be joined together. read more. And the skillfully woven band, which is upon it, with which to gird it on, shall be like the work of it [and] of the same piece, of gold, of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen. And thou shall take two onyx stones, and engrave on them the names of the sons of Israel: six of their names on the one stone, and the names of the six that remain on the other stone, according to their birth. With the work of an engraver in stone, like the engravings of a signet, thou shall engrave the two stones, according to the names of the sons of Israel. Thou shall make them to be enclosed in settings of gold. And thou shall put the two stones upon the shoulder-pieces of the ephod, to be stones of memorial for the sons of Israel. And Aaron shall bear their names before LORD upon his two shoulders for a memorial. And thou shall make settings of gold, and two chains of pure gold, like cords shall thou make them, of wreathen work. And thou shall put the wreathen chains on the settings.
And Gideon said to them, I would make a request of you, that ye would give me every man the earrings of his spoil. (For they had golden earrings, because they were Ishmaelites.) And they answered, We will willingly give them. And they spread a garment, and cast in it every man the earrings of his spoil. read more. And the weight of the golden earrings that he requested was a thousand and seven hundred [shekels] of gold, besides the crescents, and the pendants, and the purple raiment that was on the kings of Midian, and besides the chains tha And Gideon made an ephod of it, and put it in his city, even in Ophrah. And all Israel played the harlot after it there, and it became a snare to Gideon, and to his house.
And Michal took the teraphim, and laid it in the bed, and put a pillow of goats' [hair] at the head of it, and covered it with the clothes. And when Saul sent messengers to take David, she said, He is sick. read more. And Saul sent the messengers to see David, saying, Bring him up to me in the bed, that I may kill him. And when the messengers came in, behold, the teraphim was in the bed, with the pillow of goats' [hair] at the head of it.
And the priest said, The sword of Goliath the Philistine, whom thou killed in the vale of Elah, behold, it is here wrapped in a cloth behind the ephod. If thou will take that, take it, for there is no other except that here. And Da
And it came to pass, when Abiathar the son of Ahimelech fled to David to Keilah, that he came down with an ephod in his hand.
And David knew that Saul was devising mischief against him, and he said to Abiathar the priest, Bring here the ephod.
And David said to Abiathar the priest, the son of Ahimelech, I pray thee, bring me here the ephod. And Abiathar brought there the ephod to David. And David inquired of LORD, saying, If I pursue after this troop, shall I overtake them? And he answered him, Pursue, for thou shall surely overtake [them], and shall without fail recover [all].
Moreover Josiah put away the psychics, and the wizards, and the teraphim, and the idols, and all the abominations that were seen in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem, that he might perform the words of the law which were written i
Fausets
(See IDOL.) Sometimes left untranslated; elsewhere "images ... idolatry" (Ge 31:19,30,34; 35:2, "strange gods".) Worshipped by Abram's kindred in Mesopotamia (Jos 24:14). Images in human form; Maurer thinks busts, cut off at the waist, from taaraph "to cut off," tutelary household gods; small enough to be hidden beneath the camel's furniture or palanquin on which Rachel sat. Michal put them in David's bed to look like him (1Sa 19:13; Jg 17:5; 18:14,17-18,20). Condemned as idolatrous (1Sa 15:23; 2Ki 23:24).
Used for divination (Eze 21:21; Zec 10:2), and to secure good fortune to a house, as the penates. From Arabic tarafa, "to enjoy the good things of life," according to Gesenius. The Syriac teraph means "to inquire" of an oracle, Hebrew toreph "an inquirer" (Ho 3:4-5). The Israelites used the teraphim for magic purposes and divination, side by side with the worship of Jehovah. Related perhaps to seraphim, the recognized symbol attending Jehovah; so perverted into a private idol meant to represent Him, a talisman whereby to obtain responses, instead of by the lawful priesthood through the Urim and Thummim. (See GATE.)
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Now Laban was gone to shear his sheep, and Rachel stole the teraphim that were her father's.
And now, [though] thou have certainly gone, because thou have been very desirous for thy father's house, [yet] why have thou stolen my gods?
Now Rachel had taken the teraphim, and put them in the camel's saddle, and sat upon them. And Laban felt around all the tent, but did not find them.
Then Jacob said to his household, and to all who were with him, Put away the foreign gods that are among you, and purify yourselves, and change your garments.
Now therefore fear LORD, and serve him in sincerity and in truth. And put away the gods which your fathers served beyond the River, and in Egypt, and serve ye LORD.
And the man Micah had a house of gods, and he made an ephod, and teraphim, and consecrated one of his sons, who became his priest.
Then the five men who went to spy out the country of Laish, answered and said to their brothers, Do ye know that there is in these houses an ephod, and teraphim, and a graven image, and a molten image? Now therefore consider what y
And the five men who went to spy out the land went up, and came in there, and took the graven image, and the ephod, and the teraphim, and the molten image. And the priest stood by the entrance of the gate with the six hundred men g And when these went into Micah's house, and fetched the graven image, the ephod, and the teraphim, and the molten image, the priest said to them, What do ye?
And the priest's heart was glad, and he took the ephod, and the teraphim, and the graven image, and went in the midst of the people.
For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as idolatry and teraphim. Because thou have rejected the word of LORD, he has also rejected thee from being king.
And Michal took the teraphim, and laid it in the bed, and put a pillow of goats' [hair] at the head of it, and covered it with the clothes.
For the king of Babylon stood at the parting of the way, at the head of the two ways, to use divination. He shook the arrows to and fro. He consulted the teraphim. He looked in the liver.
For the sons of Israel shall abide many days without king, and without ruler, and without sacrifice, and without pillar, and without ephod or teraphim. Afterward the sons of Israel shall return and seek LORD their God and David their king, and shall come with fear to LORD and to his goodness in the latter days.
For the teraphim have spoken vanity, and the diviners have seen a lie, and they have told FALSE dreams. They comfort in vain. Therefore they go their way like sheep. They are afflicted, because there is no shepherd.
Hastings
Morish
This is a Hebrew word in the plural. It refers to domestic idols, as for instance those Rachel stole from her father; there the word, as elsewhere, is translated 'images' with'teraphim' in the margin. Ge 31:19,34-35. Michal the wife of David had one in her house, and laid it in the bed when David escaped. 1Sa 19:13,16. Micah also had them in his house, and regarded them as 'gods.' Jg 17:5; 18:14-20. They were used in some way for divination, and are included among the images and idols which Josiah cleared from the land. 2Ki 23:24; Eze 21:21; Zec 10:2. In Ho 3:4 the Jews are described as having neither king, nor prince, nor sacrifice, nor image, nor ephod, nor teraphim
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Now Laban was gone to shear his sheep, and Rachel stole the teraphim that were her father's.
Now Rachel had taken the teraphim, and put them in the camel's saddle, and sat upon them. And Laban felt around all the tent, but did not find them. And she said to her father, Let not my lord be angry that I cannot rise up before thee, for the manner of women is upon me. And he searched, but did not find the teraphim.
And the man Micah had a house of gods, and he made an ephod, and teraphim, and consecrated one of his sons, who became his priest.
Then the five men who went to spy out the country of Laish, answered and said to their brothers, Do ye know that there is in these houses an ephod, and teraphim, and a graven image, and a molten image? Now therefore consider what y And they turned aside there, and came to the house of the young man the Levite, even to the house of Micah, and asked him of his welfare. read more. And the six hundred men girded with their weapons of war, who were of the sons of Dan, stood by the entrance of the gate. And the five men who went to spy out the land went up, and came in there, and took the graven image, and the ephod, and the teraphim, and the molten image. And the priest stood by the entrance of the gate with the six hundred men g And when these went into Micah's house, and fetched the graven image, the ephod, and the teraphim, and the molten image, the priest said to them, What do ye? And they said to him, Hold thy peace, lay thy hand upon thy mouth, and go with us, and be to us a father and a priest. Is it better for thee to be priest to the house of one man, or to be priest to a tribe and a family in Israel? And the priest's heart was glad, and he took the ephod, and the teraphim, and the graven image, and went in the midst of the people.
And Michal took the teraphim, and laid it in the bed, and put a pillow of goats' [hair] at the head of it, and covered it with the clothes.
And when the messengers came in, behold, the teraphim was in the bed, with the pillow of goats' [hair] at the head of it.
Moreover Josiah put away the psychics, and the wizards, and the teraphim, and the idols, and all the abominations that were seen in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem, that he might perform the words of the law which were written i
For the king of Babylon stood at the parting of the way, at the head of the two ways, to use divination. He shook the arrows to and fro. He consulted the teraphim. He looked in the liver.
For the sons of Israel shall abide many days without king, and without ruler, and without sacrifice, and without pillar, and without ephod or teraphim.
For the teraphim have spoken vanity, and the diviners have seen a lie, and they have told FALSE dreams. They comfort in vain. Therefore they go their way like sheep. They are afflicted, because there is no shepherd.
Smith
Teraphim.
This word occurs only in the plural, and denotes images connected with magical rites. The derivation of the name is obscure. In one case --
--a single statue seems to be intended by the plural. The teraphim, translated "images" in the Authorized Version, carried away from Laban by Rachel were regarded by Laban as gods, and it would therefore appear that they were used by those who added corru
Teraphim were consulted for oracular answers by the Israelites,
comp. Judg 18:5,6; 1Sam 15:22,23; 19:13,16, LXX., and 2Kin 23:24 and by the Babylonians in the case of Nebuchadnezzar.
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And they said to him, Ask counsel, we pray thee, of God, that we may know whether our way which we go shall be prosperous. And the priest said to them, Go in peace. Your way is before LORD in which ye go.
And Michal took the teraphim, and laid it in the bed, and put a pillow of goats' [hair] at the head of it, and covered it with the clothes.
And when the messengers came in, behold, the teraphim was in the bed, with the pillow of goats' [hair] at the head of it.
Moreover Josiah put away the psychics, and the wizards, and the teraphim, and the idols, and all the abominations that were seen in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem, that he might perform the words of the law which were written i
Also, thou son of man, appoint thee two ways that the sword of the king of Babylon may come. Those two shall come forth out of one land. And mark out a place. Mark it out at the head of the way to the city. Thou shall appoint a way for the sword to come to Rabbah of the sons of Ammon, and to Judah in Jerusalem the fortified. read more. For the king of Babylon stood at the parting of the way, at the head of the two ways, to use divination. He shook the arrows to and fro. He consulted the teraphim. He looked in the liver. In his right hand was the divination [for] Jerusalem, to set battering rams, to open the mouth in the slaughter, to lift up the voice with shouting, to set battering rams against the gates, to cast up mounds, to build forts.
For the teraphim have spoken vanity, and the diviners have seen a lie, and they have told FALSE dreams. They comfort in vain. Therefore they go their way like sheep. They are afflicted, because there is no shepherd.
Watsons
TERAPHIM. It is said, Ge 31:19, that Rachel had stolen the images (teraphim) of her father. What then were these teraphim? The Septuagint translate this word by "oracle," and sometimes by "vain figures." Aquila generally translates it by figures." It appears, indeed, from all the passages in which this word is used, that they were idols or superstitious figures. Some Jewish writers tell us the teraphim were human heads placed in niches, and consulted by way of oracles. Others think they were talismans or figures of metal cast and engraven under certain aspects of the planets, to which they ascribed extraordinary effects. All the eastern people are much addicted to this superstition, and the Persians still call them telefin, a name nearly approaching to teraphim. M. Jurieu supposes them to have been a sort of dii penates, or household gods; and this appears to be, perhaps, the most probable opinion.
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Now Laban was gone to shear his sheep, and Rachel stole the teraphim that were her father's.