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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Laban was gone to shear his sheep, and Rachel had stolen her father's images.
And now, though thou wentest thy way because thou longest after thy father's house, yet wherefore hast thou stolen my gods?"
And the man Micah had a chapel of gods, and made an ephod and images, and filled the hand of one of his sons which became his priest.
Then answered the five men that went to spy out the country of Laish, and said unto their brethren, "Know ye not that there is in these houses an ephod and images; and a graven image and an image of metal? Now therefore consider what ye have to do."
And the priest was glad and took the ephod and the images, and the graven image, and went with the people.
And then she took an image and laid it in the bed, and put a pillow stuffed with goat's hair under the head of it, and covered it with a cloth.
And when the messengers were come in, "Behold there lay an image in the bed, with a pillow of goat's hair under the head of it.
Thus the children of Israel shall sit a great while without king and prince, without offering and alter, without priest and revelation.
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/mstc'>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, jacinth, scarlet, purple and white twined bysse with broidered work. The two sides shall come together, closed up in the edges thereof. read more. And the girdle of the ephod shall be of the same workmanship and of the same stuff: even of gold, jacinth, scarlet, purple and twined bysse. And thou shalt take two onyx stones and grave in them the names of the children of Israel: six in the one stone, and the other six in the other stone: according to the order of their birth. After the work of a stone graver, even as signets are graven, shalt thou grave the two stones with the names of the children of Israel, and shalt make them to be set in ouches of gold. And thou shalt put the two stones upon the two shoulders of the ephod, and they shall be stones of remembrance unto the children of Israel. And Aaron shall bear their names before the LORD upon his two shoulders for a remembrance. And thou shalt make hooks of gold, and two chains of fine gold: link work and wreathed, and fasten the wreathed chains to the hooks.
Neverthelater, Gideon said unto them, "I would desire a certain request of you: even that you would give me, every man, the earrings of his prey." For they had golden earrings, because they were Ishmaelites. And they said, "We will do it." And they spread a mantle and did cast thereinto every man the earrings of his prey. read more. And the weight of the golden earrings was a thousand and seven hundred sicles of gold, beside brooches, ouches and garments of scarlet that were of the kings of Midian, and beside the chains, that were about their camels' necks. And Gideon made an ephod thereof, and put it in his city Ophrah. And all Israel went a whoring after him there, which thing was the ruin of Gideon's house.
And then she took an image and laid it in the bed, and put a pillow stuffed with goat's hair under the head of it, and covered it with a cloth. And when Saul sent messengers to fetch David, she said that he was sick. read more. Then Saul sent the messengers to see David saying, "Bring him to me, bed and all, that he may be slain." And when the messengers were come in, "Behold there lay an image in the bed, with a pillow of goat's hair under the head of it.
Then the priest answered, "The sword of Goliath, the Philistine whom thou slewest in Oakdale; that is here, wrapped in a cloth behind the ephod. If thou wilt take that, take it: for there is no other save that here." And David said, "There is none to that, give it me."
And it chanced when Abiathar the son of Ahimelech fled to David to Keilah that he brought an ephod in his hand.
But David had knowledge that Saul imagined mischief against him, and said therefore to Abiathar the priest, "Bring the ephod."
But David took a good courage to him in the LORD his God and said to Abiathar the priest, Ahimelech's son, "Bring me the ephod." And Abiathar brought the ephod to David. And David asked the LORD, saying, "Shall I follow after this company? And shall I overtake them?" And he said to him, "Follow, for thou shalt overtake them and recover the prey."
And thereto workers with spirits, soothsayers, Images of witchcraft, idols and all other abominations that were spied in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem, Josiah put out of the way to make good the words of the law, which were written in the book that Helkiah the priest found in the house of the LORD.
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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Laban was gone to shear his sheep, and Rachel had stolen her father's images.
And now, though thou wentest thy way because thou longest after thy father's house, yet wherefore hast thou stolen my gods?"
And Rachel took the images, and put them in the camel's straw, and sat down upon them. And Laban searched all the tent: but found them not.
Then said Jacob unto his household, and to all that were with him, "Put away the strange gods that are among you and make yourselves clean, and change your garments,
And now, fear the LORD and serve him in pureness and truth: And put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the water, and in Egypt, and serve the LORD.
And the man Micah had a chapel of gods, and made an ephod and images, and filled the hand of one of his sons which became his priest.
Then answered the five men that went to spy out the country of Laish, and said unto their brethren, "Know ye not that there is in these houses an ephod and images; and a graven image and an image of metal? Now therefore consider what ye have to do."
And the five men that went to spy out the land, went in thither and took the carved image and the ephod, the graven image, and the image of metal. And the priest stood in the entering of the gate with the six hundred men that were armed unto battle, while the other went to Micah's house, and fetched the carved image, the ephod, the graven image and the image of metal. Then said the priest unto them, "What do ye?"
And the priest was glad and took the ephod and the images, and the graven image, and went with the people.
For rebelliousness is as the sin of witchcraft; and stubbornness is wickedness and idolatry. Because therefore thou hast cast away the word of the LORD, therefore hath the LORD cast away thee also, from being king."
And then she took an image and laid it in the bed, and put a pillow stuffed with goat's hair under the head of it, and covered it with a cloth.
For the king of Babylon shall stand in the turning of the way, at the head of the two trees: to ask counsel at the soothsayers, casting the lots with his arrows; to ask counsel at the Idols, and to look in the liver.
Thus the children of Israel shall sit a great while without king and prince, without offering and alter, without priest and revelation. But afterward shall the children of Israel convert, and seek the LORD their God, and David their king: and in the latter days they shall worship the LORD, and his loving-kindness.
For vain is the answer of Idols. The soothsayers see lies, and tell but vain dreams. The comfort that they give, is nothing worth. Therefore go they astray like a flock of sheep, and are troubled, because they have 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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Laban was gone to shear his sheep, and Rachel had stolen her father's images.
And Rachel took the images, and put them in the camel's straw, and sat down upon them. And Laban searched all the tent: but found them not. Then said she to her father, "My lord, be not angry that I cannot rise up before thee, for the disease of women is come upon me." So searched he, but found them not.
And the man Micah had a chapel of gods, and made an ephod and images, and filled the hand of one of his sons which became his priest.
Then answered the five men that went to spy out the country of Laish, and said unto their brethren, "Know ye not that there is in these houses an ephod and images; and a graven image and an image of metal? Now therefore consider what ye have to do." And they turned thitherward and came to the house of the young man the Levite in the house of Micah, and saluted him peaceably. read more. And the six hundred men girded with weapons of war, which were of the children of Dan, stood in the entering of the gate. And the five men that went to spy out the land, went in thither and took the carved image and the ephod, the graven image, and the image of metal. And the priest stood in the entering of the gate with the six hundred men that were armed unto battle, while the other went to Micah's house, and fetched the carved image, the ephod, the graven image and the image of metal. Then said the priest unto them, "What do ye?" And they answered him, "Hold thy peace, and put thine hand upon thy mouth, and come with us, and be unto us a father and a priest. Whether is it better for thee to be a priest? Unto the house of one man, or to be priest unto a tribe or a kindred in Israel?" And the priest was glad and took the ephod and the images, and the graven image, and went with the people.
And then she took an image and laid it in the bed, and put a pillow stuffed with goat's hair under the head of it, and covered it with a cloth.
And when the messengers were come in, "Behold there lay an image in the bed, with a pillow of goat's hair under the head of it.
And thereto workers with spirits, soothsayers, Images of witchcraft, idols and all other abominations that were spied in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem, Josiah put out of the way to make good the words of the law, which were written in the book that Helkiah the priest found in the house of the LORD.
For the king of Babylon shall stand in the turning of the way, at the head of the two trees: to ask counsel at the soothsayers, casting the lots with his arrows; to ask counsel at the Idols, and to look in the liver.
Thus the children of Israel shall sit a great while without king and prince, without offering and alter, without priest and revelation.
For vain is the answer of Idols. The soothsayers see lies, and tell but vain dreams. The comfort that they give, is nothing worth. Therefore go they astray like a flock of sheep, and are troubled, because they have 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 unto him, "Ask of God, I pray thee, that we may know whether the way which we go, shall be prosperous or no." And the priest said unto them, "Go in peace, for the way which ye go is before the LORD."
And then she took an image and laid it in the bed, and put a pillow stuffed with goat's hair under the head of it, and covered it with a cloth.
And when the messengers were come in, "Behold there lay an image in the bed, with a pillow of goat's hair under the head of it.
And thereto workers with spirits, soothsayers, Images of witchcraft, idols and all other abominations that were spied in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem, Josiah put out of the way to make good the words of the law, which were written in the book that Helkiah the priest found in the house of the LORD.
"Thou son of man, make thee two streets, that the sword of the king of Babylon may come. Both these streets shall go out of one land. He shall set him up a place; at the head of the street shall he choose him out a corner. Make thee a street, that the sword may come toward Rabbah of the Ammonites, and to the strong city of Jerusalem. read more. For the king of Babylon shall stand in the turning of the way, at the head of the two trees: to ask counsel at the soothsayers, casting the lots with his arrows; to ask counsel at the Idols, and to look in the liver. But the soothsaying shall point to the right side upon Jerusalem, that he may set men of war, to smite it with a great noise, to cry out Alarum, to set battle rams against the gates, to grave up ditches, and to make bulwarks.
For vain is the answer of Idols. The soothsayers see lies, and tell but vain dreams. The comfort that they give, is nothing worth. Therefore go they astray like a flock of sheep, and are troubled, because they have 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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Laban was gone to shear his sheep, and Rachel had stolen her father's images.