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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And Laban hath gone to shear his flock, and Rachel stealeth the teraphim which her father hath;
'And now, thou hast certainly gone, because thou hast been very desirous for the house of thy father; why hast thou stolen my gods?'
As to the man Micah, he hath a house of gods, and he maketh an ephod, and teraphim, and consecrateth the hand of one of his sons, and he is to him for a priest;
And the five men, those going to traverse the land of Laish, answer and say unto their brethren, 'Have ye known that there is in these houses an ephod, and teraphim, and graven image, and molten image? and now, know what ye do.'
And the heart of the priest is glad, and he taketh the ephod, and the teraphim, and the graven image, and goeth into the midst of the people,
and Michal taketh the teraphim, and layeth on the bed, and the mattress of goats' hair she hath put for his pillows, and covereth with a garment.
And the messengers come in, and lo, the teraphim are on the bed, and the mattress of goats' hair, for his pillows.
For many days remain do the sons of Israel without a king, and there is no prince, and there is no sacrifice, and there is no standing pillar, and there is no ephod and 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/ylt'>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 have made the ephod of gold, blue, and purple, and scarlet, and twined linen, work of a designer; it hath two shoulders joining at its two ends, and it is joined. read more. And the girdle of his ephod which is on him, according to its work, is of the same, of gold, blue, and purple, and scarlet, and twined linen. 'And thou hast taken the two shoham stones, and hast opened on them the names of the sons of Israel; six of their names on the one stone, and the names of the remaining six on the second stone, according to their births; the work of an engraver in stone, openings of a signet, thou dost open the two stones by the names of the sons of Israel; turned round, embroidered with gold, thou dost make them. And thou hast set the two stones on the shoulders of the ephod -- stones of memorial to the sons of Israel -- and Aaron hath borne their names before Jehovah, on his two shoulders, for a memorial. 'And thou hast made embroidered things of gold, and two chains of pure gold, wreathed work thou dost make them, work of thick bands, and thou hast put the thick chains on the embroidered things.
And Gideon saith unto them, 'Let me ask of you a petition, and give ye to me each the ring of his prey, for they have rings of gold, for they are Ishmaelites.' And they say, 'We certainly give;' and they spread out the garment, and cast thither each the ring of his prey; read more. and the weight of the rings of gold which he asked is a thousand and seven hundred shekels of gold, apart from the round ornaments, and the drops, and the purple garments, which are on the kings of Midian, and apart from the chains which are on the necks of their camels, and Gideon maketh it into an ephod, and setteth it up in his city, in Ophrah, and all Israel go a-whoring after it there, and it is to Gideon and to his house for a snare.
and Michal taketh the teraphim, and layeth on the bed, and the mattress of goats' hair she hath put for his pillows, and covereth with a garment. And Saul sendeth messengers to take David, and she saith, 'He is sick.' read more. And Saul sendeth the messengers to see David, saying, 'Bring him up in the bed unto me,' -- to put him to death. And the messengers come in, and lo, the teraphim are on the bed, and the mattress of goats' hair, for his pillows.
And the priest saith, 'The sword of Goliath the Philistine, whom thou didst smite in the valley of Elah, lo, it is wrapped in a garment behind the ephod, if it thou dost take to thyself, take; for there is none other save it in this place.' And David saith, 'There is none like it -- give it to me.'
And it cometh to pass, in the fleeing of Abiathar son of Ahimelech unto David, to Keilah, an ephod came down in his hand.
And David knoweth that against him Saul is devising the evil, and saith unto Abiathar the priest, 'Bring nigh the ephod.'
And David saith unto Abiathar the priest, son of Ahimelech, 'Bring nigh, I pray thee, to me the ephod;' and Abiathar bringeth nigh the ephod unto David, and David asketh at Jehovah, saying, 'I pursue after this troop -- do I overtake it?' And He saith to him, 'Pursue, for thou dost certainly overtake, and dost certainly deliver.'
And also, those having familiar spirits, and the wizards, and the teraphim, and the idols, and all the abominations that were seen in the land of Judah, and in Jerusalem, hath Josiah put away, in order to establish the words of the law that are written on the book that Hilkiah the priest hath found in the house of Jehovah.
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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And Laban hath gone to shear his flock, and Rachel stealeth the teraphim which her father hath;
'And now, thou hast certainly gone, because thou hast been very desirous for the house of thy father; why hast thou stolen my gods?'
And Rachel hath taken the teraphim, and putteth them in the furniture of the camel, and sitteth upon them; and Laban feeleth all the tent, and hath not found;
And Jacob saith unto his household, and unto all who are with him, 'Turn aside the gods of the stranger which are in your midst, and cleanse yourselves, and change your garments;
'And now, fear ye Jehovah, and serve Him, in perfection and in truth, and turn aside the gods which your fathers served beyond the River, and in Egypt, and serve ye Jehovah;
As to the man Micah, he hath a house of gods, and he maketh an ephod, and teraphim, and consecrateth the hand of one of his sons, and he is to him for a priest;
And the five men, those going to traverse the land of Laish, answer and say unto their brethren, 'Have ye known that there is in these houses an ephod, and teraphim, and graven image, and molten image? and now, know what ye do.'
yea, the five men, those going to traverse the land, go up -- they have come in thither -- they have taken the graven image, and the ephod, and the teraphim, and the molten image -- and the priest is standing at the opening of the gate, and the six hundred men who are girded with weapons of war -- yea, these have entered the house of Micah, and take the graven image, the ephod, and the teraphim, and the molten image; and the priest saith unto them, 'What are ye doing?'
And the heart of the priest is glad, and he taketh the ephod, and the teraphim, and the graven image, and goeth into the midst of the people,
for a sin of divination is rebellion, and iniquity and teraphim is stubbornness; because thou hast rejected the word of Jehovah, He also doth reject thee from being king.'
and Michal taketh the teraphim, and layeth on the bed, and the mattress of goats' hair she hath put for his pillows, and covereth with a garment.
For stood hath the king of Babylon at the head of the way, At the top of the two ways, to use divination, He hath moved lightly with the arrows, He hath asked at the teraphim, He hath looked on the liver.
For many days remain do the sons of Israel without a king, and there is no prince, and there is no sacrifice, and there is no standing pillar, and there is no ephod and teraphim. Afterwards turned back have the sons of Israel, and sought Jehovah their God, and David their king, and have hastened unto Jehovah, and unto His goodness, in the latter end of the days.
Because the teraphim did speak iniquity, And the diviners have seen a falsehood, And dreams of the vanity they speak, With vanity they give comfort, Therefore they have journeyed as a flock, They are afflicted, for 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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And Laban hath gone to shear his flock, and Rachel stealeth the teraphim which her father hath;
And Rachel hath taken the teraphim, and putteth them in the furniture of the camel, and sitteth upon them; and Laban feeleth all the tent, and hath not found; and she saith unto her father, 'Let it not be displeasing in the eyes of my lord that I am not able to rise at thy presence, for the way of women is on me;' and he searcheth, and hath not found the teraphim.
As to the man Micah, he hath a house of gods, and he maketh an ephod, and teraphim, and consecrateth the hand of one of his sons, and he is to him for a priest;
And the five men, those going to traverse the land of Laish, answer and say unto their brethren, 'Have ye known that there is in these houses an ephod, and teraphim, and graven image, and molten image? and now, know what ye do.' And they turn aside thither, and come in unto the house of the young man the Levite, the house of Micah, and ask of him of welfare, -- read more. (and the six hundred men girded with their weapons of war, who are of the sons of Dan, are standing at the opening of the gate), -- yea, the five men, those going to traverse the land, go up -- they have come in thither -- they have taken the graven image, and the ephod, and the teraphim, and the molten image -- and the priest is standing at the opening of the gate, and the six hundred men who are girded with weapons of war -- yea, these have entered the house of Micah, and take the graven image, the ephod, and the teraphim, and the molten image; and the priest saith unto them, 'What are ye doing?' and they say to him, 'Keep silent, lay thy hand on thy mouth, and go with us, and be to us for a father and for a priest: is it better thy being a priest to the house of one man, or thy being priest to a tribe and to a family in Israel?' And the heart of the priest is glad, and he taketh the ephod, and the teraphim, and the graven image, and goeth into the midst of the people,
and Michal taketh the teraphim, and layeth on the bed, and the mattress of goats' hair she hath put for his pillows, and covereth with a garment.
And the messengers come in, and lo, the teraphim are on the bed, and the mattress of goats' hair, for his pillows.
And also, those having familiar spirits, and the wizards, and the teraphim, and the idols, and all the abominations that were seen in the land of Judah, and in Jerusalem, hath Josiah put away, in order to establish the words of the law that are written on the book that Hilkiah the priest hath found in the house of Jehovah.
For stood hath the king of Babylon at the head of the way, At the top of the two ways, to use divination, He hath moved lightly with the arrows, He hath asked at the teraphim, He hath looked on the liver.
For many days remain do the sons of Israel without a king, and there is no prince, and there is no sacrifice, and there is no standing pillar, and there is no ephod and teraphim.
Because the teraphim did speak iniquity, And the diviners have seen a falsehood, And dreams of the vanity they speak, With vanity they give comfort, Therefore they have journeyed as a flock, They are afflicted, for 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 say to him, 'Ask, we pray thee, at God, and we know whether our way is prosperous on which we are going.' And the priest saith to them, 'Go in peace; over-against Jehovah is your way in which ye go.'
and Michal taketh the teraphim, and layeth on the bed, and the mattress of goats' hair she hath put for his pillows, and covereth with a garment.
And the messengers come in, and lo, the teraphim are on the bed, and the mattress of goats' hair, for his pillows.
And also, those having familiar spirits, and the wizards, and the teraphim, and the idols, and all the abominations that were seen in the land of Judah, and in Jerusalem, hath Josiah put away, in order to establish the words of the law that are written on the book that Hilkiah the priest hath found in the house of Jehovah.
And thou, son of man, appoint for thee two ways, for the coming in of the sword of the king of Babylon; from one land they come forth, both of them, and a station prepare thou, at the top of the way of the city prepare it. A way appoint for the coming of the sword, Unto Rabbath of the sons of Ammon, And to Judah, in Jerusalem -- the fenced. read more. For stood hath the king of Babylon at the head of the way, At the top of the two ways, to use divination, He hath moved lightly with the arrows, He hath asked at the teraphim, He hath looked on the liver. At his right hath been the divination -- Jerusalem, To place battering-rams, To open the mouth with slaughter, To lift up a voice with shouting, To place battering-rams against the gates, To pour out a mount, to build a fortification.
Because the teraphim did speak iniquity, And the diviners have seen a falsehood, And dreams of the vanity they speak, With vanity they give comfort, Therefore they have journeyed as a flock, They are afflicted, for 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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And Laban hath gone to shear his flock, and Rachel stealeth the teraphim which her father hath;