089. "Rachel Took the Images"

"Rachel Took the Images"

(Genesis 31:34) "Now Rachel had taken the images, and put them in the camel’s furniture, and sat upon them." This appears to be the first notice we have of the existence and worship of these teraphim. Later on they were frequently mentioned, but here we see them first in this patriarchal family.

They were very small and easily hidden under the saddle bags of the camel. The Arabs still often hide stolen property under their saddles. Stealing a god to worship did not seem a bit strange to them. They would tell you that it was not a sin to steal a god who would help you get other things you wanted and needed.

Teraphim were frequently consulted for answers about the future by the children of Israel. After they entered the promised land, one of their corrupt practices was the worship or use of the teraphim. Many of the Hebrews leaned to idolatry then and consulted these images of gods, but still held on to their belief in the God of Israel.

Rachel stole the family gods or teraphim. We may wonder why such an ado was made over a pair of small figurines of very little money value. Well, we have learned from a clay tablet that an archaeologist found: "If a son-in-law possessed the household gods of his father-in-law, then he was considered a real son and shared in the inheritance." Rachel stole the family gods to make her husband an immediate member of her father’s family, and that made him an heir and gave him a claim to a portion of Laban’s property. Her husband had served the father-in-law fourteen years for the two daughters and she felt he had a right to be considered an heir.