A word in the Hebrew language which has much exercised the ingenuity of the critics. It is commonly interpreted idols. It would be useless here to trouble the reader with the numerous conjectures which have been formed respecting its meaning. Perhaps the best way to determine it would be to examine and compare all the passages in which it occurs, and to consult the ancient translations.
We meet with this word, Judges 17. 5. The translators of the Bible have retained the word as it is in the original, in this place, and also Hosea 3: 4; but the same word, Gen. xxxi. 19, they have rendered images, though they still have preserved the word Teraphim in the margin at that verse. It is attended with no small difficulty to apprehend what these Teraphim were. It would be easy to suppose, and indeed at once conclude, that they were idols for worship, were it not that the Lord by the prophet Hosea seems to speak inthe Scripture referred to, that the children of Israel in their desolations should be without them, which, if idols, would have been their mercy, and not their misery. Nevertheless, as in the case of Rachel there seems a pretty clear testimony that her Teraphim were idols for worship, it is more than probable the whole we meet with in Scripture were to the same purpose. (See Gen. xxxv. 2 - 4.)
It is said, Gen 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.
Ter´aphim were tutelar household gods, by whom families expected, for worship bestowed, to be rewarded with domestic prosperity, such as plenty of food, health, and various necessaries of domestic life.
We have most remarkable proofs that the worship of teraphim co-existed with the worship of Jehovah even in pious families; and we have more than one instance of the wives of worshippers of Jehovah not finding full contentment and satisfaction in the stern moral truth of spiritual worship, and therefore carrying on some private symbolism by fondling the teraphim.
We find in Gen 31:19, that Rachel stole the images (teraphim) belonging to her father without the knowledge of her husband, who, being accused by his father-in-law of having stolen his gods, answered, ’With whomsoever thou findest thy gods, let him not live.’ Laban searched, but found not the images (teraphim).
Among the ancient Israelites the worship of Jehovah was frequently blended with that of a graven image or teraphim, but on every revival of the knowledge of the written revelation of God the teraphim were swept away together with the worse forms of idolatry (2Ki 23:24).
The teraphim were consulted by persons on whom true religion had no firm hold, in order to elicit some supernatural omens similar to the auguries of the Romans (Zec 10:2; Eze 21:21-26).
Small idols or superstitious figures, from the possession, adoration, and consultation of which extraordinary benefits were expected. See margin 2Ki 23.24; Ezekiel 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, Jdg 17:1-13 .\par They seem in one case to have resembled the human form in shape and size, 1Sa 19:13,16 . The images of Rachel, Gen 31:19,30, were teraphim. So Jdg 17:5 18:14, 20 Ho 3:4.\par
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 -- 1Sa 19:13, 1Sa 19:16 -- 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 corrupt practices to the patriarchal religion.
Teraphim again are included among Micah’s images. Jdg 17:3-5; Jdg 18:17-18; Jdg 18:20. Teraphim were consulted, for oracular answers, by the Israelites, Zec 10:2, compare Jdg 18:5-6; 1Sa 15:22-23; 1Sa 19:13; 1Sa 19:16, Septuagint (LXX) and 2Ki 23:24, and by the Babylonians, in the case of Nebuchadnezzar. Eze 21:19-22.
Used for divination (Eze 21:21; Zec 10:2), and to secure good fortune to a house, as the penates. From Arabic
Teraphim (tĕr’a-phĭm), givers of prosperous life? Images kept in the houses and honored with a certain kind of reverence. Laban had some of them; and Rachel took these when leaving Padan-aram. Gen 31:19; Gen 31:30; Gen 31:32-35. So we find that they were employed for purposes of divination among the Babylonians. Eze 21:21. It is possible that Rachel imagined that some augury of the future might be obtained from them; and she must have considered them as having a tutelary power. These images were probably some of the strange gods of which Jacob subsequently cleansed his household. Gen 35:2; Gen 35:4. Micah had them in his house, and felt sure that Jehovah would bless him when he had a Levite to minister before them. Jdg 17:5; Jdg 17:13. These the Danites eagerly carried off. Jdg 18:14-21. It is still more perplexing to find them in David’s house. 1Sa 19:13; 1Sa 19:16. And it does not seem that they were altogether put away till the thorough reformation of Josiah’s days. 2Ki 23:24. Then, indeed, they were classed with abominable things. The word is used, 1Sa 10:23, rendered in our version "idolatry," in expressing’ the truth that obstinacy was sinful, "iniquity, and teraphim worship." We find them also censured in Zec 10:2: and Hosea employed the term to signify the state of Israel with no kind of worship either of the true God or of false deities. Hos 3:4. We may gather that they were made of various materials, as of silver, Jdg 17:4, and that they resembled a human figure sometimes of the natural size. 1Sa 19:13. Perhaps they were like the Roman Penates or household gods. Small figures of baked clay, some with a human head and a lion’s body, and others with a human body and lynx head, have been found under the pavement of the porch of the Khorsabad palace.
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. Gen 31:19; Gen 31:34-35. Michal the wife of David had one in her house, and laid it in the bed when David escaped. 1Sa 19:13; 1Sa 19:16. Micah also had them in his house, and regarded them as ’gods.’ Jdg 17:5; Jdg 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 Hos 3:4 the Jews are described as having neither king, nor prince, nor sacrifice, nor image, nor ephod, nor teraphim - as they are at this day bereft of their sacrifices, and without even the divination and false gods they once had. But the prophecy speaks also of a coming day when they will seek Jehovah their God, and David their king, and enter into blessing.
(
):
By: Executive Committee of the Editorial Board., John Dyneley Prince, Wilhelm Bacher, M. Seligsohn
Plural word of unknown derivation used in the Old Testament to denote the primitive Semitic house-gods whose cult had been handed down to historical times from the earlier period of nomadic wanderings. The translation of the term "teraphim" by the Greek versions, as well as its use in the Scriptures, gives an excellent idea of the nature of these symbols. Thus Aquila renders the word by "figures"; the Septuagint in Genesis by "images," in Ezekiel by "carved images," in Zechariah by "oracles," and in Hosea by "manifest objects" (
The form of the word in Hebrew must be regarded as a plural of excellence. Just as "Elohim" denotes "gods" and "God," the form "teraphim" is applicable to each single object as well as to the entire class (comp. I Sam. xix. 13 and Gen. xxxi. 19).
—Biblical Data:
That teraphim were really images of human shape and of considerable size is plainly seen from I Sam. xix. 13, where Michal, the daughter of Saul, places one in David's bed in order to conceal his escape from her enraged father. It is furthermore evident that they were not too large to be easily portable, inasmuch as Gen. xxxi. 19 mentions that Rachel, without her husband's knowledge, stole the teraphim which belonged to her father, Laban, and, when she wished to conceal them, placed them among the camel's furniture and sat upon them (Gen. xxxi. 34).
Nature of Cult.
The nature of the teraphim cult and its gradual decay seem also perfectly clear. It may be noted that teraphim were regarded in early times as representatives of real gods endowed with divine attributes (comp. Gen. xxxi. 30, where Laban, rebu-king Jacob for Rachel's theft of the teraphim, asks, "Wherefore hast thou stolen my gods?"), and that evidently the teraphim cult was practically on a plane with Yhwh worship. In Judges xvii. 5 Micah has "an house of gods" (
) with a duly appointed priest; he makes an ephod (see below) and teraphim, which were used together with "a graven image" and "a molten image" made from silver dedicated to Yhwh; the figures were evidently Yhwh images. The value of the teraphim to the family and the tribe is shown by the statements that Rachel stole them from her father (Gen. xxxi. 19), and that the Danites, when they went to spy out the land of Laish, took away by force from the house of Micah not only the Yhwh images just mentioned, but also the ephod, the teraphim, and the Levitical priest (see Judges xviii.).
Acceptance and Rejection.
In early times teraphim-worship was undoubtedly tolerated by the Yhwh religion, as may be seen, for example, from I Sam. xix. 13 (the story of Michal, the daughter of Saul), where it is tacitly implied that a teraphim was a usual piece of furniture in the household of a loyal follower of Yhwh. In Hos. iii. 4 and in Gen. xxxi. 19, also, teraphim are alluded to without comment, although Prof. H. P. Smith ("Samuel," p. xxxiv.) thinks he detects a touch of sarcasm in the latter passage. It is certain, however, that teraphim soon became an object of distinct condemnation in the Yhwh cult.
In Gen. xxxv. 2 et seq. Jacob orders that the "strange gods" (
), by which teraphim images were probably meant, be put away by his household and buried. The spot which was thus defiled was made a holy place by Joshua (Josh. xxiv. 20-26). Furthermore, in I Sam. xv. 23 Samuel in his rebuke to Saul is made to classify teraphim with iniquity (
) and rebellion (
). Josiah, the reforming king, did away with the magicians and wizards as well as with the teraphim and idols (
), all of which are grouped together as "abominations" (II Kings xxiii. 24). With these passages should also be compared Zech. x. 2 (R. V.): "for the teraphim have spoken vanity, and the diviners have seen a lie; and they have told false dreams."
Function.
It will appear from the above quotations that the most important function of the teraphim, at any rate after the spread of the Yhwh cult over Israel, was that of divination. Evidently the images were used chiefly for oracular purposes, although nothing is known of the method of their consultation; it is probable, however, that they were used in connection with casting the sacred lot (comp. Zech. x. 2; Ezek. xxi. 26 [A. V. 21]). The mention of an ephod in connection with teraphim (Judges xvii. 5, xviii. 20) is a peculiar use of that word, which in these passages represents merely "a portable object employed or manipulated by the priest in consultation with the oracle" (comp. Moore, "Judges," p. 379, and see Judges viii. 27, which clearly describes an ephod as an object employed in divination). This use of the word seems to be quite distinct from that in the so-called P document (Ex. xxviii. 6 et seq.), where a high-priestly garment of the same name is referred to (see Ephod).
Such oracles were probably consulted down to a quite late date (comp. Hos. iii. 4, Hebr.: "for the children of Israel shall abide many days without a king, and without a prince, and without a sacrifice [
], and without a pillar [
], and without an ephod, and without teraphim"). The passage II Kings xxiii. 24, cited above, makes it evident that teraphim had survived in later Judah. The mention of teraphim in Zech. x. 2 may have been due to an archaizing tendency of the author of this section (see Zechariah), and would not in itself be sufficient evidence to prove that the teraphim cult had continued into the Greek period; if, however, this passage is taken in conjunction with the statement of Josephus ("Ant." xviii. 9, § 5) that the customof carrying house-gods on journeys into strange countries prevailed in his time in the Mesopotamian regions, it appears highly likely that the use of teraphim continued into the first Christian century and possibly even later.
As Household Gods.
It would seem, then, as remarked above, that teraphim, like the Roman Lares and Penates, originally represented house-gods, which were carried about by the primitive Semitic nomads as fetishes along with their family effects, and that these deities were in all probability worshiped at first as the most important divine objects known to the followers of this cult. Although nothing whatever is known about the origin of the teraphim cult, it may have been a survival of primitive ancestor worship; i.e., the images may have originally represented the deified ancestors of the family which revered them, and may have become later a sort of Manes oracle. They were probably not astral personifications. The cult could not have been regarded as indigenous among the Israelites, because the deities are characterized as "gods of the stranger" (A. V. "strange gods") in Gen. xxxv. 4. In Ezek. xxi. 26 (A. V. 21) it is recorded that the King of Babylon consulted teraphim, and "looked in the liver"; i.e., he made use of magical incantations as well as of the astrological rites common in Babylonia. It is not at all unlikely that the Israelites obtained the teraphim cult from their Aramean kinsmen.
E. C. J. D. P.—In Rabbinical Literature:
The word "teraphim" is explained by the Rabbis as meaning "disgraceful things" (Yer. 'Ab. Zarah ii. 41b; Tan., Wayeẓe). It is rendered "ẓalmanaya" or "ẓilmanaya" (= "images") by the Targumim of Onḳelos and pseudo-Jonathan to Gen. xxxi. 19, 34, and by the Targum of Jonathan in the other parts of the Bible, except in connection with the image of Micah (Judges xvii. 5; xviii. 14, 18, 20), where it is rendered "dema'in" (= "likenesses"). The nature of the teraphim is much discussed by ancient commentators. According to Targ. pseudo-Jonathan to Gen. xxxi. 19, the teraphim were made of the head of a man, a first-born, which, after the man had been slain, was shaved and then salted and spiced. After a golden plate on which magic words were engraved had been placed under the tongue, the mummified head was mounted on the wall, and it spoke to the people. This legend is more fully developed in Pirḳe R. El. xxxvi., where it is said that after the head had been displayed on the wall, lighted candles were placed round it; the people then prostrated themselves before it, and it talked to them.
Ibn Ezra (on Gen. l.c.) records two definitions of "teraphim"; namely, (1) a copper dial by means of which one might ascertain the exact time, and (2) an image made by astrologers at a certain time and under the influence of certain stars, which caused it to speak. Ibn Ezra himself favored the latter interpretation, it appearing from I Sam. xix. 13, 16 that the teraphim had the shape of a man. Naḥmanides (on Gen. l.c.), however, thinks that while the teraphim of Laban might have been idols, those of I Sam. l.c. were not, inasmuch as there could have been no idols in David's house. He thinks that in general teraphim were astrological tables by means of which one might learn future events (comp. Ḳimḥi on I Sam. l.c.). The "Sefer ha-Yashar" (section "Wayeẓe," pp. 46b-47a, Leghorn, 1870), after having repeated the description which Pirḳe R. Eliezer gives of the teraphim, declares that they were made of gold or silver, in the image of a man and at a certain moment, and that by the influence of the stars they revealed the future. It adds that the teraphim of Laban were of the latter description.
TERAPHIM.—See Images; Israel., p. 412b; also p. 569a.