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EPHOD

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Originally appearing in Volume V09, Page 677 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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EPHOD , a See also:

Hebrew word (ephod) of uncertain meaning, retained by the translators of the Old Testament. In the See also:post-exilic priestly writings (5th See also:century B.C. and later) the ephod forms See also:part of the gorgeous ceremonial See also:dress of the high-See also:priest (see Ex. See also:xxix. 5 sq. and especially Ecclus. xlv. 7-13). It was a very richly decorated See also:object of coloured threads interwoven with See also:gold, worn outside the luxurious See also:mantle or robe; it was kept in See also:place by a See also:girdle, and by See also:shoulder-pieces (?), to which were attached brooches of See also:onyx (fastened to the robe) and See also:golden rings from which hung the " breastplate " (or rather pouch) containing the sacred lots, Urim and Thummim. The somewhat involved description in Ex. See also:xxviii. 6 sqq., xxxix. 2 sqq. (see V. Ryssel's ed. of See also:Dillmann's commentary on Ex.-Lev.) leaves it uncertain whether it covered the back, encircling the See also:body like a See also:kind of waistcoat, or only the front; at all events it was not a garment in the See also:ordinary sense, and its association with the sacred lots indicates that the ephod was used for See also:divination (cf. Num. See also:xxvii. 21), and had become the distinguishing feature of the leading priestly See also:line (cf.

I Sam. ii. 28).1 But from other passages it seems that the ephod had been a See also:

familiar object whose use was by no means so restricted. Like the See also:teraphim (q.v.) it was part of the See also:common stock of Hebrew cult; it is See also:borne (rather than worn) by persons acting in a priestly See also:character (See also:Samuel at See also:Shiloh, priests of See also:Nob, See also:David), it is part of the See also:worship of individuals (See also:Gideon at Ophrah), and is found in a private See also:shrine with a See also:lay attendant (See also:Micah ; Judg. xvii. 5; see, however, vv. 10–13)2 Nevertheless, while the prophetical teaching came to regard the ephod as contrary to the true worship of Yahweh, the priestly See also:doctrine of the post-exilic See also:age (when worship was withdrawn from the community at large to the recognized priest-See also:hood of See also:Jerusalem) has retained it along with other remains of earlier usage, legalizing it, as it were, by confining it exclusively to the Aaronites. An intricate See also:historical problem is involved at the outset in the famous ephod, which the priest See also:Abiathar brought in his See also:hand when he fled to David after the See also:massacre of the priests of Nob. It is evidently regarded as the one which had been in Nob (i Sam. xxi. 9), and the presence of the priests at Nob is no less clearly regarded as the sequel of the fall of Shiloh. The ostensible intention is to narrate the transference of the sacred See also:objects to David (cf. 2 Sam. i. to), and henceforth he regularly inquires of Yahweh in his movements (I Sam. See also:xxiii. 9-12, See also:xxx. 7 sq.; cf. xxiii.

2, 4; 2°Sam. ii. 1, v. 19-23). It is possible that the writer (or writers) desired to trace the earlier See also:

history of the ephod through the line of See also:Eli and Abiathar to the See also:time when the Zadokite priests gained the supremacy (see See also:LEVITES); but else-where Abiathar is said to have borne the See also:ark (I See also:Kings ii. 26; cf. 2 Sam. vii. 6), and this fluctuation is noteworthy by See also:reason of the See also:present confusion in the See also:text of I Sam. xiv. 3, 18 (see commentaries). On one view, the ark in Kirjath-jearim was in non-Israelite hands (i Sam. vii. r sq.) ; on the other, See also:Saul's position as See also:king necessitates the presumption that his sway extended over See also:Judah and See also:Israel, including those cities which otherwise appear to have been in the hands of aliens (I Sam. xiv. 47 sq.; cf. xvii. 54, &c.). There are some fundamental divergencies in the representations of the traditions of both David and Saul (qq.v.), and there is indirect and 1 Cf. the phrase " ephod of prophecy " (Testament of See also:Levi, viii.

2). The priestly apparatus of the post-exilic age retains several traces of old mythological symbolism and earlier cult, the meaning of which had not altogether been forgotten. With the dress one may perhaps compare the See also:

apparel of the gods See also:Marduk and See also:Adad, for which see A. Jeremias, Das Alte Test. See also:im Lichte See also:des See also:Alten Orients, 2nd ed., See also:figs. 33, 46, and pp. 162, 449. 2 The ordinary See also:interpretation " See also:linen ephod " (i Sam. ii. 18, xxii. 18; 2 Sam. vi. 14) is questioned by T. C. See also:Foote in his useful monograph, Journ.

Bibl. Lit. xxi., 1902, pp. 3, 47. This writer also aptly compares the See also:

infant Samuel with the See also:child who See also:drew the lots at the See also:temple of See also:Fortuna at See also:Praeneste (See also:Cicero, De divin. ii. 41, 86), and with the See also:modern practice of employing See also:innocent See also:instruments of See also:chance in See also:lotteries (op. cit. pp. 22, 27). See also:independent See also:evidence which makes i Kings ii. 26 not entirely isolated. Here it must suffice to remark that the ark, too, was also an object for ascertaining the divine will (especially Judg. xx. 26-28 ; cf. 18, 23), and it is far from certain that the later records of the ark (which was too heavy to be borne by one), like those of the ephod, are valid for earlier times. For the See also:form of the earlier ephod the classic passage is 2 Sam. vi.

14, where David girt in (or with) a linen ephod dances before the ark at its entry into Jerusalem and incurs the unqualified contempt of his wife Michal, the daughter of Saul. Relying upon the known See also:

custom of performing certain observances in a practically, or even entirely, nude See also:condition, it seems plausible to infer that the ephod was a scanty wrapping, perhaps a See also:loin-See also:cloth, and this view has found weighty support. On the other hand; the See also:idea of contempt at the exposure of the See also:person, to whatever extent, may not have been so prominent, especially if the custom were not unfamiliar, and it is possible that the sequel refers more particularly to grosser practices attending outbursts of religious See also:enthusiasm.' The favourite view that the ephod was also an See also:image rests partly upon r Sam. xxi. 9, where See also:Goliath's See also:sword is wrapped in a cloth in the See also:sanctuary of Nob behind the ephod. But it is equally natural to suppose that it hung on a See also:nail in the See also:wall, and apart from the omission of the significant words in the See also:original See also:Septuagint, the possibility that the text read " ark " cannot be wholly ignored (see above; also G. F. See also:Moore, Ency. Bib. See also:col. 1307, n. 2). Again, in the See also:story of Micah's shrine and the removal of the sacred objects and the Levite priest by the Danites, parallel narratives have been used: the graven and molten images of Judg. xvii. 2-4 corresponding to the ephod and teraphim of ver.

5. Throughout there is confusion in the use of these terms, and the See also:

finale refers only to the graven image of See also:Dan (xviii. 30 sq., see i Kings xii. 28 sq.). But the See also:combination of ephod and teraphim (as in Hos. iii. 4) is noteworthy, since the fact that the latter were images (i Sam. xix. 13; Gen. xxxi. 34) could be urged against the view that the former were of a similar character. Finally, according to Judg. viii. 27, Gideon made an ephod of gold, about 70 Ib in See also:weight, and " put " it in Ophrah. It is regarded as a departure from the worship of Yahweh, although the writer of ver. 33 (cf. also ver.

23) hardly shared this feeling; it was probably something once harmlessly associated with the cult of Yahweh (cf. See also:

CALF, GOLDEN), and the See also:term " ephod " may be due to a later hand under the See also:influence of the prophetical teaching referred to above. The present passage is the only one which appears to prove that the ephod was an image, and several writers, including Lotz (Realencyk. f. prof. Theol. vol. v., s.v.), T. C. Foote (pp. 13-18) and A. Maecklenburg (Zeit. f. wissens. Theol., 1906, pp. 433 sqq.) find this interpretation unnecessary. Archaeological evidence for objects of divination (see, e.g., the interesting details in Ohnefalsch-See also:Richter, Kypros, the See also:Bible and See also:Homer, i. 447 sq.), and See also:parallels from,the See also:Oriental See also:area, can be readily cited in support of any of the explanations of the ephod which have been offered, but naturally cannot prove the form which it actually took in See also:Palestine.

Since images were clothed, it could be supposed that the diviner put on the See also:

god's apparel (cf. Ency. Bib. col. 1141); but they were also plated, and in either See also:case the transference from a covering to the object covered is intelligible. If the ephod was a loin-cloth, its use as a receptacle and the known See also:evolution of the See also:article find useful analogies (Foote, p. 43 sq., and Ency. Bib. col. 1734 [iI). Finally, if there is no decisive evidence for the view that it was an image (Judg. viii. 27), or that as a wrapping it formed the See also:sole covering of the officiating See also:agent (2 Sam. vi.), all that can safely be said is that It is not stated that the linen ephod was David's sole covering, and it is difficult to See also:account for the text in the parallel passage 1 Chron. xv. 27 (where he is clothed with a robe) ; " girt," too, is ambiguous, since the verb is even used of a sword. On the question of nudity (cf.

1 Sam. xix. 24) see See also:

Robertson See also:Smith, Rel. Sem.2 pp. 161, 45o sq.; Ency. Bib. s.vv. " girdle," " sackcloth ." ; and M. Jastrow, Journ. Am. Or. See also:Soc. xx. 144, xxi. 23.

The significant terms " uncover," " See also:

play " (2 Sam. vi. 20 sq.), have other meanings intelligible to those acquainted with the excesses practised in Oriental cults.67.7. it was certainly used in divination and presumably did not differ radically from the ephod of the post-exilic age. See further, in addition to the monographs already cited, the articles in See also:Hastings's See also:Diet. Bible (by S. R. See also:Driver), Ency. Bib. (by G. F. Moore), and See also:Jew. Encyc.

(L. See also:

Ginsburg), and E. Sellin, in Oriental. Studien: Theodor See also:Noldeke (ed. Bezold, 1906), pp. 699 sqq. (S. A.

End of Article: EPHOD

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