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TERAPHIM (A.V. sometimes transcribes,...

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Originally appearing in Volume V26, Page 637 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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TERAPHIM (A.V. sometimes transcribes, e.g. See also:Judges xvii. 5; xviii. 14 seq.; See also:Hosea iii. 4; sometimes translates " See also:image," r Sam. xix. 13; " idols," Zech. x. 2; See also:idolatry," 1 Sam. xv. 23: R.V. renders consistently "teraphim ") , a See also:Hebrew word, found only in the plural, of uncertain See also:etymology. The name appears to be applied to some See also:form of idol (cf. Gen. xxxi. 19 and 30), but details as to its precise configuration, &c., are lacking. From 1 Sam. xix.

13, 16 it would seem that in the See also:

early monarchical See also:period a See also:regular See also:place in every See also:household was still reserved for the teraphim; while in the 8th See also:century Hosea (iii. 4) speaks of "See also:ephod and teraphim " as essential elements in the See also:national See also:worship. Later the teraphim with other adjuncts of heathenish worship were banned by the prophets. The meaning of the Elohistic See also:story in Gen. See also:xxxv. 2–4 clearly is that the employment of teraphim and of other See also:heathen practices of Aramean paganism was given up by See also:Israel in See also:order that they might serve See also:Jehovah alone at See also:Bethel. In Judges and Hosea the teraphim are closely associated with the ephod; both are mentioned in connexion with See also:divination (cf. 2 See also:Kings See also:xxiii. 24; Ezek. xxi. 21 [26]; Zech. x. 2). Whether the teraphim were " consulted " by See also:lot or not is uncertain. In view of Ezek. xxi.

21 and Hosea iii. 4 it is difficult to suppose that the teraphim were purely household idols. The Rabbinical conjectures on the subject can be found in See also:

Buxtorf, Lex. Talm. (ed. See also:Fischer), 1315 seq. One of the most curious is that the teraphim consisted of a mummified human See also:head (see also EPHOD). (W. R. S.; G. H.

End of Article: TERAPHIM (A.V. sometimes transcribes, e.g. Judges xvii. 5; xviii. 14 seq.; Hosea iii. 4; sometimes translates " image," r Sam. xix. 13; " idols," Zech. x. 2; idolatry," 1 Sam. xv. 23: R.V. renders consistently "teraphim ")

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