also of opinion that the reason why "idols" are called 5??, may be found in the circumstance that they are wor- shipped on account oi some idea conveyed by them, ? not on account of their figure and shape. In the same way is used the expression 5?'?r?0 ?D?, "the forrn? oi your emerods" (1 Sam. vi. 5), for the chief object was the removal of the injury caused by the eraerode, not a change of their shape. If, however, it must be assumed that the images of the eraerode and the idols are called on account of their external shape, the term 5t? would be either a real or an apparent homonym, and would denote Both the specific form and the arti//cial shape, ? or similar properties relating to the dimensions and the figure of mate- rial bodies; and in the phrase ??m ?'u? ??, "Let us make man in our form" (Gen. i. 26), the term 5? would then passage, ?iz., ??:l]'l I?D?, the object of ??:lrl cannot be the outer appearance of the persons referred to in that Psalm: for God looks only to the heart of man, not to hi, outer appearance. Comp. Eta Chayyim, ch. lt3?3 ?t31133?. "But w?on ?o ?ay= (?t3J3 1301?!?) ' thou wLlt deapiso thoi? orm,' ho does not mean by' form' (13{?l?) the ?_h?pe o tho ]imbe, but thoir ?o? t. he con?fitaent ?nc] ]eadin? e]ement in theL? existence; ?or the oontemp% oa? ?3nly ?pp]y to the nobler I)a? in man'a e?ence." ? I?t.," that w?eh ? ?onsht in thom, the iaea wi?!h they repreaent" qq?tt?; Tibbon, l?, Oh. i?r?3)an abstract conception, not their external ?.or?., eto. The Arabie tt?:l ?)?)D?tt is rendered by T. :l?/r?, by Ch. ?1? '? ?. Munk (page 35, note 2), leur ?ens (l'id?e)qu'on s'imagina/t, o'est/? d/re, la fausse id6e qu'on se formalt d' elles ou la vertu qu'on leur attribuait par errour. ? Here Maimonides abandons his proposition that r? in the Bible denotes r?lu?i?e/?/" form" in the philosophical sense of the word. He admits, that in r?'D? "idols" and in I?'l??lt0 '1? "the images of your eraerode," the word may perhaps refer to external likenoes. The only proof maintained by our author in all circumstances is the phrase ,'I?2FI r?D?Z. Comp. Ets Chayyfm of your emerods' the word refers to their artificial form; it refers to the natural form in the following passage, ' and the ?orm of his visage was changed'" (?)au. iii. x9)
