Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition/Teraphim

TERAPHIM (תרפים), a Hebrew word found only in the plural, which the Authorized Version sometimes simply transcribes (Judges xvii. 5, xviii. 14 sq.; Hosea iii. 4), but elsewhere translates by ‘images” (Gen. xxxi. 19 and often elsewhere), ‘‘image” (1 Sam. xix. 13), “idols” (Zech. x. 2), “idolatry” (1 Sam. xv, 23). The etymology of the word is quite obscure (see Gesenius, Thesaurus, p. 1519 sq.,), but it appears that the teraphim were a kind of idols (Gen. xxxi. 30), with something of a human figure (1 Sam. xix. 13); and, though their use was condemned by the prophets (1 Sam. xv. 23; cp. 2 Kings xxiii. 24), they were long commonly used in popular worship, both domestic (1 Sam, xix. 13, in the house of David and Michal) and public (Judges xviii.). They are associated with the ephod, which in this connexion seems to mean a plated image, and Hosea speaks of ephod and teraphim as essential elements in the religious usages of northern Israel. Like the ephod, they were specially associated with divination, and in particular with the sacred lot (Zech. x. 2; Ezek. xxi. 21 [26]). From the last passage it appears that teraphim were used by the Babylonians as well as by the Hebrews. These statements and references cover all that is known about the teraphim; the fables of the rabbins are collected in Buxtorf, Lex. Talmud., 2660 sq.