Bible Explanations
49. Teraphim
These are "household gods"
or idols. Otherwise translated "images." They are
purely man-made images, and the "gods" themselves do
not
really exist.
Genesis 31:19 - "And
Laban went to
shear his sheep: and Rachel had stolen the images that were
her father's."
Judges 17:5 - "And
the man Micah had an house of gods, and
made an ephod, and teraphim, and consecrated one of his sons,
who became his priest."
Judges 18:14 - "Then
answered the five men that went to spy
out the country of Laish, and said unto their brethren, Do ye
know that there is in these houses an ephod, and teraphim, and
a graven image, and a molten image? now therefore consider what
ye have to do."
Jud. 18:17,18 - "And
the five men that went to spy out the land
went up, and came in thither, and
took the graven
image, and the ephod, and the teraphim, and the molten image:
and the priest stood in the entering of the gate with the six
hundred men that were appointed with weapons of
war. And
these went into Micah's house, and fetched
the carved image, the ephod, and the teraphim, and the molten
image. Then said the priest unto them, What do ye?"
Jud. 18:20 - "And
the priest's heart was glad, and he took
the ephod, and the teraphim, and the graven image, and went in
the midst of the people."
1 Samuel 19:13 - "And
Michal took an image, and laid it
in the bed, and put a pillow of goats' hair for his
bolster,
and covered it with a cloth."
2 Kings 23:24 - "Moreover
the workers with familiar
spirits, and the wizards, and the images, and the idols, and all
the abominations that were spied in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem,
did Josiah put away, that he might perform the words of the law
which were written in the book that Hilkiah the priest found in
the house of the LORD."
Ezekiel 21:21 - "For the king of Babylon stood at
the parting
of the way, at the head of the two ways, to use divination: he
made his arrows bright, he consulted with images,
he looked
in the liver." This was a pagan practice.
Hosea 3:4 - "For
the
children of Israel shall abide many days
without a king, and without a prince, and without a sacrifice,
and without an image, and without an ephod, and without
teraphim"