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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comFausset Bible Dictionary: Teraphim
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(See IDOL.) Sometimes left untranslated; elsewhere "images ... idolatry" (; ; ; , "strange gods".) Worshipped by Abram's kindred in Mesopotamia (). Images in human form; Maurer thinks busts, cut off at the waist, from taaraph "to cut off," tutelary household gods; small enough to be hidden beneath the camel's furniture or palanquin on which Rachel sat. Michal put them in David's bed to look like him (; ; ; -18; ). Condemned as idolatrous (; ).
Used for divination (; ), and to secure good fortune to a house, as the penates. From Arabic tarafa, "to enjoy the good things of life," according to Gesenius. The Syriac teraph means "to inquire" of an oracle, Hebrew toreph "an inquirer" (-5). The Israelites used the teraphim for magic purposes and divination, side by side with the worship of Jehovah. Related perhaps to seraphim, the recognized symbol attending Jehovah; so perverted into a private idol meant to represent Him, a talisman whereby to obtain responses, instead of by the lawful priesthood through the Urim and Thummim. (See GATE.)