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{{Short description|Hebrew term referring to household idols}}

[[File:Kircher oedipus aegyptiacus 26 teraphim.png|thumb|Teraphim depicted in the ''[[Oedipus Aegyptiacus]]'' ([[Athanasius Kircher]], 1652)]]
'''Teraphim''' ({{langx|he|תְּרָפִים|tərāfīm}}) is a word from the [[Hebrew Bible]], found only in the plural, and of uncertain [[etymology]].<ref name=EB1911>{{cite EB1911 |wstitle=Teraphim |volume=26 |page=637 |first1=William Robertson |last1=Smith |first2=George Herbert |last2=Box}}</ref> Despite being plural, teraphim may refer to singular objects. Teraphim is defined in [[classical rabbinical literature]] as "disgraceful things",<ref name="Jewish Encyclopedia">''Jewish Encyclopedia'', [https://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/14331-teraphim Teraphim]</ref> but this is dismissed by modern etymologists. Many [[Bible translations into English]] translate it as [[cult image|idols]] or [[Household deity|household god(s)]]; its exact meaning in ancient times is unknown.

==Teraphim in the Hebrew Bible==
[[File:Giovanni Battista Tiepolo 066.jpg|thumb|right|350px|[[Fresco]] by [[Giovanni Battista Tiepolo]] of [[Rachel]] sitting on the teraphim.]]

There are three extended passages involving teraphim: during [[Rachel]] and [[Jacob]]'s escape from [[Laban (Bible)|Laban]]; with [[Michal]]'s haphazard assistance of [[David]] fleeing [[Saul]]; and as the object of desire in the narrative of [[Micah's Idol]]. There are also a number of minor references to them as an element of culture or illicit religion. Polemic is wholly absent from the earlier stories. 

===Rachel===
According to {{Bibleverse|Genesis|31|NRSVUE}}, when her husband [[Jacob]] escapes, [[Rachel]] takes the teraphim belonging to her father [[Laban (Bible)|Laban]] and hides them on a camel's saddle. When Laban comes looking for them, she sits on them and claims that she cannot get up because she is "in the women's way," i.e., [[menstruating]]. From this it can be deduced that the teraphim were small, perhaps {{convert|30-35|cm|abbr=on}}.<ref>Van Der Toorn, 205.</ref> 

Rachel doesn't state her reason for taking them. Some, citing the use of teraphim for [[divination]] in other Biblical passages, argue that Rachel either wanted to prevent Laban from divining the location of Jacob and herself as they fled, or she wanted to perform divination of her own.<ref>[https://alhatorah.org/Rachel's_Stealing_of_the_Terafim/2 Rachel's Stealing of the Terafim: Exegetical Approaches]</ref> Rachel may also have intended to assert her independence from her father and her legal rights within the extended family; in ancient Middle Eastern custom, the possession of familial idols was an indicator of authority and property rights within a family.<ref>Pritchard, James B., ed. Ancient Near Eastern texts relating to the Old Testament with supplement. Princeton University Press, 2016. p220; M. Greenberg, "Another Look at Rachel's Theft of the Teraphim", JBL 81:3 (1962): 239-248.</ref>

===Michal===
In [[1 Samuel 19]], [[Michal]] helps her husband [[David]] escape from her father [[Saul]]. She lets David out through a window and then puts a teraphim in her bed to trick Saul's men, who believe it is David. This suggests that the teraphim is the size and shape of a man.<ref>[[Brown–Driver–Briggs|BDB]], p. 1076.</ref> Additionally, the passage refers to <em>the</em> teraphim, implying that teraphim were a fixture in every household. Van der Toorn claims that "there is no hint of indignation at the presence of teraphim in David's house."<ref>Van Der Toorn, 216.</ref> 

However, teraphim are also referenced in [[1 Samuel 15]]:23, in which [[Samuel]] rebukes Saul, telling him that "presumption is as iniquity and teraphim". Samuel asserts that rebellion and the use of teraphim are equally grave transgressions, thereby denouncing the latter as [[idolatry]]. Some argue that teraphim in this context refers to decorative statues, not to idolatrous ritual items.<ref>{{cite book|author=Reuven Chaim Klein|title=God versus Gods: Judaism in the Age of Idolatry|year=2018|publisher=Mosaica Press|isbn=978-1946351463|pages=139–141}}</ref>

===Micah===
See [[Micah's Idol]]

===Other passages===
{{Bibleverse|Hosea|3:4|NRSVUE}} says that "the Israelites will live many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or [[baetylus|sacred stones]], without [[ephod]] or teraphim." As in the Micah story, the teraphim is closely associated with the ephod, and both are mentioned elsewhere in connection with divination;<ref name=EB1911/> it is thus a possibility that [[cleromancy]] involved teraphim. [[Josiah]]'s reform in [[2 Kings 23]]:24 outlawed teraphim.

[[Zechariah 10]]:2 states,
{{quote|For the teraphim spoke delusion,
The augurs predicted falsely;<br />
And dreamers speak lies<br />
And console with illusions.<br />
That is why My people have strayed like a flock,
They suffer for lack of a shepherd.<ref>{{cite web |title=Zechariah 10:2 |url=https://www.sefaria.org/Zechariah.10.2?lang=bi&with=all&lang2=en |website=www.sefaria.org}}</ref>}}

In [[Ezekiel 21]]:21, [[Nebuchadnezzar II|Nebuchadrezzar]] uses various forms of divination to determine whether to attack [[Amman#Iron Age: the Ammonites|Rabbah]] or the [[Kingdom of Judah]] first: "he [[belomancy|shakes the arrows]], he [[necromancy|consults the images]] [teraphim], he [[haruspex#Ancient Near East|looks at the liver]]."

[[1 Samuel]]:19 also mentions one being used as a dummy under covers to protect David from being killed.

==In post-biblical writing==

[[File:Teraphimandtongueofgold1.png|thumb|"Household god" by [[R A Stewart Macalister]] in Gezer.<ref name="Internet Archive 2023 o136">{{cite web | title=Bible side-lights from the Mound of Gezer, a record of excavation and discovery in Palestine : Macalister, Robert Alexander Stewart, 1870-1950 : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive | website=Internet Archive | date=2023-03-25 | url=https://archive.org/details/biblesidelightsf00maca | access-date=2024-01-17}}</ref> ]]

[[Josephus]] mentions that there was a custom of carrying "housegods" on journeys to foreign lands,<ref>Josephus, ''Antiquities of the Jews'', volume 18, 9:5</ref> and it is thus possible that the use of teraphim continued in [[popular culture]] well into the [[Hellenistic period]] and even beyond.<ref name="Jewish Encyclopedia"/>

[[File:Plastered Skull, c. 9000 BC.jpg|thumb|Plastered skull cultic object recovered from [[Baysamun]].]]

The implied size of the teraphim, and Michal's successfully passing one off as David, has led to rabbinical conjecture that the teraphim were heads, possibly [[mummified]].<ref name=EB1911/> According to [[Targum Pseudo-Jonathan]], teraphim were made from the heads of first-born men who had been slaughtered. Each head was shaved, salted, and spiced, and a golden plate with magic words engraved upon it was placed under the tongue. The head then was mounted on a wall. It was believed that the teraphim would talk.<ref name="Jewish Encyclopedia"/> Similar descriptions are given in the writings of [[Eleazar of Worms]] and [[Tobiah ben Eliezer]].<ref>{{cite book|author=Reuven Chaim Klein|title=God versus Gods: Judaism in the Age of Idolatry|year=2018|publisher=Mosaica Press|isbn=978-1946351463|pages=361}}</ref>

During the excavation of [[Jericho]] by [[Kathleen Kenyon]], evidence of the use of [[plastered human skulls]] as [[Cult image|cult objects]] was uncovered, lending credence to the rabbinical conjecture.<ref>''[[Peake's Commentary on the Bible]]''</ref>{{Full citation needed|date=December 2023}}

==Suggested meaning and use==

Micah's usage of the teraphim as an idol, and Laban's regard of them as representing "his gods", are thought to indicate that teraphim were images of deities.<ref name="Jewish Encyclopedia" /> Calling teraphim "[[elohim]]" is connected by some to Egyptian epigraphs which make a parallel construction of the phrase "our gods and dead". It is considered possible that teraphim originated as a [[Fetishism|fetish]], possibly initially representative of ancestors, but gradually becoming [[oracle|oracular]].<ref name="Jewish Encyclopedia" /> Karel Van der Toorn argues that they were ancestor [[figurine]]s rather than [[household deity|household deities]], and that the "current interpretation of the teraphim as household deities suffers from a one-sided use of Mesopotamian material."<ref>Van Der Toorn, 222.</ref>

== Etymology ==

Ackerman{{sfn|Cox|Ackerman|2012|p=}} suggests connection of the word ''teraphim'' to burial within the ''nachalah'' ([[wikt:נחלה|נחלה]]) of the family, connecting threads including Bloch-Smith.{{sfn|Bloch-Smith|1992|p=213}} "[T]he existence of the tomb constituted a physical claim to the patrimony, the נחלה".{{Attribution needed|reason=Is this quotation from Ackerman, Bloch-Smith, or someone else?|date=January 2024}}

[[Benno Landsberger]] and later, in 1968, [[Harry Hoffner]] advocated derivation from the [[Hittite language|Hittite]] ''tarpiš'', 'the evil daemon'.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Hoffner |first1=Jr |last2=Hoffner |first2=Harry A. |year=1968 |title=Hittite Tarpis and Hebrew Teraphim |url=https://www.academia.edu/3620016 |journal=Journal of Near Eastern Studies |volume=27 |issue=1 |page=61 |doi=10.1086/371931 |s2cid=163796930}}</ref>

Casper Labuschagne claims that ''teraphim'' comes via [[dysphemism|cacophemic]] [[Metathesis (linguistics)|metathesis]] from the root פתר (''p-t-r''), 'to interpret'.<ref>Casper Labuschagne, "Teraphim : a new proposal for its etymology," ''[[Vetus Testamentum]]'' 16 [1966] 116.</ref> Shiki-y-Michaels,{{sfn | Michaels | 2015 }} in one element of an ambitious presentation, recaps some scholars' guesses: Speiser gives רפה (''r-p-h''), 'to be limp', also 'to sink, relax'; Albright suggests רפי (''r-p-y''), with the sense of 'slacken or sag'; and Pope argues רפפ (''r-p-p''), 'tremble'. 

Labuschagne (in addition to the above) agreed with forebears who said the term ''teraphim'' was related to the Hebrew [[wikt:רופא|רופא]] (''rophe''), and that teraphim were healers. "Almost every characteristic that commentators have given to the teraphim (oracles, healers, gods) they have attributed to the [[rephaim]]{{nbsp}}... who are deified ancestors" in various Semitic languages.{{sfn | Michaels | 2015 }} Reducing two mysteries to one question, this solution is neat to the point of demanding caution.

==See also==
* [[Di Penates]]
* [[Household deity]]
* [[Lares]]
* [[Mount Gerizim]]
* [[Plastered human skulls]]
* [[Ushabti]]

==Notes==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==References==
* Karel Van Der Toorn, "The Nature of the Biblical Teraphim in the Light of Cuneiform Evidence," ''[[Catholic Biblical Quarterly|CBQ]]'' 52 (1990), 203–222.
* {{cite journal | last=Michaels | first=Sheila | title=Rachel Steals Teraphim, Inanna Steals Mes. Transfer of Divine Authority: Harran to Bethlehem, Eridu to Uruk | website=Academia.edu | date=2015-04-30 | url=https://www.academia.edu:443/12169725 | access-date=2023-10-22}}
* {{cite journal |last=Bloch-Smith |first=Elizabeth M. |year=1992 |title=The Cult of the Dead in Judah: Interpreting the Material Remains |journal=Journal of Biblical Literature |publisher=JSTOR |volume=111 |issue=2 |pages=213–224 |doi=10.2307/3267540 |jstor=3267540 |issn=0021-9231}}
* {{cite journal |last1=Cox |first1=BD |last2=Ackerman |first2=S |date=2012 |title=Micah's Teraphim |url=https://www.academia.edu/8871489 |journal=Journal of Hebrew Scriptures |volume=12 |doi=10.5508/jhs.2012.v12.a11 |issn=1203-1542 |access-date=2023-10-26|doi-access=free }}
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[[Category:Cult images]]
[[Category:Figurines]]
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[[Category:Hebrew words and phrases in the Hebrew Bible]]
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[[Category:Book of Genesis]]
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