EPHOD, a Hebrew word of uncertain meaning. In the post exilic priestly writings the ephod forms part of the ceremonial dress of the high-priest (see Ex. xxix. 5 seq. and especially Eccles. xlv. 7-13) . It was a richly decorated object worn outside the robe and kept in place by a girdle, and by shoulder-pieces (?), from which hung the "breastplate" (or rather pouch) containing the sacred lots, Urim and Thummim. The somewhat involved description in Ex. xxviii. 6 sqq., xxxix. 2 seq. leaves it uncertain whether it covered the back, encircling the body like a kind of waistcoat, or only the front; at all events it was not a garment in the ordinary sense, and its association with the sacred lots indi cates that the ephod was used for divination (cf. Num. xxvii. 21) , and had become the distinguishing feature of the leading priestly line (cf. I Sam. ii. 28) . From other passages it seems that the ephod had been a familiar object whose use was by no means so re stricted. Like the teraphim (q.v.) it was part of the common stock of Hebrew cult ; it is borne by persons acting in a priestly character (Samuel at Shiloh, priests of Nob, David), it is part of the worship of individuals (Gideon at Ophrah), and is found in a private shrine with a lay attendant (Judg. xvii. 5; see, however, vv. 10-13). Nevertheless, while the prophetical teaching came to regard the ephod as contrary to the true worship of Yahweh, the priestly doctrine of the post-exilic age has retained it.
An intricate historical problem is involved in the ephod which the priest Abiathar brought to David after the massacre of the priests of Nob. The ostensible intention is to narrate the trans ference of the sacred objects to David (cf. 2 Sam. i. Io), and henceforth he regularly inquires of Yahweh in his movements (I Sam. xxiii. 9-12, XXX. 7 seq.). It is possible that the writer (or writers) desired to trace the earlier history of the ephod through the line of Eli and Abiathar to the time when the Zadokite priests gained the supremacy (see LEVITES) ; but elsewhere Abiathar is said to have borne the ark (1 Kings ii. 26), and this is noteworthy by reason of the confusion in the text of I Sam. xiv. 3, 18.
On one view, the ark in Kirjath-jearim was in non-Israelite hands (I Sam. vii. I sq.) ; on the other, Saul's position as king necessitates the presumption that his sway extended over Judah and Israel. There are some fundamental divergencies in the repre sentations of the traditions of both David and Saul (qq.v.), and there is indirect evidence which makes I Kings ii. 26 not entirely isolated. Here it must suffice to remark that the ark was also an object for ascertaining the divine will.
For the form of the earlier ephod the classic passage is 2 Sam. vi. 14, where David girt in (or with) a linen ephod dances before the ark at its entry into Jerusalem. Relying upon the known custom of performing certain observances in a practically, or even entirely, nude condition, it seems plausible to infer that the ephod was a scanty wrapping, perhaps a loin-cloth. (On the ques tion of nudity [cf. I Sam. xix. 24] see Robertson Smith, Rel. Seen. 3 pp. 161, 450 seq. 687, Ency. Bib. s.vv. "girdle," "sack cloth"; and M. Jastrow, Journ. Am. Or. Soc. xx. 144, xxi. 23.) The favourite view that the ephod was also an image rests partly upon I Sam. xxi. 9, where Goliath's sword is wrapped in a cloth in the sanctuary of Nob behind the ephod. But it may have hung on a nail in the wall, and in any case the text is uncertain. Again, in the story of Micah's shrine parallel narratives have been used (the graven and molten images of Judg. xvii. 2-4 corresponding to the ephod and teraphim of ver. 5) and the finale refers only to the graven image of Dan (xviii. 3o seq., see I Kings xii. 28 seq.). But the combination of ephod and teraphim (as in Hos. iii. 4) is noteworthy. Finally, according to Judg. viii. 27, Gideon made an ephod of gold and "put" it in Ophrah.
This object was probably once harmlessly associated with the cult of Yahweh (cf. CALF, GOLDEN) , and the term "ephod" may be due to a later hand. The passage is the only one which appears to prove that the ephod was an image.
Archaeological evidence for objects of divination and parallels from the Oriental area, can be readily cited in support of any of the above explanations of the ephod, but naturally cannot prove the form which it took in Palestine. If the ephod was a loin-cloth, its use as a receptacle and the known evolution of the article find useful analogies. Finally, if there is no decisive evidence for the view that it was an image (Judg. viii. 27), or that as a wrapping it formed the sole covering of the officiating agent (2 Sam. vi.), it can safely be said that it was used in divination and presumably did not differ radically from the ephod of post-exilic age.
See further, T. C. Foote in Journ. Bibl. Lit. xxi. 1902, I seq., the arti cles in Hastings's Dict. Bible (by S. R. Driver), Ency. Bib. (by G. F. Moore) , and Jew. Ency. (L. Ginsburg) .