h. teraphim, idolatrous images connected with inag' but not known to have been wor shipped, used in the patriarchal period by those, as Laban, who, without being ignorant of true reli gion, yet practised corruptions, afterwards by the .a.me class in the time of the judges and kinos, and by the 13abylonians in the case of Nebuchadnezzar. The derivation is doubtful, but we are disposed to think the name is not Hebrew or Semitic, but, in origin, Egyptian or so-called Turanian of Baby. Ionia. or both.
4. Terms indicating the workmanship of idols:— a. and '17:a or ,17:a. the latter only found , , in the pl., a graven image,' from 90,g, 'he or it cut or carved.' It properly signifies a carved wooden image, but as such images were overlaid with plates or a molten coat of precious metal, it is sometimes used for a molten image.
b. 11M, 11D), and a molten image,' from he or it poured, poured out, cast.' Un -, doubtedly these images were made of molten metal, and they must have been very small when of gold or silver, unless the metal were a mere coating, as suggested under the last head, or the idol were hollow. As the graven and molten images are constantly mentioned together, it may be reason ably supposed that they were usually of about the same size. This subject of the terms connected with idolatry has been carefully treated by Mr. Aldis Wright in Dr. Smith's Did. of the Bible, art. Toot., IMAGE.
We may now speak of the idolatrous practices mentioned in the Bible which cannot be certainly restricted to any one kind of false worship.
We have no minute account in the Bible of ido latrous temples. The high places were indifferently used for all kinds of false worship, except that of the stars, practised under the later kings of Judah. They were originally Canaanite, and were upon mountains and hills, and under the shade of trees. The star-worship mentioned above was rather a city-idolatry, practised upon the flat roofs of houses. Servants or slaves of temples or idols are men tioned under the term tg:31?, rep, and there can be no doubt that their service consisted in such practices as those usual in Babylonia, in honour of Mylitta, at Aphaca in the Lebanon, and at Corinth. The ancient Egyptians were apparently not guilty of this very evil phase of idolatry. The Theban priestesses who bore among the Greeks the suspi cious name of concubines of Ammon, were women of myal blood, sought in marriage by kings.
The Canaanite sacrifices seem to have been mainly of living things, though libations were also customary (Jer. vii. 18 ; xliv. 19). The star-wor shippers made cakes and poured libations, and are not known to have offered sacrifices of living things.
Some personal customs of idolaters are distinctly mentioned : others are probably referred to in pro hibitory laws. The latter are, however, to be very cautiously examined, as the wide range of our information on ancient idolatry furnishes examples of almost all supposed customs : we should not, therefore, infer that any one is forbidden which we do not recognise as anciently practised in Palestine or the neighbouring countries.
The Caucasian TEmxu, apparently a Libyan nation, to the west of Egypt, are represented on , the Egyptian monuments as tattooed with at least one idolatrous symbol, the spindle of Neith, the goddess of Sais. Cuttings and tattooed marks were forbidden in the Law (Lev. xix. 28), in one place as superstitions of mourning (xxi. 5). Among the Egyptians such practices were not connected with funerals, though they may have been among the Shepherds. Partial shaving of the head and beard (/. c.) was also prohibited. The Egyptians shaved the head in mourning, but as their heads were always shaven it is difficult to understand what was meant by this custom unless it was a relic of an earlier condition of society. It has been thought that the separation of clean and unclean aniinhls was to prevent the eating of heathen sacri fices, but although unclean animals were sacrificed and eaten by idolaters (Is. lxvi. 17), clean animals were also thus sacrificed and eaten in Egypt and Palestine.
In conclusion, we may remark that idolatry, so far as it was practised by the Hebrews, seems to separate itself into three main divisions : the old corrupt worship of ancestors, connected with magical rites ; the Canaanite worship of Baal and Ashtoreth, in various forms ; and, apparently, star worship, derived either from Arabia or Chaltkea, besides many systems or practices less generally followed, as that of the chambers of imagery.
The most moderate view of the various kinds of idolatry of Canaan and the neighbouring countries shows the wisdom of the strict prohibitions we read in the Law, and the strong terms of reproba tion used by the prophets, who liken it to the deepest moral corruption. The debasing supersti tions of the Hindoos, and the savage rites of the Dahomans and Ashantees, were outdone in the homes of ancient civilization, in Egypt and Baby lonia, the parents of science, in Tyre and Sidon, the queens of primitive commerce. No wonder that the imitation of these abominations, for which so many fair cities now lie in ruins, was forbidden under penalty of God's heaviest displeasure, and that the corrupt Israelites suffered almost the doom which they had been commanded to execute upon the nations of Canaan.
The lesson taught by the Biblical condemnation of idolatry seems to be that all worship of what is not God is to be strictly avoided, and anything tending thereto unflinchingly put away. The com mentary of history is that true religion cannot exist when overlaid with corruptions, and that the per versions of heathenism are surely followed by its fierce persecutions.—R. S. P.