Idol
VIEW:21 DATA:01-04-2020
Of the 19 Hebrew words for it and IMAGE many express the abhorrence which idolatry deserves and the shame and sorrow of the idolater.
(1) Awen, "vanity," "nothingness," "wickedness," "sorrow" (Isa_66:3; Isa_41:29; Deu_32:21; 1Ki_16:13; Psa_31:6; Jer_8:19; Jer_10:8; Zec_10:2; 1Sa_15:23). "Beth-el," the house of God, is named "Beth-aven," house of vanity, because of the calf worship.
(2) Eliyl, either a contemptuous diminutive of Eel, God, godling; or from al "not," a "thing of naught." There is a designed contrast between the contemptible liliym and the Divine Elohim (Psa_97:7; Isa_19:3, "non-entities" margin Eze_30:13).
(3) emah, "terror," (Jer_1:38) "they are mad after their idols," hideous forms more fitted to frighten than to attract, bugbears to frighten children with.
(4) miphletseth, "a fright": Maachah's idol which Asa cut down (1Ki_15:13; 2Ch_15:16); the phallus, symbol of the generative organ, the nature goddess Asherah's productive power. Jer_10:2-5 graphically describes the making of an idol and its impotence.
(5) bosheth, "shame": not merely shameful, but the essence of shame, bringing shame on its votaries and especially expressing the obscenity of Baal's and Baal Peor's worship (Jer_11:13; Hos_9:10).
(6) gillulim, from gal "a heap of stones" (Gesenius): Eze_30:13; Eze_16:36; Deu_29:17, "dungy gods" margin
(7) shiquts, ceremonial "uncleanness" (Eze_37:23). The worshippers "became loathsome like their love," for men never rise above their object of worship; "they that make them are like unto them, so is everyone that trusteth in them" (Psa_115:4-8).
(8) ceemel, a "likeness" (Deu_4:16).
(9) tselem, from tseel "a shadow" (Dan_3:1; 1Sa_6:5), "the image" as distinguished from the demuth, "likeness," the exact counterpart (Greek eikoon; Col_1:15; Gen_1:27). The "image" presupposes a prototype. "Likeness" (Greek homoiosis) implies mere resemblance, not the exact counterpart and derivation, hence the Son is never called the "likeness" of the Father but the "Image" (1Co_11:7; Joh_1:18; Joh_14:9; 2Co_4:4; 1Ti_3:16; 1Ti_6:16; Heb_1:3). The idol is supposed to be an "image" exactly representing some person or object.
(10) timahuh "similitude," "form "(Deu_4:12-19, where Moses forbids successively the several forms of Gentile idolatry: ancestor worship, as that of Terah (Jos_24:2), Laban (Gen_31:19; Gen_31:30; Gen_31:32), and Jacob's household (Gen_35:2-4), to guard against which Moses' sepulchre was hidden; hero worship and relic worship (Jdg_8:27; Jdg_17:4; 2Ki_18:4); nature worship, whether of the lower animals as in Egypt, or of the heavenly bodies, the sun, moon, and stars, as among the Persians).
(11) atzab, etzeb, otzeb, "a figure," from aatzab "to fashion"; with the additional idea of sorrowful labour (Isa_48:5; Psa_139:24), "see if there be any wicked way (way of pain, way of an idol, Isa_48:5) in me, and lead me in the way everlasting." The way of idolatry, however refined, proves to be a way of pain, and shuts out from the way everlasting (1Jn_5:21; Rev_21:8; 1Co_10:20-21). Tacitus, the Roman historian (Hist. 5:4), notices the contrast between Judaism and the whole pagan world, which disproves the notion that it borrowed from the latter and consecrated several of their rites.
"The Jews conceive the Divinity as One, and to be understood only by the mind; they deem those profane who form any image of the gods, of perishable materials and after the likeness of men; the Divinity they describe as supreme, eternal, unchangeable, imperishable; hence there are no images in their cities or their temples, with these they would not flatter kings nor honour Caesars."
(12) tsiyr, "a pang," also "a mould" or "shape" (Isa_45:16).
(13) matseebah, a "statue" set up (Jer_43:13, margin). Obelisks to the sun god at the city (house) of the sun, as Beth-shemesh or Heliopolis mean; "On" in Gen_41:45; 2Ki_3:2; 2Ki_10:26-27 margin. The "images" or standing columns of wood (subordinate gods worshipped at the same altar with Baal) are distinct from the standing column of stone or "image" of Baal himself, i.e. a conical stone sacred to him.
The Phoenicians anointed stones (often aerolites, as that "which fell down from Jupiter," sacred to Diana of Ephesus, Act_19:35) to various gods, like the stone anointed by Jacob (Gen_28:18; Gen_28:22) at Bethel, called therefore Baetylia (compare also Gen_31:45). The black pyramidal stone in Juggernaut's temple, that of Cybele at Pessinus in Galatia, the black stone in the Kaaba at Mecca reported to have been brought from heaven by the angel Gabriel, all illustrate the wide diffusion of this form of idolatry. So the Lingams in daily use in the worship of Siva in Bengal, and the black stone daily anointed with perfumed oil in Benares.
(14) chammanim, "sun images." The Arabic Chunnas is the planet Mercury or Venus. The symbol of the Persian sun god was the sacred fire, Amanus or Omanus, Sanskrit homa (2Ch_34:4; 2Ch_34:7; 2Ch_14:3; 2Ch_14:5). Chamman, is a synonym of Baal the sun god in the Phoenician and Palmyrene inscriptions, and so is applied to his statues or lofty, obelisk like, columns (Isa_17:8; Isa_27:9 margin). These "statues" are associated with the Asherim ("groves" KJV), just as Baal is associated with Asherah or Astarte (1Ki_14:23, margin 2Ki_23:14). The Palmyrene inscription at Oxford is, "this chammana the sons of Malchu have dedicated to the sun." Eze_6:4; Eze_6:6; sun worship and Sabeanism or worship of the heavenly hosts (tsebaowt) was the oldest idolatry.
Job, one of the oldest books in the Bible, alludes to it (Job_31:26), "if I beheld the sun when it shined or the moon ... and my heart hath been secretly enticed, or my mouth hath kissed my hand, this were an iniquity," etc. In opposition to this error God is called "Lord God of Sabaoth." The tower of Babel was probably built so that its top should be sacred to the heavens (not that its top should reach heaven, Gen_11:4), the common temple and idolatrous center of union. The dispersion defeated the purpose of the builders, but still they carried with them the idolatrous tendency, attributing their harvests, etc., to the visible material causes, the sun, moon, air, etc. (Jer_44:17). Soon a further step was deifying men, or else attributing every human vice, lust, and passion to the gods. Cicero ridicules this groveling anthropomorphic worship, yet was himself a priest and worshipper!
These sun columns towering high above Baal's altars (2Ch_34:4; 2Ch_34:7) were sometimes of wood, which could be "cut down" (Lev_26:30). The Phoenician Adon or Adonis, the Ammonite Moloch or Milcom, the Moabite Chemosh, the Assyrian and Babylonian Bel, and the Syrian Hadad, the Egyptian Ra, are essentially the same sun god. Adrammelech was the male, and Anammelech the female, power of the sun. Gad was the sun, or Jupiter, representing fortune, Meni the moon or Venus, representing fate (Isa_65:11). As the sun represents the active, so the moon the passive powers of nature. The two combined are represented as at once male and female, from whence in the Septuagint Baal occurs with masculine and feminine articles, and men worshipped in women's clothes, and women in men's clothes, which explains the prohibition Deu_22:5.
Magic influences were attributed to sowing mingled seed in a field and to wearing garments of mixed material; hence the prohibition Lev_19:19. In Eze_8:17, "they put the branch to their nose" alludes to the idolatrous usage of holding up a branch of tamarisk (called barsom) to the nose at daybreak while they sang hymns to the rising sun (Strabo, 15, section 733). Baal or sun worship appears indicated in the names Bethshemesh, Baal Hermon, Mount Heres ("sun"), Belshazzar, Hadadezer, Hadad Rimmon (the Syrian god).
(15) maskiyt (Lev_26:1; Num_33:52): "devices"; with eben "stones of device," namely, with figures or hieroglyphics sacred to the several deities on them; "effigied stones" (Minucius Felix, 3). Like "the chambers of imagery" or priests' chambers with idolatrous, pictures on the walls as seen in vision (Eze_8:12), answering to their own perverse imaginations. Gesenius, "a stone with an idol's image, Baal or Astarte."
(16) teraphim. (See TERAPHIM.)
(17) pecel. The process by which stone, metal, or wood was made into a graven or carved image (literally, one trimmed into shape and having had the finishing stroke) is described Isa_44:10-20. It was overlaid with gold or silver, and adorned with chains of silver (worn lavishly by rich orientals) and embroidered robes (Jer_10:8-9). "Fastened with nails that it should not be moved" (Isa_41:7), to keep the god steady! and that his influence might be secured to the spot (Isa_40:19-20; Isa_45:20; Eze_16:16-18; margin Jdg_3:19; Jdg_3:26 (See EGLON, (See EHUD); Deu_7:25).
(18) pecilim.
(19) nesek, masecah (Isa_41:29). "Molten images" (Deu_27:15). In Exo_32:4 "Aaron fashioned it with a graying tool (cheret) after he had made it a golden calf." The sense is, he formed it first of a wooden center, then covered it with a coating of gold, the image so formed being called masecah. The mode of its destruction shows this; the wooden center was first-burnt, then the golden covering was beaten or rubbed to pieces (Deu_9:20; Deu_9:21). So Septuagint, Keil, etc. The rendering "he bound it (the gold) up in a bag" is less probable. In Gen_35:2, Jacob's charge to "his household and to all that were with him Put away the strange gods ('the gods of the foreigner,' the Canaanites) among you, and be clean and change your raiment," it seems surprising that idols should have had place in his household.
The explanation is gathered from what went before, but the connection is so little obvious that it can only be the result of truth not contrivance. Rachel had stolen Laban's images (teraphim) without Jacob's knowledge (Gen_31:32); perhaps not for worship but for their gold and silver, to balance what was withheld by him from her. Laban had divined by them, as Gen_30:27, "I have learned by experience," ought to be translated "I have learned by divination" literally, I have hissed, "I have divined by omens from serpents." Moreover the sons of Jacob had just before (
Gen_30:34) carried away all the spoils of Shechem's city, and among them doubtless their gold and silver idols. The words "all that were with him" point to the captured wives and women, etc. "Change your raiment" was a charge needed for all who had taken part in the slaughter, and so were ceremonially defiled.
There are two degrees in idolatry. Against the worst, that of having other gods besides Jehovah the one only God, the first commandment is directed. Against the less flagrant degree, worshipping the true God under the form of an image or symbolic likeness, representing any of His attributes, the second is directed. The Baal and Asheerah ("groves") worship violated the first command. meat; Aaron's calf worship and Jeroboam's violated the second. Compare 1Ki_16:30; 2Ki_10:26-28; 2Ki_10:31; 2Ki_17:7-23. So the Roman and Greek universals violate the second commandment in the adoration of the eucharistic mass, the bowing before images, etc., and go perilously near violating the first in the divine titles wherewith they invoke the Virgin Mary. Jeroboam's calves paved the way for Baal worship. See Exo_20:3, "thou shalt have no other gods before My face."
Polytheism ancient and modern is willing to grant Jehovah the first place among deities; but He will have none "in His presence" which is everywhere (Psa_139:7). Again no outward form can image God, it only debases instead of helping the worshipper. The principle involved is stated by Paul on Mars' hill, surrounded by the choicest works of genius representing deity (Act_17:29), "forasmuch as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man's device." Once that the first visible representation of God is made, or adopted, it entails another and another endlessly, no one or more idols or symbols ever adequately representing all the countless attributes of God. Hence a female deity was added to the male; an Apollo, Venus, Mercury, Diana, etc., etc., must be added to Jupiter; and, instead of one omnipresent God, deities whose power was restricted to localities were worshipped (1Ki_20:23; 1Ki_20:28; 2Ki_17:26).
Like all deviations from truth, the first lie necessitates countless others. "The express image of the Father's person" is the incarnate God Jesus. He alone (not visible images and pictures of Him), as represented in the written word, is the appointed revealer of the unseen God (Joh_1:18). Israel was God's representative and "peculiar treasure above all people, a kingdom of priests and an holy nation"; the same relation Christ's church now holds (1Pe_2:5; 1Pe_2:9). Israel's kings (when Israel had chosen a visible head instead of the invisible King alone) were under God as their feudal superior (1Ki_3:14; 1Ki_11:11). The penalty of overt, idolatry, as being treason against the divine King, was death. The offender's nearest relatives must denounce him, and even be first to stone him (Exo_22:20; Deu_13:2-10; Deu_17:2-5).
Especially Moloch's worship with human sacrifices and passing through the fire entailed death as the penalty. The Canaanites were exterminated for it (Exo_34:15-16; Deuteronomy 7; Deu_12:29-31; Deu_20:17). Israel's disasters were the punishment of their idolatry (Jer_2:17). Saul lost his throne, Achan his life, and Hiel his family, for retaining or restoring anything of a people doomed for idolatry (1 Samuel 15; Joshua 7; 1Ki_16:34). God works out His ends, even His judgments, in the way of natural consequence. The calves of Jeroboam and Baal's groves were the sin. The disgust of all godly Israelites, intestine divisions, a perpetual conflict between the Mosaic law, still in force, and the established national idolatry, and the immorality which results from idolatry, were the natural and penal consequence, bringing ruin finally on the state.
Israel, foremost in the offense under Jeroboam and then Ahab, is first to have prophets sent as censors and seers to counteract the evil, but proving refractory is the first to be carried into captivity. Judah, following the bad example in her turn, has prophets sent whom she rejects and even kills, and at nearly the same interval between the sin and the punishment follows Israel into captivity. Idolatry on the part of the Old Testament Israel, and the spiritual Israel, is high treason against the heavenly King (1Sa_8:7) whose direct subjects we avowedly are. The punishments were then temporal (Deu_17:2-13). Israel's original contract of government is in Exo_19:3-8; Exo_20:2-5; Deuteronomy 28, 29, 30.
Often Israel fell from the covenant, and at intervals renewed it. The remarkable confirmation of the divine authority of the law is, it was only in prosperity Israel neglected it, in distress they always cried to God and returned to the law, and invariably received deliverance (Jdg_10:10; 2Ch_15:12-13); especially at the return from Babylon (Neh_9:38). Israel's idolatry was not merely an abomination in God's sight, as that of the Gentiles, but spiritual "adultery" against Jehovah her Husband (Isa_54:5; Jer_3:14; Ezekiel 16). Hos_2:16-17; "thou shalt call Me Ishi (my Husband, the term of affection), no more Baali" (my Lord, the term of rule, defiled by its application to Baal, whose name ought never to be on their lips: Exo_23:13; Zec_13:2), etc.
Fornication formed part of the abominable worship of the idols, especially Baal Peor and Ashtoreth or Astarte, who represented nature's generative powers and (Num_25:1-2) to whom qideeshim and qedeeshot public male and female prostitutes, were "consecrated" (as the Hebrew means: Deu_23:17, etc.; 2Ki_23:7; Hos_4:14), "separated with whores (withdrawn from the assembly of worshippers for carnal connection with them) ... sacrifice with the harlots" (so Hebrew) (Herodotus i. 199). This horrid consecrated pollution prevailed in Phoenicia, Syria, Phrygia, Assyria, and Babylonia, and still in Hindu idolatry. Man making lust a sacred duty! This is the force of the phrase, "Israel joined himself unto Baal Peor," as appears in 1Co_6:16-17, "He which ... is joined to an harlot is one body; for two, saith He, shall be one flesh.
But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit." God chose Egypt as Israel's place of training, though an idolatrous country, but took every precaution, if they would only have heeded Him, to save them from the contagion. He placed them in a separate province; as shepherds they were an abomination to Egyptians, and sacrificed to God the very animals Egypt worshipped (Exo_8:26). Finally, the Egyptians bitterly oppressed them. Yet the fascinations of idolatry spellbound Israel during their long stay in Egypt (Jos_24:14; Eze_20:7), and led them to relapse into the sin from which Abram had been rescued by his call from Ur. God by Moses smote the symbols of Egyptian idolatry with the ten plagues, "executing judgment against all the gods of Egypt" (Exo_12:12), the river, the wind bringing locusts, the dust of the earth, the cattle, the symbol of Apis (Num_33:4). (See EGYPT.)
Yet Israel in all their history showed a continual tendency to adopt the idols of the neighbouring nations; in the desert they "sacrificed unto devils" (saeer, a shaggy goat, worshipped with the foulest rites at Mendes in Lower Egypt. Speaker's Commentary translated "to the evil spirits of the desert": Lev_17:7, compare Isa_13:21; Isa_34:14; 2Ch_11:15). Behind the idols, though nonentities in themselves, lurk real demons, to whom consciously or unconsciously the worship is paid, as inspiration declares (Deu_32:17), "devils" lasheedim, "destroyers"; as Satan's name Apollyon means; slavish fear being the prompting motive, not love, the idol feaster has his fellowship with demons (1Co_10:20), even as the communicant in the Lord's supper has by faith real fellowship with the Lord's body once for all sacrificed, and now exalted as the Head of redeemed mankind.
In the northern kingdom of Israel, from Jeroboam down to Hoshea whom Shalmaneser dethroned, no one royal reformer appeared. In Judah several arose, Asa, Jehoshaphat, Hezekiah, Josiah. The Babylonian captivity almost thoroughly purged the Jews from their proneness to idols (Jer_44:17-18, contrast Hos_3:4). But traces appeared still in their partially adopting Greek idolatry and usages for worldly compromise, just before Antiochus Epiphanes' attempt to overthrow Jehovah's worship (1Ma_1:43-54). The heroic resistance of the Maccabees, besides their contact with the Persians who rejected images, and especially the erection of synagogues and the reading the law every sabbath in them, gave them the abhorrence of idols which now characterizes them.
In the Christian church "the deadly wound" that was given to "the beast" (the God-opposed world) by Christianity (Minucius Felix, A.D. 180, and Arnobius adv. Gent. 4:1, mention that the Romans were shocked to find among Christians "no altars, no temples, no images") was speedily "healed" by image worship being revived in the Roman and Greek churches (Dan_7:8; Dan_7:11-24; Dan_7:25; 1Ti_4:1-3), so that "the beast that was, and is not (during the brief continuance of the deadly wound), yet is" (Rev_17:8); and in spite of God's judicial plagues men repented not of the works of their hands, that they should not worship devils, and idols of gold and silver and brass and stone and wood, which neither can see, nor hear, nor walk" (Rev_9:20). The deadly wound is healed also by the prevalenee of "covetousness which is idolatry" (Eph_5:5; Col_3:5) in all Christendom, reformed and unreformed, and the "form of godliness without the power"; culminating in the willful king of the third kingdom (Dan_8:11-12; Dan_11:36; 2Ti_3:1-9 describes the hotbed from which the last anti-Christianity shall spring).
Probably the second beast is the same, the false prophet who causes an image to be made to the first beast (Dan_7:8-26), and all who will not worship it to be killed, after the harlot has been unseated and judged (Rev_13:14-18; Rev_16:13-16;
Rev_16:17). The Lord will come "utterly to abolish the idols," and all "idolaters shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone" (Rev_21:8; Isa_2:18-19; Zec_13:2-3). Self idolatry, self will, and self sufficiency must be subdued, if God is to be our God. 1Sa_15:23 implies that "conscious disobedience is idolatry, because it makes self will, the human I, into a god" (Keil).
Fausset's Bible Dictionary
By Andrew Robert Fausset, co-Author of Jamieson, Fausset and Brown's 1888.
Idol. An image or anything used as an object of worship in place of the true God. Among the earliest objects of worship, regarded as symbols of deity, were the meteoric stones, which the ancients believed to have been images of the Gods sent down from heaven. From these, they transferred their regard to rough unhewn blocks, to stone columns or pillars of wood, in which the divinity worshipped was supposed to dwell, and which were connected, like the sacred stone at Delphi, by being anointed with oil and crowned with wool on solemn days.
Of the forms assumed by the idolatrous images, we have not many traces in the Bible. Dagon, the fish-god of the Philistines, was a human figure terminating in a fish; and that the Syrian deities were represented, in later times, in a symbolical human shape, we know for certainty. When the process of adorning the image was completed, it was placed in a temple or shrine appointed for it. Jer_12:1; Jer_19:1. Wis_13:15; 1Co_8:10.
From these temples, the idols were sometimes carried in procession, Jer_4:26, on festival days. Their priests were maintained from the idol treasury, and feasted upon the meats which were appointed for the idols' use. See Bel and the Dragon 3, 13. Dan_14:3; Dan_14:13. (Apocrypha)
Smith's Bible Dictionary
By Dr. William Smith.Published in 1863
Jer_22:28 (a) This type refers to a man who had been extolled by the people and then had been cast down. The hopes of the people were wrecked with his downfall.
Zec_11:17 (a) This is a reference to a religious leader who, after winning the hearts of his people, deserts them and leaves them empty, hungry and helpless.
1Jo_5:21 (b) An idol in the Christian's life is anything or any person that takes the heart and love away from the Lord or that comes between the child of GOD and GOD. It may be money, fame, pleasure, companionship, or even a religious activity.
Wilson's Dictionary of Bible Types
press 1957.
Idol
properly an outward object adored as divine, or as the symbol of deity. SEE IDOLATRY.
I. Classification of Scriptural terms having physical reference to such objects. As a large number of different Hebrew words have been rendered in the A.V. either by idol or image, and that by no means uniformly (besides one or more in Greek more uniformly translated), it will be of some advantage to attempt to discriminate between them, and assign, as nearly as the two languages will allow, the English equivalents for each. SEE IMAGE.
(I.) Abstract terms, which, with a deep moral significance, express the degradation associated with idolatry, and stand out as a protest of the language against its enormities.
(1.) General terms of doubtful signification.
1. אֵַליל, elil', is thought by some to have a sense akin to that of שֶׁקֶר, she'ker, falsehood, with which it stands in parallelism in Job_13:4, and would therefore much resemble aven, as applied to an idol. It is generally derived from the unused root אָלִל, to be empty or vain. Delitzsch (on Hab_2:18) derives it from the negative particle אִל, al, die Nichtigen; but according to Furst (Handw. s.v.) it is a diminutive of אֵל, god, the additional syllable indicating the greatest contempt. In this case the signification above mentioned is a subsidiary one. The same authority asserts that the word denotes a small image of the god, which was consulted as an oracle among the Egyptians and Phoenicians (Isa_19:3; Jer_14:14). It is certainly used of the idols of Noph or Memphis (Eze_30:13). In strong contrast with Jehovah, it appears in Psa_90:5; Psa_97:7, the contrast probably being heightened by the resemblance between elilim and elohim. A somewhat similar play upon words is observable in Hab_2:18, אֵַלילַים אַלֵּמַים, elilim illemim, A.V. dumb idols. See EL. 2. גַּלּוּלַים, gill'ulim', also a term of contempt, of uncertain origin (Eze_30:13), but probably derived from גָּלִל, to roll, as dung, hence refuse. The Rabbinical authorities, referring to such passages as Eze_4:2; Zep_1:17, have favored the interpretation given in the margin of the A.V. to Deu_29:17, dungy gods (Vulg. sordes, sordes idolorum, 1Ki_15:12). Jahn, connecting it with גָּלִל, galal, to roll, applies it to the stocks of trees of which idols were made, and in mockery called gilluim, rolling things (a volvendo, he says, though it is difficult to see the point of his remark).
Gesenius, repudiating the derivation from the Arabic jalla, to be great, illustrious, gives his preference to the rendering stones, stone gods, thus deriving it from גִּל, gal, a heap of stones; and in this he is followed by First, who translates gillil by the German Steinhaufe. The expression is applied, principally in Ezekiel, to false gods and their symbols (Deu_29:17; Eze_8:10, etc.). It stands side by side with other contemptuous terms in Eze_16:36; Eze_20:8, as, for example, שֶׁקֶוֹ, shekets, filth, abomination (Eze_8:10), and cognate terms. SEE DUNG.
May not גַּלּוּלַים, mean scarabaei, the commonest of Egyptian idols? The sense of dung is appropriate to the dung-beetle; that of rolling is doubtful, for, if the meaning of the verb be retained, we should, in this form, rather expect a passive sense, a thing rolled; but it may be observed that these grammatical rules of the sense of derivatives are not always to be strictly insisted on, for Sidon, צַידוֹן, though held to signify the place of fishing, is, in the list of the Noachians, the name of a man, the fisherman, Α᾿λιεύς, of Philo of Byblus. That a specially-applicable word is used may perhaps be conjectured from the occurrence of אלילים, which, if meaning little gods, would aptly describe the pigmy PTEH-SEKER-HESAR, Ptah- Sokari-Osiris, of Memphis. Ezekiel uses the term גלולים of the idols of Egypt which the Israelites were commanded to put away at or about the time of the Exodus, but did not, and seem to have carried into the Desert, for the same word is used, unqualified by the mention of any country, of those worshipped by them in the Desert (Exo_20:7-8; Exo_20:16; Exo_20:18; Exo_20:24); it is, however, apparently employed also for all the idols worshipped in Canaan by the Israelites (Eze_20:31; Eze_23:37). Scarabaei were so abundant among the Egyptians and Phoenicians that there is no reason why they may not have been employed also in the worship of the Canaanitish false gods; but it cannot be safely supposed, without further evidence, that the idols of Canaan were virtually termed scarabtei. SEE BEETLE.
(2.) General terms of known signification.
3. אָוֶן, a'ven, rendered elsewhere nought, vanity, iniquity, wickedness, sorrow, etc., and only once idol (Isa_66:3). The primary idea of the root seems to be emptiness, nothingness, as of breath or vapor; and, by a natural transition, in a moral sense, wickedness in its active form of mischief; and then, as the result, sorrow and trouble. Hence aven denotes a vain, false, wicked thing, and expresses at once the essential nature 3f idols, and the consequences of their worship. The character of the word may be learnt from its associates. It stands in parallelism with אֶפֶס. e'phes (Isa_41:29), which, after undergoing various modifications, comes at length to signify nothing; with הֶבֶל, he'bel, breath or vapor, itself applied as a term of contempt to the objects of idolatrous reverence (Deu_32:21; 1Ki_16:13; Psa_31:6; Jer_8:19; Jer_10:8); with שָׁוְא, shav, nothingness, vanity; and with שֶׁקֶר, she'ker, falsehood (Zec_10:2): all indicating the utter worthlessness of the idols to whom homage was paid, and the false and delusive nature of their worship. It is employed in an abstract sense, to denote idolatry in general, in 1Sa_15:23. There is much significance in the change of name from Bethel to Beth-aven, the great centre of idolatry in Israel (Hos_4:15). SEE BETHAVEN.
4. שַׁקּוּוֹ, shik-k-ts', filth, impurity, especially applied, like the cognate שֶׁקֶוֹ, she'kets, to that which produced ceremonial uncleanness (Eze_37:23; Nah_3:6), such as food offered in sacrifice to idols (Zec_9:7; comp. Act_15:20; Act_15:29). As referring to the idols themselves, it primarily denotes the obscene rites with which their worship was associated, and hence, by metonymy, is applied both to the objects of worship and also to their worshippers, who partook of the impurity, and thus became loathsome like their love, the foul Baal-Peor (Hos_9:10). SEE ABOMINATION.
5. In the same connection must be noticed, though not actually rendered image or idol, בּשֶׁת, bo'sheth, shame, or shameful thing (A.V. Jer_11:13; Hos_9:10), applied to Baal or Baal-Peor, as characterizing the obscenity of his worship. SEE BAAL-PEOR.
6. אֵימָה, eynnzah', horror or terror, and hence an object of horror or terror (Jeremiah 1, 38), in reference either to the hideousness of the idols or to the gross character of their worship. In this respect it is closely connected with
7. מַפְלֶצֶת.miphle'tseth, a fright, horror, applied to the idol of Maachah, probably of wood, which Asa cut down and burned (1Ki_15:13'; 2Ch_15:16), and which was unquestionably the- Phallus, the symbol of the productive power of nature (Movers, Phon. 1, 571 Selden, de Dis Syr. 2, 5), and the nature-goddess Ashera. Allusion is supposed to be made to this in Jer_10:5, and Epist. of Jeremiah 70. In 2Ch_15:16 the Vulg. render simulacrum Priapi (comp. Horace, furum aviumque maxima formido). The Sept. had a different reading, which it is not easy to determine. They translate, in 1Ki_15:13, the same word both by σύνοδος (with which corresponds the Syriac ido, a festival, reading, perhaps, עֲצֶרֶת, atsereth, as in 2Ki_10:20; Jer_9:2) and καταδύσεις, while in Chronicles it is εἴδωλον. Possibly in 1Ki_15:13 they may have read מְצֻלָּתָהּ, metsullathah, for מַפְלִצְתָּהּ, miphlatstah, as the Vulg. specum, of which sinulacrum turpissimum is a correction. SEE GROVE.
(II.) We now come to the consideration of those words which more directly apply to the images or idols as the outward symbols of the deity who was worshipped through them.
(1.) Terms indicating the form of idols.
8. סֶמֶלor סֵמֶל, s'mel, with which Gesenius compares as cognate מָשָׁל mashal, and צֶלֶם, tselen; the Lat. sinilis and Gr. ὁμαλός, signifies a likeness, semblance. The Targum in Deu_4:16 gives צוּרָא, tsirda, figure, as the equivalent, while in Eze_8:3; Eze_8:5 it is rendered by צְלִם, tselan, image. In the latter passages the Syriac has koimto, a statue (the στήλη of the Septuagint) which more properly corresponds to matstsebah (see No. 13, below); and in Deuteronomy genes, kind (=γένος). The passage in 2Ch_33:7 is rendered images of four faces, the latter words representing the one under consideration. In 2Ch_33:15 it appears as carved images, following the Sept. τὸ γλυπτόν. On the whole, the Gr. εἰκών of Deu_4:16; 2Ch_33:7, and the simulacrum of the Vulg. (2Ch_33:15) most nearly resemble the Heb. semel. SEE CARVED.
9. צֶלֶם, fse'lem (Chald. id. and צְלִם, tselam'), is by all lexicographers, ancient and modern, connected with צֵל, tsel, a shadow. It is the image of God in which man was created (Gen_1:27; comp. Wisd. 2, 23), distinguished from דְּמוּת, demuth, or likeness, as the image from the idea which it represents (Schmidt, De Imag. Dei in Hom. p. 84), though it would be rash to insist upon this distinction. In the N.T. εἰκών appears to represent the letter (Col_3:10; compare the Sept. at Gen_5:1), as ὁμοίωμα the former of the two words (Rom_1:23; Rom_8:29; Php_2:7), but in Heb_10:1, εἰκών is opposed to σκία as the substance to the substantial form, of which it is the perfect representative. The Sept. render demzth by ὁμοίωσις, ὁμοίωμα, εἰκών, ὅμοιος, and tselem most frequently by εἰκών, though ὁμοίωμα, εἴδωλον, and τύπος also occur. But, whatever abstract term may best define the meaning of tselem, it is unquestionably used to denote the visible forms of external objects, and is applied to figures of gold and silver (1Sa_6:5; Num_33:52; Dan_3:1), such as the golden image of Nebuchadnezzar, as well as to those painted upon walls (Eze_33:14). Image perhaps most nearly represents it in all passages. Applied to the human countenance (Dan_3:19), it signifies the expression, and corresponds to the ἰδέα of Mat_28:3, though demuth agrees rather with the Platonic usage of the latter word. SEE GRAVEN.
10. תְּמוּנָה, temundh', rendered image in Job_4:16; elsewhere similitude (Deu_4:12), likeness (Deu_5:8): form, or shape would be better. In Deu_4:16 it is in parallelism with תִּבְנַית, tabnith', literally build; hence plan or model (2Ki_16:10; compare Exo_20:4; Num_12:8).
11. עָצָב, atsab', עֶצֶב, e'tseb (Jer_22:28), or עֹצֶב, o'tseb (Isa_48:5), a figure, all derived from a root עָצִב, atsab, to work or fashion (akin to חָצִב, chatsab, and the like), are terms applied to idols as expressing that their origin was due to the labor of man. The verb in its derived senses indicates the sorrow and trouble consequent upon severe labor, but the latter seems to be the radical idea. If the notion of sorrow were most prominent, the words as applied to idols might be compared with aven above. Isa_58:3 is rendered in the Peshito Syriac idols (A.V. labors), but the reading was evidently different. In Psalm 129:24, דֶּרֶךְ עֹצֵבis idolatry.
12. צַיר, tsir, once only applied to an idol (Isa_45:16; Sept. νῆσοι, as if De, אַיַּים). The word usually denotes a pang, but in this instance is probably connected with the roots צוּר, tsar, and יָצִר, yatsar, and signifies a shape or mould, and hence an idol.
13. מִצֵּבָה, matstsebah', anything set up, a statue (=נְצַיב,! netsib, Jer_43:13), applied to a memorial stone like those erected by Jacob on four several occasions (Gen_28:18; Gen_31:45; Gen_35:14; Gen_35:20) to commemorate a crisis in his life, or to mark the grave of Rachel. Such were the stones set up by Joshua (Jos_4:9) after the passage of the Jordan, and at Shechem (Jos_24:26), and by Samuel when victorious over the Philistines (1Sa_7:12). When solemnly dedicated they were anointed with oil, and libations were poured upon them. The word is applied to denote the obelisks which stood at the entrance to the temple of the sun at Heliopolis (Jer_43:13), two of which were a hundred cubits high and eight broad, each of a single stone (Herod. 2, 11). It is also used of the statues of Baal (2Ki_3:2), whether of stone (2Ki_10:27) or wood (id. 26), which stood in the innermost recess of the temple at Samaria. Movers (Phon. 1, 674) conjectures that the latter were statues or columns distinct from that of Baal, which was of stone and conical (p. 673), like the meta of Paphos (Tacit. H. 2, 3), and probably, therefore, belonging to other deities, who were his πάρεδροι or σύμβωμοι. The Phoenicians consecrated and anointed stones like that at Bethel, which were called, as some think, from this circumstance, Baetylia. Many such are said to have been seen on Mt. Lebanon, near Heliopolis, dedicated to various gods, and many prodigies are related of them (Damascius in Photius, quoted by Bochart, Canaan, 2, 2). The same authority describes them as aerolites, of a whitish and sometimes purple color, spherical in shape, and about a span in diameter. The Palladium of Troy, the black stone in the Kaaba at Mecca, said to have been brought from heaven by the angel Gabriel, and the stone at Ephesus which fell down from Jupiter (Act_19:35), are examples of the belief, anciently so common, that the gods sent down their images upon earth. In the older worship of Greece, stones, according to Pausanias (7, 22, § 4), occupied the place of images. Those at Pharae, about thirty in number, and quadrangular in shape, near the statue of Hermes, received divine honors from the Pharians, and each had the name of some god conferred upon it. The stone in the temple of Jupiter Ammon (umbilico maxime similis), enriched with emeralds and gems (Curtius, 4:7, § 31); that at Delphi, which Saturn was said to have swallowed (Pausan. Phoc. 24, § 6); the black stone of pyramidal shape in the temple of Juggernaut, and the holy stone at Pessinus, in Galatia, sacred to Cybele, show how widely spread and almost universal were these ancient objects of worship. SEE PILLAR.
Closely connected with these statues of Baal, whether in the form of obelisks or otherwise, were
14. חִמָּנַים, chammanim'. rendered in the margin of most passages sun- images. The word has given rise to much discussion. In the Vulg. it is translated thrice simulacra, thrice delubra, and oncefana. The Sept. gives τεμένη twice, εἴδωλα twice, ξύλινα χειροποίητα, βδελύγματα, and τὰ ὑψηλά With one exception (2Ch_34:4, which is evidently corrupt), the Syriac has vaguely either fears, i.e. objects of fear, or idols. The Targum in all passages translates it by חֲנַיסְנְסִיָּא, chanisnesaya', houses for star-worship (Furst compares the Arab. Chunnas, the planet Mercury or Venus), a rendering which Rosenmuller supports. Gesenius preferred to consider these chanisnesaya as veils or shrines surrounded or shrouded with hangings (Eze_16:16; Targ. on Isa_3:19), and scouted the interpretation of Buxtorf status solares as a mere guess, though he somewhat paradoxically assented to Rosenmüller's opinion that they were shrines dedicated to the worship of the stars. Kimchi, under the root חמן, mentions a conjecture that they were trees like the Asherim, but (s.v. חמם) elsewhere expresses his own belief that the Nun is epenthetic, and that they were so called because the sun-worshippers made them. Aben-Ezra (on Lev_26:30) says they were houses made for worshipping the sun, which Bochart approves (Canaan, ii, 17), and Jarchi that they were a kind of idol placed on the roofs of houses. Vossius (De Idol. 2, 353), as Scaliger before him, connects the word with Amanus or Omanus, the sacred fire, the symbol of the Persian sun-god, and renders it pyraea (comp. Selden, ii, 8). Adelung (Mithrid. 1, 159, quoted by Gesenius on Isa_17:8) suggested the same, and compared it with the Sanscrit homa. But to such interpretations the passage in 2Ch_34:4 is inimical (Vitringa on Isa_17:8). Gesenius's own opinion appears to have fluctuated considerably. In his notes on Isaiah (I. c.) he prefers the general rendering columns to the more definite one of sun-columns, and is inclined to look to a Persian origin for the derivation of the word. But in his Thesaurus he mentions the occurrence of Chainman as a synonym of Baal in the Phoenician and Palmyrene inscriptions in the sense of Dominus Solaris, and it's after application to the statues or columns erected for his worship. Spencer (De Legg. Hebr. 2, 25), and after him Michaelis (Suppl. ad Lex. Hebr. s.v.), maintained that it signified statues or lofty columns, like the pyramids or obelisks of Egypt. Movers (Phon. 1, 441) concludes with good reason that the sun-god Baal and the idol Chamman are not essentially different. In his discussion of Chammanim he says, These images of the fire-god were placed on foreign or non-Israelitish altars, in conjunction with the symbols of the nature-goddess Asherah, or σύμβωμοι (2Ch_14:3; 2Ch_14:5; 2Ch_34:4; 2Ch_34:7; Isa_17:9; Isa_27:9), as was otherwise usual with Baal and Asherah. They are mentioned with the Asherim, and the latter are coupled with the statues of Baal (1Ki_14:23; 2Ki_23:14). The chammanim and statues are used promiscuously (compare 2Ki_23:14, and 2Ch_34:4; 2Ch_14:3; 2Ch_14:5), but are never spoken of together. Such are the steps by which he arrives at his conclusion. He is supported by the Palmyrene inscription at Oxford, alluded to above, which has been thus rendered: This column (חמנא, Chammaind), and this altar, the sons of Malchu, etc., have erected and dedicated to the sun. The Veneto-Greek Version leaves the word untranslated in the strange form ἀκάβαντες. From the expressions in Eze_6:4; Eze_6:6, and Lev_26:30, it may be inferred that these columns, which perhaps represented a rising flame of fire and stood upon the altar of Baal (2Ch_34:4), were of wood or stone. SEE ASHERAH.
15. מִשְׂכַּית, maskith', occurs in Lev_26:1; Numbers 23:52; Eze_8:12 : device, most nearly suits all passages (compare Psa_73:7; Pro_18:11; Pro_25:11). This word has been the fruitful cause of as much dispute as the preceding. The general opinion appears to be that אֶבֶן מsignifies a stone with figures graven upon it. Ben-Zeb explains it as a stone with figures or hieroglyphics carved upon it,' and so Michaelis; and it is maintained by Movers (Phon. 1, 105) that the baetylia, or columns with painted figures, the lapides effigiati of Minucius Felix (c. 3), are these stones of device, and that the characters engraven on them are the ἱερὰ στποχεῖα, or characters sacred to the several deities. The invention of these characters, which is ascribed to Taaut, he conjectures originated with the Seres. Gesenius explains it as a stone with the image of an idol, Baal or Astarte, and refers to his Mon. Poaen. p. 21-24, for others of a similar character. Rashi (on Lev_21:1) derives it from the root שׂכ,ִ to cover, because they cover the floor with a pavement of stones. The Targum and Syriac, Lev_26:1, give stone of devotion, and the former, in Num_33:52, has house of their devotion where the Syriac only renders their objects of devotion. For the former the Sept. has λίθος σκοπός, and for the latter τὰς σκοπιὰςαὐτῶν, connecting the word with the root שָׂכָה. to look, a circumstance which has induced Saalschuitz (Mos. Recht, p. 382-385) to conjecture that eben maskith was originally a smooth elevated stone employed for the purpose of obtaining from it a freer prospect, and of offering prayer in prostration upon it to the deities of heaven. Hence, generally, he concludes it signifies a stone of prayer or devotion, and the chambers of imagery of Eze_8:7 are chambers of devotion. The renderings of the last mentioned passage in the Sept. and Targum are curious as pointing to a various reading, מְשֻׂכָּתוֹ, or, more probably, מַשְׁכָּבוֹ. SEE IMAGERY.
16. תְּרָפַים, teradphim'. SEE TERAPHIR
(2.) The terms which follow have regard to the material and workmanship of the idol rather than to its character as an object of worship.
17. פָּסֶל, pe'sel, usually translated in the Authorized Version graven or carved image. In two passages it is ambiguously rendered quarries (Jdg_3:19; Jdg_3:26), after the Targum, but there seems to be no reason for departing from the ordinary signification. In the majority of instances the Sept. has γλυπτόν, once γλύμμα. The verb is employed to denote the finishing which the stone received at the hands of the masons after it had been rough-hewn from the quarries (Exo_34:4; 1 Kings 5:32). It is probably a later usage which has applied pesel to a figure cast in metal, as in Isa_40:19; Isa_44:10. (More probably still, pesel denotes by anticipation the molten image in a later stage, after it had been trimmed into shape by the caster.) These sculptured images were apparently of wood, iron, or stone, covered with gold or silver (Deu_7:25; Isa_30:22; Hab_2:19), the more costly being of solid metal (Isa_40:19). They could be burned (Deu_7:5; Isa_45:20; 2Ch_34:4), or cut down (Deu_12:3) and pounded (2Ch_34:7), or broken in pieces (Isa_21:9), In making them, the skill of the wise iron-smith (Deu_27:15; Isa_40:20) or carpenter, and of the goldsmith, was employed (Jdg_17:3-4; Isa_41:7), the former supplying the rough mass of iron beaten into shape on his anvil (Isa_44:12), while the latter overlaid it with plates of gold and silver, probably from Tarshish (Jer_10:9), and decorated it with silver chains. The image thus formed received the further adornment of embroidered robes (Eze_16:18), to which possibly allusion may be made in Isa_3:19. Brass and clay were among the materials employed for the same purpose (Dan_2:33; Dan_5:23). (Images of glazed pottery have been found in Egypt [Wilkinson, Anc. Eg. 3, 90: comp. Wis_15:8].) A description of the three great images of Babylon on the top of the temple of Belus will be found in Diod. Sic. 2, 9 (compare Layard, Nin. 2. 433). The several stages of the process by which the metal or wood became the graven image are so vividly described in Isa_44:10-20, that it is only necessary to refer to that passage, and we are at once introduced to the mysteries of idol manufacture, which, as at Ephesus, brought no small gain unto the craftsmen. SEE SHRINE.
18. נְסֶךְ or נֵסֶךְ, n'sek, and מִסֵּכָה, massekah', are evidently synonymous (Isa_41:29; Isa_48:5; Jer_10:14) in later Hebrew, and denote a molten image. Massekah is frequently used in distinction from pesel or pesilim (Deu_27:15; Jdg_17:3, etc.). The golden calf, which Aaron made, was fashioned with the graver (חֶרֶט, cheret), but it is not quite clear for what purpose the graver was used (Exo_32:4). The cheret (comp. χαράττω) appears to have been a sharp-pointed instrument, used like the stylus for a writing implement (Isa_8:1). Whether then Aaron, by the help of the cheret, gave to the molten mass the shape of a calf, or whether he made use of the graver for the purpose of carving hieroglyphics upon it, has been thought doubtful. The Syr. has tuipso (τύπος), the mould, for cheret. But the expression וִיָּצָר, vay- yatsar, decides that it was by the cheret, in whatever manner employed, that the shape of a calf was given to the metal. SEE MOLTEN.
(3.) In the New Test. the Greek of idol is εἴδωλον, which exactly corresponds with it. In one passage εἰκών is the image or head of the emperor on the coinage (Mat_22:20). SEE ALISGEMA. II. Actual Forms of Idols. Among the earliest objects of worship, regarded as symbols of deity, were the meteoric stones which the ancients believed to have been the images of the gods sent down from heaven. SEE DIANA. From these they transferred their regard to rough unhewn blocks, to stone columns or pillars of wood, in which the divinity worshipped was supposed to dwell, and which were consecrated, like the sacred stone at Delphi, by being anointed with oil, and crowned with wool on solemn days (Pausan. Phoc. 24, § 6). Tavernier (quoted by Rosenmüller, At. and Al Morgenland, 1, § 89) mentions a black stone in the pagoda of Benares which was daily anointed with perfumed oil, and such are the Lingams in daily use in the Siva worship of India (compare Armobius, 1, 30; Min. Felix, c. 3). Such customs are remarkable illustrations of the solemn consecration by Jacob of the stone at Bethel, as showing the religious reverence with which these memorials were regarded. Not only were single stones thus honored, but heaps of stone were, in later times at least, considered as sacred to Hermes (Homer,. Od. 16, 471; comp. the Vulg. at Pro_26:8, Sicut qui mittit lapidem in acervum Mercurii), and to these each passing traveler contributed his offering (Crezer, Symb. 1, 24). The heap of stones which Laban erected to commemorate the solemn compact between himself and Jacob, and on which he invoked the gods of his fathers, is an instance of the intermediate stage in which such heaps were associated with religious observances before they became objects of worship. Jacob, for his part, dedicated a single stone as his memorial, and called Jehovah to witness, thus holding himself aloof from the rites employed by Laban, which may have partaken of his ancestral idolatry. SEE JEGAR-SAIADUTHA.
Of the forms assumed by the idolatrous images we have not many traces in the Bible. Dagon, the fish-god of the Philistines, was a human figure terminating in a fish SEE DAGON; and that the Syrian deities were represented in later times in a symbolical human shape we know for certainty. SEE NISROCH.
The Hebrews imitated their neighbors in this respect as in others (Isa_44:13; Wis_13:13), and from various allusions we may infer that idols in human forms were not uncommon among them, though they were more anciently symbolized by animals (Wis_13:14), as by the calves of Aaron and Jeroboam, and the brazen serpent which was afterwards applied to idolatrous uses (2Ki_18:4; Rom_1:23). When the image came from the hands of the maker it was decorated richly with silver and gold, and sometimes crowned (Epist. Jeremiah 9), clad in robes of blue and purple (Jer_10:9), like the draped images of Pallas and Hera (Muller, Hand. dl. Arch. d. Kunst, § 69), and fastened in the niche appropriated to it by means of chains and nails (Wis_13:15), in order that the influence of the deity which it represented might be secured to the spot. So the Ephesians, when besieged by Croesus, connected the wall of their city by means of a rope to the temple of Aphrodite, with a view to insuring the aid of the goddess (Herod. 1, 26); and for a similar object the Tyrians chained the stone image of Apollo to the altar of Hercules (Curt. 4:3, § 15). Some images were painted red (Wis_13:14), like those of Dionysus and the Bacchantes, of Hermes, and the god Pan (Pausan. 2, 2, § 5; Muller, u. and. d. Arch. d. Kunst, § 69). This color was formerly considered sacred. Pliny relates, on the authority of Verrius, that it was customary on festival days to color with red lead the face of the image of Jupiter, and the bodies of those who celebrated a triumph (33:36). The figures of Priapus, the god of gardens, were decorated in the same manner (ruber custos, Tibull. 1, 1, 18). Among the objects of worship enumerated by Arnobius (1, 39) are bones of elephants, pictures, and garlands suspended on trees, the rami coronati of Apuleius (de Mag. c. 56).
When the process of adorning the image was completed, it was placed in a temple or shrine appointed for it (οἰκία, Epist. Jeremiah 12, 19; οἴκημα, Wis_13:15; εἰδωλεῖον, 1Co_8:10; see Stanley's note on the latter passage). In Wis_13:15, οἴκημα is thought to be used contemptuously, as in Tibull. 1, 10, 19, 20, Cum paupere cultu Stabat in exigua ligneus cede deus (Fritsche and Grimm, Handb.), but the passage quoted is by no means a good illustration. From these temples the idols were sometimes carried in procession (Epist. Jeremiah 4, 26) on festival days. Their priests were maintained from the idol treasury, and feasted upon the meats which were appointed for the idols use (Bel and the Dragon, 3, 13). These sacrificial feasts formed an important part of the idolatrous ritual, and were a great stumbling block to the early Christian converts. They were to the heathen, as Prof. Stanley has well observed, what the observance of circumcision and the Mosaic ritual were to the Jewish converts, and it was for this reason that Paul especially directed his attention to the subject, and laid down the rules of conduct contained in his first letter to the Corinthians (8-10). SEE IDOLATRY.
CYCLOPEDIA OF BIBLICAL, THEOLOGICAL AND ECCLESIASTICAL
press 1895.
(1) Awen, "vanity," "nothingness," "wickedness," "sorrow" (Isa_66:3; Isa_41:29; Deu_32:21; 1Ki_16:13; Psa_31:6; Jer_8:19; Jer_10:8; Zec_10:2; 1Sa_15:23). "Beth-el," the house of God, is named "Beth-aven," house of vanity, because of the calf worship.
(2) Eliyl, either a contemptuous diminutive of Eel, God, godling; or from al "not," a "thing of naught." There is a designed contrast between the contemptible liliym and the Divine Elohim (Psa_97:7; Isa_19:3, "non-entities" margin Eze_30:13).
(3) emah, "terror," (Jer_1:38) "they are mad after their idols," hideous forms more fitted to frighten than to attract, bugbears to frighten children with.
(4) miphletseth, "a fright": Maachah's idol which Asa cut down (1Ki_15:13; 2Ch_15:16); the phallus, symbol of the generative organ, the nature goddess Asherah's productive power. Jer_10:2-5 graphically describes the making of an idol and its impotence.
(5) bosheth, "shame": not merely shameful, but the essence of shame, bringing shame on its votaries and especially expressing the obscenity of Baal's and Baal Peor's worship (Jer_11:13; Hos_9:10).
(6) gillulim, from gal "a heap of stones" (Gesenius): Eze_30:13; Eze_16:36; Deu_29:17, "dungy gods" margin
(7) shiquts, ceremonial "uncleanness" (Eze_37:23). The worshippers "became loathsome like their love," for men never rise above their object of worship; "they that make them are like unto them, so is everyone that trusteth in them" (Psa_115:4-8).
(8) ceemel, a "likeness" (Deu_4:16).
(9) tselem, from tseel "a shadow" (Dan_3:1; 1Sa_6:5), "the image" as distinguished from the demuth, "likeness," the exact counterpart (Greek eikoon; Col_1:15; Gen_1:27). The "image" presupposes a prototype. "Likeness" (Greek homoiosis) implies mere resemblance, not the exact counterpart and derivation, hence the Son is never called the "likeness" of the Father but the "Image" (1Co_11:7; Joh_1:18; Joh_14:9; 2Co_4:4; 1Ti_3:16; 1Ti_6:16; Heb_1:3). The idol is supposed to be an "image" exactly representing some person or object.
(10) timahuh "similitude," "form "(Deu_4:12-19, where Moses forbids successively the several forms of Gentile idolatry: ancestor worship, as that of Terah (Jos_24:2), Laban (Gen_31:19; Gen_31:30; Gen_31:32), and Jacob's household (Gen_35:2-4), to guard against which Moses' sepulchre was hidden; hero worship and relic worship (Jdg_8:27; Jdg_17:4; 2Ki_18:4); nature worship, whether of the lower animals as in Egypt, or of the heavenly bodies, the sun, moon, and stars, as among the Persians).
(11) atzab, etzeb, otzeb, "a figure," from aatzab "to fashion"; with the additional idea of sorrowful labour (Isa_48:5; Psa_139:24), "see if there be any wicked way (way of pain, way of an idol, Isa_48:5) in me, and lead me in the way everlasting." The way of idolatry, however refined, proves to be a way of pain, and shuts out from the way everlasting (1Jn_5:21; Rev_21:8; 1Co_10:20-21). Tacitus, the Roman historian (Hist. 5:4), notices the contrast between Judaism and the whole pagan world, which disproves the notion that it borrowed from the latter and consecrated several of their rites.
"The Jews conceive the Divinity as One, and to be understood only by the mind; they deem those profane who form any image of the gods, of perishable materials and after the likeness of men; the Divinity they describe as supreme, eternal, unchangeable, imperishable; hence there are no images in their cities or their temples, with these they would not flatter kings nor honour Caesars."
(12) tsiyr, "a pang," also "a mould" or "shape" (Isa_45:16).
(13) matseebah, a "statue" set up (Jer_43:13, margin). Obelisks to the sun god at the city (house) of the sun, as Beth-shemesh or Heliopolis mean; "On" in Gen_41:45; 2Ki_3:2; 2Ki_10:26-27 margin. The "images" or standing columns of wood (subordinate gods worshipped at the same altar with Baal) are distinct from the standing column of stone or "image" of Baal himself, i.e. a conical stone sacred to him.
The Phoenicians anointed stones (often aerolites, as that "which fell down from Jupiter," sacred to Diana of Ephesus, Act_19:35) to various gods, like the stone anointed by Jacob (Gen_28:18; Gen_28:22) at Bethel, called therefore Baetylia (compare also Gen_31:45). The black pyramidal stone in Juggernaut's temple, that of Cybele at Pessinus in Galatia, the black stone in the Kaaba at Mecca reported to have been brought from heaven by the angel Gabriel, all illustrate the wide diffusion of this form of idolatry. So the Lingams in daily use in the worship of Siva in Bengal, and the black stone daily anointed with perfumed oil in Benares.
(14) chammanim, "sun images." The Arabic Chunnas is the planet Mercury or Venus. The symbol of the Persian sun god was the sacred fire, Amanus or Omanus, Sanskrit homa (2Ch_34:4; 2Ch_34:7; 2Ch_14:3; 2Ch_14:5). Chamman, is a synonym of Baal the sun god in the Phoenician and Palmyrene inscriptions, and so is applied to his statues or lofty, obelisk like, columns (Isa_17:8; Isa_27:9 margin). These "statues" are associated with the Asherim ("groves" KJV), just as Baal is associated with Asherah or Astarte (1Ki_14:23, margin 2Ki_23:14). The Palmyrene inscription at Oxford is, "this chammana the sons of Malchu have dedicated to the sun." Eze_6:4; Eze_6:6; sun worship and Sabeanism or worship of the heavenly hosts (tsebaowt) was the oldest idolatry.
Job, one of the oldest books in the Bible, alludes to it (Job_31:26), "if I beheld the sun when it shined or the moon ... and my heart hath been secretly enticed, or my mouth hath kissed my hand, this were an iniquity," etc. In opposition to this error God is called "Lord God of Sabaoth." The tower of Babel was probably built so that its top should be sacred to the heavens (not that its top should reach heaven, Gen_11:4), the common temple and idolatrous center of union. The dispersion defeated the purpose of the builders, but still they carried with them the idolatrous tendency, attributing their harvests, etc., to the visible material causes, the sun, moon, air, etc. (Jer_44:17). Soon a further step was deifying men, or else attributing every human vice, lust, and passion to the gods. Cicero ridicules this groveling anthropomorphic worship, yet was himself a priest and worshipper!
These sun columns towering high above Baal's altars (2Ch_34:4; 2Ch_34:7) were sometimes of wood, which could be "cut down" (Lev_26:30). The Phoenician Adon or Adonis, the Ammonite Moloch or Milcom, the Moabite Chemosh, the Assyrian and Babylonian Bel, and the Syrian Hadad, the Egyptian Ra, are essentially the same sun god. Adrammelech was the male, and Anammelech the female, power of the sun. Gad was the sun, or Jupiter, representing fortune, Meni the moon or Venus, representing fate (Isa_65:11). As the sun represents the active, so the moon the passive powers of nature. The two combined are represented as at once male and female, from whence in the Septuagint Baal occurs with masculine and feminine articles, and men worshipped in women's clothes, and women in men's clothes, which explains the prohibition Deu_22:5.
Magic influences were attributed to sowing mingled seed in a field and to wearing garments of mixed material; hence the prohibition Lev_19:19. In Eze_8:17, "they put the branch to their nose" alludes to the idolatrous usage of holding up a branch of tamarisk (called barsom) to the nose at daybreak while they sang hymns to the rising sun (Strabo, 15, section 733). Baal or sun worship appears indicated in the names Bethshemesh, Baal Hermon, Mount Heres ("sun"), Belshazzar, Hadadezer, Hadad Rimmon (the Syrian god).
(15) maskiyt (Lev_26:1; Num_33:52): "devices"; with eben "stones of device," namely, with figures or hieroglyphics sacred to the several deities on them; "effigied stones" (Minucius Felix, 3). Like "the chambers of imagery" or priests' chambers with idolatrous, pictures on the walls as seen in vision (Eze_8:12), answering to their own perverse imaginations. Gesenius, "a stone with an idol's image, Baal or Astarte."
(16) teraphim. (See TERAPHIM.)
(17) pecel. The process by which stone, metal, or wood was made into a graven or carved image (literally, one trimmed into shape and having had the finishing stroke) is described Isa_44:10-20. It was overlaid with gold or silver, and adorned with chains of silver (worn lavishly by rich orientals) and embroidered robes (Jer_10:8-9). "Fastened with nails that it should not be moved" (Isa_41:7), to keep the god steady! and that his influence might be secured to the spot (Isa_40:19-20; Isa_45:20; Eze_16:16-18; margin Jdg_3:19; Jdg_3:26 (See EGLON, (See EHUD); Deu_7:25).
(18) pecilim.
(19) nesek, masecah (Isa_41:29). "Molten images" (Deu_27:15). In Exo_32:4 "Aaron fashioned it with a graying tool (cheret) after he had made it a golden calf." The sense is, he formed it first of a wooden center, then covered it with a coating of gold, the image so formed being called masecah. The mode of its destruction shows this; the wooden center was first-burnt, then the golden covering was beaten or rubbed to pieces (Deu_9:20; Deu_9:21). So Septuagint, Keil, etc. The rendering "he bound it (the gold) up in a bag" is less probable. In Gen_35:2, Jacob's charge to "his household and to all that were with him Put away the strange gods ('the gods of the foreigner,' the Canaanites) among you, and be clean and change your raiment," it seems surprising that idols should have had place in his household.
The explanation is gathered from what went before, but the connection is so little obvious that it can only be the result of truth not contrivance. Rachel had stolen Laban's images (teraphim) without Jacob's knowledge (Gen_31:32); perhaps not for worship but for their gold and silver, to balance what was withheld by him from her. Laban had divined by them, as Gen_30:27, "I have learned by experience," ought to be translated "I have learned by divination" literally, I have hissed, "I have divined by omens from serpents." Moreover the sons of Jacob had just before (
Gen_30:34) carried away all the spoils of Shechem's city, and among them doubtless their gold and silver idols. The words "all that were with him" point to the captured wives and women, etc. "Change your raiment" was a charge needed for all who had taken part in the slaughter, and so were ceremonially defiled.
There are two degrees in idolatry. Against the worst, that of having other gods besides Jehovah the one only God, the first commandment is directed. Against the less flagrant degree, worshipping the true God under the form of an image or symbolic likeness, representing any of His attributes, the second is directed. The Baal and Asheerah ("groves") worship violated the first command. meat; Aaron's calf worship and Jeroboam's violated the second. Compare 1Ki_16:30; 2Ki_10:26-28; 2Ki_10:31; 2Ki_17:7-23. So the Roman and Greek universals violate the second commandment in the adoration of the eucharistic mass, the bowing before images, etc., and go perilously near violating the first in the divine titles wherewith they invoke the Virgin Mary. Jeroboam's calves paved the way for Baal worship. See Exo_20:3, "thou shalt have no other gods before My face."
Polytheism ancient and modern is willing to grant Jehovah the first place among deities; but He will have none "in His presence" which is everywhere (Psa_139:7). Again no outward form can image God, it only debases instead of helping the worshipper. The principle involved is stated by Paul on Mars' hill, surrounded by the choicest works of genius representing deity (Act_17:29), "forasmuch as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man's device." Once that the first visible representation of God is made, or adopted, it entails another and another endlessly, no one or more idols or symbols ever adequately representing all the countless attributes of God. Hence a female deity was added to the male; an Apollo, Venus, Mercury, Diana, etc., etc., must be added to Jupiter; and, instead of one omnipresent God, deities whose power was restricted to localities were worshipped (1Ki_20:23; 1Ki_20:28; 2Ki_17:26).
Like all deviations from truth, the first lie necessitates countless others. "The express image of the Father's person" is the incarnate God Jesus. He alone (not visible images and pictures of Him), as represented in the written word, is the appointed revealer of the unseen God (Joh_1:18). Israel was God's representative and "peculiar treasure above all people, a kingdom of priests and an holy nation"; the same relation Christ's church now holds (1Pe_2:5; 1Pe_2:9). Israel's kings (when Israel had chosen a visible head instead of the invisible King alone) were under God as their feudal superior (1Ki_3:14; 1Ki_11:11). The penalty of overt, idolatry, as being treason against the divine King, was death. The offender's nearest relatives must denounce him, and even be first to stone him (Exo_22:20; Deu_13:2-10; Deu_17:2-5).
Especially Moloch's worship with human sacrifices and passing through the fire entailed death as the penalty. The Canaanites were exterminated for it (Exo_34:15-16; Deuteronomy 7; Deu_12:29-31; Deu_20:17). Israel's disasters were the punishment of their idolatry (Jer_2:17). Saul lost his throne, Achan his life, and Hiel his family, for retaining or restoring anything of a people doomed for idolatry (1 Samuel 15; Joshua 7; 1Ki_16:34). God works out His ends, even His judgments, in the way of natural consequence. The calves of Jeroboam and Baal's groves were the sin. The disgust of all godly Israelites, intestine divisions, a perpetual conflict between the Mosaic law, still in force, and the established national idolatry, and the immorality which results from idolatry, were the natural and penal consequence, bringing ruin finally on the state.
Israel, foremost in the offense under Jeroboam and then Ahab, is first to have prophets sent as censors and seers to counteract the evil, but proving refractory is the first to be carried into captivity. Judah, following the bad example in her turn, has prophets sent whom she rejects and even kills, and at nearly the same interval between the sin and the punishment follows Israel into captivity. Idolatry on the part of the Old Testament Israel, and the spiritual Israel, is high treason against the heavenly King (1Sa_8:7) whose direct subjects we avowedly are. The punishments were then temporal (Deu_17:2-13). Israel's original contract of government is in Exo_19:3-8; Exo_20:2-5; Deuteronomy 28, 29, 30.
Often Israel fell from the covenant, and at intervals renewed it. The remarkable confirmation of the divine authority of the law is, it was only in prosperity Israel neglected it, in distress they always cried to God and returned to the law, and invariably received deliverance (Jdg_10:10; 2Ch_15:12-13); especially at the return from Babylon (Neh_9:38). Israel's idolatry was not merely an abomination in God's sight, as that of the Gentiles, but spiritual "adultery" against Jehovah her Husband (Isa_54:5; Jer_3:14; Ezekiel 16). Hos_2:16-17; "thou shalt call Me Ishi (my Husband, the term of affection), no more Baali" (my Lord, the term of rule, defiled by its application to Baal, whose name ought never to be on their lips: Exo_23:13; Zec_13:2), etc.
Fornication formed part of the abominable worship of the idols, especially Baal Peor and Ashtoreth or Astarte, who represented nature's generative powers and (Num_25:1-2) to whom qideeshim and qedeeshot public male and female prostitutes, were "consecrated" (as the Hebrew means: Deu_23:17, etc.; 2Ki_23:7; Hos_4:14), "separated with whores (withdrawn from the assembly of worshippers for carnal connection with them) ... sacrifice with the harlots" (so Hebrew) (Herodotus i. 199). This horrid consecrated pollution prevailed in Phoenicia, Syria, Phrygia, Assyria, and Babylonia, and still in Hindu idolatry. Man making lust a sacred duty! This is the force of the phrase, "Israel joined himself unto Baal Peor," as appears in 1Co_6:16-17, "He which ... is joined to an harlot is one body; for two, saith He, shall be one flesh.
But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit." God chose Egypt as Israel's place of training, though an idolatrous country, but took every precaution, if they would only have heeded Him, to save them from the contagion. He placed them in a separate province; as shepherds they were an abomination to Egyptians, and sacrificed to God the very animals Egypt worshipped (Exo_8:26). Finally, the Egyptians bitterly oppressed them. Yet the fascinations of idolatry spellbound Israel during their long stay in Egypt (Jos_24:14; Eze_20:7), and led them to relapse into the sin from which Abram had been rescued by his call from Ur. God by Moses smote the symbols of Egyptian idolatry with the ten plagues, "executing judgment against all the gods of Egypt" (Exo_12:12), the river, the wind bringing locusts, the dust of the earth, the cattle, the symbol of Apis (Num_33:4). (See EGYPT.)
Yet Israel in all their history showed a continual tendency to adopt the idols of the neighbouring nations; in the desert they "sacrificed unto devils" (saeer, a shaggy goat, worshipped with the foulest rites at Mendes in Lower Egypt. Speaker's Commentary translated "to the evil spirits of the desert": Lev_17:7, compare Isa_13:21; Isa_34:14; 2Ch_11:15). Behind the idols, though nonentities in themselves, lurk real demons, to whom consciously or unconsciously the worship is paid, as inspiration declares (Deu_32:17), "devils" lasheedim, "destroyers"; as Satan's name Apollyon means; slavish fear being the prompting motive, not love, the idol feaster has his fellowship with demons (1Co_10:20), even as the communicant in the Lord's supper has by faith real fellowship with the Lord's body once for all sacrificed, and now exalted as the Head of redeemed mankind.
In the northern kingdom of Israel, from Jeroboam down to Hoshea whom Shalmaneser dethroned, no one royal reformer appeared. In Judah several arose, Asa, Jehoshaphat, Hezekiah, Josiah. The Babylonian captivity almost thoroughly purged the Jews from their proneness to idols (Jer_44:17-18, contrast Hos_3:4). But traces appeared still in their partially adopting Greek idolatry and usages for worldly compromise, just before Antiochus Epiphanes' attempt to overthrow Jehovah's worship (1Ma_1:43-54). The heroic resistance of the Maccabees, besides their contact with the Persians who rejected images, and especially the erection of synagogues and the reading the law every sabbath in them, gave them the abhorrence of idols which now characterizes them.
In the Christian church "the deadly wound" that was given to "the beast" (the God-opposed world) by Christianity (Minucius Felix, A.D. 180, and Arnobius adv. Gent. 4:1, mention that the Romans were shocked to find among Christians "no altars, no temples, no images") was speedily "healed" by image worship being revived in the Roman and Greek churches (Dan_7:8; Dan_7:11-24; Dan_7:25; 1Ti_4:1-3), so that "the beast that was, and is not (during the brief continuance of the deadly wound), yet is" (Rev_17:8); and in spite of God's judicial plagues men repented not of the works of their hands, that they should not worship devils, and idols of gold and silver and brass and stone and wood, which neither can see, nor hear, nor walk" (Rev_9:20). The deadly wound is healed also by the prevalenee of "covetousness which is idolatry" (Eph_5:5; Col_3:5) in all Christendom, reformed and unreformed, and the "form of godliness without the power"; culminating in the willful king of the third kingdom (Dan_8:11-12; Dan_11:36; 2Ti_3:1-9 describes the hotbed from which the last anti-Christianity shall spring).
Probably the second beast is the same, the false prophet who causes an image to be made to the first beast (Dan_7:8-26), and all who will not worship it to be killed, after the harlot has been unseated and judged (Rev_13:14-18; Rev_16:13-16;
Rev_16:17). The Lord will come "utterly to abolish the idols," and all "idolaters shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone" (Rev_21:8; Isa_2:18-19; Zec_13:2-3). Self idolatry, self will, and self sufficiency must be subdued, if God is to be our God. 1Sa_15:23 implies that "conscious disobedience is idolatry, because it makes self will, the human I, into a god" (Keil).
Fausset's Bible Dictionary
By Andrew Robert Fausset, co-Author of Jamieson, Fausset and Brown's 1888.
Idol. An image or anything used as an object of worship in place of the true God. Among the earliest objects of worship, regarded as symbols of deity, were the meteoric stones, which the ancients believed to have been images of the Gods sent down from heaven. From these, they transferred their regard to rough unhewn blocks, to stone columns or pillars of wood, in which the divinity worshipped was supposed to dwell, and which were connected, like the sacred stone at Delphi, by being anointed with oil and crowned with wool on solemn days.
Of the forms assumed by the idolatrous images, we have not many traces in the Bible. Dagon, the fish-god of the Philistines, was a human figure terminating in a fish; and that the Syrian deities were represented, in later times, in a symbolical human shape, we know for certainty. When the process of adorning the image was completed, it was placed in a temple or shrine appointed for it. Jer_12:1; Jer_19:1. Wis_13:15; 1Co_8:10.
From these temples, the idols were sometimes carried in procession, Jer_4:26, on festival days. Their priests were maintained from the idol treasury, and feasted upon the meats which were appointed for the idols' use. See Bel and the Dragon 3, 13. Dan_14:3; Dan_14:13. (Apocrypha)
Smith's Bible Dictionary
By Dr. William Smith.Published in 1863
Jer_22:28 (a) This type refers to a man who had been extolled by the people and then had been cast down. The hopes of the people were wrecked with his downfall.
Zec_11:17 (a) This is a reference to a religious leader who, after winning the hearts of his people, deserts them and leaves them empty, hungry and helpless.
1Jo_5:21 (b) An idol in the Christian's life is anything or any person that takes the heart and love away from the Lord or that comes between the child of GOD and GOD. It may be money, fame, pleasure, companionship, or even a religious activity.
Wilson's Dictionary of Bible Types
press 1957.
Idol
properly an outward object adored as divine, or as the symbol of deity. SEE IDOLATRY.
I. Classification of Scriptural terms having physical reference to such objects. As a large number of different Hebrew words have been rendered in the A.V. either by idol or image, and that by no means uniformly (besides one or more in Greek more uniformly translated), it will be of some advantage to attempt to discriminate between them, and assign, as nearly as the two languages will allow, the English equivalents for each. SEE IMAGE.
(I.) Abstract terms, which, with a deep moral significance, express the degradation associated with idolatry, and stand out as a protest of the language against its enormities.
(1.) General terms of doubtful signification.
1. אֵַליל, elil', is thought by some to have a sense akin to that of שֶׁקֶר, she'ker, falsehood, with which it stands in parallelism in Job_13:4, and would therefore much resemble aven, as applied to an idol. It is generally derived from the unused root אָלִל, to be empty or vain. Delitzsch (on Hab_2:18) derives it from the negative particle אִל, al, die Nichtigen; but according to Furst (Handw. s.v.) it is a diminutive of אֵל, god, the additional syllable indicating the greatest contempt. In this case the signification above mentioned is a subsidiary one. The same authority asserts that the word denotes a small image of the god, which was consulted as an oracle among the Egyptians and Phoenicians (Isa_19:3; Jer_14:14). It is certainly used of the idols of Noph or Memphis (Eze_30:13). In strong contrast with Jehovah, it appears in Psa_90:5; Psa_97:7, the contrast probably being heightened by the resemblance between elilim and elohim. A somewhat similar play upon words is observable in Hab_2:18, אֵַלילַים אַלֵּמַים, elilim illemim, A.V. dumb idols. See EL. 2. גַּלּוּלַים, gill'ulim', also a term of contempt, of uncertain origin (Eze_30:13), but probably derived from גָּלִל, to roll, as dung, hence refuse. The Rabbinical authorities, referring to such passages as Eze_4:2; Zep_1:17, have favored the interpretation given in the margin of the A.V. to Deu_29:17, dungy gods (Vulg. sordes, sordes idolorum, 1Ki_15:12). Jahn, connecting it with גָּלִל, galal, to roll, applies it to the stocks of trees of which idols were made, and in mockery called gilluim, rolling things (a volvendo, he says, though it is difficult to see the point of his remark).
Gesenius, repudiating the derivation from the Arabic jalla, to be great, illustrious, gives his preference to the rendering stones, stone gods, thus deriving it from גִּל, gal, a heap of stones; and in this he is followed by First, who translates gillil by the German Steinhaufe. The expression is applied, principally in Ezekiel, to false gods and their symbols (Deu_29:17; Eze_8:10, etc.). It stands side by side with other contemptuous terms in Eze_16:36; Eze_20:8, as, for example, שֶׁקֶוֹ, shekets, filth, abomination (Eze_8:10), and cognate terms. SEE DUNG.
May not גַּלּוּלַים, mean scarabaei, the commonest of Egyptian idols? The sense of dung is appropriate to the dung-beetle; that of rolling is doubtful, for, if the meaning of the verb be retained, we should, in this form, rather expect a passive sense, a thing rolled; but it may be observed that these grammatical rules of the sense of derivatives are not always to be strictly insisted on, for Sidon, צַידוֹן, though held to signify the place of fishing, is, in the list of the Noachians, the name of a man, the fisherman, Α᾿λιεύς, of Philo of Byblus. That a specially-applicable word is used may perhaps be conjectured from the occurrence of אלילים, which, if meaning little gods, would aptly describe the pigmy PTEH-SEKER-HESAR, Ptah- Sokari-Osiris, of Memphis. Ezekiel uses the term גלולים of the idols of Egypt which the Israelites were commanded to put away at or about the time of the Exodus, but did not, and seem to have carried into the Desert, for the same word is used, unqualified by the mention of any country, of those worshipped by them in the Desert (Exo_20:7-8; Exo_20:16; Exo_20:18; Exo_20:24); it is, however, apparently employed also for all the idols worshipped in Canaan by the Israelites (Eze_20:31; Eze_23:37). Scarabaei were so abundant among the Egyptians and Phoenicians that there is no reason why they may not have been employed also in the worship of the Canaanitish false gods; but it cannot be safely supposed, without further evidence, that the idols of Canaan were virtually termed scarabtei. SEE BEETLE.
(2.) General terms of known signification.
3. אָוֶן, a'ven, rendered elsewhere nought, vanity, iniquity, wickedness, sorrow, etc., and only once idol (Isa_66:3). The primary idea of the root seems to be emptiness, nothingness, as of breath or vapor; and, by a natural transition, in a moral sense, wickedness in its active form of mischief; and then, as the result, sorrow and trouble. Hence aven denotes a vain, false, wicked thing, and expresses at once the essential nature 3f idols, and the consequences of their worship. The character of the word may be learnt from its associates. It stands in parallelism with אֶפֶס. e'phes (Isa_41:29), which, after undergoing various modifications, comes at length to signify nothing; with הֶבֶל, he'bel, breath or vapor, itself applied as a term of contempt to the objects of idolatrous reverence (Deu_32:21; 1Ki_16:13; Psa_31:6; Jer_8:19; Jer_10:8); with שָׁוְא, shav, nothingness, vanity; and with שֶׁקֶר, she'ker, falsehood (Zec_10:2): all indicating the utter worthlessness of the idols to whom homage was paid, and the false and delusive nature of their worship. It is employed in an abstract sense, to denote idolatry in general, in 1Sa_15:23. There is much significance in the change of name from Bethel to Beth-aven, the great centre of idolatry in Israel (Hos_4:15). SEE BETHAVEN.
4. שַׁקּוּוֹ, shik-k-ts', filth, impurity, especially applied, like the cognate שֶׁקֶוֹ, she'kets, to that which produced ceremonial uncleanness (Eze_37:23; Nah_3:6), such as food offered in sacrifice to idols (Zec_9:7; comp. Act_15:20; Act_15:29). As referring to the idols themselves, it primarily denotes the obscene rites with which their worship was associated, and hence, by metonymy, is applied both to the objects of worship and also to their worshippers, who partook of the impurity, and thus became loathsome like their love, the foul Baal-Peor (Hos_9:10). SEE ABOMINATION.
5. In the same connection must be noticed, though not actually rendered image or idol, בּשֶׁת, bo'sheth, shame, or shameful thing (A.V. Jer_11:13; Hos_9:10), applied to Baal or Baal-Peor, as characterizing the obscenity of his worship. SEE BAAL-PEOR.
6. אֵימָה, eynnzah', horror or terror, and hence an object of horror or terror (Jeremiah 1, 38), in reference either to the hideousness of the idols or to the gross character of their worship. In this respect it is closely connected with
7. מַפְלֶצֶת.miphle'tseth, a fright, horror, applied to the idol of Maachah, probably of wood, which Asa cut down and burned (1Ki_15:13'; 2Ch_15:16), and which was unquestionably the- Phallus, the symbol of the productive power of nature (Movers, Phon. 1, 571 Selden, de Dis Syr. 2, 5), and the nature-goddess Ashera. Allusion is supposed to be made to this in Jer_10:5, and Epist. of Jeremiah 70. In 2Ch_15:16 the Vulg. render simulacrum Priapi (comp. Horace, furum aviumque maxima formido). The Sept. had a different reading, which it is not easy to determine. They translate, in 1Ki_15:13, the same word both by σύνοδος (with which corresponds the Syriac ido, a festival, reading, perhaps, עֲצֶרֶת, atsereth, as in 2Ki_10:20; Jer_9:2) and καταδύσεις, while in Chronicles it is εἴδωλον. Possibly in 1Ki_15:13 they may have read מְצֻלָּתָהּ, metsullathah, for מַפְלִצְתָּהּ, miphlatstah, as the Vulg. specum, of which sinulacrum turpissimum is a correction. SEE GROVE.
(II.) We now come to the consideration of those words which more directly apply to the images or idols as the outward symbols of the deity who was worshipped through them.
(1.) Terms indicating the form of idols.
8. סֶמֶלor סֵמֶל, s'mel, with which Gesenius compares as cognate מָשָׁל mashal, and צֶלֶם, tselen; the Lat. sinilis and Gr. ὁμαλός, signifies a likeness, semblance. The Targum in Deu_4:16 gives צוּרָא, tsirda, figure, as the equivalent, while in Eze_8:3; Eze_8:5 it is rendered by צְלִם, tselan, image. In the latter passages the Syriac has koimto, a statue (the στήλη of the Septuagint) which more properly corresponds to matstsebah (see No. 13, below); and in Deuteronomy genes, kind (=γένος). The passage in 2Ch_33:7 is rendered images of four faces, the latter words representing the one under consideration. In 2Ch_33:15 it appears as carved images, following the Sept. τὸ γλυπτόν. On the whole, the Gr. εἰκών of Deu_4:16; 2Ch_33:7, and the simulacrum of the Vulg. (2Ch_33:15) most nearly resemble the Heb. semel. SEE CARVED.
9. צֶלֶם, fse'lem (Chald. id. and צְלִם, tselam'), is by all lexicographers, ancient and modern, connected with צֵל, tsel, a shadow. It is the image of God in which man was created (Gen_1:27; comp. Wisd. 2, 23), distinguished from דְּמוּת, demuth, or likeness, as the image from the idea which it represents (Schmidt, De Imag. Dei in Hom. p. 84), though it would be rash to insist upon this distinction. In the N.T. εἰκών appears to represent the letter (Col_3:10; compare the Sept. at Gen_5:1), as ὁμοίωμα the former of the two words (Rom_1:23; Rom_8:29; Php_2:7), but in Heb_10:1, εἰκών is opposed to σκία as the substance to the substantial form, of which it is the perfect representative. The Sept. render demzth by ὁμοίωσις, ὁμοίωμα, εἰκών, ὅμοιος, and tselem most frequently by εἰκών, though ὁμοίωμα, εἴδωλον, and τύπος also occur. But, whatever abstract term may best define the meaning of tselem, it is unquestionably used to denote the visible forms of external objects, and is applied to figures of gold and silver (1Sa_6:5; Num_33:52; Dan_3:1), such as the golden image of Nebuchadnezzar, as well as to those painted upon walls (Eze_33:14). Image perhaps most nearly represents it in all passages. Applied to the human countenance (Dan_3:19), it signifies the expression, and corresponds to the ἰδέα of Mat_28:3, though demuth agrees rather with the Platonic usage of the latter word. SEE GRAVEN.
10. תְּמוּנָה, temundh', rendered image in Job_4:16; elsewhere similitude (Deu_4:12), likeness (Deu_5:8): form, or shape would be better. In Deu_4:16 it is in parallelism with תִּבְנַית, tabnith', literally build; hence plan or model (2Ki_16:10; compare Exo_20:4; Num_12:8).
11. עָצָב, atsab', עֶצֶב, e'tseb (Jer_22:28), or עֹצֶב, o'tseb (Isa_48:5), a figure, all derived from a root עָצִב, atsab, to work or fashion (akin to חָצִב, chatsab, and the like), are terms applied to idols as expressing that their origin was due to the labor of man. The verb in its derived senses indicates the sorrow and trouble consequent upon severe labor, but the latter seems to be the radical idea. If the notion of sorrow were most prominent, the words as applied to idols might be compared with aven above. Isa_58:3 is rendered in the Peshito Syriac idols (A.V. labors), but the reading was evidently different. In Psalm 129:24, דֶּרֶךְ עֹצֵבis idolatry.
12. צַיר, tsir, once only applied to an idol (Isa_45:16; Sept. νῆσοι, as if De, אַיַּים). The word usually denotes a pang, but in this instance is probably connected with the roots צוּר, tsar, and יָצִר, yatsar, and signifies a shape or mould, and hence an idol.
13. מִצֵּבָה, matstsebah', anything set up, a statue (=נְצַיב,! netsib, Jer_43:13), applied to a memorial stone like those erected by Jacob on four several occasions (Gen_28:18; Gen_31:45; Gen_35:14; Gen_35:20) to commemorate a crisis in his life, or to mark the grave of Rachel. Such were the stones set up by Joshua (Jos_4:9) after the passage of the Jordan, and at Shechem (Jos_24:26), and by Samuel when victorious over the Philistines (1Sa_7:12). When solemnly dedicated they were anointed with oil, and libations were poured upon them. The word is applied to denote the obelisks which stood at the entrance to the temple of the sun at Heliopolis (Jer_43:13), two of which were a hundred cubits high and eight broad, each of a single stone (Herod. 2, 11). It is also used of the statues of Baal (2Ki_3:2), whether of stone (2Ki_10:27) or wood (id. 26), which stood in the innermost recess of the temple at Samaria. Movers (Phon. 1, 674) conjectures that the latter were statues or columns distinct from that of Baal, which was of stone and conical (p. 673), like the meta of Paphos (Tacit. H. 2, 3), and probably, therefore, belonging to other deities, who were his πάρεδροι or σύμβωμοι. The Phoenicians consecrated and anointed stones like that at Bethel, which were called, as some think, from this circumstance, Baetylia. Many such are said to have been seen on Mt. Lebanon, near Heliopolis, dedicated to various gods, and many prodigies are related of them (Damascius in Photius, quoted by Bochart, Canaan, 2, 2). The same authority describes them as aerolites, of a whitish and sometimes purple color, spherical in shape, and about a span in diameter. The Palladium of Troy, the black stone in the Kaaba at Mecca, said to have been brought from heaven by the angel Gabriel, and the stone at Ephesus which fell down from Jupiter (Act_19:35), are examples of the belief, anciently so common, that the gods sent down their images upon earth. In the older worship of Greece, stones, according to Pausanias (7, 22, § 4), occupied the place of images. Those at Pharae, about thirty in number, and quadrangular in shape, near the statue of Hermes, received divine honors from the Pharians, and each had the name of some god conferred upon it. The stone in the temple of Jupiter Ammon (umbilico maxime similis), enriched with emeralds and gems (Curtius, 4:7, § 31); that at Delphi, which Saturn was said to have swallowed (Pausan. Phoc. 24, § 6); the black stone of pyramidal shape in the temple of Juggernaut, and the holy stone at Pessinus, in Galatia, sacred to Cybele, show how widely spread and almost universal were these ancient objects of worship. SEE PILLAR.
Closely connected with these statues of Baal, whether in the form of obelisks or otherwise, were
14. חִמָּנַים, chammanim'. rendered in the margin of most passages sun- images. The word has given rise to much discussion. In the Vulg. it is translated thrice simulacra, thrice delubra, and oncefana. The Sept. gives τεμένη twice, εἴδωλα twice, ξύλινα χειροποίητα, βδελύγματα, and τὰ ὑψηλά With one exception (2Ch_34:4, which is evidently corrupt), the Syriac has vaguely either fears, i.e. objects of fear, or idols. The Targum in all passages translates it by חֲנַיסְנְסִיָּא, chanisnesaya', houses for star-worship (Furst compares the Arab. Chunnas, the planet Mercury or Venus), a rendering which Rosenmuller supports. Gesenius preferred to consider these chanisnesaya as veils or shrines surrounded or shrouded with hangings (Eze_16:16; Targ. on Isa_3:19), and scouted the interpretation of Buxtorf status solares as a mere guess, though he somewhat paradoxically assented to Rosenmüller's opinion that they were shrines dedicated to the worship of the stars. Kimchi, under the root חמן, mentions a conjecture that they were trees like the Asherim, but (s.v. חמם) elsewhere expresses his own belief that the Nun is epenthetic, and that they were so called because the sun-worshippers made them. Aben-Ezra (on Lev_26:30) says they were houses made for worshipping the sun, which Bochart approves (Canaan, ii, 17), and Jarchi that they were a kind of idol placed on the roofs of houses. Vossius (De Idol. 2, 353), as Scaliger before him, connects the word with Amanus or Omanus, the sacred fire, the symbol of the Persian sun-god, and renders it pyraea (comp. Selden, ii, 8). Adelung (Mithrid. 1, 159, quoted by Gesenius on Isa_17:8) suggested the same, and compared it with the Sanscrit homa. But to such interpretations the passage in 2Ch_34:4 is inimical (Vitringa on Isa_17:8). Gesenius's own opinion appears to have fluctuated considerably. In his notes on Isaiah (I. c.) he prefers the general rendering columns to the more definite one of sun-columns, and is inclined to look to a Persian origin for the derivation of the word. But in his Thesaurus he mentions the occurrence of Chainman as a synonym of Baal in the Phoenician and Palmyrene inscriptions in the sense of Dominus Solaris, and it's after application to the statues or columns erected for his worship. Spencer (De Legg. Hebr. 2, 25), and after him Michaelis (Suppl. ad Lex. Hebr. s.v.), maintained that it signified statues or lofty columns, like the pyramids or obelisks of Egypt. Movers (Phon. 1, 441) concludes with good reason that the sun-god Baal and the idol Chamman are not essentially different. In his discussion of Chammanim he says, These images of the fire-god were placed on foreign or non-Israelitish altars, in conjunction with the symbols of the nature-goddess Asherah, or σύμβωμοι (2Ch_14:3; 2Ch_14:5; 2Ch_34:4; 2Ch_34:7; Isa_17:9; Isa_27:9), as was otherwise usual with Baal and Asherah. They are mentioned with the Asherim, and the latter are coupled with the statues of Baal (1Ki_14:23; 2Ki_23:14). The chammanim and statues are used promiscuously (compare 2Ki_23:14, and 2Ch_34:4; 2Ch_14:3; 2Ch_14:5), but are never spoken of together. Such are the steps by which he arrives at his conclusion. He is supported by the Palmyrene inscription at Oxford, alluded to above, which has been thus rendered: This column (חמנא, Chammaind), and this altar, the sons of Malchu, etc., have erected and dedicated to the sun. The Veneto-Greek Version leaves the word untranslated in the strange form ἀκάβαντες. From the expressions in Eze_6:4; Eze_6:6, and Lev_26:30, it may be inferred that these columns, which perhaps represented a rising flame of fire and stood upon the altar of Baal (2Ch_34:4), were of wood or stone. SEE ASHERAH.
15. מִשְׂכַּית, maskith', occurs in Lev_26:1; Numbers 23:52; Eze_8:12 : device, most nearly suits all passages (compare Psa_73:7; Pro_18:11; Pro_25:11). This word has been the fruitful cause of as much dispute as the preceding. The general opinion appears to be that אֶבֶן מsignifies a stone with figures graven upon it. Ben-Zeb explains it as a stone with figures or hieroglyphics carved upon it,' and so Michaelis; and it is maintained by Movers (Phon. 1, 105) that the baetylia, or columns with painted figures, the lapides effigiati of Minucius Felix (c. 3), are these stones of device, and that the characters engraven on them are the ἱερὰ στποχεῖα, or characters sacred to the several deities. The invention of these characters, which is ascribed to Taaut, he conjectures originated with the Seres. Gesenius explains it as a stone with the image of an idol, Baal or Astarte, and refers to his Mon. Poaen. p. 21-24, for others of a similar character. Rashi (on Lev_21:1) derives it from the root שׂכ,ִ to cover, because they cover the floor with a pavement of stones. The Targum and Syriac, Lev_26:1, give stone of devotion, and the former, in Num_33:52, has house of their devotion where the Syriac only renders their objects of devotion. For the former the Sept. has λίθος σκοπός, and for the latter τὰς σκοπιὰςαὐτῶν, connecting the word with the root שָׂכָה. to look, a circumstance which has induced Saalschuitz (Mos. Recht, p. 382-385) to conjecture that eben maskith was originally a smooth elevated stone employed for the purpose of obtaining from it a freer prospect, and of offering prayer in prostration upon it to the deities of heaven. Hence, generally, he concludes it signifies a stone of prayer or devotion, and the chambers of imagery of Eze_8:7 are chambers of devotion. The renderings of the last mentioned passage in the Sept. and Targum are curious as pointing to a various reading, מְשֻׂכָּתוֹ, or, more probably, מַשְׁכָּבוֹ. SEE IMAGERY.
16. תְּרָפַים, teradphim'. SEE TERAPHIR
(2.) The terms which follow have regard to the material and workmanship of the idol rather than to its character as an object of worship.
17. פָּסֶל, pe'sel, usually translated in the Authorized Version graven or carved image. In two passages it is ambiguously rendered quarries (Jdg_3:19; Jdg_3:26), after the Targum, but there seems to be no reason for departing from the ordinary signification. In the majority of instances the Sept. has γλυπτόν, once γλύμμα. The verb is employed to denote the finishing which the stone received at the hands of the masons after it had been rough-hewn from the quarries (Exo_34:4; 1 Kings 5:32). It is probably a later usage which has applied pesel to a figure cast in metal, as in Isa_40:19; Isa_44:10. (More probably still, pesel denotes by anticipation the molten image in a later stage, after it had been trimmed into shape by the caster.) These sculptured images were apparently of wood, iron, or stone, covered with gold or silver (Deu_7:25; Isa_30:22; Hab_2:19), the more costly being of solid metal (Isa_40:19). They could be burned (Deu_7:5; Isa_45:20; 2Ch_34:4), or cut down (Deu_12:3) and pounded (2Ch_34:7), or broken in pieces (Isa_21:9), In making them, the skill of the wise iron-smith (Deu_27:15; Isa_40:20) or carpenter, and of the goldsmith, was employed (Jdg_17:3-4; Isa_41:7), the former supplying the rough mass of iron beaten into shape on his anvil (Isa_44:12), while the latter overlaid it with plates of gold and silver, probably from Tarshish (Jer_10:9), and decorated it with silver chains. The image thus formed received the further adornment of embroidered robes (Eze_16:18), to which possibly allusion may be made in Isa_3:19. Brass and clay were among the materials employed for the same purpose (Dan_2:33; Dan_5:23). (Images of glazed pottery have been found in Egypt [Wilkinson, Anc. Eg. 3, 90: comp. Wis_15:8].) A description of the three great images of Babylon on the top of the temple of Belus will be found in Diod. Sic. 2, 9 (compare Layard, Nin. 2. 433). The several stages of the process by which the metal or wood became the graven image are so vividly described in Isa_44:10-20, that it is only necessary to refer to that passage, and we are at once introduced to the mysteries of idol manufacture, which, as at Ephesus, brought no small gain unto the craftsmen. SEE SHRINE.
18. נְסֶךְ or נֵסֶךְ, n'sek, and מִסֵּכָה, massekah', are evidently synonymous (Isa_41:29; Isa_48:5; Jer_10:14) in later Hebrew, and denote a molten image. Massekah is frequently used in distinction from pesel or pesilim (Deu_27:15; Jdg_17:3, etc.). The golden calf, which Aaron made, was fashioned with the graver (חֶרֶט, cheret), but it is not quite clear for what purpose the graver was used (Exo_32:4). The cheret (comp. χαράττω) appears to have been a sharp-pointed instrument, used like the stylus for a writing implement (Isa_8:1). Whether then Aaron, by the help of the cheret, gave to the molten mass the shape of a calf, or whether he made use of the graver for the purpose of carving hieroglyphics upon it, has been thought doubtful. The Syr. has tuipso (τύπος), the mould, for cheret. But the expression וִיָּצָר, vay- yatsar, decides that it was by the cheret, in whatever manner employed, that the shape of a calf was given to the metal. SEE MOLTEN.
(3.) In the New Test. the Greek of idol is εἴδωλον, which exactly corresponds with it. In one passage εἰκών is the image or head of the emperor on the coinage (Mat_22:20). SEE ALISGEMA. II. Actual Forms of Idols. Among the earliest objects of worship, regarded as symbols of deity, were the meteoric stones which the ancients believed to have been the images of the gods sent down from heaven. SEE DIANA. From these they transferred their regard to rough unhewn blocks, to stone columns or pillars of wood, in which the divinity worshipped was supposed to dwell, and which were consecrated, like the sacred stone at Delphi, by being anointed with oil, and crowned with wool on solemn days (Pausan. Phoc. 24, § 6). Tavernier (quoted by Rosenmüller, At. and Al Morgenland, 1, § 89) mentions a black stone in the pagoda of Benares which was daily anointed with perfumed oil, and such are the Lingams in daily use in the Siva worship of India (compare Armobius, 1, 30; Min. Felix, c. 3). Such customs are remarkable illustrations of the solemn consecration by Jacob of the stone at Bethel, as showing the religious reverence with which these memorials were regarded. Not only were single stones thus honored, but heaps of stone were, in later times at least, considered as sacred to Hermes (Homer,. Od. 16, 471; comp. the Vulg. at Pro_26:8, Sicut qui mittit lapidem in acervum Mercurii), and to these each passing traveler contributed his offering (Crezer, Symb. 1, 24). The heap of stones which Laban erected to commemorate the solemn compact between himself and Jacob, and on which he invoked the gods of his fathers, is an instance of the intermediate stage in which such heaps were associated with religious observances before they became objects of worship. Jacob, for his part, dedicated a single stone as his memorial, and called Jehovah to witness, thus holding himself aloof from the rites employed by Laban, which may have partaken of his ancestral idolatry. SEE JEGAR-SAIADUTHA.
Of the forms assumed by the idolatrous images we have not many traces in the Bible. Dagon, the fish-god of the Philistines, was a human figure terminating in a fish SEE DAGON; and that the Syrian deities were represented in later times in a symbolical human shape we know for certainty. SEE NISROCH.
The Hebrews imitated their neighbors in this respect as in others (Isa_44:13; Wis_13:13), and from various allusions we may infer that idols in human forms were not uncommon among them, though they were more anciently symbolized by animals (Wis_13:14), as by the calves of Aaron and Jeroboam, and the brazen serpent which was afterwards applied to idolatrous uses (2Ki_18:4; Rom_1:23). When the image came from the hands of the maker it was decorated richly with silver and gold, and sometimes crowned (Epist. Jeremiah 9), clad in robes of blue and purple (Jer_10:9), like the draped images of Pallas and Hera (Muller, Hand. dl. Arch. d. Kunst, § 69), and fastened in the niche appropriated to it by means of chains and nails (Wis_13:15), in order that the influence of the deity which it represented might be secured to the spot. So the Ephesians, when besieged by Croesus, connected the wall of their city by means of a rope to the temple of Aphrodite, with a view to insuring the aid of the goddess (Herod. 1, 26); and for a similar object the Tyrians chained the stone image of Apollo to the altar of Hercules (Curt. 4:3, § 15). Some images were painted red (Wis_13:14), like those of Dionysus and the Bacchantes, of Hermes, and the god Pan (Pausan. 2, 2, § 5; Muller, u. and. d. Arch. d. Kunst, § 69). This color was formerly considered sacred. Pliny relates, on the authority of Verrius, that it was customary on festival days to color with red lead the face of the image of Jupiter, and the bodies of those who celebrated a triumph (33:36). The figures of Priapus, the god of gardens, were decorated in the same manner (ruber custos, Tibull. 1, 1, 18). Among the objects of worship enumerated by Arnobius (1, 39) are bones of elephants, pictures, and garlands suspended on trees, the rami coronati of Apuleius (de Mag. c. 56).
When the process of adorning the image was completed, it was placed in a temple or shrine appointed for it (οἰκία, Epist. Jeremiah 12, 19; οἴκημα, Wis_13:15; εἰδωλεῖον, 1Co_8:10; see Stanley's note on the latter passage). In Wis_13:15, οἴκημα is thought to be used contemptuously, as in Tibull. 1, 10, 19, 20, Cum paupere cultu Stabat in exigua ligneus cede deus (Fritsche and Grimm, Handb.), but the passage quoted is by no means a good illustration. From these temples the idols were sometimes carried in procession (Epist. Jeremiah 4, 26) on festival days. Their priests were maintained from the idol treasury, and feasted upon the meats which were appointed for the idols use (Bel and the Dragon, 3, 13). These sacrificial feasts formed an important part of the idolatrous ritual, and were a great stumbling block to the early Christian converts. They were to the heathen, as Prof. Stanley has well observed, what the observance of circumcision and the Mosaic ritual were to the Jewish converts, and it was for this reason that Paul especially directed his attention to the subject, and laid down the rules of conduct contained in his first letter to the Corinthians (8-10). SEE IDOLATRY.
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