THERAPHIM. — Latin transcription (Vulgate) of the Hebrew tērāphim in Iudc. 17, 5; 18, 14.17; Os. 3, 4, which occurs, variously translated, in a further ten passages.
It probably did not always designate the same thing; the ancient versions employ various terms, and even today opinions differ. The etymology of the name is unknown (grammatically, it may be a simple segolate noun tērāph, or a formation with the prefix ta-: it has been connected with rēphā-īm, Vulg. Gigantes, for example, Is. 14, 9). The names T., ’Urīm and Tummīm, Sanuērīm seem not to be plurals, but singulars with mimation: the presence of this phenomenon in the northwestern Semitic languages around 2100–1800 B.C. would also be demonstrated by proper names in which the older form ends in -m (in the Bible itself: Lefem in Jos. 19, 47 and Lajif).
In Gen. 31, 19.34.35 the t. are secretly carried away by Rachel when she sets out with Jacob from the house of Laban: they must have been small objects, since they could easily be concealed; they are commonly understood as “idols” (Vulg. idolo); the Chaldean tersāhiti (v. THARE) were in fact idolatrous in some way (Jos. 24,2; Iudt. 5, 5 ff.), although an actual cult offered to the t. is never attested. In Iudc. 17, 5; 18, 14.17.18.20 the t., ephod (v.) and a “cast image,” are “made” by a certain Micha, who establishes a “sanctuary” among the Ephraimites: the “image” probably represented Yahweh; the association of t. with ephod suggests that, rather than idols (the Vulgate transcribes the Hebrew three times and translates it as idol twice), they were an object used for divination. In a sententious saying of Samuel (I Sam. 15,23), it is associated with the terms “witchcraft, wickedness,” apparently in the sense of “idolatry” (as already in the Vulgate; but the text is somewhat uncertain); the semantic evolution is significant, as an indication of the judgment of prophetic orthodoxy at the beginning of the struggle against syncretism. In I Sam. 19, 13,16, a t. is placed in a bed, with goats’ hair at its head, to simulate a sick man: the context clearly supports the translation “dummy” (A. Vaccari), which must at least have had a life-sized head (bald); for these passages, figures (busts?) of ancestors have been proposed, together with an association with répâtim, manes: noteworthy is the singular use of a name that is plural in form. In II Reg. 23, 24, they are destroyed by Josiah along with the idols (Vulg.: figura idolorum); a similar association occurs in Os. 3,4. This was probably the evolution of the name and object among the common people.
