On the whole, we can hardly be said to possess the data for deciding this controverted question with confidence. There is, however, a decided probabUity that, at least in Jg 8'^, the term ' ephod ' is used of the gold casing of an oracular image. And if it has this nieanin;,' (in addition to that of a priestly linen waistcoit) in one passage, the presumption against its having the same second meaning in other passages is lessened, though, naturally, it is not proved that it has it actually.
The opinion that l^SN denotes a plated image is adopted by Oes. (for Jg 8. 17 f., Hos 8) ; Studer, Coinm. on Jud. (for Jg 8 only) ; Stade, GmcA. 4ti8 (for Jg 8. 17, 1 S 21i' : with reijard to the * ephod * in which the sacred lots were kept, he merely says, p. 471 oottom, that it is disputed whether it was an ima^'e, or the priestly vestment); cf. (for Jg 8) Ewald, AU.» 298 n. : generally for these and the other passages named (sometimes with the exception of 1 8 2«) by Vatke, l.e. (except 1 S 143), Wellh. I.e.; Reusa, Oetch. d. Ueit. Sctir. AT.ti, {J 102, 139;
• Smend, Nowack, and Benzinper explain the identity of name by the conjecture that originally the body of the image was dressed in an 'ephod 'of linen, wiiich was afterwards replaced by one of precious metal, while the ephod of linen became the priest's garment, and think consistently that 'bear the linen ephod ' in 1 S 22*8 is a survival from the time in which the expression was applied, as they consider it still is in 1 S 14^ 18 lAX, to carryinjj the oracular image. LXX omits * linen ' in 1 8 2218 ; but this does not seem to be ri^'ht : as said above (No 3), the ephod of 22^8 appears (upon grounfls independent of the word ' linen ') to have denoted something different from the epho<l of 143- '» LXX, 236- 9 SO".
t Whether this was the same ephod as that which was brougbl afterwards from Nob by Abiathar to David (238 e 307), is uncer tain; (or in 23i> both MT and LXX have 'on ephod' (not ' tlu ephod ').
EPHOD
EPHRAIM
721
Knenen, Bibb. Led. 82 ('probablv'): K»utzsch In Herzog's PHK', ivi. (1885), 229; Budde, Jiic/it. u. Sam. 116 1. ; KitMl, OmcA. U. ITln. ; Smend, AT Ufl.-Hetch. 41 ; Nowack, Arch. ii. n(. ; Bcnzinger, Arch. 382; c(. W. B. Smith, OWCa 241 ; O. A. Sn.ilh, rA<! J/y PropA. 23, 38; DiUm. AT Theol. 136, 163. See further Moore. Judga, 232, 379, 381, who adopts the same view without hesitation for Jg 8, and seems to prefer it for some of ttie other passages, but allows that they do not ' impermtively ' require it, and that ' all that can with certainty be ^thered from them is that the ephod was a portable object which was employed or manipulat«u by the priest in consulting the oracle ' (p. 379). It has been opposed by Thenius on 1 S 211*^ ; Bertheau. lixchUr^, 1G4 ; Nowack on Hos 3* (in his Comm. of 18S0) ; Riehm, HWB, a.v. ; and especially by Konig, Uaupt- Tproblemt, 59-63 (who does not, however, appear to maintain more than that the view is not * undoubtedly ' correct).
The etymology of i^sx is too uncertain to throw light on the meaning of the word. The Heb. verb i5« (Ex 29*, Lv 8') seems to be a denominative. Lagarde {Bildung der JVoin. 178 ; Mittheil. iv. 17) derived tdx from the root preserved in the Arab. wnfnda, to came as an envoy (to a ruler, etc.), supposing that e/(Aorf= ' approach ' was abbreviated for ' (garment of) approach («c. to God),' and comparing Syr. pedtka (which would be another derivative of the same root), a long robe (oft. in Pesh. for i^bk). But this etymology, though ingenious, cannot claim to be more than a con- jecture. In usage, the word was probably felt to denote something closely surrounding or enciLiing.
S. R. Driver.
EPHOD (itK).— Father of Hanniel, Manas.seh's representative ifor dividing the land (Nu 34'''' P).
EPHPHATHA.— The word spoken by onr Lord (ace. to St. Mark, 7''*) to a deaf and dumb man brought to Him on His return through Decapolis to the Sea of Galilee. It is the Ithpeel (or Ethpa'al) imperat. of an Aram, verb meaning ' to open ' — the n of the prefix being assimilated to the foil. consonant ; but as respects philological details the specialists are not agreed (see Dalman, Gram, des j'iidisch- paldst. Aratmiisch, p. 222 n.). The evangelist in- terprets it in Greek by the 2 pers. sing. 1 aor. pass, impv. ' Be (thou) opened.' Tlie word was used in the Western rites of baptism (cf. Ambr. de Myst. 3).
J. H. Thayer.
EPHRAIM (cncK). — The name of a patriarch and tribe in l.srael. E. was the second son of Joseph and Asenalh, the daughter of I'otipliera, priest of On, and was bom in Egypt (Gn 41'""'). He was adopted, along with his elder brother Manasseh, by Jacob, who thus gave his favourite son Joseph two tribes among his descendants. At the cere- mony of adoption (Gn 48'"') Jacob, in spite of Joseph's resistance, reversed the order of birth, gave E. the precedence over Manasseh, and prophe- sied that the younger should be the greater. In Jacob's testament (Gn 49) E. and M. are included nnder the name of Joseph, their future fortunes being conjoined. The tribe of E. is said (Nu 1") to have, at the Exodus, contributed 40,500 men to tbe army of Israel, a number reduced, presumably >/y war and privations, to 32,500 at the dose of the wanilcrings in the desert (Nu 26^). The value of thewi ligures may be estimated by the fact that during ilie same period the warriors of Manasseh increa-sed from 32,200 to 52,700 (Nu 1» 20*^).