Certain usages are supposed to point to ancestor worship anion" the Hebrews. The teraphim, a term completely obscure, have usually been con- sidered household gods ; though liouseliold gods need not necessarily be images of ancestors. In one passage the teraphim appear in a house (1 S jgi3. 16) . j„ others they are represented as placed in temples (Jg 17° IS", Hos 3^). Laban calls them his 'gods ' (Gn 31'") ; that they were of human form or size can hardly be inferred from 1 S It). Teraphim are usually coupled with Ephod (wh. see), and in Israel were certainly used in consulting J" and gaining oracles from Him (Hos 3^), though their use is condemned (1 S \S^). Nebuchad- nezzar also used them to obtain an oracle from his gods (Ezk 212'). xhat the ' Elohim ' to which the servant was to be brought who desired to remain for ever with his master (Ex 21') was a family idol, X is wholly improbable from the con- text. The practice of cutting off the hair in mourning for the dead was probably a softening of the former more extravagant custom of tearing out the hair. § The practice seemed perfectly
. • Baethgcn, Beitriige, 11 £f. ; Buhl, Gaeh. der Edmniter, 47fl.
t Wellh., Reste-,i9.
t Schwallv. Lcben nach dem Tode. 37.
§ Wellli., '/(citfS, 182. Thepassage Jer415|iho»^<hat'outting one's flesh (Lv 1928, jer 16" 47'), whatever it originally meant was then merely a token of excessive grief. Of. Hos 71*
GOD
GOD
201
harmless to the propliets (Is 3=* 15', Mic 1"), tlioiifjh forbidden later (Dt 14', Lv 21") ; but the prohibition may repose on the feeling that the rile was characteristic of a relifjion alien to that <>i J." If Dt SO" mean that food was oU'ered to the dead, such an ottering was not of the nature of a sacrifice, but merely an expression of the feeling which the mourner strove to cherish that tlie departed were not dead, as appears from a multitude of passages in Arab, poetry. The mourner cried to the dead, ' Be not far ' ! though he had to answer himself, ' Nay, every one tliat is beneath the ground is far' ! (yama.sa, 373). When two friends visited the grave of tlieir comrade, and drinking each his cup of wine poured the third upon tiie grave, they only gave tlieir friend his share as if he were alive (IJam. 3!)S). There is no evidence that the dead were thought dangerous, and rtniiiring to be placated iiy ollerinL;s. The name ' Kloliim ' bestowed on the spectre of Samuel (1 S 2fi") is strange, but the single instance can hardly sutiice to prove that the dead in general were regarded as 'Elohim'; all other statements regarding the dead, the name rtphdim given to them, and tlie fact that the 'obs twittered and muttered and spoke low out of the jncand (Is 8" 29^), indicate that they were regarded <is anything but powerful ' gods.' *
Certain things, such as Jacob's vision at Bethel (Gn 28), and names like the ' Oak of Moreh ' ('the oracle,' Gn 12''), the 'Oak of tlie soothsayers' (Jg yF), have been thought remains of the animistic stage of religion still surviving in the historical period. Certainly, the names Baal 'lord,' Mclek Jlil/c, Milcum ' king,' al Lat ' the goddess,' all show that the stage of promiscuous or general animism, if it ever existed, had long been overpast by all the Shemitic peoples. But to primitive minds the difficulty of realizing a deity apart from a local abode or some form would be great, and it was natural to localize the gud in some fertile spot, grove or evergreen tree, or fountain of living water, where his beneficent operation was most perceptible. Why great or prominent blocks of stone should have been regarded as liis dwelling- place is more obscure. At a later period men perhaps invited the presence of the deity by erecting pillars, mazzchotli, or artificial trees, 'ashiiit, when the natural objects were not at hand. This difficulty of realizing a deity without abode and apart from some form e.xplains the use of images, jiarticularly when consulting him for an oracle, and it explains also the erection of a 'hou.se' fur the god. The difficulty wius felt all through the history of Israel : at the E.xodus (l-2x 32), in the time of the Judges (Jg' 8^- 17"), and much later (Is 2"), as it has been felt in large sections of the Christian Church. The Ark, to which the presence of J" was attached, relieved the dilliculty without representing J" under anj' form. Wlien a hou.se was built in which J" was present, the .-\rk lost its significance and disappeared. The Epliod, whatever it was [Ei'HOu], was used when an oracle was sought. In David's days its use was held legitimate (IS 21" 23"), afterwards it dis- appears from the legitimate eultus.
r'rom the Kxodus J"'s revelation of Himself was given, and men's tlioughts of Him suggested through the national history. He showed what He was in great deeds rather than declared it in words, lie was le.ss the God of nature than of human history. Even when He performed wonilers in nature it was nsually in connexion with the life of the people and for nioial ends, but in history His hi};lier ethical attributes and pur)ioses received direct illustration. Further, His operat ions being on tlie stage of Israel's