When the tents are few in number, belonging to some small family or division, they are set in a circle ; the sheikh's tent is that to the right of the entrance. In larger camps the order varies. One visited by the jjresent writer contained upwards of 150 tents, and from a distance resembled a town of black-roofed houses, arranged in irregular streets. The sheikh's tent is distinguished from the others only by its greater size. It always faces the direction from which strangers are most likely to arrive.
The black tents of the nomads have flitted shadow-like over Syrian field and Arabian steppe from the dawn of human history. The ancient fathers of the Hebrew race dwell in tents (He 11" etc.). Their wealth consisted mainly in cattle. Tho tent, so easily portable, is by far the most convenient 'house' for the flock-master, who is ever on the move in search of fresh pasture. After the settlement in Palestine, those portions of the people who followed the herdsman's life continued to dwell in tents, e.g. those east of the Jordan who held the grazing lands towards the desert. This old form of life left its impress in the language of later times, e.g. I'D), where the root-idea is the pulling out of the tent-pegs. When the tent -life was long past, men still spoke of going home as going 'to their tents' (Jos 22'', 2 S 20', 1 K 12"). The tent and its appurtenances play a considerable part in sacred imagery. Fleeting life u like the shepherd's tent, here to-day, gone
718
TEPHON
TEREBINTH
to-morrow (Is 38'-). Wlien the cord gives way the tent collapses ; hence tlie tent-cord as a lij^'ure of the thread of life (Job 4-'). The secure city is a tent whose pegs cannot be plucked up, nor its cords broken (Is 33-"). Prosperous growth is jiicturtil as a lengthening of the cords and a strengtliening of the stakes (Is 54=). See also in NT 2 Co 5'- *, 2 P !'»■ ", Lk 1U».
On tent-making see, further, art. HAIR, vol. ii. p. 285", and I'AUL, vol. iii. p. 699'.
W. EwiNG.
TEPHON (r; Te^ti./ ; Thnpo ; Syr. Tephtis).— One of the towns in Jud^a f ortilied by Bacchides ( 1 Mac 9°"). Josephus gives the name as Tochoa (Toxod, Ant. XIII. 1. 3), which is suggestive of Tekoa ; but he always writes this place QcKuia, or Q^kuL Tephon was probably an old Tappuah ; but whether it was Tappuah 1 or 2, or Beth-tappuah, is uncertain. The occurrence of the name with Timnath and Pharathon suggests Tappuah 2. See Timnath.
C. W. Wilson.
TERAH (mn, Qippa and Gdpa).— The father of Abraham, Nahor, and Haran, Gn ll"-*^, 1 Ch P«, Lk 3". Along with his three sons he is said to have migrated from Ur of the Chaldees to ^arran, where he died. In Jos 24^ it is said that he ' served (nay) other gods,' a statement which gave rise to some fanciful Jewish hagqaduth about Terah as a maker of idols (see, e.g., Bereshith rabba, § 17, and cf. Bk. of Jubilees, chs. 11. 12). The question whether Terah is to be taken as a personal name is involved in the same uncertainty as arises in con- nexion with the names of all the patriarchs (see art. Abraham, and esp. art. Jacob, vol. ii. p. 533(1'.). Knobel compares the name with Tharrana, south of Edessa. W. R. Smith makes Terak = ' wild
goat ' as totem, comparing Syriac ].k>)Z, to which Frd. Delitzsch (Prolcqom. 80) adds Assvr. turdhu with same meaning [liut see ZDMG xl. [1886] 167 f. (where Nold. points out not only that pj5Z in the passage quoted is an error for the correct (jjOjZ, but also that the root is n-iK, of which in Heb. the K would not be readily elided) ; cf. Gray, HPN 110]. Jensen {ZA vi. 70, cf. Hittiter, 150 fl.) thinks it may be the name of a god, comparing the first syllable of N. Syrian or Hittite personal names, such as Tarhular, Tarhumazi, etc. (cf. Mez, Gesch. d. Stadt Hnrran, 23). ' Any of these explanations appears preferable to that suggested in Riehm, H\VB' 1478'', that the name is to be accounted for because Terah remained behind (late Heb. tarah, Aram, terah) in ^arran, while Abraham journeyed farther. J. A. Selbib.
TERAH (rrjn ; B TipaS, A QipaB).— One of the stations of the Israelites in the desert (Nu SS"-*). It comes between Tahath and Mithkah, and has not yet been identified.
TERAPHIM (o'?-;?).— The word is plural accord- ing to its form. But its derivation, the purpose of that which it denoted, and the method of its use, still present many obscurities. Several of the older Jewish commentators derive the word from l^iB toreph, which means ' foulness,' and especially pudendum ; but, if this is correct, it is plausible to suppose that this word, expressive of contempt, was substituted for and finally supplanted the original name, in which case that name is entirely lost (cf. n;-3 for Sy3). Among the numerous later derivations the one which most deserves consideration is that suggested by Schwally (Leben nach dem Tode, p. 36 n.), who connects the word with nn rdphah, a derivation which would bring it into contact with the riphd'im or ' shades ' of Is 14.