(ii.) General terms of hioicn signification. — 3. ''IN, a're«, rendered elsewhere "nought," "vanity," "iniqui- ty," "wickedness," " sorrow," etc., and only once "idol" (Isa. Ixvi, 3). The primary idea of the root seems to be emptituss, 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, sor- row and trouble. Hence dven denotes a vain, false, wicked thing, and expresses at once the essential natiu-e ■ of idols, and the consequences of their worship. The character of the word may be learnt from its associates. It stands in parallelism with 02X, e'phes (Isa. xli, 29), which, after undergoing various modifications, comes at length to signify "nothing ;" with bstl, he'bei, "breatli" or " vapor," itself applied as a term of contempt to the objects of idolatrous reverence (Deut. xxxii, 21 ; 1 Kings xvi, 13; Psa. xxxi, 6; Jer. viii, 19; x, 8); with XVi^ shav, "nothingness," "vanity;" and with ^'p^,sheker •■ falsehood" (Zech. x, 2) : all indicating the utter worth-
lessness of the idols to whom homage was paid, and the false and delusive nature of their worship. It is em- jjloyed in an abstract sense, to denote idolatry in gen- eral, in 1 Sam. xv, 23. There is much significance in the change of name from Bethel to Beth-aven, the great centre of idolatry in Israel (Hos. iv, 15). See Beth- aven.
4, "j'^p'^IJ, shikkuts', "filth," "impurity," especially ap- plied, like the cognate VJ^'^, she'kets, to that which produced ceremonial uncleanness (Ezek. xxxvii, 23; Nah. iii, 6), such as food offered in sacrifice to idols (Zech. ix, 7 ; comp. Acts xv, 20, 29). As referring to the idols themselves, it primarily denotes the obscene rites with which their worship was associated, and hence, by metonj-my, is applied both to the objects of worship and also to their worshippers, Avho partook of the impurity, and thus "became loathsome like their love," the foul Baal-Peor (Hos. ix, 10). See Abojiina-
TIOX.
5. In the same connection must be noticed, though not actually rendered " image" or " idol," H^'S, hu'sheth, "shame," or "shameful thing" (A.V. Jer. xi, 13; Hos. ix, 10), applied to Baal or Baal-Peor, as characterizing the obscenity of his worship. See Baal-peor.
G. il'w'^X, eymdh', " horror" or " terror," and hence an object of horror or terror (Jer. 1, 38), in reference either to the hiileousness of the idols or to the gross character of their worship. In this respect it is closely connected with —
7. r^bS'a, miphle'tseth, a "fright," "horror," applied to the itlol of Maachah, probably of wood, which Asa cut down and burned (1 Kings xv, 13 ; 2 Chron. xv, 16), and which was unquestionably the Phallus, the symbol of the productive power of nature (Movers, Phon. i, 571 ; Selden, de Dis Syr. ii, 5), and the nature-goddess Ashe- ra. Allusion is supposed to be made to this in Jer. x, 5, and Epist. of Jer. 70. In 2 Chron. xv, 16 the Yulg. render " simulacrum Priapi" (comp. Horace, " furum avi- umque maxima ybnHif/o"). The Sept. had a different reading, which it is not easy to determine. They trans- late, in 1 Kings xv, 13, the same word both by awocoQ (with which corresponds the Sj-riac 'ido, "a festival," reading, perhaps, H'HiJS', 'atsereth, as in 2 Kings x, 20 ; Jer. ix, 2) and Ko-aSvaitc, while in Chronicles it is t'iSwXov. Possibly in 1 Kings xv, 13 they may have read ^^1^73, metsulldthdh, for PT!n:J3Sr, miphlatstdh, as the Yulg. specum, of Avhich "simulacrum turpissi- mum" 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 worship- ped through them.
(i.) Terms indicating the Jbrni of idols. — 8. ?^G or bpD, se'mel, with which Gesenius compares as cognate b'lL^ri. mdshdl, and db^, tselem; the Lat. similis and Gr. oficiKvQ, signifies a "likeness," "semblance." The Tar- gum in Deut. iv, 16 gives X'n^U, tsw-d, "figure," as the eqiuvalent, while in Ezek. viii, 3, 5 it is rendered by Dp:i, tselam, "image." In the latter passages the Syr- iac has koimto, " a statue" (the (TrijXij of the Septuaguit), which more properly corresponds to mutstsehdh (see No. 13, below) ; and in Deut. (jenes, "kind" ( = yf roc). The passage in 2 Chron. xxxiii, 7 is rendered " images of four faces," the latter words representing the one under consideration. In 2 Chron. xxxiii, 15 it appears as "carved images," following the Sept. to yKvTrrov. On the whole, the Gr. ti'KoJv of Deut. iv, 16 ; 2 Chron. xxxiii, 7, and the " simulacrum" of the Yulg. (2 Chron. xxxiii, 15) most nearly resemble the Heb. scmel. See Carved.
9. dba, tse'lem (Chald. id. and tbs, tselam'), is by all lexicographers, ancient and modern, connected with bs, isel, " a shadow." It is the " image" of God in which man was created (Gen. i, 27 ; comp. Wisd. ii, 23), distin-
IDOL
469
IDOL
guished from I^siis'n, demuth, or "likeness," as the "im- age" from the " idea" which it represents (Schmidt, Be Jmaff. Dei in Horn. p. 84), though it would be rash to insist upon this distinction. In tlie N. T. eikuiv ap- pears to represent the latter (Col. iii, 10 ; compare tlie Sept. at Gen, v, 1), as onoUona the former of the two words (Rom. i, 23; viii, 29; Phil, ii, 7), but in Heb. x, 1, ttKiov is opposed to VKia as the substance to the mi- substantial form, of which it is the perfect representa- tive. The Sept. render demuth by ojttoi'wtnc, ofioiwi^a, tiicu)v, (i/toioe, and fsekiii most frequently by tiKO)}/, though o^o'niji.ia, dSojXov, and TVTro(j 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 (1 Sam. vi, 5 ; Numb, xxxiii, 52 ; Dan. iii, 1), such as the golden image of Nebuchadnezzar, as well as to those painted upon walls (Ezek. xxxiii, 1-1). " Image" perhaps most nearly represents it in all pas- sages. Applied to the human countenance (Dan. iii, 19), it signifies the "expression," and corresponds to the icia of Matt, xxviii, 3, though demuth agrees rather with W the Platonic usage of the latter word. See Graven.