The priests of the false worship are sometimes desig- nated Chemarim, a word of Syriac origin, to which dif- ferent meanings have been assigned. It is applied to the non-Levitical priests who burnt incense on the high places (2 Kings xxiii, 5) as well as to the priests of the calves (Hos. x, 5) ; and the corresponding word is used in the Peshito (Judg. xviii, 30) of Jonathan and his descend- ants, priests to the tribe of Dan, and in the Targum of Onkelos (Gen. xlvii, 22) of the priests of Egypt. The Rabbis, followed by Gesenius, have derived it from a root signifying " to be black," and without anj^ author- ity assert that the name was given to idolatrous priests from the black vestments which they wore. But white was the distinctive color in the priestly garments of all nations from India to Gaul, and black was only worn when they sacrificed to the subterranean gods (Bithr, Symh. ii, 87, etc.). That a special dress was adopted by the Baal-worshippers, as well as by the false prophets (Zech. xiii, 4), is evident from 2 Kings x, 22 (where the rendering should be " the apparel") : the vestments were kept in an apartment -of the idol temple, under the charge probably, of one of the inferior priests. Micah's Levite was provided with appropriate robes (Judg. xvii, 11). The "foreign apparel" mentioned in Zeph. i, 8, doubtless refers to a similar dress, adopted by the Is- raelites in defiance of the sumptuary law in Numb, xv, 37-40. See CiiEjiAKur.
In addition to the priests, there were other persons intimatelv connected with idolatrous rites, and the im- purities from which they were inseparable. Both men and women consecrated themselves to the ser\'ice of idols: the former as Qid'ip, kedcshim, for which there is reason to believe the A.V. (Deut. xxiii, 17, etc.) has not given too harsh an equivalent ; the latter as rild'ip^ kedesfioth, who wove shrines for Astarte (2 Kings xxiii, 7), and resembled the tTaipai of Corinth, of whom Strabo (viii, 378) says there were more than a thousand
attached to the temple of Aphrodite. Egyptian pros- titutes consecrated themselves to Isis (Juvenal, vi, 489; ix, 22-24). The same class of women existed among the Phoenicians, Armenians, Lydians, and Babylonians (Herod, i, 93, 199 ; Strabo, xi, p. 532 ; Epist. of Jerem. ver. 43). They are distinguished from the public pros- titutes (Hos. iv, 14), and associated with the perform- ances of sacred rites, just as in Strabo (xii, p. 559) we find the two classes co-existing at Comana, the Corinth of Pontus, much frequented by pilgrims to the shrijie of Aplu-odite. The wealth thus obtamed flowed into the treasury -of the idol temple, and against such a prac- tice the injunction in Deut. xxiii, 18 is directed. Dr. Maitland, anxious to defend the moral character of Jew- ish women, has with much ingenuity attempted to show that a meaning f(jreign to their true sense has been at- tached to the words above mentioned ; and that, though closely associated with idolatrous services, they do not indicate such foul corruption {Essay on False Worship). But if, as Movers, with great appearance of probability, has conjectured (Phun. i, C79), the class of persons al- luded to was composed of foreigners, the Jewish women in this respect need no such advocacy. That such cus- toms existed among foreign nations there is abundant evidence to prove (Lucian, De Sijra Dea, c. 5) ; and from the juxtaposition of jjrostitution and the idola- trous rites against which the laws in Lev. xix are aim- ed, it is probable that, next to its immorality, one main reason why it was visited with such stringency was its connection with idolatry (compare 1 Cor, vi, 9). See Harlot.
But besides these accessories there were the ordinary rites of worship which idolatrous systems had in com- mon with the religion of the Hebrews. Offering bunit sacrifices to the idol gods (2 Kuigs v, 17), burning in- cense in their honor (1 Kings xi, 8), and bowing down in worship before their images (1 Kings xix, 18') were the chief parts of their ritual, and, from their verj' anal- ogy with the ceremonies of true worship, were more seductive than the grosser forms. Nothing can be stronger or more positive than the language in which these ceremonies were denounced by Hebrew law. Ev- ery detail of idol-worship was made the subject of a separate enactment, and many of the laws, :vhich in themselves seem trivial and almost absurd, receive from this point of view their true significance. We are told by Jlaimonides {Mor. Neb. c. 12) that the prohibitions against sowing a field with mingled seed, and wearing garments of mixed material, were directed against the practices of idolaters, who attributed a kind of magical influence to the mixture (Lev. xix, 19; Spencer, De Lcrj. Hehr. ii, 18). Such, too, were the precepts which forbade that the garments of the sexes should be inter- changed (Deut. xxiii, 5 ; Maimonidcs, De Idol, xii, 9). According to Macrobius {Sat. iii. 8), other Asiatics, when they sacrificed to their Venus, changed the dress of the sexes. The priests of Cybele appeared in women's clothes, and used to mutilate themselves (Creuzer, Symb. ii, 34, 42) : the same custom was observed " by the Ithy- phalli in the rites of Bacchus, and by the Athenians in their Ascophoria" (Young, Idol. Cor. in Rel. i, 105 ; comp. Lucian, De Dea Syra, c. 15). To preserve the Israel- ites from contamination, they were prohibited for three years after their conquest of Canaan from eating of the fruit-trees of the land, whose cultivation had been at- tended with magical rites (Lev. xix, 23). They were forbidden to '-round the corner of the head," and to " mar the comer of the beard" (Lev. xix, 27\ as the Arabians did in honor of their gods (Herod, iii, 8; iv, 175). Hence the phrase HNS "^^^iJp (literally), "shorn of the comer," is especially applied to idolaters (Jer. ix, 2G ; XXV, 23). Spencer (De Leg. Hehr. ii, 9, § 2) explains the law forbidding the offering of honey (Lev. ii, 11) as intended to oppose an idolatrous practice. Strabo de- scribes the Magi as offering in all their sacrifices liba- tions of oil mixed with honey and milk (xv, p. 733), Offerings in which honey was an ingredient were made