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Easton's Bible Dictionary
(1) Hebrew Aven,
"nothingness;" "vanity" ( Isaiah
66:3 ; 41:29
; Deuteronomy
32:21 ; 1
Kings 16:13 ; Psalms
31:6 ; Jeremiah
8:19 , etc.).
(2) 'Elil,
"a thing of naught" ( Psalms
97:7 ; Isaiah
19:3 ); a word of contempt, used of the gods of Noph ( Ezekiel
30:13 ).
(3) 'Emah,
"terror," in allusion to the hideous form of idols ( Jeremiah
50:38 ).
(4) Miphletzeth,
"a fright;" "horror" ( 1
Kings 15:13 ; 2
Chronicles 15:16 ).
(5) Bosheth,
"shame;" "shameful thing" ( Jeremiah
11:13 ; Hosea
9:10 ); as characterizing the obscenity of the worship of Baal.
(6) Gillulim,
also a word of contempt, "dung;" "refuse" ( Ezekiel
16:36 ; 20:8
; Deuteronomy
29:17 , marg.).
(7) Shikkuts,
"filth;" "impurity" ( Ezekiel
37:23 ; Nahum
3:6 ).
(8) Semel,
"likeness;" "a carved image" ( Deuteronomy
4:16 ).
(9) Tselem,
"a shadow" ( Daniel
3:1 ; 1
Samuel 6:5 ), as distinguished from the "likeness," or the exact counterpart.
(10) Temunah,
"similitude" ( Deuteronomy
4:12 - 19
). Here Moses forbids the several forms of Gentile idolatry.
(11) 'Atsab,
"a figure;" from the root "to fashion," "to labour;" denoting that idols are the
result of man's labour ( Isaiah
48:5 ; Psalms
139:24 , "wicked way;" literally, as some translate, "way of an idol").
(12) Tsir,
"a form;" "shape" ( Isaiah
45:16 ).
(13) Matztzebah,
a "statue" set up ( Jeremiah
43:13 ); a memorial stone like that erected by Jacob ( Genesis
28:18 ; 31:45
; 35:14
, 35:20
), by ( Joshua
4:9 ), and by Samuel ( 1
Samuel 7:12 ). It is the name given to the statues of Baal ( 2
Kings 3:2 ; 10:27
).
(14) Hammanim,
"sun-images." Hamman is a synonym of Baal, the sun-god
of the Phoenicians ( 2
Chronicles 34:4 , 34:7
; 14:3
, 14:5
; Isaiah
17:8 ).
(15) Maskith,
"device" ( Leviticus
26:1 ; Numbers
33:52 ). In Leviticus
26:1 , the words "image of stone" (A.V.) denote "a stone or cippus with the
image of an idol, as Baal, Astarte, etc." In Ezekiel
8:12 , "chambers of imagery" (maskith), are "chambers of which the walls are
painted with the figures of idols;" Compare ver. 10,11.
(16) Pesel,
"a graven" or "carved image" ( Isaiah
44:10 - 20
). It denotes also a figure cast in metal ( Deuteronomy
7:25 ; 27:15
; Isaiah
40:19 ; 44:10
).
(17) Massekah,
"a molten image" ( Deuteronomy
9:12 ; Judges
17:3 ,
17:4 ).
(18) Teraphim, pl.,
"images," family gods (penates) worshipped by Abram's
kindred ( Joshua
24:14 ). Put by Michal in David's bed ( Judges
17:5 ;
18:14 , 18:17
, 18:18
, 18:20
; 1
Samuel 19:13 ).
"Nothing can be more instructive and significant
than this multiplicity and variety of words designating the instruments and inventions
of idolatry."
Hitchcock's Dictionary of Bible Names
(no entry)
Smith's Bible Dictionary
An image or anything used as an object of worship
in place of the true God. Among the earliest objects of worship, regarded as symbols
of deity, were the meteoric stones,which the ancients believed to have been images
of the Gods sent down from heaven. From these they transferred their regard to
rough unhewn blocks, to stone columns or pillars of wood, in which the divinity
worshipped was supposed to dwell, and which were connected, like the sacred stone
at Delphi, by being anointed with oil and crowned with wool on solemn days.
Of the forms assumed by the idolatrous images we
have not many traces in the Bible. Dagon, the fish-god of the Philistines, was
a human figure terminating in a fish; and that the Syrian deities were represented
in later times in a symbolical human shape we know for certainty. When the process
of adorning the image was completed, it was placed in a temple or shrine appointed
for it. Epist. ( Jeremiah 12:1 ; 19:1 ) ... Wisd. 13:15; ( 1 Corinthians 8:10
) From these temples the idols were sometimes carried in procession, Epist. (
Jeremiah 4:26 ) on festival days. Their priests were maintained from the idol
treasury, and feasted upon the meats which were appointed for the idols use. Bel
and the Dragon 3, 13.
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
(no entry)
Tags:
bible commentary, bible history, bible reference, bible study, define, idols, list of idols in the bible, object of worship
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