Worshipped or Despised; the Teraphim

Added: 02/16/2007

Once thought of as a god of sorts, the teraphim was often placed in the center of a house and treated as if it were a fine piece of China. Made in many sizes, but always in human form, the teraphim was thought to be the giver of a prosperous existence. These household icons were made to reflect a family's ancestors and were worshipped as an idol. With just one terphim per household, the idol was usually made of stone or metal.

The actual word "terphim" is said to mean "idol" in Hebrew or "disgraceful thing" or "disgraceful image" in Greek. The Bible speaks quite clearly about these household gods and throughout the stories of the Bible we are warned not to give heed to a false god of any image. Before Christianity became the universal religion back in the days before Christ, these lifeless artifacts were placed before priests while they taught and in the central gathering place of a family's home to be worshiped and prayed to. While many were said to be of the human image of an ancestor or someone to whom great respect was due, the teraphim could, on occasion be an actual head severed from the body of a relative. With eyes closed, the image was then thought to be concentrating upon every request of the house and also to be in reflection of past events in order to rearrange them to the house's benefit. Arms folded as if in prayer or stretched above the head as if to protect itself from something above, the teraphim could be in the image of a man or a woman; neither did gender matter in the protection or level of prosperity provided to a house.

Used primarily in Catholic churches of the early Romans, the teraphim of the Virgin Mary are still inexistence today and, consequently, still in Catholic churches today. Kept near rosary beads or crosses, the household gods, including the teraphim of Mary and of Jesus himself are said to be representative of these individuals, not just worshiped as cast carvings or stone busts designed to take their place. However, the rosary beads, the rosary crosses and the busts of the holy mother are often times unconsciously considered to be holy in themselves and therefore worshiped as such by thousands worldwide. Seen as a typical piece of furniture in any catholic home, it is not unusual to see.

These household gods are used to provide comfort, to provide advice and to be present to protect the house from harm, illness, and anything not related to prosperity. These idols were prayed to for health and for the health of others in the home, for peace and blessings in the way of money or wealth. (as in acquiring land or herd) If a house did not have the teraphim present, it was natural to experience distress and bad times. Early on, the teraphim was an acceptable form of representation of the holy one. Soon after Moses' sermon on the Mount, the teraphim were cast out of houses of the Israelites who feared (respected) the one true living God and those same people looked down on others who did not also follow this same example. It was then thought that if the teraphim was a god in the house that the family would suffer generations of unrest for NOT receiving the one true God. This would surely bring suffering, not prosperity upon the house in which it resided.

While graven images are still used today, they are typically reserved for garden decorations and as ornaments to be used for decoration, not worship. As articles of false worship, these carved stone images are rarely seen today.

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