Boyd’s Bible Dictionary:
(images). Little images kept in Eastern households for private consultation and worship. This species of idolatry or superstition was in favor with Hebrews, though often denounced (Gen. 31:19,34-35; Judg. 18:17; 1 Sam. 15:23; 19:13,16; 2 Kings 23:24; Hos. 3:4; Zech. 10:2).
“Idolatry” From Concise Bible Dictionary:
The worship of idols—a sin which is mentioned as committed after the flood. There seems to have been a universal giving up of the knowledge of the true God. Paul, speaking of men, says that when they knew God, they glorified Him not as God, they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, notwithstanding that what may be known of God in nature, His eternal power and Godhead, was manifested to them. They degraded the worship of the true God everywhere, and idolatry became universal. In this, man had no excuse. Images were made like corruptible man, and birds, and four-footed beasts, and creeping things (Rom. 1:20-23). From this state Abram was rescued by the God of glory appearing to him. Scripture shows the folly of a man cutting down a tree, and burning part of it to cook his food and to warm himself, and yet making a god of the rest, and worshipping it (Isa. 44:14-17); and yet Israel, to whom God had revealed Himself, not only as Creator but in redemption, adopted these wicked follies. There were also molten images and images of stone.
Imaginary creatures were regarded as gods, and these were feared and propitiated. Some believed in a fetish of good and a fetish of evil. Others had an elaborate system of mythology, as the Greeks, with husbands and wives and sons and daughters of the gods and goddesses. Man himself was exalted by some into a god, as with the Greeks and the Romans.
In Israel at first there might have been the thought that the idol was only a representative of God, just as the Egyptians professed to have representations of their unseen gods. When the golden calf was made Aaron built an altar before it, and said, “Tomorrow is a feast to Jehovah”; but the people said, “These be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt” (Ex. 32:4-5). Yet they had been commanded to make no graven image, because they saw no similitude when God spake to them at Horeb. This species of idolatry is seen further developed in the case of Micah, who had a house of gods. See MICAH.
The secret of all the abominations in idolatry is, that Satan is the grand mover of it. To Israel it was said that they were no more to offer sacrifices unto demons (Lev. 17:7). They “sacrificed their sons and their daughters unto demons” (Psa. 106:37). They made their children pass through the fire to Molech (2 Kings 23:10; Ezek. 23:37,39); “slaying the children in the valleys under the clifts of the rocks” (Isa. 57:5).
As to the sacrificing being to demons, the same thing is said of the idolatry at Corinth, with its Grecian mythology (1 Cor. 10:20). Satan being the real promoter of it all, he knows how to lead a poor unintelligent heathen to be satisfied with an imaginary fetish; the Greeks and Romans to be pleased with their stately statues; and the Brahmins and Hindus to pride themselves in their superior and refined mysticism. Satan has also succeeded in introducing into the professing church the worship of the Virgin Mary and of the saints. To this must be added another species of idolatry to which Christians are sometimes enticed, namely, that of letting anything but Christ have the first place in the heart; for in Him God is revealed, He “is the image of the invisible God”—“He is the true God.” “Little children, keep yourselves from idols” (1 John 5:21). The word εἴδωλον is from εῖδος, “that which is seen,” and covetousness is specially characterized as idolatry (Col. 3:5).
“Teraphim” From Concise Bible Dictionary:
This is a Hebrew word in the plural. It refers to domestic idols, as for instance those Rachel stole from her father; there the word, as elsewhere, is translated “images,” with “teraphim” in the margin (Gen. 31:19, 34-35). Michal the wife of David had one in her house, and laid it in the bed when David escaped (1 Sam. 19:13, 16). Micah also had them in his house, and regarded them as “gods” (Judg. 17:5; Judg. 18:14-20). They were used in some way for divination, and are included among the images and idols which Josiah cleared from the land (2 Kings 23:24; Ezek. 21:21; Zech. 10:2). In Hosea 3:4 the Jews are described as having neither king, nor prince, nor sacrifice, nor image, nor ephod, nor teraphim—as they are at this day bereft of their sacrifices, and without even the divination and false gods they once had. But the prophecy speaks also of a coming day when they will seek Jehovah their God, and David their king, and enter into blessing.
Strong’s Dictionary of Hebrew Words:
Transliteration:
traphiym
Meaning:
plural from 7495; a healer; Teraphim (singular or plural) a family idol
KJV Usage:
idols(-atry), images, teraphim
Jackson’s Dictionary of Scripture Proper Names:
idols (literally enfeeblers, or healers)
From Manners and Customs of the Bible:
Genesis 31:19. Rachel had stolen the images that were her father’s.
These “images” (teraphim) are supposed to have been rude representations of the human form; perhaps the statuettes of deceased ancestors. Nothing definite is known as to their size. They could not have been very large, or Rachel would not have been able to conceal them under the baggage; nor could they have been very small, or they would not have served Michal’s purpose of deception. See 1 Samuel 19:13,16. They may have been of different sizes. Their use is very ancient; the Israelites adopted them from the Ara-means. They were household gods which were consulted as oracles. Micah the Ephraimite placed them in his “house of gods” (Judg. 17:5; 18:14,17-18,20).
Some Jewish writers believe that the teraphim were supposed, on consultation, to be able to give any information desired, and that Rachel stole them from her father for fear he should learn, by consulting them, what route Jacob and his family had taken. Whether or not the teraphim were actually worshiped is a disputed question. The Hebrews certainly kept up the worship of Jehovah in connection with the use of the teraphim. It was not until the reign of Josiah that this singular custom was abolished (2 Kings 23:24). We even find traces of it afterward as late as the time of Hosea (Hosea 3:4). The practice became deeply rooted, and extended over large regions of country. The Laers and Penates of the Romans are supposed to have been used for the same purposes as these teraphim. “The Penates were divinities or household gods, who were believed to be the creators or dispensers of all the well-being and gifts of fortune enjoyed by a family, as well as an entire community.” “Every family worshiped one or more of these, whose images were kept in the inner part of the house.” The Laers were “guardian spirits whose place was the chimney-piece, and whose altar was the domestic hearth.” Laers and Penates were worshiped “in the form of little figures or images of wax, earthenware, or terra cotta, and of metal, more especially silver” (Barker's Laves and Penates, pp. 146-147).
Faber supposes the teraphim to be identical with the cherubim. He thinks that those which belonged to Laban were images resembling the cherubim which were afterward put on the ark (Origin of Pagan Idolatry, vol. 3, p. 621).