■i/;:,0%; H ■ ^ ft*" LIBRARY OF THF. University of California. GIKT OK \ Class THE EPHOD: ITS FORM AND USE. THEODORE CLINTON FOOTE. DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE BOARD OF UNIVERSITY STUDIES OF THE JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY IN CONFORMITY WITH THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY. Reprinted from the Journal of Biblical Literature, Vol. XXL, Part /., igo2. BALTIMORE. 1902. ,1^ \c- -0 yrj^ V THE EPHOD: ITS FORM AND USE. 1. INTRODUCTION. THE popular notion of the Hebrew 'ephodh is that of a long flow- ing garment, and is drawn in part, no doubt, from the descrip- tion in Ex. 28 and 39, but also very largely from pictorial Bibles, representing a high priest in a long robe, and from sacred prints of little Samuel in a neat white tunic not unlike the surplice of a modern choir boy. Learned commentators have set forth many widely divergent views concerning the ephod, which fall roughly into two classes. The first class presents a view, based upon Ex. 28 and 39, that the ephod was a garment, and never anything else.^ This is the opinion of all the old commentators. St. Jerome, Ep. ad Marcellain, writes : " There were two kinds of ephods : one, used solely by the high priest, which is the kind now generally referred to ; the other, of linen, used by minor priests and worn also by the Levites and even by laymen, when engaged in a sacred rite." The same view is emphatically stated by Thenius." The ephod is nowhere (not even in Hos. 3^) anything else than a shoulder gar- ment, as is shown also by the fact that all the Versions, in all passages where the word occurs (with the single exception of the unimportant Arabic translation of Jud. 8^"), either put the name itself, or garment, mantle and the like. 1 This view is advanced by ancient writers such as Josephus and Jerome, in the Middle Ages by Rashi, and since then by Bertheau, Braunius, Cassell, Dill- mann, Duff, Gesenius-Buhi, Keil, Kohler, Konig, Lotz, Maimonides, McClintock and Strong, Meyer, Riehm, J. Robertson, Thenius, and Zeller. 2 "Die Biicher Samuels" (in the Kgf. exeg. Handb.), 2d ed., Leipzig, 1864, new ed. by Lohr. I 2 JOURNAL OF BIBLICAL LITERATURE. An English view to the same effect is given in a recent book'"' by Professor Robertson, of Glasgow ; speaking of Gideon's ephod, he says : "Whatever was made, was a thing of magnificence, and implied costly surroundings ; but it is not, by all this, proved that ephod means an image. It may have been merely a coat of extraordinary magnificence, so heavy that it could stand alone, as we say ; it may have been placed upon an image ; but it was an ephod, and an ephod, so far as the usage of the language tells us, was a coat or covering." The second class of views concerning the ephod would make it in some places an image and in others a garment.* The citations are given somewhat at length because they are the most authoritative and recent critical opinions. Benzinger says ^ that Yahweh was very commonly represented by a bull, but almost more frequently the idol was what is called an ephod. It appears as the proper object of worship in the celebrated sanctua- ries of Dan (Jud. 17 and 1 8), Ophra (Jud. 8^*^), Nob (i Sa. 21^" 23*'). Of course it represented Yahweh. About its form we know nothing. From the name ephod ' covering, garment,' it may be concluded that it had a kernel of wood, clay, or cheap metal, and over it a mantle of gold or silver, often of great value. Its special significance lies in this, that it was inseparably connected with the sacred lot. The management of the ephod was, therefore, the affair of the priest ; at any rate the ephod needed a servant and, as a rule, a house also. It was the means whereby one inquired of God. It is remarkable that the official garment of the priests is likewise called ephod — more exactly ephodh badh, the 'linen ephod,' i Sa. 2^^ and elsewhere, to distinguish it from the former. It is not a bad idea of Smend's that perhaps the image was originally clothed in an ephodh badh ; cf. the custom among the old Arabs of putting on garments and swords (Wellhausen, Skizzen, III. 99).*^ The expression nose ephodh, as the name of the priest, which was afterwards referred to the linen coat, 8 Early Religion of Israel, Edin. and London, 1892, p. 231. * Variously modified, this view is advanced by Alizon, Benzinger, Budde, De Wette, Driver, Eichhorn, Gesenius, Graniberg, Hengstenberg, Kautzsch, Kittel, Kuenen, Marti, Maybaum, J. D. Michaelis, Montefiore, Moore, Nowack, Reuss, H. Schultz, Smend, W. R. Smith, Stade, Studer, Vatke, and Wellhausen. Duhm thinks a ' mask,' Sellin a ' quiver ' ; cf. below, p. 4. '' Hebr'dische Archdologie, 1894, p. 382 f. ^ Wellhausen, I.e., says it is not necessary to suppose that garments and swords were put on images; they may have been put on stones or trees. FOOTE : THE EPHOD. 3 meant originally nothing else than the bearer of the image (i Sa. 14', LXX).' Professor Moore, of Harvard, in his Commentary on Judges, New York, 1S95, p. 379, has the following: "Gideon's ephod . . . was clearly an idol of some kind," adding in a footnote, "It would be more exact to say, an agalma; in using the word idol here and below, I do not wish to be understood to assume that it was iconic. All that can with certainty be gathered from them [the passages where ephod occurs in Judges and Samuel] is that it was a portable object which was employed or manipulated by the priest in consulting the oracle. In the Priests' Law-book, the ephod is a part of the ceremonial dress of the high priest, to which the oracle-pouch containing Urim and Thummim is attached ; but, while it is probable that the oracle of the high priest is a survival of the ancient priestly oracle by the ephod, it is impossible to explain the references to the ephod in Judges and Samuel by the descriptions in P." More recently,- Moore sug- "^ It may be as well to introduce here some consideration of the ephodh badh, which, in the above extract, is supposed to mean ' linen ephod.' The word HH, ' linen,' has no etymology, although it has been proposed to regard it as an error for "1-, connected with kad, the Sumerian prototype of the Assyrian kitii, which may have meant ' linen.' The most serious objection to the rendering ' linen,' however, is found in Ex. 39-^ (see below, p. 11), where it is stated that the "C:"I2 IS, supposed to mean ' linen breeches,' were made of ti-'Si', a material which may mean ' muslin ' or ' linen.' The I,XX omits "12, though Theodolion restores it transliterated, thus showing that the word was not understood. The Targum rendering is the same as that of our English versions. It seems clear that 1— did not mean the material of the garment, and was misunderstood by the time the Versions were made. Professor Haupt has suggested that the 13 HISK is equiva- lent to Trepl^uifia fioplov, siibligaculum ineinhri ; 13, a ' member ' of the body, as in Job i8i'5*, is identical with 13, a 'part,' cf. pars {virilis). In Ex. 25i3ff- I Ki. 8" Num. 4^, 3'13 means ' poles ' (Latin asser) just as 5. Alia exempt, ecpovd. Procopius in Catena Niceph. T. II., p. 180: £(^0115, [xavrelov rj €i5u}\ov. 'A, eirivdv/xa. V, Feciique ex eo Gedeon ephod. Pesh., K^ET 121". (2) Jud. 175, D"£-im T2K rU'l D'hSk D'S "h T\T):> D'Xni (J), "Micah had a private chapel, and he made an ephod and teraphim." LXX, c0w5 koX 0ipa Kal t6 yXvwTbv. V, et tidit ephod et idola, ac sculptile. (7) I Sa. 2I8, na mas nun lu: m>T "is nx n-irts bi^iatn (e^), "Samuei ministered before Yahweh, a child, girded with an ephodh badh." LXX, Kai '^afiovrfK ^v Xeirovpywv ivdnriov Kvpiov TraLddpiov wepLe^waixivov €(pov5 ^ad \_alia exenipl., /3ap-']. 'A, i-rr^vdufia i^aipeTov. 2, e(f>ov8 Xivovv. O, e(po}d ^ap. V, puer, accinctus ephod lineo. Pesh., X^m XmS. (8) I Sa. 228, ^i^ -iiES nXtrS (RD), 'To l^ear an ephod before Me." LXX, Kal aXpi.iv e4)ov5 \_alia, ivibiriov i/jLov^. V, et portaret ephod coram me. (9) I Sa. 143, "IISK KC3 . . . rrnif (J), "Ahijah bearing an ephod." LXX, alpoiv e(pov8. A, (pipojv iireduT-qv. V, portahat ephod. (10) I Sa. 1418*-, ^IDK 'IT las"! . . , (msx) ntT'^n rrnxb "^ixtr niaK^^i q) "]T, " Saul said to Ahijah, Bring hither the ephod, for he bore the ephod at that time among the Israelites. . . . And Saul said, Withdraw thy hands." LXX, irpocrdyaye rb €(povd ■ on. avrbs Tjpev rb ecpovd [a/ia exenipl., 6ti ^v t] Ki^ojrbs rod deov'\ iv rri rj/xipq. eKeifri ivunrtov laparjX . . . Kal eiire SaouX 7rp6s rbv iepia, 'Zvvdyaye rds xetpcis (tov. V, Applica arcam Dei . . . et ait Saul ad sacerdotem : Conlrahe nianum tuatn. 19 Kal rb e(pio8 probably indicates that "IIBKH 702, which means the image of the ephod, is a copyist's error, representing an original text llSJ^n flKI bcsn. This text is given in Field's He.xapla, with inpb for inp"1. -'' Hieroiiyini 0pp., T. vi., p. 903 : Et vestitus, inquit, erat Samuel ephod BAD, id est, indumenta lineo ; had enim linum appellatur, unde et BADUIM Una di- cuntur. Pro quo Hebraico Latinoque sermone male quidam legunt ephod bar; siquidem bar autjilius appellatur a\it/rumenti manipulus, aut electus, aut ov\o%, id est, crispus. 21 The Received Text reads: .TH ^3 D^'^bKn Jn^? rwr\ n'n«b SlHlT ni2N'1 : bt^na" 'D21 Xinn nvn D\nb«n |n>«. For "Xn JI-IK; n^^an must be read, with LXX, niBKH nCjri, not only because the Ark was at Kirjath Jearim at the time, but because the instrument of divination was not the Ark, but the ephod, which v.^ takes pains to tell us Ahijah had with him. rill"an is the regular expression used with the ephod (cf. 239 30'). As to '?«-lt"' "Jm . . . D'n'^S'n pIX .TH 'D, Driver remarks (cf. Azotes on Samuel, 1890, p. 84) : TXTil" "-1 is untranslatable, 1 never having the force of a preposition such as UV, so as to be capable of being a predicate with HTT. We must read, with LXX, Kinn Dm "I^SSn SC: Nin "D bs"lC" "2^. It is certainly better to suppose '321 to be corrupted from "27 than that ''Ith has fallen out, leaving '321. Driver {loc. cit.) objects that "27 7K"lC" alone at the end of a clause is bald, and against the usage of Heb. prose. It is true that in Joshua and Chronicles T'KIt'' "JD is more common, but cf. '327 •^Xlt" in Josh. 116 2 Sa. iqIS- is i Chr. igi^- w also bs-lt' '3£D in 2 Sa. iqIS, and •rX-ir' '32'?a in I Chr. 19I8. In two of the places cited bxit" '32^ ends the first half of the verse, and 7K"lU!""bl7 stands repeatedly at the end of the verse. lO JOURNAL OF BIBLICAL LITERATURE. (11) I Sa. 21 w -nsK,-i nnx nbt]Dn nmb N"n n:n . . . nhi n-in (ei), "The sword of Goliath . . . there it is, wrapped in a mantle, behind the ephod." LXX, iveiXTifiiyr] ?jv iv Ifiarit^, 9 adds, dwlcTw ttjs ^ttui/xiSos.'-- 2, €(povd, A, ^irevdufxaTos. V, est involittus pallio post ephod. (12) I Sa. 2218, -12 -nsx KTO r'K ntram D'ibty snn nvn n^;i (j), "He killed that day eighty-five men bearing an ephodh badh." LXX, iravrai aipovras ecpovd [Alex. 'Klvov^. A, cpipovras iirivdvp-a i^aiperov. V, viros vestitos ephod liiieo. (13) I Sa. 23^, ITS 1"!'' TIBX, "An ephod went down in his hand." Probably a marginal gloss; cf. SBOT., Sanniel, p. 70. (14) I Sa. 239, mSXn nty-an \r\'zr\ -in;nN ^K ItiK^I (J), "(David) said to the priest, Abiathar, Bring hither the ephod." LXX, ■wpoaa'^a.'^t to eipovd Kvpiov. 'A, eyyicrov to evdv/iia (fort. ^Tr^cSn/xa). V, AppUca ephod. (15) I Sa. 30", -in^nx rri mcsn ns* nj nc'iin . . .nrrrs* ■?« tt n^x-i (j) in '7K "IlEXn nX, " David said to Abiathar, Please bring me the ephod; and Abiathar brought David the ephod." LXX, irpoffdyaye t6 ecpovd; 'A, Tvpocriyyiffov dri fxoi to iirivdv/xa; 2, (TTrjcrov wpbs p.^ ttjv iirdip-iSa; V, Applica ad me ephod. (16) 2 Sa. 6'4, "O mSi? "llJn m-n (J), "David was girded with an ephodh badh?-^ LXX, ivBedvKws nx nxt'3 "d -^rT^^s* )h nn crni,--* "i will not kill thee now, because thou hast carried the ephod before my father David." LXX, /cat o\i davarucroj ere oti rjpas ttjv ki^utov ttis diadrjKrjs Kvplov ivicTriov tov waTpds p.ov. V, quia porta sti arcam Domini Dei. (18) Hos. i\ (740 B.C.) D'S-im ^lEK pXI . . . "^Xnt:" "3:3 1211", "The Israelites shall abide without ephod and teraphim." LXX, ovhe iepaTeias, ovdi 22 Hieronymus, in Epist. LXIV. ad Fabiolam, 15 (Opp.T. L, p. 363) : Se.xtum est vestimentum, quod Hebraica lingua dicitur EPHOD. LXX, ivuplda, id est superhumerale appellant; Aq. in^vdvp-a, nos ephod sxao ponimus nomine. 23 See above, p. 3, note 7. 2* This passage is to be compared with i Sa. 14I8, where Ark was evidently substituted for ephod z.iier the LXX was made; see note 21, p. 9 above. In this passage the LXX represents a text : m,T IT'ID p1i< TX 21X^3 '3, so that if the change of TISX to f1"lX took place, it was earlier than the LXX, provided the LXX has not been altered. There are two arguments for reading T2X, apart from any desire to suppress the word ephod (for which see p. 40), and apart from its being a natural thing for a scribe to recall the bringing of the Ark to Jeru- salem (2 Sa. 6), and write JTlX for TEX: (i) The expression is unsuitable, for no one person ever bore the Ark, and, on the other hand, IIBX Ktl'D is the regular expression for the priest with the ephod; (2) the context does not suit Ark and does suit ephod, for v.^^* refers to the afflictions which Abiathar shared with David, which can only refer to the time when David was fleeing before Saul, and Abiathar was with him, bearing not the Ark but the ephod, as is evident from I Sa. 23^ and 30'^. FOOTE : THE EPHOD. 1 1 StjXwi'; 'a, Kal aKOVOVTOs 5t' ev5vnaTos Kai oia fj.op(pwfxdTU}v; 2, 0, oi;5^ E0w5, ovd^ Qepa^iv.-^ V, sine ephod et sine theraphim ; O.L. 7ieque Ephod (^simulacrum) et Teraphim {penates). Pesh., miBK tTzS N'T'11 KI2C3 CKC1. Two post-exilic passages are appended : (19) Is, 3022, , , _ a-itn -[2n) n2Di2 niEK nxi "[£C3 ^b'ca "isi: nK 26nj, Samaritan Targum: 'r-IU? nnra nb'ia ^s nnxar. Pesh. has «::m xjs^ns (z.^. wepi^uifia ^(laaov). Targum Onkelos, in Lev. 6*, gives the plural f"Dj2IS1. A. THE FORM OF THE EPHOD. I. Was a a Garment? In the following investigation, the word ephod will refer to that which was in use before the Exile ; and the chronological order will be observed wherever conducive to practical results. As the narrative in 2 Sa. 6" has been already referred to,^ we may begin by noting the conclusion to be drawn from it ; namely, that in spite of the popular view, the ephod was not a long flowing garment. David admits that he had uncovered himself so as to justify Michal's censure, had it not been before Yahweh. That he could have un- covered himself still more shows that he was not nude, and suggests the idea that his brief covering answered the purpose of a loincloth. It is instructive to compare the post-exilic account of this event, in I Chr. 15, and note that the scribe thought it indecorous. Hence he "clothed" David with a "long linen robe,"^" omitted "ll^n 25 Hieronymus, XXIX. ad Marcellam : In Osee . . . pro sacerdotio et manifes- tationibus, in Hebraeo est, sine Ephod et sine Teraphim ; sicut Theod. et Sym. transtulerunt. 2fi nXJam, instead of CnK!2t:i, with the LXX, and in harmony with "ECr and D"!Tri. For an extended consideration of this passage, see below, p. 16 f. ^2" Cf. Merx, Chrestom. Targum. p. 214: numquam a brevi instruendum. 28 Kohn, Samar. Stiidien, Breslau, 1868, p. 59, commenting on "^X^L' (in Ex. 30^*) says : Der Ubersetzer hat "12 offenbar gleich dem arab. bdda, " weiss sein " genommen. 29 See above, p. 6 f. 8' I Chr. 1527, pn b'yaS "^nira may be an intentional alteration of ^"'^ mSXn, Ex. 2831. 12 JOURNAL OF BIBLICAL LITERATURE. ' girded ' in connection with the ephod, and, apparently to justify Michal's contempt, substituted for *I2"15^ * dancing,' the word pPlt^tt ' playing,' which is as equivocal ^^ in Hebrew as in English. The episode with JNIichal is omitted. But the expression in 2 Sa. 6", " girded with an ephodh hadh" does not imply a garment. David does not %vear it, it is hung about his loins by a girdle. In the same way a sword is girded upon the loins. The original meaning of "l^H, as of Arab, hagara, is ' sur- round, enclose,' etc. ; hence ' bind on,' and also ' prevent access to ' ; whence mijn ' a girdle,' corresponding to higiir, ' enclosure, lap.' Now mi^rt'''" is the word used in Gen. 3" for the fig-leaf covering made by Adam and . Eve, " they made themselves aprons," VC^^I rnin Dn?. The margin of the A.V. calls it " a thing to gird on." The meaning is evidently a loincloth. The Fr. gi'ron has the mean- ing ' lap ' and also a heraldic design of triangular shape, like a primi- tive loincloth.''^ But the point is that I^IPf ' gird ' does not imply a garment, but a girding, which is associated with the waist and loins. In fact, the ephod was not a garment at all. By a garment is meant something that is worn as clothing • a towel, e.g., is not a garment, though a waiter may carry it on his arm ; nor is a crown, although it is said to be worn. By referring to the passages bearing on the ephod, it will be seen that twice the ephod is associated with teraphim, which proves nothing. Gideon's ephod is " put " in his city Ophra. The ephod at Nob was on the wall, or floor, with Goliath's sword wrapped in a mantle " behind " it. When Abiathar flees to join David, he takes the Nob ephod " in his hand." Three times the ephod is " brought " to a person to be used in divination. These passages would surely not suggest a gar- ment. But there are three other passages, where one might point to the English versions as showing conclusiv'ely that a garment was meant, for in each case the translation is " wearing an ephod." The ^1 Cf. the older form pr\1 in Gen. 26^. Professor Haupt has kindly pointed out that Arab, ba ala III. means both la aha and jama' a ; ha'ala is a denomina- tive verb derived from ba' I, 'husband'; cf. Trat^e = Sxffe in note 12 of Haupt's paper on " Ecclesiastes " in the Philadelphia Oriental Sttidics, p. 265; cf. afso the use of ludere in Hor. Ep. 2, 2, 214; and " play " in Milton, P. L. 9, 1045. 32 For other instances of the use of "IJin see Ex. 12^^ Jud. 3^^ i Ki. 20'^ 2 Ki. 429 9I Prov. 31 17 Is. 32I1 Ez. if^ etc. 33 For a photograph of such a loincloth, see Mission Scientifiqne dii Cap Horn, Hyades et Deniker (Tome VII.), pi. xii., Paris, 1891. See also p. 42 below, fig. 2. FOOTE : THE EPHOD. verb that is translated " wearing " is XtT] ' bear ' ; the Greek and Latin have atpw and portare. But there are no instances in classical literature of al'/aw or portare by themselves, meaning to wear as a garment ; and X*^'], one of the commonest verbs in the O.T., used perhaps a thousand times, never has the meaning ' wear,' except it be made for these three places, as in the English versions. In one of these places, i Sa. 22^'^, St. Jerome, influenced, it may be, by the word in, supposed to mean ' linen,' ^^ translates vestitos ephod Imeo, but there is no reason for it, since the Hebrew and Greek are the same. Now it is true that the Century Dictionary says that one meaning of wear is ' carry ' ; as, e.g., country people will advise a person to wear a potato in the pocket to keep off rheumatism ; but the converse does not follow; carry never means 'wear.' These mistranslations of XvT] by the English " wear " in the familiar phrase " wearing an ephod," together with the anachronism of the Priests' Code, are accountable for the notion that the ephod is essentially a garment.*^ 2. JVas the Ephod an Idol? We have now to examine the passages in Judges, i Sa. 21^, and Is. 30", where almost all critical commentators have felt constrained to suppose that an idol, image, agalma, or the like, is meant. A notable exception is Professor Wilhelm Lotz, of Erlangen, whose admirable article ^^ on the ephod is apparently unknown to recent writers. It is, of course, an easy way of escaping a difficulty to say, here the ephod is an idol and here it is a garment, but it is unscien- tific. The feeling that it was a makeshift has given rise to many curious conjectures, to show, if possible, some connection between the idol and the garment ; and so the theory has been evolved that the ephod is the covering of the wooden core of an idol, and hence a covering, i.e. a garment. Or, working in the other direction, it has been thought that the ephod was a priestly garment on an idol, and then identified with the idol. Some have grasped eagerly at "^* Cf. note 7 on p. 3 above. ^^ In German the verb tragen may translate both Kw"3 * bear ' and U'^b ' wear.' This fact has added to the confusion, since by the expression Ephodirager no distinction is made between ' ephod-wearer' and ' ephod-bearer.' Since writing the above I have noticed that Professor Moore observes that Nw'2 does not mean 'wear'; cf. the Internat. Com. on Judges, 1895, P- S^^' note. ^ See Kealencykloptrdie fi'ir prot. Theologie u. Kirche, third edition, vol. v, Leipzig, 1898, under "Ephod." 14 JOURNAL OF BIBLICAL LITERATURE. the apparent distinction between ephodh and ephodh badli, making the former an idol and the latter a garment, thus throwing the diffi- culty of unifying the two back upon the Hebrews themselves. But the distinction does not hold good. Others, not finding any distinc- tion in the Masoretic text, wish to make one, and, as Wellhausen, propose to point 112X when it means an idol ! ^' But it must first be determined when an idol is meant. If the LXX is any criterion when transHterations are used, Gideon's and Micah's ephod would be I'iSS!, represented by ec^wS, and the other places IISS!, repre- sented by ec^ouS. But those who understand an idol always take it so of the ephod at Nob, where the Greek has shoulder piece ; and so the distinction is merely due to different translators pointing an unknown word, sometimes T12X and sometimes TlSS. In fact, they are all forced explanations, arising from giving undue weight to minor details, and neglecting the fundamental principle that a thing is what it is used for; and also the ethnological axiom that " all worships that contain heathenish elements are traditional, and nothing is more foreign to them than the introduction of forms for which there is no precedent of usage." ^ If the ephod is an article of clothing, then it is a garment and is worn ; if it is to represent a deity, then it is an idol and is worshipped ; but if, being neither of these, it is connected with sacred lots, then it is a means of con- sulting an oracle and is divined with. It is hard to discard the notion of the garment-ephod, but it is based solely on mistranslations arising from preconceived ideas, and the same is the case with the notion that the ephod was an idol. The expressions upon which the idea of the idol-ephod is based are the following from Jud. '&^' , mssb p:J"[3' imS '^T\ " Gideon made an ephod of it " (cf. above p. 8, No. i). This cannot be forced to mean that all the gold went into the ephod — imS refers as much to the purple raiment as to the gold ornaments — probably but a small fraction became the material of the ephod (if, indeed, any of it did !), as this very con- densed statement seems to cover much more than is expressed ; for instance, the cost of making, the cost of the shrine, etc., imX H_'1 m2V3 n^VS, "and put it in his city Ophra." This verb is usually translated ' set up,' as though it had no other meaning ; but it also signifies ' put ' or ' place,' as in Jud. 6'^" Gideon says, " Behold," "'^jX T^t2, " I will put a fleece of wool on the threshing floor." This 3' See Geschichte Israels, Berlin, 1S83, p. 95. •^* Robertson Smith, O. T. in the Jewish Church, 18S1, p. 228. FOOTE : THE EPHOD. 1 5 verb may mean simply to ' leave ' somewhere, as in Gen. 33^', nriJX K3 " Let me now leave some of the people with thee." One might as pertinently argue that the Ark was an idol, because 2 Sa. 6'^ reads IHK 132^111, as to force the expression in the case of the ephod.'' D^ innX bxn^r^ h^ i:ri, " all Israel went astray after it there." Without this comment, it is unlikely that the notion of an idol-ephod would ever have been evolved. The verb zandh, in this use, occurs eighteen times, and is usually followed by " after " strange gods, gods of the heathen, or idols, also " from " the true God. But the phrase can also be used of seeking " after a man," and " unto those having familiar spirits," Lev. 20'*-, and even " after whatever pleases the eyes," Nu. 15^^. This expression,*^ then, does not always mean an idol, and hence it cannot be pressed in this particular instance, to imply an idol. On the contrary, one might argue that Jud. 8^ was conclusive evidence that in verse 27 it means something different, for " as soon as Gideon was dead," the Israelites again went astray after Baalim, implying that when he was alive he had kept them from idolatry. But why may not the phrase '^"in>5 H]! refer to a lot-oracle, as may also be the case in Hos. 4^- (cf. below, p. 36) ? This phrase, however, probably represents a later editorial comment ; the original narrative, it is agreed, had no criticism to make on Gideon's ephod.'*^ But a narrative that has been added to is likely to be inconsistent. Professor Moore, of Harvard, has sug- gested as possible that ephod has supplanted a word like eloliim. If so, it is easy to account for the condemnatory comment, but it is hard to see how ephod could have been substituted and the comment allowed to stand, in an age when the ephod was unquestionably revered. But the point is that the phrase in question does not prove an idol, but may only refer to a popular craze for some unapproved use of divination. Again, if we pass to Jud. 17 and 18, Micah makes an ephod and teraphim. There seems to be a double strand in the narrative, one ^^ Professor Moore, in Liternaiional Corn, fiufges, 1895, P- 379' renders 'set up,' and makes it a proof along with the next phrase, that the ephod was " clearly an idol of some kind." He concludes that this verse, Jud. 8-', " imperatively requires this interpretation." ••"* For an extended examination of the phrase zdiidh axre, see my paper in the Journal of the American Oriental Society, vol. xxii., pp. 64-69. ^1 In Chronicon Hebr., 1699, p. 407, ViPtX in this passage is interpreted to mean after him, i.e. after Gideon''s death ; when the Israelites took the amiciilum and used it in idolatry. 1 6 JOURNAL OF Bir.LICAL LITERATURE. part of which tells of the making of a HDEipi T'CS, " a graven and a molten image," and commentators have tried to establish a parallel between them and the ephod and teraphim of the other strand of the narrative. Moore, however, ingeniously eUminates the HwElS,''^ showing that the apparent parallel gives no ground for thinking Micah's ephod an image. Canon Driver is certainly right in styling Micah's ephod and teraphim "instruments of divination." ■*" Again, in i Sa. 21^'-, where it is said that the sword of Goliath was wrapped in a mantle " behind the ephod," it is commonly held to mean that the ephod must have stood free from the wall in order to have the sword behind it, thus suggesting an idol ; but, as Lotz points out (cf. above, p, 13), it is much more likely that the sword was a trophy or votive offering, cine Art Wcihgcschcnk, and was hanging from some large peg, upon which, when not in use, the ephod also was hung. He concludes : To decide from this passage that the ephod is a statue standing clear of the wall, an image of Yahweh, is incorrect. Finally, there are other commentators and scholars from Michaelis and Vatke, who is very sure, to Duhm, Smend, Gesenius-Buhl, Marti, and Budde, who considers it "very questionable," who hold a theory that the ephod was a ' covering, garment,' or ' mask ' of an idol and so practically identified with it. The theory that 12S meant origi- nally 'to cover' is based on Is. 30- (cf. above, p. 11, No. 19), which remains to be considered. It reads as follows : *'\ti*l nX S^ " did not give a favor- able answer," instead of "answered him not." The verse will then read, " When Saul inquired of Yahweh, Yahweh did not give him '•'- '^T ^bX; LXX, 'Lvva.-^a.'ie ras x^^'P'^s '^°v- T^' is probably written defec- tive for "I'"^"» ^s ""n, 'thy ways,' for ~'-"n, in Ex. -^-^^ Jos. i* Ps. 119*"; also D2T for C2"T in Ps. 134-; cf. Ges.-Kautzsch, §91,-^. '^CN, 'withdraw,' though the ordinary meaning is ' gather ' ; Jt is used of Jacob ' drawing ' his feet into bed, and also being 'taken' to his people. Gen. 49'-'; it has the meaning 'to take away' in Is. 16I" 57^ 60^' Jer. 48'^* Hos. 4* Joel 2^'' 31^. ^^ py*'! I'nay be read py"'' with V, condamavit, and frequently LXX, (j36rja£. ^* I/e/\ Archaologie, p. 408. But he continues quite rightly : " if one had to exclude by a series of questions the different possibilities, as this is very clearly represented in i Sa. logoff-." It was, however, a simple matter when but one question was put. ^' or THE VJNIVERSITV , 22 JOURNAL OF BIBLICAL LITERATURE. a favorable answer/" either by dreams, or by Uriin, or by Prophets." It is evident that Saul tried one method of divination and then another, and finally resorted to witchcraft. It seems impossible that the use of the sacred lots should give no answer at all, though tradi- tion probably allowed but one use of them in a single inquiry. In the present case, Saul presumably received a favorable answer. This seems a satisfactory glimpse of the ephod in use, and the con- clusion drawn from it would be that the ephod was a receptacle into which the hands are put to draw the lots. But as lots are almost always spoken of as cast, the question arises whether in antiquity the custom of drawing lots ever obtained. There are ten verbs in Hebrew which are used in connection with lots in the O.T. They are : sr, nSm, h't'V, ^n:, b^lSH, S^SH, '7S3, n'^Tw'Tl, ■^"^^ and m^. Seven of them mean 'to cast, throw, let fall ' ; while three signify ' to come up ' and ' out,' as from a shaken receptacle. These verbs seem to show that among the ancient Hebrews, at least, lots were not drawn, but cast. Among the Romans, also, the common expression is " to cast lots." Cicero, however, mentions, as if nothing unusual, that the oracular lots in the temple of Fortuna at Praeneste were mingled and drawn by a child. Quid igitiir in his \_sortibiis\ potest esse certi, quae Fortunae vionitu pueri manu niiscentur atque ducuntur:'^ On the other hand, in the Iliad, HI. 316 ff"., we read that Hector shakes the lots in a helmet with an up and down motion,^' with averted face to prevent any suspicion of partiality, and the lot of Paris quickly leaped forth.^ In the same way the ephod, if it were originally a loincloth as has been suggested (cf. above, p. 7), would furnish a lap from which the lots could be cast. That the shaking of the lap was to some extent a familiar action, is seen from Neh. 5'^, "I shook out my lap, saying, so God shake out every man from his house." But in Prov. 16^ we read : *5 Professor Haupt has shown, in BELR., note 47 (see JBL., 1900, 1.), that ii;i', when indicating the answer to an oracle, technically means the favorable answer. ^ De Diviitatione, II. 41, 86. 5' Professor Gildersleeve kindly suggested to me that the motion was indicated by the verb irdWeiv which is used of Hector dandling his little son. ^^ (li% S.p i_ or ''27p, seems to be the late Greek KaXirr}, possibly akin to koAttos. something hollowed out. The Gemarah explains that the *'5!7p ' urn ' was made of wood, but on one occasion a man had become renowned by making one of gold ; that the high priest snatched the lots out quickly so as not to feel of them ; that the lot which was drawn in the right hand was for the goat which was near his right side, and it was considered a happy augury when the right hand held the lot inscribed mn'^'^. The Talmudic tract Bdbd Bathrd (S^nS S2^), 122, a, also has an instructive account. Eleazar stands before Joshua, bearing the Urim and Thummim and casting lots to divide the land among the twelve tribes of Israel. There were two urns used, one containing twelve lots, each with the name of a tribe written on it ; the other containing twelve apportionments of land. The priest put one hand into each urn, and drew in one hand the tribe, and in the other hand the portion of Canaan which was to be theirs. In both this instance and in the one before mentioned, there was a solenm com- muning with the Holy Spirit, who \vas believed to direct the drawing. This drawing of lots suggests the comparison of the method of choos- ing officers at Athens, where two urns were used, one for the names of the candidates, the other with white and colored beans, the person being chosen whose name was drawn simultaneously with a white bean."*' Of course the Mishnah is not the Old Testament, l)ut it claims in Firqe aboth (m2X ''pIS), I. i, to record faithfully the ancient oral law, and it reaches back as a written authority to the time of the Second Temple. Here then we have a clear tradition that the lots were put into an urn, or two urns as the occasion demanded, and then drawn. s^vbr ains nnxi ccb ''b'a r-rr -irs rn'b-r: "x* rh::r: •E'rpr ^-rct ,h^vt^vh ^^ See Seyffert's Diet, of Classical Aiitiqititics, unJer "Officials." The urn used was called K\r)pwTpls; cf. on this subject, kXtjpoo; 6fi(f>dv, 'to obtain an oracle by lot '; KXdpoii deowpoiriuv, ' to divine by lot "; cf. Eur. P/ia'/tissu', 852. FOOTE : THE EPHOD. 25 This oral tradition helps one to understand the account of the allot- ment of Canaan as given in Joshua. For instance in Josh. 17'^ we find the descendants of Joseph complaining that Joshua had placed for them but one portion for an inheritance, whereas they were really two tribes, "inx bzm iHs Sii: nbn: 'b nnn: vMt2. This seems to point to the two urns, one for the lots and one for the apportion- ments, and the traditional method of drawing lots. We may compare here a passage in Acts 8-^, where Peter tells Simon Magus that he has neither part (7—!!?) nor lot ('^'"113?) in the matter. Ovk lo-rt La ' monuments of the dead,' and Latin statiia '^ in place of the almost invariable idola may ^* Das Leben nach dem Tode, p. 36. Further references may be found in Moore'sy«^^5, Internatioital Com., p. 382, and in JM'Clintock and Strong's Eticyc, of Biblical Lit. '°^ Ethnologically one would err in imagining any connection between these early peoples. On this Brinton says, in Religions of Primitive Peoples (p. 8), " Professor Buchmann expressed some years ago what I believe to be the correct result of modern research in these words : * It is easy to prove that the striking similarity in primitive religious ideas comes not from tradition nor from relation- ship or historic connection of early peoples, but from the identity in the mental construction of the individual man, wherever he is found.' " ^^ Not so, however, Ilitzig; see Commentary on I Sam. 19^^. ^"^ Similar irregularity may be seen in several instances, e.g. Ex. 1 1'' 25^^ Jud. 1 1^* etc., cf. Ges.-Kautzsch, § 135, 0. See W. Diehl, Das Pronomen pers. stiffixum 2 u. Topers, pliir. des Hebr. in djr alttest. Uberliefrung, Giessen, 1895. ^"^^ ^^^'^ SB T., Critical Notes ofi Judges, p. 65 f. ^* Note that the versions take teraphim as a plural, with the exception of this s/atna. FOOTE : THE EPHOD. 29 be attempts to explain away the presence of teraphim in David's house, or, it may be that the teraphim, among those who had given up idolatry, took the form of ancestral images, associated more or less with superstitious veneration, but not idolatry. In the account of Rachel's steaHng and hiding her father's teraphim (Gen. si''*''^), it is evident that the word is plural, and that the teraphim were tolerably small images, or she could scarcely have carried them without Jacob's knowledge or hidden them so that Laban could not find them. The association of teraphim with divination *''•' is so frequent that it seems to indicate the principal use to which they were put. That they were not used in idolatrous worship is to be inferred from the fact that Hosea, who boldly censures idolatry, allows the use of ephod and teraphim.™ But if they were idols, how could they have given answers to questions? It is quite usual for commentators to speak of " consulting idols, oracular idols," etc. Now a commentator may sometimes give an oracular utterance, but an idol never ! If one idol had ever given an oracle, we should never have had the magnifi- cent arraignment of idols in Deutero-Is. 4i-^''^-: "Declare to us what will happen in the future that we may know that ye are gods : yea, do good, or do evil, do something, that we may all see it ! Behold ye are of no account and your work is nothing at all ! " — yet many commentators, who will not allow any supernatural occurrence to pass without advancing a natural explanation, are quite prone to imply, and base arguments on the conclusion that the idols in some mysterious way gave oracles. Rychlak, e.g , in Osee, says that error would be avoided, si de manifcstationibus idolorum, qjiae et consule- Imnfi/r et aliqiiando consulentibiis responsa dabiint,in- telligamiis. Again, referring specifically to the older passages which mention the ephod, two of which, i Sa. 23^ and 30^, represent the ephod as giving oracles, Maybaum says,'^ All those passages through- out give the impression that by ephod is meant a real Yahweh image. Now, either an image can give an oracle, or the supposition is 69 See an article by Farrer in Kitto's Cydop(vdia of Biblical Lit., Vol. III., p. 986. ™ In this passage, Hos. 3'*, the prophet says of his unfaithful wife that she must abide with him many days in faithfulness, but without a wife's privileges; so must Israel abide for a period of purification " without king and without prince, and without sacrifice and without i>i(i(;(;ebdh, and without epliidh and teraphim." Note that ephod and teraphim are more closely joined than the other couples. "1 Die Entiuickeliitig des altisrael. Prophetentuvis, 1883, p. 26. 30 JOURNAL OF BIBLICAL LITERATURE. untenable.'- It may be argued that the users of them believed that they gave oracles. They may easily have thought that idols heard their prayers and influenced their destinies, but it is not credible that they believed that any idol (apart from priest-jugglery) ever answered such a question as this, " If I pursue this troop, shall I overtake them?" I Sa. 30^', but David received the answer "yes." Now it may have been that lots were used coram idolo and with some invo- cation of the idol. In Cheyne-Black's Encyc. Biblica under " Divina- tion," Professor Davies, of Bangor, in considering Ezek. 21*, says, " We omit the reference to the teraphim because no new point is indicated by it; the king consulted the teraphim [singular], by shaking the arrows before it, as was always done also by the heathen Arabs." His designating teraphim as singular is quite arbitrary (see above, p. 28). By consulting the section on arrows (p. 34, below), it will be seen that arrows were not always used before idols. But farther on in the article Davies says that possibly the teraphim were used as lots. Then why not here in Ezek. 21-*^? But the idea that the Hebrevi^s consulted idols by casting lots before them is pure supposition, while the use of lots is not supposition but fact, as has been shown in regard to the ephod, and will be shown in regard to Urim and Thummim. These were real oracles, not dumb idols. The prophets could not say of them, " Behold ye are of no account, and your work is nothing at all ! " for great leaders in Israel had relied on them and had been victorious. But "the teraphim," says the prophet Zechariah (10-), "have spoken vanity," np'^T IIH n^Z:D1pm pK 1131 a^2nnn ^D, " and the diviners have seen a lie." The LXX in this passage, and in Hos. 3'*, renders teraphim respectively by diro o" lucky stones. 8* The idea advanced by Davies, of Bangor (see above, p. 30), that shaking the arrows and consulting the teraphim were but one act is not borne out by the Hebrew. The methods used are as evidently three as any brief statement could make them. 85 Uber das " Meisir" genannte Spiel Jer heidnischen Araber, Leipzig, 18S3. FOOTE : THE EPHOD. 35 who gave it to the owner, who won according to the marks on the arrow. This gives all the fects necessary for understanding how arrows were used. The connection with Ezek. 21'-'' is estabhshed by the word for shaking the arrows, Arab, qalqala, which is the ^\t^\> of this passage. The lot in his hand, Jerusalem, was evidently the arrow marked Jerusalem to indicate the course of the expedition."'' Wellhausen, Skizze/i, III., p. 127, comes to the same conclusion, based upon St. Jerome quoted by Gesenius, as follows : He consults the oracle according to the ritual of his people, putting the arrows into a quiver, after first marking them with the names of different places, and then shaking them to see what place would be indicated by the coming out of an arrow, and what city he should first attack. The Greeks call this /ScXofjiavTM or pa(S8ofxavTLa. ^^'ellhausen's con- jecture, Skizzen, III., p. 167, quoted by Benzinger, p. 408, n., that tordh goes back to the lot-arrow and the verb 'TT^ ' cast ' used of lots and of arrows, a ' direction ' being obtained in the first instance from the way the arrow pointed when cast is very doubtful, inasmuch as it lacks the element of chance which is the essence of divination by lot ; for if arrows deviated in any unforeseen way from the direc- tion in which they were shot, it would render skill in archery unat- tainable. Besides, it is first necessary to show that arrows were ever ' cast ' in divination. They were shaken and drawn. It was this superstitious use of chance that caused Mohammed to forbid this use of arrows, Koran, Sura V. 4, 92 ; he implies that Satan is the one who directs chances, not God. Contrast with this Prov. 1 6'*^ : see above, p. 27. Canon Driver, in his article on " Law," riTin, in Hastings' Diciionary of /he Bible, 1900, seems to adopt Wellhausen's conjecture in spite of his warning : Such conjectures always remain uncertain and do not deserve too much credit. Wellhausen there- upon retracts a conjecture made with as little foundation, that C^tSri is related to tamcVim ' amulets.' But Driver thinks to brace up the theory by the use of H"!^ in casting lots. There might be some ground for it if lots were really cast as he supposes ; but being in reality dratvn, as were the arrows, there is none. Some commenta- tors have entered so heartily into the idea of the Loospfcile that an arrow is never shot but it is in divination. So it is with Jonathan and David, and so with Joash at Elisha's death-bed. But it is altogether unlikely, since an arrow, when shot, is gone.^'' ^'5 See Haupt's " Balwlonian Elements in the Levitical Ritual," JBL. XIX., notes 11-13. 8" Sellin, in Beilrage ziir Reliponsgesch., 1897, P- "^ ff., is not convincing; 36 JOURNAL OF BIBLICAL LITERATURE. In regard to the use of the rod, the only reference is Hos. 4'-, "'Xip ^h TT ^hpf2^ Sstr^ I^VS, " My people consult their staff, and their rod makes known to them." From this passage no idea can be gained of the method used in divination, except the derivation of 7pS2 from ^7p, ' shake,' indicating, perhaps, the use of rods in a way similar to that of the arrows ; and this is favored by the parallelism with yV which may be used for ^H, ' arrow ' ; cf. i Sa. i f, " the staff*^ of his spear." But it is not even certain that it was a lot at all. The reference may be to a so-called divining rod which is said to shake in the hand and indicate where water is to be found. If the use of the rod, however, were similar to that of the arrow as a lot, this verse (Hos. 4'-), with the use of 1131 'to go astray' after lot-oracles (see above, p. 15) ought to be compared with Jud. 8-", where the same expression is used of Gideon's ephod. The rod has an extensive use in Hebrew literature as a magician's wand or pedes- trian's staff, but the data that prove its use as a lot are wanting. 2. T/ie Ephod as a Part of tlie Insignia of Fries /s. With the Captivity the ancient regime of the Hebrews came to an end, and the period of Babylonian influence began. In all probability many old customs and usages fell into desuetude, never to be revived • many traditions derived from heathen times lapsed, and thereafter were only remembered with shame; many ceremonial objects of venerable antiquity were lost, and became names to conjure with, or were restored under new forms bearing little likeness to the old. So it was with the Urim and Thummim, which were never to appear again; and yet the longing for them breaks forth in the Korahite psalm (43) of the Second Temple : " O send out Thy Urim and Thy Thummim, that they may lead me." ^"^ But though Urim and Thummim did not exist after the Captivity (see above, p. 33), yet the V^T\ was made, and also the ephod to which it was attached; for the Babylonian Talmud, j^'^Hp, 37, «, has a tradition of sages coming to a certain heathen Dama, the son Ezek. 21-", e.g., certainly does not show that the //el>rrws used arrows. In Reclus, Primitive Folks, p. 276, is a suggestion as to the meaning of an arrow shot. Among the Kohls of Chota Nagpore, an arrow is shot in front of a person as a sign that the way is cleared for him. ^8 The text has J'PI, the Q're fl7; cf. also the interchange of // and " in modern Arabic. 8^ See Lagarde, Propheiae Chaldaice, Lipsiae, 1872, p. xlvii, who emends: Tw^ ''3inr r\i:>T\ I'lani imx. cf. Duhm ad loc. FOOTE : THE EPHOD. 37 of Nethina of Ashkelon, to purchase stones for the ephod.* But though the ephod was restored in an altered form, it was never again used in divination, and only survived as a part of the insignia of the high priest. These insignia were known as the abundance of garments, D'^l^D nDI")^, which is explained as follows : " High priests who officiated from the day that the oil of anointment was lost (Uterally hidden), had their high-priesthood indicated by the abundance of their garments,'' that is, they wore the eight priestly garments ; of which the four peculiar to the high priest are given as : p^l |trm "IISSI b'VXS, the robe, the ephod, the breastplate, and the gold plate. It is impossible to say with certainty just what this high priest's ephod was. Some writers, like Riehm {HaJidwot-terbiich des biblischen Altertums, 2d ed., 1S93-4, "Ephod"), consider it essen- tially a shoulder-piece ; as Thenius, e.g., says the ephod is nowhere anything else than a shoulder garment. Others see in it a long robe with a girdle about the waist and the hoshen, or ' pocket,' fastened between the girdle and the shoulders. No doubt the description was plain enough to him who wrote it ; but the only clue we can have to the object described must come from a knowledge of what the old ephod was. This gives us three points which, in all proba- bility, were the traditional residuum from which the post-exilic ephod was reconstructed.''^ These were the pouch for the sacred lots, the girding about the waist, and the equivalence of ephod-bearer and priest. Now the main points in the description of the later ephod are that it is an essential part of the insignia of the high priest, the hoshen, a pouch for the sacred lots, which were no longer in exist- ence, and the woven piece for girding on. These have been brought out in all descriptions of the post-exihc ephod, but the point that has been overlooked is that the hoshen was upon the zcoven piece (2'Cn) which was used to gird it on, Ex. 28-*, and not between the band and the shoulders, as has been supposed. Moreover, the loca- tion of the woven piece was not at the waist, but higher up, *' over 9^ "TEKb C":::X earn i:aa ICpr;. See Babylonian Talmud, SC", p. 73, a, Commentary of Rashi. n2""l!2 is the participle Pual (n5~!2), and properly denotes the high priest, not his garments; cf. Levy's Diet. n^nD; see also Jast row's Diet, p. 838, /'. 31 Robertson Smith, O.T. in the Jew. Ch., p. 219, says: " Many features of the old Hebrew life which are reflected in lively form in the Earlier Prophets, were obsolete long before the time of the Chronicler, and could not be revived except by archceological research. The whole life of the old kingdom was buried and forgotten." 38 JOURNAL OF BIBLICAL LITERATURE. the heart," Ex. 28"^'. Hence the band must have encircled the body just under the armpits. The braces''^' over the shoulders, not needed on the old ephod, were required to keep the band in place when it was no longer around the loins. The " stones of remem- brance " are an indication of the thought of a later age and are quite in harmony with the fashioning of a decoration, the use of which had long since passed away. The expression " over Aaron's heart " is simply an indication of place ; the metaphorical sense of D7 was mind as we still preserve it in the phrase to learn by heart. Rashi (Breithaupt, p. 672) says : " I have neither heard of nor found in the Talmud an exposition of the form of this ephod ; but I imagine that it was a cincture of a breadth accommodated to a man's back, something Hke an apron (succinctorium)." There is another indi- cation of the location of this band. Ezek. 44'^^, giving directions as to the priestly garments, says : Vlp T\T\\ X7, which is said to mean that the band shall not be so high as to be sweated under the arms, nor so low as to be liable to the same at the loins. But this is doubtful. Yet so Rashi : " Hence they did not gird themselves in places liable to sweat, neither at their armpits above nor their loins below." Modern attempts at restoration of the post-exilic ephod have neglected these points. Professor Moore (Cheyne-Black's Encye. Biblica, vol. ii., " Ephod ") describes it as a curious garment coming to the knees, apparently confusing it with the T"X2 or ' robe ' of the ephod, Ex. 39", which was not a part of the ephod, but was put on first, and is enumerated by itself as a distinct garment (see above, p. 37). Braunius'"' has some curious pictures of the ephod, and Riehm'-'^ has some still more curious, but they are, of course, imaginary reconstructions and not intended to be taken as authentic. But from the data given above we shall not be far astray if we picture to ourselves the post-exilic ephod as a woven band, probably as wide as the hoshen, i.e. a span, encircling the body between the armpits and the loins, having jewelled braces to hold it in place, and a jewelled pouch in front — the traditional receptacle for the sacred lots. It is not hard to see in this portion of the ])ost-exilic insignia ^2 Professor Haupt has kindly suggested to me that in the description of the bronze carriages for the sacrificial basins in i Ki. 'j'^'^- *'' (cf. Crit. Notes on KingSs SBOT. ad he. and Stade's paper in ZAT. XXI.), msn3 means 'struts, oblique braces' = 'suspenders '; see the figure of a Bedouin with mSflS, Psalms, in SBOT., p. 224. ®^ De Vestiin Sacerdotum Hebr., 1701. ^* Handivorlerbuch dcs biblischen Alter turns, 1884, Ephod, FOOTE : THE EPHOD. 39 the essential features of the ancient ephod. It cannot be termed a development, but rather a reconstruction based upon a tradition which embodied the chief characteristics of the antique ephod. 3. CONCLUSION. In the light of the foregoing investigation it is apparent that many commentators have gone astray because they did not give due weight to the essential connection of the ephod with divination, — and not some magical, image-speaking, priest-juggling, kind of divination, which is utterly without proof among the Hebrews, but the ephod is associated with divination by lot. This is the raison d'etre of the old ephod, and an investigation which overlooks it is liable to any kind of idle conjecture. Professor Marti's error has been of this nature, and this is the difficulty with Professor ^Moore's article in the Eiuye. Bibliea, although some of the inferences are no doubt correct and were published by the present writer in the JHU Cir- culars'^^ over eight months before that article appeared. That the ephod was originally an idol and afterwards became something to hold lots, is, again, opposed to the sound ethnological principle stated by Robertson Smith that nothing is more foreign to traditional rites than the arbitrary introduction of new forms. Any custom that is based on a superstition cannot change, because the essential cannot be distinguished from the non-essential. This is clearly seen in the superstitious rites of the Romans, and especially in magical incantations and the rites of the Salii.'"' Quintilian, I. 6, 40, says: Salionim carinina vix saeerdotibus suis satis intel/ecta :^' sed ilia mvtari vetat religio et consecratis utendum est. But divination by lot was a superstition. The ephod, it is evident, goes back to times that cannot long have been distinguishable from pure heathen- dom. The lots used with the ephod were not common pebbles, but traditional and sacred lots, whether teraphim or Uriin and Thiuninim. Correctness of ritual is the more important as the rites are less understood. Hence Micah's joy at having a Levite for a priest : " Now I know that Yahweh will do me good, since I have gotten a ^3 This statement is made, of course, in my own defence. The paper referred to, antedating the appearance of the Encyc. Bibliea, does not note that the arti- cle on Dress by Abrahams and Cook suggests the possibility of the ephod's being originally a loincloth. ^ See Teuffel and Schwabe, ///.f/i'ri' of Roman Lit., 1891, concerning the Salii ^" How true of our own Authorized Version ! and the following too. fT 8 R AR or TME VNIVERSi 4© JOURNAL OF BIBLICAL LITERATURE. Levite as my priest." "'^ The same devotion to the minutest detail of ritual is to be noted in the Ceremoniale of the Roman Church. And so with the ephod, unless the proper lots were had, no oracle could be obtained ; cf. Ezra 2^, and see above, p. 33. The very manner of drawing lots was of prime importance ; cf. Gemarah on Yoma, 4^ (see above, p. 24). How, then, can we suppose that the ephod was at one time an idol, and in less than two hundred years after it was something to hold lots girded on little Samuel's waist ! Yet Maybaum ''■' asserts that Micah's ephod was an idol (732) and later on was called ^T^, a 'calf ! It has been suggested that the ephod must have been connected with idolatry, because in several passages the word ephod seems to have been purposely eliminated from the narrative.™ Budde, in his commentary on Judges, 1897, p. 68, says that the old ephod must somehow have represented the deity and therefore was afterwards repudiated. But if any such intentional corrupting of passages took place, it must have been accomplished shortly before the Captivity, since, with the exception of Wellhausen,^"^ commentators agree that Hosea allows the ephod and teraphim as " necessary forms and instruments of the worship of Jehovah," to use the words of Robertson Smith, and hence the ephod could not have been an idol. As for post-exilic times it makes little difference what it was, for it had evidently been forgotten ; and yet one cannot help feeling that, had it been an idol or any object of worship, it would not have been restored ; "'- but, like the teraphim, which represented a comparatively harmless superstition, would have been allowed to remain in oblivion. There is, however, another reason for the corruption of the passages referring to the ephod 98 : pab 'i'?n ^h ,Tn "d "b n\T s'ts" '3 "nuT nni? nra n)2^{•^. what a confession, by the way, that the Aaronic priesthood was not known ! See Robertson Smith, O.T. in Jew. Ch., 1S81, p. 227 f. 99 Prophetenthiim, 1883, p. 27. 1'^'^ Cf. I Sa. 14I8 14*1 28^ 28" LXX, variant; i Ki. 2^6; also according to Wellhausen, in Ezek. 44^^, and i Sa. 15--', where pS he thinks was HISN. 1"! Kleinen Propheten, p. 103, 1897. I* ^^ not without a touch of scorn that Hosea here enumerates without explicit condemnation Masseba, Ephod, and Teraphim, as something one will hardly get along w ithout in exile : this is neces- sary, you know, you surely like it this way ! 1°^ The survival among Christian people of heathen rites which have lost their ancient significance, such as, e.g., the Yule-log, is not parallel; inasmuch as a century of disuse and oblivion would have done away with anything as a survival. The later ephod was not a survival, but a reconstruction; while the earlier ephod probably represents a survival. FOOTE : THE EPHOD. 4 1 which will be mentioned presently when the ephod is considered as a survival. Having considered all the passages that throw any light on the ephod, and also the conjectures which seem to have most weight and are most recent, it remains to sum up the conclusions arrived at. Starting with the principle that what a thing is for is the truest indication of what it is, we find that the ephod was evidently used in divination by lot. An investigation of the use of lots reveals the fact tliat they were said to be cast, but were in reality drawn ; and the ephod was the receptacle, KXrjpo)TpL<;, that held them. Taken in connection with the passages that speak of the ephod being girded on or fastened about the waist (I^H having this special meaning), and the passage in 2 Sa. 6'^", which shows what a scanty covering it was, the ephod appears to have been a pouch, large enough to put the hands into, which was hung at the waist of the person using it. It was easily carried in the hand. Its early use was not confined to any special order of priests ; ^"^ but, like other things originally common to all, it gradually became a priestly function. Samuel as a lad, girt with the ephod at Shiloh, is a remarkable parallel to the child that drew the oracles of Fortuna at Prasneste. The ephod was quickly consulted, though there was doubtless a technical method which was always observed. The lots were probably teraphim in the earlier times, but Urim and TJnimmim seem to be supplanting them at least as early as the time of Saul, though they continued to be associated with the ephod as late as Hosea, 740 B.C. There is no reason for supposing that Micah's ephod was anything different from that used by Saul and David. In regard to Gideon's ephod, when we omit the later editorial comment, there is the bare state- ment that it was made and placed in the city of Ophra. From this statement no theory which conforms to what is known of the ephod can be disproved. The strongest probability lies on the side of its being what the ephod was later — a pouch for the sacred lots, made, it may be, most sumptuously (compare the candles, etc., given to churches), as befitted the maker's social position (as, e.g., Gideon's), and used as Micah's ephod was, in a private chapel such as wealthy citizens affected. It is best to leave it so. Coniectura vilis est. Connected with the subject of the ephod is the consideration of « i''3 But Wellhausen, Proleg., 2d ed., 1883, p. 137, states that only priests could use the ephod. What shall we say, then, of Micah's Levite, of Samuel, or Saul, or David? See also Robertson Smith, O.T. in Jeio. Ck., iSSi, p. 24S; and May- baum, Prophetenthum, 1883, p. 10. 42 JOURNAL OF BIBLICAL LITERATURE. it as a survival of a primitive usage for ceremonial purposes just as the use of stone knives for circumcision, or the Shofar in the modern synagogue, the use of candles instead of gas or electric lights at dinner parties, or the costume of the yeomen of the guard in Eng- land who are still habited in the costume of the sixteenth century, or the academic gowns, the royal crowns and sceptres, or the vest- ments ^'-* of the Catholic Church, etc. ; cf. Joshua in the Polychrome Bible, p. 62, 1. 5. In the pw' sackcloth is a survival of primitive usage ; cf. Gen. 42^ the corn sack, Is. 20- dress of prophets and devotees, Gen. 37^^ conventional mourning garb. If the priests put on the ephod, they did so because the ephod was a primitive usage. It has been seen that no distinction is made in the O.T. between ephodh and ephodh badh, which has been supposed to mean linen ephod. But from the consideration on p. 3 above, note 7, and the extended examination in Note D, p. 47, below, we must understand ^'' ^ ^ ^ Fig. 1. Fig. Fig. 3. ephodh badh to be a covering of the nakedness, literally ephodh partis {virilis). Such representations are to be seen on Egyptian and Babylonian monuments. Perhaps the commonest shape of the ancient loincloth is shown in Fig. i, which certainly meets the re- quirements of the description of the mikhnese badh. The loincloth of the Indians of Cape Horn (see above, p. 12, n. 33) was triangular in shape and kept in place by a cord, as in Fig. 2. The ephodh badh, however, considering the use to which it is put, may have developed from something like Fig. 3, This is a pouch or bag, differentiated from the kilt by its specialized use. For the ephod was not a mere loincloth or covering of the nakedness. The mikhnese badh were that, and became the sacred garment. The ephod was not a loin- cloth per se, but a pouch for sacred lots existing side by side with ordinary loincloths and sacred kilts. Moreover, the mikhnese badh, or sacred kilt, does not appear to have excited any repugnance at a 1"* It may be noted that the vestments of the Church, especially the Chasuble, Alb, and Stole, are probably the ancient official garments of civil magistrates of the early centuries of the Christian era, and rather of Syrian officials than of Greek or Roman. See the Century Dictionary, 1900, Vol, VIII., p. 6741. FOOTE : THE EPHOD. 43 period of greater refinement than that of the early monarchy. That this was the case with the ephod seems, to most commentators, proved by the apparently intentional corruption of some of the passages referring to the ephod (see above, p. 40, n. 100). These commentators explain this repudiation by supposing the ephod to have been an idol. But this was not the case. Perhaps the reason for the repudiation of the ephod by certain redactors of the Biblical documents may have been that they considered it indecent, either because it was too scanty for a loincloth, or perhaps, because it had some connection with the phaUic worship of the Canaanites. The ephod was not a phallus, which, we have constantly to remind our- selves, was daily seen by the ancients without the slightest offence (see Dr. Bollinger's Heidenthicm unci Judenthum, p. 169) ; but badh may have meant phallus, and ephod was closely connected with it, sharing the sacredness of the symbol, which to the ancients suggested only profound and reverent thoughts. This cannot be doubted from such references as Gen. 24- 47-^"' where a vow was rendered the more inviolable by contact with what was looked upon as the symbol of the mystery of life. Some such connection as this may account for a feeling in later times that the ephod was indecent. Ethnological Parallels. The ephod seems to be a special development of the primitive loincloth. The loin-covering was probably the starting-point of development in the direction both of the garment and the pouch. A step in this development is seen in an account by John Foreman,^"" who travelled for several years in and about all the principal islands of the Philippine Archipelago, and who proceeded to Paris, in Octo- ber, 1898, at the request of the American Peace Commission, to express his views before them. In 1696, he says, the men of the Pelew Islands had a leaf- fibre garment around their loins, and to it was attached a piece of stuff in front, which was thrown over their shoulders and hung loose at the back. This loincloth, which cannot but remind one of the ^g-\f^i hagoroth of our first parents (Gen. 3"), would evidently furnish a place where articles could be carried. But the ephod was not an ordinary pouch used for general purposes, but it had a distinctly sacred character. The post-exilic ephod still i"*^ Cf. Dillniann's Genesis, Leipzig, 6th ed., 1892, p. 301 ; also Gunkel's Genesis, p. 232. I'^s The Philippine Islands, 2d ed., London, 1899, p. 39. 44 JOURNAL OF BIBLICAL LITERATURE. retained its sacred character, being a part of the meriihah begadlm (see above, p. 37, n. 90) by which the high priest was distinguished. This use of garments to denote dignity is not without parallel. Herbert Spencer in Ceremonial Insiiiuiions, "Badges and Costumes," 1880, p. 181, quotes Cook as saying of the Sandwich Islanders, that quantity of clothing is a mark of position, and of the Tongans he says the same ; while he tells us that in Tahiti, the higher classes signify their rank by wearing a large amount of clothing at great inconvenience to themselves. The Arabs furnish an allied fact. In Karseem " it is the fashion to multiply this important article of raiment [shirt] by putting on a second over the first and a third over the second." The same practice prevails in Altenburg, Ger- many, where the peasant girls wear a great many skirts.'"' The ephod came, in time, to be the symbol of a special class of men who were, in a way, intermediary between man and God, for through them divine oracles were obtained. A sacred band for the loins may be the index of this divine mission. Frazer's Golden Bough, 1890, Vol. I., p. 37, gives instances of kings in the South Sea Islands who were regarded as divine persons and were consulted as an oracle. He says : " At his inauguration the king of Tabid received a sacred girdle'"^ of red and yellow feathers, which not only raised him to the highest earthly station, but identified him with their gods." But a still closer parallel to the ephod is to be found among the Colorado Cliff-dwellers, who used a sacred girdle of cotton cloth, which, like the later ephod, was about a span wide, and served as a pocket for the prayer meal and sacred amulets (see above, p. 34) used in cere- monials.'"^ We do not know that the amulets were used as lots, but if so, here would be a primitive ephod with amulet-lots and distinctly sacred character. No doubt many ethnological parallels will come to light when the true idea of the ephod and divination by lot are borne in mind ; but there can be no reasonable doubt that it reaches back in its origin to most primitive times. Etymology of the Term " Ephod." No etymology yet proposed for the word IIES has been generally accepted. The various forms of the stem which occur, are : m£S, '^^' Cf. the plate " Volkstrachten, I., No. 20," in Meyer's Konversaiio7is-Lexikon. i'^^ Cf. Iluxley, Science and Hebrew Tradition, New York, 1894, p. 332. 1*^^ Such a sacred girdle as is here described may be seen among the ethno- logical exhibits of the University of Pennsylvania. FOOTE : THE EPHOD. ^^g,t- "^" » " "•" ^ 45 ^£S!, rinSi^, "12X^1, in'iSS!, n'lSS;. it used to be definitely stated that 1SX meant ' to gird or bind on,' and IISK was the ' thing girded on,' and mSJ? the ' girding on.' One difficulty with this etymology was the lack of Semitic parallels for ISX with such a meaning, which is gained entirely from the context ; but the chief difficulty is that critical research has shown that mSK was in use several centuries earher than HEX and rn2i<, whence arose the later opinion that TSS is denominative and HISS a derivative. Another group of commen- tators following Lagarde {Ubersicht, p. 178; Mittheil. 4, pp. 17, 146) refer TSS to Arab, wafada ' to come as an ambassador,' and finally a ' garment of approach to God.' This is just as fanciful as Lagarde's etymology of /^ and H^Kn. The ephod is not to be regarded as a garment. Other commentators and scholars have based a theory on the use of IT^Si^ "" in Is. 30-^ (see above, p. 16 f., for a consideration of this passage) that IISX means a ' covering, garment, mask,' but this verse may be as late as the second century B.C., and a careful study of the parallelism would favor some such idea as ' ornament ' for rnSii, which may be derived from the ornamental post-exilic ephod. The form .TlSK: is the regular fem. of ^1£S! for ^'l£X, cf. nnS!, ni^ns: ; b:^^ n'p:i ; especially D'n^' f nian;? and the by-form D1"l''p. For the initial e, cf. D13K, Ges.-Kautzsch, §§ 23, h ; 84 a, q, and Haupt, Assyr. E-vowel, p. 26, No. 10. The Syriac equivalent of TlSi? has the fem. form, XfllS with aphseresis of the initial K ; see Noldeke, Syriac Gram. §'32 (cf. KHnil e>id for Sn^nX). A tentative explanation of m£>5 has been given recently by Hubert Grimme in the Orient Litt.-Zeitung, February, 1901, under the title, 7X"1K und Statnmverwandtes, who notes the phenomenon seen in the Semitic languages of p showing a tendency to become ^5. He believes that there are two ^'s, a sonant q which is stable, and a surd q which has a tendency to become ><."^ He gives several examples, and among these are nBi"? ' wrap together," appearing as HiS ' wrap up,' and mSS ' zusammenziehbare Loostasche.' This is, at least, the meaning sought, but the etymology is not certain. "^ Cf. the Talmudic XXtS« and KtllS. It is by no means necessary to suppose that i