former irregularity. Jud. xviii. 14 does not
require any particular illustration, for it is the same Ephod which is
spoken of in that passage; but we must still direct attention to vers.
5 and 6 of that chapter. "Then they (the Danites) said unto him (the
Levite), Ask God, we pray thee, in order that we may know whether our
way in which we go shall be prosperous. And the priest said unto them,
Go in [Pg 284] peace, before _Jehovah_ is the way wherein ye go." Here,
then, we have a revelation given to the priest, as is alleged, by means
of Ephod and Teraphim; and this revelation is not ascribed to the
idols, but to Jehovah, whom alone the Levite wished to serve. From this
it appeal's that the graven image and the molten image--which, besides
Ephod and Teraphim, according to ver. 14, exist in the house of
Micah--must be considered as representations of Jehovah, similar to the
calvesin the kingdom of the ten tribes. In vol. ii. pp. 78, 79, of my
_Dissertations on the Genuineness of the Pentateuch_, it has been
demonstrated that the Ephod of Micah was, along with the Teraphim, an
apeing of the high-priestly Ephod with the Urim and Thummim. The four
objects mentioned in Judges xvii. and xviii. are such as were separable
although connected, and connected although separable. The _molten work_
is the pedestal under the image; the image is clothed with the Ephod,
and in the Ephod were the Teraphim, from whom information and good
counsel for the future were expected. For, that this is the object of
the whole contrivance, is plain from chap. xviii. 5, 6, where the
priest asks counsel of God for the Danites.--With regard to the other
two objects mentioned in the verse before us, viz., the sacrifice and
Teraphim, a reference, at least exclusive, to idolatrous worship,
cannot be by any means maintained. As sacrifices are mentioned in the
widest generality, without any limitation in the preceding context,
there is certainly nothing which could in the least entitle us to
exclude the sacrifices which were offered to Jehovah. The Teraphim are
intermediate deities, by means of which the future is to be disclosed
(compare the remarks on Zech. x. 2); they might be brought into
connection with every religious system, but are found only once in
connection with any other religion than that of Jehovah,--and this in a
case where a non-Israelite is spoken of. It is true, however, that, in
substance, the Teraphim belong to the side of idolatry; for,