save the one only God is idolatry, which, in accordance with the fundamental idea of Mosaism, namely, that Jehovah was the sole king in Israel, was regarded and treated as a capital offence, involving rebellion, treason, and apostacy (Deut. xiii. 6—11; xvii. 2-5; xxvii. 15). The whole system was justly regarded as a compound of falsehood, deception, and vice, and was forcibly characterised as a vanity and a lie (Ps. exv. 4— 8. Is. xl. 18-20; xliv. 9, seq.; xlvi. 6, 7. Jer. x. 3-5, 9, 15); while, in opposition to its nothingness, the Maker of heaven and earth is strikingly described as the living God' (Deut. v. 26).

In relation to merely intellectual and material civilisation, the Hebrews were surpassed by other nations of antiquity. Yet are they alone found in possession of the grand truth that the Maker of the universe is the only God and the only proper object of worship. This truth they possessed in the earliest periods of their history. It was held by Abraham in a purer form and with a more operative faith than by Solomon. Having been honoured with the charge of preserving monotheism and conveying it to the world at large, the Hebrews never proved wholly unfaithful to the sacred trust; and after un dergoing the discipline of sorrow, they at length became worthy of their high office, learned to serve God with purity and integrity of heart, and have now for more than two thousand years held aloft this divine torch, as a light to enlighten the Gentiles and the glory of Israel. How these things could have been, had not the Hebrews at the first possessed special means of illumination, we are unable to imagine. We see here tokens of the special presence and operation of God. Inspiration only could have made Abraham and his race fit to receive, and able to retain, the grand idea of one God, the Maker and Governor of all worlds. The tenor of the article points to a primitive revelation as the original source of the great religious truths whose existence and operation may be traced in the earliest ages, and which Abraham brought forth under new light and with fresh force, Moses sanctioned and perpetuated, the prophets proclaimed and developed, and the Lord Jesus Christ carried out to the fullest length, and the widest and most engaging applications.

The work which had to be accomplished in making the Hebrew nation purely monotheistic was of no small difficulty. Though Abraham worshipped the true God, traces of idolatry are found in his family (Genesis xxxi. 19, 30; xxxv. 2, seq. Josh. xxiv. 2, 14). In Egypt, the Israelites were surrounded by objects of idolatrous worship; and that they were thereby detrimentally affected is evident from what happened in the desert (Exod. xxxii. Lev. xvii. 7. Numb. xxv. Amos v.

25, seq.). Notwithstanding the strict prohi bition issued by Moses to worship none save Jehovah, and to worship him apart from any visible likeness or image (Exodus xx. 3, 4. Deut. iv. 16; v. 8; xxvii. 15), yet degenerate Hebrews set up a golden calf to receive their homage; and on the division of the kingdom, the northern state, in imitation of Egypt, created as symbols of the God of their fathers images of two calves, the one probably Apis, a representative of Osiris in Memphis; the other may have been Maevis, representative of the sun-god of Heliopolis. This bovine idolatry, thus forced on Mosaism, being set up in Bethel and Dan, the two extremities of the new kingdom, and sustained by a numerous class of priests, continued even under such princes as were hostile to other forms of idolatry (2 Kings x. 25, seq. Amos viii. 14). Hence the severe rebukes uttered by the prophets against Bethel, the rather, probably, as it lay near Judah, and was the place where the Israelitish kings offered their adoration (Amos iii. 14; v. 5; vii. 10, 13. Hos. x. 15; xii. 4. Jer. xlviii. 13). Other false divinities were served by the Hebrews, either instead of or conjointly with Jehovah, and the mere images of them were substituted for or confounded with the gods themselves (Deut. iv. 28. Ps. cxv. 4, seq. ; cxxxv. 15, seq.).

In each of the earlier periods of the Hebrew history, we find tokens of the exist ence of idolatrous worship; and though Samuel and David, as well as Solomon in the early part of his reign, were zealous for Jehovah, yet the last-named monarch augmented the already existing proneness to idolatry (1 Kings xi.), so that we need not wonder if under his successors it struck its roots more deeply. Asa, indeed, attempted to extirpate it; but Jehoram, by marrying into the family of Ahab, encouraged the Canaanitish idolatry (2 Kings viii. 18, 27), to which was added that of the Ammonites (xvi. 3), and of the Phoenicians and Syrians (xxi. 3, seq.); so that the reformatory measures of Josiah had only a transient effect, as may be learnt from the denunciations of prophets who lived towards the close of the kingdom of Judah (Zeph. i. 4. Jer. ii. 20, seq.; iii. 6, seq. Ezek. xvi. 15, seq.). In Israel there specially flourished the service of Baal, introduced by Jezebel, which continued in vigour for many generations. Even during the exile Jeremiah reproves some for their idolatrous propensities (xliv. 8); but after that event idolatry disappeared, and only under Antiochus Epiphanes, in the time of the Maccabees, does there appear a trace of the abomination (Macc. i. 12, 45). The service which was rendered to strange gods consisted in vows accompanied with criminal pleasures (Hos. ix. 10), burning incense (1 Kings xi. 8), in bloody and bloodless

offerings, and even in human sacrifices, as well as tokens of reverence, such as bowing the knee to and kissing the images (1 Kings xix. 18. Hos. xiii. 2).

Oblations and incense were chiefly offered on eminences, whence the frequent mention in Scripture of 'high places' and their destruction. On these heights were either altars or chapels with altars. The worship on elevated spots became so prevalent, that the term high places' came to signify idolatry, wherever the service was performed (Jer. vii. 31; xxxii. 35. 2 Kings xvii. 9. Ezek. xvi. 24). That the Syrians speak of 'their (the Hebrews') gods as gods of the hills,' whose power was specially displayed there, finds an explanation in this customary worship on 'high places;' and the origin of that form of idolatry may be found in the conception that the hills and mountains, uninhabited by men, were the special abode of the divinities who ruled the earth. Similar notions are found in Indian and Grecian mythology. Idolatrous worship was also of fered by the Hebrews under trees, in groves, and in gardens, where sometimes images were set up, altars erected, and offerings made (Isaiah lxv. 3; i. 29. 1 Kings xiv. 23. Hosea iv. 13. Jer. ii. 20; iii. 13). Often, however, the word rendered grove' denotes an image of Astarte While the prophets rebuked the Israelites, they also reproved the heathen for yielding to idolatry, the folly and wickedness of which they expose in numberless passages (Is. ii. 8, 20; xliv. 9, seq.; xlviii. 5. Jer. x. 3, scq. Hos. iii. 2. Ps. cxv. 4). The images were partly hewn, partly molten; they were made fast with chains, lest they should fall or be carried off (Is. xli. 7. Jer. x. 4); they were overlaid with gold or silver, and adorned with costly attire (Is. ii. 20; xxx. 22; xxxi. 7. Jer. x. 14. Hosea viii. 4). Images were carried to battle to protect the warriors. Victors carried away with them the divinities of those whom they had subdued, in order to ensure the fidelity of the latter. In the temples, the arms of conquered nations were suspended as trophies (1 Sam. xxxi. 10). The false divinities and idols mentioned in Scripture may be here briefly enumerated. BEL (Is. xlvi. 1. Jer. 1. 2), or BELUS, a divinity worshipped at Babylon, whose image stood in the famous tower of Belus, represented probably the planet Jupiter, which was also honoured as a star of good omen by the Persians and Arabians. Others consider Bel as denoting the sun. GAD (troop' in Is. lxv. 11), a god of good fortune, honoured by idolatrous Israelites; according to the Rabbins, the planet Jupiter was also worshiped in Syria as Baal-Gad. BAAL seems, with the Phoenicians and Carthaginians, to have been a general denomination for a god; with the article (habaal), it denoted

the chief divinity of the Phoenician race, according to some, the sun, as the great fructifying power; others hold that Baal. the Bel of the Babylouians, was the planet Jupiter, whose worship was connected with that of the sun. Even in the era of the Judges was Baal honoured among the Israelites, still more under the Kings (1 Kings xviii.). This falsity appears in several modifications, as BAAL BERITH (treaty-god, Judges viii. 33; ix. 4, 46), a Phoenician idol; BAAL-ZEBUB (probably fly-god, 2 Kings i. 2, 3, 16), changed derisively into BAAL-ZEBUL (dung -god); BAAL-PEOR, or merely PEOR, a Moabite divinity whose worship was connected with human dishonour (Numb. xxv. 1, seq.; xxxi. 16. Joshua xxii. 17). Another abomination, CHEMOSH, identified by some with BaalPeor, was served by the Moabites and Amorites (Numb. xxi. 29. Judg. xi. 24. 2 Kings xxiii. 13; comp. Jer. xlviii. 7), and by Solomon introduced among the Hebrews (1 Kings xi. 7). MENI (IS. lxv. 11, number') may have been Venus, which the Arabians call the star of good fortune,' and which was honoured by the Persians under the name of Nane, or Nanaia (2 Mace. i. 13, seq.). NEBO (Is. xv. 2), a Chaldean divinity, the planet Mercury, who, according to the astrological view of the Easterns, as scribe of heaven, chronicles the events of earth. Probably the Moabite town Nebo, and Mount Nebo, where this idol was specially served, took their name from the god. CHIUN (Amos v. 26; in Heb. KIJON) is by some held to be Saturn, which in Eastern astrology is accounted a planet that brings evil fortune. REMPHAN (Acts vii. 43) has been identified with Chiun. MOLECH, or MELCOM (1 Kings xi. 7; comp. Jer. xlix. 1, 3,' their king,' see margin), signifying ruler, was a god of the Ammonites, who was honoured by human victims, especially children (Lev. xviii. 21; xx. 2-5). His service, brought into Judak by Solomon, was long afterwards shamefu tolerated in the valley of Hinnom (Jer. xx cii. 35) till Josiah put an end to the abomination (2 Kings xxiii. 10, 13). According to Jewish authority, the image, made of brass, had the head of an ox, with outstretched human arms, in which the children were laid, and then slowly consumed by the fire kindled in the inside of the statue. Among the Phoenicians and Carthaginians this worship was very ancient. Some find in Moloch the planet Saturn, others the Sun; comp. Acts vii. 43. ADRAMMELECH, a god of the colonists brought to Samaria from Sepharvaim (2 Kings xvii. 31), may have been the same as Moloch and one with Saturn, the Greek Chronos. ANAMMELECH, a divinity of the same colonists, to whom, as to Moloch, children were sacrificed. Many understand by this idol the constellation Cepheus, which the East

erns call the herdsman and cattle. NIBHAZ (2 Kings xvii. 31), an idol of the Avites, whose name, from a root meaning to bark, suggests that the image bore the shape of a dog. TARTAK, a divinity of the same people, was, according to the Rabbins, represented by a statue shaped like an ass, and may have been symbolical of an evil star, either Saturn or Mars. (2 Kings xvii. 31). SUCCOTH-BENOTH, an idol introduced by Babylonians into Samaria (2 Kings xvii. 30), may have been the Pleiades. As the term, if it is not a proper name, may be rendered daughters of the tents,' others have thought of the tabernacles in which, among the Babylonians, virgins surrendered their honour to the goddess Milytta, Venus. NERGAL (2 Kings xvii. 30), an idol of the Cuthites, is thought to be the planet Mars. THE SUN was at the earliest period worshipped among the heavenly bodies, either with or without a symbol. Among the Egyptians, On, or Heliopolis, in Lower Egypt, an ancient sacred city, was the chief seat of the worship of the Sun. Here was a splendid temple to the Sun, with a numerous and learned caste of priests, to which Joseph's father-in-law belonged (Gen. xli. 45. Ezek. xxx. 17, 'Aven'). To this place Jeremiah (xliii. 13) refers under the name of Bethshemesh (Sun's house'). Osiris was the symbol of the Sun and of the solar year. The ancient Persians also adored the Sun. Among the Israelites, traces of sun-worship were found in the horses and chariots mentioned in 2 Kings xxiii. 11. Among the ancient Persians were found four white horses drawing a white chariot, in honour of the god of day.' In Jer. xix. 13. Zeph. i. 5. 2 Kings xxiii. 5, allusion is made to the practice of worshipping the Sun and other heavenly bodies with incense on the flat roofs of houses; and Ezek. viii. 16 may be explained by the custom of greeting with songs the morning sun, when the worshippers held in their hands branches of pome. granate, tamarisk, and palm trees. Reference also has been found to the worship of the Sun in Lev. xxvi. 31 and Isaiah xvii. 8. No, or AMUN No, as in the Hebrew (Jer. xlvi. 25), was an Egyptian divinity whose name signifies production of light, on which account he was by the Greeks compared with their Zeus. No was the symbol of the sun in spring, in the sign of the Ram, whence the ram's horns seen on the head of Jupiter Ammon. The chief place of his worship was Thebes, in the temple at which was a famous oracle of the god which was consulted by Alexander the Great. THAMMUZ (Ezek. viii. 14) was probably the Phoenician Adonis, the head-quarters of whose worship was Byblos, a very old Phoenician city near the Mediterranean. The festival of Thammuz was of two characters, partly sorrowful, partly joyful, having reference to the worship of the

Sun among the Phoenicians. In December, females bewailed the lost god in the most extravagant manner; they tore their hair and offered their virginity, and ended by interring with all due observances an image of the departed divinity. Immediately ensued days of rejoicing and revelry, in celebration of the god restored to life. The original significance of these rites is to be found in a symbolical representation of the course of the sun and its influence on the earth. Adonis, therefore, is essentially the same with Osiris. ASHIMA was god of the people of Hamath (2 Kings xvii. 30). ASTARTE (Ashtoreth), a female divinity of the Sidonians, was worshipped also by the Tyrians, Philistines, and idolatrous Israelites (1 Kings xi. 5, 33. 2 Kings xxiii. 4. Micah v. 13); comp. Jer. vii. 18, xliv. 17, seq., and see the article. ATERGATIS (Derceto), a Philistine fish-goddess, who had a temple in Ashtoreth Karnaim (2 Macc. xii. 26; comp. 1 Macc. v. 43). The form of a fish in which this divinity appears carries the mind to the seacoast, where the worship of Atergatis may have been mingled with the worship of Venus coming from the East. DAGON was the national god of the Philistines at Ashdod and Gaza (Judges xvi. 23, seq. 1 Sam. v. 2, seq.; comp. 1 Macc. x. 84). NISROCH was an idol of Nineveh (2 Kings xix. 37. Is. xxxvii. 38), of which nothing more is known. BAPHIM (images,' Genesis xxxi. 19, 30, 34) resembled the Penates, or household gods of the Romans, and appear to have been consulted as a kind of private oracle, which pious men have regarded as a species of idolatry (2 Kings xxiii. 24. Zech. x. 2. Hos. iii. 4).

TE

With Pagan idolatry were connected various idolatrous practices, of which a summary is here given. Astrology, or divination by the stars, was intimately connected with the worship of the heavenly bodies. The ancient Egyptians, the Chaldeans, and especially the magi among the latter, practised this pretended art (Is. xlvii. 13. Matt. ii. 2. Daniel ii. 27; v. 11). Similar in character was the observation of times, that is, the determination of lucky and unlucky days and seasons. It is mentioned and forbidden in Deut. xviii. 10, 14. Is. ii. 6. Jer. xxvii. 9. Notions associated with it lie at the bottom of Job iii. 3, seq. Gal. iv. 10. Rom. xiv. 4, 5. Soothsaying and foretelling, arising from man's great desire to know what is hidden, were much in use in very ancient days. As the Hebrews were favoured with instructions from the high-priest's Urim and Thummim, and the voice of the prophets, they were strictly forbidden to employ means in use among idolaters for unveiling the future (Lev. xix. 20, 31; xx. 5, 6. Deut. xviii. 10, 11). Yet were pretenders to skill therein found among them, though to a less extent

than with the heathen (1 Sam. xxviii. 3, 9. 2 Kings xxi. 6. Is. viii. 19. Micah iii. 11: Jer. xxix. 8. Zech. x. 2). See DIVINATION. The interpretation of dreams was among the ancients, and specially the Jews, highly thought of, since dreams were accounted a kind of divine revelation. Consult the history of Joseph, and Judges vii. 13. Job xxxiii. 15. Numb. xii. 6. False prophets pretended to receive instructions in dreams (Jer. xxiii. 25, seq.; comp. Deut. xiii. 1, 3, 5). The Chaldean interpreters of dreams were very celebrated (Dan. ii. 2, seq.; iv. 3, seq.; v. 12). Magic, or the pretended art of exerting influence by means of secret and superhuman powers, was strongly prohibited by the law (Exod. xxii. 18. Leviticus xx. 6. Deut. xviii. 10, seq. 1 Sam. xv. 23). Of a similar nature was the skill of charming serpents (Jer. viii. 17. Eccl. x. 11); also evocation of the dead, or the deception practised in appearing to bring the manes, or ghost, from the shades (1 Sam. xxviii.), for which purpose ventriloquism seems to have given aid (Is. viii. 19).

Nothing can more fully and painfully show the shockingly degrading tendency of false and idolatrous religion than the fact that the worship of the male organ of generation, under the personification of PRIAPUS, prevailed among the most cultivated nations of antiquity, the offensive foulness of which is still attested by remains of art and literature. There is reason to believe that this disgusting form of idolatry was not unknown among the Israelites. Traces of it are probably found in the events recorded in Numb. xxv. 1, seq., and in 1 Kings xv. 13. Comp. 2 Chron. xv. 16, where the term 'idol' (in the margin of the latter passage, horror,' from horreo, I am stiff') represents a Hebrew word which not unaptly describes Priapus.

Connected also with idolatry was the practice-a species of tattooing-of marking in colours on the back, forehead, arms, or neck, the name of the divinity under whose protection a person was (Isaiah xliv. 5. Revelations xiii. 16; compare xiv. 1), whence the Hebrews were forbidden to make any incisions in their flesh, even in token of grief (Lev. xix. 28. Deut. xiv. 1). Further information on several of these subjects will be found under the appropriate heads.

IDUMÆA, the southernmost part of Judea, which borders on Arabia Petræa, and the southern point of the Dead Sea. It was originally the same with Edom, of which it formed the western district. Its inhabitants being subdued by the Maccabees, and having received the religion of their conquerors, Idumæa was reckoned a part of Judea (Mark iii. 8). Of this country was Herod the Great, who was therefore termed a half Jew.'

IGNOMINY (L. ignominia, in, 'not,' and nomen. 'name, resembling our 'ill-name'),

The obverse has the type of a palm-tree with fruit, and the date 39, that is, from the battle of Actium. The ear of corn on the reverse may be taken as a specimen of the fine products of Palestine.

IMAGERY. See CHAMBERS OF.

IMAGES, as objects of worship, the Israelites were forbidden to make (Exod. xx. 4,5); a prohibition which formed an essential part of that system of wise precaution by which Moses endeavoured to keep his people free from the contaminations of a universally prevalent idolatry. The necessity of the strictest measures of prevention is illustrated by the fact, that image-worship prevailed in those countries with which the Hebrews were more or less closely allied. How rank was its growth in Egypt is made manifest in several parts of this work. Babylon was thought to have been less corrupt, in consequence of its addiction to the wor

thus both explaining and vindicating Holy Writ. (See Is. xxi. 9; xlvi. 1. Jer li. 47,

52).

The images also (teraphim) which Rachel

stole from Laban (Genesis xxxi. 19; comp.

Ezek. xxi. 21), and which were probably small figures in human shape, a species of household gods, long remained a source of iniquity and harm to Israel (Judg. xvi. 5, seq. 1 Samuel xv. 23; xix. 13, 16. 2 Kings xxiii. 24.) See IDOLATRY.

IMAGINATION (L. imago, a likeness,' or representation') stands in Gen. vi. 5; viii. 21, for a Hebrew word signifying 'to form,' and so denotes the creations or thoughts of the mind; but in Deut. xxix. 19. Jer. iii. 17, another term, sherrooth (to bind,'' harden,'' be hard'), is better rendered in the margin by stubbornness ;' while in other instances (Prov. vi. 18. Lam. iii. 60) a third word (meaning 'to unite'), rendered imaginations,' seems to have reference to the power of association, setting forth thoughts and purposes as connected with and arising from each other.

6

IMMORTALITY (L. in, not,' and mors, 'death'), deathlessness, which is an exact rendering of the Greek original in 1 Cor. xv 53, 54; but in Romans ii. 7, immortality' stands for a Greek term that properly means 'incorruption' (1 Cor. xv. 50, 53, 54); that is, the state which is free from the liability to corruption, under which our mortal bodies' change and die. Both 'immortality' (1 Tim. vi. 16) and 'incorruption' (Rom. i. 23) can be asserted absolutely of no one but God; who, however, through his Son, has