The teraphim....were family idols....or household gods. Genesis 31:19 records how Rachel stole her father's teraphim....probably for some occult power on her journey. Judges 17:5 tells us how in idolatrous Israel....teraphim were used for divination. Ezekiel tells us in 21:21 how the king of Babylon sought guidance from them. Zechariah mentions that these idols "spoke"....nonsense or deceit.....(Zechariah 10:2)....and Josiah outlawed all the teraphim....this is II Kings 23:24.
"For the idols (teraphim) speak delusion
The diviners have seen a lie
and have told false dreams
They comfort in vain
Therefore they went their way as a flock
They were troubled
because there was no shepherd
Mine anger was kindled against the shepherds....Zechariah 10: 2, 3a
Apparently these were little....you could hold them in your hand....household idols that the rebellious Israelites tried to get divine wisdom from....their own personal ephods? So do we in modern times have our own form of teraphim? Well....statues of saints qualify. My mother had a Saint Anthony statue by her bedside until the last few years of her life. I wore a Saint Jude medal around my neck in my youth....for protection. It didn't help....for one evening....out on the town....I was in a restroom...at a service station.....and another guy came in and started trouble....(he was drunk...I wasn't) In that scuffle my medal was torn off. An hour later I noticed that my Saint Jude medal was missing so I went back to get it. This time there was this guy and a few friends. It didn't turn out well....even though I retrieved my medal.
I have to wonder though if we have a different sort of modern-day teraphim that we rely on for guidance? If so then my iPhone would count as one....which I consult a hundred times a day....or my laptop....or my television....or my Sirius/XM? Are we not often asking Siri or Google or Alexa questions? A few years ago I was about to ask Siri a question. Just then my wife was walking out the door going to work....so I shouted out...."What time do you get off?" Siri then answered me....a little huffy...."We're talking about you Special Dog....not me!" I learned my lesson with that woman.
We seek guidance from Fox cable....and talk radio....and podcasts. We want advice on investing....and on what the best product might be....and what Trump or Franklin Graham's latest tweet (X) or Facebook entry was. We let a television comedy tell us what truth is. So the question is....have we turned these devices into idols? I know that I have with this iPhone. Is this our form of divination?
So where are the shepherds? Well they are probably on their iPhone also....or listening to a podcast....maybe Eric Metaxas or Jonathan Cahn. Wherever they are they have not been warning the sheep on anything....except possibly this...that we shouldn't get too caught up in wondering when Jesus will return!
