Selections on Judges · §6 · Origen of Alexandria

The ephod and the household idol

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Origen is explaining the objects mentioned in the story of Micah, distinguishing the priestly ephod from the idolatrous theraphin.

He made an ephod and a household idol. The ephod was a priestly woven garment, and when the priest wore it, the grace of the Holy Spirit came upon him. The household idol, however, was not divine but idolatrous, as is shown in the books of Kingdoms (Samuel and Kings).

Greek

Καὶ ἐποίησεν Ἐφὼδ καὶ Θεραφείν. Ἐφὼδ ὕφασμα ἦν ἱερατικὸν, ὅπερ περικειμένῳ τῷ ἱερεῖ ἐφοίτα τοῦ ἁγίου Πνεύματος ἡ χάρις. Τὸ δὲ Θεραφεὶν τοιοῦτο μέντοι, οὐ θεῖκὸν δὲ, ἀλλʼ εἰδωλικὸν, ὡς ἐν ταῖς βασιλείαις δείκνυται.

About this text

Origen's selections on Judges, answering hard passages such as Jephthah's vow and the Shibboleth test.

Origen of Alexandria (c. 185–c. 254) wrote these selections on Judges. They are not his homilies on Judges, and they are not his notes on Judges. He addressed them to readers who found certain passages morally troubling or hard to understand. His purpose was to defend the text against objections and to explain difficult words, customs, and objects.

He responds to apparent problems such as Jephthah's rash vow, the pronunciation test used against the Ephraimites, and the temporary barrenness of Samson's mother. Origen argues that divine help and human error can be distinguished in Jephthah's case, and that the Benjamites' early defeats were a just punishment for a prior wrong.

A reader should know that the test word rendered here as "ear of grain" is the Hebrew term behind the famous "shibboleth" episode in Judges 12:6. The "books of Kingdoms" refers to what are now called the books of Samuel and Kings. The "preceding cause" of the Benjamites' punishment is the atrocity described in Judges 19–20. Origen also explains that the ephod was a priestly garment, while the theraphin were idolatrous objects.

New English from the Greek base text; no published English used as wording.

Printed text used

Translated from Migne PG 12 (1862) (Greek)

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