In I Samuel 19:13, why was there an idol in David and Michal’s house? I know Saul erected a monument for himself in Carmel (I Samuel 15:12). Did Saul and his children worship other gods?<\/p>\n\t
The Hebrew word\u00a0teraphim<\/em>\u00a0is often translated as a “household idol,” but some translators, such as Koehler-Baumgartner, think that it is better translated as an image. The argument is that the word applies to any statue of a human or a human bust. Now, many idols were done as human-like statues, but it doesn’t follow that all statues were idols. You’ll find that the New King James version takes the more neutral approach of translating the word as “image” instead of imposing an implication that might not be proper.<\/p>\n But if it was true that the image was an idol, then it is further evidence that idolatry remained a problem in Israel. I would have to assume it was there because of Michal and not David.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Question: In I Samuel 19:13, why was there an idol in David and Michal’s house? I know Saul erected a monument for himself in Carmel (I Samuel 15:12). Did Saul and his children worship other gods? Answer: The Hebrew word\u00a0teraphim\u00a0is often translated as a “household idol,” but some translators, such as Koehler-Baumgartner, think that it…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[111,304],"class_list":["post-30813","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-david","tag-idolatry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":42468,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/innocent-statues-or-idolatry\/","url_meta":{"origin":30813,"position":0},"title":"Innocent Statues or Idolatry?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 29, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"by Mike Thomas Consider the following quote by Bob Stanley, written in response to the claim that Catholics practice idolatry when honoring statues and images in religion: \"That is what some say that Catholics do. Why do they say that? What is their reference? Where is their documented proof? Show\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/Worship-of-Mary-200x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":88630,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-do-i-look-for-a-wife-without-losing-focus-on-god\/","url_meta":{"origin":30813,"position":1},"title":"How do I look for a wife without losing focus on God?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 12, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hi, How are you? I've been doing well. It has been a rough journey. It's taken me a while to get to where I'm at and sober from alcohol for the last four months. I'm still working on other areas in addiction, of course. I've always had such a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":35050,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-it-wrong-for-a-christian-to-visit-a-place-of-idol-worship-out-of-respect\/","url_meta":{"origin":30813,"position":2},"title":"Is it wrong for a Christian to visit a place of idol worship out of respect?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 8, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hello, I had this question in mind for a long time and I feel you would be the best person who could answer this based on Scripture. I stay in India, and we have a multicultural society with multiple religions and festivals celebrated among friends and neighbors. It is\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":42475,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-is-idolatry\/","url_meta":{"origin":30813,"position":3},"title":"What Is Idolatry?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 14, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: Isaiah 44:9-20 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0I got into a discussion with a teenager about what exactly is idolatry \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0He had the impression that anything you really liked was an idol, whether it was sports, cars, or girls \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0B.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u201cWhat is an idol? Well, it is the thing. It\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":83679,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/in-defense-of-a-jealous-god\/","url_meta":{"origin":30813,"position":4},"title":"In Defense of a Jealous God","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 26, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Richard Blackford Several times, the Bible states that God is a jealous God. One of those is in the Ten Commandments: \"Thou shall not make unto thee any graven image\u2026\u2026Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":18759,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/can-thinking-about-a-girl-constantly-be-idolatry\/","url_meta":{"origin":30813,"position":5},"title":"Can thinking about a girl constantly be idolatry?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 27, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Could you help me understand what idolatry is according to the Bible?\u00a0 I know it seems like a simple concept, but I have heard so much conflicting information on the subject.\u00a0 For example, I heard one preacher complaining that being devoted to American Idol constituted idolatry (how about that?).\u00a0\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30813","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30813"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30813\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30813"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30813"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30813"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}