Idol Pleasures

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Perhaps it would be dangerous to mount an exhibit of idols in Jerusalem. So the Bible Lands Museum calls its latest exhibit “The Human Form Divine.” The show consists of nearly 200 figurines from the private collection of super-collector Elie Borowski, who, together with his wife Batya, created (and largely financed) this gem of a museum. Well into his 80s, Elie continues to serve as the museum’s majordomo.

What immediately strikes one in viewing the exhibit is the amazing variety of these figurines from a dozen cultures or more over a period of some ten thousand years. Yet all these diverse peoples felt the urge to create figurines such as these. Much scholarship is devoted to describing and classifying them. Then there is the speculation regarding the identities of the figurines—is a particular object a fertility figurine or perhaps a goddess like Asherah or a god like Reshef? But the hardest question is how these figures were used. Why did so many different peoples create these ubiquitous little figures? And what did they do with them?

Indeed, were they even idols? According to Borowski, some may have just been works of art, the result of a creative urge; others, he says unconvincingly, may have been toys.

Borowski would limit the term idol to something intended to be worshiped. On this basis, he excludes small popular household figures. These of course recall the teraphim that Rachel stole from her father Laban when she left for Canaan in the caravan of her husband Jacob (Genesis 31:19, 35). Teraphim is almost always translated, however, as “idols” or “household gods” or “household idols.”

But how were these teraphim, or household gods, used? No one really knows with any certainty. Perhaps they were apotropaic, intended to protect the household 024from evil. But were they displayed—or merely purchased and put away? Were they simply gazed upon? Or were prayers offered to them?

Imagine the mother-to-be whose husband brings home a figurine of a pregnant woman. Or, after the birth, a figurine with large breasts filled with milk. Was that the message he intended to convey—an easy birth in which both mother and child survived; or, alternatively, lots of milk? What if, instead, he brought home a figurine of a slender woman with an emphasized pubic triangle and an exposed vulva? Was this evidence of the husband’s hope that his wife would become pregnant? Or something else? As to all of these, did he just bring them home or did he do something with them? No one really knows.

Some of the figurines in the exhibit may have been miniature replicas of large statues of gods and goddesses set up in their temples. Perhaps these small replicas were ex voto, offerings brought to 025the temple in the hope that a supplication would be granted. Again, there are more questions than answers.

And why are figurines of females so much more abundant than those of males?

Borowski speculates that a reluctance to mold facial or other anatomical details, a reluctance that persisted for thousands of years, reflects “an expression of eternity” or “eternal form.” He may be right, but I wonder how he knows. Yet some of these figures do seem to express some eternal longing. Others seem more like an ancient version of dirty pictures. Still others seem like the incarnation of wisdom. Or an ancient Pan-like creature who gets into all sorts of mischief. Or a voodoo practitioner.

You can substitute for my characterizations your own musings. But if you are in Jerusalem before November, a visit to the Bible Lands Museum would be well worthwhile. If you’re not, but are fascinated by the subject, order a copy of the beautifully produced catalogue, which features a preface by Pierre Amiet, the distinguished art historian and former chief curator of the Departement des Antiquités Orientales at the Louvre, and a more extended essay by Agnès Spycket, also formerly of the Louvre. Photographs of the objects by David Harris are just what you would expect from the lens of this well-known photographer—simply beautiful.

For more information or to order a copy of the catalogue, contact the Bible Lands Museum Jerusalem, Museum Row, 25 Granot Street, P.O. Box 4670, Jerusalem 91046, ISRAEL.

E-mail: biblelnd@netvision.net.il. Phone: 011–972-2–561-1066; Fax: 011–972-2–563-8228. Or visit the museum’s Web site at www.blmj.org.

Perhaps it would be dangerous to mount an exhibit of idols in Jerusalem. So the Bible Lands Museum calls its latest exhibit “The Human Form Divine.” The show consists of nearly 200 figurines from the private collection of super-collector Elie Borowski, who, together with his wife Batya, created (and largely financed) this gem of a museum. Well into his 80s, Elie continues to serve as the museum’s majordomo. What immediately strikes one in viewing the exhibit is the amazing variety of these figurines from a dozen cultures or more over a period of some ten thousand years. Yet all […]