In this article: Terah: Biography in Brief Terah and Nimrod Terah the Idol Worshipper Terah's Later Years The question the rabbis are trying to answer with the Midrash is why and how did Haran die in the presence of his father. There are three universal kinds of idolatry. It is suggested that he was a man in search of a greater truth that could possibly be found in the familiar[10] land of Canaan, and that it was Abram who picked up the torch to continue his father's quest, that Terah himself was unable to achieve. Most likely, the same thing happened to Shems descendants. The consequence was, his father and the idolatrous priests of that day sought to take his life. He added that if his father did so, he would earn great rewards both in this life and the hereafter. Perhaps he became sick. The Jewish tradition recognizes Terah as the instigator as well as the leader of his familys immigration to the land of Canaan. When this happens, they are open to manipulation by malevolent forces like we are seeing today in the United States and Europe. This section has remarkable parallels, both in thought and expression, with chaps. God was not waiting for Terah to die before He called Abram away from his father's house and his influence. The people of Terah worshiped idols. The family had descended from Shem and his son Arpachshad. At face value, it seems that the fault lay with the the new generation that did not know God. More insights from your Bible study - Get Started with Logos Bible Software for Free! Ijebu-isiwo Is Under Which Local Government, For those of us who are Catholic, we should not despair over the state of the Church. Would you like updates when content is posted? Why do ye worship things that have no spirit in them? 41 And Terahs anger was kindled against his son Abram, when he spoke this; and Terah said to Abram his son in his anger, What is this tale that thou hast told? They were polytheistic and idol worshippers. The rich pantheon of the ancient gods made it so there was no shortage of work for Terah. What a blessing that God can call anyone, regardless of their ancestry and former faith, to live a life for Him and be a part of His great plan. 29 And Abram took the savory meat from his mother, and brought it before his fathers gods into the chamber; and he came nigh unto them that they might eat, and he placed it before them, and Abram sat before them all day, thinking perhaps they might eat. "I worship the sun by day and the moon and the stars by night," he said to Haran. President Nelson shared the following story last April: I adored my parents. [21] From the Quran 74/6, "And [mention, O Muhammad], when Abraham said to his a Azar: Do you take idols as deities? Being his father, Azar needed Abrahams most earnest consultation. The name of Abrahams Father, Terah, is etymologicallyrelated to the word moon.1 Since the moon god was the chief deity of Ur, it would not be unusual that someone like Terah would be named after the moon god, in essence signifying that he and his family were under the protection of that god. All rights reserved. 16 And Abram came to his fathers house and saw twelve gods standing there in their temples, and the anger of Abram was kindled when he saw these images in his fathers house. ", Abraham told his father that he had indeed received revelations from God, knowledge which his father did not possess,[22] and told him that belief in God would grant him immense rewards in both this life and the hereafter. Foster, Nicole, Terah: The Father of Abraham and The Protector of the Moon, Joshua 24:2 The Doctrinal Dissertation of Nicole Foster, The New Exodus, A Virtual Congregation. They eventually abandoned God, leading to the destruction of their nation by the Assyrians and the Babylonians. Deciding to relocate to the land of Canaan, Terah gathered his family and departed from Ur. [18], In contrast to Al-Islam.org,[42] Shi'ite scholar and jurist Mohammad Taqi al-Modarresi believed[when?] See Larsson, Gerhard. [17], According to Ibn Kathir, a scholar of Sunni Islam, Abraham's father is believed to have been a disbelieving man,[18] due to his refusal to listen to the constant advice of his son. Abraham responds that clouds hold water. These were faint echoes, but nevertheless, the knowledge of God was not completely extinguished. Copyright 2002-2023 Got Questions Ministries. The Midrash regards Terah as wicked. was terah an idol worshipper testimonios de personas operadas de tiroides. Consider this quote from the book of Judges in the Old Testament: And all that generation also were gathered to their fathers; and there arose another generation after them, who did not know the LORDor the work which he had done for Israel.. The Midrash is also used by James Kugel, the chair of the Institute for the History of the Jewish Bible at Bar Ilan University in Israel, in his book The Bible As It Was, published in 1997 by Harvard University, to look at how stories from the Bible have been changed to how they are taught in the modern day. how many sharks are left in the world 2021; baked chicken with bell peppers and onions; pastor ed young daughter; There's an old Jewish midrash out of Tanna d'Bei Eliyahu about Abraham and his father, Terah. The evidence seems to say yes. [34] This means that Abraham came out unharmed and outstanded people. It takes a lot of work and a concerted effort to catechize children. After his passing, Abraham departed from Haran. This comes from the idea that Abraham did not need proof of God before being cast into the fire, which is why God saved him. 33 And when Abram saw all these things his anger was kindled against his father, and he hastened and took a hatchet in his hand, and came unto the chamber of the gods, and he broke all his fathers gods. This one, enraged against them on account of their behavior, took the hatchet and broke them all, and, behold, the hatchet is yet in his hands, as thou mayest see., Then Terah turned in wrath upon Abraham, and he said: Thou speakest lies unto me! | GotQuestions.org, Who was Lot in the Bible? That would make the birth of Abraham 352 years after the flood. Abrahams wife Sarai was named after the wife of the moon god.2 According to Joshua, the entire family, including Abraham, were idolaters. The same thing happens in civil society where a generation arises that is ignorant of their nations history. 3 "You shall have no other gods before me. For Nimrod's stargazers told the king that Terah's newly-bom son would one day be a danger to his throne. "The God of Abraham and the God of Nahor, the God of their father, judge between us.". Rabbi Hiyya relates this account in the Genesis Rabba: Terah left Abram to mind the store while he departed. So Jacob swore by the fear of his father Isaac. Why did Lot offer up his daughters to be gang raped? Your fathers dwelt on the other side of the flood. He states that we are too close to the council historically to have a clear perspective on it. From Amazon: When Msgr. There is a consensus among Shia Muslim scholars and exegetes that Azar was not the biological father of Abraham but rather his paternal uncle while Terah is believed to be his father. Was Abraham an idol worshipper before he met God? How old are you? His father, Haran, died in Ur. Discourse by President John Taylor, Duties of the SaintsThe Atonement, etc. Terah was an idol manufacturer who once went away and left Abraham in charge of the store. Abraham held this special position because he was of the line of Shem that received this blessing from God through Noah. It is thou that didst place the hatchet in his hands, and then sayest he smote them all. In Joshua 24:2 we read: "In olden times, your forefathers - Terah, father of Abraham and father of Nahor - lived beyond the Euphrates and worshiped other gods." Abram probably had no idea just how big Gods overarching plan was when He called Abram to leave his home and journey to Canaan. They meant the world to me and taught me crucial lessons. He had twelve chief gods, one for each month of the year, and other idols. d. Genesis 11:26 And Terah lived seventy years, and begat Abram, Nahor, and Haran. Before Joshua led the Israelites to conquer Canaan about 800 years after Abraham lived, he said the following: "Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: Long ago your ancestors - Terah and his sons Abraham and Nahor - lived beyond the Euphrates and served other . 18 Those who make them will be like them, and so will all who trust in them. It is shrouded in mystery to Jewish scholars as to why Terah began the journey and as to why the journey ended prematurely. Abraham told him that a woman came in to make an offering to the idols. His father came in and asked what he had been doing, what great sin this was that he had committed, why he was so sacrilegious in his feelings and so wicked as to seek to destroy these gods? Was Abraham an idol worshipper before he met God? 6. The Christian tradition states that Abram departed from Haran after Terahs passing. Would you worship a being like that? But nevertheless our history informs us that the priests were angry and stirred up his father against him. As such Terah remains an obscure figure in the biblical tradition. This journey enables Avram's separation from the idol worshipping culture in Ur and ultimately as preparation for separating from his father. (E.g., Numbers Rabbah 19:1; 19:33.) A man walked in and wished to buy an idol. Terah or Trach (Hebrew: / , Modern Tra / Tra Tiberian Tra / Tra ; "Ibex, wild goat", or "Wanderer; loiterer") was the father of Abraham mentioned in the Hebrew Bible. Terah, in response to Abraham's question to him about who the God was that had created heaven and earth and the children of men, took him to the hall wherein stood twelve great idols and a large number of little idols, and pointing to them he said, "Here are they who have made all thou seest on earth, they who have created also me and thee and Haran is the son of Terah, brother of Abraham, and the father of Lot. "Why do you make sport of me?" Footnotes. Genesis - NIV Application Commentary by John Walton. c. Terah was an idol worshipper. 47 And how can you continue to do this and serve gods of wood and stone, who cannot hear, or speak, or deliver you from oppression, thereby bringing down the anger of the God of the universe upon you? Subscribe to the Two years after the great flood, when Shem was 100 years old, he became the father of Arphaxad. They all started out theologically orthodox and have all abandoned their faith to embrace the secular spirit of the age.7 Examples today include Christian churches personifying the earth as a goddess and the acceptance of the idea that there are multiple paths to heaven. One day Abraham smashed all the idols and left, leaving the stick with which he did so in the hand of the biggest idol. Joshua 24:15 And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD. After the incident of the idol wreckage, the people of Abraham, while having admitted their fault, are said to have ignored Abraham's warning and instead retaliated by throwing him into a fire and exclaiming "protect your gods". 45 And forget the Lord God who made heaven and earth, and who created you in the earth, and thereby bring a great evil upon your souls in this matter by serving stone and wood? After the Flood, Noah said that the line of Shem would be blessed. When God makes a promise, it is irrevocable. According to the Book of Genesis 11, Terah was the son of Nahor, who was the son of Serug, who was the son of Reu, who was the son of Peleg, who was the son of Eber, who was the son of Shelah, who was the son of Arpachshad, who was the son of Shem, who was one of the sons of Noah . One day he had to leave home and left his shop full of idols in the care of his son Abraham who was then very young. 26 And Abram saw on the day when he was sitting amongst them, that they had no voice, no hearing, no motion, and not one of them could stretch forth his hand to eat. In Gibbons Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, he states that when the Roman emperor Julian the Apostate invaded Persia in 263 AD, he stopped briefly at Haran. It is usually practiced toward a real or supposed higher power, whether such power is believed to have animate existence . As such, he is a descendant of Shem's son Arpachshad. Are they not wood and stone? He was not shackled by his fathers idolatrous past, and by choosing to abide by Gods instruction to desert his father, he was relieved from the Mitzvah of respecting his parents. Stephen stated that God came before Abraham in Mesopotamia, and instructed him to depart from the Chaldeans, whereas most rabbinical traditions hold the view that it was Terah who arranged the familys journey out of Ur Kasdim (Genesis 11:31). When Abraham was a young boy, he decided to finally teach his community a lesson. American has been de-Christianized and secularized, but there is hope.8Im sure when God revealed Himself to Abraham, there was some familiarity there. Furthermore, he cautioned his father of serious divine punishment if he rejected his advice. These were the feelings of Abraham, and he taught his fathers house, and all around him, as far as he had the privilege. Terah is mentioned in Genesis 11:2627,[1] Joshua 24:2,[2] and 1 Chronicles 1:1727[3] of the Hebrew Bible and Luke 3:3436[4] in the New Testament. In paganism, the forces of nature are personified as gods and there are many of them. Can those idols in which thou trustest deliver thee? However, Joshua 24:2 and 24:14-15 identify Terah (and possibly his family) as worshippers of many gods. [33] Abraham, as a result, remained unhurt both physically and spiritually, having survived the fire of persecution. So Nimrod declares they worship wind. Terah left Abram to mind the store while he departed. Noah knew God, but something happened in the generations that followed to where his descendent Terah and his family were idol worshippers. . But Abraham, trying to reason with his father, said that probably the gods had got to fighting among themselves and had killed one another. One day, Terah had to go somewhere and he left Abraham in charge. Makrim Shrz, Tafsr-i nimna, vol. Rabbi Hiya the grandson of Rabbi Adda from Jaffa says: 'Terah was an idol-worshiper. 32 And he called out and said, Wo unto my father and this wicked generation, whose hearts are all inclined to vanity, who serve these idols of wood and stone which can neither eat, smell, hear nor speak, who have mouths without speech, eyes without sight, ears without hearing, hands without feeling, and legs which cannot move; like them are those that made them and that trust in them. Abraham responds that water puts out fire. But Abraham was a believer in the one God, and not in the gods made by hand. w04 12/1 pp. This also implied that the woman, or the couple, were disfavored toward the gods. When a man would come to buy [an idol], [Abraham] would ask him: "How old are you?" can they hear thy prayers when thou callest upon them? Abraham's father Terah was an Idol worshipper/priest. Azar refused, warning his son that he would get stoned to death if he kept saying such things. Like Noah, Terah also had three sons, Abram being one of them. Ur and Haran were also significant places for the moon worship cult. I welcome you if you are a first time visitor! they replied, "We shall worship your God and the God of your aba, Ibrahim, Isma'il, and Is-haq, one single God: we devote ourselves to Him. [28] When the people returned, they began questioning each other over the wreckage, until some of the people remembered that the youth, Abraham, had spoken of the idols earlier. Abraham was born and brought up in the magnificent city civilization of Babylon -- Iraq.This was the civilization that tried to produce the ultimate man-constructed "house", the Tower of Babel. You may read Genesis 11:10-32 here: Bible Gateway. But now, as the tenth generation from Noah was spreading abroad in the earth, pure worship was becoming a rarity. Not Gods Country Anymore, Real Clear Politics. Look, for example, at Ivy League universities like Harvard and Yale that were originally founded to train Protestant ministers.6 Consider also Catholic universities like Georgetown and Notre Dame. [42] To justify this view, it references a passage of the Quran, which mentions that the sons of Yaqb (Jacob) referred to his uncle Isml (Ishmael), father Is-q (Isaac) and grandfather Ibrhm (Abraham) as his b (Arabic: ):[43], Were you there to see when death came upon Ya'qub? Although on a journey in the right direction, Terah fell short at arriving to the divine destinationin contrast to Abram, who did follow through and achieved the divine goal, and was not bound by his father's idolatrous past. Then the idols argued about which one should eat the offering first. I cannot thank them enough for the happy homelife they created for me and my siblings. Abraham at last thought he would teach his father a lesson by making a clean sweep of his gods. Terah lived his life as an idol worshipper but perhaps this journey is reflective of the fact that towards the end of his life he began to shift away from his past modes of worship and began to seek God. 44 And now surely it is not good for thee nor for the sons of men that are connected with thee, to do these things; are you so silly, so foolish or so short of understanding that you will serve wood and stone, and do after this manner? The story has been used as a way to discuss monotheism and faith in general. According to Genesis 11:26, Terah was 70 years old when he fathered Abram, Nachor, and Haran. Get our Question of the Week delivered right to your inbox! An idol is an image, a representation of anything, or a symbol that is an object of passionate devotion, whether material or imagined. Eugene Kevanes seminal work The Lord of History was originally published in 1980, it responded to a call by the Second Vatican Council to promote a more effective coordination of philosophy and theology so that they supplement one another in revealing . Thus, Al-Islam.org denies that Abraham's biological father was 'Azar', and instead agreed with Ibn Kathir that he was the biblical figure 'Terah',[42] who nevertheless treated him as a polytheist. He replied, 'Fifty or sixty.' [24] Abraham prayed for his father[25] to be forgiven by God, and although he continued to seek forgiveness, it was only because of a promise that he had made earlier to him. Copyright 2002-2023 Got Questions Ministries. Abraham obeyed God's call, and, when he arrived in the land of Canaan, he built an altar to Yahweh at Shechem (Genesis 12:7). Abraham also learned that God desired not to leave the nations in darkness, but to redeem the nations from idolatry and that He was going to use Abrahams descendants to accomplish this. Test and Verification. ", Ahlul Bayt Digital Islamic Library Project, Current Ummah of Islam (Ummah of Muhammad), ibn Abdullah ibn Abdul-Muttalib ibn Hashim, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Terah&oldid=1140843651, Articles needing cleanup from August 2022, Articles with bare URLs for citations from August 2022, All articles with bare URLs for citations, Articles covered by WikiProject Wikify from August 2022, All articles covered by WikiProject Wikify, Pages using infobox person with multiple parents, Wikipedia articles needing factual verification from October 2021, All articles with vague or ambiguous time, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, Mother Abiona or Amtelai the daughter of Karnebo. Terah set out for Canaan but stopped in the city of Haran along the way, where he died. Indeed, the first story in the Quran regarding Abraham is about his interaction with his father, whom the Quran calls Azar. Learn how and when to remove this template message. Through His sacrificial death and resurrection, Jesus would make atonement for the worlds sins, for all who accept His gift of forgiveness and eternal life through faith. 3000-323 BC, 3rd Edition (Blackwell History of the Ancient World), Wiley-Blackwell, Hoboken, N.J., 2015, Hahn, Ph.D., Scott, Kinship by Covenant: A Canonical Approach to the Fulfillment of Gods Saving Promises, Yale University Press, New Haven, CT., 2009, Kramer, Samuel Noah, The Sumerians: Their History, Culture, and Character Revised ed. Haran is thrown into the fire, and is not saved by God. It is clear, however, that Terah himself is an idol worshipper, both from the Midrash stories and from Joshua 24:2. While Terah was gone, Abram had destroyed all of the idols except the largest one. The Bible tells us the Lord said to him: Get thee up from thy fathers house, from the land wherein thou wast born, and go up to a land I will show unto thee, and which I will afterwards give unto thee for an inheritance. And we are told that he went up, not knowing whither he went. 4, It is said Abrahams father was an idolater, and that he had a number of gods in his house. Why does this happen? This article contains links to other interesting articles on the same topic. When I looked it up online I found that it was in the Midrash. 60 And if thy wicked heart will not hearken to my words to cause thee to forsake thy evil ways, and to serve the eternal God, then wilt thou die in shame in the latter days, thou, thy people and all who are connected with thee, hearing thy words or walking in thy evil ways. Following his revelations from Allah, Abraham urged his father to embrace the teachings of Islam and abandon idolatry. Your email address will not be published. The God of Nahor? The very generation who saw the great works of God neglected to pass this knowledge down to their children. The family resided in Ur of the Chaldees. [2] Terah also made and sold idols, as the Midrash Genesis Rabbah 38 explains. And why wilt thou not sense the God of the whole universe, who created thee and in whose power it is to kill and keep alive? Terah was an idol worshipper, like his king, and their chief god was the Sun. He summoned the elders, leaders, judges, and officers of Israel, and they presented themselves before God. Terah is known in the Bible as the father of Abram (known later as Abraham), who in turn received the covenant promise of God regarding the future birth of His Son, Jesus. At the tender age of 13, Abram was personally convicted by the Most High God to cast off all foreign gods, so he smashed all of his father's idols. "Is it an idol of wood or stone that you mean? After the birth of Arphaxad, Shem lived another 500 years and had other sons and daughters. Josh. Terah responded by saying that they are only statues and have no knowledge. and because of this many assume that Abraham was the first of his family to turn from idol worship to iconoclastic monotheism. 37 And when Terah saw this his anger was greatly kindled, and he hastened and went from the room to Abram. Terah was an idol manufacturer who once went away and left Abraham in charge of the store. For just like God made promises about Abrahams line through Shem, He has made precious promises about the invincibility of his Church through St. Peter. Although humanity struck out three timesin Eden, the flood, then the Tower of BabelGod had a plan. [13], In the Samaritan Pentateuch Terah dies aged 145 years and Abram leaves Haran after his death. Some believe that Terah embarked on the journey to discover a greater truth in Canaan, a land with which he was familiar. What was Abrahams religion before God called him? In the Genesis narrative, Terah took his family and left Ur to move to the land of Canaan. 2. 21 And Terah said to his son, Behold these are they which made all thou seest upon earth, and which created me and thee, and all mankind. In post 11, I talked about God appearing to Abraham. Lot, Terahs Grandson and Abrams nephew, is given a short introduction here. According to rabbinic literature Terah was a wicked (Numbers Rabbah 19:1; 19:33), idolatrous priest (Midrash HaGadol on Genesis 11:28) who manufactured idols (Eliyahu Rabbah 6, and Eliyahu Zuta 25). Terah was an idol manufacturer who once went away and left Abraham in charge of the store. Shems genealogy is highlighted in verses 10-26. Scripture doesn't say why. Terah the Idol Worshipper. Abrahams father had instructed him in the doctrines of these idols, and had sought to induce him to have faith in them and in their power, authority, and dominion, telling him what great personages they were. Adam you are indeed Dumb. Although it has become accepted in the Jewish tradition that Genesis reveals that Terah fathered Abram at the age of 70, which has served as one of the founding facts of the current Jewish year, a question still remains on whether Abram was the eldest child as the list suggests, or he was placed at the beginning of the list because he was the wisest. Lot, who becomes a main character in Gen. 13:1-14:24, is cast in contrast to Abram. [29] When Abraham arrived, the people immediately began to question him, asking him whether he had anything to do with the broken idols. 3, There is something humorous in a history that we have in relation to this personage. But they end up in Haran instead. Although he was indeed on the correct path, he did not arrive at the divine destination. https://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/terah-37601.php. ", s, al-Tibyn f tafsr al-Qurn, vol. and have I not myself made them? 56 0 foolish, simple, and ignorant king, woe unto thee forever. 88:1 In 1-14 we have an early form of the legend of Abram's protest against idolatry. One of his grandchildren was Lot, whose father, Haran, had died at Ur.[5]. A. Abraham was a born idol worshipper whose father Terah was a professional maker of idols. Abraham mocked them, and said, Surely, the savory meat that I prepared doth not please you, or perhaps it is too little for you! Throughout the old testament of the bible there are many stories of nasty things happening to people who commit acts of idol worship so if you are . These views refute what the Jewish rabbis consider to be true. Scallop T-shirts Men's, "The God of Abraham and the God of Nahor, the God of their father, judge between us.". 5 Jun. One day, he journeyed somewhere and left Abram in charge of his shop. Why did God command Abraham to sacrifice Isaac. When President Nelson shared the story of his breaking the bottles of alcohol his father owned, I kept thinking about another prophet who also broke things. In fact, it is the first commandment. In the Book of Joshua, in his final speech to the Israelite leaders assembled at Shechem, Joshua recounts the history of God's formation of the Israelite nation, beginning with "Terah the father of Abraham and Nahor, [who] lived beyond the Euphrates River and worshiped other gods. Abraham is known to have done something similar. At the end of the book he gives some very encouraging answers, and probably more important, a positive perspective. God taught Abraham about his special heritage that he was a part of a people who were blessed by God. and probably influenced by the declining health of the aged Terah, he took up Pharaoh, though an idolater, knew by this supernatural infliction, that there was //headley/half hours in bible lands volume 2/scenes in the lives of.htm, Hearken and Look; Or, Encouragement for Believers dwelt on the other side of the flood in old time, even Terah, the father of which God hath not even yet cast away was originally himself an idolater, and had //spurgeon/spurgeons sermons volume 27 1881/hearken and look or encouragement.htm, The Perpetual virginity of Blessed Mary. 18 And Abram went from them, and his anger burned within him. For the place, see, The Masoretic Text gives his age at death as 205. So Nimrod declares they worship water. https://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Ivy_League, https://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2009/04/17/rendering_unto_caesar_96034.html, https://catholicstand.com/consequences-50-years-poor-catechesis-1/, Abram was an the idolater who lived in Mesopotamia prior to following God, This is part of the dialogue between faith and reason. Day in and day out, Terah worked diligently crafting "gods" of stone and wood. Terah is a Biblical figure from the book of Genesis. So, one day when I was very young, I went to our basement and smashed on the concrete floor every bottle of liquor! [36] Allamah Tabatabai in his Tafsir al-Mizan appealed to the Quranic verses in which Abraham prayed for his parents, that they show that his father was someone other than Azar. This account records Terah as the first to set out to Canaan with Abram and his family from Ur of the Chaldeans to settle in Canaan (vs. 31-32). 59 Now therefore put away this evil deed which thou doest, and serve the God of the universe, as thy soul is in his hands, and then it will be well with thee. 5, p. 303. The Zohar says that when God saved Abram from the furnace, Terah repented (Zohar Genesis 1:77b) and Rabbi Abba B. Kahana said that God assured Abram that his father Terah had a portion in the World to Come (Genesis Rabbah 30:4; 30:12). According to rabbinical tradition Terah was a wicked (Numbers Rabbah 19:1; 19:33), idolatrous priest (Midrash HaGadol on . Abram was most likely well educated from growing up in Ur. [9] Kugel's interpretation continues in the tradition of looking at this midrash as part of the analysis of monotheism. According to the Midrash, he made and sold idols.