סֶ֫מֶל

From the study of Ezekiel 8:3

Range of meaning

A statue or carved figure, especially a cultic image. It appears only five times: Deuteronomy 4:16 ('the form of any figure'); 2 Chronicles 33:7, 15 (Manasseh's 'carved image, the semel' placed in the house of God, later removed); and Ezekiel 8:3, 5.

Against the English

'Idol' (BSB, NIV) is accurate in judgment but can suggest a small household figurine. 'Image' (KJV, WEB) and 'figure' (YLT) are closer to the neutral sense of 'statue.'

Used elsewhere in the period

The word is related to Phoenician sml, which is used in inscriptions for statues set up in sanctuaries, so it may be a borrowed or regional word. The parallel 2 Kings 21:7 calls Manasseh's temple statue 'the carved image of Asherah.' The Chronicler's 'semel' corresponds to it.

From the study of 2 Chronicles 33:7

Range of meaning

A statue, image or likeness, especially a cult figure set up for worship. In the Hebrew Bible it occurs only five times: Deut 4:16, Ezek 8:3 and 8:5 (the 'image of jealousy' at the temple's north gate), and 2 Chr 33:7 and 33:15.

Against the English

BSB folds it into 'carved image'. KJV and WEB use 'idol', ESV and NASB 'the idol'. 'Idol' gets the function right, but it loses the specific physical sense of a statue, the link to Deuteronomy 4:16, and the fact that Chronicles picked this word to replace 'Asherah'.

Used elsewhere in the period

Phoenician and Punic inscriptions use the cognate sml (feminine smlt) for a statue, often a votive or cult statue, so the word may have been a Phoenician loanword for a figure of a deity. Deuteronomy 4:16 uses it in a law against images: 'lest you make for yourselves a carved image (pesel), the form of any figure (semel), male or female'. Ezekiel 8:3–5 sees 'the semel of jealousy, which provokes to jealousy' standing at the temple entrance, a vision of the temple polluted in the last years before 586 BC.