SCARECROW

An object such as a pole or pile of stones arranged in a field in such a way as to frighten away birds or other animals. Jeremiah likened the idols of the nations to “a scarecrow [Heb., toʹmer] of a cucumber field.” (Jer. 10:5) The word toʹmer is elsewhere rendered “palm tree.” (Judg. 4:5) The root verb ta·marʹ, from which toʹmer is drawn, is thought to correspond to an Arabic word meaning “to be erect”; toʹmer can therefore mean “palm tree.” But, as to the rendering of toʹmer at Jeremiah 10:5, modern translators seem generally to agree with the suggestion of Koehler and Baumgartner, in Lexicon in Veteris Testamenti Libros, that it be rendered “scarecrow” in this text. Truly the idols of the nations amounted to no more than a scarecrow, a falsity.—AT, Mo, NE, 1970 ed., NW, RS.