Avodah Zarah

What means miplezeth [abominable image]? — Rab Judah said: [An object which] intensifies licentiousness [maphli' lezanutha] as R. Joseph taught: It was a kind of phallus with which she had daily connection. R. Jose said to [the Rabbis]: But has it not been stated, He brake in pieces the brazen serpent that Moses had made.  They replied to him: Can any proof be adduced from this passage? Behold it states, And the Lord said unto Moses, Make leka ['thee'] a fiery serpent,  — 'leka' means 'from what belongs to thee,' and a man cannot render prohibited what is not his property!  — In the affair [of the brazen serpent] there was really no necessity for it to have been broken in pieces,  but when [Hezekiah] saw that the Israelites were erring after it, he arose and destroyed it. [R. Jose] said to [the Rabbis]: But has it not been stated — And they left their images there, and David and his men took then away  — and what means, and David … took them away? — It is an expression for scattering, as R. Joseph translated  the word in the passage, Thou shalt fan them and the wind shall carry them away.  and we translate it: 'Thou shalt winnow them and a wind will disperse them'! They replied to him: Can any proof be adduced from this passage? Behold it states, And they were burned with fire,  and since it is not written, 'and he burnt them and took them away,' conclude that took them away must be interpreted in the literal sense [and not as 'scattered']! Nevertheless the two verses are contradictory! — It is as R. Huna pointed out; for R. Huna objected: It is written, And David gave commandment, and they were burned with fire, and it is written, he took them away. There is no contradiction; the first passage refers to the time before Ittai the Gittite came, the latter to after his coming;  for it is written, And he took the crown of Malcam from off his head, and the weight thereof was a talent of gold.  But was that permissible since any advantage is prohibited [from an idol]? — R. Nahman explained: Ittai the Gittite came and annulled it. If the weight [of the crown] was a talent of gold, how could [David] have put it on? — Rab Judah said in the name of Rab: [The meaning is] that it was fit to rest upon David's head.  R. Jose son of R. Hanina said: There was a lodestone in it  which raised it up.  R. Eleazar said: [The meaning is] that there was a precious stone in it worth a talent of gold. This I have had, because I kept Thy precepts  — what does this intend? — The following: as a reward for keeping Thy precepts, 'this' is a testimony on my behalf.  What was its testimony? — R. Joshua b. Levi said: He used to wear [the crown] in the place of the phylacteries and it fitted him. But it would be necessary for him to put on the phylacteries! R. Samuel son of R. Isaac said: There is sufficient room on the forehead to lay two sets of phylacteries. [It is written], Then he brought out the king's son and put upon him the Nezer and the testimony.  'Nezer' — that is the 'crown'. [What is] 'the testimony'? — Rab Judah said in the name of Rab: It was a testimony to the house of David that whoever was eligible for the throne [the crown] fitted, but it would not fit anyone who was not eligible. [It is written], Then Adonijah the son of Haggith exalted himself saying, I will be king.  Rab Judah said in the name of Rab: He exalted himself [thinking that the crown] would fit him, but it did not fit him. And he prepared his chariots, and horsemen, and fifty men to run before him. In what did their superiority consist? — It has been taught: All of them had had their spleen cut out and the soles of their feet hollowed.