Small household figurines used for divination and as protective household gods. Rachel stole Laban's teraphim (Gen 31); they appear alongside legitimate religion, showing how syncretism crept into Israel.
The teraphim represent the compromise of exclusive YHWH worship with household religion. Even Micah's household had a teraphim-shrine (Judg 17-18). Their condemnation is consistent: Josiah's reform destroys them (2 Kgs 23:24).
Teraphim represent the perennial temptation to mix exclusive covenant loyalty with popular religion. Samuel equates consulting teraphim with rebellion (1 Sam 15:23). Josiah's purge was Reformation-like — removing what had accumulated.