Israels association of Asherah with sacred trees is repeated over thirty times in the Bible; many of these citations are stereotypically used by the biblical writers to describe sites of idolatrous worship, implying that the worship of Asherah was an apostate behavior in Israel and improper for followers of YHWH. There is some biblical evidence that does see women as particularly attracted to goddess cults (for example, womens role in the cult of the queen of heaven, according to Jer 7:18 and 44:1719, 25), and the various female figurines found in domestic contexts at multiple Israelite sites might also suggest this, assuming, as many scholars do, that women played an especially important role in family-centered religious activities. Either way, God made it clear that the people of Israel shouldnt flirt with such syncretism. In 1 Kings 14, we see that Jeroboam and his followers would be judged by the Lord because they have made their Asherim, provoking the LORD to anger. The same judgment would befall Maacah, the mother of Asa, because she had made an abominable image for Asherah. Required fields are marked *. (1930) by Russian esoteric Christian Nicholas Roerich. The Jews had been commanded by the Lord to tear down and completely destroy all the high places and sacred sites throughout the territory. WebDramatically initiate end-to-end niches . This is one of the helpful points that the Puritan John Owen made in his work The Mortification of Sin. Ahab introduced his wife Jezebels pagan gods into Jewish worship by importing 450 prophets of Baal and 400 prophets of Asherah (1 Kings 18:146). He rebuilt the high places and set up altars for Baal and an Asherah pole. What does asherah pole mean? The mention of these deities in the plural may indicate that each locality had its Baal and Asherah. Another word for terebinth (alla) and two words for oak (elon and allon) are also closely related. of Biblical Literature 105 (1986): 385408. But who was Asherah to the ancient Israelites? Would you like us to send you a FREE new word definition delivered to your inbox daily? It was essentially a phallic symbol. By God himself, of course. For those ancient Israelites who saw Asherah as YHWHs consort, this should suggest a correspondence between the queen mother, the wife of the kings biological father on earth, and Asherah, the wife of YHWH, who was the kings metaphorical father in the heavens. The Asherah pole was often mentioned in the Old Testament as one of the ways the Israelites sinned against the Lord and worshiped other gods. Historians and archaeologists have pieced together Asherahs narrative and found large chunks of it interwoven in the artifacts from the region and in the scriptures of the Hebrew Bible itself. Thegoal of Ancient Origins is to highlight recent archaeological discoveries, peer-reviewed academic research and evidence, as well as offering alternative viewpoints and explanations of science, archaeology, mythology, religion and history around the globe. Ancient Cults Do Not Shed Light On The OT http://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/ancient-cultures/ancient-israel/asherah-and-the-asherim-god… [], [] http://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/ancient-cultures/ancient-israel/asherah-and-the-asherim-god… [], Oops! You so want to say God (Yaweh) had a wife. The branch He mentions is probably an Asherah, a tree or a wooden pole that stood for the fertility goddess. ]. We seek to retell the story of our beginnings. 31 December 1999. Author: www.crosswalk.com Post date: 26 yesterday Rating: 3 (1036 reviews) Highest rating: 4 Low rated: 2 Summary: The Ras Shamra texts identify this goddess as the wife of the god El, the Creator of Creatures, and refer to her as Lady Asherah of the Sea and Progenitress of the Gods, this also making her the mother of Baal. Throughout the history of civilization, the concept of the apocalypse has been ever present, in one way or another. One of the primary reasons Israel fell to the Assyrians was because of Gods anger over their worship of Asherah and Baal (2 Kings 17:523). A little leaven would work through the whole lump and before long they were fully engaged in syncretic worship; having idols, like Asherah, in the very temple of YHWH. But the gospel teaches something different. He was offended by what was going on. Source: northernway.org, By Mary Naples, Contributing Writer, Classical Wisdom Weekly, Anya Leonard is the co-founder and Director of Classical Wisdom Weekly. It was reputed in local legend to be the seat of the god Wotan and to be haunted. (1Ki 14:22-24; 2Ki 17:10) Only seldom did kings such as Hezekiah (and Josiah) come along, who removed the high places and broke the sacred pillars to pieces and cut down the sacred pole.2Ki 18:4; 2Ch 34:7. That's why God got angry and for the record Jesus said that the Unpardonable Sin is Sinning against the Holy Spirit there is no coming back from that blunder. Conversely, when destroyed, these cult symbols can be described as being cut down, hewn down, or uprooted; they can also be said to be burned, overturned, or broken. For example, one of Asherahs sacred poles stood next to YHWHs altar at Bethel, one of the two great cult sites of the northern kingdom of Israel (2 Kgs 23:15). Kevelaer, Germany: 1993. When you read in the Scriptures about worship under every green tree there is likely at least some connection to the worship of Asherah. What we see with the new covenant is that God changes our hearts. Based on the study of artwork and drawings from the ancient Near East, biblical scholars suggest that some images of plain and carved poles, staffs, a cross, a double ax, a tree, a tree stump, a headdress for a priest, and several wooden images could be illustrations representing the goddess Asherah. If you only try to uproot them, they grow back; but they can be supplanted. Archaeologists speculate that it is an image of an Asherah pole. From what i know Asherah is a false god(dess) which the Children of Israel worshiped and abandoned God for. The relation of the literary references to an asherah and archaeological finds of Judaean pillar-figurines has engendered a literature of debate. inscriptions from the Sinai; the late-thirteenth-century B.C.E. It was closely associated with the worship of Baal: The Israelites did evil in the LORDs sight. This same command is given in Deuteronomy 7:5 and 12:3. Fairchild, Mary. So I will hand over my holy mountainalong with all your wealth and treasures and your pagan shrinesas plunder to your enemies, for sin runs rampant in your land. Only seven instances of Asherah are references to the goddess herself. That's essentially all I'm aware of The Holy Spirit the wife of God. Atlanta: The Hebrews were not to intermarry with pagan nations and were to avoid anything that might be seen as pagan worship (Leviticus 20:23; 2 Kings 17:15; Ezekiel 11:12). Your email address will not be published. The strategy for dealing with idolatry that we see employed in the minor prophets is that they are shown to be empty. And while some people may seem content with the story as it stands, our view is that there existcountless mysteries, scientific anomalies and surprising artifacts thathave yet to be discovered and explained. That usage reflects a chain of associations. The 4.What Is an Asherah Pole and Does it Have Biblical Significance? Trees, often connected to fertility, had been considered a sacred symbol for the nurturing figure of Asherah. http://www.transoxiana.org/0108/roberts-enheduanna.html, If you look at the Anchor Bible Series on the book of Psalms you will notice that they are full of expressions borrowed from Canaanite mythology. But centuries ago, the land that is now the United States was a very different place As Greek mythology goes, the universe was once a big soup of nothingness. A Blazing Weapon: Unraveling the Mystery of Greek Fire, Theyre Alive! As much as the ruling elite tried to inhibit Asherah and Yahwehs marriage, their union appears solidified in an ancient blessing seen with some regularity at a number of excavation sites in the region. The Moora Mystery: What Happened When a Girl Stepped into the Moor 2,500 Years Ago? Many scholars believe that Asherahs tree functioned in the Garden of Eden parable. (2Ki 21:7) Manasseh was disciplined by being taken captive to Babylon and, upon his returning to Jerusalem, showed he had profited from that discipline and cleansed Jehovahs house of idolatrous appendages. and the Cult of Yahweh in Israel. Most people have that, yet their souls are riddled with idols. Day, John. Nearly all instances of Asherah in the Bible refer to a sacred pole constructed by human hands and erected in honor of the fertility goddess. When northern Israel was dispersed into the nations by the Assyrians in 722 BCE, they carried this "tree" custom with them. The Bible also connects sacred poles with the high places (open-air cult sites?) What the Bible says about When Abraham first entered the cave, he saw a light, then dust scattered, revealing two graves. What is the origin of the legend of the Christed Son who was born of a virgin on December 25th? He even deposed his grandmother Maacah from her position as queen mother because she had made an obscene Asherah pole. A A modest proposal is that they were originally living trees but eventually became wooden poles. There is also a connection with Abraham whom the Hittites referred to as a prince and an ancient tradition of self-governance in Canaan; Hear us my lord, you are the prince (nesi) of God among us (Genesis 23:6). The Lord God Jehovah is perfect, man is not. inscription from Khirbet el-Qom, about twenty-five miles southwest of Jerusalem, contains similar language in 1 Kgs 15:13 and 2 Kgs 18:4, 21:7, and 23:6 (with parallels in 2 Chronicles) indicate that at least during certain points in the ninth, eighth, and seventh centuries B.C.E., Asherahs sacred pole was perceived as an appropriate icon to erect in Jerusalem, even in YHWHs temple. According to the biblical record, these sacred poles or stylized trees associated with Asherah were erected by the Israelites throughout most of their history, especially during the premonarchic (tribal) period (Judg 6:2526, 28, 30)) and during the period of the divided monarchy, both in the northern kingdom of Israel (1Kgs 14:15; 16:33; 2 Kgs 13:6; 17:10, 16; 23:15; and parallel references in 2 Chronicles) and in Judah, in the south (1 Kgs 14:23, 15:13; 2 Kgs 18:4; 21:3, 7; 23:6, 14; and parallel references in 2 Chronicles). Israelite ceramic figure of a nude woman, identified as an Asherah pillar. By way of contrast, the intellectual community in the metropolis produced a text, which was written entirely from the perspective of the upper or ruling classes. The sacred pole of Samaria, moreover, which was erected during the reign of King Ahab (reigned 873852 B.C.E. A number of modern Bible translations, though, have rendered the original-language word as sacred pole(s) [or post] but transliterated it when the reference is apparently to the goddess. Likewise, these writers do not always make a clear distinction between references to the goddess Asherah and the objects dedicated to her for worship. WebMeaning of asherah pole. And Ahab made an Asherah. When I read that verse my first instinct is to say, I sure hope he had a tissue. Is an Asherah a good thing, or a bad thing? Sign up to receive our email newsletter and never miss an update. It has been suggested that the poles represented the female principle, whereas the pillars represented the male principle. Ezekiel 8:17. (AT, JB) Others have not endeavored to make a distinction but have simply transliterated the Hebrew word (RS) or have consistently translated it sacred pole(s). (NW) In the older translations of the Bible, the Hebrew word has usually been rendered as grove(s). (KJ, Le) But this rendering is inappropriate in such texts as Judges 3:7 and 2Kings 23:6 (KJ), which speak of serving groves and bringing out the grove from the temple at Jerusalem. (Nick Thompson/ CC BY NC SA 2.0 ), In fact, this phrase Yahweh and his Asherah was so quotidian that it actually appears in the Hebrew Bible itself. But this revival would only last about as long as Asaas only a short time thereafter Ahab made an Asherah and did more to provoke the LORDto anger than all the kings of Israel who were before him.. Even their children go to worship at their pagan altars and Asherah poles, beneath every green tree and on every high hill. The Sacred Poles. An Asherah pole is a sacred tree or pole that stood near Canaanite religious locations to honor the Ugaritic mother goddess Asherah, consort of El. If Jezebel had the goddess Asherah Astarteas the one she worshiped.. One should know it was nothing to do with The Lord God most High Jehovah.