Put simply, an Asherah pole is a wooden idol (likely in the shape of a tree) used to worship the goddess Asherah. One of these Pagan Phoenicians was "Jezebel" (Izebel), who married Ahab, king of Israel (Samaritan king). Asherah cannot provide what she promises. Manasseh, King of Judah, followed the despicable practices of the pagan nations. 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. Canaanites associated Asherah with sacred trees, an association also found in the Israelite tradition. p. 106) . Archaeologists have been able to take a closer look at one of the United Kingdoms most famous shipwrecks. What Is an Asherah Pole Archaeologists argue that these statues depict the goddess Asherah. I am reading aerato lamo assuming: (a) an original r got corrupted to d (see Cross-Freedman ibid. What does it mean that God is a jealous God? In fact, the very notion of polytheism is inherent in the quest for Asherah. Features thousands of biographic and thematic essays on Jewish women around the world. The 4.What Is an Asherah Pole and Does it Have Biblical Significance? He cut down her obscene pole and burned it in the Kidron Valley (1 Kings 15:1213, NLT; see also 2 Chronicles 15:16). Seven years shall Baal fail, eight the Rider of the Clouds. "Asherah/Asherim: Bible." WebAsherah is identified as the consort of the Sumerian god Anu, and Ugaritic El, [7] the oldest deities of their respective pantheons. Ackerman, Susan. The extra-biblical information we have concerning Asherah comes from the city of Ugarit from the 14th-12th-centuries B.C.E. Cut them down. I watched a documentary on this made by PBS which is now on You Tube if i may say the name ? Answer. She was occasionally called Elath (Elat), the Goddess, and may have also been called Qudshu, Holiness.. Atlanta: 1988. So it seems they were not merely wooden poles, but probably quite large carved images. When you visit this site, it may store or retrieve information on your browser, mostly in the form of cookies. I just have found that there were discovered cylinders from XIV century B.C. What is an Asherah Pole Language that speaks of God as mother, for example (as in Deut 32:18; Num 11:1213; Isa 45:910, 49:15; 66:13), probably represents the assimilation of Asherahs maternal characteristics to YHWH. Since the 1920s, archaeologists have uncovered more than 850 terracotta female figurines throughout Israel and Judah dating to the eighth and seventh century BC. The Old Testament writers do not give a detailed description of Asherah or an Asherah pole nor of the origin of the worship of Asherah. Asherah in the Hebrew Bible and Northwest Semitic Literature. Reassessment of Asherah: A Study According to Textual Sources of the First The Jews had been commanded by the Lord to tear down and completely destroy all the high places and sacred sites throughout the territory. By and large, the biblical writers were unhappy that Asherah shared the same platform with their male deity, Yahweh, and repeatedly tried to dissuade their pairing. Asherah and Idol Worship What they sowed earned captivity. In ancient times these altars were typically built under green trees. Before Israel entered and took possession of the promised land, God warned them not to worship Canaans gods (Deuteronomy 6:14-15). The city of Tyre on the Mediterranean coast was home to the best cedars of Lebanon and seemed to have been an important center for the worship of Asherah. In the above article the author mentions Asherah as being the mother of the 70 gods of the Canaanite pantheon. (From Forerunner Commentary). For perhaps hundreds of years before Abraham migrated to what would become known as Israel, Asherah was revered as Athirat, Earth Mother and Fertility Goddess. He was offended by what was going on. Those raised in the Judeo-Christian tradition may be surprised to learn that the god we were told was singularly sacred once had a wife. The wonderful possession I have reserved for you will slip from your hands. Tracing the history of Asherah poles is an interesting study. On occasion in Ugaritic myth, Asherah performs the maternal role of wet nurse. Journal The Talmudic explanation of Binah is understanding one thing from something dissimilar. It is related to the word Bein meaning between. Thus, Binah implies distance and separation. 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. In Deuteronomy 16:21 they are forbidden to plant any tree as an Asherah beside the altar of the LORD your God. This would have been syncretizing Israelite worship with the worship of this pagan goddess. Despite these and other references associating Asherah with apostasy, contemporary discoveries have further indicated that, at least in the opinion of some ancient Israelites, YHWH and Asherah were appropriately worshipped as a pair. If you mean pieces of wood set up beside pagan altars on high hills, then that seems to have been pretty rooted out. WebAn Asherah pole is a sacred tree or pole that stood near Canaanite religious locations to honor the Ugaritic mother goddess Asherah, consort of El. Author: www.crosswalk.com Post date: 26 yesterday Rating: 3 (1036 reviews) Highest rating: 4 Low rated: 2 Summary: Then, two things happened: either Chaos or Gaia created the universe as we know it, or Ouranos and Tethys gave birth to the first beings. Asherah 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. Both Israel and Judah disregarded Gods express command not to set up sacred pillars and sacred poles; they placed them upon every high hill and under every luxuriant tree alongside the altars used for sacrifice. The Hittites also had a pair of bull gods named Hurri and Surri and Hurri is obviously connected to the Hurrians, or mountain folk, while the name Surri is derived from the word Sar which means lord, king, perhaps referring to a ruling class. Sacrificial feasts were held in the sacred GROVES of Asherah in Jerusalem according to Apion." In their minds, they thought it did not make any difference; it was not hurting anyone. the cross is a representation of Jesus to Christians. So I wonder how much close that myth can be to the literary insciptions found in the Bible, and how much Asherah can be understood as Astarte, as both of those goddesses are goddesses of love, war and fertility. This can easily happen in either the old Hebrew or the Aramaic script. 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. Did the Ancient Israelites Think Children Were People. Kevelaer, Germany: 1993. Asherah In Exodus 34:12-14 the Asherim are specifically mentioned as needing to be cut down once the Israelites enter the land, so as not to make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land and begin worshipping their gods. Let us be your passport to Laos and much more. Asherah veneration was explicitly forbidden in the Jewish law: You must never set up a wooden Asherah pole beside the altar you build for the LORD your God (Deuteronomy 16:21, NLT). WebThe image of Asherah was a tree used by the Pagan Canaanites and Phoenicians. Rusty and rough looking. Two Millennia b.c.e. But the most abundant of these are her pillar figurines which were popular from the 10th through the 7th centuries BC. WebIf you look at the Statue of Liberty you will notice that near her feet the robe resembles a tree trunk. Ibid. WebAsherah poles were a representation of a Asherah, a Canaanite fertility goddess and consort of the gods. Another of Asherahs sacred poles stood in that kingdoms capital city, Samaria. [10] (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. This is one of the helpful points that the Puritan John Owen made in his work The Mortification of Sin. 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 Canaanite association of Asherah with sacred trees is also found in Israelite tradition. According to ancient mythology, Asherah was the wife of El, who mothered 70 gods, including Baal, the most famous. 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. 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? You must break down their pagan altars and shatter their sacred pillars. Christian Truth. All of the things which we long for that can make idols tempting are found perfectly in Jesus Christ. Phallic Symbol like that of a bar magnet, with the north pole at earth's The term images of Asherah is often used in the Hebrew Bible and it is thought that these pillar figurines are what the writers of the bible had in mind. This fact suggests that Jehu perceived the sacred pole as appropriate in the worship of YHWH. Asherah was also worshiped as the goddess of love and war and was sometimes linked with Anath, another Canaanite Considered the moon-goddess, Asherah was often presented as a consort of Baal, the sun-god ( Judges 3:7, 6:28, 10:6; 1 Samuel 7:4, 12:10 ). The goddess Asherah was the Canaanite deity of fertility. The Bible also connects sacred poles with the high places (open-air cult sites?) [8] This role gave her a similarly high rank in the Ugaritic pantheon. in Sociology from University of Edinburgh and studied at St. Johns College with a double major in Philosophy and the History of Math of Science. Read More.
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