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One of the principal female goddesses of the Canaanite pantheon, familiar equally from Canaanite mythology and from biblical references. Her name first appears at the time of the First Dynasty of Babylon as Ashratum, consort of Amurru. She is thus a goddess of the Semitic Amorites. In the Canaanite myths found in the city of Ugarit in northern Syria, Asherah appears in several roles. Most often she is known as the Lady of the Sea. As such she is consort of the chief god El and mother of the gods. She also plays the role of interceder in the myth of Baal and the Waters.
In her role as mother goddess, Asherah is often confused with another Canaanite goddess - Ashtoreth (Astarte), who seems to have replaced Asherah in the 1st millennium B.C. As goddess of fertility, Asherah takes the form of a tree, symbolizing the Tree of Life on which the animal kingdom feeds. Her sacred emblem in this role is a tree or a wooden post which is a stylized form of a Tree of Life. Such a post is called Asherah in The Bible.
The cult of Asherah as goddess of fertility connected with sacred trees was pervasive in ancient Israel. It was already practiced in the times of the Judges (Judg 6:25-28) together with the cult of Baal, and continued under the direction of some of the kings of Israel themselves (I Kgs 16:33; 18:19, II Kgs 12:6; 13:6; 17:10). During the religious reforms of Hezekiah and Josiah, kings of Judah, the trees of Asherah were cut down (II Kgs 18:4) including the one installed by King Manasseh inside the Temple (II Kgs 21:7; 23:6). The cult of Asherah probably had elements of divination and was quite promiscuous (Hos 4:12-13).
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Does Yahweh the Creator have a female consort?
AnswerYes, God once had a female consort, the goddess Asherah. Archeological evidence of this is in inscriptions found in ancient Israel and Judah during the Hebrew period, as well as the presence of numerous figurines of Asherah found in the same areas. The worship of Asherah seems to have ceased during the Babylonian Exile, when the veneration of Lady Wisdom (Sophia) seems to have begun. One two storage jars found at Kuntillet Ajrud contains a dedicatory inscription that reads, in part, "I bless you by Yahweh, our guardian, and by his Asherah." A second jar at the same site also contains a script that includes, "Amaryau says: Say to my lord X: I bless you by Yahweh [our guardian], and by his Asherah." Another artefact associated with the Makkedah site says, "Blessed be Uriyahu by Yahweh and by his asherah; from his enemies he saved him!" or possibly, "May Uriyahu be blessed by Yahweh my guardian and by his Asherah. Save him."
Why do scholars consider Asherah a consort of Yahweh and not a pagan god that Yahweh despised?
We know that in ancient Hebrew religion Asherah was the beloved consort of Yahweh because archaeological records show this to be so.Among the many objects discovered at Kuntillet Ajrud were two large pithoi or storage jars. Once restored it was clear that each pithos contained drawings in red and black ink accompanied by religious inscriptions written in Hebrew. The Hebrew inscriptions have been translated them with reasonable consistency. Pithos A seems to be a dedicatory inscription and reads, in part:"I bless you by Yahweh, our guardian, and by his Asherah ..."A second pithos at Kuntillet Ajrud reveals a nearly identical formulation. The relevant lines read:"Amaryau says: Say to my lord X: I bless you by Yahweh [our guardian], and by his Asherah"One of the inscriptions found on the base wall of a tomb at the Makkedah site dates to between 750-700 BCE. The French epigraphist André Lemaire translates a section of it as:"Blessed be Uriyahu by Yahweh and by his asherah; from his enemies he saved him! "Asherah is, of course, well known from the Ugarit texts and is associated with the thousands of fertility figurines found throughout Israel.
Where was Asherah worshiped?
A:Asherah was worshipped in and around Palestine, from Bronze Age times down until the Babylonian Exile. Israelite inscriptions at Kuntillet 'Ajrud and elsewhere indicate that she may have been the consort of Yahweh (God), at least during part of the Iron Age II period. As the fertility goddess, Asherah was typically associated with a stylised tree, called an 'asherah' in the Bible, and the Bible indicates there was an asherah in the Jerusalem Temple for most of the monarchical period.
Does God have a wife?
A pithos or storage jar found at Kuntillet Ajrud s this question. On it, was inscribed "I bless you by Yahweh, our guardian, and by his Asherah". A second pithos at Kuntillet Ajrud reads: "Amaryau says: Say to my lord X: I bless you by Yahweh [our guardian] and by his Asherah". Again, on the base wall of a tomb dated to between 750-700 BCE: "Blessed be Uriyahu by Yahweh and by his Asherah; from his enemies he saved him!"Archaelogists see these as saying that Asherah was the wife of Yahweh.So, if God had a wife she would be the goddess Asherah.
What is the Statue of two gods?
There are many - one is Jehovah and his Astarte (Yahweh and his Asherah) 7th C BCE.
What is the Temple of YAHWEH?
The temple of Yahweh , just simply means The Temple of God. Answer: The temple of Yahweh is the Throne in the Kingdom of Yahweh. That kingdom is Israel and Judah,the 12 tribes of Israel.
Why is Wisdom referred as 'she' in the Bible?
Prior to the Babylonian Exile, Jews worshipped the fertility goddess Asherah as the consort of God. There are many references to Asherah in the Bible, and archaeological finds throughout Israel and Judah attest to her role in Israelite belief. However, the Jews returned from Babylon as strong monotheists, and Asherah was no longer acceptable. We find her replaced in Judaic belief by Lady Wisdom. Wisdom was venerated in Judaism until the end of the first century CE and is even mentioned in the New Testament gospels.
Does the Bible say God is a male?
Effectively, yes. And indeed to the ancient Hebrews, God was male, but no biblical author saw the need to explain this to the readers.One of the Hebrew names used in the Bible for God was 'Elohim, which is the masculine plural form, and is different to the Hebrew word for goddess.Another early Hebrew name for God was Yahweh (spelt YHWH, or in modern Hebrew YHVH). We now know that Yahweh was considered male, because of a number of inscriptions that have been found, referring to Yahweh and his consort, the goddess Asherah.
What is an asherah pole?
An Asherah pole is a sacred object associated with the worship of the Canaanite goddess Asherah, often depicted as a tree or a wooden pole. In ancient Near Eastern cultures, these poles were typically erected in high places as part of rituals to honor Asherah, symbolizing fertility and femininity. In the context of the Hebrew Bible, Asherah poles are frequently mentioned in relation to idolatry, and their presence was condemned by the Israelite prophets as a violation of the worship of Yahweh.
What kind of gods were Baal and Asherah?
A:Baal (Ba'al) was a West Semitic weather god, but gradually became associated with military power. Baal was almost indistinguishable from Yahweh (God) in eighth-century Israel, fulfilling the same functions and roles, but this is less likely to have been the case in the southern kingdom of Judah. Asherah was the Canaanite and Hebrew goddess of fertility. Since the Middle Bronze Age, she was associated, among other things, with trees, and in the Iron Age, was often portrayed simply by a symbolic tree. She may have been the 'Queen of Heaven' mentioned in the Bible.Baal and Asherah are never paired in any known West Semitic inscriptions, and are mentioned together only in biblical texts of deuteronomic redaction. However, there are Israelite inscriptions that do pair Yahweh (God) and Asherah, probably as consorts, so the biblical texts could have been an interpretation of this relationship.
Did God the Father have a best friend?
Two quite separate archaeological finds from the period of the early monarchy refer to the goddess Asherah, who is also quite frequently mentioned in the Old Testament. In those archaeological finds, Asherah appears to be the consort of God.
What was the importance of sacred groves?
A:Until the twentieth century, no one imagined that the early Israelites were polytheistic, or that the Hebrew people once worshipped a pantheon of gods that included several goddesses, including Asherah. So, when the Hebrew scriptures were translated into English the translators looked for meanings for references to Asherah and her totems, also known as asherahs. In the Hebrew Bible, 1 Kings 18:19 speaks of the '400 prophets of Asherah', but the King James Bible gives this as '400 prophets of the groves', which is a meaningless translation. Deuteronomy 16: 21, written at a time when Judah was moving towards monotheism, warns: 'You shall not set up a sacred post (asherah) any kind of pole beside the altar of the Lord your God that you may make.' According to the Bible, an asherah had stood in the Solomonic temple in Jerusalem for about two-thirds of its existence.Discovery and decipherment of the Ugaritic tablets in the 1930s identified Asherah as a West Semitic goddess. Further research, and archaeological discoveries have shown that Asherah was an important goddess in both Israel and Judah, possibly until the end of the monarchy. Among the many objects discovered at Kuntillet Ajrud were incribed pithoi that identified Asherah with Yahweh (God) and seem to portray her as God's consort. A further inscription found on a tomb wall seems to confirm this relationship.The asherahs often seem to have been set up in high places, where Asherah could be worshipped. There is some debate whether 'high places' simply meant high ground, in which cases the asherahs could certainly have been groves of trees, or whether these were temples.Worship of Asherah had ceased by the time of the Return from the Babylonian Exile, although it is possible to imagine that the post-Exilic spirit/goddess known as Wisdom took her place.
