Asherah
VIEW:47 DATA:01-04-2020
Goddess of the sea Canaan
Gods and Goddess Reference
ASHERAH.In RV [Note: Revised Version.] Asherah (plur. Asherim, more rarely Asheroth) appears as the tr. [Note: translate or translation.] of a Hebrew substantive which AV [Note: Authorized Version.] , following the LXX [Note: Septuagint.] and Vulgate, had mistakenly rendered grove. By OT writers the word is used in three distinct applications.
1. The goddess Asherah.In several places Asherah must be recognized as the name of a Canaanite deity. Thus in 1Ki_18:19 we read of the prophets of Baal and of Asherah, in 1Ki_15:13 (= 2Ch_15:16) of an abominable image, and in 2Ki_21:7 of a graven image of Asherah, also of the sacrificial vessels used in her worship (2Ki_23:4), while Jdg_3:7 speaks of the Baalim and the Asheroth. These references, it must be allowed, are not all of equal value for the critical historian and some of our foremost authorities have hitherto declined to admit the existence of a Canaanite goddess Asherah, regarding the name as a mere literary personification of the asherah or sacred pole (see § 3), or as due to a confusion with Astarte (cf. Jdg_3:7 with Jdg_2:13).
In the last few years, however, a variety of monumental evidence has come to light (see Lagrange, Études sur les religions semitiques (1905), 119 ff.)the latest from the soil of Palestine itself in a cuneiform tablet found at Taanachshowing that a goddess Ashirat or Asherah was worshipped from a remote antiquity by the Western Semites. There need be no hesitation, therefore, in accepting the above passages as evidence of her worship in OT times, even within the Temple itself.
The relation, as to name, history, and attributes, of this early Canaanite goddess to the powerful Semitic deity named Ishtar by the Babylonians, and Ashtart (OT Ashtoreth) by the Phnicians, is still obscure (see KAT [Note: Die Keilinschriften und das Alte Testament.], Index; Lagrange, op. cit.). The latter in any case gradually displaced the former in Canaan.
2. An image of Asherah.The graven image of Asherah set up by Manasseh in the Temple (2Ki_21:7), when destroyed by Josiah, is simply termed the asherah (2Ki_23:6). Like the idols described by the prophet of the Exile (Isa_41:7; Isa_44:12 ff.), it evidently consisted of a core of wood overlaid with precious metal, since it could be at once burned and stamped to powder (cf. 2Ch_15:16 for the corresponding image of Maacah), and was periodically decorated with woven hangings (Luc. tunics) by the women votaries of Asherah (2Ki_23:7). There is therefore good warrant for seeing in the asherah which Ahab set up in the temple of Baal at Samaria (cf. 1Ki_16:33 with 2Ki_10:28)according to the emended text of the latter passage it was burned by Jehu but was soon restored (2Ki_13:6)something of greater consequence than a mere post or pole. It must have been a celebrated image of the goddess.
3. A symbol of Asherah.In the remaining passages of OT the asherah is the name of a prominent, if not indispensable, object associated with the altar and the mazzçbah (see Pillar) in the worship of the Canaanite high places. It was made of wood (Jdg_6:26), and could be planted in the ground (Deu_16:21), plucked up or cut down (Mic_5:14, Exo_34:13), and burned with fire (Deu_12:3). Accordingly the asherah is now held to have been a wooden post or pole having symbolical significance in the Canaanite cults. How far it resembled the similar emblems figured in representations of Babylonian and Phnician rites can only be conjectured.
When the Hebrews occupied Canaan, the local sanctuaries became seats of the worship of J″ [Note: Jahweh.] , at which the adjuncts of sacred pole and pillar continued as before. The disastrous results of this incorporation of heathen elements led to the denunciation of the asherahs by the prophetic exponents of Israels religion (Exo_34:13, Jer_17:2, Mic_5:13 f., and esp. Deu_7:5; Deu_12:2 ff; Deu_16:21), and to their ultimate abolition (2Ki_18:4; 2Ki_23:4 ff.).
4. Significance of the asherah.The theory at present most in favour among OT scholars finds in the asherahs or sacred poles the substitutes of the sacred trees universally revered by the early Semites. This theory, however, is not only improbable in view of the fact that the asherahs are found beside or under such sacred trees (Jer_17:2, 1Ki_14:23, 2Ki_17:10), but has been discredited by the proved existence of the goddess Asherah. In the earliest period of the Semitic occupation of Canaan (c [Note: circa, about.] . b.c. 25002000), this deity probably shared with Baal (cf. Jdg_3:7; Jdg_6:25 etc.) the chief worship of the immigrants, particularly as the goddess of fertility, in which aspect her place was later usurped by Astarte. In this early aniconic age, the wooden post was her symbol, as the stone pillar was of Baal. Bearing her name, it passed by gradual stages into the complete eikôn or anthropomorphic image of the deity as in Samaria and Jerusalem.
A. R. S. Kennedy.
Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible
Edited by James Hastings, D.D. Published in 1909
Ash'erah. (straight). The name of a Phoenician goddess, or rather of the idol itself, (Authorized Version, "grove"). Asherah is closely connected with Ashtoreth and her worship, Jdg_3:7. Compare Jdg_2:3; Jdg_6:25; 1Ki_18:19. Ashtoreth being, perhaps, the proper name of the goddess, whilst Asherah is the name of her image or symbol, which was of wood. See Jdg_6:25-30; 2Ki_23:14.
Smith's Bible Dictionary
By Dr. William Smith.Published in 1863
a-shē?ra, ash?er-im (אשׁרה, 'ăshērāh; ἄλσος, álsos, mistranslated ?grove? in the King James Version, after the Septuagint and Vulgate):
1. References to the Goddess
2. Assyrian Origin of the Goddess
3. Her Symbol
4. The Attributes of the Goddess
Was the name of a goddess whose worship was widely spread throughout Syria and Canaan; plural Asherim.
1. References to the Goddess
Her ?image? is mentioned in the Old Testament (1Ki_15:13; 2Ki_21:7; 2Ch_15:16), as well as her ?prophets? (1Ki_18:19) and the vessels used in her service (2Ki_23:4). In Assyria the name appears under the two forms of Asratu and Asirtu; it was to Asratu that a monument found near Diarbekir was dedicated on behalf of Khammu-rabi (Amraphel) ?king of the Amorites,? and the Amorite king of whom we hear so much in Tell el-Amarna Letters bears the name indifferently of EbedAsrati and Ebed-Asirti.
2. Assyrian Origin of the Goddess
Like so much else in Canaanite religion, the name and worship of Asherah were borrowed from Assyria. She was the wife of the war-god Asir whose name was identified with that of the city of. Assur with the result that he became the national god of Assyria. Since Asirtu was merely the feminine form of Asir, ?the superintendent? or ?leader,? it is probable that it was originally an epithet of Ishtar (Ashtoreth) of Nineveh. In the West, however, Asherah and Ashtoreth came to be distinguished from one another, Asherah being exclusively the goddess of fertility, whereas Ashtoreth passed into a moon-goddess.
3. Her Symbol
In Assyrian asirtu, which appears also under the forms asrātu, esrēti (plural) and asru, had the further signification of ?sanctuary.? Originally Asirtu, the wife of Asir, and asirtu, ?sanctuary,? seem to have had no connection with one another, but the identity in the pronunciation of the two words caused them to be identified in signification, and as the tree-trunk or cone of stone which symbolized Asherah was regarded as a Beth-el or ?house of the deity,? wherein the goddess was immanent, the word Asirtu, Asherah, came to denote the symbol of the goddess. The trunk of the tree was often provided with branches, and assumed the form of the tree of life. It was as a trunk, however, that it was forbidden to be erected by the side of ?the altar of Yahweh? (Deu_16:21; see Jdg_6:25, Jdg_6:28, Jdg_6:30; 2Ki_23:6). Accordingly the symbol made for Asherah by his mother was ?cut down? by Asa (1Ki_15:13). So, too, we hear of Asherim or symbols of the goddess being set up on the high places under the shade of a green tree (Jer_17:2; see 2Ki_17:10). Manasseh introduced one into the temple at Jerusalem (2Ki_21:3, 2Ki_21:7).
4. The Attributes of the Goddess
Asherah was the goddess of fertility, and thus represented the Babylonian Ishtar in her character as goddess of love and not of war. In one of the cuneiform tablets found at Taanach by Dr. Sellin, and written by one Canaanite sheikh to another shortly before the Israelite invasion of Palestine, reference is made to ?the finger of Asherah? from which oracles were derived. The ?finger? seems to signify the symbol of the goddess; at any rate it revealed the future by means of a ?sign and oracle.? The practice is probably alluded to in Hos_4:12. The existence of numerous symbols in each of which the goddess was believed to be immanent led to the creation of numerous forms of the goddess herself, which, after the analogy of the Ashtaroth, were described collectively as the Asherim.
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
PRINTER 1915.
Asherah
(אֲשֵׁרָה, Assherah'; Auth.Vers. "grove,' after the Sept. ἄλσος; Vulg. lucus), a Canaanitish (Phoenician) divinity, whose worship, in connection with that of Baal. spread among the Israelites already in the age of the judges (Jdg_3:7; Jdg_6:25), was more permanently established later by the Queen Jezuebel in the land of Ephraim (1Ki_16:33; 1Ki_18:19), but at times prevailed in the kingdom of Judah also (2Ki_18:4; 2Ki_21:3; 2Ki_23:4; 2Ch_31:1 sq.). SEE GROVE. She had prophets, like Baal (1Ki_18:19), and her rites were characterized by licentiousness (2Ki_23:7; Eze_23:42) Her images, אֲשֵׁרִים, or אֲשֵׁרוֹת, were of wood (Jdg_6:26), (as appears ever from the words used to ex press their annihilation, Gesen. Thes. p. 162; Movers Phoniz. p. 567), which were erected sometimes together with those of Baal, as θεοὶ σύμβωμοι, over the altar of the latter (Jdg_6:25) ; at one time even in, the Temple of Jehovah at Jerusalem (2Ki_21:7; 2Ki_23:6); besides, there is mention of בָּתִּים (houses) tents or canopies, woven by the women for the idol (2Ki_23:7), which circumstance in itself would be indicative of a connection with the worship of Baa' (Jdg_3:7; Jdg_6:25; 1Ki_16:32 sq.; 1Ki_18:19) That Asherah is an identical divinity with Astoretl or Astarte is evident from the translation of the Sept at 2Ch_15:16; 2Ch_24:18, from that of Symmachui or Aquila at Judges iii, 7; 2Ki_17:10 (as also from the Syriac at Jdg_3:7; Jdg_6:25; see Gesen Thes. p. 163); and this was the prevailing opinion of the Biblical antiquarians up to Movers, who (Phsnizn p. 560) thinks that Asherah should be distinguished from Astoreth, and declares Asherah to be a sort of Phallus erected to the telluric goddess Baaltis (Dea Syra, whence the goddess herself was then called Asherah, i.e. ὀρθία), while Astarte should be considered a sidereal divinity. SEE ASTARTE.
It may appear strange that the same divinity is mentioned under two names in the historical books of the O.T., and it remains doubtful in what sense Astarte might have been called Asherah; the identity of the two idols however, is evident from Jdg_2:13 (see Jdg_3:7); and this invalidates also the objection that there is no mention of obscene rites in the worship of Astarte (2Ki_23:7). It does not appear from 2 Kings 23, that Asherah and Astoreth were two distinct divinities, for the only distinction made here is between the different places of worship; 2Ki_23:6 mentions an Asherah erected in the Temple in Jerusalem (see 2Ki_21:7), and 2Ki_21:13 speaks of the idols which were on the high-places before Jerusalem (since the times of Solomon? see 1Ki_11:7); 1Ki_11:14 is connected with 1Ki_11:13, and treats of the same idols, while 1Ki_11:15 refers to another locality (see 2Ki_23:10). Finally, though Asherah is never expressly called a Sidonian divinity like Astarte, yet she is mentioned (1Ki_16:33; 1Ki_18:19) with the idols introduced by Jezebel (see De Wette, Archol. p. 323 sq.). Hence Bertheau (Richt. p. 66 sq.) declares himself also in favor of the identity of Astoreth with Asherah, supposing, however, that the former might have been the name of the goddess, and the latter that of her idol (see Movers, p. 565), and agrees with Movers in thinking that אֲשֵׁרָהsignifies erect (pillar), and is indicative of the Phallus worship. But though Asherim and Asheroth are so often mentioned separately from statues that we could hardly think these terms to have been used likewise to signify carved idols, but are rather inclined to suppose they must have been something more rough and simple (though, perhaps, not a mere tree, as in Deu_16:21; see Dan_11:45); yet from this it does not follow that the word should originally have signified the (wooden) fetish; and against the translation with recta we might adduce, that to be erect is more properly expressed in the Hebrew by the verb יָשִׁרthan by אָשִׁר; and if we would grant the above distinction in such passages as 1Ki_18:19; 2Ki_23:4, undoubtedly עִשְׁתּרֶתshould have been written. Consequently we must let the Phallus character of Asherah also rest as it is; and until more correct explanations can be given, we must be content with the result that Asherah is essentially identical with Astarte; and both these are not differing from the Syrian goddess, whose rites were of obscene character, who is certainly reflected in the Cyprian Aphrodite, and is furthermore blended with the Western mythological representations. (See J. van Yperen, Obs. crit. de sacris quibusd. fluvalibus et Ashera dea, in the Bibl. Hagan. 4:81-122; Gesenius, Comment. z. Jesa. ii, 338; Stuhr, Relig. d. Orients, p. 439; Vatke, Relig. d. 1 lt. Test. p. 372; Dupuis, Orig`ne d. cultes, i, 181; iii, 471; Schwenk, Mythol. d. Senmiten, p. 207 comp. Augustine, De civ. Dei, 4:10; ii, 3.) SEE ASHTORETH
CYCLOPEDIA OF BIBLICAL, THEOLOGICAL AND ECCLESIASTICAL
press 1895.
Gods and Goddess Reference
ASHERAH.In RV [Note: Revised Version.] Asherah (plur. Asherim, more rarely Asheroth) appears as the tr. [Note: translate or translation.] of a Hebrew substantive which AV [Note: Authorized Version.] , following the LXX [Note: Septuagint.] and Vulgate, had mistakenly rendered grove. By OT writers the word is used in three distinct applications.
1. The goddess Asherah.In several places Asherah must be recognized as the name of a Canaanite deity. Thus in 1Ki_18:19 we read of the prophets of Baal and of Asherah, in 1Ki_15:13 (= 2Ch_15:16) of an abominable image, and in 2Ki_21:7 of a graven image of Asherah, also of the sacrificial vessels used in her worship (2Ki_23:4), while Jdg_3:7 speaks of the Baalim and the Asheroth. These references, it must be allowed, are not all of equal value for the critical historian and some of our foremost authorities have hitherto declined to admit the existence of a Canaanite goddess Asherah, regarding the name as a mere literary personification of the asherah or sacred pole (see § 3), or as due to a confusion with Astarte (cf. Jdg_3:7 with Jdg_2:13).
In the last few years, however, a variety of monumental evidence has come to light (see Lagrange, Études sur les religions semitiques (1905), 119 ff.)the latest from the soil of Palestine itself in a cuneiform tablet found at Taanachshowing that a goddess Ashirat or Asherah was worshipped from a remote antiquity by the Western Semites. There need be no hesitation, therefore, in accepting the above passages as evidence of her worship in OT times, even within the Temple itself.
The relation, as to name, history, and attributes, of this early Canaanite goddess to the powerful Semitic deity named Ishtar by the Babylonians, and Ashtart (OT Ashtoreth) by the Phnicians, is still obscure (see KAT [Note: Die Keilinschriften und das Alte Testament.], Index; Lagrange, op. cit.). The latter in any case gradually displaced the former in Canaan.
2. An image of Asherah.The graven image of Asherah set up by Manasseh in the Temple (2Ki_21:7), when destroyed by Josiah, is simply termed the asherah (2Ki_23:6). Like the idols described by the prophet of the Exile (Isa_41:7; Isa_44:12 ff.), it evidently consisted of a core of wood overlaid with precious metal, since it could be at once burned and stamped to powder (cf. 2Ch_15:16 for the corresponding image of Maacah), and was periodically decorated with woven hangings (Luc. tunics) by the women votaries of Asherah (2Ki_23:7). There is therefore good warrant for seeing in the asherah which Ahab set up in the temple of Baal at Samaria (cf. 1Ki_16:33 with 2Ki_10:28)according to the emended text of the latter passage it was burned by Jehu but was soon restored (2Ki_13:6)something of greater consequence than a mere post or pole. It must have been a celebrated image of the goddess.
3. A symbol of Asherah.In the remaining passages of OT the asherah is the name of a prominent, if not indispensable, object associated with the altar and the mazzçbah (see Pillar) in the worship of the Canaanite high places. It was made of wood (Jdg_6:26), and could be planted in the ground (Deu_16:21), plucked up or cut down (Mic_5:14, Exo_34:13), and burned with fire (Deu_12:3). Accordingly the asherah is now held to have been a wooden post or pole having symbolical significance in the Canaanite cults. How far it resembled the similar emblems figured in representations of Babylonian and Phnician rites can only be conjectured.
When the Hebrews occupied Canaan, the local sanctuaries became seats of the worship of J″ [Note: Jahweh.] , at which the adjuncts of sacred pole and pillar continued as before. The disastrous results of this incorporation of heathen elements led to the denunciation of the asherahs by the prophetic exponents of Israels religion (Exo_34:13, Jer_17:2, Mic_5:13 f., and esp. Deu_7:5; Deu_12:2 ff; Deu_16:21), and to their ultimate abolition (2Ki_18:4; 2Ki_23:4 ff.).
4. Significance of the asherah.The theory at present most in favour among OT scholars finds in the asherahs or sacred poles the substitutes of the sacred trees universally revered by the early Semites. This theory, however, is not only improbable in view of the fact that the asherahs are found beside or under such sacred trees (Jer_17:2, 1Ki_14:23, 2Ki_17:10), but has been discredited by the proved existence of the goddess Asherah. In the earliest period of the Semitic occupation of Canaan (c [Note: circa, about.] . b.c. 25002000), this deity probably shared with Baal (cf. Jdg_3:7; Jdg_6:25 etc.) the chief worship of the immigrants, particularly as the goddess of fertility, in which aspect her place was later usurped by Astarte. In this early aniconic age, the wooden post was her symbol, as the stone pillar was of Baal. Bearing her name, it passed by gradual stages into the complete eikôn or anthropomorphic image of the deity as in Samaria and Jerusalem.
A. R. S. Kennedy.
Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible
Edited by James Hastings, D.D. Published in 1909
Ash'erah. (straight). The name of a Phoenician goddess, or rather of the idol itself, (Authorized Version, "grove"). Asherah is closely connected with Ashtoreth and her worship, Jdg_3:7. Compare Jdg_2:3; Jdg_6:25; 1Ki_18:19. Ashtoreth being, perhaps, the proper name of the goddess, whilst Asherah is the name of her image or symbol, which was of wood. See Jdg_6:25-30; 2Ki_23:14.
Smith's Bible Dictionary
By Dr. William Smith.Published in 1863
a-shē?ra, ash?er-im (אשׁרה, 'ăshērāh; ἄλσος, álsos, mistranslated ?grove? in the King James Version, after the Septuagint and Vulgate):
1. References to the Goddess
2. Assyrian Origin of the Goddess
3. Her Symbol
4. The Attributes of the Goddess
Was the name of a goddess whose worship was widely spread throughout Syria and Canaan; plural Asherim.
1. References to the Goddess
Her ?image? is mentioned in the Old Testament (1Ki_15:13; 2Ki_21:7; 2Ch_15:16), as well as her ?prophets? (1Ki_18:19) and the vessels used in her service (2Ki_23:4). In Assyria the name appears under the two forms of Asratu and Asirtu; it was to Asratu that a monument found near Diarbekir was dedicated on behalf of Khammu-rabi (Amraphel) ?king of the Amorites,? and the Amorite king of whom we hear so much in Tell el-Amarna Letters bears the name indifferently of EbedAsrati and Ebed-Asirti.
2. Assyrian Origin of the Goddess
Like so much else in Canaanite religion, the name and worship of Asherah were borrowed from Assyria. She was the wife of the war-god Asir whose name was identified with that of the city of. Assur with the result that he became the national god of Assyria. Since Asirtu was merely the feminine form of Asir, ?the superintendent? or ?leader,? it is probable that it was originally an epithet of Ishtar (Ashtoreth) of Nineveh. In the West, however, Asherah and Ashtoreth came to be distinguished from one another, Asherah being exclusively the goddess of fertility, whereas Ashtoreth passed into a moon-goddess.
3. Her Symbol
In Assyrian asirtu, which appears also under the forms asrātu, esrēti (plural) and asru, had the further signification of ?sanctuary.? Originally Asirtu, the wife of Asir, and asirtu, ?sanctuary,? seem to have had no connection with one another, but the identity in the pronunciation of the two words caused them to be identified in signification, and as the tree-trunk or cone of stone which symbolized Asherah was regarded as a Beth-el or ?house of the deity,? wherein the goddess was immanent, the word Asirtu, Asherah, came to denote the symbol of the goddess. The trunk of the tree was often provided with branches, and assumed the form of the tree of life. It was as a trunk, however, that it was forbidden to be erected by the side of ?the altar of Yahweh? (Deu_16:21; see Jdg_6:25, Jdg_6:28, Jdg_6:30; 2Ki_23:6). Accordingly the symbol made for Asherah by his mother was ?cut down? by Asa (1Ki_15:13). So, too, we hear of Asherim or symbols of the goddess being set up on the high places under the shade of a green tree (Jer_17:2; see 2Ki_17:10). Manasseh introduced one into the temple at Jerusalem (2Ki_21:3, 2Ki_21:7).
4. The Attributes of the Goddess
Asherah was the goddess of fertility, and thus represented the Babylonian Ishtar in her character as goddess of love and not of war. In one of the cuneiform tablets found at Taanach by Dr. Sellin, and written by one Canaanite sheikh to another shortly before the Israelite invasion of Palestine, reference is made to ?the finger of Asherah? from which oracles were derived. The ?finger? seems to signify the symbol of the goddess; at any rate it revealed the future by means of a ?sign and oracle.? The practice is probably alluded to in Hos_4:12. The existence of numerous symbols in each of which the goddess was believed to be immanent led to the creation of numerous forms of the goddess herself, which, after the analogy of the Ashtaroth, were described collectively as the Asherim.
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
PRINTER 1915.
Asherah
(אֲשֵׁרָה, Assherah'; Auth.Vers. "grove,' after the Sept. ἄλσος; Vulg. lucus), a Canaanitish (Phoenician) divinity, whose worship, in connection with that of Baal. spread among the Israelites already in the age of the judges (Jdg_3:7; Jdg_6:25), was more permanently established later by the Queen Jezuebel in the land of Ephraim (1Ki_16:33; 1Ki_18:19), but at times prevailed in the kingdom of Judah also (2Ki_18:4; 2Ki_21:3; 2Ki_23:4; 2Ch_31:1 sq.). SEE GROVE. She had prophets, like Baal (1Ki_18:19), and her rites were characterized by licentiousness (2Ki_23:7; Eze_23:42) Her images, אֲשֵׁרִים, or אֲשֵׁרוֹת, were of wood (Jdg_6:26), (as appears ever from the words used to ex press their annihilation, Gesen. Thes. p. 162; Movers Phoniz. p. 567), which were erected sometimes together with those of Baal, as θεοὶ σύμβωμοι, over the altar of the latter (Jdg_6:25) ; at one time even in, the Temple of Jehovah at Jerusalem (2Ki_21:7; 2Ki_23:6); besides, there is mention of בָּתִּים (houses) tents or canopies, woven by the women for the idol (2Ki_23:7), which circumstance in itself would be indicative of a connection with the worship of Baa' (Jdg_3:7; Jdg_6:25; 1Ki_16:32 sq.; 1Ki_18:19) That Asherah is an identical divinity with Astoretl or Astarte is evident from the translation of the Sept at 2Ch_15:16; 2Ch_24:18, from that of Symmachui or Aquila at Judges iii, 7; 2Ki_17:10 (as also from the Syriac at Jdg_3:7; Jdg_6:25; see Gesen Thes. p. 163); and this was the prevailing opinion of the Biblical antiquarians up to Movers, who (Phsnizn p. 560) thinks that Asherah should be distinguished from Astoreth, and declares Asherah to be a sort of Phallus erected to the telluric goddess Baaltis (Dea Syra, whence the goddess herself was then called Asherah, i.e. ὀρθία), while Astarte should be considered a sidereal divinity. SEE ASTARTE.
It may appear strange that the same divinity is mentioned under two names in the historical books of the O.T., and it remains doubtful in what sense Astarte might have been called Asherah; the identity of the two idols however, is evident from Jdg_2:13 (see Jdg_3:7); and this invalidates also the objection that there is no mention of obscene rites in the worship of Astarte (2Ki_23:7). It does not appear from 2 Kings 23, that Asherah and Astoreth were two distinct divinities, for the only distinction made here is between the different places of worship; 2Ki_23:6 mentions an Asherah erected in the Temple in Jerusalem (see 2Ki_21:7), and 2Ki_21:13 speaks of the idols which were on the high-places before Jerusalem (since the times of Solomon? see 1Ki_11:7); 1Ki_11:14 is connected with 1Ki_11:13, and treats of the same idols, while 1Ki_11:15 refers to another locality (see 2Ki_23:10). Finally, though Asherah is never expressly called a Sidonian divinity like Astarte, yet she is mentioned (1Ki_16:33; 1Ki_18:19) with the idols introduced by Jezebel (see De Wette, Archol. p. 323 sq.). Hence Bertheau (Richt. p. 66 sq.) declares himself also in favor of the identity of Astoreth with Asherah, supposing, however, that the former might have been the name of the goddess, and the latter that of her idol (see Movers, p. 565), and agrees with Movers in thinking that אֲשֵׁרָהsignifies erect (pillar), and is indicative of the Phallus worship. But though Asherim and Asheroth are so often mentioned separately from statues that we could hardly think these terms to have been used likewise to signify carved idols, but are rather inclined to suppose they must have been something more rough and simple (though, perhaps, not a mere tree, as in Deu_16:21; see Dan_11:45); yet from this it does not follow that the word should originally have signified the (wooden) fetish; and against the translation with recta we might adduce, that to be erect is more properly expressed in the Hebrew by the verb יָשִׁרthan by אָשִׁר; and if we would grant the above distinction in such passages as 1Ki_18:19; 2Ki_23:4, undoubtedly עִשְׁתּרֶתshould have been written. Consequently we must let the Phallus character of Asherah also rest as it is; and until more correct explanations can be given, we must be content with the result that Asherah is essentially identical with Astarte; and both these are not differing from the Syrian goddess, whose rites were of obscene character, who is certainly reflected in the Cyprian Aphrodite, and is furthermore blended with the Western mythological representations. (See J. van Yperen, Obs. crit. de sacris quibusd. fluvalibus et Ashera dea, in the Bibl. Hagan. 4:81-122; Gesenius, Comment. z. Jesa. ii, 338; Stuhr, Relig. d. Orients, p. 439; Vatke, Relig. d. 1 lt. Test. p. 372; Dupuis, Orig`ne d. cultes, i, 181; iii, 471; Schwenk, Mythol. d. Senmiten, p. 207 comp. Augustine, De civ. Dei, 4:10; ii, 3.) SEE ASHTORETH
CYCLOPEDIA OF BIBLICAL, THEOLOGICAL AND ECCLESIASTICAL
press 1895.
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