Asherah (from Hebrew אשרה), in Semitic mythology, is a Semitic mother goddess, who appears in a number of ancient sources including Akkadian writings by the name of Ashratum/Ashratu and in Hittite as Asherdu(s) or Ashertu(s) or Aserdu(s) or Asertu(s). Asherah is generally considered identical with the Ugaritic goddess Athirat (more accurately transcribed as ʼAṯirat).
The Book of Jeremiah written circa 628 BC probably refers to Asherah when it uses the title "queen of heaven" in chapters 7 and 44.[1] For a discussion of "queen of heaven" in the Old Testament, please see Queen of heaven (Antiquity). |
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GROVES AND SACRED TREES: By : Emil G. Hirsch ARTICLE HEADINGS: Trysting-Trees. By many Oriental as well as Occidental peoples, whether of Semitic or non-Semitic stock, groves and single trees (oaks, terebinths, tamarisks, palms, etc.) were regarded and revered as favorite abodes of the gods, and were therefore set aside for worship and marked by the erection of altars in, under, or near them.
Behind this conception was the belief, wide-spread among primitive races, that trees were animated (see Mannhardt, "Die Walḍ- und Feldkulte"). Modified, this idea reappears in the form in which the trees are held to be the dwellings, and groves the haunts, of benevolent or malevolent spirits and deities. Moreover, trees were suggestive of fertility, of life, and (in winter) of death. This induced their worship as visible manifestations of the secret powers of nature controlling generation and decay.
Among the Hebrews, also, this notion seems to have prevailed in remote times. At all events, groves and trees are found connected with the-ophanies (Gen. xii. 6 [A. V. 7]), and with the giving of judgment—that is, the oracular consultation of the deity (Judges iv. 5; I Sam. xxii. 6). Trysting-Trees.
The Hebrew "elon" and "eshel," denoting the oak and tamarisk respectively, are mentioned as groves, or perhaps in stricter accuracy as single trees, where Yhwh revealed Himself (Gen. xii. 6 [A. V. 7], xxi. 33); more definitely described as "elon moreh" (= "oak of the revealing oracle"; "moreh" from the root , whence also "Torah"; but see Barth, "Etymologische Studien," pp. 13-14); sometimes in the plural "elone moreh" (Deut. xi. 30); also "elone mamre" (Gen. xiii. 18, xiv. 13, xviii. 1). "Elah" (Isa. i. 30), "allah" (Josh. xxiv. 26), "allon" (Gen. xxxv. 8), "tomer" (Judges iv. 5), and "rimmon" (I Sam. xiv. 2) occur in connections indicating that trees which were regarded as sacred, either in groves or singly, are meant. Under such sacred trees treaties were solemnly confirmed (Judges ix. 6), sacrifices were offered (ib. vi. 11), and, as stated above, judgments were rendered (ib. iv. 5).
The sound made by the trees is mentioned as an auspicious omen (II Sam. v. 24; comp. Gen. xii. 6; Judges ix. 37). Yhwh is described as dwelling in the (burning) bush (Deut. xxxiii. 16; comp. Ex. iii. 1-6). Joshua erects a memorial stone underneath an oak "that was by the sanctuary of Yhwh" (Josh. xxiv. 26). Among the Patriarchs, Abraham is more especially brought into relations with such groves or sacred trees (Gen. xiii. 18, xviii. 1, xxi. 33).
The opposition evinced by the Later Prophets to such groves and trees confirms the theory that originally they were connected with the cult of the deities presiding over the generative processes of nature. These deities and their worship (see Baalim and comp. Deut. xii. 2) were dominant factors in the Canaanitish religion, the "high hills" and "green trees" being characteristically identified with the corrupt practises of the Israelites' neighbors and symbolic of their pernicious influence upon the people of Yhwh (I Kings xiv. 23; II Kings xvi. 4, xvii. 10; II Chron. xxviii. 4; Isa. lvii. 5; Jer. ii. 20; iii. 6, 13; xvii. 2; Ezek. vi. 13, xx. 28; Hosea iv. 13).
The "gardens," which are also mentioned with disapproval, served similar purposes and for the same reasons (Isa. i. 29, lxv. 3, lxvi. 17). The Asherah—usually (following LXX. and the Vulgate) rendered "grove" or, when in the plural, "groves" ("asherim": I Kings xiv. 23; II Kings xvii. 10; Jer. xvii. 2), as even the context might have suggested, it not being likely that a "grove" would be "under every green tree"—modern scholars acknowledge to have been pillars or stakes, imitations of trees, probably trunks of trees "planted," i.e., fixed into the ground, near the altars, and thus symbols of the deity, Baal or Asherah; perhaps even in their form suggestive of the obscene lasciviousness of the Canaanitish cult (Deut. vii. 5, xvi. 21; Judges vi. 28, 30; I Kings xv. 13; II Kings xvii. 10, xxiii. 14; Micah v. 12; Hosea iii. 4).
The goddess Asherah was not identical with Astarte, as Stade ("Gesch. des Volkes Israel," i. 460) contends, but was originally a tree-goddess, while Astarte was a sidereal deity. They had many traits in common, however.
The Asherah tree or pillar had many forms, ranging from a real tree through various imitations of parts of the tree to anthropomorphic suggestions (see Max Ohnefalsch-Richter, "Kypros, die Bibel und Homer," 1893, plates lxix.; lxxv., Nos. 1, 3, 5, lxxxiii., No. 20a, b). Compare Asherah. |
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In Israel and Judah
The goddess, the Queen of heaven whose worship Jeremiah so vehemently opposed, may have been Asherah or possibly Astarte. Asherah was worshipped in ancient Israel as the consort of El and in Judah as the consort of Yahweh and Queen of Heaven (the Hebrews baked small cakes for her festival):[3]
Seest thou not what they do in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? The children gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead their dough, to make cakes to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto other gods, that they may provoke me to anger.
—Jeremiah 7:17–18
... to burn incense unto the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto her, as we have done, we, and our fathers, our kings, and our princes, in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem ...
—Jeremiah 44:17
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Figurines of Asherah are strikingly common in the archaeological record, indicating the popularity of her cult from the earliest times[4] to the Babylonian exile. More rarely, inscriptions linking Yahweh and Asherah have been discovered: an 8th century BCE ostracon inscribed
"Berakhti et’khem l’YHVH Shomron ul’Asherato"
...was discovered by Israeli archeologists at Quntilat 'Ajrud (Hebrew "Horvat Teman") in the couse of excavations in the Sinai desert in 1975, prior to the Israeli withdrawal from this area.
This translates as: "I have blessed you by YHVH of Samaria and His Asherah", or "...by our guardian and his Asherah", if "Shomron" is to be read "shomrenu".
Another inscription, from Khirbet el-Kom near Hebron, reads: "Blessed be Uriyahu by Yahweh and by his Asherah; from his enemies he saved him!".
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Asherah pole
The word asherah also referred to a sacred tree or pole that stood near shrines to honor the mother-goddess Asherah,[6] pluralized as a masculine noun when it has that meaning. In the Book of Judges, the Israelite judge Gideon orders an Asherah pole next to an altar to Baal to be cut down, and the wood used for a burnt offering. Among the Hebrews' Phoenician neighbors, tall standing stone pillars signified the numinous presence of a deity, and the wooden asherahs may have been a rustic reflection of these. Or asherah may mean a living tree or grove of trees and therefore in some contexts mean a shrine. These uses have confused Biblical translators.
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Many older translations render Asherah as 'grove'. There is still disagreement among scholars as to the extent to which Asherah (or various goddesses classed as Asherahs) was/were worshipped in Israel and Judah and the extent to which such a goddess or class of goddesses is identical to the etymologically connected goddess Athirat/Ashratu.
Tilde Binger notes in her study, Asherah: Goddesses in Ugarit, Israel and the Old Testament (1997, p. 141), that there is warrant for seeing an Asherah as, variously, "a wooden-aniconic-stela or column of some kind; a living tree; or a more regular statue."
A rudely carved wooden statue planted on the ground of the house was Asherah's symbol, and sometimes a clay statue without legs. Her cult images— "idols"— were found also in forests, carved on living trees, or in the form of poles beside altars that were placed at the side of some roads. Asherah poles are mentioned in the books of Exodus, Deuteronomy, Judges, the Books of Kings, the second Book of Chronicles, and the books of Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Micah.
The term often appears as merely אשרה, Asherah; this is translated as "groves" in the King James Version and "poles" in the New Revised Standard Version, although no word that may be translated as "poles" appears in the text. Scholars have indicated, however, that the plural use of the term Asherahs, as Asherim or Asherot, provides ample evidence that reference is being made to objects of worship rather than a transcendent figure.[7]
The majority of the forty references to Asherah in the Hebrew Bible derive from the Deuteronomist, always in a hostile framework: e.g.,
Deuteronomy 16:21 reads: "Do not set up any [wooden] Asherah '[pole]'".[8] beside the altar you build to the LORD your God."
The Deuteronomist judges the kings of Israel and Judah according to how rigorously they uphold Yahwism and suppress the worship of Asherah and other deities: King Manasseh, for example is said to have placed an Asherah pole in the Holy Temple, and was therefore one who "did evil in the sight of the Lord" (2 Kings 21:7); but king Hezekiah "removed the high places, and broke the pillars, and cut down the Asherah", (2 Kings 18.4), and was numbered among the most righteous of Judah's kings before the coming of the monotheistic reformer Josiah.
Asherah In the Book of Kings Ta'anach Text 1 - Letter from Guli-Adad to Talwashur of Ta'anach Date of Discovery: c. 1903 - Excavator: Ernst Sellin Language Akkadian - Clay Tablet
Line 21 - "Furthermore, if there is a diviner of Asherah, then let him discern our fortunes and the omen and the interpretation send to me."
1 Kings 18:19 The four hundred prophets of Asherah, who eat at Jezebel's table
* Rogers, Robert William. Cuneiform Parallels to the Old Testament. New York: Eaton & Mains, 1912.
* Albright, W. F. "A Prince of Taanach in the Fifteenth Century B.C." Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research 94 (1944) 12-27.
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Ashira in Arabia
A stele, now at the Louvre, discovered by Charles Huber in 1883 in the ancient oasis of Tema (modern Tayma), southwestern Arabia, and believed to date to the time of Nabonidus's retirement there in 549 BC, bears an inscription in Aramaic which mentions Ṣalm of Maḥram and Shingala and Ashira as the gods of Tema.
This Ashira might be Athirat/Asherah. Since Aramaic has no way to indicate Arabic th, corresponding to the Ugaritic th (more pedantically written as ṯ), if this is the same deity, it is not clear whether the name would be an Arabian reflex of the Ugaritic Athirat or a later borrowing of the Hebrew/Canaanite Asherah.
The Arabic root ʼṯr is similar in meaning to the Hebrew indicating "to tread" used as a basis to explain the name of Ashira as "Lady of the sea", specially that the Arabic root ymm also means "sea".
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Asherah and `Ashurah
For more details on this topic, see Day of Ashurah.
In the ancient lunar calendar that became the Islamic calendar, the Day of ʿAshurah, transliterated also as Aashurah, Ashura or Aashoorah, falls on the 10th day of Muharram. On that day, in the year of the Hejira 61 (AD 680), Husayn bin Ali, the grandson of Muhammad was killed by Umayyad forces at the Battle of Karbala (now in Iraq). Still called by its ancient name, the Day of Ashurah, it has been observed ever since as a day of mourning by Shī`ites.
The name `Ashurah is interpreted as meaning "ten" in Arabic. (The normal Arabic word for ten is `asharah cognate to the Hebrew root `śr = "ten", the differing forms of s being the normal correspondence found in cognate roots between Arabic and Hebrew.)
Some try to connect the Arabic :Ashurah instead to the goddess Athirath/Asherah through the Ashira of Tema. This is incorrect. The beginning "a" sound in Asherah is a normal glottal stop, like saying the letter "a." This sound is written with the Semitic letter Aleph. The beginning "a" sound in 'Ashurah is not a glottal stop, but a voiced pharyngeal fricative, represented in Semitic languages with the letter 'Ayin. The latter is a sound foreign to most if not all European languages, but common to Semitic languages, and very distinguishable from a normal glottal stop. Aleph is not commonly replaced with 'Ayin in writing, or vice-versa, so the relation between Asherah and 'Ashurah is probably non-existent. Also, the first letter is not the only difference, but the "sh" in the two words have different origins. In the name Asherah, the "sh" sound was originally a "th" sound, like in the word "thing." However sometime in the history of the Northwest Semitic languages, all the "th" sounds were replaced with other sounds. In Hebrew, "th" was replaced with "sh." This can be seen in the words for "three" in Arabic, Hebrew, and Aramaic: Thalaatha (Arabic), Shelosha (Hebrew), and Telaata (Aramaic). The "sh" in the Arabic word 'Ashurah is instead from a different origin, which is an "s" sound in other Semitic languages, which can be seen in the word for "tooth": Sin (Arabic), and Shin (Hebrew). |
The relation of New Moon to the redemption of Israel was expressed also in the benediction recited by the members of the "ḥaburah" at the New Moon banquet, and preserved in a late corrupt version in Masseket Soferim, xix. 9, from which the benediction at the sight of the new moon (see New Moon, Blessing of the) was probably derived at a later time (see Müller, "Masechet Soferim," 1878, p. 272). It reads as follows: "Be blessed, O Lord, O God, King of the Universe, who hast brought up the teachers in the circle of the school and taught them the knowledge of the seasons. As Thou hast appointed the time for the circuit of the moon, so hast Thou also selected the wise who are skilled in the counting and fixing of the seasons, as it is said: 'He appointed the moon for seasons' [Ps. civ. 19]. For 'as the new heaven and the new earth which I will make shall remain before Me, saith the Lord, so shall your seed and your name remain.' Blessed be Thou, O Lord, who reneweth Israel and the moon." This is followed by Ps. cvi. and cvii., and II Chron. xx.-xxi.; at the close occurs a special prayer for the coming of Elijah and of the Messiah. Then comes the proclamation: "The New Moon be consecrated!" which is repeated in many strains by the ḥaberim. |
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The association of Asherah with trees in the Hebrew bible is very strong. For example, she is found under trees (1K14:23; 2K 17:10)), is made of wood by human beings (1K 14:15, 2K16:3-4) and is erected by human beings (2K17:1). The Asherah often occurs in conjunction with shrines on high places, which may also be to other gods such as Baal, and frequently is mentioned in association with the host of heaven. Richard Pettey (1990:153-4) has catalogued each reference and produced tables showing all combinations of Asherah with images, pillars, high places and altars.
Using these he argued that Asherah, always associated with the worship of a deity whether JHWH or Baal, is a cultic object used along with the altars, high places and pillars in the service of such deities which included Jahweh ( this is also the position of widely quoted biblical exegete Saul Olyan. 1988). It is rather surprising considering the numerous references to trees in connection with Asherah that Pettey does not include them in his formula.
To the question was Asherah a Goddess of the Israelites? he answers both no and yes.( Pettey 1990: 210) Certainly no, he says, the biblical authors were unanimous in their abhorrence of Asherah worship, but, yes, she was without doubt popularly accepted as the goddess of Israel. One thing is certain: that the Asherah with attendant asherim has many forms but is never far from trees or the wood of trees. |
Related publications
* Tilde Binger: Asherah: Goddess in Ugarit, Israel, and the Old Testament (Sheffield Academic Press,1997) ISBN 1-85075-637-6.
* William G. Dever: Did God Have A Wife? Archaeology And Folk Religion In Ancient Israel (Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company 2005)
* Judith M.Hadley: The Cult of Asherah in Ancient Israel and Judah (U of Cambridge 2000)
* Jenny Kien: Reinstating the Divine Woman in Judaism (Universal 2000)
* Asphodel P. Long: In a Chariot Drawn by Lions (Crossing Press 1993).
* Raphael Patai: The Hebrew Goddess (Wayne State University Press 1990 and earlier editions)
* William L. Reed: The Asherah in the Old Testament (Texas Christian University Press, 1949).
* Steve A. Wiggins: A Reassessment of "Asherah": A Study According to the Textual Sources of the First Two Millennia B.C.E. (Kevelaer: Verlag Butzon & Bercker; Neukirchen-Vluyn: Neukirchener Verlag, 1993). Second edition: (Piscataway, NJ: Gorgias Press, 2007) ISBN 1-59333-717-5. |
The Hebrew Goddess (ISBN 0-8143-2271-9) is a 1967 book by Jewish historian and anthropologist Raphael Patai.
In this book, Patai argues that the Jewish religion historically had elements of polytheism, especially the worship of goddesses and a cult of the mother goddess. The book supports the theory through the interpretation of archaeological and textual sources as evidence for veneration of feminine beings.
Hebrew "goddesses" identified in the book include Asherah, Anath, Astarte, Ashima, the cherubim in Solomon's Temple, the Matronit (Shekhina), and the personified Shabbat Bride. The later editions of the book were expanded to include recent archaeological discoveries and the rituals of unification (Yichudim) which are to unite God with his Shekinah.
A third, enlarged edition was published in 1990 by Wayne State University Press. Raphael Patai's first exploration of this theme was in his 1947 book Man and Temple in Ancient Jewish Myth and Ritual (New York: Nelson) and he cites textual evidence which was not repeated in his later works.
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Queen of Heaven was a title given to a number of ancient goddesses in the ancient Mediterranean and Near East, in particular Isis, Innana, Astarte and probably Asherah by the prophet Jeremiah. Forms and content of worship varied. The title Queen of Heaven was later used by some Christians of Mary, and at least in terms of artistic imagery, the latter use shows some resemblance to the former. |
Astarte The goddess, the Queen of heaven whose worship Jeremiah so vehemently opposed, may have been possibly Astarte. Astarte is the name of a goddess as known from Northwestern Semitic regions, cognate in name, origin and functions with the goddess Ishtar in Mesopotamian texts.
Another transliteration is ‘Ashtart; other names for the goddess include Hebrew עשתרת (transliterated Ashtoreth), Ugaritic ‘ṯtrt (also ‘Aṯtart or ‘Athtart, transliterated Atirat), Akkadian DAs-tar-tú (also Astartu) and Etruscan Uni-Astre (Pyrgi Tablets).
Astarte riding in a chariot with four branches protruding from roof, on the reverse of a Julia Maesa coin from Sidon According to scholar Mark S. Smith, Astarte may be the Iron Age (after 1200 BC) incarnation of the Bronze Age (to 1200 BC) Asherah.
Astarte was connected with fertility, sexuality, and war. Her symbols were the lion, the horse, the sphinx, the dove, and a star within a circle indicating the planet Venus. Pictorial representations often show her naked. Astarte was accepted by the Greeks under the name of Aphrodite. The island of Cyprus, one of Astarte's greatest faith centers, supplied the name Cypris as Aphrodite's most common byname.
Asherah was worshipped in ancient Israel as the consort of El and in Judah as the consort of Yahweh and Queen of Heaven (the Hebrews baked small cakes for her festival):
"Seest thou not what they do in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? The children gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead their dough, to make cakes to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto other gods, that they may provoke me to anger."
... to burn incense unto the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto her, as we have done, we, and our fathers, our kings, and our princes, in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem ..." |
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Deu 16:21 "You shall not plant any tree as an Asherah beside the altar of the Lord your God that you shall make.
Jdg 6:25 That night the Lord said to him, "Take your father's bull, and the second bull seven years old, and pull down the altar of Baal that your father has, and cut down the Asherah that is beside it
Jdg 6:26 "and build an altar to the Lord your God on the top of the stronghold here, with stones laid in due order. Then take the second bull and offer it as a burnt offering with the wood of the Asherah that you shall cut down."
Jdg 6:28 When the men of the town rose early in the morning, behold, the altar of Baal was broken down, and the Asherah beside it was cut down, and the second bull was offered on the altar that had been built.
Jdg 6:30 Then the men of the town said to Joash, "Bring out your son, that he may die, for he has broken down the altar of Baal and cut down the Asherah beside it."
1Ki 15:13 He also removed Maacah his mother from being queen mother because she had made an abominable image for Asherah. And Asa cut down her image and burned it at the brook Kidron.
1Ki 16:33 And Ahab made an Asherah. Ahab did more to provoke the Lord , the God of Israel, to anger than all the kings of Israel who were before him.
1Ki 18:19 "Now therefore send and gather all Israel to me at Mount Carmel, and the 450 prophets of Baal and the 400 prophets of Asherah, who eat at Jezebel's table."
2Ki 13:6 Nevertheless, they did not depart from the sins of the house of Jeroboam, which he made Israel to sin, but walked in them; and the Asherah also remained in Samaria.)
2Ki 17:16 And they abandoned all the commandments of the Lord their God, and made for themselves metal images of two calves; and they made an Asherah and worshiped all the host of heaven and served Baal.
2Ki 18:4 He removed the high places and broke the pillars and cut down the Asherah. And he broke in pieces the bronze serpent that Moses had made, for until those days the people of Israel had made offerings to it (it was called Nehushtan).
2Ki 21:3 For he rebuilt the high places that Hezekiah his father had destroyed, and he erected altars for Baal and made an Asherah, as Ahab king of Israel had done, and worshiped all the host of heaven and served them.
2Ki 21:7 And the carved image of Asherah that he had made he set in the house of which the Lord said to David and to Solomon his son, "In this house, and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, I will put my name forever.
2Ki 23:4 And the king commanded Hilkiah the high priest and the priests of the second order and the keepers of the threshold to bring out of the temple of the Lord all the vessels made for Baal, for Asherah, and for all the host of heaven. He burned them outside Jerusalem in the fields of the Kidron and carried their ashes to Bethel.
2Ki 23:6 And he brought out the Asherah from the house of the Lord , outside Jerusalem, to the brook Kidron, and burned it at the brook Kidron and beat it to dust and cast the dust of it upon the graves of the common people.
2Ki 23:7 And he broke down the houses of the male cult prostitutes who were in the house of the Lord , where the women wove hangings for the Asherah.
2Ki 23:15 Moreover, the altar at Bethel, the high place erected by Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin, that altar with the high place he pulled down and burned, reducing it to dust. He also burned the Asherah.
2Ch 15:16 Even Maacah, his mother, King Asa removed from being queen mother because she had made a detestable image for Asherah. Asa cut down her image, crushed it, and burned it at the brook Kidron.
Mic 5:14 and I will root out your Asherah images from among you and destroy your cities. |
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Gen 13:18 Then Abram moved his tent and came and dwelt by the oaks of Mamre, which are in Hebron, and there he built an altar to the LORD. |
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Gen 26:25 So he built an altar there and called upon the name of the LORD, and pitched his tent there; and there Isaac's servants dug a well. VES » They were symbols of the Phoenician goddess, Asherah) 2. TAPESTRY » In shrines of male prostitutes where some women did weaving for the goddess Asherah (2 Kings 23:7) |
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Deuteronomy 16:21 [ Worshiping Other Gods ] Do not set up any wooden Asherah pole beside the altar you build to the LORD your God, Deuteronomy 16:20-22 (in Context) Deuteronomy 16 (Whole Chapter) |
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1 Kings 14:15 And the LORD will strike Israel, so that it will be like a reed swaying in the water. He will uproot Israel from this good land that he gave to their forefathers and scatter them beyond the River, because they provoked the LORD to anger by making Asherah poles. |
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Judges 3:7 [ Othniel ] The Israelites did evil in the eyes of the LORD; they forgot the LORD their God and served the Baals and the Asherahs. Judges 3:6-8 (in Context) Judges 3 (Whole Chapter) |
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Deuteronomy 7:5 This is what you are to do to them: Break down their altars, smash their sacred stones, cut down their Asherah poles and burn their idols in the fire. Deuteronomy 7:4-6 (in Context) Deuteronomy 7 (Whole Chapter) |
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Jeremiah 7:18 (New International Version) 18 The children gather wood, the fathers light the fire, and the women knead the dough and make cakes of bread for the Queen of Heaven. They pour out drink offerings to other gods to provoke me to anger. |
Old Testament references Veneration of a "Queen of Heaven" is recorded in the Book of the Prophet Jeremiah, circa 628 BC, in the context of the Prophet condemning such religious worship as blasphemy and a violation of the teachings of the God of Israel.
In Jeremiah 7:18: "The children gather wood, the fathers light the fire, and the women knead the dough and make cakes of bread for the Queen of Heaven. They pour out drink offerings to other gods to provoke me to anger."
[11] Matthew Henry's commentary on this passage says: "Their idolatrous respects are paid to the queen of heaven, the moon, either in an image or in the original, or both. They worshipped it probably under the name of Ashtaroth, or some other of their goddesses, being in love with the brightness in which they saw the moon walk, and thinking themselves indebted to her for her benign influences or fearing her malignant ones...". "
[12] In Jeremiah 44:15-18: "Then all the men who knew that their wives were burning incense to other gods, along with all the women who were present—a large assembly—and all the people living in Lower and Upper Egypt, said to Jeremiah, "We will not listen to the message you have spoken to us in the name of the LORD! We will certainly do everything we said we would: We will burn incense to the Queen of Heaven and will pour out drink offerings to her just as we and our fathers, our kings and our officials did in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem. At that time we had plenty of food and were well off and suffered no harm. But ever since we stopped burning incense to the Queen of Heaven and pouring out drink offerings to her, we have had nothing and have been perishing by sword and famine." "
[13] Matthew Henry's commentary on this passage notes that: "They declare their resolution not to do as God commanded them, but what they themselves had a mind to do; that is, they would go on to worship the moon, here called the queen of heaven; yet some understand it of the sun, which was much worshipped in Egypt..." "[14] |
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Thoughts
Something I came up with with, which I can't find any other referance to (thought I am sure someone has written something on this correlation) is the matching up of Asherah (Queen of Heaven) and the female persona of Wisdowm in Proverbs.
The mention of the Pillars, the rebuke, the "door of her house", the bread, the wine... in fact most of what she says in this area, is very clearly a calling of Asherah, or at the very least, using Asherah's firm imagery to illuminate Wisdom as a persona.
I copy quite a bit in here, because there is quite a bit to see about this "woman" in Solomon's mind. Chapter 8 22:31 is absolutely amazing whe we juxapose Asherah and Wisdom.
What is clear here as well, is that Wisdom/Ashera doesn't see herself, in these lines, as anything except a tool for God to use, however, she is also very clear, regarding what happens to those who do not use her.
Prov 1:20 Wisdom cries outside; she utters her voice in the streets;
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Chapter 8
1 Does not wisdom call? And does not understanding put forth her voice?
2 She stands in the top of high places, by the way in the places of the path.
3 She cries in the gates, before the entrance of the city, at the doors.
4 To you, O men, I call; and my voice is to the sons of man.
5 O simple ones understand wisdom; and, fools, be of an understanding heart.
6 Hear; for I will speak of excellent things; and the opening of my lips shall be right things.
7 For my mouth shall speak truth; and wickedness is hateful to my lips.
8 All the words of my mouth are in righteousness; nothing twisted or perverse is in them.
9 They are all plain to him who understands, and right to those who find knowledge.
10 Receive my instruction and not silver; and knowledge rather than choice gold.
11 For wisdom is better than rubies; and all the things that may be desired are not to be compared to it.
12 I, wisdom, dwell with sense, and find out knowledge of discretions.
13 The fear of the LORD is to hate evil; I hate pride, and arrogance, and the evil way, and the wicked mouth.
14 Counsel and sound wisdom are Mine; I am understanding; I have strength.
15 By Me kings reign and princes decree justice.
16 Princes rule by Me, and nobles, all the judges of the earth.
17 I love those who love Me; and those who seek Me early shall find Me.
18 Riches and honor are with Me; enduring riches and righteousness.
19 My fruit is better than gold, yea, than fine gold; and what I give is better than choice silver.
20 I lead in the way of righteousness, in the midst of the paths of judgment;
21 I may cause those who love Me to inherit riches; and I will fill their treasuries.
22 The LORD possessed Me in the beginning of His way, before His works of old.
23 I was anointed from everlasting, from the beginning, before the earth ever was.
24 When there were no depths, I was brought forth; when there were no springs heavy with water.
25 Before the mountains were settled, before the hills, I travailed;
26 before He had made the earth, or the fields or the highest part of the dust of the world.
27 When He prepared the heavens, I was there; when He set a circle upon the face of the deep;
28 when He set the clouds above; when He made the strong fountains of the deep;
29 when He gave to the sea its limit that the waters should not pass His command; when He appointed the foundations of the earth;
30 and I was a workman at His side; and I was daily His delight, rejoicing always before Him;
31 rejoicing in the world, His earth; and My delight was with the sons of men.
32 And now listen to Me, O sons; for blessed are those who keep My ways.
33 Hear instruction, and be wise, and do not refuse it.
34 Blessed is the man who hears Me, watching daily at My gates, waiting at the posts of My doors.
35 For whoever finds Me finds life, and shall obtain favor from the LORD.
36 But he who sins against Me wrongs his own soul; all who hate Me love death.
Prov 9:1 Wisdom has built her house, she has hewn out her seven pillars:
2 She has killed her beasts; she has mingled her wine; she has also furnished her table.
3 She has sent forth her maidens: she cries upon the highest places of the city,
4 Whoso is simple, let him turn in here: as for him that wants understanding, she says to him,
5 Come, eat of my bread, and drink of the wine which I have mingled.
6 Forsake the foolish, and live; and go in the way of understanding.
7 He that reproves a scorner gets to himself shame: and he that rebukes a wicked man gets himself a blot.
8 Reprove not a scorner, lest he hate you: rebuke a wise man, and he will love you.
9 Give instruction to a wise man, and he will be yet wiser: teach a just man, and he will increase in learning.
10 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding.
11 For by me your days shall be multiplied, and the years of your life shall be increased.
12 If you be wise, you shall be wise for yourself: but if you scorn, you alone shall bear it.
13 A foolish woman is clamorous: she is simple, and knows nothing.
14 For she sits at the door of her house, on a seat in the high places of the city,
15 To call passengers who go right on their ways:
16 Whoso is simple, let him turn in here: and as for him that wants understanding, she says to him,
17 Stolen waters are sweet, and bread eaten in secret is pleasant.
18 But he knows not that the dead are there; and that her guest are in the depths of hell.
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Asherah and the Old Gods
see Abraham in Apocryphal and Rabbinical Literature
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:As-Julia_Maesa-Sidon_AE30_BMC_300.jpg