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ASHERAH

(Heb. ʾăšērâ)

The Hebrew name of an Amorite or Canaanite goddess and the cult object dedicated to her. A complete distinction between the deity and the sacred poles erected in her honor is not always possible in the OT (cf. Judg. 3:7).

Asherah may have been the same as Ašratum, the consort of Amurru, one of the chief deities mentioned in an early Babylonian list of gods; in the Amarna Letters her name appears in the personal name Abdi-aširta (“Servant of Asherah"). The Ras Shamra texts portray her (Ugar. ʾaṯrt) as the spouse of the supreme god El (sometimes called Elat, “goddess”) and the mother of 70 children, including Baal (perhaps also a consort); she is also called “Lady Asherah of the sea.” In the Baal cycle she intercedes with El to provide a palace for Baal. Asherah was the mother goddess, to be distinguished from Astarte, the Canaanite fertility goddess. Centers of worship were located throughout the ancient Near East, particularly Phoenicia. Manifestations of Asherah worship have been identified in Egyptian, Hittite, Philistine, and Arabic texts.

Heb. ʾăšērâ refers not only to the goddess but also to the consecrated poles, called either Asherah (e.g., Deut. 16:21; Judg. 6:25, 28) or Asherim (e.g., Exod. 34:13; Deut. 7:5; 12:3), which represented the deity. At first they may have been living trees (cf. Deut. 16:21; possibly a sacred grove), but in later usage were wooden poles, perhaps stylized to represent a tree (cf. 2 Kgs. 17:10). These poles may also have been carved images of the goddess. Remains of what are believed to be such poles, including those discovered among Bronze Age finds at Shechem, consist mainly of postholes in which the rotted timber has left a differently colored soil.

In ancient Israel worship of Asherah is attested at local shrines during the period of the judges (Judg. 3:7-8). Both Jeroboam I of Israel (1 Kgs. 14:15) and Rehoboam of Judah (v. 23), sons and successors of Solomon, fostered Asherah worship in their respective kingdoms. When King Ahab married the Phoenician princess Jezebel, worship of Asherah was strongly promoted in the northern kingdom, together with the worship of Baal. The prophet Elijah counted some 400 of her prophets (and 450 of Baal) eating at Jezebel’s table (no doubt supported by the queen; 1 Kgs. 18:19). Israel’s devotion to Asherah is cited as a cause for its deportation to Assyria (2 Kgs. 17:10, 16).

Allegiance to the Asherah cult was proscribed (Exod. 34:13-14; Deut. 7:5), and various attempts were made to eradicate the practice (e.g., Gideon, Judg. 6:25-30). Maacah the queen mother had placed an “image” of Asherah in Judah which her grandson Asa destroyed in the Wadi Kidron (1 Kgs. 15:13; cf. 2 Chr. 15:16). King Josiah of Judah burned the “vessels” and the woven “hangings” of Asherah (2 Kgs. 23:4, 7; 2 Chr. 34:3, 7) which his predecessor Manasseh had erected in the temple at Jerusalem (2 Kgs. 21:7; cf. 2 Chr. 33:3, 19); earlier reforms were carried out by Jehoshaphat (2 Chr. 19:3) and Hezekiah (2 Kgs. 18:4). Prophetic judgments include references to continued devotion to the “sacred poles” (Isa. 27:9; Jer. 17:1ff.; Mic. 5:14).

Inscriptions found at Kuntillet ʿAjrud and Khirbet el-Qom mention “Yahweh and his ʾăšērâ.” Many scholars interpret this as indication of the goddess Asherah as consort of Yahweh (on the order of Baal and Asherah), but the term probably indicates the cult symbol or, less likely, a cella or chapel.

Bibliography. T. Binger, Asherah: Goddesses in Ugarit, Israel and the Old Testament. JSOTSup 212 (Sheffield, 1994); J. Day, “Asherah in the Hebrew Bible and Northwest Semitic Literature,” JBL 105 (1986): 385-408; B. Margalit, “The Meaning and Significance of Asherah,” VT 40 (1990): 264-97; Z. Meshel, “Did Yahweh Have a Consort?” BARev 5 (1979): 24-35; S. A. Wiggins, A Reassessment of ‘Asherah.’ AOAT 235 (Neukirchen-Vluyn, 1993); N. Wyatt, “Asherah,” DDD, 99-105.

Allen C. Myers

Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

ASHERAH

Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible (2000)