Asherah pole
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An Asherah pole is a sacred tree or pole that stood near Canaanite religious locations to honor the goddess Asherah.[1] The relation of the literary references to an asherah and archaeological finds of Judaean pillar-figurines has engendered a literature of debate.[2]
The asherim were also
References from the Hebrew Bible
Asherim are mentioned in the
The
. The wood was to be used for a burnt offering.Deuteronomy 16:21 states that
Exodus 34:13 states: "Break down their altars, smash their sacred stones and cut down their Asherim [Asherah poles]."
Asherah poles in biblical archaeology
Biblical archaeologists have suggested that until the 6th century BC the Israelite peoples had household shrines, or at least figurines, of Asherah, which are strikingly common in the archaeological remains.[10] Thus, the pro-Yahwist prophets and priests were the "innovators" whilst Asherah worshippers were the "traditionalists".[11]
Joan E. Taylor suggests the temple menorah’s iconography can be traced to representations of a sacred tree, possibly “based on the form of an asherah, perhaps one associated in particular with Bethel.”[12] However, Rachel Hachlili finds this hypothesis unlikely.[13]
Raphael Patai identified the pillar figurines with Asherah[14] in The Hebrew Goddess.
Purpose
So far, the purpose of Asherah poles are unknown.[4]
Due to its role in Iron Age Yahwism, some suggest they were embodiments of Yahweh himself. Evidence for the latter includes pro-Yahwist kings like Jehu not destroying Asherah poles, despite violently suppressing non-Yahwist cults.[15] In addition, the Yahwist inscription of Kuntillet ʿAjrud in the Sinai Peninsula pairs Yahweh with Asherah. Scholars believe Asherah is merely a cultic object or temple but others argue that it is a generic name for any consort of Yahweh.[16]
Ronald Hendel argues a middle ground is possible, where the Asherah pole is a symbol of the eponymous goddess but is believed to be the mediator between the worshipper and Yahweh, where she becomes the "effective bestower of blessing".[17]
Stéphanie Anthonioz says that early references to Asherah poles in the Hebrew Bible (i.e. Deuteronomy 16:21–22) were built on the awareness that Yahweh had a consort, from the perspective of many Israelites. With the exception of Deuteronomists, many Near Easterners believed symbols and cult images, like the Asherah pole, were reflections of the divine and the divine themselves in their anthropomorphized forms.[18]
See also
- Baetyl, type of sacred standing stone
- High place, raised place of worship
- Ceremonial pole
- Sacred trees and groves in Germanic paganism and mythology
- Matzevah, sacred pillar (Hebrew Bible) or Jewish headstone
- Xoanon
- Menhir, orthostat, or standing stone: upright stone, typically from the Bronze Age
- Stele, stone or wooden slab erected as a monument
- Trees in mythology
- Maqam
- Boaz and Jachin
- Judean pillar figures
References
- ^ Sarah Iles Johnston, ed. Religions of the Ancient World, (Belnap Press, Harvard) 2004, p. 418; a book-length scholarly treatment is W.L. Reed, The Asherah in the Old Testament (Fort Worth: Texas Christian University Press) 1949; the connection of the pillar figurines with Asherah was made by Raphael Patai in The Hebrew Goddess (1967)
- ^ Summarized and sharply criticized in Raz Kletter's The Judean Pillar-Figurines and the Archaeology of Asherah (Oxford: Tempus Reparatum), 1996; Kletter gives a catalogue of material remains.
- ^ W.G. Dever, "Asherah, Consort of Yahweh? New Evidence from Kuntillet ʿAjrûd" Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research,1984; D.N. Freedman, "Yahweh of Samaria and his Asherah", The Biblical Archaeologist, 1987; Morton Smith, "God Male and Female in the Old Testament: Yahweh and his Asherah" Theological Studies, 1987; J.M. Hadley "The Khirbet el-Qom Inscription", Vetus Testamentum, 1987
- ^ a b Day 1986, pp. 401–04.
- ^ Day 1986, p. 401.
- ISBN 0-8028-2491-9
- ^ Wooden and pole are translators' interpolations in the text, which makes no such characterization of Asherah.
- ^ Various translations of Deuteronomy 16.21 compared.
- ^ Day 1986, p. 402 – "Which would be odd if the Asherim were themselves trees", noting that there is general agreement that the asherim were man-made objects
- ISBN 978-0-7432-2338-6.
- ^ William G. Dever, Did God have a Wife?: Archaeology and Folk Religion in Ancient Israel, 2005
- almond tree, may have been based on the form of an asherah, perhaps one associated in particular with Bethel.
- ISBN 978-90-04-12017-4.
- ISBN 978-0-567-08360-9.
- ISBN 978-1107422261.
- ^ Smoak, Jeremy; Schniedewind, William (2019). "Religion at Kuntillet ʿAjrud". Religions. 10 (3): 211 – via MDPI.
- ISBN 978-0-19-978462-2.
- ISBN 978-3-525-54388-7.
Sources
- Day, John (September 1986). "Asherah in the Hebrew Bible and Northwest Semitic Literature". Journal of Biblical Literature. 105 (3): 385–408. JSTOR 3260509.