Who Was Asherah? (and was she God's wife?)

The video explores the ancient Israelite worship of Asher, a figure often presented as a goddess, and her complex relationship with the God of Israel, Yahweh. It begins by highlighting a controversial archaeological find from Kuntillet Ajrud in the Sinai Peninsula: an inscription on a storage jar depicting two figures and reading, "I bless you by Yahweh of Samaria and by his Asher." This inscription is significant because Asher was a prominent goddess in the ancient Near East, and the Hebrew Bible frequently criticizes Israelites for her worship. However, this inscription offers a glimpse into the perspective of her followers. The text delves into the nature of Asher, drawing heavily on Canaanite mythology from Ugarit. Here, Asher, known as Athirat, is the consort of the high god El, the mother of the gods, and a powerful deity in her own right. She is described as the "creatress of the gods" and the "mother of the 70 divine sons," a royal mother goddess linked to fertility and divine royalty. In the Ugaritic Baal Cycle, Athirat plays a crucial role as a "kingmaker," instrumental in establishing Baal's kingship and later in deciding his successor. This establishes Asher as a significant figure in Canaanite religion, holding a position of power and influence. The video notes that Asher's worship predates the Ugaritic texts, with evidence of her worship in Babylonian and Hittite sources, indicating her widespread presence across the ancient Near East for centuries. Returning to the Hebrew Bible, the term "Asher" appears 40 times, but its meaning is often ambiguous. Some passages clearly refer to the goddess, such as the mention of "prophets of Asher" in 1 Kings 18. However, other passages describe an "Asherah" as a cultic object, often a wooden pole or tree, which Deuteronomy 16 forbids planting. This duality – a divine being versus a cultic object – has been a subject of scholarly debate. The biblical authors, particularly within the Deuteronomistic history (Joshua, Judges, Samuel, Kings), are overwhelmingly hostile towards Asher, viewing her worship as a deviation from exclusive devotion to Yahweh. This hostility itself suggests the persistence and deep embedding of Asher worship in Israelite religion. Examples include Gideon's father's altar to Baal and "the Asher beside it," King Asa removing his grandmother for making an "abominable image for the Asher," and King Manasseh placing an image of Asher in the Jerusalem Temple itself. The hostility culminates with King Josiah's sweeping religious reforms around 622 BCE. Upon discovering a "book of the law" (likely an early version of Deuteronomy), Josiah initiates a purge of all foreign deities and cultic objects, with Asher at the center. He commands the destruction of vessels made for Asher, burns the Asher pole, and even tears down "houses of the male cult prostitutes" within the Temple, implying organized worship of Asher conducted by women. Josiah's reforms, described as a kingdom-wide demolition project, aimed to centralize worship in Jerusalem and enforce exclusive devotion to Yahweh. The nature of the Asher object is explored, commonly understood as a wooden object associated with cultic sites like high places. It is often mentioned alongside standing stones (pillars) and altars. While standing stones are abstract markers of divine presence, the Asher pole's exact form remains murky, though a deep iconographic tradition links goddesses with sacred trees throughout the region. Archaeological finds, such as a terracotta image from central Israel depicting a nude female figure with stylized trees on her thighs, and a jug from Lachish with a stylized tree and an inscription reading "A gift, an offering to my lady," interpreted as an epithet of Asher, offer visual clues. The Tanakh cult stand, dating to the 10th century BCE, further complicates the picture, with interpretations ranging from a depiction of Asher in multiple forms (woman and tree) to representations of other goddesses or even a single goddess without a male deity. For many scholars, the stylized tree became Asher's symbol by the 13th century BCE, potentially explaining the merging of the goddess and her symbol in biblical texts. Some argue that worshiping the Asher pole was synonymous with worshiping the goddess herself. The video then discusses the "Judean pillar figurines," small clay female figurines found in domestic contexts across Judah, dating to the 8th and 7th centuries BCE, the same period as the Kuntillet Ajrud inscriptions. These figurines, with their pillow-shaped lower bodies and prominent breasts, are interpreted by some scholars, like William Dever, as miniature representations of Asher poles and symbols of her maternal role. They are seen as evidence of "folk religion" practiced by ordinary people. However, other scholars, like Aaron Darby, suggest they functioned as protective magical objects for household rituals, possibly related to childbirth or crises, without necessarily representing a specific goddess. More recent research using digital imaging highlights the figurines' carefully crafted eyes, suggesting they were seen as hybrid creatures, granting access to divine power without specifying a particular deity. The concentration of these figurines in Judah, the heartland of the Jerusalem Temple cult, suggests they operated within a broadly Yahwistic religious world, but their exact divine association remains unclear. The Kuntillet Ajrud inscriptions are revisited, with the inscription "I bless you by Yahweh of Samaria and by his Asher" being central. The figures on the jar are debated, with some identifying them as the Egyptian god Bes, while others argue they represent Yahweh and Asher, noting the male figure's distinct anatomy and the female figure's breasts and jewelry, alongside a husband-and-wife pose. The figures' animalistic, cattle-like features are linked to biblical references of Israelites worshipping Yahweh as a calf. The inscription's mention of "Yahweh of Samaria" is also connected to Hosea's critique of the "calf of Samaria," suggesting a possible mockery of this divine epithet. The reverse side of the pot, depicting a stylized tree flanked by ibexes, is interpreted by some as Asher depicted as a sacred tree. The core debate surrounding the Kuntillet Ajrud inscriptions centers on the meaning of "Asher." One reading treats it as a common noun referring to the cult object, likely a wooden pole or stylized tree. The more common reading, however, identifies "Asher" as the goddess's name, with some scholars arguing the inscription simply names two deities side-by-side: Yahweh of Samaria and Asher. Regardless of the grammatical interpretation, these inscriptions provide evidence of ordinary Israelites blessing in the name of both Yahweh and Asher. The video concludes by synthesizing these findings. In Canaanite mythology, Asherath was the queen and consort of El. As Israelite religion developed, Yahweh likely absorbed the roles and attributes of Canaanite gods like El and Baal. The Hebrew Bible itself refers to Yahweh as El, and he presides over a divine council, mirroring El's role. Therefore, inscriptions from Kuntillet Ajrud suggest that Yahweh also inherited El's consort, Asher. This implies that many Yahweh worshippers viewed Asher not as a foreign import but as the traditional partner of their high god, worshiping her as a protective, life-giving goddess. This perspective challenges the biblical portrayal of exclusive Yahwistic worship, suggesting that Asher worship was likely part of mainstream Israelite religion for centuries. The biblical hostility towards Asher is largely attributed to later Deuteronomistic circles and reformers like Josiah, who sought to redefine Israelite religion retroactively. The eventual disappearance of Asher worship is linked to Josiah's reforms and later translations of the Hebrew Bible, where "Asher" was often translated as "grove," obscuring the goddess's identity. The video emphasizes that learning the original languages of biblical texts is crucial for understanding their nuances, as translators often face difficult choices and may flatten aspects like wordplay. The introduction of a biblical Hebrew class through the book of Jonah is promoted as a way to gain such insights.