In the Bible, Asherah is both the Hebrew name of a pagan fertility goddess and the wooden cult object dedicated to her. Nearly all instances of “Asherah” in the Bible refer to a sacred pole constructed by human hands and erected in honor of the fertility goddess.
From the Israel Museum via Wikimedia Commons. Asherah, along with Astarte and Anath, was one of the three great goddesses of the Canaanite pantheon. In Canaanite religion her primary role was that of mother goddess. Canaanites associated Asherah with sacred trees, an association also found in the Israelite tradition.
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All of these artifacts reveal that Asherah was a powerful fertility goddess. Asherah's connection to Yahweh, according to Stavrakopoulou, is spelled out in both the Bible and an 8th century B.C. inscription on pottery found in the Sinai desert at a site called Kuntillet Ajrud.
The association of Asherah with trees in the Hebrew Bible is very strong. For example, she is found under trees (1 Kings 14:23; 2 Kings 17:10) and is made of wood by human beings (1 Kings 14:15, 2 Kings 16:3–4).
God had a wife, Asherah, whom the Book of Kings suggests was worshipped alongside Yahweh in his temple in Israel, according to an Oxford scholar. In 1967, Raphael Patai was the first historian to mention that the ancient Israelites worshipped both Yahweh and Asherah.
Many studies on Asherah in the Bible have concluded that Asherah was a popular and beloved Mother-Goddess in the religion of Israel. Asherah was regarded as a benevolent, divine kingship (also known as the “Queen of Heaven”) who bestows abundance and protection to the people.
In other words, if (as seems reasonable and is accepted by many) Kretschmer is correct, not only are Aphrodite and Asherah (Athirat) often the same goddess in terms of their roles, functions and characteristics, but they may actually have the same name [GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA WITH PSILI][varphi][Iuml]/á½δá½·[tau]η ( ...
Asherah, ancient West Semitic goddess, consort of the supreme god.
Contents. On the other hand, there is suggestive archaeological evidence that Asherah may also have been regarded as the female consort to the Hebrew God Yahweh and was widely worshiped by Israelites within the context of Yahwism. Thus, she may have functioned as representing the divine feminine.
Hebrew Bible references
The worship of a "Queen of Heaven" (Hebrew: מלכת השמים, Malkath haShamayim) is recorded in the Book of Jeremiah, in the context of the Prophet condemning such religious worship and it being the cause of God declaring that He would remove His people from the land.
Asherah, also known as the Queen of Heaven, is the mother goddess of the Canaanite religion, wife of the Most High God and the daughter of Dyēus and Dʰéǵʰōm, and is the mother of over 70 gods. She is the primeval goddess of Motherhood, Fertility, of Divinity, Lordship and transcendence.
Powers and Abilities
As the consort of Yahweh and the Supreme Goddess of Creation, Asherah is said to be every bit as powerful as God. As such She is commonly attributed to omnipotence, omnipresence, omniscience, omnibenevolence, and divine simplicity.
Worship of Asherah in biblical times was widespread throughout Syria, Phoenicia, and Canaan.
Asherah is the wise, loving, giving, Grandmother of Muslims, Jews and Christians.
The Bible makes it clear that while Yahweh created marriage in Genesis 1:28, he was never married, nor does God have a wife.
Baal was the god of rain, wind, and fertility. Because Canaan depended on rain to grow crops and survive, he was numero uno. Asherah, another popular deity in Canaan, was the goddess of motherhood and fertility. Depending on the tradition, she was either Baal's mother, lover, or both.
Some scholars believe she was seen as early as the 2nd millennium BCE as a popular female deity in the Hittite culture. She may have also been associated with the goddess Elat. The Babylonian goddess Ashratu appears to be a version of Asherah, and she was known for her eroticism.
In the particular area Israel was to dwell and inherit, it was Asherah and Ashtoreth. They are one and the same. They are both moon goddesses and they are both moon goddesses that can be traced. Other names are Astarte, Ishtar, and you can trace it all the way back to Semiramis, to Babylon.
Asherah was the chief goddess of the Canaanites. She was El's wife and the mother and wet nurse of the other gods. At least some Israelites worshipped her over a period from the conquest of Canaan in the second millennium before Christ to the fall of Jerusalem in 586 BC (the time of Lehi's departure with his family).
In order to look for Asherah in the Greek Bible we need to look for its translation, because the Hebrew word for 'Asherah' is translated into Greek with the word meaning 'grove', alsos. It appears in place of Asherah in all but four occurrences.
Shekhinah, the feminine Presence of God, is a central metaphor of divinity in Jewish mystical and Midrashic texts from the first millennium C.E. onward.
Throughout the major prophets in the Old Testament, the term “spreading tree” is used repeatedly in reference to the location in which the nation of Israel conducted their sinful pagan rituals.
Her symbols are lions, lilies, a tree or a pole.
Aphrodite and the Gods of Love: Goddess of Love and Beauty (Getty Villa Exhibitions) The essence of Aphrodite's power was her ability to provoke desire.
Aphrodite is the ancient Greek goddess of sexual love and beauty, identified with Venus by the Romans.