Summary: The Historical Mystery Of Asherah

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The Historical Mystery of Asherah – Fictional Goddess or Wife of Yahweh
According to Dictionary.com, Asherah is an “ancient Semitic goddess, sometimes identified with Ashtoreth and Astarte, worshiped by the Phoenicians and Canaanites.” Merriam-Webster dictionary refers to Asherah as a “sacred wooden post, pole, or pillar that stood near the altar in various Canaanite high places that symbolizes the goddess Asherah”. She was a Canaanite fertility goddess. So, who exactly is this goddess Asherah? Asherah seems to have been the most major goddess in the time of Ancient Israel. She was the “mother of gods and humans…. She is also the mistress of the sea and land, and protector of all living things (Scham).” According to the Holy Bible, Asherah (sometimes referred to as Ashtoreth), was the name …show more content…

Evidence from the Holy Bible does not indicate that Asherah was anything more than a fictional goddess or cult symbol. Out of the forty times Asherah is named in The Bible, most of these terms are named in conjunction with the definite article “the” (White). In Hebrew, “the” is used similarly to that in English. Personal names do not take an article. For example, I am Kelsie, not the Kelsie. Some inscriptions say “Yahweh and his Asherah (Scham).” This leads some people, such as Stavrakopoulou to believe that Yahweh and Asherah were husband and wife. The belief that she was the wife of Yahweh could easily be misinterpreted, though. Using the word “his” before Asherah could essentially mean that it is not a personal name at all. It would be more reasonable to believe that it was simply a reference to a cult symbol. In other Semitic languages, not Hebrew, Asherah means “a cella or chapel (White).” That makes it pretty evident that the term of Asherah in The Holy Bible is not a personal name. It could, however, be a reference to a type of goddess. That would lead to the question, “Who is Asherah?” or even “What exactly is an

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