Asherah

The term refers to both a Canaanite goddess and as a wooden object representing her ("a grove of any tree" in KJV, "Asherah pole" in NIV, "any tree as a sacred pole" NRSV, or "any tree as a wooden image" NKJ). Though mentioned often in the Old Testament, it is never described, except that it was man-made, an artefact, e.g.,:

"[Asa] even deposed his grand-mother Maacah from her position as queen mother, because she made a repulsive Asherah pole." (1 Ki 15:13, NIV)

"Ahab also made an Asherah pole . . . " (1 Ki 16:33, NIV)

"[Manasseh] took the carved Asherah pole he had made and put it in the temple . . ." (2 Ki 21:7, NIV)

A description of Asherah is, however, provided by the Ugaritic text from Ras Shamra. There she is described as a consort of El, and her most famous son was Baal. This myth, therefore, presents the most fundamental theological principle of ancient Canaanite religion, that, "there was in the beginning two." As Victor Hamilton observes, "The issue is not simply arithmetic. The fact that one does not read about Mrs. God in Gen 1 and 2 may be one of the Bible's way of stating that only God finds fulfillment in himself."

The Old Testament already knew of the existence of the Asherah cult long before Israel settled in Palestine. Exo 34:13 and Deut 7:5; 12:3 and 16:21, already warned Israel on the eve of her conquest and entry into the land about the dangers of the cult and what she must do about it. Nonetheless, Asherah worship among Israelites did not become a big problem until Solomon's dance with foreign worship (1 Ki 11:2-10) provided the lead for the nation to follow (it is interesting to note that the word does not appear between Judg 6:30 and 1Ki 14:15). Following the split of the nation into the Israel and Judah, Asherah and Baal worship, became rampant; more than three-quarters of the word's usage is found pertaining to the period of the divided monarchy. Already at the beginning of this period, Ahijah already warned Jeroboam's widow that "Yahweh will uproot Israel from this good land that he gave to their forefathers and scatter them beyond the River [the Euphrates] because they provoked Yahweh to anger by making Asherah poles" (1Ki 14:15). A short while later, we read of the "four hundred prophets of Asherah, who eat at Jezebel's table" (1Ki 18:19). In the south, Manasseh gave himself fully over to the worship of Asherah, despite his father's religious reform in favour of Yahweh worship, and even planted an Asherah pole in the temple (2Ki 21:7). "Apostasy and idolatry just behind revival! What one generation attempts to get rid of a subsequent generation may trot back in, however, reprehensible it may be. All too frequently this has been the pattern of the human race" (Victor Hamilton, TWOT, I:82).