What does Asherah mean in the Bible?

 
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The Hebrew word for Asherah occurs 40 times in the Old Testament. “Asherah” has been translated in a variety of ways because of uncertainty concerning its meaning. The association of the word with pagan worship is unquestioned by scholars. Most modern translators of the Bible have treated “Asherah” as a proper noun.

The writers of the Old Testament referred to the image of Asherah as well as to “prophets” belonging to her and to vessels used in her worship (1 Kings 15:13 , 1 Kings 18:19; 2 Kings 21:7 , 2 Kings 23:4; 2 Chronicles 15:16 ). Over half of the Old Testament references to Asherah can be found in the books of Kings and Chronicles. Deuteronomy 7:5; Deuteronomy 12:3 instructed the Israelites to cut down and burn up the Asherim (plural form of Asherah). Deuteronomy 16:21 prohibited the planting of a tree as an “Asherah.”

The writers of the Old Testament did not provide an actual description of an “asherah” or the origin of the worship of Asherah. Other religious writings from the Ancient Near East indicate that “Asherah” was the Hebrew name for an Amorite or Canaanite goddess who was worshiped in various parts of the Ancient Near East. The biblical writers sometimes did not make a clear distinction between references to Asherah as a goddess and as object of worship. According to ancient mythology, Asherah, the mother goddess, was the wife of El and mother of seventy gods, of whom Baal was the most famous. Asherah was the fertility goddess of the Phoenicians and Canaanites. She was called “Lady Asherah of the Sea.” See Canaan.

Scholars who have studied art work from the Ancient Near East have suggested that some figures in drawings could be representations of the fertility goddess Asherah. Drawings of plain and carved poles, staffs, a cross, a double ax, a tree, a tree stump, a headdress for a priest, and several wooden images could be illustrations of an Asherah. Passages such as 2 Kings 13:6; 2 Kings 17:16; 2 Kings 18:4; 2 Kings 21:3; and 2Kings 23:6,2 Kings 23:15 have been interpreted as a definition of an asherah as a wooden object constructed or destroyed by man. The object stood upright and was used in the worship of a goddess of the same name.

The Asherah existed in both the Southern and Northern Kingdoms of Israel. Jezebel of Tyre apparently installed Asherah worship in the north when she married King Ahab (1 Kings 18:18-19 ). The principle cities in which the objects were located were Samaria, Bethel, and Jerusalem. According to 1 Kings 14:23 , the people “built for themselves high places, and pillars, and Asherim (plural) on every hill and under every green tree.” See Baal; Idolatry .

James Newell

Throughout the Old Testament, we see the words “Asherah pole” often in conjunction with the practices of foreign religions. God appears to hate these objects, but what exactly are they? 

Borne out of Canaanite religions, these objects tempted the Israelites throughout their history to stray after foreign gods instead of the one true God.

In this article, we’ll dive into the origin of Asherah poles, where they play a role in Israelite history, and why this matters for us today.

What Are They?

These poles, or sometimes stylized trees, stood as a sacred monument and tribute to the Canaanite goddess, Asherah.

According to Canaanite myth, this mother goddess created several gods in the Canaanite pantheon with the other creator god, El. The Canaanites often worshipped her via trees (Asherah poles) because of her association with the tree of life. She gives life to 70 other gods in the Canaanite pantheon. 

She’s most famously the mother of Baal, another god who shows up throughout the Old Testament when the Israelites stray after other idols. She also has ties to fertility, hence 70 gods emerging from her union with El. 

An Asherah pole, like the ones found here, often represented trees associated with this mother goddess, but some archeologists believe they used living trees for these objects of religion.

In their mythology, the Canaanites (or Israelites of a certain Canaanite cult) sometimes paired Asherah with Yahweh, as though she was Yahweh’s wife. Especially since El and Elohim have similar roots in name, it is suggested that maybe the Israelites formed a separate religion from a Canaanite one. 

Some archeologists say that when the Israelites cut Asherah out of the picture, they moved from a polytheistic religion to a monotheistic one, but Scripture clearly indicates the opposite. 

God condemned the worship of Asherah poles (Exodus 34:13 makes it clear that he is one and not one of a pantheon of gods, Deuteronomy 6:4) and condemned the Israelites engaging in pagan worship. The Canaanite religion fell under the umbrella of “pagan worship.” Any connection between God and Asherah is a perversion of the truth. God does not have a wife.

Nevertheless, they managed to find their way into Israel’s history as the nation rebelled against God.

We see that they made an appearance in Exodus 34:13, which means the Israelites engaged with pagan religions back during the time of Moses. We can see how their time spent in Egypt might have influenced them. When they were constantly bombarded by images of Egyptian polytheism, they might have let these elements seep into their own religion.

By the time of Gideon (Judges 6), we see that his father had a statue to Baal and an Asherah pole. This must mean that other Israelites also had such objects and regularly paid tribute to them. 

The evil king of Israel, Ahab, also set up an Asherah pole (1 Kings 16:33). The list goes on, with about 40 mentions in the Bible. 

Throughout the Old Testament, God had prophets and his people tear down these objects.

Why Does This Matter?

Does it matter that the Israelites kept these objects if they worshipped the one true God?

Yes, it matters.

First, God alone deserves our worship. If the Israelites placed their faith and hope in anything other than the Almighty, they would surely end up disappointed. 

Not to mention the Canaanite religion had quite a few immoral myths and practices. Asherah, for instance, likely married her son after he supplanted El, reminiscent of an Oedipus Rex plot. 

Second, it matters that we don’t mix paganism with Christianity. 

Sure, we don’t pair God with Asherah, but do we try to marry him to something unholy? Do we have pagan worship practices at our churches, or try to mix a prosperity gospel with the real gospel? 

We have to cut down our own Asherah poles. 

Third, we have to be careful what influences us, and always balance our opinions against what Scripture truly says.

The Israelites spent a great deal of time in Egypt, 400 plus years. No doubt, during that time, pagan religions influenced their thinking. So, by the time we reach Exodus 34, God commands them to tear down Asherah poles. 

In the same way, we don’t live in a Christian bubble. Through our media, our workplace, and our day-to-day activities, we absorb non-biblical ideas of the culture around us.

Whenever that happens, we have to remind ourselves about the truth of Scripture and God. The true God, not Asherah.

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Hope Bolinger is an acquisitions editor at End Game Press, and the author 21+ books. More than 1400 of her works have been featured in various publications. Check out her books at hopebolinger.com for clean books in most genres, great for adults and kids.

“And Ahab made an Asherah.” When I read that verse my first instinct is to say, “I sure hope he had a tissue.” Is an Asherah a good thing, or a bad thing? Or perhaps the more fundamental question is—what in the world is an Asherah pole? And how do you even pronounce it?

The word itself is pronounced “Ash-Ruh.” Ash, like the stuff you have in the bottom of your fireplace, and “ruh” like the first part of Scooby-Doo’s “ruh-roh.” But what is it and what is the significance of it? We will consider what/who is Asherah and the significant role it plays within the biblical narrative.

What Is an Asherah Pole?

Asherah was one of the chief deities of the ancient world. Most believe she was the wife of the supreme god El and the mother of Baal. She is often placed beside the chief male deity. According to Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible “manifestations of Asherah worship have been identified in Egyptian, Hittite, Philistine, and Arabic texts.” So, the Asherah cult was prominent.

What, then, was an Asherah pole? There is some debate on whether these were actual living trees or wooden figures in the shape of trees. A modest proposal is that they were originally living trees but eventually became wooden poles. When you read in the Scriptures about “worship under every green tree” there is likely at least some connection to the worship of Asherah. Unfortunately, we do not know what place these held within the worship of Asherah, nor do we have any lasting depiction of these idols.

Put simply, an Asherah pole is a wooden idol (likely in the shape of a tree) used to worship the goddess Asherah.

Is an Asherah Pole Ever Mentioned in the Bible?

In the Scriptures, the Hebrew word for Asherah is used both for the goddess herself and for the poles erected in her honor. In older translations, it will often be interpreted as “grove.” Their appearance in the Old Testament, as to be expected, is always in the negative. They are idols that must be rooted out of Israelite worship.

In Exodus 34:12-14 the Asherim are specifically mentioned as needing to be “cut down” once the Israelites enter the land, so as not to make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land and begin worshipping their gods. This same command is given in Deuteronomy 7:5 and 12:3. In Deuteronomy 16:21 they are forbidden to “plant any tree as an Asherah beside the altar of the LORD your God.” This would have been syncretizing Israelite worship with the worship of this pagan goddess.

In Judges 6, Gideon was called to tear down the altar to Baal and to “cut down the Asherah that is beside it.” Again, we see Asherah almost as a sidekick to the prominent male deity. We see her worship in the form of a tree and right next to the altar.

In 1 Kings 14, we see that Jeroboam and his followers would be judged by the Lord because “they have made their Asherim, provoking the LORD to anger.” The same judgment would befall Maacah, the mother of Asa, because she “had made an abominable image for Asherah”. She was removed as “queen mother” and Asa cut down the Asherah and burned it in the river. But this revival would only last about as long as Asa—as only a short time thereafter Ahab made an Asherah and “did more to provoke the LORD…to anger than all the kings of Israel who were before him.”

In 2 Kings 17, we see how prominent the worship of Asherah and Baal had become throughout the land as they “set up for themselves pillars and Asherim on every high hill and under every green tree.” At this point, they were all-in on the worship of these false gods. In the time of Hezekiah, there was a similar revival to that of Asa. Hezekiah also “cut down the Asherah” but Manasseh, his wicked son, “rebuilt the high places that Hezekiah his father had destroyed and…made an Asherah, as Ahab king of Israel had done…” (2 Kings 21:3). He even went so far as to put the Asherah within the house of the Lord. Josiah reversed this course and took all of these pagan symbols out of the temple.

It seems as well in 2 Chronicles, that the goodness or wickedness of a king is determined by what they did with the Asherim. The good kings took them out of Israelite worship, and the wicked kings either erected them or continued the worship of these idols unabated.

The prophets, like Isaiah, would look to a day when the worship of God’s people would be pure and there would be “no Asherim to remain standing.” Micah 5:14 spoke of the work of God in “rooting out your Asherah images from among you.” Which, according to Jeremiah, would have been a mighty task as there was Asherim “beside every green tree and on the high hills” (Jeremiah 17:2).

By the time of the New Testament, idolatry seems to have taken a different flavor. Asherah poles do not make an appearance. It is likely through the various secular conquests and the changing political landscape that God kept his promise to “root out the Asherah images.”

What Is the Biblical Significance of the Asherah Pole?

Tracing the history of Asherah poles is an interesting study. Would the Israelites have known of this worship before entering the Canaanite areas? Was this something present within their own communities that they would have to abandon once they reached the land, or would this be a new temptation for them upon coming into contact with these nations? Either way, God made it clear that the people of Israel shouldn’t flirt with such syncretism. Cut them down. Root them out of the land.

This is always the remedy for idolatry. They must be uprooted. This is one of the helpful points that the Puritan John Owen made in his work The Mortification of Sin. As Owen would say, “Do you mortify; do you make it your daily work; be always at it whilst you live; cease not a day from this work; be killing sin or it will be killing you.” We see from history that when the Israelites refused to cut down the Asherah poles it was an indicator that their hearts were not fully given over to the Lord. A little leaven would work through the whole lump and before long they were fully engaged in syncretic worship; having idols, like Asherah, in the very temple of YHWH.

But is removal and uprooting all that is required? If that was the case, we would have seen the death of these Asherah poles when Asa, Hezekiah, or Jehosophat put in order stirring reforms and cut down the Asherim. But there is more than removal of idols (more than keeping yourself from temptation) that must take place if real holiness and dedication are to be the result. Tim Keller says it well:

“…idols cannot simply be removed. They must be replaced. If you only try to uproot them, they grow back; but they can be supplanted. By what? By God himself, of course. But by God we do not mean a general belief in his existence. Most people have that, yet their souls are riddled with idols. What we need is a living encounter with God.” (Keller, Counterfeit Gods, 155).

What we see with the new covenant is that God changes our hearts. The strategy for dealing with idolatry that we see employed in the minor prophets is that they are shown to be empty. Asherah cannot provide what she promises. And the prophets began to exalt the fullness of the Lord and they would do so at the idols expense. They would mockingly show the inadequacy of worshipping sticks of wood (that you have to craft) that you created while rejecting the living God.

Conclusion

In Christ, we see the fullness of God made manifest. All of the things which we long for that can make idols tempting are found perfectly in Jesus Christ. Idols are alluring at times because we want something tangible. We want to believe that what we do can move the heavens. But the gospel teaches something different. It’s our plight that moved the heavens—it is the LORD Himself who would come and rescue us. Our rescue isn’t found in sticks.

Do we still have Asherah poles today? If you mean pieces of wood set up beside pagan altars on high hills, then that seems to have been pretty rooted out. But do we still have God-substitutes? You bet. And the history that we see of the Asherah pole is fitting for our own battle with idolatry. May they all topple at the feet of Christ.

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Mike Leake is husband to Nikki and father to Isaiah and Hannah. He is also the lead pastor at Calvary of Neosho, MO. Mike is the author of Torn to Heal and Jesus Is All You Need. His writing home is http://mikeleake.net and you can connect with him on Twitter @mikeleake.