| In the next excerpt from 1 Kings, we read about the “jealous Lord”: “(15) And the Lord will strike Israel, so that it will be like a reed swaying in the water. He will uproot Israel from this good land that he gave to their ancestors and scatter them beyond the Euphrates River, because they aroused the Lord’s anger by making Asherah poles.” (1 Kings 14:15) We are led to believe that Solomon’s (970-931 BC) reintroduction of the worship of Asherah was due to his marriage with his Sidonian wife. (32) Ahab, the eighth king of Israel (reigned 874 to 863 BC), was also led by his wife Jezebel, into abandoning Yahweh worship and going back to the worship of Asherah. Jezebel was the daughter of Ethbaal, the King of Sidon, in whose capital city Elath, an Asherah had been worshiped for over five centuries. In 1 Kings again, we read about how Ahab was condemned for the same thing: “(30) Ahab son of Omri did more evil in the eyes of the Lord than any of those before him. (31) He not only considered it trivial to commit the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, but he also married Jezebel daughter of Ethbaal king of the Sidonians and began to serve Baal and worship him. (32) He set up an altar for Baal in the temple of Baal that he built in Samaria. (33) Ahab also made an Asherah pole and did more to arouse the anger of the Lord, the God of Israel, than did all the kings of Israel before him.” (1 Kings 16-30-33) The worship of Asherah survived long into the beginning of the worship of Yahweh among the Canaanites or early “Jews.” (33) Eventually, the patriarchal backlash went into full force and alters and idols of Asherah were targeted for destruction by the priesthood. Asa, in the fifteenth year of his reign fell under the influence of a prophet Azariah, the son of Oded, and according to 2 Chronicles 15:8: “When Asa heard these words and the prophecy of Azariah son of Oded the prophet, he took courage and removed the detestable idols from the whole land of Judah and Benjamin and from the cities he had captured in the hill country of Ephraim. He then restored the altar of the LORD that was in front of the portico of the LORD’s temple.” (34) When Joash (836-798 BC) first ascended the throne of Judah, he followed the worship of Yahweh, but eventually gave in to the demand of the princes of Judah who insisted on the return to the worship of Asherah. The image of Asherah was reintroduced into the Temple and remained there for a century until King Hezekiah (727-698 BC) removed it. At this point King Hezekiah destroyed Asherah shrines all over the land. In 2 Kings we read: “(3) He did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, just as his father David had done. (4) He removed the high places, smashed the sacred stones and cut down the Asherah poles. He broke into pieces the bronze snake Moses had made, for up to that time the Israelites had been burning incense to it (It was called Nehushtan).” (2 Kings 18:3-4) (35) |
When King Hezekiah died, his son and heir Manasseh (698-642 BC) reversed his father’s direction and rebuilt all the altars and temples his father had destroyed. Again, from 2 Kings we read: “(3) He rebuilt the high places his father Hezekiah had destroyed; he also erected altars to Baal and made an Asherah pole, as Ahab king of Israel had done. He bowed down to all the starry hosts and worshiped them. (4) He built altars in the temple of the Lord, of which the Lord had said, “In Jerusalem I will put my Name.” (5) In the two courts of the temple of the Lord, he built altars to all the starry hosts.” (2 Kings 21:3-5) (36) Another Yahweh devotee, Josiah (639-609 BC) ascended the throne and sought to completely wipe out the worship of Asherah. Following Josiah’s death, her worship was again resurrected all over the land. For at least 500 years or longer, the worship of Asherah was popular among Jews before the worship of Yahweh was enforced by violence and death upon enough people that is was impossible to sustain and the goddess was relegated to a miniscule, unimportant and subservient role in Judaism. (37) Destruction of the goddess temples is covered in Deuteronomy: “(1) These are the statutes and ordinances you must be careful to follow all the days you live in the land that the LORD, the God of your fathers, has given you to possess. (2) Destroy completely all the places where the nations you are dispossessing have served their gods— atop the high mountains, on the hills, and under every green tree. (3) Tear down their altars, smash their sacred pillars, burn up their Asherah poles, cut down the idols of their gods, and wipe out their names from every place.” (Deuteronomy 12:1-3) (38) There is an interesting giveaway to the changeover from the goddess rites to the patriarchal religion in the following section of the Bible. Jeremiah finds children gathering woods in the streets of Jerusalem and Judah, for fires to be made for the worship of the Queen of Heaven, which included the making of sacrificial cakes with her name inscribed on them. Citing Jeremiah now: “(17) Do you not see what they are doing in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? (18) The children gather wood, the fathers light the fire, and the women knead the dough and make cakes to offer to the Queen of Heaven. They pour out drink offerings to other gods to arouse my anger.” (Jeremiah 7:17-18). Then, Jehovah is upset with them and we hear – “(3) Because of their wickedness which they have committed to provoke me to anger, in that they went to burn incense, and to serve other gods, whom they knew not, neither they, ye, nor your fathers.” (Jeremiah 44:3) Apparently, the male god is now upset that people are worshiping a female goddess. (39) (32) Hebrew Goddess, p. 41 (33) ibid, p. 45 (34) ibid, p. 46-47 (35) ibid, p. 47-48 (36) ibid, p. 48 (37) Hebrew Goddess, p. 50-52 (38) Great Cosmic Mother, p. 269 (39) Cult of the Mother Goddess, p. 80-81 |