A Hebrew word occurring frequently in the Bible (R. V.) and signifying, except in a few late passages noted below, a wooden post or pole planted near the altars of various gods. In the Authorized Version the word is rendered “grove.”
It has often been inferred from Deuteronomy 16:21 that the Asherah was originally a tree, but the passage should be translated “an asherah of any kind of wood” (compare Moore, “Ency. Bibl.” and Budde, “New World,” 8:734), since the sacred tree had a name of its own, el, elah, elon, and the Asherah was sometimes set up under the living tree (2 Kings 17:10). This pole was often of considerable size (Judges 6:25), since it could furnish fuel for the sacrifice of a bullock. It was found near the altars of Baal, and, down to the days of Josiah, near those of YHWH also, not only at Samaria (2 Kings 13:6) and Beth-el (2 Kings 23:15), but even at Jerusalem (2 Kings 23:6). Sometimes it was carved in revolting shapes (1 Kings 15:13), and at times, perhaps, draped (2 Kings 23:7). It is most often associated in the Bible with the pillars (“maẓẓebot”) that in primitive days served at once as a representation of the god and as an altar (W. R. Smith, “Religion of the Semites,” 2d ed., p. 204). It was proscribed in the Deuteronomic law and abolished in Josiah’s reform (2 Kings 22:23).
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Author: Jewish Encyclopedia
Keywords: Asherah
Source: Isidore Singer (editor), The Jewish Encyclopedia (12 Volumes), (1906).
Page indexed by: inWORD Bible Software.