Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A wooden post or pole planted near the altars of various Semitic gods: in the authorized version of the Bible erroneously translated ‘grove.’
  • noun [capitalized] A Semitic goddess not mentioned in the Bible except in three dubious passages, but whose name is certified by early tablets.

Etymologies

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Examples

  • In the Torah you can find several obscure mentions of an asherah, or a sacred grove.

    Can you love God and feminism? - Feministing 2008

  • And even Asherah, who seems to have been understood as the female consort of the male deity Yahweh, is somewhat more complicated, since the term seems to denote a cultic object in the Bible, and in the famous drawing from Kuntillet`Ajrud in Samaria there is a reference to "Yahweh and his asherah", and the use of a possessive pronoun on a personal name would be all but unprecedented, if I'm not mistaken.

    Archive 2009-08-01 James F. McGrath 2009

  • And even Asherah, who seems to have been understood as the female consort of the male deity Yahweh, is somewhat more complicated, since the term seems to denote a cultic object in the Bible, and in the famous drawing from Kuntillet`Ajrud in Samaria there is a reference to "Yahweh and his asherah", and the use of a possessive pronoun on a personal name would be all but unprecedented, if I'm not mistaken.

    Genesis: The Missing Chapters James F. McGrath 2009

  • Both the Greek and Latin translations of the Bible, moreover, render the words asherah and asherim as “grove” or “wood.”

    Asherah/Asherim: Bible. 2009

  • Labels: asherah, baal posted by Anne Johnson @ 1:49 PM

    Archive 2008-10-01 Anne Johnson 2008

  • Labels: asherah, baal posted by Anne Johnson @ 1:49 PM

    Asherah Revisited Anne Johnson 2008

  • Labels: asherah, baal, bored god, buzzard worship, slots posted by Anne Johnson @ 4:24 PM

    Shameless Plea for Promotion Anne Johnson 2007

  • Labels: asherah, baal, bored god, buzzard worship, slots posted by Anne Johnson @ 4:24 PM

    Archive 2007-01-01 Anne Johnson 2007

  • On the discovery of Deuteron - omy, one portion of the Law, Josiah in 621 B.C. cleared the temple of altars, asherah, and prostitutes (Peters, p. 259).

    MYTH IN BIBLICAL TIMES FRANCIS LEE UTLEY 1968

  • Cruel god of a horde of nomadic invaders settling in a land of farmers, he had his images, ranging in elaboration from an uncut mazzebah or asherah, to a golden bull.

    The Necessity of Atheism David Marshall Brooks

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