Post by Occam's Spork on Dec 28, 2012 7:37:59 GMT 10
1. Yahweh and “his asherah” = Yahweh had a wife. In this view, the term “asheratah” is taken by many to be a proper name (Asherah) plus a third person masculine suffix (translated “his”). The problem with that view is that, as a rule, proper personal (or deity) names in Hebrew and other ancient Canaanite texts, do not take such pronouns suffixes. This basically rules out that the “asherah” as the goddess herself accompanying Yahweh right from the start. Some have argued in the academic literature for exceptions, but the examples offered have not met with consensus acceptance. At any rate, if we presume that this rule can be broken so that we have “his [Yahweh's] Asherah,” what do we learn? That at least one scribe at one place in Canaan apparently believed the divine couple was married. But other options that don’t break the rules of normative Hebrew and Semitic morphology make better sense.
2. “His asherah” refers generically to a goddess wife, not specifically “the” goddess Asherah. This is sort of “Plan B” for some who want a goddess wife but know that #1 above violates Hebrew morphology.
3. “His asherah” refers to a shrine, not a deity. This view makes good sense since it is well known by scholars (but not nearly as sexy) that “asherah” in the Hebrew Bible refers to a shrine, or pole (sacred tree) that was the symbol of Asherah (e.g., Deut 16:21). This would mean that “Yahweh and his asherah” = “Yahweh and his sacred tree cult object.” Again, this would point to one of many forms of Yahweh worship in Canaan (think of how many forms of Christianity there are today and you get the idea of diversity within one theological tradition).
4. “His asherah” could point to a tree object associated with Yahweh himself, not asherah at all. This has some coherence because Yahweh was associated with a “tree of life” (the garden of Eden story). Biblical scholars know that Yahwism tended to absorb the attributions of other deities — including goddesses — into Yahweh. In other words, one of the theological (polemic) tactics used by biblical writers was to take the attributes or epithets of a foreign deity (like Baal) and conceptually apply them to Yahweh, thereby asserting that Yahweh was the true god of XYZ, not this other deity that bears that title. When it came to goddesses, this was also the case, and so Yahweh could be identified with a goddess symbol. If this option is the right choice, then we’d have more of an orthodox Yahwistic statement with no association with a goddess at at all – we’d have a usurpation of another deity’s symbol.
michaelsheiser.com/PaleoBabble/2011/03/yahweh-and-asherah-more-archaeo-porn-for-the-masses/
2. “His asherah” refers generically to a goddess wife, not specifically “the” goddess Asherah. This is sort of “Plan B” for some who want a goddess wife but know that #1 above violates Hebrew morphology.
3. “His asherah” refers to a shrine, not a deity. This view makes good sense since it is well known by scholars (but not nearly as sexy) that “asherah” in the Hebrew Bible refers to a shrine, or pole (sacred tree) that was the symbol of Asherah (e.g., Deut 16:21). This would mean that “Yahweh and his asherah” = “Yahweh and his sacred tree cult object.” Again, this would point to one of many forms of Yahweh worship in Canaan (think of how many forms of Christianity there are today and you get the idea of diversity within one theological tradition).
4. “His asherah” could point to a tree object associated with Yahweh himself, not asherah at all. This has some coherence because Yahweh was associated with a “tree of life” (the garden of Eden story). Biblical scholars know that Yahwism tended to absorb the attributions of other deities — including goddesses — into Yahweh. In other words, one of the theological (polemic) tactics used by biblical writers was to take the attributes or epithets of a foreign deity (like Baal) and conceptually apply them to Yahweh, thereby asserting that Yahweh was the true god of XYZ, not this other deity that bears that title. When it came to goddesses, this was also the case, and so Yahweh could be identified with a goddess symbol. If this option is the right choice, then we’d have more of an orthodox Yahwistic statement with no association with a goddess at at all – we’d have a usurpation of another deity’s symbol.
michaelsheiser.com/PaleoBabble/2011/03/yahweh-and-asherah-more-archaeo-porn-for-the-masses/