The inscription from Kuntillet `Ajrud
Yahweh and Asherah
“May you be blessed by Yahweh of Shomron (Samaria) and his Asherah.”

A recent article published in Haaretz discussed the issue of monotheism and whether ancient Israelites believed that the Canaanite goddess Asherah was God’s wife.

The view that Asherah was God’s consort comes from two archaeological discoveries in the land of Israel. These discoveries provided inscriptions in which Yahweh and Asherah were mentioned together.

The picture above, found at Kuntillet Ajrud, shows one of the drawings with an inscription mentioning Yahweh and Asherah.

In her article, “Archaeologists Discover: God’s Wife,” Julia Fridman describes the inscriptions which mention the names of Yahweh and Asherah:

The first is an inscription that was found in an 8th century tomb at the site of Khirbet el Qom, in the heart of Judah, in a tomb. The inscription is a prayer, and contains the names of YHWH and that of Ashera, the latter is invoked three times. On one side of the inscription a crude tree appears to have been incised as well.

Another famous inscription was found at the site of Kuntillet Ajrud, on the border of Judah. It also dates to approximately the same time period as the Khirbet el Qom findings.

The site is scattered with dedicatory inscriptions to “YHWH and his ASHERA”. One stands out in particular: “To YHWH of SHOMRON and his ASHERA” (Meshel 2012: 86-101).

Shomron or Samaria was the capitol of Israel, very far from this peripheral border of Judah. Along with the inscription, the drawings found with the inscriptions match the iconography found on the shrines, for instance the Tree of Life, with volutes and lotus blossoms for branches, feeding caprids, and a lion standing underneath this tree of life.

Many people today believe that the religion of Israel was strictly monotheistic. It is true that faithful Yahwists believed that Yahweh was the only true God. However, archaeological evidence shows that many people in Israel and Judah believed in other gods.

Even the Bible says that many people in Israel worshiped Baal and Asherah. The prohibition in Deuteronomy 16:21 shows that the symbol of Asherah was found near the altar of Yahweh: “Do not set up an Asherah of any kind of wood next to the altar you will build for the LORD your God.”

The religious reforms of Asa, Hezekiah, and Josiah were attempts to remove these pagan practices from the religion of Israel. However, the Bible shows that although these good kings tried to eliminate these foreign practices, the preaching of the prophets and the archaeological evidence show that the people of Judah continued worshiping other gods in addition to Yahweh.

In her article, Fridman quotes Erin Darby, professor of religious studies at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville, who said that “not even the Bible claims that most ancient Judeans were strict monotheists.”

Darby concludes, “The typical version of monotheism associated with ancient Judah is the result of modern people choosing a few texts in the Bible to then reconstruct their ideal picture of what ancient Judeans did.”

You can read this very informative article by visiting Haaretz online (Note: this link may be premium content and require a subscription).

If you cannot access the Haartz’s article, you can read a similar article here.

NOTE: For other studies on syncretism in the Old Testament, read my post, Syncretism in the Old Testament.

UPDATE:

My post today on God’s wife has generated many questions in the minds of some readers. Since I did not present my own view on this issue, I have decided to write another post soon explaining in more detail why many Israelites were not monotheists. Be sure to read my follow-up post on this topic. The post will be published either Saturday or Monday of next week.

Claude Mariottini
Emeritus Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary

NOTE: Did you like this post? Do you think other people would like to read this post? Be sure to share this post on Facebook and share a link on Twitter or Tumblr so that others may enjoy reading it too!

I would love to hear from you! Let me know what you thought of this post by leaving a comment below. Be sure to like my page on Facebook, follow me on Twitter, follow me on Tumblr, Facebook, and subscribe to my blog to receive each post by email.

If you are looking for other series of studies on the Old Testament, visit the Archive section and you will find many studies that deal with a variety of topics.