Asherah

In an ancient method of sacrificial killing, the priests placed the sacrificial king in a Birchwood box and suspended it between two tall poles (Asherah poles).Allowed three loaves, one for each aspect of the deity or the Triple Goddess, he remained suspended at God s mercy, between heaven and earth, until he decayed and his remains blew away. 

Canaanite Ugaritic texts from the fourteenth century BCE call the two pillars cutter-twins. They are the Asherah poles called Shacharu and Shalim, meaning integration and completion respectively." These two pillars support the deathly net of Asherah, the most ancient of all mother goddesses. 

Modem surveys have located more than twenty temples on Mount Hermon, an unprecedented number in comparison with other regions of the Phoenician coast. The Mount abounds with shrines to the Canaanite goddess Asherah or Astarte. ... 

Morris Silver comment on Ugaritic text KTU 1.23 see also Jeremiah 17 1-2 for Asherah poles... 

Elijah and the Prophets of Baal and of Asherah Towards a Discussion of No Prophets ... 

Renewed service to Baal (and Asherah) is part of the comprehensive list of wicked deeds attributed to Manasseh. The charge-sheet drawn up in BTH against this king opens with a quadruple complaint and Baal and Asherah feature in the second and third elements. Here there are small but significant differences between 2 Kgs 21 3 and 2 Chr 33 3. In Kings, Manasseh raised altars to... 

In BTH and Chronicles, the host of heaven is found only once in advance of 2 Kgs 21 3, 5II2 Chr 33 3, 5—in 1 Kgs 22 19 2 Chr i8 i8. This divine assembly makes its first appearance in the vision which Micaiah ben Imlah reports and there they are Yahweh s attendants in the heavenly court The wind or spirit (nnn) who volunteers to entice Ahab (22 21) may be one of thenL So much for the older synoptic text According to 2 Kgs 17 16, worship of this host is part of what led northern Israel to disaster. Then, in 2314, Manasseh s actions are reported as undone by Josiah, piece by piece and this theme is further developed in 23 5-6, where Baal and Asherah are part of a much fiiller list for extirpation, but remain singulat However, they do not feature in the Chronicler s account of Josiah s reformation. The host of heaven are also known in Deut 429 17 3 Isa 14 13 Jer 8 2 19 13 [33 22] Dan 8 10 Neh 9 6 (where they worship you ). 

The first set of complaints about Manasseh brings together his cultic promotion of Baal, Asherah, and the host of heaven. Each has appeared only once... 

Wiggans notes Asherah, 219-20) that, wherever she is mentioned across the ancient Near East, [h]er relationship to the chief deity appears to be a constant character trait. ... 

The depiction of the power fabric is, however, not restricted to features of the military. Jerusalem will be stripped off of its horses, chariots, and defensive strongholds. The powers on which the city and its elite based their confidence, will be disassembled. This act will eventually lead to the destruction of the city by foreign mifitary forces. Another pillar of trust, however, will also be invalidated. In times to come, the leading efite can no longer rely on the religious elements of sorcery, idols, and the goddess Asherah. 1 will not discuss these phenomena in full, but only make a set of remarks. 

N. Na aman and N. Lissovsky, Kuntillet Ajrud, Sacred Trees and the Asherah, Tel Aviv 35... 

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