Asherah, God's Wife

It’s not uncommon for religions to adapt and change as the years go by. It is almost part of the dogmatic photosynthesis of its very nature. Divine revelation of such gods that partake or represent in these adaptations, violate natural reasoning and critical mathematics. Our planet is supernatural enough to give way to explorative concepts that do not need to venture into fantasies with divine doctrine. Yet, the human need to express imaginative beliefs is far more powerful than all the flares from the sun, all the waves crashing amongst earths crust and all the hurricanes that terrorize the air we breathe, we are humans.

Who are the gods? Who are we within their creation? Who was the first to create God? All these questions play a silent chord in our history. What blares into our ears each and every day, isn’t that of peace with the gods we know, rather turmoil and trade for what cannot be tested or proven. We sit stubbornly in our concepts so that comfort may always seem louder than confrontation. Though, confrontation is the photosynthesis that is needed to grow and adapt. These questions we ask, are the necessary component to creating the religions we have today. I think a larger question we will tackle another time is, was our confrontational development and progress hijacked by something else?

Let’s focus on the know, the stuff we can validate as we move forward with our exploration of gods and the concept of them. One very important thing to remember, not you nor I can prove there is or was a god that created everything. What we can say for certain are a few fundamental facts.

1. If a creator does exist, claiming he/she/it is the Jewish, Islamic, Hindu, Shinto or Christian god is foolish in its most extreme. The debate would be endless unless certain concepts within those faiths are cast aside for logic purposes. 

2. The Big Bang, never claims to be the official origin of life, rather the explanation at BEST for how these galaxies were formed. Not claiming that a larger or wildly different event didn’t spark the Big Bang. This debate would be as the same as above as though science could prove a previous event, it would only beg the question of what created that event then and all the same, who created God?

3. To become wise, one must admit their stupidity. I claim no scholarly backing, but a thoroughly researched paper on the gods. I do not know it all,  and as history has shown, we learn more and more each day. I stand with you, on the shoulders of giants, looking out at the vast world in hopes that what we can learn, will give us infinite peace. 

When talking about the gods an and today’s topic of Asherah, I will give some historical references as well as my personal ideas about the gods. My role is not to destroy someone’s god or the worship of them, in fact the opposite. I love that humans create these myths ands lore to guide their path in life. What happens is the dogma can greatly interfere with logic, which inevitably destroys a persons intelligence in reality. I would know, it happened to me.I still attend church meetings when i can, not that i believe in most of the sermons, rather I want too encourage people and my friends to read, learn and grow in their faith. That leads me to the point of Asherah.

Who was she and why did she disappear?

In ancient Israel, the Canaanites were a tribal “middle eastern” religious group. Did the Canaanites come from the religion or did they develop the religion in their culture? Not sure we will get all that information, but likely it was developed from other surrounding cultures. Kind of a religious assimilation to the region. An easy way to see this in real time is to look at Christianity. A religion spawned from the Jewish community, almost fully opposing the doctrine and rules of the Jewish culture and has adapted to hundreds of regions and cultures in various ways.  This process too is applied to the worship and service of Asherah. She is the wife and or consort of the Canaanite god El and Yahweh. There’s lot to unpack here, but don’t worry, we will take it slow and simple. Like where did she go?

She first appears in Sumerian and Babylonian records (c. 18th century BCE) as a mountain goddess, consort of the Amorite high god Amurru (Lord of the Mountain).

• She was viewed as merciful, erotic, and maternal—“Lady of Voluptuousness and Happiness.”

• In later West-Semitic and Ugaritic texts (especially from Ugarit, c. 1200 BCE), she is called Athirat, the consort of El, the Lady of the Sea, and the mother of seventy gods.

• She mediates between El and other gods, especially Baal, and is powerful yet domestic—often depicted weaving or washing by the sea.

• She was worshiped in temples and sacrifices and had a recognized cult across Canaan.

“Yahweh and his Asherah” is how the inscription goes. A decent amount of pottery and figurines for worship have been found on Asherah, but why do we not see her in our current religions anymore is she was the wife of the creator god Yahweh? There is a few mysteries here that I think I’d like to explore, but the scholarly verdict is that each culture changes her attributes and name in each region, until she is washed away with other goddesses and myths. The other option I see viable, is the misogynistic people group began with the creation narrative like other groups in the region, fell victim to male dominance, eventually forcing Yahweh/El to be the only god to worship that has no need for consorts or wives. The power and authority of women is shown to be secondary and even abusive to our terms today.

The conquest of Yahweh throughout Israel and Canaan, probably has something to do with it. The Bible lays out it clearly that worshipers of Yahweh wanted all other gods to be less than theirs and to the point of wars and genocides. The Old Testament of the Bible, is a fantastic set of poetry, lore and documentation to an extent. It unfortunately is a violent collection Israels past. So was this why Asherah, the goddess of seafarers, goddess of fertility and harvest somehow become lost? To understand, we must see how the gods came to be. Myths in those days, held far more leverage than today. Stories like the flood narrative came about from Sumerian texts about the Epic of Gilgamesh. Who Zuisudra/ Utnapishtim, is involved a great flood to destroy humanity. The god Enki warns Zuisudra, and he builds a boat for him and his family and gay afloat at sea while the flood happens. A seven night flood and once the water resides, Zuisudra disembarks and offers a sacrifice to the gods. Since we know historically and archeologically that this story predates the Biblical ones, then we know that the Bible couldn’t be the original. Why can’t it be?

Well, the Torah and Old Testament came to be around 500 BC, which is thousands of years after the claims of the Bible, but also long after the Sumerian text is dated. Many stories predate the Bible, but because of assimilation and the spread of the religion through uneducated or ignorant teachings about the topics. Asherah may have started as god equal to Yahweh or El, but the transformation of her appearance and traits morph drastically. Eventually being replaced with her symbol the “tree”. This would be on coins, pendants and artifacts found from dig sites around the region. She would have Asherim poles erected for worship. Figurines would be kept in the home for luck or prosperity on the things she was considered with. 

Summarized explanation:

1. Addition from nothing – philosophers and theologians reasoned from no gods to the necessity of one supreme being.

2. Subtraction – ancient peoples with many gods gradually demoted or erased them until only one remained.

This “subtractive” path happened among the ancient Israelites. Early Israelite religion included multiple divine figures such as El, Baal, Mot, Yam, and Lotan. Over time, these deities were absorbed or erased as Yahweh rose to become the sole god. One of the most important deities to be erased was Asherah, who may have been Yahweh’s wife or consort.

Asherah appears to have been a long-standing goddess in the ancient Near East, known in different forms (Asheru, Athirat, etc.). She was the consort of the chief god El in the Canaanite pantheon and the mother of the gods. When Yahweh was assimilated into this pantheon and identified with El, he likely inherited Asherah as a divine partner. Over time, however, she was demonized and erased as Israelite religion evolved toward strict monotheism.

Asherah and Yahweh, what would it look like if Judaism had two equal gods that crafted the world? We will never know. Asherah has been portrayed in a very feminine sculpture, holding her breasts and hair well dressed. I drew out her feminine look from an image of Monica Bellucci when she was younger ( I now perfect choice). Interesting enough, she isn’t considered evil or bad by the worshippers of Yahweh or the Canaanites. Rather the worship or use of her idols and Asherim poles. The acknowledgement of her, is seemingly accepted and okay until she disappears over time. There may not have been a need for her as the centuries roll on. The wars claimed in the Bible and even some prophets, can show signs of possible overthrowing of other gods. I mean, if you read the Old Testament, it’s basically a story of how a small tribe of people think their god is supreme and how they destroy and kill everyone who doesn’t agree. This culture is even seen in that reagion today with teh wars that happen over there. Dogmatic ideas allow for unjustified wars and genocides. Asherah could have had a heavy population in the region and another religious or people group could have wiped them out. The numbers back then may have been exaggerated by those who wrote them as some numbers exceed how many people even were alive in that area. 

In the Israelite Religion

• The Hebrew Bible mentions Asherah or “the Asherah” about 40 times, usually not as a goddess but as cultic objects (trees, poles, or wooden statues) placed near altars.

• These “Asherim” or “Asherot” could be planted, carved, or burned, showing that they were likely wooden symbols associated with her worship.

• Deuteronomistic editors and prophets (especially in Kings and Deuteronomy) condemned Asherah worship as idolatry, though archaeological evidence suggests she was widely venerated alongside Yahweh.

• A notable example is an inscription referring to “Yahweh and his Asherah,” implying she was considered his divine partner.

• Over time, editors of the Bible either mocked, misgendered, or completely forgot Asherah’s identity, replacing her with neutral or plural forms that obscured her divinity.

The Erasing of Asherah

• By the Babylonian exile (6th century BCE), Yahweh worship had consolidated into monotheism.

• Asherah’s symbols were purged from temples and sacred sites, her name reinterpreted as a “grove” or “idol,” and her identity as a goddess erased from Israel’s religious memory.

• The transition from Yahweh having a consort to Yahweh alone marked the final shift from early polytheistic roots to strict monotheism.

Asherah is a reminder that some stories and religions are not always built of truth, rather the long process of culture changing and adaptation.