Asherah See 11/14 Archaeology site
a-shē´ra, ash´er-im (אשׁרה, 'ăshērāh; ἄλσος, álsos, mistranslated “grove” in the King James Version, after the Septuagint and Vulgate):
1. References to the Goddess
2. Assyrian Origin of the Goddess
3. Her Symbol
4. The Attributes of the Goddess
References to the Goddess
Was the name of a goddess whose worship was widely spread throughout Syria and Canaan; plural Asherim.
Her “image” is mentioned in the Old Testament (1Ki_15:13; 2Ki_21:7; 2Ch_15:16), as well as her “prophets” (1Ki_18:19) and the vessels used in her service (2Ki_23:4). In Assyria the name appears under the two forms of Asratu and Asirtu; it was to Asratu that a monument found near Diarbekir was dedicated on behalf of Khammu-rabi (Amraphel) “king of the Amorites,” and the Amorite king of whom we hear so much in Tell el-Amarna Letters bears the name indifferently of EbedAsrati and Ebed-Asirti.
References to above
1Ki_15:11-14
As ruler Asa walked in the ways of his pious ancestor David: he banished the male prostitutes out of the land, abolished all the abominations of idolatry, which his fathers (Abijam and Rehoboam) had introduced, deposed his grandmother Maacah from the rank of a queen, because she had made herself an idol for the Ashera, and had the idol hewn in pieces and burned in the valley of the Kidron. גִּלֻּלִים is a contemptuous epithet applied to idols (Lev_26:30); it does not mean stercorei, however, as the Rabbins affirm, but logs, from גָּלַל, to roll, or masses of stone, after the Chaldee גְּלָל (Ezr_5:8; Ezr_6:4), generally connected with שִׁקֻּצִים. It is so in Deu_29:16. מִפְלֶצֶת, formido, from פָּלַץ, terrere, timere, hence an idol as an object of fear, and not pudendum, a shameful image, as Movers (Phöniz. i. p. 571), who follows the Rabbins, explains it, understanding thereby a Phallus as a symbol of the generative and fructifying power of nature. With regard to the character of this idol, nothing further can be determined than that it was of wood, and possibly a wooden column like the אֲשֵׁרִים (see at 1Ki_14:23). “But the high places departed not,” i.e., were not abolished. By the בָּמֹות we are not to understand, according to 1Ki_15:12, altars of high places dedicated to idols, but unlawful altars to Jehovah. It is so in the other passages in which this formula recurs (1Ki_22:24; 2Ki_12:4; 2Ki_14:4; 2Ki_15:4; and the parallel passages 2Ch_15:17; 2Ch_20:33). The apparent discrepancy between the last-mentioned passages and 2Ch_14:2, 2Ch_14:4, and 2Ch_17:6, may be solved very simply on the supposition that the kings (Asa and Jehoshaphat) did indeed abolish the altars on the high places, but did not carry their reforms in the nation thoroughly out; and not by distinguishing between the bamoth dedicated to Jehovah and those dedicated to idols, as Thenius, Bertheau, and Caspari, with many of the earlier commentators, suppose. For although 2Ch_14:2 is very favourable to this solution, since both בָּמֹות and הַגֵּכָר dna בָּמֹו מִזְבְּחֹות are mentioned there, it does not accord with 2Ch_17:6, where הַבָּמֹות cannot be merely idolatrous altars dedicated to the Canaanitish Baal, but unquestionably refer to the unlawful altars of Jehovah, or at any rate include them. Moreover, the next clause in the passage before us, “nevertheless Asa's heart was wholly given to the Lord,” shows that the expression סָרוּ לֹא סָרוּ nois does not mean that the king allowed the unlawful Jehovah-bamoth to remain, but simply that, notwithstanding his fidelity to Jehovah, the bamoth did not depart, so that he was unable to carry the abolition of them thoroughly out.
Ch 15:15-18
This return to the Lord brought joy to all Judah, i.e., to the whole kingdom, because they had sworn with all their heart, and sought the Lord בְכָל־רְצֹונָם, with perfect willingness and alacrity. Therefore Jahve was found of them, and gave them rest round about. - In 2Ch_15:16-18, in conclusion, everything which still remained to be said of Asa's efforts to promote the Jahve-worship is gathered up. Even the queen-mother Maachah was deposed by him from the dignity of ruler because she had made herself an image of Asherah; yet he did not succeed in wholly removing the altars on the high places from the land, etc. These statements are also to be found in 1Ki_15:13-16, and are commented upon at that place. Only in the Chronicle we have אָסָא אֵם instead of אִמֹּו (Kings), because there Maachah had just been named (2Ch_15:10); and to the statement as to the abolition of idolatry, יָרֶק, crushed, is added, and in 2Ch_15:17 מִיִּשְׂרָאֵל; while, on the other hand, after שָׁלֵם, יהוה עִם is omitted, as not being necessary to the expression of the meaning.
2Ki_23:24-25
Conclusion of Josiah's reign. - 2Ki_23:24. As Josiah had the passover kept in perfect accordance with the precepts of the law, so did he also exterminate the necromancers, the teraphim and all the abominations of idolatry, throughout all Judah and Jerusalem, to set up the words of the law in the book of the law that had been found, i.e., to carry them out and bring them into force. For הָאֹבֹות and הַיִּדְּעֹנִים see at 2Ki_21:6. תְּרָפִים, penates, domestic gods, which were worshipped as the authors of earthly prosperity and as oracular deities (see at Gen_31:19). גִּלֻּלִים and שִׁקֻּצִים, connected together, as in Deu_29:16, as a contemptuous description of idols in general. - In 2Ki_23:25 the account of the efforts made by Josiah to restore the true worship of Jehovah closes with a general verdict concerning his true piety. See the remarks on this point at 2Ki_18:5. He turned to Jehovah with all his heart, etc.: there is an evident allusion here to Deu_6:5. Compare with this the sentence of the prophet Jeremiah concerning his reign (Jer_22:15-16
