The Tree Goddess Asherah
How would our world be different if the Bible had a legitimate Goddess?
![green tree on grassland during daytime green tree on grassland during daytime](https://images.unsplash.com/reserve/bOvf94dPRxWu0u3QsPjF_tree.jpg?crop=entropy&cs=tinysrgb&fit=max&fm=jpg&ixid=M3wzMDAzMzh8MHwxfHNlYXJjaHwxfHx0cmVlfGVufDB8fHx8MTcwMTkwMjc5NHww&ixlib=rb-4.0.3&q=80&w=1080)
TL;DR
The Ancient Israelites, from whom the religions of Judaism and Christianity originate, worshiped a tree Goddess named Asherah. There were relics of worship for her in the earliest Israelite temples.
The religion changed from being polytheistic to monotheistic around 623 BCE. This can be read about in 2 Kings 23. Relics to any god other than Jehovah were destroyed.
Any obvious evidence of legitimized goddess worship was likely edited or removed from the Bible to follow this reform.
Hints of the “old religion” including Asherah worship do remain in the Bible.
There is evidence that the Goddess continued to be commonly worshiped, as the Bible contains repeated rebukes toward the people for doing so.
Archeological evidence points to widespread worship of the Goddess through the discovery of many terra-cotta figurines representing her.
Ugaritic texts found in 1929 give us the most details about Asherah, as observed in the Canaanite religion. The Canaanite and Israelite cultures were deeply intertwined.
Some LDS scholars have linked the tree goddess to significant symbols in LDS theology — such as the Tree of Life in the Book of Mormon.
Sacred trees, forests, and groves appear in Mormonism, Christianity, and cultures and religions all over the world.
The Ancient Israelites, at the very least some of them, worshiped the tree goddess Asherah. This can be reasonably concluded through clues in The Bible, as well as archeological finds. We can also learn more about this goddess from the Ugaritic texts found in Syria in 1929.
This feels significant to Latter-day Saints because of the church’s doctrine of Heavenly Mother. But I also think it is significant for everyone.
I propose that if you’re religious, spiritual, or believe in Deity or divinity, it is valuable to explore the feminine side of that. God to me is both male and female, both Mother and Father. I also propose that if you aren’t religious or spiritual, it’s still worth examining the culture of ancient goddess worship and considering how our society would be different if this practice were more widely known about and accepted as legitimate history.
Asherah in the first temple
In ancient Israel, Asherah was reverenced in the first temple, before the reform of King Josiah in 2 Kings 23. There was a statue of The Goddess in the temple courtyard, tree image decorations, the menorah (shaped after an almond tree), and a rod in the Holy of Holies. Sacred groves were also places of worship.
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Josiah’s purge
The Israelite King Josiah believed that any worship associated with a deity other than Jahweh (Jehovah) was idolatry, and because of this, he had all Asherah relics and groves of trees destroyed — along with other elements of the original religion. He had the Asherah statue dragged away and burned, took out other symbolic relics and had them destroyed, and burned sacred groves.1
It’s logical enough to also conclude that Asherah was edited out of the Bible due to this witch-hunt for “idols”, along with maintaining power dynamics and any cultural bias against women.
Asherah In the Bible
Taking a different approach to scripture
The viewpoint I'm sharing will make more sense if you're open to the Bible being errant. I used to believe that the scriptures were the word of God, period. But my learning has expanded and I have come to understand that scriptures are simply from men. I think that maybe with the right context and discernment, it is possible to find God in the scriptures too.
What if we looked at the Bible for what it was — a collection of writings from humans in their attempt to connect with God? When reading the Bible, it's helpful to think about who is telling the story and what the message is that they're trying to relay.
For those who aren’t familiar with the documentary hypothesis — it is the idea generally accepted by scholars that there were different schools of thought with different priorities who authored/edited/compiled the bible. One school of thought, the Deuteronomists, was focused on solidifying and preserving the law.
The Deuteronomist narrative seems to be the most preserved history and makes up much of the Bible. It’s the school of thought that Josiah’s reign and religious reform would be associated with.
While the Bible, specifically the parts from the Deuteronomists, mostly delegitimizes Asherah worship, there is evidence pointing to it being an accepted and even common occurrence among the people.
William Dever said, “In folk religion, Asherah may have been his (Yahweh’s) consort, and thus part of Yahwism, his lady; but to the orthodox Deuteronomist parties, she was the whore of the pagan gods.”2
Asherah, or grove
The Hebrew word for Asherah was usually translated to “grove” or sometimes “tree” — this is what is read in the King James Version (KJV) of the Bible.3 Asherah is legitimized in a consensus of biblical scholars and therefore the word asherah is used in The New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) of the Bible.
When the word asherah is used in the Bible, it can mean either/or both the goddess or a cult object used to worship her. Those objects could be a rod or staff, live tree, tree image or figurine, or other object. It is common for symbols to be used to reverence a deity — think of a cross in Christianity.
Asherah vilified
Asherah the goddess, or asherah objects are mentioned in The Bible typically in a negative light. Asherah is vilified as an idol and is usually mentioned only when someone is being rebuked for observing worship of her.4
It’s possible that some object worship could be idol worship – perhaps the objects could have begun as items to reverence her, then later turned into idols with the connection to worshiping the actual goddess lost.5 It’s obvious though, that the passages rebuking the worship of Asherah are from those Deuteronomist leaders who wanted to keep her away from the orthodox religion.
I can’t remember ever hearing about Asherah in any sort of church setting. That’s probably because the word “Asherah” is always translated to something else in the KJV Bible. Asherah seems to often be paired with Ba’al in the Bible though, and I do recall times of Ba’al being talked of as an idol god. The lesson from any mention of Ba’al would be to turn away from idols and only worship the one God.
Latter-day Saints though don’t only have one God. We worship God the Father, Jesus Christ, and also recognize the Holy Ghost as a separate entity — the three of them constituting the godhead. The church also legitimizes a Heavenly Mother. Even though she isn’t formally worshiped and isn’t discussed in mainstream settings (maybe this would be different if Asherah wasn’t purged from The Bible), she is still legitimized.
We even have an article of faith stating that “We believe the Bible to be the word of God, as far as it is translated correctly.” This leaves a lot of room in our theology for Bible errancy. In my opinion, there is totally room for discussion in our religion about Asherah being a legitimate deity.
Hints of Asherah worship that survived
Father Abraham, from whom the Israelites originated, worshiped under trees. This is a major aspect of observance of the tree goddess Asherah, common before Josiah’s reform. In fact, according to Val Larsen, the Hebrew word for oak is “elah”, which can also mean goddess. Abraham also built altars under trees — building altars was another part of the religion that was purged by Josiah.6
Asherah as Lady Wisdom
In Proverbs, wisdom is spoken of as a person — a female. Wisdom is personified as it’s spoken of with the attributes of a woman. Proverbs 3:18 says of wisdom, “She is a tree of life to those who lay hold of her; those who hold her fast are called happy.” The Hebrew word for happy is “asher” so this seems like a word play nodding to the goddess.7
Many consider this “lady wisdom,” or Sophia in Greek, the female personification of God.
Asherah in Archaeological finds
![Nude female figure, Ceramic, Israelite Nude female figure, Ceramic, Israelite](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Faf4bbb5a-35af-4ce5-b816-52636acccb5c_1144x1741.jpeg)
In addition to any hints we can glean from the Bible, archeologic discoveries support the notion of widespread goddess worship by the ancient Israelite people.
In the Holy Land, terra-cotta figurines have been found from around 800-586 BCE (the first temple period) which many scholars believe represents the goddess Asherah.
They are female figurines, often holding out their breasts as if to nurse a child. They are characterized by a pillar base — their lower body resembling a tree trunk. For this reason, they are known as “pillar figurines”. They are sometimes styled as wearing a “Hathor wig” (Egyptian-style wig).8
Pillar figurines are found in domestic dwellings and point to being a significant part of ancient folk religion — a common item in the everyday lives of the common people.
Other relics of goddess figures in surrounding areas, including Egypt and Syria, are often accompanied by trees, branches, rods, and lotus blossoms and are also widely believed to portray Asherah.
Egyptian paintings of the goddess Qudshu, who seems to be the Egyptian version of Asherah, often have the goddess associated with trees, snakes, and riding standing on a lion’s back.
Some relics, including the Kuntillet 'Ajrûd Inscription on a storage jar found in the Sinai desert include the inscription “Yahweh and His Asherah”. This points to Asherah being believed to have been Yahweh’s consort. In this instance, Yahweh was likely consolidated with the God El, who is married to Asherah in the Canaanite pantheon. Nonetheless, this points to the Israelite worship of Asherah right alongside Yahweh.9
Asherah In Ugaritic texts
In 1929 in Ras Shamra (Syria), ancient Ugaritic (Canaanite) texts were found. They include hundreds of mythological texts outlying the Canaanite pantheon.
Most of what we know about Asherah is due to these Ugaritic texts, and it's because of them that scholars started to see her as a legitimate Israelite goddess. The Ugaritic texts provided a lot of important context in general for scholars of the Bible.
The reason for this is that the two cultures and religions of Ancient Canaan and Ancient Israel are very connected and intertwined. The Canaanite people were older than the Israelites. When Abraham and his family came to Canaan from Ur (Mesopotamia), they adopted the Canaanite God El as their own, in addition to worshiping Jahweh. It seems that the Israelite traditions and religion were largely born from that of the Canaanites.
The Ugaritic texts include Asherah — the consort of El, “Mother of The Gods”, and “Lady Asherah of The Sea”, heavily associated with trees. They also feature Asarte, goddess of the stars, and ‘Anat, war goddess and lover of the god Ba’al. Some scholars see each of these as different manifestations of the same deity, while others view them as individual deities.10
Asherah in The Book of Mormon
LDS scholars have linked Asherah the tree goddess to other prevalent tree symbols in LDS theology. The most notable is the tree of life in the visions of Lehi and Nephi in the Book of Mormon.
In the visions of the tree of life in the Book of Mormon, there seem to be implicit connections made to women. When Lehi sees the vision of the tree of life, the next immediate thing he sees is his wife Sariah. When Nephi sees the tree of life he asks what the meaning is, then is shown Mother Mary with her baby, Jesus. Val Larsen indicates this sequence is connecting the symbol of Mother God: the tree of life, with her earthly stand-in: Mary, the mother of Jesus Christ.11
The fruit of the tree of life is described in the Book of Mormon as desirable to make one happy (1 Nephi 8). Again, the Hebrew word for happy is “asher.” This could also be a potential wordplay on the tree of knowledge of good and evil in the Garden of Eden in Genesis. There, the tree of knowledge is described as “desirable to make one wise” (Genesis 3). Notable is the link between Wisdom in Proverbs and the tree goddess Asherah, discussed above.
Traditions of sacred trees
I think it’s valuable to consider other times trees show up as sacred symbols across humanity. The world tree is present in many religions and mythologies as a strong symbol connecting heaven and earth. There seem to be sacred trees, forests, and groves across most religions and cultures.
As mentioned earlier, the menorah is fashioned in the shape of an almond tree. The word “almond” is a very old Greek word that originates from the Latin “amygdala” — which probably comes from the Hebrew “em gedolah”– “Great Mother.”12
Jesus prayed and experienced the atonement in a grove of olive trees before dying on the cross. What members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints term “the restoration” started in a sacred grove with a young boy praying for an answer from God, a practice he picked up from his own mother.13
Did you know about the tree goddess Asherah? If so, where did you first learn about her? Do you see any connections to her and other divine symbols in history and culture?
Notes
Barker, Margaret. 2003. “What Did King Josiah Reform?” BYU Archives. https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?filename=18&article=1038&context=mi&type=additional
Dever, William G. 2005. Did God Have a Wife? Archaeology and Folk Religion in Ancient Israel. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.
Larsen, Val. 2020. “First Visions and Last Sermons: Affirming Divine Sociality, Rejecting the Greater Apostasy.” Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Faith and Scholarship. 36 (2020), p. 37-84. https://journal.interpreterfoundation.org/first-visions-and-last-sermons-affirming-divine-sociality-rejecting-the-greater-apostasy/
The following are a handful of times people are chided for Asherah worship in The Old Testament. I mostly pulled these out of William Dever’s book, “Did God Have a Wife?” cited above. It is not a comprehensive list, just some examples.
1 Kings 14:23 — building pillars and Asherim on high hills and green trees
1 Kings 15:13 — King Asa removes his mother for making an Asherah image
1 Kings 16:32 & 33 — Ahab built a temple for Ba’al and made an Asherah Dever thinks she is paired with Ba’al here to discredit her.
1 Kings 18:20-40 — Elijah goes against 450 prophets of Ba’al and 400 prophets of Asherah to see who can miraculously strike fire to a wet altar. Recorded as Yahweh’s prophets winning (of course, it wouldn’t be recorded otherwise). They then slaughtered 450 prophets of Ba’al. Nothing was said about the prophets of Asherah. Why were they spared? Dever thinks because it must have been widely tolerated, even though some officials didn’t like it.
2 Kings 18:4 — Hezekiah cuts down the Asherah. He is praised for this.
2 Kings 21:1-7 — Manasseh (Hezekiah’s son) sets Asherah up in Solomon’s temple. So Hezekiah’s reform is a failure - it likely lacked popular support.
2 Kings 23 — King Josiah’s mass reform - demolished “high places” associated with old religion (probably tree groves), removed Asherah, and burned it. Attacked all other aspects of folk religion. He is portrayed as a hero for this.
2 Kings 23:7 — women weave hangings for Asherah and are vilified for it.
Hosea 4:12, 13 — Hosea goes at those who “inquire of a thing of wood…sacrifice under trees”
Jeremiah 2:27 — “Say to a tree you are my father…”
Day, John. “Asherah in the Hebrew Bible and Northwest Semitic Literature.” Journal of Biblical Literature, vol. 105, no. 3, Society of Biblical Literature, 1986, pp. 385–408, https://doi.org/10.2307/3260509.
Larsen, 2020.
Peterson, Daniel C. 2000. “Nephi and His Asherah.” Journal of Book of Mormon Studies. Vol. 9 (2000). Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship. https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/jbms/vol9/iss2/4/
Dever, 2005.
Dever, 2005.
Dever, 2005.
Larsen, 2020.
Peterson, 2000.
Larsen, 2020.