Thoughts frozen in time, the thousands of female figurines and artifacts discovered across ancient Palestine personify the divinities which inspired our ancestors.
Windows into the past, these unfiltered relics reflect the social and religious history of their time - a time which included goddess worship.
According to the experts, the preponderance of archaeological artifacts “provide evidence of various religious practices that coexisted in Judah alongside the official worship of Yahweh.” Biblical Archaeology Review*
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Our focus here is upon the Israelite Mother Goddess Asherah. Mentioned over 40 times in the Hebrew Bible, Asherah is identified as Yahweh’s primary wife.
Worship of Asherah was so deeply embedded within the socio-religious practices, that Asherah “came to be regarded as much a feature of popular religion in ancient Israel and Judah as the worship of Yahweh.” Biblical Archaeology Review*
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As the shovels of archaeology resurrect what the pens of history forgot, Asherah’s forgotten history is resurfacing from the sands of time.
Asherah’s lost story is reconstructed through archaeology’s discovery of artifacts with images of Asherah and several Asherah inscriptions.
The most revealing, and controversial, Asherah inscriptions were actually discovered decades ago.
Curiously, they still remain relatively unknown.
Discovered at Kuntillet Ajrud and Khirbet el-Qom, a series of Hebrew, dedicatory, blessing inscriptions actually pair Asherah with Yahweh.
The Kuntillet Ajrud and Khirbet el-Qom inscriptions are summarized below:
Kuntillet Ajrud Inscriptions ~830-760 BCE
Discoveries at Kuntillet Ajrud, an Israelite-Judean desert station with an attached shrine, quickly became “the most widely discussed and controversial find in the history of Israelite archaeology,” challenging beliefs of Yahwehistic monotheism. Biblical Origins, Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research*
Inscriptions unearthed at Kuntillet Ajrud alluded to a once unthinkable notion - that God had a wife.
The pairing was made in not one or two inscriptions, but in three different inscriptions.
Astounding the excavators, they uncovered three Hebrew, dedicatory, blessing inscriptions pairing Asherah with Yahweh four times:
(1). “I have blessed you by Yahweh of Samaria and his a/Asherah.”
(2). “I bless you by Yahweh of Teman and by his a/Asherah.”
(3). “. . . give YHWH of Teman and his ASHERAH
. . . YHWH of Teman and his ASHERAH favored.”
Anchor Bible Dictionary, Asherah: Goddess of Israel, New
Encyclopedia of Archaeological Excavations in the Holy Land*
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In addition to inscriptions, the drawings below were also discovered at Kuntillet Ajrud:
In summary, Kuntillet Ajrud’s archaeological evidence reveals
-inscriptions which
pair Asherah with Yahweh 4 times on 3 different Hebrew blessings; and
-drawings containing
3 goddess imagery configurations that may represent Asherah, and
1 goddess composition that certainly personifies Asherah.
Subsequently, Kuntillet Ajrud's archaeological data attest that Asherah was Yahweh’s wife and
“affirm that the link between YHWH and Asherah was part of Israelite mythology.”
The Religions of Ancient Israel: A Synthesis of Parallactic Approaches
This data (and over 30 years of controversial debate) is detailed and extensively referenced in History’s Vanquished Goddess: ASHERAH.
For more on Kuntillet Ajrud, see Biblical Archaeology’s Puzzling Finds article.
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Khirbet el-Qom Inscription ~750-700 BCE
Discovered in Jerusalem’s antiquities market, this Paleo-Hebrew inscription was traced back to Khirbet el-Qom.
Above Khirbet el-Qom's good-luck* hand symbol is an inscribed Israelite* blessing which pairs Asherah with Yahweh four times.
The inscription reads:
“Uryahu the wealthy man had it written:
Blessed be Uryahu by Yahweh
and by his Asherah; from his enemies he saved him!
(written) by Onyahu
. . . and by his Asherah
. . . and by his Asherah.”*
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*This website presents historical and archaeological information about the Canaanite and Hebrew/Israelite Mother Goddess Asherah.
All of the above data is extensively detailed and referenced in the soon-to-be-published History’s Vanquished Goddess: ASHERAH.
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