1
So God had a wife. Nu?
20 March 2011
According to a recent news story, Dr Francesca Stavrakopoulou of the University of Exeter, Yahweh, the god of the ancient Israelites, had a wife. Dr Stavrakopoulou has concluded after years of research that both a god and a goddess were worshipped in the same temple in Jerusalem, and this suggests she played the role of a divine wife.*
Or perhaps she was a concubine. The role of 'divine wife' might have had other connotations than our present day institution.
One news article reports, "In the Book Of Kings, we're told that a statue of Asherah was housed in the temple and that female temple personnel wove ritual textiles for her. In fact, although the Bible condemns all of these practices, the biblical texts suggest that goddess worship was a thriving feature of high-status religion in Jerusalem."
This isn't exactly news. Asherah is referred to in several books of the Old Testament. Her worship was common among the Akkadians and Hittites, with written references dating back to at least 1200 BCE. Wikipedia notes that in ancient Israel and Judea, "Figurines identified with Asherah are strikingly common in the archaeological record, indicating the popularity of her cult from the earliest times to the Babylonian exile. More rarely, inscriptions linking Yahweh and Asherah have been discovered." Asherah is linked to Lilith, who appears in the Zohar, Talmud and Kabbalah as Adam's first wife. She also appears in the Akkadian versions of Epic of Gilgamesh.
Worship of the divine female has been a part of human religion since Paleolithic times: Venus figurines date back at least 35,000 years. So Asherah comes to the fold as an incarnation of an ancient lineage of female deities. The Bible refers in several places to other gods - an acknowledgment not only of their worship but of their existence - so it shouldn't come as a great surprise that one or more of them should be female. All around the region, goddesses were worshipped. In Egypt there was Nut, who represented the heavenly sphere, and Isis, "ideal mother and wife as well as the matron of nature and magic".
The worship of goddesses in the region continued to pre-Islamic times, int he early 7th century. In Mecca three goddesses - Uzza, al-Manāt and al-Lāt - were worshipped as "the daughters of god". Each had a separate shrine. Some of the "Satanic verses" in the Koran have been interpreted by scholars as endorsing these goddesses as intercessors for Muslims, much in the same way the Virgin Mary is seen as an intercessor for Catholics. That interpretation, while contested, makes sense when seen through the history of goddess worship in the region. Goddesses, or aspects of goddess worship even appear in Christian theology, notably Sophia in Eastern Orthodox, Gnostic and some Protestant mystical Christianity, and the Virgin Mary in Catholicism.
As far back as 1930, Oxford scholar Stephen Langdon was suggesting that some ancient civilizations like Sumer and Babylon, had a matriarchal society based on worship of a goddess, Inanna (later Ishtar). Elam, too, had a matriarchal society and goddess worship, wrote Dr. Walter Hinz, in 1973. While supreme in early days, the Elamite goddess became secondary to her consort, Humban in later years (the consort was also named Shushinak in Susa).
In 1967, Raphael Patai broached this topic in his book, The Hebrew Goddess. He argued that, "... that the Jewish religion historically had elements of polytheism, especially the worship of goddesses and a cult of the mother goddess. The book supports the theory through the interpretation of archaeological and textual sources as evidence for veneration of feminine beings. Hebrew goddesses identified in the book include Asherah, Anath, Astarte, Ashima, the cherubim in Solomon's Temple, the Matronit (Shekhina), and the personified Shabbat Bride. The later editions of the book were expanded to include recent archaeological discoveries and the rituals of unification (Yichudim) which are to unite God with his Shekinah."
In 1976, Merlin Stone's book When God Was a Woman documents the history (or rather interpretation of history) of how the early goddess worship was taken over by men and became god worship. Merlin equates Asherah (the Creator of All Deities) with Ashtoreth, worshipped by the Canaanites, Sidonians and others, and describes the conflict between the Yahweh-worshipping tribes and the other tribes whose deities included Ashtoreth (the Queen of Heaven, a term that returns in Ezekiel). So strong was her appeal that King Solomon worshipped her for a while. So widespread was goddess worship, Stone writes, that the term "asherah" (lowercase, plural asherim) came to mean the common idols of the female deity herself and might have been fig trees or made from fig wood (in Egypt this fig was called the "Body of the Goddess on Earth").
Judith Hadley wrote a book on Asherah worship in ancient Israel back in 1989 (seeing publication only in 2000). The book's description notes, "Recent archaeological discoveries have encouraged scholars to re-investigate the Israelite religion. In this book, Judith Hadley uses these discoveries, alongside biblical material and non-biblical inscriptions, to examine the evidence for the worship of Asherah as the partner of God in the Bible. By investigating the Khirbet al-Qom and Kuntillet 'Ajrud inscriptions, for example, where the phrase 'Yahweh and his Asherah' is frequently in evidence, the author asks what the ancient Israelites meant by this, how they construed the relationship between Yahweh and Asherah, and whether in fact the term actually referred to an object of worship rather than to a goddess. The author also evaluates more recent scholarship to substantiate her conclusions. This is a detailed and brilliant study which promises to make a significant contribution to the ongoing debate about the exact nature of Asherah and her significance in pre-exilic Israel and Judah."
In her 1983 book, The Woman's Encyclopedia of Myths and Secrets, Barbara Walker notes Asherah was worshipped by the Hebrews in her sacred groves, mentioned in 1 Kings 14:23. Those groves, she writes, representing the goddess' "genital centre" were later cut down by patriarchal reformers. Walker also notes Asherah "accepted" the Semitic god El as her consort and from that union bore twins, Sharer and Shalem. Accepted suggests she had supremacy.
So for all the hoo-hah over Dr. Stavrakopoulou, this is neither a new discovery nor a new hypothesis. Scholars have long known or surmised that there was a matriarchal society in ancient civilizations, and that goddess worship was common among most Middle-Eastern civilizations. In many, there were divine couples, including supreme female and male gods, who had offspring. The early Hebrew tribes seems to have shared a lot of this in common with their contemporaries, but was evolving towards a patriarchal, male-deity system that seems to have coalesced during the Babylonian exile. Well, perhaps it was a politically-charged revolution towards patriarchy that bordered on civil war against the goddess worshippers, and involved a lot of bloodshed, but that's another story.
All of this is not news. Just a quick perusal of my own bookshelves and the Internet produced a large volume of material on this subject. So why the fuss over this latest announcement? Yahweh had a wife. Fine. What I want to know is, if she was divine and she existed back then, where is she now? Can divine beings die? Did they get a divorce (and if so, who were the lawyers)? Or is she in exile? Let's finish this tale, not keep repeating the opening lines.
~~~~~
* See here.
Or perhaps she was a concubine. The role of 'divine wife' might have had other connotations than our present day institution.
One news article reports, "In the Book Of Kings, we're told that a statue of Asherah was housed in the temple and that female temple personnel wove ritual textiles for her. In fact, although the Bible condemns all of these practices, the biblical texts suggest that goddess worship was a thriving feature of high-status religion in Jerusalem."
This isn't exactly news. Asherah is referred to in several books of the Old Testament. Her worship was common among the Akkadians and Hittites, with written references dating back to at least 1200 BCE. Wikipedia notes that in ancient Israel and Judea, "Figurines identified with Asherah are strikingly common in the archaeological record, indicating the popularity of her cult from the earliest times to the Babylonian exile. More rarely, inscriptions linking Yahweh and Asherah have been discovered." Asherah is linked to Lilith, who appears in the Zohar, Talmud and Kabbalah as Adam's first wife. She also appears in the Akkadian versions of Epic of Gilgamesh.
Worship of the divine female has been a part of human religion since Paleolithic times: Venus figurines date back at least 35,000 years. So Asherah comes to the fold as an incarnation of an ancient lineage of female deities. The Bible refers in several places to other gods - an acknowledgment not only of their worship but of their existence - so it shouldn't come as a great surprise that one or more of them should be female. All around the region, goddesses were worshipped. In Egypt there was Nut, who represented the heavenly sphere, and Isis, "ideal mother and wife as well as the matron of nature and magic".
The worship of goddesses in the region continued to pre-Islamic times, int he early 7th century. In Mecca three goddesses - Uzza, al-Manāt and al-Lāt - were worshipped as "the daughters of god". Each had a separate shrine. Some of the "Satanic verses" in the Koran have been interpreted by scholars as endorsing these goddesses as intercessors for Muslims, much in the same way the Virgin Mary is seen as an intercessor for Catholics. That interpretation, while contested, makes sense when seen through the history of goddess worship in the region. Goddesses, or aspects of goddess worship even appear in Christian theology, notably Sophia in Eastern Orthodox, Gnostic and some Protestant mystical Christianity, and the Virgin Mary in Catholicism.
As far back as 1930, Oxford scholar Stephen Langdon was suggesting that some ancient civilizations like Sumer and Babylon, had a matriarchal society based on worship of a goddess, Inanna (later Ishtar). Elam, too, had a matriarchal society and goddess worship, wrote Dr. Walter Hinz, in 1973. While supreme in early days, the Elamite goddess became secondary to her consort, Humban in later years (the consort was also named Shushinak in Susa).
In 1967, Raphael Patai broached this topic in his book, The Hebrew Goddess. He argued that, "... that the Jewish religion historically had elements of polytheism, especially the worship of goddesses and a cult of the mother goddess. The book supports the theory through the interpretation of archaeological and textual sources as evidence for veneration of feminine beings. Hebrew goddesses identified in the book include Asherah, Anath, Astarte, Ashima, the cherubim in Solomon's Temple, the Matronit (Shekhina), and the personified Shabbat Bride. The later editions of the book were expanded to include recent archaeological discoveries and the rituals of unification (Yichudim) which are to unite God with his Shekinah."
In 1976, Merlin Stone's book When God Was a Woman documents the history (or rather interpretation of history) of how the early goddess worship was taken over by men and became god worship. Merlin equates Asherah (the Creator of All Deities) with Ashtoreth, worshipped by the Canaanites, Sidonians and others, and describes the conflict between the Yahweh-worshipping tribes and the other tribes whose deities included Ashtoreth (the Queen of Heaven, a term that returns in Ezekiel). So strong was her appeal that King Solomon worshipped her for a while. So widespread was goddess worship, Stone writes, that the term "asherah" (lowercase, plural asherim) came to mean the common idols of the female deity herself and might have been fig trees or made from fig wood (in Egypt this fig was called the "Body of the Goddess on Earth").
Judith Hadley wrote a book on Asherah worship in ancient Israel back in 1989 (seeing publication only in 2000). The book's description notes, "Recent archaeological discoveries have encouraged scholars to re-investigate the Israelite religion. In this book, Judith Hadley uses these discoveries, alongside biblical material and non-biblical inscriptions, to examine the evidence for the worship of Asherah as the partner of God in the Bible. By investigating the Khirbet al-Qom and Kuntillet 'Ajrud inscriptions, for example, where the phrase 'Yahweh and his Asherah' is frequently in evidence, the author asks what the ancient Israelites meant by this, how they construed the relationship between Yahweh and Asherah, and whether in fact the term actually referred to an object of worship rather than to a goddess. The author also evaluates more recent scholarship to substantiate her conclusions. This is a detailed and brilliant study which promises to make a significant contribution to the ongoing debate about the exact nature of Asherah and her significance in pre-exilic Israel and Judah."
In her 1983 book, The Woman's Encyclopedia of Myths and Secrets, Barbara Walker notes Asherah was worshipped by the Hebrews in her sacred groves, mentioned in 1 Kings 14:23. Those groves, she writes, representing the goddess' "genital centre" were later cut down by patriarchal reformers. Walker also notes Asherah "accepted" the Semitic god El as her consort and from that union bore twins, Sharer and Shalem. Accepted suggests she had supremacy.
So for all the hoo-hah over Dr. Stavrakopoulou, this is neither a new discovery nor a new hypothesis. Scholars have long known or surmised that there was a matriarchal society in ancient civilizations, and that goddess worship was common among most Middle-Eastern civilizations. In many, there were divine couples, including supreme female and male gods, who had offspring. The early Hebrew tribes seems to have shared a lot of this in common with their contemporaries, but was evolving towards a patriarchal, male-deity system that seems to have coalesced during the Babylonian exile. Well, perhaps it was a politically-charged revolution towards patriarchy that bordered on civil war against the goddess worshippers, and involved a lot of bloodshed, but that's another story.
All of this is not news. Just a quick perusal of my own bookshelves and the Internet produced a large volume of material on this subject. So why the fuss over this latest announcement? Yahweh had a wife. Fine. What I want to know is, if she was divine and she existed back then, where is she now? Can divine beings die? Did they get a divorce (and if so, who were the lawyers)? Or is she in exile? Let's finish this tale, not keep repeating the opening lines.
~~~~~
* See here.
I've always been fascinated that we lend so much credence to a bunch of ignorant bronze-age guys squatting in caves and chipping their latest fairy stories into rocks. Once papyrus came along there was no stopping 'em. Gods and Goddesses galore. Of course, later on a much more enlightened bunch got to filter through this work and push their favourite bits, discarding the rest. These guys knew how to use iron and had discovered the wheel, so of course they were in a much better position to....er....decide how the Universe was created. Not that modern religions are any better of course (thats another story).