But the existence of this goddess is a disputed
fioinl. The evidence, it must be admitted, is very imited, and not decisive. With regard to the I'liiin. sources, the word on tlie Kition inscription sujijiDscd to represent 'Asherah is differently read byStade, Z^ If (1881)344 f., and in tlie CIS i. 1. 13; whilst the phrase in the Ma'sub inscription is obscure, and can , be explained in different ways (WaXkvy , Rev. des Etudes J uives , xii. 110; Hott'mann, Uebereiniqe Phon. Inschr. 20 ff. ). Again, the value of the evidence of the Tel el-Amania inscriptions uiKjn this i)oint is as yet uncertain (Nowack, Heh. Arch. ii. 307, n. 2; W. K. Smith, Rel. Sem. 173 n). And, la.'-tly, the OT pas,sages are perhaps best ex- plained by supposing that the comjiilers of the hist. tx>ok8 misunderstood the term 'Asherah, and con- fused it with 'Ashtoreth (Stade, (le.ick. des Volkes Isr. i. 4C0 ; Nowack, p. 19 ; W. K. Smith, p. 173 ; Montefiore, Uibbert Lect. 89).
2. A sacred tree or pole. The ordinary furni- ture of a Can. high-place or shrine consisted of the altar, near to which stood a stone pillar or Ma??(;>- bah, and a sacred tree or "Ashirah, 1 K M'", 2 K 18*. l''or an altar and an 'Asherah of Baal, cf. Jg 0""'°. When the Israelite invaders a])pro- priated for tlieir own religious worship the nigh -places of the Canaanites, they adopted also the Miijf^fobahs and 'Ashi^-ralis, Mic 5'"-^', Is 17' 27', .Jer 17', 1 K 14», 2 K 17'"-". Not until the centralisation of the cultus at Jeru.s., carried out by .Josiah, did the high-places, and with them the pillars and .sacred trees, become illegal, Dt 16-'.
An idea of the appearance and nature of an 'Asherah may be obtained from a comparison of some of the pa.s,s!iges in which the word occurs. It was a tree, or stunij) of a tree, planted in the earth, Dt K!^' ; it could be artificially made. Is 17", 1 K 14" lO**; it was made of wood, Jg O*" ; it might receive an image-like form, 1 K 15" : it could be 'cut down,' Ex 34", '])lucked up,' Mic 5", 'burnt,' Dt 12', or 'broken in pieces,' 2 Ch 34*. What are supposed to be representations of such sacruil trei-s may be seen in Hawlinson's Ancient Mimnrrhie-i, ii. .37, or in Nowack, ii. 19.
The original signification of the 'Ashc^rahs la not clear. Some have held that they were symbols either of a supposed goddess 'Asherah (Kuenen, Rel. lar. ii. 75, 88, 247), or of 'Ashtoreth (Baethgen, Beitraqe, 218 f. ; Oettli on Jj,' 3' in Strack and Znckler's Kurzfiefnsster Komm.). Others believe them to have been connected with Phallic worship (Movers, Collins, PSIiA, June
4, 1889, 291 ; M. Ohnefalsch-Richter. Cyprus, the Bible, and llumer, 140, 170) ; but against this, see W. R. Smith, p. 437. Perhaps the most probable view is that whicli sees in the 'Ashcirahs a survival of tree-worship, whilst the Maj^c^bahs represent a survival of stone-worship (W. Ii. Smith, p. 109; Stade, Gesch. i. 460 ff. ; Pietachmann, Gesch. der P/umizier, 213 ; Nowack, ii. 19).
The rendering 'groYe' (plu. 'groves,' RV Asherim) of AV comes from LXX dXffos, a trans, which, though possible in some cases, is obviously inappropriate in others, e.g. 1 K 14^ 15" 2 K 23".
LiTERATCTiB.— Driver on Dt. 16-'; Moore on Jr ?' 6»; and the reff. above. For a freah attempt to connect tree and pillar \eneration with Phallic worship, aee Trunihull, The TkretlwUt Covenanl (1696), p. 228 fl. \y_ Q^ ALLEN
ASHES — 1. 'Sackcloth and ashes' are, in OT, Apocr., and NT alike, the familiar tokens of humi- liation and penitence, generally accomiianied by fasting (Job 42«, Is 58», Dn 9», Jon 3', Est 4', Jtli 4", 1 Mac 3", Mt 11", Lk 10" etc.). Ashes were also, with earth and dust, the usual signs of mourn- ing, 2 S l\ Job 2»- ", Jer 6«, Is 61». In both ca.ses the penitent or mourner took the ashes and ca-st them with expressive gesture 'toward heaven,' so that they fell on his person, and especially on his head, a custom not confined to the Hebrews (cf. Iliad, xviii. 23 fl'.). In extreme cases the mourner .sat upon a heap of ashes (Job 2"). References to the custom are freq. in Scripture (see, in addition to passages already quoted, Job 2'^ 42', Jer 6^', Ezk 27*', Est 4», Jth 4'' 9', 1 Mac 3" 4»). The priests in times of great affliction seem to have put ashes on their 'mitres,' Jth 4". Ashes upon the head were also a sign of physical humiliation and dis- grace (2 S 13'^ Ezk 28f», Mai 4»). Aslies are u.sed in or, alone or with ' dust,' * as a natural synonym of worthlessness and insignificance, Gn 18", Is 44^, Job 13'" (proverbs of ashes = worthless, trashy pro- verbs) 30'*, Sir 10». 2. The same t«rm (ijn, o-iroJis) is employed in Nu 19»- '» (P) to denote the mixture composed of the ashes proper of the red heifer and those of 'cedar wood, liys.sop and scarlet,' and used for the preparation of the so-called ' water of separation. See Pukification, Red Heifku. 3. Tlie priestly term. tech. for the ashes of the animals burnt in sacrifice is ]zn (lit. fatne.ss, LXX 7ri4T,5), Lv I'M'-'-e'"-" (P); the corresponding verb denotes the clearing away of the accumulated fat ashes. Ex 27', Nu 4". See Tabernacle. 4. The word rendered ' ashes ' in Ex 9"- "• (n's of uncertain origin, and only found here) more probably signifies 'soot,' as in the m. of RV. See Commentaries.