ASHER
ASTROLOGY
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ness. But He does not condemn the lower goods or attempt to tear out the human instincts and cravings. Nor does He make fellowship with God depend on any kind of outward ascetical ol)serv- ances. Indeed, as Harnack writes, ' Asceticism has no place in the gospel at all ; what it asks is that we should struggle against mammon, against care, against seltisliness ; what it demands and disengages is love ; the love that serves and is self- sacrificing. This struggle and this love are the kind of asceticism which the gospel means, and whoever encumbers .Jesus' message with any other kind fails to understand it. He fails to understand its grandeur and importance ; for there is some- thing still more important than "giving one's body to be burned, and bestowing all one's goods to feed the poor," namely, self-denial and love ' (Harnack, What is Christianity?]). 88). See also art. Self-denial and the Literature cited at end of that article. F. Homes Dudden.
ASHER (LXX and NT 'Aa-fip, Jos. 'Aatipos) is the transliteration of the Heb. "^ptt = ' fortunate.' In Gn 30^' the origin of the name Asher is connected by J with this adjective, but perhaps its source should be found rather in the name of some Semitic divinity (cf. the goddess Ashera and per- haps also the Assyrian god Ashur). In Rev 7" Asher appears in the list of the twelve tribes of Israel (cf. Nu 1"- ■««■ 2^<- 7""" lO^^ IS'^ [P], Dt 27" [D]). The patronymic ancestor of the tribe is presented in Gn SO^^ ( J) and 35=« (P) as the eighth son of Jacob : born (like Gad) of Zilpah, Leah's slave-girl. Asher is mentioned in the ' Blessings' of Jacob (Gn 49=») and of Moses (Dt 33='). It is put in possession of a territory in the land of Canaan (Joa 192-'-3i [P], cf. 216- *"• [P]), but does not succeed in making itself thoroughly master of it ( Jg P"- ) ; the result of which is that its territory is some- times confused with that of Manasseh (Jos 17" [J]), and that it holds a precarious situation in the midst of the Canaanites (contrast Jg l^'^'- with v.^'-). The district assigned to Asher corre- sponds to what was afterwards western Galilee, a very fertile country, but apparently never subdued completely by Israel ; it is by a fiction that the possession of cities like Acco, Achzib, Tyre, and Sidon is attributed to it. Asher is named in the Song of Deborah (Jg 5") as devoted to navigation ; it fibres also in the story of Gideon (Jg &^ 7^). But it quickly disappears from the page of history, where after all it had played a very small part. ■ It is still mentioned incidentally in 1 K 4'" under Solomon, and in 2 Ch 30" under Hezekiah, but there is no trace of it in the Books of Ezra and Nehemiah. The genealogical tables will be found in Gn 46" (P), Nu 26«-" (P), and 1 Ch 7™-^".
According to Lk 2^^ the prophetess Anna, the daughter of Phanuel, was of the tribe of Asher. The source of this genealogical statement is un- known. Its correctness has been suspected in view of similar claims made for some Jews elsewhere to illustrious origin (descent from Aaron, David, etc.). It may, however, be remarked, that there is a cardinal difl'erence between these and the present instance : there was nothing particularly glorious LUCIEN Gautier.
in descent from Asher.
-Used twice in the Gospels, referring to an ancient and widespread Eastern mourning custom. The mourner, or the penitent, would throw dust, or dust mixed with ashes {aTod6s), into the air, as an expression of intense humiliation, due to penitence for sin, or grief because of afflic- tion (Mt IP'; for this idea in the OT cf. Mic l'". Job 42^). Such symbolic use of dust and ashes was not unnatural, since grief seems to call for a pro- stration of the body. These, being beneath the
feet, suggest humiliation, and when thrown into the air they were allowed to fall upon the person of the mourner, that he might carry the evidences of his grief with him. Sometimes ashes is asso- ciated with adKKos, sackelotli ; the penitent or mourner sitting upon the ash-heap, his face be- grimed with the dust. To this custom Christ referred when He said of Tyre and Sidon, ' They would have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes ' (Lk 10'^ ; cf. use of im in Job 2*, Jon 3*). E. B. Pollard. ASS.— See Animals, p. 63".
ASTONISHMENT, ASTONISHED.-These terms occur with some frequency in EV of OT, but in NT only in the historical books (except John), and in the RV only in the Synoptic Gospels (except Ac 3'-). They are always used in NT as an ex- pression of one of the emotions aroused by super- natural manifestations. The noun occurs once only in eitlier version (but in different passages : AV Mk 5« ; RV Mk le^) : the verb more fre- quently. In AV the term translates sometimes iKir\-/i<rtToiJ.ai. (Mt V^ U^ 22^3, Mk 6'' 7" lO^" ll", Lk 4^'-, Ac 13'2) ; sometimes iiiara/iai or iKarairis (Mk 5^', Lk 2« 8* 24-i=, Ac 10« 12«) ; and sometimes BanBloixai or ddfi^os (Mk 10=^ Lk 5", Ac 9*). In RV it is reserved for iKirXycraofiai (ex- cept Mk 16*, where ' astonishment ' represents iKffTaais), of which it is the uniform rendering. In its etymological implication it very fairly repre- sents iKTr\i](j(Toixai, which is literally ' to be struck out (of the senses) by a blow,' and hence, to be 'stunned,' 'shocked, 'astonished.' For its re- lation to words implying ' fear,' see Schmidt, Synonymik d. gr. Sprac/ie, No. 139. For its place among the terms descriptive of the efl'ect of our Lord's ministry on its witnesses, see art. AMAZE- MENT. Benjamin B. Warfield.