j the very close of the history, departed not from the Temple, but 'served God with fastings and prayers
■ night and day' " (Stanley, Palest, p. 261).
{ The inhabitants of the tribe were also called Asher- ites (lieb. Asheri' , ^rx, Sept. iv 'Aai/p, Judg. i, 32). 2. A city on the boundary of the tribe of Manasseh, near Michmethah and east of Shechem (Josh, xvii, 7) ; according to Eusebius (Onomast. s. v. A<r»/p) a village 15, according to the Itin. Hieros., 9 Roman miles from Shechem. toward Scythopolis, near the highway. This
I position nearly corresponds to that of the modern vil- lage Yasir, containing ruins, about half way between
) Nablous and Beisan (Van de Veldc, Memoir, p. 289) ; the Teyasir suggested by Porter (Hundb. p. 348).
] 3. A city in Galilee near Thesbe (Tobit i, 2, Engl. Vers. " Aser"), possibly a corruption for Hazor (q. v.),
[ a cit}' in the tribe of Naphtali (see Fritzsche, Comment.
| in loc), or perhaps identical with the foregoing place.
Asherah (nyzii, As/terah'; Auth.Vers. "grove," after the Sept. dXaog; Vulg. Incus), a Canaanitish (Phoenician) divinity, whose worship, in connection with that of Baal, spread among the Israelites already in the age of the judges (Judg. iii, 7; vi, 25), was more permanently establish, d later by the Queen Jez- ebel in the land of Ephraim (1 Kings xvi, 33 ; xviii, 19), but at times prevailed in the kingdom of Judah also (2 Kings xviii, 4; xxi, 3; xxiii, 4; 2 Chron. xxxi, 1 sq.). See Grove. She had prophets, like Baal (1 Kings xviii, 19), and her rites were characterized by licentiousness (2 Kings xxiii, 7 ; Ezek. xxiii, 42). Her images, CHUX, or n'lCX, were of wood (Judg. vi, 26), (as appears ever from the words used to ex- press their annihilation, Gcsen. Tkes. p. 162 ; Movers, Pfioniz. p. 567), which were erected sometimes together with those of Baal, as Otoi ovfifiu/ioi, over the altar of the latter (Judg. vi, 25) ; at one time even in the Temple of Jehovah at Jerusalem (2 Kings xxi, 7; xxiii, 6); besides, there is mention of C"Fi2 (houses), tents or canopies, woven by the women for the idol (2 Kings xxiii, 7), which circumstance in itself would be indicative of a connection with the worship of Baal (Judg. iii, 7 ; vi, 25 ; 1 Kings xvi, 32 sq. ; xviii, 19). That Asherah is an identical divinity with Astoreth or Astarte is evident from the translation of the Sept. at 2 Chron. xv, 16 ; xxiv, 18, from that of Symmachus or Aquila at Judg. iii, 7 ; 2 Kings xvii, 10 (as also from the Syriac at Judg. iii, 7; vi, 25; see Gesen.
j Thes. p. 16".); and this was the prevailing opinion of the Biblical antiquarians up to Movers, who (/ tenia.
i p. 560) thinks that Asherah should be distinguished from Astoreth, and declares Asherah to be a sort of Phallus erected to the telluric goddess Baaltis (Dea
; Syra, whence the goddess herself was then called
j Asherah, i. e. opOUi), while Astarte should be consider- ed a sidereal divinity. See Astarte. It may appear strange that the same divinity is mentioned under
j two names in the historical books of the 0. T., and it remains doubtful in what sense Astarte mi.ulit have been called Asherah ; the identity of the two idols, however, is evident from Judg. ii, 13 (see iii, 7); and this invalidates also the objection that there is no men-
ASHERITE
460
ASHDIA
tion of obscene rites in tho worship of Astarte (2 Kings xxiii, 7). It does not appear from 2 Kings xxiii, that Asherah and Astoreth were two distinct divinities, for the only distinction made here is between the dif- ferent places of worship; ver. G mentions an Asherah erected in the Temple in Jerusalem (see 2 Kings xxi, 7). and ver. 13 speaks of the idols which were on the high-places before Jerusalem (since the times of Solo- mon ? see 1 Kings xi, 7) ; ver. 14 is connected with ver. 13, and treats of the same idols, while ver. 15 re- fers tn another locality (see 2 Kings xxiii, 10). Final- ly, though Asherah is never expressly called a Sido- ni.in divinity like Astarte, yet she is mentioned (1 Kings xvi, 33; xviii, 19) with the idols introduced by Jezebel (see De Wette, Archiiol. p. 323 sq.). Hence Bertheau (JRichi. p. G6 sq.) declares himself also in favor of the identity of Astoreth with Asherah, sup- posing, however, that the former might have been tli3 name of the goddess, and the latter that of her idol (see Movers, p. 565), and agrees with Movers in think- ing that i"H2J5$ signifies erect (pillar), and is indica- tive of the Phallus worship. But though Asherim and Asheroth are so often mentioned separately from statues that we could hardly think these terms to have been used likewise to signify carved idols, but are rather inclined to suppose the}' must have been something more rough and simple (though, perhaps, not a mere tree, as in Deut. xvi, 21 ; see Dan. xi, 45) ; yet from this it does not follow that the word should originally have signitied the (wooden) fetish; and against the translation with recta we might adduce, that to be erect is more properly expressed in the He- brew by the verb Tr^ than by "I'JX ; and if we would grant the above distinction in such passages as 1 Kings xviiii, 19; 2 Kings xxiii, 4, undoubtedly fijffiZW should have been written. Consequently we must let tho Phallus character of Asherah also rest as it is ; and until more correct explanations can be given, we must be content with the result that Asherah is essen- tially identical with Astarte ; and both these are not differing from the Syrian goddess, whose rites were of obscene character, who is certainly reflected in tho Cyprian Aphrodite, and is furthermore blended with the Western mythological representations. (See J. van Yperen, Obs. crlt. de sacrls quibusd. fluvialibus et Ash m tin. in the Ilibl. Hagan.iv, 81-122; Gesenius, Comment, z. Jesa. ii, 338; Stuhr, Relig. d. Orients, p. 439; Vatke, Relig. d. Alt-Test. p. 372; Dupuis, Origm d. cultes, i, 181 ; iii, 471 ; Schwenk, Mythol. d. Semiten, ]>. 207; comp. Augustine, De civ. Dei, iv, 10; ii, 3.) — Winer, s. y. See Ashtoketh.