An Asherah pole is a sacred tree or pole that stood near Canaanite religious locations to honor the Ugaritic mother-goddess Asherah, consort of El. The relation of the literary references to an asherah and archeological finds of Judaean piller-figurines has engendered a literature of debate.
The asherim were also cult objects related to the worship of the fertility goddess Asherah, the consort of Ba'al or, as indescriptions from kuntillet Ajrud and Khibet el-Qom attest, YAHWEH, and thus objects of contention among cults. The insertion of "pole" begs the question by setting up unwarranted expectations for such a wooden object: "we are never told exactly what it was," observes John Dayt. Though there was a certainly a movement against goddess worship at the Jerusalem Temple in the time of king Josiah, it did not long survive his reign, as the following four kings "did what was evil in the eyes of Yahwew" (2 kings 23:32, 37; 24:9 , 19). further exhortations came from Jeremiah. the traditional interpretation of the Bilical text is that the Israelites imported pagan elements such as Asherah poles from the surrounding Canaanites; the modern interpretations suggest instead that the Israelite folk religion was always polytheistic, and it was the prophets and priests who denounced the Ahserah poles who were the innovators.
The asherim were also cult objects related to the worship of the fertility goddess Asherah, the consort of Ba'al or, as indescriptions from kuntillet Ajrud and Khibet el-Qom attest, YAHWEH, and thus objects of contention among cults. The insertion of "pole" begs the question by setting up unwarranted expectations for such a wooden object: "we are never told exactly what it was," observes John Dayt. Though there was a certainly a movement against goddess worship at the Jerusalem Temple in the time of king Josiah, it did not long survive his reign, as the following four kings "did what was evil in the eyes of Yahwew" (2 kings 23:32, 37; 24:9 , 19). further exhortations came from Jeremiah. the traditional interpretation of the Bilical text is that the Israelites imported pagan elements such as Asherah poles from the surrounding Canaanites; the modern interpretations suggest instead that the Israelite folk religion was always polytheistic, and it was the prophets and priests who denounced the Ahserah poles who were the innovators.
