The Goddess Asherah: Echoes from Ancient Judaism of the Tanach

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The Goddess Asherah: Echoes from Ancient Judaism of the Tanach
INTRODUCTION
Asherah, goddess of fertility and protector infants, was as central to ancient Judaism as YHWH was. The use of the past tense is intentional here, since both are no longer central to Judaism. Though worship of the goddess was heavily suppressed by the monotheists beginning around the time of the writing of the Deuternomistic History (DH), she has survived. Jewish pagans (Jewitches) know the Malkat ha Shabbat as daughter of YHWH and Asherah. Textual artifacts, seen directly in the words of the Torah, Neviim, Ketuviim (Tanach) can be as revealing as excavated figurines, if not more so.
APPROACHES TO BIBLICAL SCHOLARSHIP AND BIBLICAL HISTORY
The Rabbinic Approach
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Pardes, Ilana. Countertraditions in the Bible. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1992.
Rosenberg, David and Bloom, Harold. The book of J. New York: Grove Press, 1990.
Smith, Mark. The Early History of God: Yahweh and other Deities in Ancient Israel. Cambridge, 2002.
Biblical Citations
Genesis 1:1-2, 1:26, 6:9, 34:2-3
Exodus 2:10, 4:24-26,
Deuteronomy 6:20, 6:21
1 Samuel 18:25, 18: 27
2 Samuel 13:14