The question of the
potential connection between the inscribed texts and the drawings on the pithoi
from Kuntillet Ajrud is a topic that has been much debated among historic
scholars. It is a question that cannot
simply be answered with a cursory glance at just the pithoi themselves. There must needs be also a further study and
examination of the identity of the asherah mentioned in connection to the
Hebrew god of Yahweh; to try to ascertain its significance and meaning, and in
doing so, identify if it is a goddess consort or some other thing, such as an
icon or place, entirely. Through this
examination and proper identification of the nature of the asherah, it will
then be possible to determine if the texts and the drawings on the pithoi found
at Kuntillet Ajrud are connected in any way other than by just being on the
same piece of pottery. The specific
pithoi in question has an inscription on it which is a blessing to a person
containing the phrase from ‘Yahweh of Samaria and his asherah’. Along with this inscription is the depiction
of three personages, two of which are standing, arms interlinked, one smaller
than the other, and the third sitting in the background playing the lyre. It is this connection that has spawned the
debate on the interpretation and possible meaning of the text.
On
one of the large storage jars called pithoi
from Kuntillet Ajrud, some scholars believe they see asherah as a goddess
depicted in a drawing standing beside a figure that they have identified as
Yahweh. Lemaire[1]
disagrees with this, saying that asherah is not depicted as a goddess-consort
to Yahweh in the inscriptions, or that the Biblical texts containing reference
to asherah are ever referring to a goddess.
Lemaire purports that the drawing of the two standing figures on the pithoi is of the Egyptian god Bes, and
the seated female with the lyre is simply just that, a seated female lyre
player[2]. The storage jar does contain text referring
to Yahweh’s asherah, but the text does not say or infer that asherah is a
goddess or consort.
While
examining the text itself, time should be given over to studying the structure
of the wording. Using Hebrew grammar
shows that asherah is not the proper noun or name of a goddess, but actually
just a common noun. All place names or
proper nouns in Hebrew stand of their own accord. A common noun, however, needs to have the
prefix ha in front of the noun to
make it determinative; similar to how the
is used in English. Using the examples
of Judges 6:25-26, 30 and 1 Kings 16:33, asherah is preceded by the Hebrew ha in these instances, which if asherah
was a name, would not happen. Further to
this, names in Hebrew never have a pronominal suffix on them, which is used to
denote ownership. The Kuntillet Ajrud
and Khirbet el-Kom texts both have asherah, which ends in h and thus in Hebrew denotes ownership, namely, his[3].
Margalit
argues[4]
that while the Kuntillet Ajrud text uses asherah as a common noun, the fact
that there are drawings of personages in close proximity indicate that it
should be translated as being the proper name of a person, Asherah. This, of course, is assuming that the text
and the drawings were done at the same time and/or by the same person. Conversely, if they were not done at the same
time or by the same person, they could still be interconnected, the drawing
explaining the picture, or visa versa.
At this point and with the level of research and knowledge on the
subject currently available, it is almost impossible to know which of those
three circumstances it could be, but for the sake of this analysis, it will be
assumed that the drawing and the text were created by the same person.
Another possibility
is that asherah is translated as meaning a holy place or sanctuary. Asherah is similar to the Akkadian word asirtu, which means sanctuary. There are other cognates from the
eighth-century BC Aramaic that have the same meaning as asirtu, as well as from the Middle and Late Punic Phoenician[5]. There is Biblical support for this
translation being correct. In 2 Kings 18:4 it says “He [Hezekiah]
removed the high places (bamot), and brake the images (massebot), and cut down
the groves (asherah), and brake in pieces the brazen serpent…” In Deut 16:21 it reads “Thou shalt not plant
thee a grove of any trees (asherah) near unto the alter of the LORD thy God,
which thou shalt make thee.” Asherah
here is clearly not defined as a goddess, but rather as a tree or grove of
trees.
Whilst
there is some logical reasoning behind this argument of translating asherah as
a sacred tree or grove of trees, Margalit continues to be adamant that asherah
should be translated as a proper noun and thus is the actual name of a
personage, specifically a goddess.
Looking at the Ugaritic word atrt
and the Hebrew cognate asera, both of
these originally mean ‘wife’ or ‘consort’; or more literally ‘she-who-follows-in-the-footsteps
(of her husband)’[6]. This can be further expounded upon when
looking at some of the older artefacts found relating to the Canaanite
religion. Ugarit on the Syrian coast yielded a cache of
14th – 13th century BC cuneiform tablets concerning
Canaanite religion. There are several
ritual texts and three religious epic myths contained on them. Among the goddess featured is one named
Athirat, the consort of El. Athirat is
the Ugaritic linguistic equivalent of the Hebrew Asherah. One of Athirat’s epithets is
“Athirat-of-the-Sea”, and describes her as being a wife to the great god El. As El’s consort, she is also called “creator
(or begetter) of the gods”[7].
Since
the story of Athirat and who she was would have been widely know among the
people of the area at that time, it would explain the lack of reference to
Athirat’s courtship of El. Explaining it
again would have been deemed a repetitive redundancy to the Ugaritic poets
recording the tale, and similarly for the Hebrew epigraphist concerning the
equivalent Asherah[8]. Interestingly, Asherah is mentioned in
conjunction with Baal both repeatedly and more commonly. A few examples can be found in the Bible as
shown here: “And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the LORD
(Yahweh), and forgat the LORD (Yahweh) their God, and served Baalim and the
groves (Asherah)”[9], “…and
the prophets of Baal four hundred and fifty, and the prophets of the groves
(Asherah) four hundred…”[10],
and “…bring forth out of the temple of the LORD (Yahweh) all the vessels that
were made for Baal, and for the grove (Asherah), and for all the host of
heaven…”[11]. Whilst this shows that Asherah is used in
connotation with the divine, it also goes back to the previously shown examples
of how it can be translated as a place; specifically that of a sacred grove of
trees. This however, could be explained
by looking at yet another name that the goddess Athirat is sometimes known as.
The
goddess Athirat is also referred to on many occasions as Qudsu, which means ‘holiness’ or ‘sanctuary’[12]. This could be a reference to the sanctuary
that the goddess herself provides, similar to a mother providing refuge to a
troubled, sick, or scared child. This
would be fitting with the entire concept of a mother goddess that is being
ascribed to Asherah. Further, the
concept of a place or a sanctuary within the name of a deity is not a strange
concept for the Semites, as can be shown in example of the god Bethel, which is literally translated, ‘The
House of El’[13]. The grove of trees that is used as a
translation for Asherah could possibly be from when the goddess was worshipped
in a more paganistic time, and the tradition held over and evolved into being
synonymous with the goddess herself.
The
Ugaritic texts from Northern Semitic culture provides more information on
Asherah as a goddess, and in these instances, is usually vocalised as
Athirat. In these texts, she is also
shown to be the consort of El, and sometimes is referred to as `ilt, which is translated as
goddess. Also, she is referred to as qnyt `ilm, which is the procreatress of
the gods, or as `um. `il, translated
to the mother of the gods[14]. It is able to be surmised by this that
Athirat then shared in the work of the creation of the world with El. Further in the Ugaritic texts, there is
reference to the ‘seventy sons of Athirat’.
This would indicate that there was a direct correlation between this
concept and the Jewish concept that there are seventy guardian angels of the
nations, which arises from the concept of the sons of God in Deut 32:8, and therefore
gives credence to Asherah being the goddess consort to the god Yahweh[15].
Returning
to the pithoi from Kuntillet Ajrud with this information in mind, the drawings
can be analysed in conjunction to the texts in a more detailed and educated
light. Using the Egyptologist Gilula’s
position on the subject of the pithoi from Kuntillet Ajrud, Margalit argues
that the standing figures in the image cannot be interpreted as the Egyptian
god Bes as was previously thought, because they are clearly bovine in nature
and Bes was leonine[16]. Due to this reasoning, he has drawn the
conclusion that the line “…yhwh.. smrn.
w`srth (Yahweh and his Asherah)” is describing the two standing figures
beneath the text. Margalit continues to
argue that `srh can only be interpreted
in this instance as meaning a divine persona capable of conferring
blessings. Further, Margalit states that
the way around the problems of the context of the text implying that asherah is
a proper name of a deity, and the grammar rules of Hebrew stating that due to
the possessive suffix on the word it must be a thing, is to translate asherah
as the common noun meaning ‘wife or consort’.
To back up this claim, Margalit again continues to draw on the research,
findings, and opinions of Gilula.
When
looking closer at the drawing of the two standing personages, the smaller of
the two is found to be clearly female. The
circles on the upper chest are the same as the seated female lyre-player. The absence of horns and the head-dress that
the small figure is wearing which is thought to be the Hebrew `atara that a suitor places on his wife
to be, also lends themselves to this conclusion. The interlocking hands also purportedly were
done to try and show perspective, making the smaller figure appear to be behind
the larger one. This all serves to reinforce
the view that the line should be translated as ‘Yahweh of Samaria and his
consort/wife’, as well as providing a unique graphical representation of the
word `srh, which as previously stated
means “she who follows (her husband)’[17]. This, then, is a fine example of the social
conventions of the female following the male, or the wife following the husband
carrying over to writing; i.e. ‘Yahweh and his Asherah’ similar in the way that
‘Mr. and Mrs.’ is used currently[18].
Margalit,
however, goes on to say that he is not going to discuss the different
connotations of asherah as used in the Bible though, as he believes that his
point can be made without doing so. This
could be viewed as an easy way out of confronting the problem of a literary
record that is obviously translated completely differently to his opinion, and
supported by some scholars as being a correct translation as well.
In
conclusion, it would appear that the text and the drawings on the pithoi from
Kuntillet Ajrud are indeed connected to each other. The word ‘asherah’, whether translated as the
proper name of a goddess consort to Yahweh, or as a place name of a sacred
grove of trees that provided sanctuary, clearly is connected to the Hebrew god. The information examined suggests that both
translations, deity name and sacred grove, are correct, and that it is just
context that allows the reader to know which is meant. From this explanation, and given the context
of the drawing that accompanies the inscription, it seems apparent that the
image is that of ‘Yahweh and His Asherah’, the wife goddess, faithfully
following in his footsteps.
Bibliography
Day, J. (1986). ‘Asherah in the Hebrew Bible and Northwest Semitic Literature’, Journal of Biblical Literature, No. 105, pp. 385-408.
Holy Bible, The. King James Version. 1989.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Salt
Lake City, UT.
Lemaire, A. (1984). ‘Who or What was Yahweh’s Asherah’, Biblical Archaeology Review, pp. 42-51.
Margalit, B. (1990). ‘The Meaning and Significance of Asherah’, Vetus Testamentum No. 40, pp. 264-297.
[1]
Lemaire, Who or what was Yahweh’s
Asherah? p. 46
[2]
Ibid
[3]
Lemaire, Who or what was Yahweh’s
Asherah? p. 47
[4]
Margalit, The Meaning and Significance of
Asherah p. 266
[5]
Lemaire Who or what was Yahweh’s Asherah?
p. 50
[6]
Margalit The Meaning and Significance of
Asherah p. 269
[7]
Lemaire, Who or What was Yahweh’s
Asherah? p. 46
[8]
Margalit The Meaning and Significance of
Asherah p. 269
[9]
Judges 3:7
[10]
1 Kings 18:19
[11]
2 Kings 23:4
[12]
Day, Asherah in the Hebrew Bible and
Northwest Semitic Literature p. 388
[13]
Ibid
[14]
Day, Aherah in the Hebrew Bible and
Northwest Semitic Literature p. 387
[15]
Ibid
[16]
Margalit, The Meaning and Significance of
Asherah p. 276
[17]
Ibid p. 276-279
[18]
Ibid p. 271
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