God, also known as Yahweh, had a wife named Asherah, according to a British theologian.
Amulets, figurines, inscriptions and ancient texts, including the Bible, reveal Asherah's once prominent standing.
God had a wife, Asherah, whom the Book of Kings suggests was worshiped alongside Yahweh in his temple in Israel, according to an Oxford scholar.
In 1967, Raphael Patai was the first historian to mention that the ancient Israelites worshiped both Yahweh and Asherah. The theory has gained new prominence due to the research of Francesca Stavrakopoulou, who began her work at Oxford and is now a senior lecturer in the department of Theology and Religion at the University of Exeter.
Information presented in Stavrakopoulou's books, lectures and journal papers has become the basis of a three-part documentary series, now airing in Europe, where she discusses the Yahweh-Asherah connection.
"You might know him as Yahweh, Allah or God. But on this fact, Jews, Muslims and Christians, the people of the great Abrahamic religions, are agreed: There is only one of Him," writes Stavrakopoulou in a statement released to the British media. "He is a solitary figure, a single, universal creator, not one God among many … or so we like to believe."
NEWS: Jesus' Great-Grandmother Identified
"After years of research specializing in the history and religion of Israel, however, I have come to a colorful and what could seem, to some, uncomfortable conclusion that God had a wife," she added.
Stavrakopoulou bases her theory on ancient texts, amulets and figurines unearthed primarily in the ancient Canaanite coastal city called Ugarit, now modern-day Syria. All of these artifacts reveal that Asherah was a powerful fertility goddess.
Asherah's connection to Yahweh, according to Stavrakopoulou, is spelled out in both the Bible and an 8th century B.C. inscription on pottery found in the Sinai desert at a site called Kuntillet Ajrud.
"The inscription is a petition for a blessing," she shares. "Crucially, the inscription asks for a blessing from 'Yahweh and his Asherah.' Here was evidence that presented Yahweh and Asherah as a divine pair. And now a handful of similar inscriptions have since been found, all of which help to strengthen the case that the God of the Bible once had a wife."
Also significant, Stavrakopoulou believes, "is the Bible's admission that the goddess Asherah was worshiped in Yahweh's Temple in Jerusalem. In the Book of Kings, we're told that a statue of Asherah was housed in the temple and that female temple personnel wove ritual textiles for her."
News/discovery
1 comment:
Persoally I have a problem with the concept o Yaweh having a wife. No one knows who the creator of the universe is, the entity is neither male nor female or is both, Unknown, unseen non-gendered, So to refer to Yaweh as male and Ashera female is making god in our image.
Many religions have had gods and goddesses and women did no better than today. The problem as I see it is not to make the entity called god be gender specific. the problem is the interpretation that theologians gave to this god. Now if we add Ashera she is younger hence also subordinate to the older male, He still has dominion over her. Why not rethink the theological interpretations and make sure that on earth men start living the words they preach.
Make sure men become more gentle, respect women instead of arguing about the sex or gender of the god. No one knows and no one will know live as a gentle kind man and see a woman as being equal and not a weaker being, all women are equal and all deserve respect.
Post a Comment