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NASB | 2 Kings 21:7 Then he set the carved image of Asherah that he had made, in the house of which the LORD said to David and to his son Solomon, "In this house and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen from all the tribes of Israel, I will put My name forever. |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | 2 Kings 21:7 He made a carved image of the [goddess] Asherah and set it up in the house (temple), of which the LORD said to David and to his son Solomon, "In this house and in Jerusalem [in the tribe of Judah], which I have chosen from all the tribes of Israel, I will put My Name forever. |
Bible Question: Can you give me any details on the asherah pole and how it affected the Hebrew people? |
Bible Answer: Hello hamseal! The KJV mistakenly renders 'Asherim' in this verse as 'grove', which is also done in the Vulgate and LXX (septuagint). In the earliest period of the Semitic occupation of Canaan (c. B.C. 2500-2000), the goddess Asherah shared with Baal (Judg. 3:7; 6:25) the chief worship of the immigrants, and Asherah was particularly worshipped as the goddess of fertility. Her place was later usurped by Astarte. In this early aniconic age, the wooden post (or pole) was her symbol, as the stone pillar was of Baal. Bearing her name, it passed by gradual stages into the complete anthropomorphic image of the deity as in Samaria and Jerusalem. Asherahs or Asherah poles are found beside 'sacred trees' in Jer. 17:2; 1 Kings 14:23; and 2 Kings 17:10. Asherah is the name of a Canaanite deity and we read of her an 'an abominable image' in 2 Chr. 15:16, and in 2 Kings 21:7 of 'a graven image' of Asherah. The graven image of Asherah set up by Manasseh in the Temple (2 Kings 21:7), when destroyed by Josiah, is simply termed the asherah (2 Kings 23:6). Like the idols described by the prophet of the Exile (Isaiah 41:7; 44:12). It evidently consisted of a core of wood overlaid with precious metal, since it could be at once burned and 'stamped to powder' (2 Chr. 15:16), and was periodically decorated with woven hangings ('tunics') by the women votaries of Asherah (2 Kings 23:7). Therefore there is good warrant for seeing the asherah which Ahab set up in the temple of Baal at Samaria (cf. 1 Kings 16:33 with 2 Kings 10:26) as something of greater consequence than a mere post or pole. It must have been a celebrated image of the goddess. In the remaining passages of the OT, the asherah is the name of a prominent object associated with the altar in the worship of the Canaanite high places. It was made of wood (Judg. 6:26), and could be planted in the ground (Deut. 16:21), plucked up or cut down (Mic. 5:14; Ex. 34:13), and burned with fire (Deut. 12:3). Accordingly, the asherah was a wooden post or pole having symbolical significance in the Canaanite cults. Source: Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible (1909, 1994 Hendrickson) |
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Questions and/or Subjects for 2 Kin 21:7 | Author | ||
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hamseal | ||
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Makarios |