Mythology
Saturday, November 17, 2012
The 3 Hebrew Goddesses
The 3 Hebrew Goddesses
Temple of Bacchus, Jupiter, and Venus/Astarte at Baalbek,
Lebanon
Despite Christianity’s claims of being
monotheistic, there is evidence that shows that the Jewish originally worshipped
goddesses. In addition, they were polytheistic and had many gods other than
Yahweh. These gods and goddesses were erased from many of the ancient texts.
“The evidence of the Bible, which, in spite of the efforts of its
monotheistically oriented authors and/or editors, contains incidental
information as to the court ritual and popular religion which a few judges and
kings and all the prophets strove to suppress, eliminate, and replace by
monotheistic Yahwism” (Patai 36).
Temple of Venus/Astarte at Baalbek, Lebanon
Nearly every
culture around the world believed that their gods had male/female duality. “The
Israelites alone are told that their
God is a bachelor and a loner who lacks father or mother, brothers or sisters,
friends or lovers” (Kirsch 224).
“Another curious
feature of the Hebrew Bible is the absence of a female counterpart to God, a
deity who is supposedly above and beyond mere gender, but is always described
in words that unmistakably suggest his masculinity” (Kirsch 223).
Temple of
Bacchus, Jupiter, and Venus/Astarte at Baalbek, Lebanon
However, there were three goddesses that were
worshipped throughout the Bible. These goddesses were Asherah, Astarte, and
Anath.
Asherah
Asherah was the
Canaanite goddess of the sea. She was the chief mother goddess and was similar
the Greek goddess Hera. Asherah was also the wife of El. In addition to being
the goddess of the sea, she was also the goddess of childbirth and fertility.
Asherah was worshiped throughout the entire Mesopotamian and Mediterranean
regions. Asherah was so popular that statues, alters, and temples were
dedicated to her.
Asherah statue
Many people have
claimed that the worship of Asherah was brought over by Jezebel and Solomon’s
wives. However, the worship of Asherah was present long before Solomon and
Jezebel. “… when the Biblical references state that the Israelites served ‘the
Asherahs,” this can only mean that they adopted the worship of several of these
local manifestations of the great goddess” (Patai 38).
Tree of Asherah
Others believe
that the Hebrews borrowed their gods and goddesses from the surrounding
regions. According to Kirsch, “The Israelites did not merely adopt the deities
of their neighbors, a common enough practice in the ancient world; rather …
they borrowed various aspects of the Canaanite goddesses and used them to
conjure up a female deity that they embraced as their very own. Not until the coming of King Josiah was the
goddess of Israel driven underground” (225).
The worship of
Asherah was disliked by those who favored the god Yahweh. The priests and prophets
of Yahweh believed that Yahweh was the only god that should be worshiped. They sought
the destruction of the worship of Asherah and the other gods.
Unlike Astarte and
Asherah, Anath is not mentioned anywhere in the Bible. However, there are
indirect references of her. There were many Biblical cities and people named
after her. In addition, recent
archeological digs have found that the Israelites built temples in honor of
Anath.
Astarte
The third goddess
that the Hebrews worshiped was Astarte. She was also the daughter of El and
Asherah. Astarte was similar to the Babylon goddess Ishtar and the Greek goddess
Athena. In addition, she was commonly associated with the planet Venus and the
moon. Like Anath, Astarte was the goddess of love, beauty, and war. She was
also the goddess of fertility, women, and childbirth.
Many of the ancient
cultures combined Astarte and Anath as one goddesses. This was because of the
fact that they were so similar. However, they were really two separate
goddesses.
The worship of
Astarte spread throughout the Mediterranean area. Many cultures incorporated
Astarte into their religions. “Both Anath and Astarte … bore the Egyptian title
‘Lady of the Heaven’” (Patai 56). Because of this, many cultures also saw
Astarte and Anath as the goddesses of the sky, air, and stars.
Astarte was worshipped
by the Hebrews and she was mentioned several times in the Bible as Astarte or
as Ashtaroth. According to both the Old Testament and many of the Ugaritic
texts, Astarte was the wife of Baal. Later on in the texts, Anath takes over as
the lover of Baal. Astarte was so popular among the Hebrews that temples and
alters were built in her honor.
Throne of Astarte at the Eshmun Temple
Please feel free to
leave comments. I appreciate the feedback.
Bal, Mieke. Anti-Covenant: Counter-Reading Women’s Lives in the Hebrew Bible (Library Hebrew Bible/Old Testament Studies). Decatur: Sheffield Academic Press, 1989. Print.
Works Cited
Bal, Mieke. Anti-Covenant: Counter-Reading Women’s Lives in the Hebrew Bible (Library Hebrew Bible/Old Testament Studies). Decatur: Sheffield Academic Press, 1989. Print.
Day, John. Yahweh and the Gods and Goddesses of Canaan. New York: Sheffield
Academic Press, 2000. Print.
George, Demetra. Mysteries of the Dark Moon: The Healing
Power of the Dark Goddess. New York:
HarperOne, 1992. Print.
Hadley, Judith M. The Cult of Asherah in Ancient Israel and
Judah: Evidence of a Hebrew Goddess.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000. Print.
Kirsch, Jonathan. The Harlot by the Side of the Road:
Forbidden Tales of the Bible. New York: Ballantine
Books, 1997. Print.
Miller, David L. The New Polytheism. Dallas: Spring
Publications Inc., 1974. Print.
Olyan, Saul M. Asherah and the Cult of Yahweh in Israel. Atlanta: Scholars Press,
1988. Print.
Patai, Raphael. The Hebrew Goddess. Detroit: Wayne State
University Press, 1990. Print.
Rankine David, Sorita D’Este. The Isles of the Many Gods. London:
Avalonia, 2007. Print.
Smith, Mark S. The Early History of God: Yahweh and the Other Deities in Ancient
Israel. Grand Rapids: Wm.
B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2002. Print.
Stone, Merlin. When God was a Woman. U.S.A: Mariner Books, 1976. Print.
Virtue, Doreen. Goddesses & Angels. Carlsbad: Hay
House Inc., 2005. Print.
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