The 3 Hebrew Goddesses

The 3 Hebrew Goddesses

 

 

Temple of Bacchus, Jupiter, and Venus/Astarte at Baalbek, Lebanon

 

Welcome to the Mythology blog. The focus of this blog is the three main goddesses of the Hebrew religion.

 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.

 

 

Anath

 

The second goddess that the Hebrews worshiped was Anath. Anath was the goddess of healing, animals, wisdom, love, and war. She was the daughter of Asherah and El.

 

 

 

Anath was similar the Egyptian goddess Sekhmet and the Hindu goddess Kali. She was famous for being bloodthirsty. Many texts and myths have described Anath as being cruel and having a love for strife. She would cut off the hands and heads of her enemies and wear them. In addition, stories said that Anath would bathe in the blood of those she killed.  

 

 

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

However, not much else is known about Astarte. This is because of the destruction of texts due to wars and the destruction of temples.

Please feel free to leave comments. I appreciate the feedback.

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.