Archaeology · 5 · Ahab and Jezebel
'Yhwh and his Asherah'
Inscriptions from a remote desert fortress, Kuntillet Ajrud, bless people by 'Yhwh of Samaria and his Asherah.' Many Israelites apparently believed their God had a wife.
The Bible's warnings show what people were actually doing.
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The Bible itself admits Asherah's symbols stood in both Samaria and Jerusalem. Her removal wasn't simple hostility to goddesses; it served a vision of one people bound exclusively to one God, imagined as a marriage between Yhwh and Israel.
Bible reference: 2 Kings 23:4–7
Source: Why the Bible Began, pp. 82–84
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