Asherah and Asherah poles
Asherah, all the commentaries agree, was a Canaanite goddess that invited the wrath of nearly all the OT prophets from Moses to Malachi. In almost every instance of a king behaving badly, there is an Asherah pole or worship to Asherah in a high place.
My Jewish rabbis say that Asherah is the reason for the 2nd and 3rd commandments.
"Thou shalt have no other gods before me.
Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth."
The archeologists among us say that cast pottery images like the one below litter almost every dig from the 7th and 8th century BC which is the time of 1st and 2nd Kings. So much so, that the current modern scholarship calls the discovery of one as a symbol of a family's piety.
And then, there is the speculation that originally Yahweh was not a sole god. Click here to read up on that. THAT is something that I chose not to dwell on.
However, I am fascinated with the constant refrain about the Asherah poles and high place worship.
Living as we do in a CNN and internet world, I am aware of all the awful ways that a person can be evil. Sexual issues, murder, power abuses, theft, torture, you name it. I WISH that I did not know some of the awful things I do know. And, you know me, I am so much the ostrich that I have almost completely cut the news out of my life because of man's inhumanity to men and other species that I just cannot bear to hear it anymore.
In the Bible, however, the judgment of evil by the king or the kingdom is limited to this reference as to Asherah, her/his pole, and the worship in high places.
So, here are my speculations:
1. This is a euphemism for all the bad, awful ways people behave. This is a definite possibility especially in light of the fact that there CLEARLY was editing of these scriptures at a later time by a limited number of men with very specific aims in mind.
I hesitate on this one since the Bible is descriptive of other ways that men can be cruel to others and other species. Why just in this regard would this be the euphemism.
2. Since the writer(s) of 1st and 2nd Kings were intent on explaining WHY the exiles/demolitions happened and this is the #2 and #3 commandment of the Lord God, it is easy to pin it on false/idol worship.
This one also makes uncomfortable since Jeremiah and Isaiah go to great lengths to expostulate against the pole worship and what trouble it will get the various kings into. Those two prophets are definitely not written by the same author(s) of Kings.
Chronicles also discusses pole worship though not so much as Kings.
3. This really was the kings of Judah/Israel's weakness. Being kings, pretty much every behavior was excused but not idol worship and certainly not the 'imported' idol worship.
I have problems with this theory as well.
As my math teacher once told me about the unsolvable problem that was in my calculus book -- it's a pretty problem and will run your mind in circles.
But I really wish I knew the answer. Do you have a theory?
Acts 10:1-23a
Peter and his threes.
Three times for the denial, three times for feed my lambs/sheep, three times for the command to eat all meat. He could be a slow learner, that Peter.
Actually, 3 is an important number in Roman times. It symbolizes completeness, wholeness and sturdiness. Perhaps the repetition of 3 times for a command give it added weight. Whatever the reason for it, remember that Luke is Paul's man. And Paul was far more interested in converting Gentiles to Christianity rather than Jews and supported the eradication of food laws, circumcision and other holdovers from Jewish law.
Psalm 133
How good and pleasant it is when brothers live together in unity!
AMEN!
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