What a provocative, and fascinating commentary Dr Ian Elmer presents us with today. He argues it's not simply an interesting piece of history though. In exploring the religious practices of ancient people we better understand some of the practices of today.

Did God have a wife?

"Did God have a Wife?" is the provocative title of a recent book by biblical scholar, William Dever (2005), in which Dever seeks to recover the feminine or matriarchial element of the primitive cult of YHWH. The book examines the archaeological and literary evidence for the prevalence of "Asherah" worship in ancient Israel; the persistence of which, Dever, attributes to "folk religion", as opposed to the "book religion" of the canonical biblical texts.

The biblical record testifies to the fact that monotheism did not take hold in ancient Israel until very late in its development. It was probably not until the reign of King Josiah (640-609 BCE), and the religious reform he initiated, that all competing polytheistic liturgical practices were purged from the YHWH cult.

In the centuries prior to Josiah, the worship of the female deity Asherah was widespread through both the northern and southern kingdoms, Israel and Judah respectively — although the Book of Kings, written in Judah years after the fall of Israel (721 BCE), attributes the promotion of this particular "apostasy" primarily to the northern tribes and their kings.

According to the biblical record, Asherah idols were a regular feature in the Israelite shrines and, most likely, represented the divine female consort of YHWH. Indeed, the name of Asherah appears forty times in the Hebrew Scriptures. In many cases the reference is to a cultic object that may or may not be directly related to Asherah worship.

In some cases it would seem that these biblical reference are to a sacred grove or tree marking some holy place associated with YHWH (cf. Gn 12:6; 21:33; Jos 24:26; Jgs 6:11). But, in other cases, such references do suggest a feminine or matriarchal symbol that was specifically set up in the shrine as a figure of worship alongside YHWH (e.g., Dt 16:21-22; 1 Kgs 15:13; 18:19; 2 Kgs 21:3, 7; 23:7).

More to the point, however, archaeological digs in Palestine have uncovered in the ruins of Israelite and Judahite houses numerous, little domestic "shrines" or altars, which bear images of a male and a female deity (Dever 2008).

It seems strange to us that God should have a female consort, a "wife", as William Dever puts it. But male and female parings were not uncommon in ancient pantheons; they represented the forces of fertility and reproduction so important in agricultural societies.

YHWH, El and Their Wives...

Maybe Michaelangelo was onto something and he had a few of them? Click for a larger view.

The ancient cult of YHWH was born amongst nomadic tribes people in the deserts of Sinai. YHWH was a god of nomads; not tied to any one particular location or shrine. He was a warrior deity (Ex 15:3, 18). He was the patriarchal head of the various kinship groups that made up the tribes of Israel — the "God of the Fathers" (Gn 31:53; Ex 2:24; 32:13; Ps 47:9).

When these nomadic tribes people settled in Canaan and began to integrate into the existing agricultural communities, they found that their faith in an austere, male, warrior-deity needed augmenting with deities and cultic practices commensurate with their new-found career as farmers. One-time herders and wanderers who cared little about the seasons, now became subject to droughts, floods, pests and poor soil.

Like their Canaanite neighbours the Israelites quickly turned to the worship of local fertility deities, adopting, adapting and synthesising Canaanite myths and rituals into the cult of YHWH. In the local pantheon the high god was known as El, who very quickly became associated with YHWH. El stood at the head of an array of local deities, the Baals ("Lords"), who were for the most part storm gods who rode upon the clouds and brought forth the fertile rains.

We can already see in the ancient names of YHWH the synthesis of Canaanite deities with YHWH — Elohim, meaning "God/s" (e.g., Gen 1:26); El-Elyon, meaning "God, Most High" (e.g., Gen14:18); El-Alonyah, meaning "God, Ancient of Days" (Dan 7:9); and El-Shaddai, meaning "God of the Mountains" (Gen 17:1; 49:25, Num 24:4, 16).

El dwelt upon the highest peaks, the pillars that held up the firmament of heaven. El was the king of creation and the source of all life. Hence, his shrines were set up on the "high places" adorned by large standing stones or massabah, phallic symbols representing his creative power.

The Israelites initially adopted these high places and converted them for the worship of YHWH. In the Book of Joshua, a stone pillar is erected to commemorate the renewal of the covenant at Shechem (Jos 24:26-27), which was an important economic, political and religious centre in Caanan long before the arrival of the Israelites. It was first mentioned in ancient Egyptian documents of the twelfth dynasty (1991-1780 BCE).

The standing stones became part of the fabric of Israelite mythology. In Genesis, Abraham addresses YHWH as "El-Elyon (God most high), creator of heaven and earth" (Gn 14:22); and his grandson, Jacob, is credited with setting up a massabah at the high place at Bethel (House of God) (Gn 28:10-22; 35:14). Later, Laban and Jacob make a covenant and mark it by setting up a stone pillar (Gn 31:45); and a similar pillar is placed over the grave of Jacob's wife (Gn 35:20). In Joshua (15:6) we find mention of the "stone of Bohan" one of Ruben's sons, which stands as the boundary marker of the tribal lands of Judah.

Click these links for Wikipedia's discussion on asherah and asherah poles

Alongside the massabah stood the asherah, sacred poles or trees representing the female consort of El. She was the embodiment of wisdom in ancient Canaanite religion. She was a goddess of the sea, from which all life came forth. Her marriage to El (sea and mountain; water and land) was the mythic principle upon which the fertility of the land depended; and her fertility was represented by grove of sacred trees, or stylised poles. Sometimes we find statuary representing Asherah as growing out of a tree trunk.

Like the massabah, the asherah were also adopted by the ancient Israelites. Sacred groves and holy trees abound throughout the earliest stories of Israel's patriarchs. Abraham plants one such tree at Beer-sheba (Gn 21:33). The Book of Kings speaks of the Ephraimites and the Judahites erecting of sacred poles on the high places (1 Kgs 14:15, 23). At the time of King Josiah it is recorded that there were 400 prophets in the service of Asherah.

It is not that the use of this religious symbolism was part and parcel of a competing cult. Rather it would seem that the religious symbolism of standing stones and scared poles were appropriated into the architecture of shrines dedicated to YHWH. YHWH replaced El as the principle deity in Canaan; but the new deity also appropriated all the clothing and trappings of the one he displaced.

The massabah and asherah would later be rejected and their establishment prohibited (Dt 16:21-22), most likely because of the highly sexual nature of the inherent symbolism. Jeremiah makes this explicit when he speaks rudely of the Judahites as committing adultery with "stone and tree" (Jer 3:9; cf. Is 37:19).

The other important factor was the advent of the central temple at Jerusalem, the advocates of which would brook no competition from local shrines. These prohibitions and developments did not, however, wipe out worship on the high places; nor did it see a divorce between YHWH and his consort.

Folk Religion...

The high places continued to function as rural shrines, places of pilgrimage where local farmers could offer sacrifices for a successful harvest — warranting successive "police actions" to wipe them out on the part of the official cult in Jerusalem.

Moreover, the many cultic artefacts found by archaeologists in the ruins of these high places present evidence for that cultic practices continued unabated at those sites right up until the fall of Jerusalem and the start of the Babylonian Exile (587 BCE).

William Dever (2005) makes the point that our canonical texts embody the interest of the "high, normative" religion of Israel – or the "Book religion" as he calls it – and not the "folk religion" practiced by the common folk in their homes and at the local, unofficial shrines. This folk religion preoccupied the great majority of the population and was quite distinct from the dominant formal religious practices of the temple that are reflected in the canonical, "highly patriarchal" writings.

This folk religion seems to have been predominantly matriarchal, focused on goddess worship. Dever points to the archaeological evidence; countless terracotta figurines, and graphic art on pottery all depicting stylised emblems of female worship. The figurines invariably depict a nude female figure with large breasts and an often graphically displayed pubic triangle.

Vestigial remains of the folk religion survive in fragments of intercessions found on shards of pottery from the eight century BCE found in the northern Sinai. Dever (2005: 256) notes that there is in this collection even a sacrifice and a ritual to ward off male impotency (the forerunner of Viagra). What is particularly interesting, however, is the way these intercessions bring together the names of YHWH and his consort:

"I bless you by Yahweh of Samaria and by his asherah"

"... by Yahweh of Teman and by his asherah ... and may Yahweh grant him his desire"

"I bless you by Yahweh of Teman and by his asherah. May he bless you, protect you, and be with my lord"

"[let them] say(?), 'By Yahweh of Teman and by his asherah. ... Do good, O Yahweh.' "

It is not entirely clear as to whether the asherah mentioned are meant to be references to the goddess or simply to the cultic sacred poles that had become part of the liturgical furniture. Still, the intercessions do testify to the persistence of feminine symbolism within the emerging YHWH cult, something which will later disappear as monotheism gains a greater hold.

Dever (2005: 252) theorises that monotheism, as expressed in the "Book religion" that emerges during the Babylonian Exile, was preferred to the folk religion because many of the exiles in Babylon, as well as the remnant in Judah, learned the painful and fundamental lesson "that Yahweh was indeed a 'jealous god', punishing those who flirted with other gods".

The "Book religion" was monotheistic, elitist, priestly, literary and male. It conferred prestige and power upon those who served it, the priests and the patriarchy of the exilic community. This process became even more firmly entrenched with the Restoration and, as Dever asserts, the emerging Scriptures became the excusive preserve of a tiny, but increasingly powerful, Jerusalem-based, male literary and theological elite.

Lessons for Today

Not much has changed in 2500 years! There still remain tensions between the official cult and Christianity as it is practiced by the lay majority. Power and prestige still reside in the hands of a male dominated priesthood and hierarchy. But I think that there is an even more fundamental parallel — not so much a belief in a female consort; but, rather, in the belief in God as a Trinity of persons (which in and of itself seems counterintuitive to a monotheist).

Karl Rahner

Karl Rahner (1991) makes the pertinent comment that most Catholics would not know a fraction of what is in Denzinger-Schonmetzer [i.e., the definitive "Handbook of Creeds, Definitions and Declarations" concerning matters of Faith and Morals), let alone explicitly assent to all the beliefs formulated by the Church. In practice, he asserts, there is often a discrepancy between "what the Church officially teaches and what the people actually believe".

Even regarding the central doctrine of the Trinity, Rahner (1970: 10-11) comments:

"[D]espite their orthodox confession of the Trinity, Christians are, in their practical life, almost mere 'monotheists.' We must be willing to admit that, should the doctrine of the Trinity have to be dropped as false, the major part of religious literature could well remain unchanged .... One has the feeling that, for the catechism of the head and heart (as contrasted with the printed catechism), the Christian's idea of the incarnation would not have to change at all if there were no Trinity."

I think we get ourselves (and I include myself in this) far too upset about orthodoxy. As Rahner (1988: 152) points out, Christians' reception of revelation can still be "a faith which leads them to salvation and (given the further assumptions) justification, even though the contents of their faith, their fides quae, are of the most diverse and often contradictory kind".

Bibliography and Further Reading:
Boadt, L. (1984), Reading the Old Testament: An Introduction (New York: Paulist Press).
Dever, W.G. (2008), "A Temple Built for Two", Biblical Archaeology Review 34/2: 55-62.
Dever, W.G. (2005), Did God Have a Wife? Archaeology and Folk Religion in Ancient Israel(Grand Rapids: Eerdmans).
Rahner, K. (1970), The Trinity (New York: Herder and Herder), 10-11.
Rahner, K. (1988) "The Act of Faith and the Content of Faith" Theological Investigations 21 (New York: Crossroad), 162-167.
Rahner, K. (1991), "What the Church Officially Teaches and What the People Actually Believe," Theological Investigations 22 (New York: Crossroad), 165-175.
Photo Credits:
The headline image was sourced from: www.2artgallery.com. The other images have been sourced from our own growing library at Catholica. If any readers are interested in William Dever's book please email me and I'll see if we can procure it through the Catholica Spiritual Marketplace.

©2009 Dr Ian Elmer

[Index of Commentaries by Ian Elmer]