What Happened to God's Wife?

the Hebrews used to worship Yahweh and his wife Asherah.

Biblical references have been taken to indicate that a goddess Asherah was worshipped in Israel and Judah, as the Queen of Heaven whose worship Jeremiah so vehemently opposed:

"Seest thou not what they do in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? The children gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead their dough, to make cakes to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto other gods, that they may provoke me to anger."

—Jeremiah 7:17–18

"... to burn incense unto the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto her, as we have done, we, and our fathers, our kings, and our princes, in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem ..."
—Jeremiah 44:17

The Hebrews baked small cakes for her festival.

en.wikipedia.org...

What happened? Why did Yahweh decide not to have a wife anymore?

How did the god of the Old Testament lose his wife? What has this meant for women since?

Over the past few decades, a new history of Biblical times has emerged promoting the idea that early Israelites worshiped both a God and a Goddess. This new history contends that the goddess part of their worship was suppressed as the Israelites became a more patriarchal society, and that Jewish history and scriptures were altered to eliminate any reference to it during the reign of King Josiah (640-609 BC). According to some, this suppression became outright oppression when Christianity came along and the followers of Jesus demanded that the Lord be seen as a celibate deity instead of the sexual man they insist He really was. It was then, they say, that goddess worship became subject to punishment resulting in the church sponsored execution over several hundred years of nearly 5 million women for practicing witchcraft.

www.raptureready.com...

Was this simply a convenient way to reduce women to chattel?

At one time it is understood (by me from a lifetime of reading) that the main focus of religions was on the feminine force, the earth goddess. Women were revered for the ability to bring forth life.

At various points in ancient history, most cultures stopped revering women and turned to patriarchy. I remember reading one Aussie Aboriginal legend that the men stole the women's magic and they've been lesser than ever since.

Why this need to subjugate women, instead of celebrating the fact that without them, nobody would be able to enter the world?

This subjugation continues to this day, even in our society which is supposedly "equal." Women are not paid equally, they are not allowed sovereignty over their own bodies -- the anti-abortion movement being the most visible of this denial of a woman's right to own herself and her works, including the works of her reproductive system.

Maybe if Yahweh and his wife were still on speaking terms the world wouldn't be going to hell in a hand basket.

Bring back Asherah. Yahweh is sick of sleeping on the couch and it shows.

Good topic, I had never heard of this "Asherah".

It's just more evidence on the pile that the bible is manmade..

Asherah or Ishtar is referred to as the "Queen of Heaven". Lets look at the ENTIRE passage:

Jeremiah 7:16-19

"So do not pray for this people nor offer any plea or petition for them; do not plead with me, for I will not listen to you. Do you not see what they are doing in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? The children gather wood, the fathers light the fire, and the women knead the dough and make cakes of bread for the Queen of Heaven. They pour out drink offerings to other gods to provoke me to anger. But am I the one they are provoking? declares the LORD. Are they not rather harming themselves, to their own shame?"

Asherah or Ishtar was a Mesopotamian goddess of love and fertility. People, after the fall of Jerusalem, worshiped her...this is known as Idolatry or the worship of idols or false gods, the Lord was not pleased.

Blessings....

[edit on 5/21/2007 by kinglizard]

I have seen references that Solomon built a temple to her and she only became outlawed during the reign of King Josiah. So I say again, why did Yahweh and his wife split up? Originally the Hebrews worshipped both a male and a female god. How is it to Christianity's betterment that the feminine force be constantly denied and put down?

Central to the Semitic notion of deity is El, the old fatherly creator god and his consort, Athirat or Asherah. "Both were primordial beings, they had been there always." El, whose name simply meant 'god' was the creator and procreator, overseer of conception, who sired the gods, thus being also called 'Bull El' in continuity with the ancient bull god of fertility. Asherah and El thus form a creation hieros-gamos of male and female, representing the bull and the earth goddess we see emerging from the ancient continuum at Catal Huyuk. El is supposed to have gone out to sea and asked two Goddesses, one presumably being Athirat and the other possibly Anath to choose between being his spouses and being his daughters. They chose the former. Their offspring are Shaher and Shalem, the morning and evening stars, from which Lucifer, the light-bearer, takes his name.

www.dhushara.com...

(the article is much longer and very interesting)

Now, I am inquiring about all this from a historical standpoint, not necessarily one of faith, because it is plain that the faithful will repeat a variation of what Kinglizard said. I am interested in the history of the religion and how it came to be what it is today.

Originally the Hebrew people worshipped more than just El (who became Yahweh). How did this change?

At the moment (until I read more) I believe it was part of what was happening all over the world, the overturning of the old fertility cults that revered the feminine, and a supplantation by a male creator deity. But why? What led to this turn of events thousands of years ago, when women suddenly lost their status and became lesser-than?

lol, I guess that wasn't the answer you wanted to hear. I know you are looking for something like "the man wanted to repress the woman so he removed the goddess from heaven". Good luck, I know you won't stop until you find the answer you want to hear though you have already been given the truth.

You provide a 2 sentence quote from the Bible. I provide the entire paragraph by posting the two sentences just before "your" quoted text and the two sentences after. Your quote in context shows that it was idolatry and identified as such by God. Then you say that I'm wrong? I just provided the entire text, from the very same book you were quoting from. Hrmmm...

Best of luck....

[edit on 5/21/2007 by kinglizard]

Originally posted by kinglizard
lol, I guess that wasn't the answer you wanted to hear. I know you are looking for something like "the man wanted to repress the woman so he removed the goddess from heaven". Good luck, I know you won't stop until you find the answer you want to hear though you have already been given the truth.

Best of luck....

If the whole Adam, Lilith and Eve saga is anything to go by then you'd probably just hit the mark unintentionally either that or Yahew just played her like a two dollar trick and destroyed her after or something it is god after all

There is no Biblical basis that supports the concept of Lilith. That myth has nothing to do with the Bible or Gods record.

The name of Lilith is mentioned only once in the Bible, in Isaiah 34:14, where she is listed along with hyenas and jackals as those who dwell in the ruins of God-forsaken Edom.

Now why would that be? because they cut and pasted it from the legends that already existed and or it's been edited out????

No offense, Kinglizard, but I think you are reading into my query more than I intend. I'm not looking for a particular answer that upholds a belief I may or may not have regarding the roots of misogyny in our culture.

I am trying to find out what happened to your religion historically. Why it evolved the way it did. Why it came from a balance of male and female deity to the imbalanced version today.

If god thinks people should be married, why is he no longer married? These are questions I'm truly interested in, and I don't appreciate being brushed off as trying to rabble rouse or getting an answer I've already came to in my head.

I understand that it is hard sometimes for certain people of faith to think outside the faith box and look at the bigger picture, but that is all I am trying to do here. This isn't an "atheist ploy" to mock Christianity. It's a sincere question for which I'd like to know a real, historical answer, not an answer from scripture, per se.

Originally posted by kinglizard
There is no Biblical basis that supports the concept of Lilith.

true, the concept of lilith was born out of people trying to make BOTH creation accounts work together

first god creates both genders at once
then god makes man first, and a woman later
so, instead of realizing you have two different stories they make up a myth to fill in the void. they say that the first woman was bad, so she got sent off and became some tarty demon, then adam got his nice, submissive, misogynistic ideal of a woman in eve... until she tries to get some knowledge.

That myth has nothing to do with the Bible or Gods record.

since when was the bible the writings of god?

anyway, Asherah was worshipped alongside Yahweh well into the founding of Judaism, back in the henotheistic days. Baal is actually in the bible too, in a role one would expect only a truely tangible being to fulfill

And Lilith is strongly written about in Kabbalistic tradition, the Talmud, and even the Bible within the context of the two different creation myths.

The idea that Adam had a wife prior to Eve may have developed from an interpretation of the Book of Genesis and its dual creation accounts; while Genesis 2:22 describes God's creation of Eve from Adam's rib, an earlier passage, 1:27, already indicates that a woman had been made: "So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them." The text places Lilith's creation after God's words in Genesis 2:18 that "it is not good for man to be alone". He forms Lilith out of the clay from which he made Adam, but the two bicker. Lilith claims that since she and Adam were created in the same way, they were equal, and she refuses to "lie below" him:

After God created Adam, who was alone, He said, 'It is not good for man to be alone.' He then created a woman for Adam, from the earth, as He had created Adam himself, and called her Lilith. Adam and Lilith immediately began to fight. She said, 'I will not lie below,' and he said, 'I will not lie beneath you, but only on top. For you are fit only to be in the bottom position, while I am to be the superior one.' Lilith responded, 'We are equal to each other inasmuch as we were both created from the earth.' But they would not listen to one another. When Lilith saw this, she pronounced the Ineffable Name and flew away into the air. (In this act, Lilith becomes unique in that she is not touched by "original sin", having left the garden before Eve came into existence. Lilith also reveals herself to be powerful in her own right by knowing the name of God).

en.wikipedia.org...

There is much more at the wiki entry and though it is interesting, Lilith is not the focus of this thread, Asherah is.

OK at the risk of being slammed for being snide, I thought of something funny on this subject and have to interject it as an aside. Since it's a thread I started I hope I can get away with it.

I was thinking, what if Yahweh and Asherah had a divorce? It's obvious Yahweh got the worshippers in the settlement. What did Asherah get? Other than the shaft, that is.

Now, smite me if you must. I really thought that was funny. If there was a god, I would think that it would have a sense of humor or it wouldn't have created the platypus or genitalia, so hopefully nobody gets offended in its name.

I love your work MM.
Only one thing i would like to take you to task over, and that is your mention of Australian Aborigines in your OP.
Its true that now aboriginal women have some serious issues regarding abuse and equality in aboriginal society, this was bought on by the esteem women were held in by anglo saxon society when Australia was first settled by whites.
Before this Aboriginal women were held in high regard in their communities and their rites and ceremonies had as much importance in aboriginal lore as males.
In fact when i was growing up (close to many aboriginal communities), the women were seen as very important members of their culture and the keepers of many important dreamtime story's.

Back on topic, ive always tried to not relate to God as being of any particular Gender when discussing religion, that sort of bias seems to me to be against what any right thinking deity would want to be associated with.

History has been written and re-written so many times it is untrue. and there in point of fact is probally the only truth: re-written so many times it is untrue.

Would the world be a softer more fuzzy place if women were on an equal footing with men, if Maggie Thacher is anything to go by then no.

Thacher Thacher the milk snacher. (She put a stop on milk at playschools when I was a kid) ok bad example!

God's wife. It's a question I have pondered before now. It stands to reason that if all us sheeple are to be married, be faithful and not to covert the neighbours sweet peaches then God should be leading by example.

It also historically stands to reason that JC would have been married, as life expectancy wasn't great and so, people married early and had many sprogs.

Mojo, sorry if I misrepresented the legend I'd heard. I can't remember where I saw it or I'd go look it up. Must be years ago now.

I love your work MM.

Thank yuh. Thank yuh very much! (flat, 2-D Elvis impersonation)

[edit due to ChiKey's post crossing mine in the mail]

[edit on 21-5-2007 by MajorMalfunction]

Originally posted by SR
The name of Lilith is mentioned only once in the Bible, in Isaiah 34:14, where she is listed along with hyenas and jackals as those who dwell in the ruins of God-forsaken Edom.

From the NIV:

Desert creatures will meet with hyenas,
and wild goats will bleat to each other;
there the night creatures will also repose
and find for themselves places of rest.

From the King James:

The wild beasts of the desert shall also meet with the wild beasts of the island, and the satyr shall cry to his fellow; the screech owl also shall rest there, and find for herself a place of rest.

I don't see any mention of Lillith there.

The hebrew word used for 'night creature' or 'screech owl' is liyliyth (from the root word 'layil' meaning 'night'.

[edit on 22/5/07 by jimboman]

Wildcats shall meet with desert beasts, satyrs shall call to one another; There shall the lilith repose, and find for herself a place to rest.

There the hoot owl shall nest and lay eggs, hatch them out and gather them in her shadow; There shall the kites assemble, none shall be missing its mate.

It all depends on what your reading and how it was translated my friend:


The Accepted Translation. - The term "night-monster"'
is a hypothetical translation of the Hebrew term lilith, used
once only, in Is 34:14. The word is translated in the King James
Version "screech-owl," margin "night monster,"
the Revised Version (British and American) "night-monster,"
margin "Lilith." The term "night-monster"
is also an interpretation, in asmuch as it implies that the Hebrew
word is a Babylonian loan-word, and that the reference indicates
a survival of primitive folklore.

www.paracleteforum.org...

Read that and you'll understand at the bottom of my original post why i ask if it is cut and pasted from the legends or has it been editied out meaning has the actual meaning been forgotten or editied out on purpose? Because it is confusing as there is evidence for and against that is very good.

Maybe we're argueing over semantics. Nowhere else is Lilith mentioned in the Bible, and if some of the more shameful things are left in (like incest, genocide and such) I'm sure that if Adam had another wife it would've been there too.

Let's face it, nobody who believes there is one God is going to believe anything you're saying. By the same token anyone who wants to find fault in the Bible is going to find it somewhere. Nobody is neutral when they read the Bible and we all bring our own prejudices to it.

Female biology is industrial slavery, Purdah makes free.

The sun is female
Her wild eyes blaze where a woman is often afraid to run
Reminding us all, everyone
That the truth is unafraid
And the fire is young

Originally posted by jimboman
Maybe we're argueing over semantics. Nowhere else is Lilith mentioned in the Bible, and if some of the more shameful things are left in (like incest, genocide and such) I'm sure that if Adam had another wife it would've been there too.

Let's face it, nobody who believes there is one God is going to believe anything you're saying. By the same token anyone who wants to find fault in the Bible is going to find it somewhere. Nobody is neutral when they read the Bible and we all bring our own prejudices to it.

Very true and well said i think it cuts to the real issue at the heart of alot of debates i've seen on ATS,BTS. I'd give you the star thing if i could