Only One God? Monotheism in Ancient Israel and the Veneration of the Goddess Asherah

by Becking, Bob; Dijkstra, Meindert; Korpel, Marjo; Vriezen, Karel

• ISBN13: 9781841271996
• ISBN10: 1841271993
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2002-02-14
• Publisher: Sheffield Academic Pr

Summary

The view of ancient Israelite religion as monotheistic has long been traditional in Judaism, Christianity and Islam, religions that have elaborated in their own way the biblical image of a single male deity. But recent archaeological findings of texts and images from the Iron Age kingdoms of Israel and Judah and their neighbourhood offer a quite different impression. Two issues in particular raised by these are the existence of a female consort, Asherah, and the implication for monotheism; and the proliferation of pictorial representations that may contradict the biblical ban on images. Was the religion of ancient Israel really as the Bible would have us believe? This volume provides a comprehensive introduction to these issues, presenting the relevant inscriptions and discussing their possible impact for Israelite monotheism, the role of women in the cult, and biblical theology.

Table of Contents

Preface	7	(1)
Abbreviations	8	(3)
Introduction	11	(6)
I have Blessed you by Yhwh of Samaria and his Asherah: Texts with Religious Elements from the Soil Archive of Ancient Israel	17	(28)
Meindert Dijkstra
Archaeological Traces of Cult in Ancient Israel	45	(36)
Karel J.H. Vriezen
El, the God of Israel---Israel, the People of Yhwh: On the Origins of Ancient Israelite Yahwism	81	(46)
Meindert Dijkstra
Asherah outside Israel	127	(24)
Marjo C.A. Koprel
The Gods, in Whom They Trusted ... Assyrian Evidence for Iconic Polytheism in Ancient Israel?	151	(13)
Bob Becking
Women and Religion in the Old Testament	164	(25)
Meindert Dijkstra
Only One God: On Possible Implications for Biblical Theology	189	(13)
Bob Becking
Bibliography	202	(21)
Index of References	223	(6)
Index of Authors	229