Puzzling Finds from Kuntillet ‘Ajrud
A drawing of God labeled “Yahweh and his Asherah” or the Egyptian god Bes?
“Yahweh and his Asherah” is written across the top of this eighth-century B.C. drawing on a ceramic pithos, or storage jar, from Kuntillet ‘Ajrud in the eastern Sinai. Some scholars have theorized that these figures resembling the Egyptian god Bes (on the left in the photo above) are in fact a drawing of God and his consort. Others, however, have interpreted both figures as male. The recently published Kuntillet ‘Ajrud excavation report sheds some light on this enigmatic fragment, but many questions remain. Photo courtesy Dr. Ze’ev Meshel and Avraham Hai/Tel Aviv University Institute of Archaeology.
Everything about it has been difficult. Located in the Sinai desert about 10 miles west of the ancient Gaza Road (Darb Ghazza, in Arabic) as it passes through Bedouin territory separating the Negev from Egypt, Kuntillet ‘Ajrud is remote and isolated from any other settlement. In 1975, Tel Aviv University archaeologist Ze’ev Meshel and a band of nine volunteers, mostly from kibbutzim and a few colleagues as staff, decided to excavate at the site.
The finds from Kuntillet ‘Ajrud were fantastic. The zingers were two large pithoi, or storage jars, that weighed about 30 pounds each. The now-reconstructed pithoi are painted with deities, humans, animals and symbols, and feature a number of inscriptions, including three that refer to Yahweh and his asherah or Asherah, depending on your interpretation. Asherah is a pagan goddess. Was she God’s wife?
Below an inscription on one of the pithoi (referring to Yahweh and his asherah) are drawings of two figures easily and unquestionably identifiable as the Egyptian god Bes, in fact a collective name for a group of dwarf deities. Is this meant to be a drawing of God (i.e., Yahweh) with his consort Asherah? The scholar who published the chapter about the drawings doesn’t think so. She interprets it as two male deities—probably just the Egyptian god Bes—and not as a drawing of God and his goddess wife. Other scholars disagree, but this much is clear: The drawing was added to the pithos after the inscription was written, so the two may be completely unrelated.
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Why has it taken nearly four decades to publish this final report? One reason is that everything about Kuntillet ‘Ajrud and its finds is so darn difficult to interpret—or even to see. The recently published report is a superb volume, and the discussion and interpretation will surely continue far beyond its pages.
Subscribers: Learn more about the site and finds at Kuntillet ‘Ajrud, including the fragment with the two figures of the Egyptian god Bes that may be a drawing of God labeled “Yahweh and his Asherah,” by reading BAR editor Hershel Shanks’s review article “The Persisting Uncertainties of Kuntillet ‘Ajrud” in the November/December 2012 issue of Biblical Archaeology Review.
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This Bible History Daily feature was originally published in October 2012.
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Could a major problem in the difficulty in interpretation due to current Bible Chronology?
The Bible itself never links Jehovah (Yahweh) with the false god, Asherah. In fact, the Bible repeatedly contrasts Jehovah with Baal and Asherah as in Judges 3:7. However, the Israelites often returned to pagan rituals and worshiping false gods, even shortly after leaving Egypt. It is likely that they, in a polytheistic way, tried to combine worship of Jehovah with Asherah, perhaps even before the Exodus. Perhaps this piece of jar was owned by one of these pagan Israelites who left Egypt and was wondering there during the forty years of wandering. We may never know.
Shechinah, God’s female manifestation, came to be interpreted as God’s Queen as separated from God by some cultures in the form of Ashera. The practice was not permitted by mainstream Judaism as enforced from the time of Moses. The practice predates Moses and explains the adoption of similar female god images by many other cultures…
Though the bible doesn’t explicitly refer to Asherah as Yahweh’s wife there is another reference from the territory of Judah, if I may quote from the May/June 1994 issue of BAR, p.54; “Another inscription similar to those from Kuntillet ‘Ajrud and from the same period was found in a tomb at Khirbet el-Kom, eight miles west of Hebron. In this inscription, carved into a wall of the tomb, someone is blessed ‘by Yahweh’ and ‘by his Asherah.’ Rather than the numerous drawings on the pithoi from Kuntillet Ajrud, only one image-of a hand-accompanies the Khirbet el-Kom inscription.” Since we know there were priests at Kuntillet Ajrud blessing travelers, it is worth mentioning that the priestly tradition of raising the hands while blessing may have its antecedence in pagan ritual. It is in the same period that this desert outpost functioned, in the reign of Joash (802-787 B.C.E.) that Zakir the king of Hammath mentions in an inscription; “I lifted up my hand to Ba’alshamayn (lord of heaven), and Ba’alshamaym heard me. Ba’alshamaym [spoke] to me through seers and through diviners.” (ANET p.501) It mentions him lifting his hand (singular) which is consistant with Leviticus 9:22, “Aaron raised his hands” which is written in Hebrew (J.P.S. Bible) as “Aaron raised his hand”. The goal is to elevate the right hand which symbolizes the attribute of mercy over the left hand, the attribute of judgment (Matt, The Zohar vol. 4, p.369).
The Hebrew word ‘Baal’ can be ‘marriage’, ‘wife’, ‘husband’, ‘master’, ‘lord’, and ‘owner’. Sarah was a baal of baal בעלת בעל in Genesis 20
Of course marriage and ownership would be just the attributes a tribal LORD like Jehavoc would get upset about. The LORD was called Baali (my Baal) in this passage
Hosea 2:16
And it shall be at that day, saith the LORD, that thou shalt call me Ishi; and shalt call me no more Baali.
shalom,
Rose
For most of the Israelites existance, they fell into worship of other gods. So it should not come as a surprise to bible scholars that worship of Jehovah would be adulterated with other gods.
Quick answer: This isn’t too hard to figure out. Yahweh is the moon god (Sin). This is why the most powerful god of that age is never mentioned in the Bible, because he was the god of the Bible. Asherah = Ishtar the consort of Sin. When the OT was being written, the worship of the goddess was being blamed for the destruction of cities, which in the Bible are Sodom etc. Ishum who would become Abraham in the bible pleads to Irra not to destroy any more cities. Hence the goddes was left out same as she was left out in the original Gilgamesh. (On Earth as it is in Heaven: The Cosmic Roots of the Bible.)
Pharaoh Maaibre was the first Hyksos Pharaoh, hundreds of his seals have been found. He was followed by the Pharaoh Yakub. Maaibre is aaibreM.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sheshi
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yakubher
Yes Abraham worshipped a female deity like Inanna. The name or word translated as Almighty in the Old Testament is שדי. ‘breast’. Call her Venus or Aphrodite, Isis, Artemis, Ashtaroth, call her Wormwood, either way the Almighty is Diana, the many breasted one.
Sarah made Abraham go against his will.
For he sent his son Ishmael over the hill!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:ArtemisEphesus.jpg
Genesis 49:25
Even by the God of thy father, who shall help thee; and by the Almighty, who shall bless thee with blessings of heaven above, blessings of the deep that lieth under, blessings of the breasts, and of the womb:
Exodus 6:3
And I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, by the name of God Almighty, but by my name JEHOVAH was I not known to them.
Peace,
Rose
People assume the boarder of modern Israel is the same boarder as ancient Israel. This was never the case, modern Israel is just a portion of ancient Israel. The Bible puts Kuntillet ‘Ajrud in ancient Israel.
😉
Rose
Genesis 15:18
In the same day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates:
Joshua 18
19 And the border passed along to the side of Bethhoglah northward: and the outgoings of the border were at the north bay of the salt sea at the south end of Jordan: this was the south coast.
20 And Jordan was the border of it on the east side. This was the inheritance of the children of Benjamin, by the coasts thereof round about, according to their families. (modern Eilat, Israel)
Thanks for excellent linguistics data. Can someone help me to find when exactly Exodus 3:14 (I am who I am) was written? The same as II Isaiah? IT explains the essence of the name of God/Jahwe: the relation of historical events to the Hand Unvisible governing history. It came quite late after “Abraham”@”Moses”