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An Asherah pole is a sacred tree or pole that stood near Canaanite religious locations to honor the goddess Asherah.Sarah Iles Johnston, ed. Religions of the Ancient World, (Belnap Press, Harvard) 2004, p. 418; a book-length scholarly treatment is W.L. Reed, The Asherah in the Old Testament (Fort Worth: Texas Christian University Press) 1949; the connection of the pillar figurines with Asherah was made by Raphael Patai in The Hebrew Goddess (1967) The relation of the literary references to an asherah and archaeological finds of Judaean pillar-figurines has engendered a literature of debate.Summarized and sharply criticized in Raz Kletter's The Judean Pillar-Figurines and the Archaeology of Asherah (Oxford: Tempus Reparatum), 1996; Kletter gives a catalogue of material remains.
The asherim were also related to the worship of Asherah, the consort of either Ba'al or, as inscriptions from Kuntillet Ajrud and Khirbet el-Qom attest, Yahweh,W.G. Dever, "Asherah, Consort of Yahweh? New Evidence from Kuntillet ʿAjrûd" Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research,1984; D.N. Freedman, "Yahweh of Samaria and his Asherah", The Biblical Archaeologist, 1987; Morton Smith, "God Male and Female in the Old Testament: Yahweh and his Asherah" Theological Studies, 1987; J.M. Hadley "The Khirbet el-Qom Inscription", Vetus Testamentum, 1987 and thus objects of contention among competing cults. Most English translations of the Hebrew Bible translate asherim ( or אֲשֵׁרוֹת ăšēroṯ) to "Asherah poles".
The Hebrew Bible suggests that the poles were made of wood. In the sixth chapter of the Book of Judges, God is recorded as instructing the shophet Gideon to cut down an Asherah pole that was next to an altar to Baal. The wood was to be used for a burnt offering.
Deuteronomy 16:21 states that Yahweh hated Asherim: "You shall not set up a sacred post—any kind of pole beside the altar of your God יהוה (the Tetragrammaton) that you may make—or erect a stone pillar; for such your God יהוה detests." That Asherim were not always living trees is shown in 1 Kings 14:23: "They too built for themselves shrines, pillars, and sacred posts on every high hill and under every leafy tree." However, the record indicates that the Israelites often departed from this ideal. For example, King Manasseh of Judah placed an Asherah pole in Solomon's Temple (2 Kings 21:7). King Josiah's reforms in the late 7th century BC included the destruction of many Asherah poles (2 Kings 23:14).
Exodus 34:13 states: "Break down their altars, smash their sacred stones and cut down their Asherim Asherah."
Joan E. Taylor suggests the temple menorah’s iconography can be traced to representations of a sacred tree, possibly “based on the form of an asherah, perhaps one associated in particular with Bethel.” However, Rachel Hachlili finds this hypothesis unlikely.
Raphael Patai identified the pillar figurines with Asherah in The Hebrew Goddess.
Due to its role in Iron Age Yahwism, some suggest they were embodiments of Yahweh himself. Evidence for the latter includes pro-Yahwist kings like Jehu not destroying Asherah poles, despite violently suppressing non-Yahwist cults. In addition, the Yahwist inscription of Kuntillet Ajrud in the Sinai Peninsula pairs Yahweh with Asherah. Scholars believe Asherah is merely a cultic object or temple but others argue that it is a generic name for any consort of Yahweh.
Ronald Hendel argues a middle ground is possible, where the Asherah pole is a symbol of the eponymous goddess but is believed to be the mediator between the worshipper and Yahweh, where she becomes the "effective bestower of blessing".
Stéphanie Anthonioz says that early references to Asherah poles in the Hebrew Bible (i.e. ) were built on the awareness that Yahweh had a consort, from the perspective of many Israelites. With the exception of Deuteronomist, many Near Easterners believed symbols and cult images, like the Asherah pole, were reflections of the divine and the divine themselves in their Anthropomorphism forms.
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