Yahweh and his Asherah
The ancient times of Israel are very well documented through the precious Bible that was written in a long period of time. But along with the detailed history of the Israelites, come many ambiguities that need to be further investigated. One of these ambiguities is that of Asherah, “Queen of Heaven” and the consort of the gods. The aim of this report is to dig deeper in this subject, in order to better understand what the folk religion in ancient Israel looked like.

The Figurines of the Mother Goddess
William G. Dever makes a long study in his book “Did God Have a Wife”, about some figurines that were discovered in the excavations in Palestine which started in the 1920s. “The Iron Age Israelite figurines, never model the genitalia, or even the lower body at all. They emphasize the breasts”. Dever explains: “In the ancient world, breasts were associated with their most basic function: nursing an infant” (Dever, William G., Did God have a wife, page 187).
What does these nude female figurines with wide hips and full breasts represent? Dever says that it’s with no doubt “the great Goddess of Canaan, under many guises”. She has several local names: Asherah, `Anat, Astarte, Elath or Ba`alat. There is a principal difference between the Canaanite figurines and the Israelite one discovered in Palestine. “While the Canaanite figurines portray the goddess as a rather lascivious courtesan of the gods, the Israelite ones are much more “chaste”, and portray her simply as a nursing mother”, Dever explains” (Dever, William G., Did God have a wife, page 187). With this chaste image of Asherah in Ancient Israel, comes the strong likelihood of the presence of her cult in Israelite folk religion.
Asherah in Mesopotamia and Canaan
According to P. Matthiae, the earliest references to the goddess Asherah appear in the Elba Texts (2350 B.C.) where she is