โWe who study the Old Testament are very aware that God has a past. The religion described in these texts comes from somewhere,โ says Anne Katrine de Hemmer Gudme.
She is a professor at the University of Oslo’sย Faculty of Theology.
Nearly 3,000 years ago, two small kingdoms were located where Israel and Palestine are today…ย These peoples had several gods, whom they worshiped and sacrificed to in their temples. Yahweh was one of them. Today he is called God.
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On the path from Yahweh as one of several gods to the only god, the other gods are harassed and declared powerless.
โThese gods slowly disappear, because many were satisfied with them and still worshiped them. They didn’t bother to listen to some grumpy men who said that Yahweh was the only god,โ Gudme says.
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Asherah was one of the gods that the authors of the Old Testament warn against.
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But Asherah was closer to Yahweh than the authors of the Old Testament would admit. Gudme, like other Bible scholars, believes she may have been Yahweh’s wife.
โInscriptions have been found from that time that place Asherah side by side with Yahweh, that she is Yahweh’s Asherah,โ she says.
