ABSTRACT
The worship of deities other than Yahweh in Israel and Judah has long been a matter of interest. Recent archaeological discoveries have reopened the debate on the worship of various goddesses in ancient Israel and Judah. Ever since the discovery of the Kuntillet 'Ajrud and Khirbet el-Qom material interest in the worship of Asherah in particular has been building. On the basis of these finds, together with other supporting evidence, such as the Taanach cultic stands and the numerous female pillar figurines from eighth century BCE Judah, and especially the discovery of the Ugaritic material, many scholars now agree that the goddess Asherah was worshipped as the consort of Yahweh in both Israel and Judah during the period of the Israelite monarchy. However, the picture derived from the biblical text is that the worship of Asherah was condemned, as well as the worship of other deities such as Astarte. Finally, in some of the postexilic wisdom literature the figure of Lady Wisdom emerges, portrayed as a 'virtual' goddess. This study will examine the evidence that establishes the worship of the goddess Asherah during the monarchy period, together with the gradual'evolution' of the term asherah in the biblical text into representing merely a wooden object. Next, the similar 'evolution' of Astarte from denoting a goddess to becoming an idiom of fertility will briefly be considered, followed by a cursory examination of the personification of the figure of Lady Wisdom, perhaps as literary compensation for the eradication of the worship of goddesses such as Asherah and Astarte.
