Article

One of these popular beliefs based on scholarly results is that since the discovery of Hebrew inscriptions from the ninth and eighth century b.c.e. at Kuntillet ʿAjrud and Khirbet el-Qôm which mention “Yhwh and his Asherah”, we now ‘know’ that Yhwh ‘originally’ had a wife.

KHIRBET EL-QôM

At Khirbet el-Qôm, an inscription was found in a burial cave. The inscription has been dated to around 725 b.c.e (Zevit, he Religions of Ancient Israel, 360; Keel and Uehlinger, Gods, Goddesses, 237). In the epigraph a left hand in downward position has been deeply incised. The place has been identiied with biblical Makkedah (cf. Ziony Zevit, he Religions of Ancient Israel: A Synthesis of Parallactic Approaches (London: Continuum, 2001), 359). After its discovery, tomb robbers roughly cut out the inscription, which made it partially illegible beyond repair (cf. Meindert Dijkstra, “I Have Blessed You By Yhwh of Samaria and His Asherah: Texts with Religious Elements from the Soil Archive of Ancient Israel,” in Only One God? Monotheism in Ancient Israel and the Veneration of the Goddess Asherah (ed. Bob Becking et al.; Sheield: Sheield Academic Press, 2001), 32). According to McCarter, the drawing of the hand seems to have been incised before the inscription was written around it, see “Khirbet el-Qom,” translated by P. Kyle McCarter in Context Of Scripture (ed. William W. Hallo) 2.52:179. If true, there may be only a secondary connection between the depicted hand and the inscription, at least if a longer time elapsed between the drawing of the picture and the writing of the text.

KUNTILLET ʿAJRUD (The Plaster Inscriptions)

At Kuntillet ʿAjrud, a site was uncovered consisting of two buildings. The building at the east side is poorly preserved, the main building at the west side forms a rectangle of 25×15 m. and was built around a courtyard. From the presence of the remains of two staircases it can be extrapolated that the building may have had a storey. The original function of the buildings is still subject of discussion. According to several scholars the inds are the remains of a caravanserai ( Keel and Uehlinger, Gods, Goddesses, 210. See also Hadley, “Two Pithoi from Kuntillet ʿAjrud,” 184; Dijkstra, “I Have Blessed You By Yhwh of Samaria and His Asherah,” 17–18). Zevit argues that the purpose of the whole complex was a cultic one:

Cf. Zevit, he Religions of Ancient Israel, 374–376, especially the objections against the caravanserai-interpretation in nt. 47. According to Brian B. Schmidt, “he Iron Age Pithoi Drawings from Horvat Teman or Kuntillet ʿAjrud: Some New Proposals,” JANER no. 2 (2002): 99–100, the fortress-like design of the building does not exclude a religious function, both military-economic and religious functions might have been combined. he inds of composite wool-linen textile fragments (znEj.[;v;) –according to Lev 19:19 and Deut 22:11a forbidden form of textile– is for some scholars an indication of the presence of priestly garments, because mixed textiles were prescribed for the clothes of the high priest, see Ex 28 and 39. Cf. Zevit, he Religions of Ancient Israel, 376

1. A C14 dating of organic samples found at ʿAjrud yields dates from 830 to 750 b.c.e: Zevit, the Religions of Ancient Israel, 376, who prefers a ninth-century date, based on paleography, architecture, pottery, and artistic motifs. The inscriptions are written in a Phoenician script. The letters seem to be partly ‘Phoenician’, partly ‘Hebrew’. For detailed discussion on the form and provenance of the script, see B. A. Mastin, “he Inscriptions Written on Plaster at Kuntillet ʿAjrud,” VT 59 no. 1 (2009): 99–109. Mastin concludes that, as to the present state of knowledge, the texts “were produced by Israelites who had been in either direct or indirect contact with Phoenicians.” (105). He observes further that “words are written in accordance with Hebrew, not Phoenician, conventions.” (105). According to Zevit, he Religions of Ancient Israel, 376–377, the ʿAjrud inscriptions provide the irst examples of an emerging Hebrew alphabet. hus, the alleged ‘Phoenician’ letters might be due to the fact that the scribe learnt to write in ‘Phoenicia’, which also could mean the region of the Philistine coastal cities where Phoenicians traded.
2. KUNTILLET ʿAJRUD (The Pithoi Inscriptions)

(1) “Utterance of (2) ʾAmaryaw: (3) Say to my lord: (4) ‘Is all well with you? (5) I bless you by Ya(6)hweh of Teman (7) and his asherah. May the bl(8)ess you and keep you, (9) and be with my lord. . .”

“Kuntillet ʿAjrud: Inscribed Pithos 2,” tranlated by P. Kyle McCarter (COS 2.47B:172). Cf. Zevit, he Religions of Ancient Israel, 395.

KUNTILLET ʿAJRUD (the Pithoi Drawings)

Independently of the answers to these questions, it can be concluded that the drawings and especially the inscriptions have a religious content. he inscriptions refer apparently to Yhwh, mentioning him together with other gods.

1. Discussions
2. The Interpretation of lʾšrth as Referring to a Sanctuary:

The Interpretation of lʾšrth as Referring to the Consort of YHWH:

The Interpretation of lʾšrth as Referring to the Goddess Asherah:

The Interpretation of lʾšrth as Referring to a Cult Symbol:

The Interpretation of the Drawings at Kuntillet ʿAjrud:

1. Evaluation
2. According to the ‘maximalist’ approach, the inscriptions from Kuntillet ʿAjrud mention Yhwh together with the gods El, Baal and Asherah. Moreover, Asherah is described as Yhwh’s consort, both at Kuntillet ʿAjrud and Khirbet el-Qôm. In this view, Yhwh and Asherah are not only described but also depicted. this would mean that the whole site breathes an air of polytheism. Viewed from the biblical texts, this would be no total surprise, not even if there were a bovine theriomorphic representation of Yhwh, as the narrative about the golden calf, the report about Jeroboam’s cult, and texts in Hosea testify.

In the ‘minimalist’ interpretation of Kuntillet ʿAjrud, the names of El and Baal are only titles for the God of Israel ( B. A. Mastin, “the Inscriptions Written on Plaster at Kuntillet ʿAjrud,” VT 59 no. 1 (2009): 113). The inscriptions from Kuntillet ʿAjrud and Khirbet el-Qôm which mention ‘Asherah’, only refer to a cult object. he depicted igures at ʿAjrud, possibly representing the deity Bes in twofold, are disconnected from the inscriptions. In this view, the site is more an example of syncretism than of polytheism. Yet, also in the ‘minimalist’ interpretation of the site, an ‘asherah’ as wooden cult object keeps something of its allusions to the goddess of the same name, and the drawings of the Bes-like igures are still of a polytheistic character.