I. Name

The Hebrew term ʾăšêrâ, ʾăšērâ, seems to be used in two senses in the Bible, as a cultic object (asherah) and as a divine name (Asherah).

It is the presence of possibly cognate words in other Semitic languages, where goddesses are frequently understood to be denoted, that has raised interesting questions for the interpretation of the OT references, and the linguistic problems are now compounded by the inscriptions of Khirbet el Qom and Kuntil…