Texts in Conversation
In 2 Kings 23, the woven objects for Asherah may parallel garments offered to a goddess at Ugarit, showing that serving a divine image could involve making textiles for it.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
KTU 1.43:4
Cuneiform Texts from Ugarit
Ancient Near East
When Athtart-Hurri enters the pit of the king's house: ten by ten into the pit of the house of the gods; stars; […] as an offering: a garment and a tunic, a robe; gold, three weights; […] a ram, a bull and three head of small cattle as peace offerings, seven times for the gods, seven for Kothar. The next day the Gatharuma enter the king's house: a shekel of gold for Shapshu and Yarih; for Gathar a shekel of fine silver, a nose and a thr[oat] for Anat; a shekel of gold for Shapshu [and] Yarih; for Gathar two shekels [of silver], fine, a nose and a neck […]; at the house, a bull and a ram […] for the Gatharuma; [a nose and a thr]oat for Anat; [a ram and a bull for the Ga]tharuma, the male ones; [a nose and a thr]oat for Anat.
2 Kings 23:7
Hebrew Bible
6 He removed the Asherah pole from the Lord’s temple and took it outside Jerusalem to the Kidron Valley, where he burned it. He smashed it to dust and then threw the dust in the public graveyard. 7 He tore down the quarters of the male cultic prostitutes in the Lord’s temple, where women were weaving shrines for Asherah. 8 He brought all the priests from the cities of Judah and ruined the high places where the priests had offered sacrifices, from Geba to Beer Sheba. He tore down the high place of the goat idols situated at the entrance of the gate of Joshua, the city official, on the left side of the city gate. 9 (Now the priests of the high places did not go up to the altar of the Lord in Jerusalem, but they did eat unleavened cakes among their fellow priests.)
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Notes and References
“... that the clothing of their priestly representatives was provided by this divine fic-
tion.”47 Note especially the mention of garments (and possible clothing ritual?)
in one of the so-called entry rituals (KTU 1.43.4, 22; see the next section).48
Even the biblical tradition preserves the dressing of an image. We read that
“women wove hangings for the Asherah” (2 Kgs 23:7) and that the divine image
of the Ammonite god Milcom wore a crown with a precious stone.49 ...”
Lewis, Theodore J.
The Origin and Character of God: Ancient Israelite Religion through the Lens of Divinity
(p. 136) Oxford University Press, 2020
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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