Axis Mundi: Asherah Poles

The axis mundi that we read about in The Sacred and the Profane (Eliade, 1987) and discussed in class prompted a serious question. When we began talking about examples of axis mundi in the Bible, Asherah poles came to mind (and someone may have even said it), but I couldn’t get it out of my head. It ended up getting me thinking: isn’t there a part of the Bible in which God tells the Israelites to cut down all Asherah poles belonging to the Canaanites? A search through an online Bible Concordance resulted in the short answer of, yes, that God did tell the Israelites to cut down the Asherah poles (Asherah meaning in Bible, 2021). However, it prompted a further question of why this was the case. Our conversation in class had explained that there were versious of axis mundi in the Bible that belonged to the Israelites (or those who would become Israelites) so why cut down these other individual’s axis mundi? Especially if, like another class discussion explained, they were potentially an offshoot of the Caananites?

It became my understanding that the God of the Israelites commanded the Asherah poles be cut down because of the 10 Commandments. Asherah poles were an aspect of Canaanite religious locations, and these sites were designed to worship the “mother” goddess Asherah, who was said to be the consort of El (Johnston, 2004). There are Bible verses saying that these poles were related to Baal (Judges 6:25), but going by what Armstrong says in her book Jerusalem, One City Three Faiths, El was the father of Baal (Armstrong, 2005, pg 53), and thus this appears to not be too large of a discrepancy. The first time that Asherah poles appear in the Bible (according to several Bible Concordances) is in Exodus 34:13, which states, “But ye shall destroy their altars, break their images, and cut down their groves…” (Staff, Exodus 34:13), and they continue to appear throughout the Bible after this. However, it is earlier on in Exodus that Moses received the 10 commandments, with the very first on the list (and thus the one implied to be most important) saying, “You shall have no other gods before me” (Exodus 20:2).

Regardless of whether or not the Israelites were in fact an offshoot of the Caananites, the God of the Israelites was angered by not being the one and only God in the land. It does prompt, however, a further question: if our conversation in class about the Israelites’ God having originated from El (hence the name “Elohim”), then why was He so angered by these poles, when they were effectively bringing them closer to Him? The only answer I can really think of is that these two, El and Elohim, were not as similar and connected as modern theories think. 

Resources

Armstrong, K. (2005). Jerusalem: One city, three faiths. Ballantine Books. 

'Asherah meaning in Bible - old testament Hebrew Lexicon - King James Version. biblestudytools.com. (n.d.). Retrieved February 12, 2022, from https://www.biblestudytools.com/lexicons/hebrew/kjv/asherah.html 

Exodus 20:2. Exodus 20:2 NIV - - bible gateway. (n.d.). Retrieved February 12, 2022, from https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Exodus+20&version=NIV 

Eliade, M. (1987). The sacred and the profane: The nature of religion. Harcourt Inc. 

Judges 6:25. Judges 6:25 NIV - - bible gateway. (n.d.). Retrieved February 12, 2022, from https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Judges%2B6%3A25&version=NIV 

Johnston, S. I. (2004). Religions of the ancient world: A guide. Harvard University Press. 

Staff, B. S. T. (n.d.). Exodus 34:13 - KJV - but ye shall destroy their altars, break their ... biblestudytools.com. Retrieved February 12, 2022, from https://www.biblestudytools.com/kjv/exodus/34-13.html