Only One God? Monotheism in Ancient Israel and the Veneration of the Goddess Asherah

234 Pages·2002·12.424 MB·English

by  Bob Becking, Meindert Dijkstra, Marjo C. A. Korpel, Karel J.H. Vriezen

The Biblical Seminar
77
O nly One God?
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Only One God?
Monotheism in Ancient Israel
and the Veneration
of the Goddess Asherah
Bob Becking,
Meindert Dijkstm,
Marjo C.A. Korpel
and
KarelJ.H. Vriezen
SHEFFIELD ACADEMIC PRESS
A Continuum imprint
LONDON • NEW YORK
Copyright © 2001 Sheffield Academic Press
A Continuum imprint
Published by Sheffield Academic Press Ltd
The Tower Building, 11 York Road, London SE1 7NX
370 Lexington Avenue, New York NY 10017-6550
www.SheffieldAcademicPress.com
www.continuumbooks.com
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in
any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying,
recording or any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in
writing from the publishers.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Typeset by Digital Composition
Printed on acid-free paper in Great Britain by The Cromwell Press, Trowbridge,
Wiltshire
ISBN 1-84127-199-3
CONTENTS
Preface 7
Abbreviations 8
Introduction 11
MEINDERT DIJKSTRA
I have Blessed you by YHWH of Samaria and his Asherah:
Texts with Religious Elements from the Soil Archive of
Ancient Israel 17
KAREL J.H. VRIEZEN
Archaeological Traces of Cult in Ancient Israel 45
MEINDERT DIJKSTRA
El, the God of Israel— Israel, the People of YHWH:
On the Origins of Ancient Israelite Yahwism 81
MARJO C.A. KORPEL
Asherah outside Israel 127
BOB BECKING
The Gods, in Whom They Trusted . . . Assyrian Evidence
for Iconic Polytheism in Ancient Israel? 151
MEINDERT DIJKSTRA
Women and Religion in the Old Testament 164
BOB BECKING
Only One God: On Possible Implications for Biblical
Theology 189
Bibliography 202
Index of References 223
Index of Authors 229
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PREFACE
This volume contains the English translation of a set of essays pub-
lished originally in Dutch.1 As editors we would like to thank Cees-Jan
Visser of Kok's Publishing house for the permission to publish this
translation. David Clines has acted as intermediary with Sheffield
Academic Press. We would like to thank him for his efforts. After the
publication of the Dutch version, several colleagues, including Lester
L. Grabbe, Kees Houtman, Johannes C. de Moor, Herbert Niehr,
Marvin Sweeney and Christoph Uehlinger, made valuable remarks that
have effected the quality of this volume. The translations made by the
original authors have been checked by some native English speakers.
We respect their wish to remain anonymous; nevertheless we would like
to thank them.
The contributions to this volume are based on a series of lectures
read several years ago at the Faculty of Theology of Utrecht University.
Our respected colleague Fokkelien van Dijk-Hemmes (1943-1994)
cooperated in the design of this series in the year before her untimely
death. Unfortunately, she was unable to participate in teaching. Jopie
Siebert-Hommes, then lecturer for gender-specific reading of the
Hebrew Bible, has also made an important contribution to the series of
lectures. In view of her move to the University of Amsterdam and
because of an illness she had to refrain from contributing to this
volume. We have tried to continue the trail that both have shown. Again
we would like to thank Fokkelien van Dijk-Hemmes for her innovative
ideas in reading the Old Testament.
1. B. Becking and M. Dijkstra (eds.), Een God Alleen? Over monothei'sme in
Oud-Israel en de verering van de godin Asjera (Kampen: J.H. Kok Uitgeverij, 1998).
ABBREVIATIONS
ABD David Noel Freedman (ed.), The Anchor Bible Dictionary
(New York: Doubleday, 1992)
ADAJn Annual of the Department of Antiquities of Jordan
AfO. Archivfur Orientforschung
ALAS.P Abhandlungen zur Literatur Alt-Syrien-Palestinas und
Mesopotamiens
ANEP. James B. Pritchard (ed.), Ancient Near East in Pictures
Relating to the Old Testament (Princeton: Princeton Uni-
versity Press, 1954)
ANET. James B. Pritchard (ed.), Ancient Near Eastern Texts
Relating to the Old Testament (Princeton: Princeton Uni-
versity Press, 1950)
AOAT. Alter Orient und Altes Testament
ATANT. Abhandlungen zur Theologie des Alten und Neuen
Testaments
ATD Das Alte Testament Deutsch
BA Biblical Archaeologist
BAH Bibliotheque Archeologique et Historique
BARev Biblical Archaeology Review
BASOR Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research
BBB Bonner biblische Beitrage
BEATAJ Beitrage zur Erforschunng des Alten Testament und des
Antiken Judentum
BETL. Bibliotheca ephemeridum theologicarum lovaniensium
BIS. Biblical Interpretation Series
BKAT. Biblischer Kommentar: Altes Testament
BN. Biblische Notizen
BZA.W Beihefte zur ZAW
CBET. Contributions to Biblical Exegesis and Theology
CBQ. Catholic Biblical Quarterly
ConB.OT Coniectanea biblica, Old Testament
Abbreviations 9
DDD2 K. van der Toorn, B. Becking & P.W. van der Horst (eds.),
Dictionary of Deities and Demons in the Bible: Second
Extensively Revised Edition (Leiden-Grand Rapids-
Cambridge UK: Brill, 1999)
EAEHL M.Avi-Yonah (ed.), Encyclopedia of Archaeological
Excavations in the Holy Land I-IV (Jerusalem: Israel
Exploration Society, 1975)
FAT Forschungen zum Alten Testament
FRLANT Forschungen zur Religion und Literatur des Alten und
Neuen Testaments
HAE Handbuch der Althebraischen Epigraphik
HdO Handbuch der Orientalistik
HSM Harvard Semitic Monographs
HSS Harvard Semitic Studies
HUCA Hebrew Union College Annual
HZ. Historische Zeitschrift
IEJ. Israel Exploration Journal
IOS. Israel Oriental Studies
JANESCU Journal of the Ancient Near Eastern Society of Columbia
University
JBL. Journal of Biblical Literature
JNSL. Journal of Northwest Semitic Languages
JSOT. Journal for the Study of the Old Testament
KAI. H. Donner and W. Rollig, Kanaandische und aramdische
Inschriften (3 vols.; Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 1962-64)
KTU. M. Dietrich, O. Loretz & J. Sanmartin, The Cuneiform
Alphabetic Texts from U gar it, Ras Ibn Hani and Other
Places (KTU: Second Enlarged Edition; ALASP, 8;
Minister: Ugarit Verlag, 1995)
NEAEHL New Encyclopedia of Archaeological Excavations in the
Holy Land
NedTTs Nederlands theologisch tijdschrift
OBO Orbis biblicus et orientalis
OIP Oriental Institute Publications
OLA Orientalia Lovaniensia Analecta
OTS Oud Testamentische Studien
PdA Probleme der Agyptologie
PEQ Palestine Exploration Quarterly
PIA Publications of the Institute of Archaeology