Gods of Israel.

What's that you say? You've read the Old Testament and Israel only believed in the true God?

Well, you'd be right, in a way.

Also, wrong in a way.

I heard a podcast the other day about by Archeologist Bill Dever who says that in addition to the Hebrew god Yahweh, ancient Israelites may have worshipped a Canaanite female goddess called Asherah. Not necessarily the leaders of Israel, but the general mass of everyday people.

Shocked? You shouldn't really be. Remember how much the Old Testament condemned polytheism? It's probably because it was such a problem with people.

What Dever goes on to say, is that for most people, they most likely still considered Yahweh the supreme being, but just added Asherah on as a lower goddess, perhaps Yahweh's wife. That's different than what I usually picture at least. When I read about God telling the Israelites that they're to have no other gods, I picture some silly people completely forgetting about God to worship some pagan god.

As Christians, I think this is a picture of God and Asherah is one we can relate to a lot better. I know I can at least. In church we'll talk about idols and how we need to put God first. We'll talk about how different things in life can be idols to us, but it doesn't resonate because we don't let these things take God's place. We don't throw out Christianity for our idols. They just add on. Just like the Israelites added on Asherah.

But adding on is just as bad. Maybe it's worse. If you completely let something completely replace God, it's easy to spot. It's easy to have friends call you out on. When you've just got an addition, it's much more difficult to spot.


*the podcast I listened to can be found here, if you're interested.