Abstract
In the culture and religion of the ancient Jews, relying on monolatrius yahwism, the great infl uence had the pagan deities of fertility of the Canaanitish origin. Ashera was among them and can be considered the wife of Yahweh. Traces of the worship Ashera (which were remaining after eventual deuteronomistic edition) are found in the Old Testament texts. When studying the latter, one discovers that the possible meaning of “holy woman/holy man” for qedēšâ and qādēš may be explained by relationship of these terms with spiritual veneration of Ashera, the goddess of fertility, and this one of Yahweh also, who in the course of time overtook functions of other deities and replaced them (i.e., incorporated Ashera’s “holiness”). The “holiness” is associated with existential sanctifi cation of the world by “the divinity” for the sake of life renewal and continuation through the ritual of “sacred marriage” between the royal anointed of Yahweh and the priestess qedēšâ representing Ashera which probably took place in the life of the ancient Jews’ society and state. The relationship of qedēšâ with hierodula and traditional prostitution is not proven. Attempt to compare qedēšâ and zānâh and parallel use of both terms could be ekzegetically associated with the meaning zānâh as «idolatrous fornication». Other functions of the “holy” ministers of religion could be associated with some processes of childbirth care and service in the temple. “Holy” is separated from “human”, and it is just in this regard “the separateness” for qedēšâ/qādēš is determined as involvement in the orhtodoxal «divine and sacerdotal» thing retrospectively associated with the cults of fertility.
Keywords
Ancient Jewish history, holiness, qedeshot, Ashera, Yahweh, hierodula, “sacred marriage”.
Ackerman, S. 1998: Warrior, Dancer, Seductress, Queen: Women in Judges and biblical Israel (Anchor Bible Series). New York.
Adams, K. 2008: Metaphor and Dissonance: A Reinterpretation of Hosea 4:13–14. JBL 127(2), 291–305.
Ahlstrom, G.W. 1963: Aspects of Syncretism in Israelite Religion. Lund. (Horae Soederblomianae V).
Albright, W.F. 1968: Yahweh and the Gods of Canaan: A Historical Analysis of Two Contrasting Faiths. London.
Amzallag, N. 2009: Yahweh, the Canaanite God of Metallurgy? JSOT 33.4, 387–404.
Amzallag, N. 2016: The Serpent as a Symbol of Primeval Yahwism. Semitica 58, 207–236.
Assante, J. 2003: From Whores to Hierodules: The Historiographic Invention of Mesopotamian Female Sex Professionals. In: A.A. Donohue, M.D. Fullerton (eds.), Ancient Art and its Historiography. New York, 13–47.
Beaulieu, S. 2007: Eve’s Ritual: The Judahite Sacred Marriage Rite. [http://spectrum.library. concordia.ca/975701/].
Binger, T. 1997: Asherah: Goddesses in Ugarit, Israel and the Old Testament. Sheffi eld. (JSOT 232).
Сlines, D.J.A. 1975: The Psalms and the King. Theological Students Fellowship Bulletin 71, 1–6.
Cross, F.M. 1997: Canaanite Myth and Hebrew Epic: Essays in the History of the Religion of Israel. Cambridge.
Day, J. 1986: Asherah in the Hebrew Bible and Northwest Semitic literature. JBL 105.3, 385–408.
Day, J. 2002. Yahweh and the Gods and Goddesses of Canaan. Sheffi eld.
Dever, W.G. 1984: Asherah, Consort of Yahweh? New Evidence from Kuntillet Ajrûd. BASOR 255, 21–37.
Dijkstra, M. 1996: Goddess, God, Men and Women in Ezekiel 8. In: B. Becking, M. Dijkstra (eds.), On Reading Prophetic Texts: Gender-specifi c and Related Studies in Memory of Fokkelien Van Dijk-Hemmes. New York–Köln–Brill, 83–114.
Dijkstra, M. 2001. El, the God of Israel – Israel, the People of YHWH: On the Origins of Ancient Israelite Yahwism. In: B. Becking, M. Dijkstra, M.C.A. Korpel, K.J.H. Vriezen (eds.), Only One God? Monotheism in Ancient Israel and the Veneration of the Goddess Asherah. London–New York, 81–126.
Frazer, J.G. 2009: The golden Bough. A Study of Magic and Religion. Auckland.
Frazer, J.G. 1919: Folk-lore in the Old Testament. Studies in Comparative Religion Legend and Law. Vol. III. London.
Gordis, R. 1979: Gordis on Ebla, Yahweh’s Consort, and Psalm 34. BAR 5.4, 55–56.
Gruber, M.I. 1983: The Qādēš in the Book of Kings and in Other Sources. Tarbiz XII–2, 167–176.
Hadley, J.M. 2000: The Cult of Asherah in Ancient Israel and Judah. Evidence for a Hebrew Goddess. Cambridge. (University of Cambridge Oriental Publications 57).
Hubbard, D.A. 1989: Hosea: An Introduction and Commentary (Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries). Downers Grove.
Johnson, A.R. 1958: Hebrew Conceptions of Kingship. In: S.H. Hooke (ed.), Myth, Ritual, and Kingship: Essays on the Theory and Practice of Kingship in the Ancient Near East and in Israel. London, 204–235.
Johnson, A.R. 1967: Sacral Kingship in Ancient Israel. Cardiff.
Keefe, A.A. 2001: Woman’s Body and the Social Body in Hosea. Sheffi eld.
Keel, O., Uelinger, C. 1998. Gods, Goddesses, and Images of God in Ancient Israel. Minneapolis.
Kirsch, J. 1998: The Harlot by the Side of the Road: Forbidden Tales of the Bible. New York.
Kletter, R. 1996: The Judean Pillar-Figurines and the Archaeology of Asherah (British Archaeological Reports International Series 636). London. (BAR IS 636)
Kochergin, S.S. 2019: Fenomen “svyatosti”: ot pervobytnykh istokov k drevnim evreyam [The phenomenon of “holiness”: from primeval sources to ancient Jews]. Nauchnye vedomosti Belgorodskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta. Istoriya. Politologiya [Belgorod State University Scientific Bulletin. History. Political Science] 46.3, 399–411.
Кочергин, С.С. 2019: Феномен «святости»: от первобытных истоков к древним евреям. Научные ведомости Белгородского государственного университета. История. Политология 46.3, 399–411.
Lemaire, A. 1984: Who or What Was Yahweh’s Asherah? BAR 10.6, 42–51.
Mays, J. L. 1969: Hosea: A Commentary (Old Testament library). Philadelphia.
Meek, T.J. 1924: The Song of songs and the fertility cult. In: W.H. Schoff (ed.), The song of songs: a symposium. Philadelphia, 48–79.
Merkur, D. 2000: The Mystery of Manna: The Psychedelic Sacrament of the Bible Park. Roches ter.
Meshel, Z. 1979: Did Yahweh Have a Consort? BAR 5.2, 24–34.
Olyan, S.M. 1988: Asherah and the Cult of Yahweh in Israel. Atlanta. (SBL Monograph Series 34).
Patai, R. 1990: The Hebrew Goddess. Detroit.
Pettey, R.J. 1990: Asherah: Goddess of Israel. New York.
Pope, M.H. 1977: Song of Songs: A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary (The Anchor Yale Bible). New Haven–London.
Smith, M.S. 2002: The Early History of God. Yahweh and the other deities in Ancient Israel. Second edition. Grand Rapids.
Stark, C. 2006: Kultprostitution im Alten Testament? Die Qedeschen der Hebräischen Bibel und das Motiv der Hurerei. Fribourg–Göttingen.
Steinberg, D. 2004: Asherah in Deuteronomy 33? [http://www.houseofdavid.ca/deut_33.htm].
Stuckey, J.H. 2003: The Great Goddesses of the Levant. In: Journal of the Society for the Study of Egyptian Antiquities 30, 127–157.
Tantlevskiy, I.R. 2013: Istoriya Izrailya i Iudei do 70 g. do n.e. [The history of Israel and Judea before AD 70]. Saint Petersburg.
Тантлевский, И.Р. 2013: История Израиля и Иудеи до 70 г. до н.э. СПб.
Taylor, J.E. 1995: The Asherah, the Menorah and the Sacred Tree. JSOT 66, 29–54.
Toorn, K. van der, Horst, P.W., van der, Becking, B. (eds.) 1999: Dictionary of Deities and Demons in the Bible. Leiden–Boston–Köln–Brill.
Toorn, K. van der. 1989: Female Prostitution in Payment of Vows in Ancient Israel. JBL 108, 193–205.
Wellhausen, J. 1893: Die kleinen Propheten. Berlin. (Skizzen und Vorarbeiten 5).
Westenholz, J.G. 1989: Tamar, Qĕdēšā, Qadištu, and Sacred Prostitution in Mesopotamia. Harvard Theological Review 82.3, 245–266.
Wiggins, S.A. 1993: A Reassessment of ‘Asherah’: A Study According to the Textual Sources of the First Two Millenia B.C.E. Kevelaer–Neukirchen-Vluyn.
Wolkstein, D., Kramer, S.N. 1983: Inanna Queen of Heaven and Earth, Her Stories and Hymns from Sumer. New York.
Zevit, Z. 1984: The Khirbet el–Qôm Inscription Mentioning a Goddess. BASOR 255, 39–47.