📖 Biblical Definition
The Asherah pole (Hebrew asherah, rendered "grove" in the KJV) was the carved wooden cult-symbol of the Canaanite mother-goddess Asherah, consort of El and rival to YHWH. Often planted beside a Baal altar, it represented fertility religion at its most syncretistic. Israel was commanded repeatedly to "cut down their groves" (Exodus 34:13; Deuteronomy 7:5; 16:21), yet the apostate kings reinstalled them again and again. Manasseh even set one in the temple (2 Kings 21:7); Josiah burned it (2 Kings 23:6). The Asherah pole is the perpetual symbol of the church’s temptation to import goddess-spirituality into the worship of the LORD — sentimental, feminizing, fertility-mystic — and must be cut down wherever it reappears.
📜 Webster 1828 Definition
Wooden cult-symbol of the Canaanite goddess Asherah.
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The wooden cultic pole or carved symbol associated with the Canaanite mother-goddess Asherah, often planted near altars; commanded by the Mosaic law to be cut down and burned; tolerated under most kings of Israel and Judah, removed only under reformers.
📖 Key Scripture
Exodus 34:13 — "But ye shall destroy their altars, break their images, and cut down their groves."
Deuteronomy 16:21 — "Thou shalt not plant thee a grove of any trees near unto the altar of the LORD thy God, which thou shalt make thee."
2 Kings 23:6 — "And he brought out the grove from the house of the LORD... and burned it at the brook Kidron, and stamped it small to powder."
⚠️ Modern Corruption
Hidden behind the KJV's translation 'grove' so modern readers don't realize they are reading about the goddess.
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KJV translates asherah as 'grove' which obscures the goddess. The thing was a cult-symbol of the mother-goddess Asherah, often placed beside YHWH-altars. The lesson: idols of femininity-worship are old and persistent. Reformer kings cut them down. We should too.
🔗 Greek & Hebrew Roots
Hebrew asherah.
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['Hebrew', 'H842', 'asherah', 'Asherah, grove']
['Hebrew', 'H1168', 'Baal', 'Baal']
Usage
"Cut down the asherah of the heart."
"KJV's 'grove' is a goddess-symbol."