Monotheism, Yahweh and his Asherah

quote:

---

I don't understand what you mean by taken down? I'm also detecting a subtle implication here-- that they only had done so because she was a female. Obviously, the qualifier is that she was a pagan god, since Molech and Ba'al were demigods but also denounced.

---

I think that the question is more how Asherah came to be classified as a pagan God. The archaeological evidence indicates that the Israelites grew out of the local Canaanite population and Yahweh likely began as their particular patron God. But why is it that a goddess who is sometimes identified as Yahweh's consort was removed rather than sharing her consort's rise to power ?The Bible cannot tell us that because the Bible is written from a Yahwist point of view and to a large extent it imposes the views of the writers on the history (although some remnants of early polytheism may still be found). The idea that the Israelites were monotheists who kept adopting polytheism (only to suffer disaster from it) appears to be ahistorical. The evidence indicates that they were more likely polytheists who moved through henotheism to monotheism (and the relationship of disaster to religious faith seems mere propaganda).

quote:

---

because monotheism means "one god." don't over-think it -- religion isn't motivated by illectual concerns. monotheism, specifically the jewish brand, requires the removal of ALL over gods, including the ones associated with the one you adopt as your only god

---

No, that's not really answering the question. It assumes that the Israelites were were purposefully heading to monotheism. But why pure monotheism ? And if monotheism why not keep Asherah as a lesser but still revered being ?

What exactly does "pagan" mean in this in this context ? Presumably to exclude Yahweh, but why ?

I think that you are getting the wrong end of the stick.I can understand why the Yahwists would want to suppress worship of rival Gods (although El seems to have been more subsumed into Yahweh than suppressed as such). But Ahsherah (or maybe an Asherah) was seen as the consort of Yahweh. That's a special relationship and the question of how it failed is a good question. But not one that I think can easily be answered - speculations are possible, of course, but we can't know if they are correct.