Sárospataki Füzetek 17. (2013)
2013 / 1-2. szám - TANULMÁNYOK - Doedens, Jacob J. T.:Ókori izraelita politeista feliratok: Aséra mint JHVH felesége?
doedens, Jacob J. T. ANCIENT ISRAELITE Polytheistic INSCRIPTIONS: Was asherah Viewed as Yhwh's Wife? uite often results of biblical scholarship trickle down to a more popular level, I usually with simplifications and distortions which often go together with such a process. Hypotheses become truths and question marks change to exclaifhtiion marks. This is, of course, not so much a problem as long as these popularised views do not move back into scholarly research. One of these popular beliefs based on scholarly results is that since the discovery of Hebrew inscriptions from the ninth and eighth century b.c.e. at Kuntillet 'Ajrud and Khirbet el-Qom which mention “Yhwh and his Asherah”, we now ‘know’ that Yhwh ‘originally’ had a wife. As a result, Yahwism is considered to differ hardly from the general religions in the ancient Near East. Yet, how sure are these claims? A brief look into the scholarly literature on this topic reveals that the picture is much more complicated than popular belief has it. This article provides a choice1 from transliterations and translations of these inscriptions and intends to discuss their content and meaning. 1 Study of these inscriptions depends on published versions which sometimes differ substantially. It surpasses the purport of the present article to provide a new transcription and translation; only the main results pertaining the subject of syncretism and polytheism in Israel will be discussed in more detail, as far as this is clear from publications of these inscriptions. Differences in transliteration and translation are mentioned to alert the reader to the fact that the interpretation of the inscriptions is not always a straightforward matter. 2013/1-2 SÁROSPATAKI FÜZETEK 41
