Sárospataki Füzetek 17. (2013)

2013 / 1-2. szám - TANULMÁNYOK - Doedens, Jacob J. T.:Ókori izraelita politeista feliratok: Aséra mint JHVH felesége?

ANCIEN’ r fSRA E LI TE PO I YT H E ISTIC I NSC RI PT IONS...

give it to him according to his heart.”50 23 The Pithoi Drawings

On the pithoi, drawings were also found. On Pithos A, there is a scene of a cow with a suckling calf, probably two Bes51 figures, a sitting lyre player,52 and another scene with two ibexes, eating from a tree, a lioness, and several half preserved animals. Pithos B has a scene with a cow (or bull?), a torso of an archer, a grazing ibex, a half preserved cow, and a group of five or six53 human figures looking into one direction and standing in a prayerful pose.54

3. Discussion

At the end of a broad religio-historical discussion about the finds in Kuntillet 'Ajrud, a large number of questions still remains unanswered. What exactly was the function of the complex, did it have a religious function or was it a fortress-like shelter for travellers? What, if any, is the connection between the drawings and the inscriptions? Moreover, is there a connection between the inscriptions and scenes on pithos A and B? Are the drawings and inscriptions official’ or only casual scribbles?55

Independently of the answers to these questions, it can be concluded that the drawings and especially the inscriptions have a religious content. The inscriptions refer apparently to Yhwh, mentioning him together with other gods.

The most crucial question, therefore, remains: who or what is meant with the returning word srth. Does this mean ‘his Asherah’ and, if so, is this a proper name referring to the goddess Asherah? Or does the term only refer to a cult object, a use which is also attested in the Old Testament?56 And is the final h the indicator for a third person masculine pronominal suffix?

50 Zevit, The Religions of Ancient Israel, 398.

51 Name of an Egyptian god or demon, usually represented as a dwarf or a lion-man. Sometimes depicted as dancing, playing musical instruments, or brandishing knife and sword. The last action probably to avert evil. Bes-figures are often depicted in an erotic setting. Cf. H. te Velde, “Bes,” in Dictionary of Deities and Demons in the Bible (ed. Karel van den Toorn et al.): 173. See also Hadley, “Two Pithoi from Kuntillet Ajrud,” 189-196.

52 By some scholars identificated as Asherah, but this cannot be demonstrated. For discussion on the subject of the lyre player, see Hadley, “Two Pithoi from Kuntillet Ajrud,” 196—207. Hadley considers the picture of the ‘tree of life’ flanked by the two ibexes to be a symbol representing Asherah (204).

53 The sixth person is only present in the drawing of a half-preserved head.

54 See Zevit, The Religions of Ancient Israel, 382-383, figure 5.7 and 5.8.

55 The skilled quality of the script of most of the inscriptions makes it less probable that they were only casual graffiti, left by passers-by, cf. Dijkstra, “I Have Blessed You By Yhwh of Samaria,” 26. However, even if the inscriptions betray the trained hand of a professional scribe, Dijkstra considers them to be texts of low status, “probably ‘doodles’, never meant to be seen or read by strange eyes, randomly scribbled by bored clerks” (26), for example to test a freshly pointed writing stylus (27).

56 For an overview, see “rnrát,” HAL 1:96.

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