Sacred Tree

Sacred Tree covers both the living trees at places where Abraham met and called upon the LORD and the wooden Asherah pole, which the Law forbade beside the LORD's altar (Genesis 18:1; Genesis 21:33; Deuteronomy 16:21).

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Trees at Places of Worship

Abram traveled through the land as far as the Oak of Moreh at Shechem, at a time when the Canaanites were in the land (Genesis 12:6). The LORD appeared to Abraham by the Oaks of Mamre (Genesis 18:1), and at Beersheba Abraham planted a tamarisk tree and called there on the name of the LORD, the Eternal God (Genesis 21:33). Jacob buried the foreign gods and earrings handed over to him under the oak near Shechem (Genesis 35:4). Joshua set up a large stone under the oak that stood near the sanctuary of the LORD (Joshua 24:26). Deuteronomy places "these mountains" across the Jordan near the Oak of Moreh (Deuteronomy 11:30).

The Zondervan Encyclopedia of the Bible judges that the Oak of Moreh must have been a holy tree, standing at an old Canaanite sanctuary. Zondervan adds that there is no reason to think Abraham recognized the sacred character of the site and deliberately adapted himself to it (Genesis 12:6). Zondervan also counts it uncertain whether the oak near Shechem in Genesis 35:4 is the tree of Genesis 12:6. W. Ewing, in the International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, takes the tree or trees of Moreh to have been a place people went to consult a moreh.

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The Asherah Pole

The Jewish Encyclopedia defines the asherah, in most passages, as a wooden post or pole set up near the altars of various gods, and notes that it was sometimes placed under a living tree. Ruth Hestrin reads the Bible as referring to Asherah in three forms: an image (probably a statue or figurine of the goddess), a tree, and a tree trunk. The Zondervan Encyclopedia of the Bible notes that the authors of the Mishnah later explained the Asherah as a worshiped tree. Sayce, in the International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, calls the King James Version's rendering "grove" a mistranslation, following the Septuagint's Greek alsos and the Vulgate. Sayce also describes the trunk as often furnished with branches, so that it was shaped like the tree of life. In the Ugaritic texts Athirat (Asherah) is the consort of El, the head of the pantheon, and the Baal Cycle several times calls her "Lady Athirat of the Sea". Shirly Natan-Yulzary notes that the reason for her tie to the sea has yet to be explained adequately, and finds support for the view that she was a goddess of the sea, seafaring and fishing.

The Law commanded the destruction of altars, sacred stones and Asherah poles, the poles to be chopped down or burned (Exodus 34:13; Deuteronomy 12:3). It forbade setting up any wooden Asherah pole next to the altar Israel would build for the LORD (Deuteronomy 16:21). Even so, the Israelites forgot the LORD and served "the Baals and the Asherahs" (Judges 3:7). The Zondervan Encyclopedia of the Bible observes that biblical usage pairs Asherah with Baal, as it pairs Ashtoreth with Baal elsewhere (Judges 3:7). The LORD told Gideon to tear down his father's altar to Baal, cut down the Asherah pole beside it, and use the pole's wood for a burnt offering on a new altar to the LORD (Judges 6:25-26).

The books of Kings describe high places, sacred pillars and Asherah poles set up "on every high hill and under every green tree" (1 Kings 14:23; 2 Kings 17:10). Hosea describes people sacrificing on the mountaintops and under oak, poplar and terebinth, "because their shade is pleasant" (Hosea 4:13). Asa removed his grandmother Maacah from her position as queen mother because she had made a "detestable Asherah pole", and he cut it down and burned it in the Kidron Valley (1 Kings 15:13). The king who removed the high places also cut down the Asherah poles and broke up Nehushtan, the bronze snake Moses had made (2 Kings 18:4). Manasseh set the carved Asherah pole he had made in the temple, the house where the LORD had said He would establish His Name forever (2 Kings 21:7).

The Zondervan Encyclopedia of the Bible names Josiah as the king who removed the Asherah from the Temple and burned it (2 Kings 23:6). The pole was taken from the house of the LORD to the Kidron Valley outside Jerusalem, burned, ground to powder, and its dust thrown on the graves of the common people (2 Kings 23:6). The quarters of the male shrine prostitutes in the house of the LORD, where women had woven tapestries for Asherah, were torn down (2 Kings 23:7). The Asherah poles were cut down and their sites covered with human bones (2 Kings 23:14).