EASTON’S BIBLE DICTIONARY (1897 EDITION)
Asherah – and pl. Asherim in Revised Version, instead of “grove” and “groves” of the Authorized Version.
This was the name of a sensual Canaanitish goddess Astarte, the feminine of the Assyrian Ishtar.
Its symbol was the stem of a tree deprived of its boughs, and rudely shaped into an image, and planted in the ground.
Such religious symbols (“groves”) are frequently alluded to in Scripture (Ex. 34:13; Judg. 6:25; 2 Kings 23:6; 1 Kings 16:33, etc.).
These images were also sometimes made of silver or of carved stone (2 Kings 21:7; “the graven image of Asherah,” R.V.). (See GROVE)
