Canaanite and Phoenician goddess of fertility and war
Tunnetaan myös nimellä: Ashtarot, Asherah, Ashtarte, Ashtoreth
Tuomarien aikaIdolGoddess of fertilityGoddess of warGoddess of love?
Astarte (Hebrew: Ashtoret, עשתרת) was a prominent Canaanite and Phoenician goddess associated with fertility, love, and war, with close parallels to the Mesopotamian Ishtar and the Sumerian Inanna. Throughout biblical history—from the time of the judges until just before the Babylonian exile—she represented one of the foremost rivals to Israel's God in the struggle for the people's loyalty. The Bible's authors portray the cult of Astarte as a fundamental violation of the first commandment and of the covenant relationship between the Lord and Israel. The book of Judges describes how the Israelites repeatedly turned to the goddesses of Astarte, while Solomon in his old age built high places for her worship. The prophets, from Samuel to Jeremiah, consistently condemned her worship and called the people back to faithfulness toward the one God. King Josiah's radical reform, in which he destroyed the shrines of Astarte, illustrates the biblical vision of a pure and undivided relationship with God.
Avaintapahtumat
The Israelites worship Astarte during the time of the judges
After Joshua's death, the people of Israel turned away from the Lord and began to worship Baal and the goddesses of Astarte, which aroused the Lord's anger and led him to hand them over to their enemies.
14So the anger of the LORD burned against Israel. He handed them over to raiders who plundered them, and he sold them into the power of the enemies around them, so that they could no longer stand before their enemies.
6Again the Israelites did what was evil in the eyes of the LORD. They served the Baals and the Ashtaroth, the gods of Aram, the gods of Sidon, the gods of Moab, the gods of the Ammonites, and the gods of the Philistines. They abandoned the LORD and no longer served him.
The prophet Samuel asked the Israelites to remove the images of Astarte and foreign gods from among them and turn to the Lord alone. The people obeyed, and the Lord gave them victory over the Philistines.
3Then Samuel said to the whole house of Israel, "If you are returning to the LORD with all your heart, get rid of the foreign gods among you, and the Ashtaroth as well. Set your hearts on the LORD and serve him alone, and he will deliver you from the hand of the Philistines."
The Philistines place Saul's armor in the temple of Astarte
After Saul fell in battle against the Philistines at Mount Gilboa, they took his armor and hung it up in the temple of Astarte in Beth-shan as a trophy to their goddess.
In his old age, King Solomon was led astray by his foreign wives to worship Astarte, the goddess of the Sidonians, and turned away from wholehearted loyalty to the Lord.
33For they have forsaken me and bowed down to Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, to Chemosh the god of Moab, and to Milcom the god of the Ammonites. They have not walked in my ways, doing what is right in my eyes and keeping my statutes and my judgments, as David his father did.
King Josiah carried out a thorough religious reform and destroyed the high places that Solomon had built for Astarte and other foreign gods on the hill east of Jerusalem, called the Mount of Corruption (part of the Mount of Olives).
13The king also defiled the high places east of Jerusalem, south of the Mount of Corruption, which Solomon king of Israel had built for Ashtoreth the abomination of the Sidonians, for Chemosh the abomination of Moab, and for Milcom the detestable god of the Ammonites.
The prophet Jeremiah warned the people of Judah against offering sacrifices to "the Queen of Heaven," a figure likely linked to the cult of Astarte or Ishtar. The people refused to listen and insisted on continuing to offer incense and drink offerings to her.
18The children gather wood, the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead dough to make cakes for the Queen of Heaven; and they pour out drink offerings to other gods to provoke me to anger.
17We will most certainly do everything we said we would: we will burn incense to the Queen of Heaven and pour out drink offerings to her, just as we did—we and our fathers, our kings and our officials—in the towns of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem. Then we had plenty of food, we prospered, and we saw no disaster.
18But ever since we stopped burning incense to the Queen of Heaven and pouring out drink offerings to her, we have lacked everything and have been consumed by sword and famine."
19And the women added, "When we burned incense to the Queen of Heaven and poured out drink offerings to her, was it without our husbands' knowledge that we made cakes shaped in her image and poured out drink offerings to her?"
25This is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: You and your wives have said with your mouths and carried out with your hands, 'We will certainly fulfill the vows we made to burn incense to the Queen of Heaven and pour out drink offerings to her.' Very well—keep your vows! Carry them out!