The Hebrew Goddess, by Raphael Patai. Read Chapter 1, then answer the following questions. Send your answers in an email to the Mystery School with HebrewGoddess Chap. 1 from ___________ (your magikal name) in the subject line.
1. Fill in the blank: ____________ was the earliest known female deity known to have been worshipped by the children of Israel.
2. T or F: Scholarship confirms that Asherah was worshipped by the children of Israel from the time of the Israelite conquest of Canaan up to the Babylonian Exile.
3. T or F: The Biblical record we have now has been severely edited regarding early forms of Hebrew worship to better reflect the strict monotheism of later Judaic kings and priests.
4. T or F: The similarity of nature, form and worship between Yahweh and the Canaanite gods, along with the difficulty of distinguishing Hebrew worship from Canaanite worship, make the archaeological record sometimes hard to interpret.
5. What was the full name of the Goddess Asherah?
6. Who was the husband of Asherah? What was his domain?
7. What was another name for Asherah? What did the name mean?
8. T or F: Asherah was the “Progenitress of the Gods” and all seventy of the gods of the Canaanite pantheon were her children.
9. What jobs did Asherah’s servant, Qadesh wa-Amrur, perform?
10. The text describes the protocol of Asherah as she approaches her husband El to request his help. What biblical Queen also follows this protocol towards her husband?
11. T or F: Asherah was an oracular goddess.
12. Fill in the blank: Asherah is sometimes referred to as the bride of ________,an Akkadian diety who corresponds to El.
13. T or F: The distinction between Asherah and Astarte was often blurry in ancient times.
14. What were two seaports dedicated to the worship of Asherah?
15. The Bible refers to “the Asherahs” when it references the many different cities dedicated to the one Goddess. What modern Christian Goddess also has many place-names attributed to her as epitaphs?
16. T or F: Images of Asherah were often carved wooden poles stood upright.One of these images was placed in the Jerusalem Temple.
17. T or F: The household gods, or teraphim, were typically images of Asherah.
18. T or F: Zilpah’s son Asher was most likely named after the goddess of childbirth, Asherah.
19. T or F: Just as the construction and worship at the Jerusalem Temple was similar to the other gods’ of the area, the ideology and morality of the Hebrew prophets was very similar to that of their pagan counterparts.
20. Why did Solomon have so many wives?
21. T or F: Solomon was responsible for introducing the worship of Asherah into Jerusalem at the behest of his Sidonian wife.
22. What was the reason the prophet Ahijah gave for the dividing of the two kingdoms of Israel and Judah?
23. T or F: Jeezebel was a princess of Sidon and built a temple to Asherah in Samaria, the capitol of Israel.
24. T or F: Elijah did not accuse the Israelites of abandoning their worship of Jehovah, but merely dividing their attention between him and foreign gods.
25. T or F: The rain-making contest between Elijah and the priests of Baal ends with the slaughter of the priests of Baal and the prophets of Asherah.
26. T or F: The golden calf images worshipped by the Israelites were equated with the Canaanite Diety Bull-El or his son Hadd/Baal.
27. T or F: Asherah worship escaped the Baal purgings of the Yahwehist reformersrelatively untouched until the time of Hezekiah and Isaiah.
28. What is the Hebrew term for queen-mother?
29. What did the ancient Israelites call the brazen serpent?
30. T or F: King Mannasseh restored the image of the Asherah and brazen serpentof Moses to the Temple after Hezekiah destroyed them.
31. T or F: After King Josiah’s harsh anti-Baal and anti-Asherah reforms,their worship disappeared from the Israelite territories.
32. What is the “image of jealousy” in Ezekiel’s vision?
33. T or F: Jehovah and Asherah were worshipped in Israel as the ideal divine couple.
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