JILL HAMMER: Stone inscriptions show that Israelites may once have worshipped Asherah, a Goddess of love and fertility known as “She Who Walks on the Sea,” as the Female counterpart to the Israelite God we call Adonai. References in Jeremiah 7:18 and 44:17 indicates that Israelite women worshipped the "Queen of Heaven” by baking cakes~this Queen may have been Asherah.
SUSAN ACKERMAN: Asherah’s sacred pole was perceived as an appropriate icon to erect in Jerusalem, even in YHWH’s temple. If a correspondence holds, then the trees of life and of knowledge in the Eden narrative may also reflect Asherah imagery.
SUSAN ACKERMAN: in royal circles, especially in the southern capital city of Jerusalem, the cult of Asherah was particularly attractive to the king’s mother. Not only was the queen mother’s position in the palace generally paralleled by Asherah’s position as mother goddess in the heavens, but also the queen mother’s status as the wife of the king’s father suggests an affinity to Asherah’s cult. This is because southern royal ideology typically described the king’s metaphorical father as YHWH. For those ancient Israelites who saw Asherah as YHWH’s consort, this should suggest a correspondence between the queen mother, the wife of the king’s biological father on earth, and Asherah, the wife of YHWH, who was the king’s metaphorical father in the heavens.
"Asherah's daughter, Astarte is only referred to nine times in the Bible (compared to Asherah’s forty entries), but by the 5th or 6th century BC she was almost certainly more widely worshiped. 1 Sam 31:10, the armor of the dead King Saul is taken by the Philistines to the temple of Astarte, and this may further indicate the goddess’s warrior characteristics."
JILL HAMMER: Finding God in a Christmas tree and calling Her Asherah, or finding God in the thunderous Elephant and calling Him Baal, or finding God in the cycle of Death and life and calling Her Virginia Millano Evangelista Fabro~Rivera, seems less strange when we think that everything we know about God comes from something we have seen, heard, or felt in a text, in the world, or in ourselves. 🎄🐘🎁⛈️
ERIK PARKER: Jesus keeps coming kind of like that widow who persists.
MORGAN LEE: While the season is generally seen as a time of preparing to celebrate Christ’s birth on Christmas, the focus historically was a time to focus on Jesus’ Second Coming. This Advent, let’s focus on Christ’s return.
GILBERT KEITH CHESTERTON: Tradition refuses to submit to the small and arrogant oligarchy of those who merely happen to be walking about.
KRISTY HUPPERTZ FULLER: Christmas was originally a pagan celebration of the winter solstice until Constantine converted from pagan to Christian and out Christmas into play. Many of the Christian traditions at Christmas come from pagan traditions. So people have trouble with that but I don't.
CHERYL L. HAUER: Moab was the district extending the length of the eastern side of the Dead Sea. The people were actually close kin to the Israelites, having descended from Abraham’s nephew Lot (Gen. 19:36–37). Their religion, although polytheistic, was dominated by the pagan god Chemosh. This false deity is frequently mentioned in the Hebrew Scriptures and, like his counterpart Molech in Ammon (north of Moab), he required human sacrifice for propitiation. Though the Moabites worshiped Baal and many lesser gods, it was on the altar of Chemosh that they sacrificed their children.
MICAH D. HALPERN: Christians are the hosts and Jews are guests.
JILL HAMMER: The Digital Church where I pray occasionally is quite sensitive to these Goddess issues. Yet sometimes, when Familiar Accusations of idolatry scream from the Pulpit, I slouch in my seat and read Jewish Commentary for signs of Feminine Imagery. If things get really bad, I extract my Unlisted Playlist with The Art of War and visit online Ancestor Altars for Forbidden Inspiration. It’s not a very traditional way to observe the Day of the Lord, but, at least, Queen Mother Virginia Millano Evangelista Fabro~Rivera would understand.
