Ashtoreth

Biblical Texts

Ashtoreth is usually paired with Baal as a term for Israel's idolatry.

• Judges 2:13; 10:6: These passages record that Israel "forsook the LORD, and served Baal and Ashtaroth." The expression summarizes the recurring apostasy of the period of the judges.
• 1 Samuel 7:3–4: Samuel urges the people to "put away the strange gods and Ashtaroth." Israel complies and serves the LORD only, and afterward the Ebenezer stone is set up at the site of the victory (1 Samuel 7:12). The same confession of repentance appears in 1 Samuel 12:10.
• 1 Samuel 31:10: The Philistines placed Saul's armor in "the house of Ashtaroth," that is, her temple.
• 1 Kings 11:5, 33: In his later years Solomon went after "Ashtoreth the goddess of the Zidonians."
• 2 Kings 23:13: As part of his reforms, Josiah defiled the high places (elevated sites of worship) that Solomon had built for Ashtoreth.

Separately, Ashtaroth is also the name of the city where Og king of Bashan dwelt (Deuteronomy 1:4; Joshua 13:12). It has been suggested that the place name derives from the goddess's name, but this is uncertain.

Background

In the ancient Near East this goddess is known as Astarte. She was worshiped in Phoenician centers such as Sidon and is understood to have been associated with fertility, love, and war. Many scholars regard her as closely related to the Mesopotamian goddess Ishtar.

The Hebrew singular form is ʿAshtoret and the plural ʿAshtarot. The New Korean Revised Version renders both with a single name, whereas English versions such as the KJV distinguish Ashtoreth (singular) from Ashtaroth (plural). The plural is sometimes understood to refer to images of the goddess in various localities or to goddess worship in general. A widely known scholarly view holds that the vowels of the singular form were deliberately borrowed from the Hebrew word boshet, meaning "shame," as a pejorative.

Significance in the Bible as a Whole

In Judges, Samuel, and Kings, "Baal and Ashtaroth" functions almost as a set phrase for the worship of foreign gods in general. Such worship is portrayed as a betrayal of the covenant with the LORD. The name Ashtoreth does not appear in the New Testament, though the teaching to keep away from idols continues there (1 Corinthians 8:4–6; 1 John 5:21).

Interpretation and Issues

• Distinction from Asherah: The Old Testament names Asherah separately, and the term Asherah also denotes a cult object in the form of a wooden pole. Some regard the two goddesses as the same being or as having been worshiped in a blended form, so scholars explain their relationship in different ways.
• The queen of heaven: Some identify the "queen of heaven" in Jeremiah 7:18 and 44:17–19 with Ashtoreth or Ishtar. The text itself, however, does not name her.
• Cultic prostitution: Sermons and commentaries commonly state that the worship of Ashtoreth involved lewd rites with "temple prostitutes." The passages above, however, do not directly describe such rites, and whether cultic prostitution actually existed in the ancient Near East remains debated among scholars.
• Modern application: Likening Ashtoreth to the contemporary pursuit of pleasure or prosperity does not come directly from the text; it is an application added in preaching.

In the Korean Church

In the Korean church, the call to "put away Baal and Ashtaroth" is frequently cited in sermons on Judges and in sermons on the repentance and the Ebenezer stone in 1 Samuel 7.