Body: | Did Yahweh Have a Consort?
Ze'ev Meshel
BAR 5:02, Mar/Apr 1979
(Did Yahweh Have a Consort, Kuntillet Ajrud, Ze'ev Meshel, 1979 AD)
The new religious inscriptions from the Sinai
The book of Kings describes a time during the 9th-7th centuries B.C. when
the land was divided into two kingdomsJudah in the south and Israel in
the north. Phoenicia and Israel were linked by commerce and royal marriages
and Hebrew monotheism struggled to resist the attraction of pagan gods. The
prophets Elijah, Elisha, Amos and Isaiah inveighed against transgressions.
At Kuntillet Ajrud, a remote desert way-station in the wilderness of
northern Sinai, we found evidence of the multiplicity of religious
practices which provoked the prophets' fury.
In three short seasons of excavation in 1975 and 1976 we uncovered a
remarkable (and completely unexpected) collection of ancient Hebrew and
Phoenician inscriptions painted on plaster walls and large storage jars,
and incised on stone vessels. When the inscriptions were read, we
discovered that they provided clear evidence that Kuntillet Ajrud was not
merely a resting place for desert travelers but was principally a religious
center. The inscriptions contain the names of El and Yahweh, words for God
used in the Hebrew Bible. Yahweh (spelled YHWH in Hebrew consonantal
writing) is the holy name of the Hebrew God as it appears in the Bible. El,
a generic term for God, is also used in the Bible to refer specifically to
the Hebrew God.
But the religious inscriptions from Kuntillet Ajrud also contain the names
of pagan gods and goddesses, like Baal and Asherah. Both the travelers who
stopped at this desert religious center and its few inhabitants were not
all dedicated to the pure monotheistic principles espoused by the Hebrew
prophets of their day. Some of these people may have been syncretistic
Israelites mixing their Yahwistic principles with pagan influences. Others
may have been Phoenicianswe also found some Phoenician inscriptions.
Still others may have been pagans of other religious beliefs.
The most spectacular of the finds were two large pithoi (singular: pithos)
or storage jars. Each of these storage jars is over three feet high and
weighs (empty) almost thirty pounds. Although both pithoi were found in
fragments, they proved to be almost completely restorable. On the outside
of each of these pithoi were several crude, folk-art drawings in red and
black ink as well as a number of religious inscriptions. Two of these
pictures may even be Yahweh and his consorta blasphemous concept never
before suggested by an archaeological discovery!
The first announcement and photographs of the Kuntillet Ajrud finds were
published in the March 1976 issue of BAR ("Cache of Hebrew and Phoenician
Inscriptions Found in the Desert," BAR 02:01). This early account promised
BAR readers a more complete report in the future. Here is that
reportincluding some pictures never before published.
The report has been longer in coming than I expected because the words and
drawings are faded and enigmatic. What I present here are tentative
conclusions and alternative hypotheses about material which I, and other
scholars, will be studying for years to come.
Kuntillet Ajrud is located about forty miles south of Kadesh-Barnea and
sits on a hill which rises beside the Wadi Quraiyaa. Old maps reveal that
the site is a crossroads of desert tracks: one leads from Gaza through
Kadesh-Barnea to Eilat; another traverses the Sinai along the Wadi Quraiya;
and a third branches off to the south via Temed, a well-known way station
in later times, to the center of southern Sinai.
The site was discovered by the famous English explorer Edward Palmer who
surveyed the Sinai Peninsula in the 1860's and visited Ajrud in 1869. There
he carried out a small sounding into the ancient remains and subsequently
identified the site as Gypsaria, a site known from Roman sources as a
station on the Roman road from Gaza to Eilat.
But since Palmer's day archaeologists have learned a great deal about
pottery dating. After the 1967 Six-Day War we came to the site and by
examining the sherds which lay strewn about we were able to detect Palmer's
error easily and to date the site to Iron Age II or the Israelite period.
This new date identified the site as the southernmost outpost of the Judean
kingdom, and it became a prime candidate for excavation. A few years later
I led the archaeological expedition to Kuntillet Ajrud on behalf of Tel
Aviv University (Institutes of Archaeology, and of Nature Conservation
Research); the Israel Department of Antiquity; the Department for Holy-Land
Studies in the Kibbutz Movement, and the Israel Exploration Society.
The top of the hill comprising the site is an oblong plateau extending
east-west, with the ruins located at its western end. Wells in the
vicinityin use even todaygave the site its ancient importance. The
modern Arabic name Kuntillet Ajrud means "Solitary Hill of the Wells," a
name which accurately reflects its character.
The site contains the remains of only two structures: a main building at
the western extremity of the plateau and a smaller building east of it (see
plan). The two buildings are in very different states of preservation.
Almost nothing is left of the small building on the east, and there is
little to say of it. The main building, whose walls have survived to a
height of five feet, measures approximately 75 × 45 feet, and takes up the
whole width of the narrow plateau.
The entrance to this building is from the east, through a small court (1)b
with stone benches along the walls. Fragments of frescoes found amidst the
debris on the floor of the entrance indicate that parts of the walls were
painted with colorful floral motifs and linear designs. An entryway (2) led
from the small entrance court to a broad, narrow room, which we call the
"benchroom" (3). Both the bench-room and the entry had benches along the
walls and were plastered all over with white, shiny plaster.
The bench-room extends across the width of the building. The benches along
the walls on each side of the entrance-way take up most of the floor space,
leaving only a narrow passage between them. At either end of the bench-room
is a window-like opening into a small room. The sills of these windows are
formed by the benches immediately adjacent; the windows are the only
openings or entrances into the small rooms (4 and 5) at the ends of the
bench-room.
Strangely enough, the inner courtyard (6) of the buildingto which we pass
from the benchroomwas empty except for three ovens (7) found in each of
the southern corners, indicating that this was probably the cooking area.
The three ovens could not have been used simultaneously because the floor
level of each oven overlapped the dome of the one below. It is hard to tell
how long each oven was in use, but together, the three ovens probably
functioned as long as the total life of the site, which may have been no
more than one generation. Steps (8) were found in the southern corners and
probably formed part of staircases leading to the roof.
To the south and west of the courtyard were two long rooms (9 and 10). In
the floor, bases of pithoi, or storage jars, were firmly embedded and so
closely spaced that it must have been difficult to pass between them. There
is no doubt that these rooms were used for storing food.
Tower-like corner rooms (11 and 12) were found in the western corners of
the building. Access to these rooms is from the courtyard. At the rear of
each room is a small compartment. Not much is left of the southwestern
room, most of which had collapsed into the valley, but the room in the
northwestern corner is fairly well preserved and contained some flat
limestone slabs of unknown purpose, stone bowls, and red- and black-painted
pottery vessels.
The relatively well-preserved condition of these tower-like rooms revealed
some interesting construction details: the walls were built of rough unhewn
stones, quarried from local limestone; branchesmainly of the tamarisk
tree which grows abundantly in the Wadi Quraiyawere placed between the
stone courses, some lengthwise and others crosswise, forming an
intermediate course which acted as a binder for the wall. Incorporating
tree branches in construction is well-known from various countries and was
used over long periods. In 1 Kings 7:12, it is said that in the court of
the Temple in Jerusalem there were "three courses of hewn stone ... and a
course of cedar beams." At Kuntillet Ajrud there were no hewn stones and no
cedar beams, but the interlaced tamarisk branches seem to be a less refined
version of the Temple construction technique. Wood of any kind is a rare
find in such an ancient building in Israel.
With the exception of the bench-room, the entryway and the entrance court
(which were covered with white plaster), the walls of this building were
coated with a plaster of mud mixed with straw. Ceilings were made of
branches, many of which were found in the debris of the rooms.
The most remarkable finds of the excavation, however, were the inscriptions
and drawings. Most of these were found in the bench-room and in the two
side rooms entered from the bench-room.
A fragment of a Phoenician inscription was found in situ on the north jamb
of the doorway leading from the bench-room to the courtyard. Unfortunately,
it is so faded that it cannot be read. Near the entrance to the western
store room (10), fragments of another inscription on plaster were found. It
too had originally been written on the jamb of the entrance to this store
room. It resembles the other inscription in its poor state of preservation
and fragmentary condition. It can, however, be read partially. The words
which we have been able to decipher include:
wb'rh.'l.b ... "and in the (just) ways of El"
brk.b'l.bym.ml ... "blessed be Ba'al in the day of ... "
sûm.'l.bym.ml ... "the name of El in the day of ... "
(The dots are word dividers).
The original location of these inscriptionson the door jambsrecalls the
Biblical verse: "And you shall write them on the doorposts of your home and
one your gates" (Deuteronomy 6:9).
Another inscription was found on a plaster fragment which had dropped off
the wall of the bench-room. It reads: ... brk.ymm.wysûb'w/hytb.yhwh ...
(The slash indicates a new line.) The religious content is clear. Brk.ymm
means "blessed be their day" and hytb.yhwh means "Yahweh favored." Although
these texts are extremely incomplete and difficult to decipher, they are
clearly religious in nature and appear to consist of requests, prayers and
blessings.
The most dramatic discoveries were on two pithoi, previously mentioned,
which were restored from sherds found in the bench-room. Both pithoi were
densely covered with drawings as well as inscriptions. The drawings and
inscriptions frequently overlapped. Most were executed in red ink and all
are in early Hebrew script. Because of their very poor condition, we used a
special photographic technique to bring out the script to help us decipher
it.
The first large pithos contains two drawings, one on either side. One of
the drawings includes three figures: a seated woman playing the lyre; the
god Bes in the center with his genitals (or tail) exposed between his legs;
and another unidentified deity on the left similarly exposed. Bes stands in
his characteristic stance, arms akimbo with his customary feathered
headdress. Originally an Egyptian demi-god, in the course of time Bes was
adopted by most other countries in the ancient Near East and figures
depicting him have been found frequently in Syria, Phoenicia, and the
Mediterranean islands.
The inscription written across the top of the drawing and over the unusual
headdress of the god (goddess?) on the left reads as follows:
'mr.' ... h. k. 'mr.lyhl ... wlyw'sh.w ... brkt.'tkm.
lyhwh.smrn.wl'srth.
The first portion of the inscription seems to be a statement in the form "X
said to Y and Z" but only the word 'mr "said" and the name yw'sh "Yo'asah"
are legible.
The words following can be read in several ways. It is clearly a blessing
which begins "May you be blessed by Yahweh." Then come the two final words
smrn and wl'srthc. The former, pronounced "shomrenu" in Hebrew, may have
the meaning "protect us" or "guard us." The same letters can also be read
as "Shomron," a proper name referring to the Biblical city of Shomron
(Samaria), the capital of the Northern Kingdom. Which of the two
interpretations is preferable? We cannot be sure. It would seem at first
that the translation of smrn as "protect" is clearly preferable to
"Shomron" because, in the Bible, Yhwh "Yahweh" is never followed by a
proper name (with the exception of the title tsebaot, usually translated
"God of Hosts"). However, there is an argument for the translation
"Shomron" which we will present below.
The meaning of the last word 'srth (pronounced "Asherato") is even more
enigmatic. Asherah is a pagan female diety mentioned frequently as the
consort of Baal. But the "to" ending is a possessive form and this form is
not used in Hebrew in connection with a proper name. However, if Asherah
had the generic meaning of a female deity who was Yahweh's consort, then
the possessive form could have been used. Asherah or Asherat also has two
other meanings: one, it is an object, usually a tree, which symbolizes a
deity, and the second, cella or holy of holies (or shrine). With either of
these two meanings the possessive ending "o" would be grammatically
correct. Thus it would be proper to say, "his (Yahweh's) holy of holies,"
or "his (Yahweh's) tree symbol or "his (Yahweh's) consort."
It is enticing to try to find a connection between the inscription and the
drawings below it. One notices that the faces and ears of the two figures
on the left resemble a cow or a calf. The calf may have had a holy meaning
in the northern kingdom of Israelsuggested by the fact that Jeroboam
erected a statue of a golden calf in the sanctuary at Bethel and at Dan (I
Kings 12:29). Therefore, the depiction of deities with cow-like faces
suggests that perhaps the inscription above them may be read "Yahweh of
Shomron." It is also possible that two of the three figures, (the lady with
the lyre, the Bes or the other standing person) may be depictions of
"Yahweh and his consort" if the final phrase is read in this waya
thoroughly blasphemous notion, but one which seems consistent with the
diverse religious influences at Kuntillet Ajrud.
On the other side of this same large pithos is a drawing of a
"tree-of-life," sprouting lily flowers, and flanked on either side by
ibexes. Below the tree of life is a majestic lion in motion. This pithos
also contains a drawing of a cow, head turned back, suckling its calf.
These motifs are well known in the Syro-Phoenician world, and we found many
close comparisons to the Ajrud drawings. It is easy to see that the
artistic execution at Ajrud is not refined; we may be quite sure that the
drawings were by local artists who, although isolated in the desert, were
influenced by the Syro-Phoenician cultural environment.
The second pithos contains a number of drawings, most of them poorly
executed. These include the figure of a man drawing a bow, a cow (this time
without a calf) and a striking scene of five figures standing in a row with
arms upraised in a gesture of prayer.
This pithos also contains a number of inscriptions and four Hebrew
abecedariesd. In these abecedaries the letter pe precedes the ayin, rather
than the reverse, as is usually the case in the later Hebrew alphabet. This
reversal of letters is also found in four acrostic paragraphs in the Bible
(Lamentations 1-3 and Proverbs 31). Recently a Hebrew alphabet from the
11th century B.C. was discovered at Izbet Sartah (see A. Demsky and M.
Kochavi, "An Alphabet from the Days of the Judges," BAR 04:03) in which the
same letter reversal occurred. Apparently, the alphabetic order preserved
in the 8th century Kuntillet Ajrud inscription is not an error, but a
continuation of a much earlier alphabetic tradition.
Another inscription on this pithos contains a blessing:
'mryw 'mrl.'dny h ... brktk.lyhwh ...
wl'srth.ybrk.wysmrk wyhy 'm.'dnu ...
"Amaryau said to my lord. ... may you be blessed by Yahweh and by his
Asherah. Yahweh bless you and keep you and be with you ... "
A similar inscription was incised on the rim of an enormous stone bowl
found in the bench-room. The bowl was apparently dedicated to the site for
use there by its donor. What the use was we do not know. Given the fact
that the bowl weighs over 400 pounds, it is safe to say that the donor, one
"Obadyau," was not only wealthy but also believed in the sanctity of the
site.
The inscription on the rim of the bowl reads as follows:
l'bdyw bn 'dnh brk h'lyhw
"(Belonging) to 'Obadyau son of 'Adnah, may he be blessed by Yahwe(h) ...
The donor's name "Obadyau", like most of the other private names, has the
ending "yau" (common in the northern kingdom and known from the Samaria
Ostracae and other finds) and not "yahu" (the common form in Judah). Does
this show that the people who wrote the inscriptions came from the northern
kingdom of Israel? This is another problem yet to be solved. A second stone
bowl found in the bench-room also contains a "yau" name. It reads:
sm'yw bn 'zr
"Shema'yau son of 'Ezer"
Adnah (the father of Obadyau who gave the large stone bowl to the site)
bears a name that appears in 2 Chronicles 17:14. This Biblical Adnah
commanded 300,000 men under King Jehosaphat, who reigned in Judah between
867 and 851 B.C. If the donor of the bowl was the son of the Biblical
Adnah, this would date the bowl and the site a generation after
Jehosaphatthat isto the late 9th century B.C. This fits well into our
dating of the site to a period between the mid-9th century and the mid-8th
century B.C.
Another group of secular inscriptions are those which were incised on
vessels before and after firing. Those incised after firing include three
personal names. They also include the inscription lsr'r which was found
scratched four times on storage jars. lsr'r is similar to two inscriptions
on recently found bullae (sealings) which were stamped lsrh'r (lesar ha'ir)
"(belonging) to the governor of the city." These sealings have been
attributed by Professor Nachman Avigad to the governor of Jerusalem.
According to this hypothesis, the Kuntillet Ajrud inscription should be
read lesar 'ir (without the article ha-the)"(belonging) to the governor
of a city." The term would then refer to the person who was in charge of
the site. The presence of a governor who received supplies shows that Ajrud
was organized as a small administrative unit.
Finally, we should mention short inscriptions which were incised on storage
jars before firing. Most of the large storage jars had one or two letters
incised on the shoulder. The most common single letter was 'alef. Less
common was the letter yod. The combination qof resh occurred twice. The
purpose of these signs is not clear. Perhaps they were marks of capacity,
quantity or quality, destination or use. In any case, the markings were
decided on at the place of manufacture of the vessels, and before they were
finished; this place could not have been Kuntillet Ajrud.
These letters may indicate that the content complied with religious law or
was intended for religious use. At Masada, some storage jars were found
marked with the letter taw as well as many small sherds with the letter yod
and other initials. Yigael Yadin notes that in the Mishna (a second century
A.D. compilation of what was previously oral law) the use of letters on
vessels is explained: "If a vessel was found on which is written a qof, it
is qorban (offering); if a mem, it is ma'aser (tithed); if a dalet, it is
demai (tithing is uncertain); if a tet, it is tebel (untithed); if a taw,
it is terumah (heave-offering)." The vessels from Masada date about 800
years later than the storage jars at Kuntillet Ajrud and the Mishna is
still later, but perhaps the tradition recorded in the Mishna and preserved
at Masada is based on a custom already prevalent in the days of the
Monarchy. If so, then do the letters qof resh at Kuntillet Ajrud stand for
qorban (sacrifice) and does the letter yod signify ma'aser (tithed)? Do the
letters indicate that the site was inhabited by a group of priests who, as
in Jerusalem and other centers, received and lived on tithes and offerings?
Additional support for the hypothesis of a group of priests living at
Kuntillet Ajrud is the large quantity of finely woven linen fabric found
there. Linen fabrics must have had some special meaning for the
inhabitants. According to the Bible, linen had cultic significance. Ezekiel
stresses that when the priests enter the gates of the inner court, "they
must wear linen garments; they must have nothing of wool on them while they
minister at the gates of the inner court and within. They shall have linen
turbans upon their heads and linen breeches upon their loins ... " (Ezekiel
44:17-18).
Over 100 pieces of textile fragments were found in our excavations,
preserved by the dry desert air. Most of the fabric was linen, but there
was some wool too. All the fabric was made from good quality yarn and was
evenly woven, although the thickness and density of the weave varied.
Pieces of cloth were woven together so neatly and carefully and with such a
fine needle that it resembles today's so-called "invisible mending." Some
of the fabrics have colored yarn woven into them as decorations.
We found some fabric made of mixed wool and linen. In one instance the red
threads are wool and the blue linen. Garments made of a mixture of linen
and wool are expressly forbidden in the Bible (Leviticus 19:19; Deuteronomy
22:11), but it may be that the prohibition was for ordinary people and not
priests. The description of the garments of Aaron shows that they were
especially splendid. The rich colors could probably be obtained only by
dying woolen threads, thus indicating that part of the garments were of
wool as they were at Ajrud.
It would be tempting to call the building at Kuntillet Ajrud a temple, but
it bears none of the architectural features we customarily associate with a
temple. The plan of the building does not contain a holy of holies, nor
does it conform to the plan of other temples known from excavations in the
Near East. Moreover, we found the remains of no cult objects, such as
animal altars or incense burners or cult altars.
On the other hand, although the building was probably not a temple, we
think that it was a religious center of some kind where people deposited
their offerings in the bench-room.
The site represents, in our opinion, a religious center which had some
connection with the journeys of the Judaean kings to Eilat, Ezion-Geber and
perhaps even to southern Sinai. The establishment of this center may have
come about through identification of the site with one of the Israelite
traditions concerning Sinai. Travelers could pray here, each man to his
god, and ask the divine blessing for his journey, much as is done today at
holy places, or at sheikhs' tombs.
After the Exodus, the only Biblical personality who went to Mt. Horeb
(identified with Mt. Sinai) was Elijah (1 Kings 19:8), who lived during the
reign of King Jehosaphat (861-851 B.C.). Following Elijah, did a tradition
of pilgrimage to Mt. Horeb (Sinai) develop, and was Kuntillet Ajrud a
station on the pilgrims' route?
The pagan elements, so tangibly represented at Kuntillet Ajrud, are also
vividly portrayed in Biblical descriptions of the period. Elijah himself
vented his fury at King Ahab (871-852 B.C.) of Israel who took for himself
a Phoenician queen, Jezebel (1 Kings 17-18). Jezebel propagated Baal
worship in Israel and her husband built her a temple of Baal (1 Kings
16:31-32). Jezebel's daughter, Athaliah, became queen of Judah after the
death of her son Ahaziah, who ruled only one year. Athaliah built a temple
of Baal in Jerusalem and murdered all living descendants of the Davidic
line (except for Joashher grandsonwho was hidden from her for seven
years).
It is tantalizing to try to date Kuntillet Ajrud, to pinpoint in whose
reign this religious center was established. The pottery and the form of
the script suggests the end of the 9th to the beginning of the 8th
centuries. But to be more precise, we must look for a time when these
"facts" which we have discovered at Kuntillet Ajrud could have occurred
together: the use of Phoenician script, the mixture of religious practices,
priests in residence, names with you endings (a northern rather than a
Judaean influence), tools made of wood from trees in southern Sinai, and
the location of the site on a route linking Judah with Eilat.
Perhaps Kuntillet Ajrud was established during the short reign of the
half-Phoenician queen, Athaliah, whose Phoenician lineage, whose hatred of
the priests of the house of David, and whose worship of Baal is all
documented in the Book of Kings. Perhaps she sent her priests to live and
serve at Ajrud. Perhaps it was she who gave the Phoenicians from the north
their much sought passage through Judah on their way to the Red Sea.
Perhaps this traffic explains why we find wood from the south and you names
from the North. Perhaps in the Phoenician inscriptions they left behind,
these Phoenician travelers left evidence of their respite at Kuntillet
By Steve Rudd: Contact the author for comments, input or corrections.
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