You're listening to Tim Bulkeley's 5 minute Bible
Yahweh the God of the Old Testament had a wife
this is a matter of
archaeological probability
and biblical fact
as a question of history
So, the historical question is: Did ancient Israelites and ancient Judeans think she's right sneak into the ins
that Yahweh had a wife and worship his wife as well as him?
Yes. Archaeology suggests it, though as I hinted yesterday, the evidence is pretty slender
it amounts to two lines of argument
(a) there were a lot of figurines of female figures found all around the area
that ancient Israel inhabited, from the on iron-age
they are most likely goddesses
and the other is this one ostracon which talks about Yahweh of Samaria
and his Asherah
surprisingly the evidence from the Bible is much much stronger than the evidence
from archaeology
because Bible, time and again, tells us of kings who removed the Asherah poles
you can't remove something if it isn't there in the first place!
And several times
the Bible condemns Israelites
who do worship Asherah
you don't condemn something unless it's happening
So, in this case, the Bible gives us much stronger evidence than archaeology does
that there were ancient Israelites who worshipped Asherah
and who probably worshipped her as the wife of Yahweh
Now let's look a little closer at the theological question, having established
pretty much
the historical question
In terms of theology:
Does the Bible describe a god who is male?
most people's assumption is that it does
but does it?
it is masculine pronouns but the movie in Hebrew is that you use a masculine
pronouns if you don't know the gender of what you're talking about. So, for example,
if you're talking about a bunch of people which includes both men and women
you use the masculine plural
and in Hebrew it's not just people and animals who have gender, everything has
a gender and so you have a
'they' plural feminine
and a 'they' plural masculine
so if you're talking about a bunch of feminine objects you use the 'they' feminine
but it's a mixed gender bunch
like people
you use the masculine
So, given that you are speaking Hebrew,
you pretty much have to talk about Yahweh
unless Yahweh was quite clearly female, you'd have to talk about Yahweh as
'he'
whether Yahweh is male
or whether Yahweh is no gender, beyond gender
super-gendered
so the question is, is Yahweh male?
or Yahweh beyond gender?
for all of the gods of the ancient world the question was easy because you would
look at their statues
and is that you would tell you whether the god was male or female
there are certain distinguishing characteristics you may have noticed ;)
But the Bible says that Yahweh must not, may not,
be pictured in this way
so how would you know if God
was male or female
now wait a minute, I said you look at the images
what is the image of God? In Genesis 1 we are told
"in the image of god he made them
male and female he made them"
the image of the God of the Bible is in both male and female
this God is not either male or female
but his image is found in both
and again the Bible uses masculine pictures of God, God as a warrior
God is a judge and so on
but it also uses feminine pictures of God
God is a mother
and in Genesis chapter 3
God is a seamstress
knocking up a set of clothes for Adam and Eve when they discover they're naked
The biblical God
is not,
cannot be, male.
If God was male, God would be like Ba'al
a god
a male god, a god who is partial and who needs a female god to compete him
and that was the problem with those ancient Israelites who historically as
a matter of fact
worshipped Yahweh and his wife
they diminished God with a capital G
to merely a god
like other gods
and that the Bible cannot and will not tolerate
as a matter of historical fact
Yahweh had a wife (as far as many ancient Israelites' and Judeans' beliefs went)
but as a matter of theological fact, the Bible will not tolerate such a god
because such a god is a Ba'al such a god is a false god
the one true God
is beyond gender
neither male nor female, imaged in both male and female
If you say that God is male
you're committing idolatry
it's as simple as that
if you say that God is my male or masculine
in ways that God is not female or feminine
you are an idolater
worshipping a false god
and not the God of the Bible!