Take My Wife…Please! Bibles buried Secrets by Jane Renton
By admin
So…it turns out God/Yahweh/El had a wife…and how is that a surprise? Behind every great man there is more often than not a great woman, whereas sisters can more than do it for themselves – and everyone else. Or so they say.
Dr Francesca Stavrakopoulou – presenter of ‘Bible’s Buried Secrets,’ Tuesdays on BBC2 – presents the compelling and troubling argument that not only did God have a wife, but she was airbrushed out of history. As the fair half of a frankly cool sounding couple, Asherah ruled the squabbling heavenly family with Yahweh until the movement from polytheism towards monotheism in the 6th Century caused her to be vilified and diminished to a few cryptic passages. Dr Stavrakopoulou describes the fallout:
‘Monotheism brought with it a terrible consequence. God is exclusively male, and so to be male is to be like God. And this has coloured attitudes towards women for centuries and centuries. In toppling the goddess from heaven, monotheism disempowered women. The evidence I’ve presented rocks the foundation of modern monotheism, and for some, that may have a severe impact – but it seems to me that the loss of God’s wife had an even greater impact on the history of humanity. And that’s the painful truth.’
Despite some fairly robust (male) press criticism, the programme does not seek to assert some kind of Feminist agenda – though it would be fair to say only the meek chiquita would seek to disinherit this whole heap of humble mud pie. Instead, Dr Stavrakopoulou looks at the Bible with critical detachment on a number of issues. Principally, that ancient Israelites worshipped many gods, meaning the origins of Christianity and Judaism were originally poly not monotheistic and that ancient Israelites believed God, or El, or Yahweh were all the same. More to the point, this deity of many names headed a cooperative of multiple gods – including the now literally demonised Baal – with ‘At his right, his own Asherah.’ 33.3 Deuteronomy
This would mean that the ancient Israelite religion was not distinctly individual, but segued out of the older Canaanite tradition – which in turn has implications for the modern intractable conflict in Palestine and the Israeli state. In effect, the ancient Israelite religion was therefore simply an evolved subset of the original Canaanites. With this in mind, wouldn’t it all just be hunky-dory if Netanyahu, Haniyeh and Fayadd agreed that Dr Francesca makes a convincing point and they should all just share? No chance. But imagine Asherah still had heavenly custody – ‘Kids, don’t make me come down there!’
Sadly, the battle of the gods depicted in Psalm 82 of the Bible also reflected a time of upheaval in ancient Israeli history. The 6th Century saw the Babylonian invasion and the displacement of tribes throughout the region. The power struggle that still exists today began, and the scribes began to spin the old stories – claiming to have the ‘one true god’ and absolutely no goddess – to the extent that Asherah became a name to be vilified. Her image was recast as the chaste Virgin Mary. Where Asherah had a voice and was a partner in heaven, Mary was obedient…sexless…safe.
Politicians – even ancient ones – twist words. When the words are those of one of the most enduring and dominant religions it is terrifying how literally people will take them. People of faith don’t need historical proof, so in some ways it is useless to try and prove any discrepancies or prejudices to them. They will basically see what they want to see, even if it is blatantly implausible or unjust. Frightening to think how unwilling we are to renounce a system that subjugates and marginalises the role of women at the heart and the head of their own communities – heavenly or otherwise.
Catch Bible’s Buried Secrets tonight on BBC2 9pm.
Jane Renton is a thirtysomething writer and mother of three children with disabilities.
I’m not a scholar, I’m not a scriptural academic, I’m just a Russian Orthodox Christian with leanings in the direction of Judaism who has made as close a study of the OT as I have been able, and there is nothing in what Francesca Stavrakopoulou says that has taken me by surprise. Given the pre-programme publicity I expected her to be really radical saying completely batty things, but so far (with maybe a few details, too few to bother with), she has said stuff that has made complete sense and in line with what is already known about early Judaism. I’m enjoying her series and look forward to more. What must be remembered though is religion is an EXPRESSION of the inexpressible and the Bible is NOT the literal factual word of God but a collection of documents written to record man’s passage to understanding what is impossible to understand, and express what cannot be wholly expressed. It is a collection of historical, personal and public records that has been assigned the status of divine. What WE consider divine is not necessarily what God would consider divine. History is written by the victors and is spun by those who have the opportunity to do so. This is seen in contemporary history and ancient history alike. What FS is doing is unpeeling the what the Bible is commonly perceived by pietism to be saying to reveal what it actually says, and I thank God that she is.
I think John Milton said it best:
‘For neither man nor angel can discern Hypocrisy, the only evil that walks Invisible, except to God alone, By his permissive will, through heav’n and earth.’ (Paradise Lost -bk. III, l. 682)
His idea was that the interpretation of whatever we believe divinity to be is flawed, therefore any church or hierarchical structure can fall prey to dogma. Divinity or spiritual belief must pass inevitably through the prism of human experience and cultural prejudice and emerge skewed, or at the very least interpreted in some way – simply because to be human is not divine.
From an atheist point of view, it is utterly fascinating to put these ‘collection of historical, personal and public records’ under the historical microscope. The early Israelites emerge from it as recognizable rogues, prevaricators and spin doctors, and this should make study of this era much more relevant to religious and atheist alike.
It is so healthy to cast light on these issues, and that those of true faith do not feel threatened. If it succeeds in making at least one Creationist think twice, it will be a great thing.
The Garden of Eden has been found in the Rachaiya Basin, Southern Lebanon by exploration geologist and multi disciplined researcher Christian O’Brien CBE, who recorded the facts on this discovery in his book, co-authored with his wife Barbara Joy, the Genius of the Few in 1984.
Up to date translations of Genesis, the Books of Enoch and the crucial Kharsag cuneiform records from the Nippur library, re-write our secular history without religious bias.
A raft of supporting evidence is available, which features this site as the source of the domestication of animals and crops (plus technology) from 9,400 BC, at the start of the Holocene warming, following the Great Younger Dryas cataclysm generated ice age. Together with site survey records, photographs, and a video presentation, much more is available on the Golden Age Project website.
An, the leader of the small advanced group who re-started agriculture and civilised living following this global catastrophe, was later deified as the earliest monotheistic God. Yahweh in fact translates as leader of this group, in Hebrew described as the Elohim. The Qur’an translates as the readings and recitations of An, although the contents were recorded some 9,800 years later.
An’s daughter Ninkharsag was the governor of the research establishment based on irrigation agriculture, and later described as the Goddess of Irrigation (or Ceres). Her statue was the central feature in the 200 acre administrative centre of Mari (another name for Ninkharsag) on the Euphrates. On the documentary Dr Francesca came close to this important information and should have done her homework on this crucial subject, which identifies Ninkharsag, wife of Enlil, as the origin of the Mother Goddess, upon whom Ashera was much later based. Male and female leaders of communities were described as Yahweh and Ashera. Ashera could be wife or consort, and this formed the basis of the equal male and female administrative roles of Mayor and Mayoress, which still survives, but carrying the religious bias or dogma against the role of women.
Our first Laws were the Edicts of An and Enlil (El Shaddai or El Elyon) and our first Encyclopaedia of Astronomy was Enuma An and Enlil, factors which would have been well known and understood by Abraham of Ur.