Journal of Book of Mormon Studies

Volume 9 Number 2 Article 4

7-31-2000

Nephi and His Asherah

Daniel C. Peterson

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BYU ScholarsArchive Citation Peterson, Daniel C. (2000) "Nephi and His Asherah," Journal of Book of Mormon Studies: Vol. 9 : No. 2 , Article 4. Available at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/jbms/vol9/iss2/4

This Feature Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Journals at BYU ScholarsArchive. It has been accepted for inclusion in Journal of Book of Mormon Studies by an authorized editor of BYU ScholarsArchive. For more information, please contact [email protected], [email protected]. Title Nephi and His Asherah

Author(s) Daniel C. Peterson

Reference Journal of Book of Mormon Studies 9/2 (2000): 16–25, 80–81.

ISSN 1065-9366 (print), 2168-3158 (online)

Abstract Asherah was the chief of the Canaanites. She was ’s wife and the mother and wet nurse of the other . At least some Israelites worshipped her over a period from the conquest of Canaan in the second millennium before Christ to the fall of Jerusalem in 586 bc (the time of Lehi’s departure with his family). Asherah was associated with trees—sacred trees. The rabbinic authors of the Jewish Mishna (second–third century ad) explain the asherah as a tree that was worshipped. In 1 Nephi 11, Nephi consid- ers the meaning of the tree of life as he sees it in vision. In answer, he receives a vision of “a virgin, . . . the mother of the Son of , after the manner of the flesh.” The answer to his question about the meaning of the tree lies in the virgin mother with her child. The virgin is the tree in some sense and Nephi accepted this as an answer to his question. As an Israelite living at the end of the seventh century and during the early sixth century before Christ, he recognized an answer to his question about a marvel- ous tree in the otherwise unexplained image of a virginal mother and her divine child—not that what he saw and how he interpreted those things were perfectly obvious. What he “read” from the symbolic vision was culturally colored. Nephi’s vision reflects a meaning of the “sacred tree” that is unique to the . Asherah is also associated with biblical wisdom literature. Wisdom, a female, appears as the wife of God and represents life. NEPHI & HIS ASHERAH

Daniel C. Peterson

Nephi’s vision of the tree of life, among the best- Since Nephi wanted to know the meaning of the known passages in the Book of Mormon, expands tree that his father had seen and that he himself now upon the vision received earlier by his father, Lehi. saw, we would expect “the Spirit” to answer Nephi’s question. But the response to Nephi’s question is And it came to pass that the Spirit said unto surprising: me: Look! And I looked and beheld a tree; and it was like unto the tree which my father had seen; And it came to pass that he said unto me: Look! and the beauty thereof was far beyond, yea, exceed- And I looked as if to look upon him, and I saw ing of all beauty; and the whiteness thereof did him not; for he had gone from before my presence. exceed the whiteness of the driven snow. And it came to pass that I looked and beheld And it came to pass after I had seen the tree, I the great city of Jerusalem, and also other cities.

said unto the Spirit: I behold thou hast shown And I beheld the city of Nazareth; and in the city LIZ LEMON SWINDLE BY unto me the tree which is precious above all. of Nazareth I beheld a virgin, and she was exceed- And he said unto me: What desirest thou? ingly fair and white. And I said unto him: To know the interpreta- And it came to pass that I saw the heavens tion thereof. . . . (1 Nephi 11:8–11) open; and an angel came down and stood before SHE SHALL BRING FORTH A SON, SHE SHALL BRING FORTH

This article is an abbreviated version of a previously published and fuller argument in Davis Bitton, ed., Mormons, Scripture, and the Ancient World: Studies in Honor of John L. Sorenson (Provo, Utah: FARMS, 1998), 191–243.

me; and he said unto me: Nephi, what beholdest How has Nephi come to this understanding? thou? Clearly, the answer to his question about the mean- And I said unto him: A virgin, most beauti- ing of the tree lies in the virgin mother with her ful and fair above all other virgins. child. It seems, in fact, that the virgin is the tree in And he said unto me: Knowest thou the some sense. Even the language used to describe her condescension of God? echoes that used for the tree. Just as she was “exceed- And I said unto him: I know that he loveth ingly fair and white,” “most beautiful and fair above his children; nevertheless, I do not know the all other virgins,” so was the tree’s beauty “far meaning of all things. beyond, yea, exceeding of all beauty; and the white- And he said unto me: Behold, the virgin ness thereof did exceed the whiteness of the driven whom thou seest is the mother of the Son of snow.” Significantly, though, it was only when she God, after the manner of the flesh. appeared with a baby and was identified as “the And it came to pass that I beheld that she mother of the Son of God” that Nephi grasped the was carried away in the Spirit; and after she had tree’s meaning. been carried away in the Spirit for the space of a Why would Nephi see a connection between a time the angel spake unto me, saying: Look! tree and the virginal mother of a divine child? I And I looked and beheld the virgin again, believe that Nephi’s vision reflects a meaning of the bearing a child in her arms. “sacred tree” that is unique to the ancient Near East, And the angel said unto me: Behold the and that, indeed, can only be fully appreciated when Lamb of God, yea, even the Son of the Eternal the ancient Canaanite and Israelite associations of Father! (1 Nephi 11:12–21) that tree are borne in mind.

Then “the Spirit” asks Nephi the question that Asherah, Consort of El Nephi himself had posed only a few verses before: The cultural and religious distance between Canaanites and Israelites was considerably smaller Knowest thou the meaning of the tree which thy than Bible scholars once thought. (Michael D. father saw? (1 Nephi 11:21) Coogan says it clearly: “Israelite religion [was] a sub- of Canaanite religion.”)1 In their attempts to bet- Strikingly, though ter understand the beliefs of the ancient Israelites, the vision of Mary modern scholars have been greatly helped by extra- seems irrelevant to biblical documents and artifacts that have been Nephi’s original ques- recovered from the soil of the Near East. For many tion about the signifi- years, there had been little beyond the Bible itself for cance of the tree—for them to study. The situation changed dramatically the tree is nowhere beginning in 1929 with the discovery of the Ugaritic mentioned in the an- ­ texts at Ras Shamra, in Syria. They revolutionized gelic guide’s response—­ our understanding of Canaanite religion in general, Nephi himself now re-­ and of early Hebrew religion in particular. plies that, yes, he knows The god El was the patriarch of the Canaanite the answer to his ques- . One of his titles was <Σl >ølåm. Frank tion. Moore Cross Jr. noted: “We must understand it . . . as meaning originally ‘

18 VOLUME 9, NUMBER 2, 2000 In the earliest Israelite conception, father El had a the aspect of the dea nutrix, the nourishing or nur- divine son named Jehovah or .4 Gradually, turing goddess, comes to the fore. As Professor Dever however, the Israelite conception of Yahweh ab­sorbed writes, “The more blatantly sexual motifs give way the functions of El and, by the 10th century b.c., to the nursing mother.”12 King ’s day, had come to be identified with Asherah seems to have been popular among all him.5 segments of Israelite society over many years.13 She Asherah was the chief goddess of the Canaan­ was worshipped in Israel in the time of the Judges.14 ites.6 She was El’s wife and the mother and wet nurse She was especially venerated in the countryside,15 of the other gods. Thus, the gods of Ugarit could be but she was important in later Hebrew cities as called “the family of [or ‘the sons of’] El,” or the well.16 Although 1 Kings 3:3 says that he “loved the “sons of Asherah.”7 Moreover, Asherah was connect- Lord,” King Solomon brought Asherah into Jeru­ ed with the birth of Canaanite rulers and could be salem sometime after 1000 b.c. And a large-scale metaphorically considered to be their mother as center of Asherah worship may have functioned at well.8 Ta>anach, under at least the indirect patronage of the She was strongly linked with the Canaanite court of Solomon.17 coastal city of Sidon, at least in the period following After the separation of the states of Israel and Lehi and Nephi’s departure from the Old World, and Judah, King Ahab and his Phoenician-born queen, probably before.9 This is interesting because Lehi, , daughter of “Ethbaal, king of the Sidonians,” whose family origins appear to lie in the north of installed Asherah in , where “around 800 Palestine and who may have had a trading back- b.c.e. the official cult of Yahweh included the wor- ground, “seems to have had particularly close ties ship of his consort Asherah.”18 She seems to have with Sidon (for the name appears repeatedly in the been worshipped there until the fall of Israel to the Book of Mormon, both in its Hebrew and Egyptian Assyrians in 721 b.c. forms), which at that time was one of the two har- But the veneration of Asherah was hardly bors through which the Israelites carried on an restricted to the often-denigrated northern king- extremely active trade with Egypt and the West.”10 dom.19 In the south, in Judah, Solomon’s son, Moreover, Asherah seems to have been known Rehoboam, introduced her into the temple at and venerated among the Hebrews as well. At least Jerusalem—meaning, presumably, that he erected some Israelites worshipped her over a period extend­­ some sort of sacred symbol (sometimes referred to ing from the conquest of Canaan in the second mil- in the lowercase as “an asherah” or “the asherah”) lennium before Christ to the fall of Jerusalem­ in 586 that represented her. Kings Asa and Jehoshaphat b.c.—the time of Lehi’s departure with his family removed Asherah from the temple, but Joash from the Old World.11 Ancient Israelite women, for restored her. The great reforming king Hezekiah instance, were sometimes buried in “Asherah wigs,” removed her again, along with the so-called Nehush­ and she may also be reflected in Israelite temple tan, which :4 describes as “the brasen architecture. Additionally, thousands of mass-pro- serpent that Moses had made.” Subsequently, al-­ duced goddess figurines have been found at Israelite though he failed to restore the , King sites. Summarizing the evidence, William Dever Manasseh reinstalled Asherah in the Jerusalem writes of the figurines that “most show the female temple, where she remained until the reforms of form nude, with exaggerated breasts; occasionally King , who reigned from roughly 639 to 609 she is depicted pregnant or nursing a child.” But b.c. So visible was Asherah still in this period just there is one significant difference between the fig- prior to the Babylonian captivity that Lehi’s con- urines from Israelite sites and those recovered from temporary, the prophet Jeremiah, felt obliged to pagan Canaanite locations: The lower body of the denounce her worship.20 In other words, an image Israelite figurines lacks the explicit detail character- or symbol of Asherah stood in Solomon’s temple at istic of the Canaanite objects; indeed, the area below Jerusalem for nearly two-thirds of its existence, cer- the waist of the Israelite figurines is typically a sim- tainly extending into the lifetime of Lehi and per- ple plain column. Whereas the pagan Canaanite haps even into the lifetime of his son Nephi.21 Her objects depict a highly sexualized goddess of both title Elat (“goddess”) persists to this day in the childbearing and erotic love, in the Israelite figurines name of a major Israeli coastal resort and in the

JOURNAL OF BOOK OF MORMON STUDIES 19 Israeli name for the Gulf of Aqaba. Lehi and his Baal inspired by and Elisha and led by Israel’s party very likely passed through or by Elat on their Jehu left the asherah of Samaria standing. Baal was journey southward from Jerusalem. wholly eliminated, while the veneration of the god- By the time of Israel’s Babylonian exile and sub- dess actually outlived the northern kingdom.25 sequent restoration under Ezra, however, opposition Belief in Asherah seems, in fact, to have been a to Asherah was universal in . Indeed, the conservative position in ancient Israel; criticism of it developing Israelite conception of Yahweh seems, to was innovative. Saul Olyan, noting that “before the a certain extent, to have absorbed her functions and reforming kings in Judah, the asherah seems to have epithets much as it had earlier absorbed those of been entirely legitimate,”26 argues that ancient He-­ Yahweh’s father, El.22 Thus, Asherah was basically brew opposition to Asherah emanated entirely from eliminated from the history of Israel and subsequent the so-called Deuteronomistic reform party, or from Judaism. In the text of the Bible as we now read it, those heavily influenced by them. Other factions in filtered and reshaped as it appears to have been by earliest Israel, Olyan says, probably thought that the reforming Deuteronomist around 600 worshipping her was not wrong and may well have b.c., hints of the goddess remain, but little survives worshipped her themselves.27 (The book of Deu­ that gives us a detailed understanding of her charac- teronomy is considered by most scholars to have ter or nature.23 been associated with the reforms of the Judahite So what are we to make of Asherah? Does the king Josiah in the seventh century b.c., and a num- opposition to her veneration expressed and enforced ber of students of the history of Judah believe that it by the Deuteronomists and the reforming Israelite was actually written during that period.) Writing kings indicate that she was a foreign pollution of about the common goddess figurines to which we legitimate Hebrew religion coming from abroad? It have already referred, Professor Dever remarks, “As does not look that way. Recall that Hezekiah removed for the notion that these figurines, whatever they both the asherah and the Nehushtan from the tem- signified, were uncommon in orthodox circles, the ple at Jerusalem. The Nehushtan was not a pagan late Dame Kathleen Kenyon found a seventh-century- intrusion, but was “the brasen serpent that Moses b.c. ‘cult-cache’ with more than three hundred fifty had made,” which had been carefully preserved by of them in a cave in Jerusalem, not a hundred yards the Israelites for nearly a millennium until Hezekiah,­ from the Temple Mount.”28 (It should be kept in offended by the idolatrous worship of “the child­ren mind that this date for these figurines makes them of Israel [who] did burn incense to it” (2 Kings 18:4), at least near contemporaries of Lehi.) removed it and destroyed it. In other words, the Ne-­ What was Asherah’s role in early Israelite reli- hushtan had an illustrious pedigree entirely within gious belief? Given what we have already said about the religious world of Israel, and there is no reason the history of Canaanite and Israelite religion, “Ash­ to believe that the asherah was any different in this erah may have been the consort of El, but not [of] respect. Yahweh, at some early point in Israelite religion.”29 What is striking in the long story of Israel’s Over the generations, however, the Israelites’ con- Asherah is the identity of those who did not oppose cept of Yahweh absorbed the attributes of Yahweh’s her. No prophet appears to have denounced Asherah father, El, and the people’s imagination seems also to before the eighth century b.c. The great Yahwist have granted to Yahweh the wife and consort of his prophets Amos and Hosea, vociferous in their denun­ father. “It is well-known,” remarks André Lemaire, ciations of Baal, seem not to have denounced Asherah. The Elijah-Elisha school of Yahwist reformers do not that in Israelite religion Yahweh replaced the appear to have opposed her. Although 400 prophets great god El as Israel’s God. If Yahweh replaced of Asherah ate with Jezebel along with the 450 pro­ El, it would seem logical to suppose that under phets of Baal, Elijah’s famous contest with the priests Canaanite influence asherah [i.e., material to­kens of Baal, while dramatically fatal to them, left the representing the goddess] replaced Athirat [the votaries of Asherah unmentioned and, evidently, goddess Asherah], and that, at least in the popu- untouched. “What happened to Asherah and her lar religion of ancient Israel if not in the purer prophets?” asks David Noel Freedman. “Nothing.”24 form of that religion reflected in the Bible, asher- In subsequent years the ruthless campaign against ah functioned as the consort or wife of Yahweh.30

20 VOLUME 9, NUMBER 2, 2000 The view that Asherah was considered the divine ologist William Dever has contended that “recent wife of Yahweh seems to be gaining ground among archeological discoveries provide both texts and pic- students of ancient Israelite religion.31 “That some in torial representations that for the first time clearly Judah saw his consort as Asherah is hardly any longer identify ‘Asherah’ as the consort of Yahweh, at least debatable,” declares Thomas Thompson.32 “Asherah in some circles in ancient Israel.”39 Raphael Patai was a goddess paired with El, and this pairing was declares that they indicate that “the worship of bequeathed to Israelite religion by virtue of the Asherah as the consort of Yahweh (‘his Asherah’!) Yahweh-El identification,”33 according to Smith, while was an integral element of religious life in ancient Olyan says that Asherah seems to have been regarded Israel prior to the reforms introduced by King as Yahweh’s consort in both state and public religion, in Joshiah [Josiah] in 621 b.c.e.”40 David Noel Freed­ both the northern kingdom of Israel and the southern man concurs, saying, “Our investigation suggests .34 that the worship of a goddess, consort of Yahweh, Important support was deeply rooted in for this contention has both Israel and Judah in come from two recent preexilic times.”41 and very controversial Asherah “is a tree goddess, and as such As among the archaeological finds in Canaanites, furthermore, Palestine. The first is is associated with the oak, the tamarisk, the date palm, Asherah was also associ- Khirbet al-Qom, a site ated with earthly human about eight miles west of the sycamore, and many other species. fertility and human Hebron and six and a This association led to her identification with childbirth.­­ 42 A Hebrew half miles east-southeast incantation text found in of Lachish in the territo- sacred trees or the tree of life.” Arslan Tash in upper ry of ancient Judah. The Syria, dating from the palaeo-Hebrew inscrip- seventh century b.c. (i.e., tions at Khirbet al-Qom to the period just prior can be dated to between 700 and 800 b.c.35 Scholars to Nephi’s vision), appears to invoke the help of the agree that they show us at least a portion of the goddess Asherah for a woman in delivery.43 popular religion of their time.36 The second is Let us now focus more precisely on the nature Kuntillet >Ajr¥d, perhaps the southernmost outpost of the veneration that was paid to the divine consort of the kingdom of Judah. This place served as either among the Israelites. What was the “asherah” that a fortress or a stopover point for caravans (or both). stood in the temple at Jerusalem and in Samaria? It is situated on the border between the southern Asherah was associated with trees.44 A 10th-century Negev and the , not far from the road cultic stand from Ta>anach, near Megiddo, features that linked Gaza and Elat. The archaeological ruins two representations of Asherah, first in human form at this location reflect influences from the northern and then as a sacred tree. She is the tree.45 Perhaps kingdom of Israel and date to the late ninth or early we should think again, here, of the Israelite goddess eighth century b.c., which would place them in the figurines: It will be recalled that their upper bodies reign of Jehoahaz, king of Israel, the son and succes- are unmistakably anthropomorphic and female, but sor to the militant anti-Baalist Jehu.37 their lower bodies, in contrast to those of their pa-­ An inscription discovered at Kuntillet >Ajr¥d gan Canaanite counterparts, are simple columns. was written in red ink on the shoulder of a large clay William Dever suggests that these columnar lower vessel. It seems to refer to “Yahweh of Samaria and bodies represent tree trunks.46 And why not? Ash­ his Asherah.” On the other side of the vessel is a erah “is a tree goddess, and as such is associated drawing of a tree of life.38 The tomb inscription at with the oak, the tamarisk, the date palm, the syca­ Khirbet al-Qom also appears to mention “Yahweh more, and many other species. This association led and his asherah” (where some sort of cultic object is to her identification with sacred trees or the tree of intended) or, less likely, “Yahweh and his Asherah” life.”47 The rabbinic authors of the Jewish Mishna (where the reference may be directly to a goddess- (second–third century a.d.) explain the asherah as a consort). With these finds explicitly in mind, archae- tree that was worshipped.48

JOURNAL OF BOOK OF MORMON STUDIES 21 The lowercase “asherah” was most commonly a sort of El, the mother and wet nurse to the gods, was carved wooden image, perhaps some kind of pole. depicted as a virgin and symbolized by a tree.56 Unfortunately, since it was wooden, direct archaeo- It should be apparent by now why Nephi, an logical evidence for it has not survived.49 But we Israelite living at the end of the seventh century and know from the biblical evidence that the object during the early sixth century before Christ, would could be planted (Deuteronomy 16:21) so that it have recognized an answer to his question about a stood up (2 Kings 13:6), but that it could also be marvelous tree in the otherwise unexplained image pulled down (Micah 5:13), cut (Exodus 34:13), and of a virginal mother and her divine child. Not that burned (Deuteronomy 12:3). Very what he saw and how he interpreted probably it was of wood and sym- those things were perfectly obvious. bolized a tree. It may itself have What he “read” from the symbolic been a stylized tree.50 It was not vision was culturally colored. The uncommon in the ancient Near Coptic version of the record called East for a god or goddess to be the Apocalypse of Paul shows how essentially equated with his or her cultural interpretation shapes symbol, and Asherah seems to have meaning. This document, which been no exception: Asherah was probably originated in Egypt in the both goddess and cult symbol. She mid-third century of the Christian was the “tree.”51 era, relates a vision of the great The menorah, the seven- apostle that, in this detail at least, branched candelabrum that stood strikingly resembles the vision of for centuries in the temple of Nephi: “And he [the angel] showed Jerusalem, supplies an interesting me the Tree of Life,” Paul is report- parallel to all of this: Leon Yarden ed to have said, “and by it was a maintains that the menorah repre- revolving red-hot sword. And a sents a stylized almond tree. He Virgin appeared by the tree, and points to the notably radiant white- three angels who hymned her, and ness of the almond tree at certain the angel told me that she was points in its life cycle. Yarden also Mary, the Mother of Christ.”57 But argues that the archaic Greek name Nephi’s vision goes even further, of the almond (amygdale, reflected identifying Mary with the tree. This in its contemporary botanical desig- additional element seems to derive nation as Amygdalis communis), from precisely the preexilic almost certainly not a native Greek Palestinian culture into which, the word, is most likely derived from Book of Mormon tells us, Nephi © ERICH LESSING / ART RESOURCE, NY, USED BY PERMISSION USED BY © ERICH LESSING / ART RESOURCE, NY, the Hebrew em gedolah, meaning had been born. “Great Mother.”52 From Assyria, the ninth century b.c. Of course, Mary, the virgin girl “The Late Bronze Age iconogra- of Nazareth seen by Nephi, was not phy of the asherah would suggest,” literally Asherah. She was, as Nephi’s writes Mark Smith, “that it represented maternal guide carefully stressed, simply “the mother of the and nurturing dimensions of the deity.”53 Raphael Son of God, after the manner of the flesh.”58 But she Patai has called attention to the parallels between was the perfect mortal typification of the mother of Jewish devotion to various female and quasi- the Son of God. deities over the centuries, commencing with Ash­ erah, and popular Catholic veneration of Mary, the Asherah and the Biblical Wisdom Writings mother of Jesus.54 Interestingly, it appears that Ash­ Asherah is connected with the Bible in an erah, “the par excellence,” may also, entirely different manner as well. We will examine a paradoxically, have been considered a virgin.55 The Bible passage that seems to deal with her while also Punic western goddess Tannit, whom Saul Olyan has yielding several interesting parallels to the visions of identified with Israelite-Canaanite Asherah, the con- Lehi and Nephi.

22 VOLUME 9, NUMBER 2, 2000 Biblical scholars recognize a genre of writing, a recurring concern of the Nephite record.65 An­other found both in the standard, canonical scriptures consistent theme in both the Book of Mor­mon and (e.g., Job, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, the Song of Solo­ Near Eastern wisdom litereature is the notion­ that mon) and outside the canon, that they term “wis- wisdom or justice or righteousness brings prosperi- dom literature.” Among the characteristics of this ty, while folly or wickedness leads to suffering and type of writing, not surprisingly, is frequent use of destruction.66 The vocabulary of Proverbs 1–6, the term wisdom. But also common to such litera- which stresses learning, understanding, righteous- ture, and very striking in texts from a Hebrew cul- ness, discernment, and knowledge, is obviously tural background, is the absence of typical Israelite related to important messages of the Book of Mor­ or Jewish themes. We read nothing there about the mon in general, and of the visions of Lehi and Nephi promises to the patriarchs, the story of Moses and in particular. Similarly, Proverbs 3:1–12 focuses on the Exodus, the covenant at Sinai, or the divine our need to “hear” inspired wisdom, as well as on promise of kingship to David. There is, instead, a the promise of “life” and our duty to trust in the Lord strong emphasis on the teachings of parents, and rather than being wise in our own eyes.67 Each of especially on instruction by fathers.59 Careful read- these admonitions can also be docu­mented abun- ers will note that all of these characteristics are dantly throughout the text of the Book of Mor­mon— present in the accounts of notably Nephi’s repeated the visions of Lehi and invitation to us to put our Nephi as they are treated in trust in the Lord rather than the Book of Mormon. in “the arm of flesh.”68 In The Bible identifies two Nephi’s vision of the tree of chief earthly sources of wis- life, the “great and spacious dom. It is said to come from building” sym­bolizes the “the East,” which is almost wisdom and pride of the certainly to be understood world, which shall fall.69

as the Syro-Arabian desert, PERMISSION USED BY © ERICH LESSING / ART RESOURCE, NY, But among the interest- and from Egypt.60 (The ing correspondences be-­ book of Job, for example, tween ancient Near Eastern is set in “the East” and A plaque from of the third millenium b.c. wisdom literature and the lacks much if any trace of Book of Mormon, one is of peculiarly Israelite or Hebrew lore.)61 This is remi- special interest for the present article. Wisdom itself niscent of the twin extra-Israelite influences—Egypt is represented in Proverbs 1–9 as a female person.70 and the desert—that the Book of Mormon and Indeed, here and elsewhere in ancient Hebrew and Latter-day Saint scholarship have identified for the Jewish literature, Wisdom appears as the wife of family of Lehi and Nephi.62 It may be significant God, which can hardly fail to remind us of ancient that a section of the book of Proverbs (31:1–9) Asherah.71 She may even have played a role in the claims to represent “the words of Lemuel”—using a creation: “The Lord by wisdom hath founded the name that not only occurs among the sons of Lehi ,” says Pro­verbs 3:19. “Like the symbol of the but also is at home in the Arabian desert. asherah, Wisdom is a female figure, providing life Certain other motifs common to wisdom litera- and nurturing.”72 In fact, as Steve A. Wiggins observes ture are also typical of the Book of Mormon as a of Asherah herself, “She is Wisdom, the first creature whole. For example, both the canonical and extra- of God.”73 The clas­sical text on this subject is found in canonical wisdom books are much concerned with Proverbs 8:22–34. 63 the proper or improper use of speech. The book of The Lord possessed me in the beginning of Proverbs warns against the dangerous enticements his way, before his works of old. of “the strange woman, even . . . the stranger which I was set up from everlasting, from the flattereth with her words,” and advises us to “meddle beginning, or ever the earth was. not with him that flattereth with his lips.”64 “Flat­ When there were no depths, I was brought tering” and “cunning words,” generally used for evil forth; when there were no fountains abounding purposes and with an implication of deceit, are also with water.

JOURNAL OF BOOK OF MORMON STUDIES 23 Before the mountains were settled, before ple, in Proverbs 3:18, quoted above, the image of the hills was I brought forth: “taking hold,” which recalls the iron rod of Lehi and While as yet he had not made the earth, nor Nephi’s visions.78 The New English Bible translation the fields, nor the highest part of the dust of the of Proverbs 3:18 speaks of “grasp[ing] her” and world. “hold[ing] her fast”—in very much the same way When he prepared the heavens, I was there: that Lehi and Nephi’s visions speak of “catching when he set a compass upon the face of the hold of” and “holding fast to” the rod of iron. Pro­ depth: verbs 4:13 advises us to “take fast hold of instruc- When he established the clouds above: when tion; let her not go: keep her; for she is thy life.” he strengthened the fountains of the deep: Apocryphal Baruch 4:1 declares that “all who hold When he gave to the sea his decree, that the fast to [Wisdom] shall live, but those who forsake waters should not pass his commandment: when her shall die.” Both the advice of Proverbs and the he appointed the foundations of the earth: images of Lehi’s dream, furthermore, are expressly Then I was by him, as one brought up with directed to youths, to sons specifically or to chil­ him: and I was daily his delight, rejoicing always dren.79 (“O, remember, my son,” says Alma 37:35, before him; echoing this theme, “and learn wisdom in thy youth; Rejoicing in the habitable part of his earth; yea, learn in thy youth to keep the commandments and my delights were with the sons of men. of God.”) Both Proverbs and 1 Nephi constantly use Now therefore hearken unto me, O ye chil- the imagery of “ways,” “paths,” and “walking” and dren: for blessed [ashre] are they that keep my warn against “going astray,” “wandering off,” and ways. “wandering in strange roads.”80 Proverbs 3:17 de-­ Hear instruction, and be wise, and refuse it clares that “her [Wisdom’s] ways are ways of pleas- not. antness, and all her paths are peace.” In subsequent Blessed [ashre] is the man that heareth me. Nephite tradition, King Benjamin speaks of “the Spirit of the Lord” that “guide[s] . . . in wisdom’s The use of the Hebrew word ashre in this con- paths” (Mosiah 2:36), and Mormon laments “how nection—from the same root (eß-hayim fruit is better than gold, yea, than fine gold.”83 “She is (a tree of life).76 The apocryphal book of Eccle­ more precious than rubies,” says Proverbs 3:15, “and siasticus, which is also known as Wisdom of Ben all the things thou canst desire are not to be com- Sira, uses various trees to symbolize Wisdom pared unto her.” “Wisdom,” declares Ecclesiasticus (24:12–19). “Wisdom is rooted in the fear of the 4:11, “raises her sons to greatness.” Similarly, Lehi Lord,” says Ecclesiasticus 1:20 (New English Bible), and Nephi’s tree was “precious above all” (1 Nephi “and long life grows on her branches.” “She is a tree 11:9)—“a tree, whose fruit was desirable to make of life to them that lay hold upon her: and happy one happy” (1 Nephi 8:10), “desirable above all [me

24 VOLUME 9, NUMBER 2, 2000 and on the tree of life that could be nourished out of yea, and how blind and impenetrable are the under- it, “it is well that ye are cast out of your synagogues, standings of the children of men; for they will not that ye may be humble, and that ye may learn wis- seek wisdom, neither do they desire that she should dom” (Alma 32:12). Confident in the quality of rule over them!” (Mosiah 8:20). Ecclesiasticus 4:19 what she has to offer, Wisdom, according to Pro­ says of Wisdom and of the individual who “strays verbs, invites others to partake: from her” that “she will desert him and abandon him to his fate.” In Lehi’s vision, those who rejected Wisdom crieth without; she uttereth her the fruit of the tree “fell away into forbidden paths voice in the streets: and were lost” (1 Nephi 8:28) or “were drowned in She crieth in the chief place of concourse, in the depths of the fountain” (1 Nephi 8:32). “Many the opening of the gates: in the city she uttereth were lost from his view, wandering in strange roads” her words.84 (1 Nephi 8:32). It was for fear of this possible out- Doth not wisdom cry? and understanding come that, after partaking of the fruit of the tree, put forth her voice? Lehi was “desirous that [his] family should partake She standeth in the top of high places, by of it also” (1 Nephi 8:12). In a parallel vein, Eccle­ the way in the places of the paths. siasticus 4:15–16 tells us that Wisdom’s “dutiful ser- She crieth at the gates, at the entry of the vant . . . will possess her and bequeath her to his city, at the coming in at the doors.85 descendants.” She hath sent forth her maidens: she crieth In 1 Nephi 8:13–14, Lehi’s tree is associated with upon the highest places of the city.86 a river and spring of water. “The symbols of foun- tain and tree of life are frequent” in wisdom litera- Yet, for all her exalted status, Wisdom must face ture too.91 Nephi himself, in 1 Nephi 11:25, actually “scorners,” which must surely remind the reader of equates the “tree of life” with “the fountain of living 1 Nephi of those in “the large and spacious build- waters,” “which waters,” he relates, “are a representa- ing” who point the finger of scorn at the saints com- tion of the love of God.” “And I also beheld,” he con- ing forward to partake of the tree of life.87 This build- tinues, “that the tree of life was a representation of ­­ing seems to represent a human alternative to the the love of God.” true wisdom, the divine wisdom of God: Nephi re-­ The inclusion in 1 Nephi of two authentically cords that it symbolizes “the world and the wisdom preexilic religious symbols (Asherah and Wisdom) thereof” (1 Nephi 11:35). that could scarcely have been derived by the New Wisdom represents life, while the lack of wisdom York farmboy Joseph Smith from the Bible strongly leads to death.88 (Perhaps the juxtaposition of a liv- suggests that the Book of Mormon is, indeed, an ing and nourishing tree in 1 Nephi with the inani- ancient historical record in the Semitic tradition. ! mate structure from which the worldly lean out to express their disdain is intended to make this point.) “For the upright shall dwell in the land, and the per- fect shall remain in it. But the wicked shall be cut off from the earth, and the transgressors shall be rooted out of it.”89 “For whoso findeth me findeth life,” Wisdom says in Proverbs 8:35–36, “and shall obtain favor of the Lord. But he that sinneth against me wrongeth his own soul: all they that hate me love death.” The sinner, in fact, falls into the clutches of the “whorish woman,” the rival to Lady Wisdom: “For her house inclineth unto death, and her paths unto the dead. None that go unto her return again, neither take they hold of the paths of life.”90 Ammon in the Book of Mormon closely echoes the warning of Proverbs: “O how marvelous are the works of the Lord, and how long doth he suffer with his people;

JOURNAL OF BOOK OF MORMON STUDIES 25 ENDNOTES

Desert Epiphany: Sariah and the Women in Woude (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdman’s, Patriarchs,” 253–57; Otto Eissfeldt, “El and of Asherah. See Saul M. Olyan, “The Cultic 1 Nephi 1986), 1:353. Yahweh,” Journal of Semitic Studies 1 (1956): Confessions of Jer 2,27a,” Zeitschrift für die Camille Fronk 19. Doughty, Travels, 278, 280; See 25–37. alttestamentliche Wissenschaft 99 (1987): Wendell Phillips, Unknown Oman (New 6. See John Day, “Asherah in the Hebrew 254–59. 1. Phyllis A. , “Women,” in The York: David McKay Co., 1966), 141. Bible and Northwest Semitic Literature,” 21. See Patai, Hebrew Goddess, 39, 41–42, Anchor Bible Dictionary, ed. David Noel 20. Doughty, Travels, 570. Journal of Biblical Literature 105/3 (1986): 45–52; Wiggins, Reassessment of “Asherah,” Freedman (New York: Doubleday, 1992), 6: 21. See Hugh W. Nibley, Teachings of the 385–87, 398; Steve A. Wiggins, “The Myth of 125; Smith, Early History of God, 80, 94; Saul 952. Book of Mormon: Semester 1 (Provo, Utah: Asherah: Lion Lady and Serpent Goddess,” M. Olyan, Asherah and the Cult of Yahweh in 2. Two months after the 1978 revelation FARMS, 1993), 58–105. Ugarit-Forschungen: Internationales Jahrbuch Israel (Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1988), 19, on priesthood was given, Elder Bruce R. 22. Doughty, Travels, 398. für die Altertumskunde Syrien-Palästinas 23 70–72; and many other sources. McConkie quoted 2 Nephi 26:33 and gave 23. See Phillips, Unknown Oman, 218; (1991): 384; and Steve A. Wiggins, A 22. Smith, Early History of God, 98, the following commentary: “These words Nibley, Lehi in the Desert, 40. Reassessment of “Asherah”: A Study according 161–63; compare Gerstenberger, Yahweh— have now taken on a new meaning. We have 24. See Erastus Snow, in Journal of to the Textual Sources of the First Two The Patriarch, 92, 136. caught a new vision of their true signifi- Discourses, 23:184. Millennia b.c.e. (Kevelaer, Germany: Butzon 23. Wiggins, Reassessment of “Asherah,” cance. . . . Since the Lord gave this revelation 25. See Sorenson, “Composition of Lehi’s und Bercker, 1993), 192. 130. on the priesthood, our understanding of Family,” 186. 7. See J. C. de Moor, “

80 VOLUME 9, NUMBER 2, 2000 Schmidt, “The Aniconic Tradition: On 53. Smith, The Early History of God, 84; 9:47; 25:4; 26:33; 33:5–6. “King, Coronation, and Covenant in Mosiah Reading Images and Viewing Texts,” in compare Wiggins, Reassessment of “Asherah,” 82. See 1 Nephi 13:26, 28, 29, 32, 34, 35, 1–6,” in King Benjamin’s Speech, ed. John W. Triumph of Elohim, ed. Edelman, 75–105; 37, 71, 89; and Erich Neumann, The Great 40. Welch and Stephen D. Ricks (Provo, Utah: and Gerstenberger, Yahweh—The Patriarch, Mother: An Analysis of the Archetype, trans. 83. Compare Proverbs 3:14; 8:11, 19; also FARMS, 1998), 233–75. 33–34. Ralph Mannheim (Princeton: Princeton 2:4; Job 28:12–28; Wisdom of Solomon 7:8; 2. This must be qualified to the extent 40. Patai, Hebrew Goddess, 52–53; com- University Press, 1983), 48–50, 52, 241–43. 8:5. that in 1 Nephi 4 and 17 Nephi does refer to pare Gerstenberger, Yahweh—The Patriarch, 54. Patai, Hebrew Goddess, 20, 116, 84. Proverbs 1:20–21. the similarity between Lehi’s family’s experi- 33–34. 139–40, 151–52, 199, 265, 280. 85. Proverbs 8:1–3. ence and that of the Israelites in the wilder- 41. Freedman, “Yahweh of Samaria and 55. Quoting Olyan, Asherah and the Cult 86. Proverbs 9:3. ness, with implicit reference to the leader- His Asherah,” 249; compare Day, “Asherah in of Yahweh, 57 n. 82; compare Olyan, “Cultic 87. As in Proverbs 1:22; 3:34; compare ship issue. See note 1 above. the Hebrew Bible,” 392; and Niehr, “Rise of Confessions of Jer 2,27a,” 259. 9:6–8, 12; 1 Nephi 8:26–27, 33; 11:35. 3. See Reynolds, “Kingship,” 177. YHWH in Judahite and Israelite Religion,” 56. Olyan, Asherah and the Cult of 88. On wisdom equated with life, see 4. The older brothers are to receive the 54–55, 59. See Proverbs 8:22–34. This image Yahweh, 56–61, 65–67. Proverbs 3:2, 18, 22; 4:4, 10, 13, 22; 6:23–35; first blessing only if they accept the leader- that is emerging from very recent scholar- 57. See Ernest A. Wallis Budge, Egyptian 8:35–36; 9:6–11. On unwisdom as the way to ship of the younger brother. And who is to ship—an enthroned God who sits with his Tales and Romances: Pagan, Christian and death, see Proverbs 2:18; 5:5; 7:22–23, judge? See a more detailed analysis in consort in the midst of a divine council Muslim (London: Thornton Butterworth, 26–27; 9:18. Reynolds, “Political Dimension,” 32. composed of his children, who are linked 1935), 280. 89. Proverbs 2:21–22. 5. Moses calls “heaven and earth to wit- with the sun and moon and stars—sheds 58. 1 Nephi 11:18; emphasis added. 90. Proverbs 2:18–19. ness against” Israel this day that they have fascinating light on Lehi’s vision as it is 59. See Roland E. Murphy, The Tree of 91. Murphy, Tree of Life, 29 (with refer- been instructed in what they should do recorded in 1 Nephi 1:9–11. That account Life: An Exploration of Biblical Wisdom ences). See Widengren, The King and the (Deuteronomy 4:26). John W. Welch and describes “One descending out of the midst Literature, 2nd ed. (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Tree of Life. Proverbs 5:15–18 also mentions Daryl R. Hague have analyzed eight Book of of heaven,” whose “luster was above that of Eerdmans, 1996), 1–4, 103. waters and rivers. Mormon farewell sermons, including Lehi’s, the sun at noon-day” and who was followed 60. See, for example, 1 Kings 4:29–34; Job using the pattern identified in ancient litera- by twelve others whose “brightness did 1:3; compare Murphy, Tree of Life, 23–25, ture by William S. Kurz in “Luke 22:14–38 exceed that of the stars in the firmament” 175, 195. Lehi as Moses and Greco-Roman and Biblical Farewell and who then, together, “came down and 61. See Murphy, Tree of Life, 33. Noel B. Reynolds Addresses,” Journal of Biblical Literature 104, went forth upon the face of the earth.” 62. See 1 Nephi 1:2; and Nibley, Lehi in no. 2 (1985), 251, 262. See their “Benjamin’s Clearly, this refers to the Savior, Jesus Christ, the Desert; The World of the Jaredites; There Matthew Grow contributed appreciably Sermon as a Traditional Ancient Farewell and his twelve apostles. (Taylor, throughout Were Jaredites (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book to this paper as a research assistant. I am Address,” in King Benjamin’s Speech, ed. his book Yahweh and the Sun, argues for an and FARMS, 1988), 34–42. also grateful for the helpful suggestions Welch and Ricks, 103–5. One of Welch’s stu- ancient link between Yahweh or Jehovah 63. See Murphy, Tree of Life, 22. received from a number of readers, includ- dents addresses the larger question of [whom Latter-day Saints identify as the pre- 64. Proverbs 2:16 (compare 6:24; 7:5, ing S. Kent Brown, John W. Welch, James E. Deuteronomy’s impact on the Book of mortal Jesus Christ] and the sun.) Read in 21–23); 20:19 (compare 12:6; 26:28; 29:5). Faulconer, and Robert J. Matthews. Mormon as a whole. See Julie Stevenson, light of recent biblical scholarship, however, See also Psalms 5:9; 12:2; 78:36. 1. For an account of these political “Deuteronomy and the Book of Mormon,” the account of Lehi’s vision also appears to 65. See, for example, 2 Nephi 28:22; Jacob aspects of Nephi’s small plates, see Noel B. 25 November 1980, unpublished MS on file imply notions of the premortal existence 7:2, 4; Mosiah 7:21; 9:10; 10:18; 11:7; 26:6; Reynolds, “The Political Dimension in in the BYU law library. In the final draft of and the literally divine lineage of humanity 27:8; Alma 20:13; 30:47; 46:5, 7, 10; 50:35; Nephi’s Small Plates,” BYU Studies 27 (fall this paper I was generously assisted by Drew that are often presumed to have arisen only 52:19; 61:4; Helaman 1:7; 2:4–5; 13:28; 3 1987), 15–37. Not only does Nephi flee into Briney, who gave me access to his compre- in the later doctrinal development of Nephi 1:29; 7:12; Ether 8:2. Daniel 11:21 the wilderness after slaying an official of an hensive analysis of Deuteronomic terminol- Mormonism. nicely summarizes a frequent effect of flat- oppressive regime, but he then leads his ogy that shows up in the Book of Mormon. 42. See Dever, “Is the Bible Right After tery in the Book of Mormon. people through that wilderness, across the His lists demonstrate that later Book of All?” 36; and Patai, Early History of God, 52. 66. See Murphy, Tree of Life, 15, for this water, and to the promised land. “Like Mormon prophets also used Deuteronomy 43. Cited in Patai, Hebrew Goddess, 39. theme in the ancient Near East. Moses, he constantly has to overcome the frequently. 44. See ibid., 49; and Day, “Asherah in the 67. Compare Proverbs 26:12. murmuring and faithlessness of his people. 6. See Stevenson, “Deuteronomy and the Hebrew Bible,” 397. 68. 2 Nephi 4:34; 28:31. Like Moses, he secures divine assistance to Book of Mormon,” 1. 45. See Taylor, “The Two Earliest Known 69. See 1 Nephi 11:35–36. feed his people in the wilderness. And like 7. John L. Sorenson argues in his article Representations of Yahweh,” 558–60, 565 n. 70. See Proverbs 1:20–21; 4:5–9, 13; 7:4; Moses, he is caught up into a mountain to “The ‘Brass Plates’ and Biblical Scholarship” 19; Taylor, Yahweh and the Sun, 29; Dever, 8:1–3, 22–36; 9:1–3. The Hebrew term trans- receive the word of God” (ibid., 33). Further, (Dialogue 10 [autumn 1977]: 31–39) that “Asherah, Consort of Yahweh?” 27; and de lated as “wisdom,” ˙okmåh, is, of course, a on two occasions Nephi explicitly invokes the plates of brass would fit best the Elohist Moor, “

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