We are in chapter thirty-four of Exodus with our word for today used for the first time in the Bible. אֲשֵׁרָה Asherah, Asherah cult pole, fortune, the planet Venus, images of Astarte. It is used 40 times in the Old Testament. Our word is used in the sense of a wooden pole that was used in the worship of the false deity Asherah. This is how our word is used in our chapter today. Exodus 34:13-16 You shall tear down their altars and break their pillars and cut down אֲשֵׁרָ֖יו their Asherim (for you shall worship no other god, for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God), lest you make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, and when they whore after their gods and sacrifice to their gods and you are invited, you eat of his sacrifice, and you take of their daughters for your sons, and their daughters whore after their gods and make your sons whore after their gods. Right away God is not shy about the dangers of our word. Something this dangerous God instructs them to cut them down so that people are not tempted to worship Asheerah and arouse God’s protective jealousy. The next time we find our word God gives further instruction on how to dispose of this evil. Deuteronomy 7:4-5 They would turn away your sons from following me, to serve other gods ... But thus shall you deal with them: you shall break down their altars and dash in pieces their pillars and chop down וַאֲשֵֽׁירֵהֶם֙ their Asherim and burn their carved images with fire. So the people are to also burn them. And in the next use more instruction on irradiating this false idol worship. Deuteronomy 12:3 You shall tear down their altars and dash in pieces their pillars and burn וַאֲשֵֽׁרֵיהֶם֙ their Asherim with fire. You shall chop down the carved images of their gods and destroy their name out of that place. So here we see that the people are to destroy their name out of the place. God wants this temptation completely removed from the people. A good example of this in action is how God instructs Gideon. Judges 6:25-27 The Lord said to him, “pull down the altar of Baal that your father has, and cut down הָאֲשֵׁרָ֥ה the Asherah that is beside it and build an altar to the Lord your God on the top of the stronghold here, with stones laid in due order. Then take the second bull and offer it as a burnt offering with the wood of הָאֲשֵׁרָ֖ה the Asherah that you shall cut down.” So Gideon took ten men of his servants and did as the Lord had told him ... One would think that by doing God’s will people around Gideon would be grateful and thank him but not so because the people were already addicted to their worship of these false gods as we can see in the next couple of verse. Judges 6:28-30 Behold, the altar of Baal was broken down, וְהָאֲשֵׁרָ֥ה and the Asherah beside it was cut down, and the second bull was offered on the altar that had been built. And they said to one another, “Who has done this thing?” ... they said, “Gideon the son of Joash has done this thing.” Then the men of the town said to Joash, “Bring out your son, that he may die, for he has broken down the altar of Baal and cut down הָאֲשֵׁרָ֥ה the Asherah beside it.” This is a good example why God warns his people of the dangers of idol worship. We see this theme throughout the Bible. Even in the New Testament we have these two passages that I will close with. Ephesians 5:5 For you may be sure of this, that everyone who is ... covetous (that is, an idolater), has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. Did you catch this that one who is covetous or greedy is also an idolater? Jesus speaks directly why worshiping money is dangerous. Matthew 6:24 No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money. Idols will separate you from God. I’ll close with how John closes his letter to the churches. 1 John 5:21 Little children, keep yourselves from idols.
