아세라 기둥, 아세라 여신? : 우리말 성경에서 'srh의 번역 문제-

Abstract

Regarding the Hebrew word ???? and its Korean translations, the present article argues the following. First, while the Hebrew word ????, which occurs 40 times in the Hebrew Bible, means either the Canaanite mother-god Asherah or the sacred pole that was venerated as part of the Yahwistic religion, the Korean translations of this word are not clear in distinguishing the two meanings, and most of them give the reader an impression that they denote the goddess. At present, various expressions translate ???? in Korean Bibles, but they should be either ‘(the goddess) Asherah’ or ‘the asherah pole’ so that the Korean reader may understand that there were two (and only two) different kinds of ‘Asherah’ in ancient Israel. Second, of the eight possible references to the goddess (Jdg 3:7; 1Ki 15:13 // 2Ch 15:16; 1Ki 18:19; 2Ki 21:7; 23:4-7[3x]), four are argued to point clearly to the goddess (Jdg 3:7; 1Ki 15:13 // 2Ch 15:16; 1Ki 18:19), whereas it is difficult to decide whether the other four (2Ki 21:7; 23:4-7[3x]) mean the goddess or the pole. Third, the use of the definite article with the name ‘Asherah’ was probably induced by the linguistic analogy with the foreign god Baal. The Deuteronomist’s insistence on using the expression ‘the Asherah’ may have been due to the fact that the cult of the asherah (the pole) was a persistent challenge for his attempt to establish an orthodox Yahwism.