SfARBUCK:WIlYDEClARETIlETI-UNGSFORBIDDEN?host ofthe heavens. Hebroughtoutthe imageofAsherah from the
houseoftheloRD,outsideJemsalem,totheWadiKidron, burneditat
theWadiKidron,beatittodustandthrewthedustofituponthegraves
ofthecommonpeople.III
Allhoughreferringtothetempleinjerusalemandthehighplacesaround
judah,Josiah'scleansingis predicatedon theactual worship of Baal,
Asherah,andthehostofheavenwithinJudah.Likewise,in 1 Kgs18:19-20,
Elijah summons 450 prophetsofBaal and 400 prophetsofAsherah to
MountCarmel.ThevaStnumberofprophetsitselfsignalsthepopularityof
Baal andAshemh worship in northern Israel. Thatfact that Baal and
AsherahwereworshipedatKunlillet<Ajrlld,a waysideshrineforIsraeland
judah,rendersoutcomeI,essentiallyconfirmingthehistoricalandcultural
understandingpresentinthebiblicaltext.
Outcome 2 (archaeological findings provideadditional information
beyondwhatis prOVidedinthebiblical text) isrendered bya contrast
betweentheforceofarchaeologicaldataandtherelativesilenceofthe
biblicaltext.AsP. KyleMcCarterpointsout,"Mostoftenthereligionsup-
portedbythoseinpowerinJenlsalemandSamariawasa kindofYahwism
differentfromthatrepresentedbytheBible,anditseemsimpossibleto
determinethefullchar-Jeterofthisreligiononthebasisofthestudyofthe
Biblealone."24 Byexaminingbuildingstructure, artistic representations,
inscriptionalprayerandinvocation,studentsareablevastlytosupplement
theirperceptionofpopularworshipinancientIsraelandJudah.According
to thisfacet ofinterpretation,archaeologicaldata confirmsandsupple-
mentsthebiblicaltext.
Itiswithoutcome 3 thattheneedfortheChalcedonianhermeneutic
becomesmoredesirousintheologicalcontexts.If"hisAsher-ah"istobe
understoodas Yahweh'sconsort,then we have directevidencethai a
femaledeitywasveneratedinconjunctionwithYahwehinpopularwor-
ship.ThenibisinconjllnctionwithYahweh.!lisonethingforstudentsto
imaginetheworshipofgodsotherthanYahwehandtoconsidersuchwor-
ship to be tantamount to idolatry and/or human projeclion. The
augmentedworshipofYahwehwith hisAsherahseems, perhapsillogi-
cally, another matter altogether. It is almost as if sludents of faith
experienceanempathyorkinshipwiththeworshipersofYahweh.Soin
thiscase,wherethereis anarchaeologicalepignlphicrecordofworshipers
ofYahwehanda consort,thestudentsfeel confrontedwithcompeting
truthclaims in waysthat createmuchmorecognitivedissonancethan
beingconfrontedwithworshipersofEIorl3aalorMolech. If thestudents
24 McC:mer,"AspectsoftheIkliginn,"138.