God's Wife Edited Out of the Bible - Almost

Like the gods of many religions, the Biblical god Yahweh had a wife. The fertility goddess Asherah was worshiped alongside Yahweh in his temple in Israel. However, Asherah is unknown except to a few scholars because she was edited out of the Bible - almost.

God had a wife, Asherah, whom the Book of Kings suggests was worshiped alongside Yahweh in his temple in Israel, according to an Oxford scholar.

In 1967, Raphael Patai was the first historian to mention that the ancient Israelites worshiped both Yahweh and Asherah. The theory has gained new prominence due to the research of Francesca Stavrakopoulou, who began her work at Oxford and is now a senior lecturer in the department of Theology and Religion at the University of Exeter.

Information presented in Stavrakopoulou's books, lectures and journal papers has become the basis of a three-part documentary series, now airing in Europe, where she discusses the Yahweh-Asherah connection. Read more