http://members.tripod.com/crossbearer-brian/id34.htm
Obelisk
Luxor Temple
The Temple of Luxor is located in southern Thebes along the east bank
of the Nile River. The Temple was built by Amenhotep III and dedicated
to Amon-Re, king of the gods, his consort Mut, and their son Khons.
The Temple was later added to by Tutankhamen, Horemheb and Ramses II.
Thebes was capital of the ancient Egyptian empire during its peak.
Karnak Temple
Obelisk from the Great Temple at Karnak located in Northern Thebes.
Originally obelisks were erected in pairs at the entrances to ancient
Egyptian temples. They were cut from a single stone, usually red
granite. One pair of obelisks at Karnak erected by Thutmose I is 80
feet high and weighs 143 tons.
The above photo (this one in Jonesboro, LA) is
typical of a Masonic grave site. The Obelisk
(asherah) is used as the headstone
of the deceased Masonic Lodge member!
Asherah
The Obelisk in the Bible is called “Asherah” in Hebrew, the KJV uses
the word “groves”!
The Strongs Concordance defines it as:
'asherah, ash-ay-raw'; or 'asheyrah, ash-ay-raw'; Strongs 842, from
Hebrew 833 ('ashar); happy; Asherah (or Astarte) a Phoenician goddess;
also an image of the same :- grove. Compare Hebrew 6253 (`Ashtoreth).
The word “asherah” is from the root `ashar, to be straight, erect or
upright.
Asherah (KJV - groves) is found in the scriptures 40 times, always
referring to idol worship.
The Companion Bible, appendix 42, defines "asherah" as follows:
It was an upright pillar connected with Baal-worship, and is
associated with the goddess Ashtoreth, being the representation of the
productive principal of life, and Baal being the representative of the
generative principal. The image, which represents the Phoenician
Ashtoreth of Paphos, as the sole object of worship in her temple, was
an upright block of stone, anointed with oil, and covered with an
embroidered cloth.
The above Masonic
grave stone has the
"embroidered cloth",
carved in stone, upon
the obelisk!
Some Masonic grave stones have the embroidered cloth, in stone,
covering the Asherah image. The Companion Bible defines this stone
idol as the image of the “Phallus”, or “images of men” as seen in
Ezekiel 16:17.
Such stones are to be found all over the Semitic world, the Companion
Bible continues, even the Mahommedan sacred stone (Kaaba) at Mecca
remains an object of reverence.
Asherah - the obelisk, is an abomination unto the Lord!
2 Chron. 34:3-4
For in the eighth year of his reign, while he (Josiah) was yet
young, he began to seek after the God of David his father: and in the
twelfth year he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem from the high
places, and the groves (asherah), and the carved images, and the
molten images. [4] And they brake down the altars of Baalim in his
presence; and the images, that were on high above them, he cut down;
and the groves (asherah), and the carved images, and the molten
images, he brake in pieces, and made dust of them, and strowed it upon
the graves of them that had sacrificed unto them.
2 Chron. 34:7
And when he had broken down the altars and the groves (asherah),
and had beaten the graven images into powder, and cut down all the
idols throughout all the land of Israel, he returned to Jerusalem.
2 Kings 17:9-11
And the children of Israel did secretly those things that were not
right against the Lord their God, and they built them high places in
all their cities, from the tower of the watchmen to the fenced city.
[10] And they set them up images and groves (asherah) in every high
hill, and under every green tree: [11] And there they burnt incense in
all the high places, as did the heathen whom the Lord carried away
before them; and wrought wicked things to provoke the Lord to anger:
1 Kings 18:19 Now therefore send, and gather to me all Israel unto
mount Carmel, and the prophets of Baal four hundred and fifty, and the
prophets of the groves ['asherah] four hundred, which eat at Jezebel’s
table”
I don't believe that any True Christian would want this object placed
over their grave site, replacing the cross of Jesus Christ, by which
our sins were nailed to give us victory over death, hell and the
grave!
Below are some study resources for a deeper study!
'Asherah
(From Dakes Annotated Bible)
Hebrew: 'asherah (HSN-842), a pillar or image of wood. It was set up
with the image of Baal and worshiped as the wife of Baal by lewd rites
and sensual practices.
'Asherah (HSN-842) is always rendered grove in the KJV, but retained
as a proper name in the English Revised Version (1885) The word comes
from the root yashar (HSN-3474), "to be straight, upright, erect." The
pillar was set upright in the ground like a totem pole. It was either
a living tree with the top cut off and the trunk fashioned into a
certain shape (Deut. 16:21), or a log fashioned into an idol and set
erect in the ground (1 Kings 14:15; 1 Kings 16:33; Isaiah 17:8).
Though usually made of wood (Judges 6:26), it was perhaps in some
cases made of stone. Such poles could be cut down (Exodus 34:13),
plucked up (Micah 5:14), burnt (Deut. 12:3), and broken in pieces (2
Chron. 34:4).
That they were not groves of trees is clear from 2 Kings 17:10, where
they are forbidden to be set up under any green tree. Worshiped as a
symbol of the tree of life, the idol came to be associated with
procreation. As such, 'Asherah (HSN-842) became an object of impure,
perverse worship by crowds of devotees involved in demonized, obscene
orgies. The worship centered in the Canaanite nations and then spread
into other
nations. Relics of it are found among all heathen peoples. The first
mention of the idol in the Bible stamps it as a special object of
God's hatred; it was at this idol that God revealed His name as
Jealous (Exodus 34:13-14; cp. 1 Kings 14:15; 1 Kings 15:13; 1 Kings
16:32-33; 2 Chron. 36:14). It led to the destruction of all Canaanite
nations and, with other things, caused Israel to be banished among
other nations. The true nature of this form of idolatry is made clear
in Jeremiah 5:7; Jeremiah 7:30-31; Jeremiah 19:4-5; Jeremiah 32:34-35;
Hosea 4:12-14; Amos 2:7-9, and in other passages where grove is found
(Exodus 34:13; Deut. 7:5; Deut. 12:3; Deut. 16:21; Judges 3:7; Judges
6:25-30; 1 Kings 14:15,23; 1 Kings 15:13; 1 Kings 16:33; 1 Kings
18:19; 2 Kings 13:6; 2 Kings 17:10,16; 2 Kings 18:4; 2 Kings 21:3,7; 2
Kings 23:4-15; 2 Chron. 14:3; 2 Chron. 15:16; 2 Chron. 17:6; 2 Chron.
19:3; 2 Chron. 24:18; 2 Chron. 31:1; 2 Chron. 33:3,19; 2 Chron.
34:3-7; Isaiah 17:8; Isaiah 27:9; Jeremiah 17:2; Micah 5:14).
(From Dakes Annotated Bible)
'ASHERAH
(From Vine’s complete expository dictionary)
'asherah (842), “Asherah, Asherim (pl.).” This noun, which has an
Ugaritic cognate, first appears in the Bible in passages anticipating
the settlement in Palestine. The word’s most frequent appearances,
however, are usually in historical literature. Of its 40 appearances,
4 are in Israel’s law code, 4 in Judges, 4 in prophetic books, and the
rest are in 1 Kings and 2 Chronicles.
'Asherah refers to a cultic object representing the presence of the
Canaanite goddess Asherah. When the people of Israel entered
Palestine, they were to have nothing to do with the idolatrous
religions of its inhabitants. Rather, God said, “But ye shall destroy
their altars, break their images, and cut down their groves ['asherim]
…” (Exod. 34:13). This cult object was manufactured from wood (Judg.
6:26; 1 Kings 14:15) and it could be burned (Deut. 12:3). Some
scholars conclude that it was a sacred pole set up near an altar to
Baal. Since there was only one goddess with this name, the plural
('asherim) probably represents her several “poles.”
'Asherah signifies the name of the goddess herself: “Now therefore
send, and gather to me all Israel unto mount Carmel, and the prophets
of Baal four hundred and fifty, and the prophets of the groves
['asherah] four hundred, which eat at Jezebel’s table” (1 Kings
18:19). The Canaanites believed that 'asherah ruled the sea, was the
mother of all the gods including Baal, and sometimes was his deadly
enemy. Apparently, the mythology of Canaan maintained that 'asherah
was the consort of Baal, who had displaced El as their highest god.
Thus her sacred objects (poles) were immediately beside altars to
Baal, and she was worshiped along with him.
(From W.E. Vine, Merrill F. Unger and William White, Vine’s complete
expository dictionary of Old and New Testament words [computer file],
electronic ed., Logos Library System, (Nashville: Thomas Nelson) 1997,
c1996.)
The above definition of “asherah”, as an object of idol worship, is
confirmed also in Smith’s Bible Dictionary, New Naves Topical Bible
and Nelson’s New Illustrated Bible Dictionary.
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