One of the most irksome things (to me at least) about the Abrahamic religions is its deeply-rooted misogyny. These religions started out dominated by men, and women ended up being the scapegoats for all of man’s weaknesses. Eve supposedly tempted Adam in the garden, so the fall of humanity and the expulsion from the Garden must be the fault of women. And never mind the fact that sex and immodesty were considered taboo. Once Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit, they straightaway stitched some fig leaves together to cover themselves. How the heck is it wrong for a husband and wife to see each other naked?

But that’s how it goes in the Abrahamic religions. That’s why some Islamic nations require women to wear burqas. It’s why Amish and Mennonite women are required to wear longish dresses and cover their hair. It’s somehow the woman’s fault that men find them attractive. And of course in the Bible, thinking about being intimate is the same as doing it. And never mind the fact that in some cultures even today, if a woman is raped she might be forced to marry her rapist.

OK so it all started with Eve, right?……. Wrong. According to myth, Adam had a wife before Eve. Lillith was supposedly created at the same time as Adam and considered herself to be his equal. This of course didn’t sit well with Adam and Lillith was eventually kicked out of the garden. Then God made Eve from one of Adam’s ribs so that she’d be subservient to him. Now think about this a moment. Eve would have had the same DNA as Adam. God would have had to work a little Golem magic to create a female. In other words, Eve was the first transsexual person. She was Adam’s transgender bone clone. So Adam was the victim of not one but two women. One that apparently would not obey him, and the other deceived him. See? It’s all the women’s fault.

In ancient legend Lillith would go on to become the Queen of Demons or something similar, depending upon where you read about her. Keep in mind that those who wrote her legends were all primitive men who had a deep mistrust of women. As such, the character of Lillith was doomed to always be depicted as evil. Some speculate that she took the form of a serpent, snuck back into the Garden and tempted Eve with that damnable apple. Scribes and scholars worked diligently to scrub her presence from the Bible as it didn’t fit the desired narrative. But bits and pieces remain, and her story is widely told outside of the Bible in other ancient texts. None of this stuff is real, but Lillith was as “real” as the rest of it and makes for interesting reading.

Oh but wait… was Jesus married? Thanks to a few books and movies this old story rose to prominence again a few years back. Supposedly Mary Magdalene was the bride of the Messiah. But most biblical scholars generally say no to the idea. I can remember my Sunday School teacher way back when saying that Jesus’ wife was the church. And of course we’d sit inside on Sunday morning and eat crackers and grape juice representing the flesh and blood of Jesus. That’s some sick shit when you think about it. We could symbolically cannibalize the Messiah, but sex was bad unless you were married.

But what about Yahweh Himself? Does He have a wife? Ancient writings in Jerusalem depict God’s wife as a being named “Asherah.” At one time she was worshipped as a powerful fertility goddess. Research by Raphael Patai and Francesca Stavrakopoulou has revealed interesting evidence in this regard. So is God married? Assuming for a moment that He exists (He doesn’t), ancient texts discovered over the last 50 or so years show that Asherah was worshipped as God’s queen.

“You might know him as Yahweh, Allah or God. But on this fact, Jews, Muslims and Christians, the people of the great Abrahamic religions, are agreed: There is only one of Him,” writes Stavrakopoulou in a statement released to the British media. “He is a solitary figure, a single, universal creator, not one God among many … or so we like to believe. “After years of research specializing in the history and religion of Israel, however, I have come to a colorful and what could seem, to some, uncomfortable conclusion that God had a wife.”

Stavrakopoulou bases her theory on ancient texts, amulets and figurines unearthed primarily in the ancient Canaanite coastal city called Ugarit, now modern-day Syria. All of these artifacts reveal that Asherah was a powerful fertility goddess. Asherah’s connection to Yahweh, according to Stavrakopoulou, is spelled out in both the Bible and an 8th-century B.C. inscription on pottery found in the Sinai desert at a site called Kuntillet Ajrud. “The inscription is a petition for a blessing,” she shares. “Crucially, the inscription asks for a blessing from ‘Yahweh and his Asherah.’ Here was evidence that presented Yahweh and Asherah as a divine pair. And now a handful of similar inscriptions have since been found, all of which help to strengthen the case that the God of the Bible once had a wife.” Also significant, Stavrakopoulou believes, “is the Bible’s admission that the goddess Asherah was worshiped in Yahweh’s Temple in Jerusalem. In the Book of Kings, we’re told that a statue of Asherah was housed in the temple and that female temple personnel wove ritual textiles for her.”

– – NBC News: Did God have a wife? Scholar says that he did

In later years, various rulers and religious figures did their best to scrub away all references to Asherah. This was done so that people would worship Yahweh (the male deity) alone. There was no tolerance for a female deity ruling over men.

Finally…

As if there wasn’t enough evidence of the deep-rooted misogyny in ancient times, let’s have a look at the book of Revelations and the Whore of Babylon. Now this particular whore isn’t intended to be perceived as an actual woman. She and her seven-headed beast are the embodiment of all the evils troubling humanity. So of course only a woman could cause such trouble, right?

“The Whore is associated with the Beast of Revelation by connection with an equally evil kingdom.The word “Whore” can also be translated metaphorically as “Idolatress”. The Whore’s apocalyptic downfall is prophesied to take place in the hands of the image of the beast with seven heads and ten horns. There is much speculation within Christian eschatology on what the Whore and beast symbolize as well as the possible implications for contemporary interpretations.

Caroline Vander Stichele demonstrated that the narrative of the Whore of Babylon follows many of the same patterns of the personification of capital cities as women who commit “prostitution / whoredom” and/or “adultery” in the prophetic books of the Hebrew Bible. These capital cities, representing the states they govern, are alleged to have committed various sins that have rendered them sexually promiscuous, and therefore they will eventually be annihilated through various well-deserved violent punishments sent by the Israelite God Yahweh.” – – Wikipedia Article

So there you have it folks. Shining examples of the patriarchical nature of the men who wrote the scriptures of the Abrahamic religions. I’m forced to wonder what sort of world this might be if a matriarchical culture had emerged instead. Would we be any better off? Women can be just as vindictive and vile as men so who the hell knows. Until next time…

Related Reading

• Was Jesus Married?
• Wiki About Lillith
• What is Golem Magic?
• Does God Have A Wife?
• Francesca Stavrakopoulou Interview
• Whore Of Babylon

Image Credits

• Lillith By John Collier
• Ashera By Ashtoret Anat (no link provided)
• Whore of Babylon