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Boyd’s Bible Dictionary
:
Except
(
Gen. 21:33
33
And Abraham planted a grove in Beer-sheba, and called there on the name of the Lord, the everlasting God. (Genesis 21:33)
), the
Hebrew
original means an idol; primitively set up and worshipped in groves (
1 Kings 18:19
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 four hundred, which eat at Jezebel's table. (1 Kings 18:19)
;
2 Kings 13:6
6
Nevertheless they departed not from the sins of the house of Jeroboam, who made Israel sin, but walked therein: and there remained the grove also in Samaria.) (2 Kings 13:6)
).
Concise Bible Dictionary
:
1.
eshel
, a tamarisk, or perhaps any large tree.
Abraham
planted a memorial tree in
Beer
-
sheba
, and called there on the name of
Jehovah
(
Gen. 21:33
33
And Abraham planted a grove in Beer-sheba, and called there on the name of the Lord, the everlasting God. (Genesis 21:33)
). The same word is translated “tree” in the AV in
1 Samuel 22:6
6
When Saul heard that David was discovered, and the men that were with him, (now Saul abode in Gibeah under a tree in Ramah, having his spear in his hand, and all his servants were standing about him;) (1 Samuel 22:6)
(“grove” in margin) and
1 Samuel 31:13
13
And they took their bones, and buried them under a tree at Jabesh, and fasted seven days. (1 Samuel 31:13)
.
2.
asherah
,
asherath
.
The word
“grove” naturally suggests a row of trees, but that this cannot be the meaning is evident from groves being set up “under every green tree” (
1 Kings 14:23
23
For they also built them high places, and images, and groves, on every high hill, and under every green tree. (1 Kings 14:23)
;
2 Kings 17:10
10
And they set them up images and groves in every high hill, and under every green tree: (2 Kings 17:10)
).
Manasseh
set a
graven
image
of the grove that he had made in
the temple
, which
Josiah
removed, burnt, and ground to powder (
2 Kings 21:7
7
And he set a graven image of the grove that he had made in the house, of which the Lord said to David, and to Solomon his son, In this house, and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all tribes of Israel, will I put my name for ever: (2 Kings 21:7)
;
2 Kings 23:6
6
And he brought out the grove from the house of the Lord, without Jerusalem, unto the brook Kidron, and burned it at the brook Kidron, and stamped it small to powder, and cast the powder thereof upon the graves of the children of the people. (2 Kings 23:6)
). This was doubtless made of metal, but the groves were of
wood
, as we learn from their being cut down, and burnt (
Judg. 6:25-26
25
And it came to pass the same night, that the Lord said unto him, Take thy father's young bullock, even the second bullock of seven years old, and throw down the altar of Baal that thy father hath, and cut down the grove that is by it:
26
And build an altar unto the Lord thy God upon the top of this rock, in the ordered place, and take the second bullock, and offer a burnt sacrifice with the wood of the grove which thou shalt cut down. (Judges 6:25‑26)
;
2 Kings 23:14-15
14
And he brake in pieces the images, and cut down the groves, and filled their places with the bones of men.
15
Moreover the altar that was at Beth-el, and the high place which Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin, had made, both that altar and the high place he brake down, and burned the high place, and stamped it small to powder, and burned the grove. (2 Kings 23:14‑15)
). One
passage
speaks of groves being
planted
(
Deut. 16:21
21
Thou shalt not plant thee a grove of any trees near unto the altar of the Lord thy God, which thou shalt make thee. (Deuteronomy 16:21)
); another, of their being
made
, and another, of their being
built
(
1 Kings 14:15, 23
15
For the Lord shall smite Israel, as a reed is shaken in the water, and he shall root up Israel out of this good land, which he gave to their fathers, and shall scatter them beyond the river, because they have made their groves, provoking the Lord to anger. (1 Kings 14:15)
23
For they also built them high places, and images, and groves, on every high hill, and under every green tree. (1 Kings 14:23)
). They are constantly associated with idols and images, and
Judges 3:7
7
And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord, and forgat the Lord their God, and served Baalim and the groves. (Judges 3:7)
speaks of their being served along with
Baalim
.
On the whole it seems most probable that they were wooden
symbols
of a
goddess
, in the form of images or pillars, or mere stems of trees inserted in the
earth
. In
2 Kings 23:7
7
And he brake down the houses of the sodomites, that were by the house of the Lord, where the women wove hangings for the grove. (2 Kings 23:7)
we read that women wove “hangings” for the groves, but these were literally “houses” or “tents,” which implies that they enclosed the groves, probably for impure purposes, for immorality was almost constantly associated with
idolatry
. Kalisch and others suppose that the name
Asherah
has reference to the
Syrian
goddess Astarte, and it is so translated by the LXX in
2 Chronicles 15:16
16
And also concerning Maachah the mother of Asa the king, he removed her from being queen, because she had made an idol in a grove: and Asa cut down her idol, and stamped it, and burnt it at the brook Kidron. (2 Chronicles 15:16)
. Fürst refers it to the Phoenician
nature
-
god
. The many references to the idols, images, and groves show how far
Israel
had departed from the living God and fallen into idolatry.
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