Difference between revisions of "Ashtaroth"

<p> <strong> [[Ashtaroth]] </strong> . This city (pl. of <em> [[Ashtoreth]] </em> [wh. see]), originally held by Og, king of [[Bashan]] (&nbsp; Deuteronomy 1:4 , &nbsp; Joshua 9:10; &nbsp; Joshua 12:4; &nbsp; Joshua 13:12; &nbsp; Joshua 13:31 ), later captured by the [[Israelites]] and by them awarded to the Gershonites (&nbsp; Joshua 21:27 <strong> Be-eshterah </strong> , ‘dwelling [or temple] of Ashtoreth’; cf. || &nbsp; 1 Chronicles 6:56 , which reads <em> Ashtaroth </em> ), might, without contradicting Biblical records, be identified with [[Ashteroth-Karnaim]] (wh. see). However, a statement found in Eusebius’ <em> Onomasticon </em> favours the view that the names designate two localities. [[Eusebius]] relates that there were at his time two villages of the same name, separated by a distance of 9 miles, lying between [[Adara]] (Edrei) and Abila; viz., (1) Ashtaroth, the ancient city of Og, 6 miles from Abila, and (2) [[Karnaim]] Ashtaroth, a village in the corner of Bashan, where Job’s village is shown (cf. Book of Jubilees 29:10). Eusebius’ Karnaim Ashtaroth evidently lay in the corner or angle formed by the rivers <em> Nahr er-Rukkad </em> and <em> Sharî‘at el-Manadireh </em> , in which vicinity tradition places Uz, Job’s fatherland. At long. 36° E., lat. 32° 50′ N., on the Bashan plateau, stands <em> Tell </em> (‘hill’) <em> ‘Ashtarâ </em> , whose strategical value, as shown by the ruins, was recognized in the Middle Ages. Its base is watered by the <em> Moyet en-Nebî Ayyûb </em> (‘stream of the prophet Job’). Following this rivulet’s course for 2 1 / 2 miles N.N.E., passing through the <em> Hammam Ayyûb </em> (‘Job’s bath’), is found its source, a spring said to have welled forth when Job in his impatience stamped upon the ground. In the immediate vicinity towards the S., Job’s grave is shown. Furthermore, upon the hill at whose base these two places are situated lies the village of <em> Sa‘dîyeh </em> or <em> [[Sheikh]] Sa‘d </em> , whose mosque contains the <em> Sakhret Ayyûb </em> , a large basalt boulder against which Job is said to have leant while receiving his friends. Indeed, ¾ of a mile S. of <em> Sa dîyeh </em> at <em> el-Merkez </em> , another grave (modern) of Job is shown, and a <em> Der </em> (‘monastery’) <em> Ayyûb </em> , according to tradition built by the Ghassanide Amr I., is known to have existed. Eusebius’ Ashtaroth must then have been in the proximity of <em> Muzerib </em> , 9 1 /2 miles S. of <em> Sa‘dîyeh </em> , and 8 miles N.W. of Adara, almost the distance of the <em> Onomasticon </em> . Even <em> Tell Ash‘arî </em> , 4 1 /4 miles S. of <em> Tell ‘Ashtarâ </em> , protected on the one side by the Yarmuk, on the second by a chasm, and showing evidences of having been fortified by a triple wall on the third, is admirably situated for a royal stronghold. </p> <p> None of these modern place-names, with the exception of <em> Tell ‘Ashtarâ </em> , is linguistically related to the ‘Ashtaroth and ‘Ashteroth-karnaim of the Bible and the <em> Onomasticon </em> . The description of ‘Ashteroth-karnaim ( 2Ma 12:21 f., cf. 1Ma 5:43 ) as a place hard to besiege and difficult of access because of numerous passes leading to it, in whose territory a temple was situated, is applicable to <em> Sa‘dîyeh </em> or to <em> Tell ‘Ashtarâ </em> or even to <em> Tell Ash‘arî </em> , whose double peak at the S. summit is partly responsible for the translation of the name ‘Ashtaroth of (near) the double peak’ (see Ashtoreth). The similarity of name between <em> Tell ‘Ashtarâ </em> and <em> ‘Ashteroth-karnaim </em> , even though <em> Tell ‘Ashtarâ </em> does not lie directly between Adara and Abila, and lacks, with the other places, narrow passes, would favour the identification of ‘Ashteroth-karnaim with <em> Tell ‘Ashtarâ </em> , and hence, according to the distances of Eusebius, the location of ‘Ashtaroth near <em> Muzerib </em> . However, until the ancient name of <em> Muzerib </em> is known, and the various sites excavated, a definite determination of the location of these cities, and even of the difference between them, must remain impossible. </p> <p> N. Koenig. </p>

<p> [[Ashtaroth]] (''Ăsh'Ta-R'' ''Ŏth'' ), [[Astaroth]] (''Ăs'-T'' ''Â-Rŏth'' ). 1. A city of Bashan, east of the Jordan, &nbsp;Deuteronomy 1:4; &nbsp;Joshua 9:10; &nbsp;Joshua 13:31; the same as Beesh-terah, &nbsp;Joshua 21:27; probably Tell-Ashterah, in Jaulan. 2. Ashtoreth, sing.; Ashtaroth, plur. and more usual. An idol called the goddess of the Sidonians, &nbsp;Judges 2:13, much worshipped in Syria and Phœnicia. [[Solomon]] introduced the worship of it. &nbsp;1 Kings 11:33. The [[Greeks]] and Romans called it Astarte. The 400 prophets of the [[Asherah]] which ate at Jezebel's table, mentioned &nbsp;1 Kings 18:19, R. V., were probably employed in the service of Asherah, the female deity. The worship of Ashtoreth was suppressed by Josiah. The goddess was called the "queen of heaven," and the worship was said to be paid to the "host of heaven." Her name is usually mentioned in connection with Baal. Baal and Ashtoreth are taken by many scholars as standing for the sun and the moon respectively. </p>

<p> ASHTAROTH or ASTAROTH. A city N.E. of Jordan, called so from being a seat of Ashtoreth's worship, "Og dwelt in Ashtaroth, in Edrei" (&nbsp;Deuteronomy 1:4; &nbsp;Joshua 12:4; &nbsp;Joshua 13:12-31; &nbsp;Joshua 9:10). Allotted to Machir, son of Manasseh; and, out of Manasseh's portion, then allotted to the sons of Gershom, their other [[Levitical]] city here being [[Golan]] (&nbsp;Joshua 21:27), called Be-eshterah (i.e. [[Beth]] Ashterah, "the house of Ashtaroth.") Between Adara and [[Abila]] (according to Eusebius and-Jerome) lay two villages, probably the one Ashtaroth, the other Ashteroth-Karnaim. There is still a Tel Ashterah in this region. One of David's valiant men was [[Uzziah]] the Ashterathite (&nbsp;1 Chronicles 11:44). </p>

<p> (Heb. Ashtaroth', עִשְׁתָּרוֹת, plur. of ''Ashtoreth,'' &nbsp;Joshua 9:10; &nbsp;Joshua 12:4; &nbsp;Joshua 13:12; &nbsp;Joshua 13:31; Sept. Ἀσταρώθ; but Auth. Vers. "Astaroth," in &nbsp;Deuteronomy 1:4; Sept, in &nbsp;1 Chronicles 6:71, v; ''R. Ἀσηρώθ'' and ῾Ραμώθ )'','' a city on the east of Jordan, in Bashan, in the kingdom of Og, doubtless so called from being a seat of the worship of the goddess of the same name. (See Ashtoreth). It is generally mentioned as a description or definition of Og, who "dwelt in Astaroth in Edrei" (&nbsp;Deuteronomy 1:4), "at Ashtaroth and at Edrei" (&nbsp;Joshua 12:4; &nbsp;Joshua 13:12), or "who was at Ashtaroth" (&nbsp;Joshua 9:10). It fell into possession of the half tribe of [[Manasseh]] (&nbsp;Joshua 13:31), and was given with its suburbs or surrounding pasture- lands (מִגְרָשׁ ) to the Gershonites (&nbsp;1 Chronicles 6:71 [56]), the other Levitical city in this tribe being Golan. In the list in &nbsp;Joshua 21:27, the name is given as [[Beeshterah]] ("house of Ashtoreth;" Reland, p. 621). Nothing more is heard of Ashtaroth, except that Uzziah, an Ashterathite, is named in &nbsp;1 Chronicles 11:44. It is not named in any of the lists, such as those in Chronicles, or of Jeremiah, in which so many of the trans-Jordanic places are enumerated; and hence it has usually been considered the same with the place elsewhere called (See Ashteroth-Karnaim) (q.v.). Eusebius and Jerome, however ''(Onomast. S.V.'' Astaroth, Ἀσταρώθ ), mention it as situated 6 Roman miles from Adraa or [[Adar]] (Edrei), which again was 25 from Bostra; and the former adds that it lay on higher ground (ἀνωτέρω ) than Ashteroth-karnaim, which: they farther distinguish by stating (in the next art.) that there were two villages (κῶμαι, castella) lying 9 miles apart, between Adara and Abila. One of these was probably that called Ashtaroth simply, and the other may have been Ashteroth- karnaim. The only trace of the name yet recovered in the region indicated is Tell-Ashterah or Asherah (Ritter, Erdk. 15:819; Porter, ii, 212); and as this is situated on a hill, it would seem to correspond to the Ashtaroth in question. </p>