Ashima

Fausset's Bible Dictionary

The idol of Hamath, introduced by the Hamathites, the colonists planted in Samaria by Esarhaddon king of Assyria ( 2 Kings 17:24;  2 Kings 17:30;  Ezra 4:2;  Ezra 4:10); represented as a goat with short hair, answering to the Egyptian form of the Greek god Pan, to whom the goat was sacred. The Phoenician god Esmun, answering to the Greek AEsculapius as well as Pan.

Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible

ASHIMA . A god whose form of worship is unknown, and who has been identified with the PhÅ“nician Eshmun and the Babylonian Tashmitu. As Hamath, the god’s seat of worship (  2 Kings 17:30 ), was occupied by the Hittites, the deity was probably non-Semitic.

N. Koenig.

Holman Bible Dictionary

 2 Kings 17:30 asham Asherah Amos 8:14Hamath

Smith's Bible Dictionary

 Ash'ima. A god of the Hamathite colonists in Samaria.  2 Kings 17:30. It has been regarded as identical with the Pan of the Greeks.

Morrish Bible Dictionary

An idol introduced into Samaria by the colonists sent from Hamath by the king of Assyria.  2 Kings 17:30 .

American Tract Society Bible Dictionary

A deity adored by the men of Hamath, who were settled in Samaria,  2 Kings 17:30 .

Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature

(Heb. Ashima',  אֲשִׁימָא, etymology unknown; Sept.  Ἀσιμάθ ), is only once mentioned in the Old Testament as the god of the people of Hamath, whose worship the colonists settled by Shalmanezer introduced into Samaria ( 2 Kings 17:30). The Babylonian Talmud, in the treatise  Sanhedrin (cited in Carpzov's  Apparatus, p. 516), and the majority of Jewish writers (see Buxtorf,  Lex. Talm. col. 236), assert that Ashima was worshipped under the form of a  goat without wool; the Talmud of Jerusalem (Carpzov,  ib.) says under that of a  lamb. Elias Levita, a learned rabbi of the sixteenth century, assigns the word the sense of  ape; in which he was, in all probability, deceived by the resemblance in sound to the Latin  simia. Jurieu and Calmet have proposed other fanciful conjectures. Aben Ezra's ascription  (Praef. ad Esth.) of the name to the Samaritan Pentateuch at  Genesis 1:1, may be seen in Hottinger's  Exercit. Antimo in. p. 40. The opinion, however, that this idol had the form of a goat appears to be the one best supported by arguments as well as by authorities (see Seyffarth, Systema astron. p. 154 sq.). This agrees with the Egyptian worship of Pan (see Selden, De diis Syr. p. 327, 305 sq.), as well as the appearance of the goat among the sacred animals delineated on the Babylonian relics (Millin, Monumens inedits, i, tab. 8, 9). Some have compared the Samaritan Ashmath ( אשׁמת ) of  Deuteronomy 14:5 (see Castell,  Annot. Samar.), a kind of buck. Barkey, on the other hand (in the  Biblioth. Brem. nov. I, i, 125 sq.; II, iii, 572 sq.), refers to the Phoenician god  Esmun ( Εσμοῦνος, Damasc. in Photii  Biblioth. p. 242, 573; in Phoenician  אשמן, Gesenius,  Monum. Phcen. i, 136), corresponding to the god of health, the Greek  AEsculapius (see Movers,  Phoniz. i, 529 sq.). Hiller  (Onomast. p. 609) proposes a Semitic etymology from the Arabic  asamat, a title of the lion applied to the  sun; and Lette (in the  Biblioth. Brem. nov. I, i, 60 sq.) compares  Asam, the Arabic name for a valley or river of the infernal regions. Gesenius  (Comment. iub. Jesa. ii, 348) refers to  Ashuma, or the genius (star) of Jupiter (the heaven), i.e. Mercury, of the Zend-Avesta  (Bundehesh, iii, 66); but against this Kleuker (in loc.) objects that in the Paris edition (ii, 356) the name is Anhouma. (See Schulde, De Asima Hamathweor. idolo, Viteb. 1722.)

Kitto's Popular Cyclopedia of Biblial Literature

Ash´ima ( 2 Kings 17:30), only once mentioned in the Old Testament as the god of the people of Hamath. The Babylonian Talmud, and the majority of Jewish writers, assert that Ashima was worshipped under the form of a goat without wool; the Talmud of Jerusalem says, under that of a lamb. Elias Levita, a learned Rabbi of the sixteenth century, assigns the word the sense of ape. Jurieu and Calmet have proposed other fanciful conjectures. The opinion that this idol had the form of a goat, however, appears to be the one best supported by arguments as well as by authorities.

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

a -shı̄´ma , ash´i -ma (  אשׁימא , 'ăshı̄mā'  ;  Ἀσιμάθ , Asimáth ): A deity worshipped at Hamath ( 2 Kings 17:30 ) of whom nothing further is known. It has been suggested that the name is the same as that of the goddess Simi, the daughter of the supreme god Hadad, who was worshipped at Membij, but there is nothing to support the suggestion.