Grove (or Asherah pole)
 

          Different types of Baal statues and images were usually set up near the ‘grove’ which was also a pagan object of worship.  See my documents under ‘Asherah’; and ‘Baal/Baalim’ for the different types of baal.  The grove, or Hebrew Asherah, was carved to resemble the false goddess Ashtaroth [Astarte].  Today the Asherah’s name has changed and it is now being venerated as Mary!  Judges 6:25, 28:  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.  And when the men of the city arose early in the morning, behold, the altar of Baal was cast down, and the grove was cut down that was by it, and the second bullock was offered upon the altar that was built.  Exodus 34:13:  But ye shall destroy their altars, break their images, and cut down their groves.  Deuteronomy 7:5:  But thus shall ye deal with them; ye shall destroy their altars, and break down their images, and cut down their groves, and burn their graven images with fire.  II Kings 17:15-16:  And they rejected his statutes, and his covenant that he made with their fathers, and his testimonies which he testified against them; and they followed vanity, and became vain, and went after the heathen that were round about them, concerning whom the Lord had charged them, that they should not do like them.  And they left all the commandments of the Lord their God, and made them molten images, even two calves, and made a grove, and worshipped all the host of heaven and served Baal. 

In pagan worship a grove was a tree trunk or pillar that was carved to resemble the Phoenician and Canaanite goddess Asherah, or Astarte.  The Hebrew word for ‘grove’ is “asheyrah, ash-ay-raw’; …Asherah (or Astarte) a Phoenician goddess, or image of the same”.  Dake Annotated Reference Bible OKJ version (copyright 1963 by, 1991 Finis Jennings Dake) commentary says; “the word comes from the root ashar, to be straight, upright, erect”.  Today in America we have massive (straight, erect, upright) pagan images that are highly revered by many Americans.  Perfect examples are America’s Washington Monument (an obelisk), and our Statue of Liberty with her crown of sun rays (symbolizing sun worship).  Leviticus 26:1:  Ye shall make you no idols nor graven image, neither rear you up a standing image, neither shall ye set up any image of stone in your land, to bow down unto it:  for I am the Lord your God.  Whether groves or Asherahs, Baals, or obelisks, all were originally created out of devotion to pagan gods.  Instead of destroying pagan abominations America is recreating, restoring, and re-naming them!  We have replicas of pagan Asherahs or groves (which are abominations) set up in our land; yet, we believe that God is pleased with America – the self-proclaimed Christian nation!  It is not only America that grieves God with its paganism but Christians too have grieved and disobeyed God’s Word through religious traditions first established by our religious forefathers.  Histories pagan images were eventually given Biblical names, and were allowed into the church – the house of the Lord – and into many households.  II Kings 21:1-7 and II Chronicles 33:1-7:  Manasseh was twelve years old when he began to reign, and reigned fifty and five years in Jerusalem.  And his mother’s name was Hephzibah.  And he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, after the abominations of the heathen, whom the Lord cast out before the children of Israel.  For he built up again the high places which Hezekiah his father had destroyed; and he reared up altars for Baal, and made a grove, as did Ahab king of Israel; and worshipped all the host of heaven, and served them.  And he built altars in the house of the Lord, of which the Lord said, In Jerusalem will I put my name.  And he built altars for all the host of heaven in the two courts of the house of the Lord.  And he made his son pass through the fire, and observed times, and used enchantments, and dealt with familiar spirits and wizards:  he wrought much wickedness to the sight of the Lord to provoke him to anger.  And he set a graven image of the grove (a carved image of Asherah; the Canaanite goddess) 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.  The scriptural parenthesis above in II Kings 21:7 was quoted from a commentary in the Thomas Nelson OKJ reference Bible © 1989.  Also in this same Bible is yet another scriptural example of a grove, I Kings 15:13, along with a comment concerning the ‘obscene’ sexual meaning behind this image.  Nelson’s Bible commentary calls the particular idol in this verse “an obscene image of Asherah”.  I Kings 15:13:  And also Maachah his mother, even her he removed from being queen, because she had made an idol in a grove; and Asa destroyed her idol, and burnt it by the brook Kidron. 

Many pagan monuments, including obelisks, were built and revered in Egypt.  Check history of the Vatican and you will find that an actual Egyptian obelisk made its way to the Vatican!  Though obelisks were designed to point straight up to the heavens as a symbol of sun worship or worship of the host of heaven (sun, moon, and stars) the erect obelisk has also another paganistic meaning.  It represents a phallus – male genital.  All obelisks are pagan in origin and can represent either sun, or phallus worship.  Extra note:  In a portion of scripture, Acts 7:42-43, the Greek word for ‘host’ is “stratia, strat-ee’-ah; …the angels, the celestial luminaries”.  The celestial luminaries are the sun, moon, and stars.   

Not all upright erect monuments symbolize male phallic properties.  For instance the carved Asherah, also a pagan monument, represented female properties because it was carved to resemble the pagan goddess Ashtaroth (Astarte).  Scripture does tell us however that the Asherah or groves were usually set up near Baal images, and that Asherah and Baal together symbolized both male and female sexual properties.  I Kings 14:23-24:  For they also built them high places, and images, and groves, on every high hill, and under every green tree.  And there were also sodomites in the land:  and they did according to all the abominations of the nations which the Lord cast out before the children of Israel.  Genesis 13:13:  But the men of Sodom were wicked and sinners before the Lord exceedingly.  I Kings 15:11-12:  And Asa did that which was right in the eyes of the Lord, as did David his father.  And he took away the sodomites out of the land, and removed all the idols that his fathers had made.  The Hebrew word for ‘sodomite’ is “qadesh, kaw-dashe’; …a (male) devotee (by prostitution) to licentious idolatry… unclean”.  Baal worship and worship of the grove (Asherah) were often accompanied by many sexually perverted acts.  The ritual and sexual practices that went along with the worship of these pagan images did include bi-sexuality, and homosexuality or sodomy. 

All pagan monuments have the same sinful, and sexual, side effects on the people (and nations) who possess them.  It does not matter what the church, or nation, is calling their images of reverence or devotion – they are all idols in God’s eyes.  Paganism is leading America down a path of spiritual, sexual, physical, and financial destruction.  Our financial ruin is in the restoration and maintenance of America’s pagan images.  The cost to maintain our icons is astounding.  God calls all paganism an abomination – yet America has an air conditioned obelisk with an elevator!  Paganism is rooted in false worship and sexual practices, including the practice of homosexuality, and because America (and the Church) is spiritually blind to this we have become a present day Sodom and Gomorrah.  Jude verse 7:  Even as Sodom and Gomorrha, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire. 

The people of Sodom and Gomorrah were the descendents of Ham.  When Ham looked at his father’s nakedness it started a chain of sin which led some of his future generations into idolatry, including Baal worship and homosexuality.  This chain of idolatry continues today in America because of our pagan imagery.  America’s idolatry, and dependency on the lust of the flesh, is leading us in the same sinful direction as Sodom and Gomorrah.  Let’s look at this scripture again!  Jude verse 7:  Even as Sodom and Gomorrha, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.  Christians, we are no exception, though we have changed the names of our idols to Biblical names we are still being greatly affected by our own sins of idolatry.  When we display these so-called Christian images in our homes we will be tempted to commit the same sins (including the sexual sins) these idols represent.  As Christians, we have followed the iniquity of our religious forefathers.  Idolatry and iniquity do go hand in hand.  I Samuel 15:23:  For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry.  After hearing this truth we must not be stubborn and continue in our sin, or as this scripture reveals we will add rebellion and witchcraft to our sin of idolatry.  Sexual sin is rapidly increasing in America, and in the Church – and it is affecting our children’s Spiritual future!  It is amazing to see that the more pagan imagery increases in our homes, churches, and our nation the more sexual sin increases.  Proverbs 14:34:  Righteousness exalteth a nation but sin is a reproach to any people.  Every physical manifestation, good or bad, always has a spiritual origin.

 

 

 

Also, see my document on ‘freemasonry and the Washington monument’ and my other document on ‘paganism and the Statue of Liberty’.