Bible Review

“Samson” (Shimshon, from shemesh, “sun”) could refer to the sun-god Shamash, but it is just as likely to be a characterization of its bearer as “sunny.”

Most references to ’asherah in the Bible are to a tree or some other type of object that may or may not symbolize the goddess. See Ruth Hestrin, “Understanding Asherah—Exploring Semitic Iconography,” Biblical Archaeology Review, September/October 1991.

Cf. Genesis 31:13, 35:7. See Wolfgang Röllig, s.v. “Bethel,” in Dictionary of Deities and Demons in the Bible, ed. Karel van der Toorn et al., 2d ed. (Leiden: Brill, 1999), pp. 173–175.

Shmuel Ahituv, “Pashhur,” Israel Exploration Journal 20 (1970), pp. 95–96.

Avigad and Sass, Corpus, p. 64, no. 39.

Nahman Avigad and Benjamin Sass, Corpus of West Semitic Stamp Seals (Jerusalem: Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities, Israel Exploration Society, and Institute of Archaeology, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, 1997), p. 153, no. 357.