ASERA
Canaanite female goddess of fertility, wife of Baal (in Ugarit of El, “the father of the gods”). Her image was venerated: in Jerusalem (1 Kings 15:13), in Israel (1 Kings 16:33), in the temple of Baal in Samaria (2 Kings 21: 3, 7).
Her symbol, also called Asherah, was the holy tree or sacred trunk next to the altar. Deuteronomy repeatedly demands that groves be cut down (Deut. 7:5), burned (Deut. 12:3), or not even planted at all (Deut. 16:21).
The holy books and prophets condemned this desecration of the holy place as Israel’s adultery and unfaithfulness to the Holy God (Ex. 34:12; Judges 6:25; Mi. 5:13; Jer. 17:1-4, and in many other passages).