"An odd word that recurs obsessively in the Bible, where it appears in forty passages: "Burn their Asherah in the fire and cut down the idols of their god", "Cut down their Asherah and burn their idols in the fire." How many times and with what stubborn vehemence, does Yahweh enjoin his people. Asherah designates a goddess, the partner of Baal. And at the same time certain sacred poles, which were worshiped. Asherah is a name that condenses within itself the abomination of idolatry. Yet for a long time, until the reign of Manasseh, it happened that "the objects that had been made for Baal, for the Asherah, and for all the heavenly host" were housed inside the temple for Yahweh. For Israel, the perennial risk was that the house of Yahweh still contained the altars of other divine beings. Hence Manasseh "made his son pass through fire and practiced astrology, and magic and dealt with familiar spirits and wizards: he wrought much wickedness in the sight of the LORD, to provoke his to anger. "