46 The _ashērah_ (singular of _ashērīm_) was certainly of wood (Judges vi. 26): it seems to have been a tree stripped of its branches and planted in the ground beside an altar, whether of Jehovah or of other gods (Deuteronomy xvi. 21; Jeremiah xvii. 2). That the _asherah_ was regarded as a goddess, the female partner of Baal, appears from 1 Kings xviii. 19; 2 Kings xxi. 3, xxiii. 4; and that this goddess was identified with Ashtoreth (Astarte) may be inferred from a comparison of Judges ii. 13 with Judges iii. 7. Yet on the other hand the pole or tree seems by others to have been viewed as a male power (Jeremiah ii. 27; see below, pp. 107 _sqq._), and the identification of the _asherah_ with Astarte has been doubted or disputed by some eminent modern scholars. See on this subject W. Robertson Smith, _Religion of the Semites_,2 pp. 187 _sqq._; S. R. Driver, on Deuteronomy xvi. 21; J. Skinner, on 1 Kings xiv. 23; M. J. Lagrange, _Études sur les religions Sémitiques_,2 pp. 173 _sqq._; G. F. Moore, in _Encyclopaedia Biblica_, vol. i. 330 _sqq._, _s.v._ “Asherah.” 47 Deuteronomy xxiii. 17 _sq._ (in Hebrew 18 _sq._). The code of Deuteronomy was published in 621 B.C. in the reign of King Josiah, whose reforms, including the ejection of the _ḳedeshim_ from the temple, were based upon it. See W. Robertson Smith, _The Old Testament in the Jewish Church_2 (London and Edinburgh, 1892), pp. 256 _sqq._, 353 _sqq._; S. R. Driver, _Critical and Exegetical Commentary on Deuteronomy_3 (Edinburgh, 1902), pp. xliv. _sqq._; K. Budde, _Geschichte der althebräischen Litteratur_ (Leipsic, 1906), pp. 105 _sqq._ M12 David as heir of the old sacred kings of Jerusalem. 48 He reigned seven years in Hebron and thirty-three in Jerusalem (2 Samuel v. 5; 1 Kings ii. 11; 1 Chronicles xxix. 27).