Asherim

The Asherim are the carved wooden poles dedicated to the Canaanite goddess Asherah that Asa cuts down — physical symbols of the syncretism that had crept into Israelite worship.

Asherim are the wooden poles associated with the Canaanite goddess Asherah — Jehoshaphat tears them down alongside the high places as part of his sweeping religious purge.

The Asherim poles are Canaanite fertility idols — their sudden reappearance after Temple restoration shows how quickly Joash and Judah's leaders reverted to the exact paganism Jehoiada had spent his life fighting.

Asherim are listed here as part of Israel's comprehensive pagan worship infrastructure — wooden poles for Asherah set up on every hilltop, representing their total adoption of Canaanite religious practice.