Online Resource Library
Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadMcClintock Biblical Encyclopedia: Ashtaroth
Subjects in this Topic:
(Heb. Ashtaroth', òִùְׁúָּøåֹú , plur. of Ashtoreth, Jos_9:10; Jos_12:4; Jos_13:12; Jos_13:31; Sept. Á᾿óôáñώè ; but Auth. Vers. "Astaroth," in Deu_1:4; Sept, in 1Ch_6:71, v; r. Á᾿óçñώè and ῾Ñáìώè ), a city on the east of Jordan, in Bashan, in the kingdom of Og, doubtless so called from being a seat of the worship of the goddess of the same name. SEE ASHTORETH. It is generally mentioned as a description or definition of Og, who "dwelt in Astaroth in Edrei" (Deu_1:4), "at Ashtaroth and at Edrei" (Jos_12:4; Jos_13:12), or "who was at Ashtaroth" (Jos_9:10). It fell into possession of the half tribe of Manasseh (Jos_13:31), and was given with its suburbs or surrounding pasture- lands ( îִâְøָùׁ ) to the Gershonites (1Ch_6:71 [56]), the other Levitical city in this tribe being Golan. In the list in Jos_21:27, the name is given as BEESHTERAH ("house of Ashtoreth;" Reland, p. 621). Nothing more is heard of Ashtaroth, except that Uzziah, an Ashterathite, is named in 1Ch_11:44. It is not named in any of the lists, such as those in Chronicles, or of Jeremiah, in which so many of the trans-Jordanic places are enumerated; and hence it has usually been considered the same with the place elsewhere called SEE ASHTEROTH-KARNAIM (q.v.). Eusebius and Jerome, however (Onomast. s.v. Astaroth, Á᾿óôáñώè ), mention it as situated 6 Roman miles from Adraa or Adar (Edrei), which again was 25 from Bostra; and the former adds that it lay on higher ground ( ἀíùôÝñù ) than Ashteroth-karnaim, which: they farther distinguish by stating (in the next art.) that there were two villages ( êῶìáé , castella) lying 9 miles apart, between Adara and Abila. One of these was probably that called Ashtaroth simply, and the other may have been Ashteroth- karnaim. The only trace of the name yet recovered in the region indicated is Tell-Ashterah or Asherah (Ritter, Erdk. 15:819; Porter, ii, 212); and as this is situated on a hill, it would seem to correspond to the Ashtaroth in question.