This is a preprint manuscript. The published version of the work can be found at https://brill.com/abstract/journals/vt/69/1/article-p33_3.xml The Priestly Asherah Raanan Eichler Abstract It is proposed that the priestly story of Aaron’s flowering staff (Num 17:16–26) is an etiology for the asherah in Solomon’s temple (2 Kgs 21:3, 7; 23:4, 6, 7). The staff as described is closely similar both in form and in function to the asherah. This proposition accounts for the absence of hostility towards asherim in the priestly literature, and it generates a solution to the age-old problem of why Moses and Aaron were denied entry into the promised land (Num 20:1–13, 24; 27:14; Deut 32:51). Keywords: asherah, priestly, Aaron, Kuntillet ‘Ajrud, tree, staff. Introduction Numbers 17:16–26, part of the priestly pentateuchal literature, tells of the miraculous flowering of Aaron’s staff. In the story, the flowering confirms that YHWH has chosen Aaron and relieves YHWH from the Israelites’ complaints (v. 20). YHWH then commands Moses to place the staff “in front of the Testimony, to be kept as a sign to defiant people” ( דוּתֵ עָ י הֵ נְ פִ ל יֵ נְ בִ אות לְ ת לֶ רֶ מְ שִׁ מְ לֶ מ יִ ר: v. 25), and Moses does so (v. 26). 1 The location at which the staff is ultimately placed is referred to three * This paper was prepared and published with the support of the Memorial Foundation for Jewish Culture. 1 Aaron’s staff is the third of three objects said in the priestly pentateuchal literature to have been placed in front of the Testimony. The first is a container with an omer (a unit of capacity equaling about one to two liters) of manna, placed by Aaron “in front of the Testimony to be kept” ( תֶ רָ מְ שִׁ מְ ת לֻ דֵ עָ י הֵ נְ פִ ל: Exod 16:34). The location and goal of this placement are also denoted with the words “in front of YHWH to be kept by you for the generations” ( תֶ רֶ מְ שִׁ מְ ה לָ הוְ י יֵ נְ פִ ל םֶ יכֵ תֹ רֹ דְ ל: v. 33). The second object is an unspecified amount of sacred incense that YHWH commands Moses to place “in front of the Testimony, in the Meeting Tent where I [YHWH] meet with you [Moses]” ( רֶ שֲׁ ד אֵ ל מועֶ הֹ אְ ת בֻּ דֵ עָ י הֵ נְ פִ ל הָ מָּ ך שְׁ ד לֵ עָ וִּ א: Exod 30:36).