◄ 1045. beth Ashtaroth ►
Lexical Summary
beth Ashtaroth: Beth Ashtaroth

Original Word: בֵּית עַשְׁתָּרוֹת
Part of Speech: Proper Name Location
Transliteration: Beyth `Ashtarowth
Pronunciation: bayth ash-taw-roth'
Phonetic Spelling: (bayth ash-taw-roth')
KJV: house of Ashtaroth

1. house of Ashtoreths
2. Beth-Ashtaroth, a place in Israel

Strong's Exhaustive Concordance
house of Ashtaroth

: from bayith and Ashtarowth; house of Ashtoreths; Beth-Ashtaroth, a place in Palestine -- house of Ashtaroth. Compare b'eshtrah, Ashtarowth.

see HEBREW bayith

see HEBREW Ashtarowth

see HEBREW b'eshtrah

see HEBREW Ashtarowth

NAS Exhaustive Concordance
Word Origin
see bayith and Ashtoreth.

Brown-Driver-Briggs
I. עַשְׁתָּרוֺת see foregoing.



Topical Lexicon
Name and Meaning

Beth Ashtaroth designates “the house (or sanctuary) of Ashtoreth,” the Canaanite-Phoenician fertility goddess. The term implies a cult-center rather than an ordinary settlement. Although this specific compound does not appear in the Masoretic text, it fits a pattern of place-names that begin with “Beth” (house) and end with a deity’s name (for example, Beth Dagon, Beth Baal).

Historical Background

Ashtoreth (also rendered Astarte) figured prominently in the religious life of Syria-Phoenicia, Transjordan, and Canaan from the second millennium B.C. onward. Egyptian and Ugaritic records mention Ash-tar-tú or A-startu governing territories east of the Jordan, corresponding to biblical Bashan. Canaanite city-states often maintained a central “house” or temple dedicated to their patron deity, which doubled as an economic hub and administrative archive. A “Beth Ashtaroth” would therefore have been a conspicuous center of regional power, commerce, and idolatrous ritual.

Archaeological and Geographical Considerations

The likely region is the Hauran plateau of modern southern Syria:
• Tell Ashtara (Arabic), six miles east of Ashtaroth (Greek Karnaim), preserves the ancient name and contains Iron Age fortifications and cultic installations.
• Eusebius’ Onomasticon (fourth century A.D.) places “Beth Astaroth” sixteen Roman miles from Adraa (biblical Edrei), aligning with earlier Egyptian itineraries that list “Astarot” among conquered towns in Bashan.
• Proximity to major trade routes (the King’s Highway and corridors leading to Damascus) made the site strategic for both commerce and military staging—explaining why regional kings, such as Og of Bashan, headquartered in the vicinity (Deuteronomy 1:4).

Biblical Associations with Ashtaroth Worship

While Beth Ashtaroth itself is not named in Scripture, the larger cult is repeatedly condemned:
• “They forsook the LORD and served Baal and the Ashtoreths.” Judges 2:13
• “Solomon followed Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians.” 1 Kings 11:5
• Under King Josiah, shrines to Ashtoreth were desecrated (2 Kings 23:13), illustrating covenant-faithful reform.

The pattern reveals that whenever Israel tolerated Canaanite sanctuaries (“houses” of foreign gods), spiritual decline followed. The prophets employ marriage and fertility imagery to expose the moral bankruptcy of such worship (for example, Hosea 2:13).

Theological Implications

1. Exclusive Worship. The first and second commandments (Exodus 20:3-5) prohibit rival “houses” to Yahweh’s sanctuary. Beth Ashtaroth personifies the seductive alternative—promissory but powerless.
2. Spiritual Adultery. Ashtoreth rites centered on ritual prostitution and sympathetic magic designed to secure agricultural bounty. Scripture recasts these practices as adultery against the covenant Lord (Jeremiah 3:6-9).
3. Eschatological Cleansing. Zechariah 13:2 anticipates a day when “the names of the idols will be cut off from the land.” The disappearance of Beth Ashtaroth from subsequent history foreshadows that final purging.

Lessons for Ministry Today

• Guard the Heart. What ancient Israel localized in a temple, modern culture internalizes through idols of sensuality and self-advancement (Colossians 3:5).
• Holistic Reform. Like Josiah, spiritual leaders must confront both the ideology and the infrastructure of idolatry—teaching truth while dismantling enabling contexts.
• Redemptive Hope. Paul assures the Corinthians that converts “turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God” (1 Thessalonians 1:9), demonstrating that even those shaped by a Beth Ashtaroth-type culture can be liberated through the gospel.

Summary

Beth Ashtaroth embodies a historic stronghold of Canaanite religion and a timeless warning against every “house” erected in competition with the living God. Though the term leaves no direct footprint in the Hebrew canon, its conceptual shadow lies behind numerous biblical critiques of Ashtoreth worship, illuminating the call to exclusive, covenant loyalty that culminates in Christ, “in whom the whole building is fitted together and rises to be a holy temple in the Lord” (Ephesians 2:21).

Links
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