Shalom, everyone! The following is a lecture by renown archaeologist, Professor William G. Dever titled “Did God Have a Wife?: Archaeology and Folk Religion in Ancient Israel.” This lecture was given in 2013 at “The Lady of the Temple” at the Academy for Temple Studies in Logan. Utah. Historical and archaeological evidence presented in this lecture show some uncomfortable information about those we know as ancient Israelites (indigenous Canaanites) and the scribes who wrote the Bible.

This video may offend some, however, in our quest for truth we must accept the facts both pleasant and unpleasant. Of course, our universe has a Divine Creator – the Supreme Being. That does not change. Who He is our human minds will never fully understand. Nevertheless, we must serve Him as our existence depends on Him. We must continue to question all the dogma we have been fed in the past.

The Bible must be read objectively, thoroughly, and without bias; this book is not to be followed blindly. Those who follow the Bible blindly or without scholarship often do irreparable harm to innocent people. As we have stated before, we should all endeavor to uncover the truth about our spiritual systems and their related texts:

“It is the glory of Elohim to conceal a thing; but the glory of kings is to search out a matter,” ~ Proverbs 25:2

William Dever on “Did God Have a Wife? Folk Religion in Ancient Israel” at the conference “The Lady of the Temple,” which took place on October 23, 2013, in Logan, Utah.

Did God Have a Wife?: Archaeology and Folk Religion in Ancient Israel

Video from Academy for Temple Studies/YouTube