His name is Akkadian in form and may invoke the Northwest Semitic god Hadad, though his letters invoke only Ba'alat Gubla, the "Lady of Byblos" (probably another name for Asherah).
Asherah |
The core of the book lies in chapters 5, Archaeological Evidence for Folk Religions in Ancient Israel, 6 The Goddess Asherah and Her Cult, and 7 Asherah, Women’s Cults, and ‘Official Yahwism’.
William Foxwell Albright believed that Qudšu (meaning "holiness") was a common Canaanite appellation for the goddess Asherah, and Albright's mentor Frank Moore Cross claimed qdš was used as a divine epithet for both Asherah and the Ugaritic goddess, Athirat.