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Bible Q

Does God have a wife?

Answered by . June 12, 2010 - 3:56 pm

No. Although the Bible presents God as our Father, it doesn’t ever say that he had a wife.

However, many of the pagan gods of the nations around Israel did have wives, so it was natural for the Israelites to wonder about this. There is some archaeological evidence that some people believed that the Israelite god (Yahweh) had a consort, and that her name was Asherah. The Bible mentions Asherah many times, but as one of the false Canaanite goddesses, not as the wife of the biblical God.

References

Dever, W.G. (2005) Did God Have a Wife? Archaeology and Folk Religion in Ancient Israel, Grand Rapids: Eerdmans.

3 Replies to “Does God have a wife?”

  1. his bride is the church and we are all his children so in a sense he does in fact have a wife.as to what church ask HIM.pray and talk to him he is listening.unless you can show me somewhere in the Bible other wise.

  2. The church frowns on single mothers and/or fathers, so why is a wifeless God tolerated & even worshiped? The “church” is his wife? Really? This is just one of the many reasons why I left the church MANY years ago & have never returned. The Bible has been interpreted & reinterpreted over & over & then every single person then again has their own interpretations as to what was written. Some will even interpret it to suit their own needs for a particular situation. And no 2 preachers will give you the same answer on most questions. And if they can’t give you a straight answer, like in this article, they say to look in your heart.
    And what about the “false Gods” of the Pagans, Wiccans, or any other religious group. Why are their Gods false? Just cause you don’t believe in them, doesn’t mean they don’t exist. They bash or discount Christianity & their beliefs, yet Christians are QUICK to judge them. I thought God was the only person who could judge us? And what about their false Gods. Guess what, they are the same people that Christians call Saints. Like, Saint Michael the ArchAngel. Christians call him a Saint & others call him a God, I would like for once to have a STRAIGHT answer.
    Christianity is the problem with society as much as everything else. Christians do every thing they can to degrade, judge, cast out, demonize anyone who does not think or act like them on Sundays. Christianity has become a joke. I am ashamed to call myself a Christian. I am now, just ME.

    • There are so many assumptions in this answer it’s difficult to reply to fairly. But here’s an attempt:

      1. The church is not presented as “the wife of God” but as “the Bride of Christ”.

      2. We (and many other Christians) do not believe in “saints” up in heaven managing the affairs of the universe. Scripturally, the saints are just believers in God (see https://bibleq.net/answer/4529/). We do believe that the angels are servants of God, totally under his control.

      3. It is true that many people have interpreted the Bible many different ways. That doesn’t automatically make all those interpretations wrong. It just means we have to do our best to find the right one.

      4. The judgement question follows on from this. If we are trying to follow the right way, does it not seem reasonable that we would have to judge which ways are right and which ways are wrong? And once we decide on that, doesn’t it also seem reasonable that we try and tell others of what we’ve found?
      What Jesus goes on to say about judgement after saying “Judge not” is “You will be judged by the judgement you give”. So the message isn’t “Refuse to ever make any judgement about what is right and what is wrong.” It’s “When you make judgements, be careful about the way you judge, because it will affect you. (Also be aware of your blind spots).” So yes, people who are harshly critical of everything around them can probably expect Jesus to be harshly critical of their work.

      Also consider https://bibleq.net/answer/110/.