Asherim

an ancient semitic goddess, sometimes identified with ashtoreth and astarte, worshiped by the phoenicians and canaanites.
any of various upright wooden objects serving as a sacred symbol of asherah.
historical examples

with soft speech they seduced him into the worship of asherim.
the expositor’s bible f. w. farrar

micah also prophesies against the “pillars” and “asherim” (v. 13, 14).
bible studies joseph m. wheeler

and if not, where is the appropriateness of the words “when they remember their sons, their altars, and their asherim?”
the expositor’s bible: the prophecies of jeremiah c j ball

asherim seem to be upright wooden stocks of trees in honour of the nature-goddess asheroth.
the expositor’s bible: the first book of kings f. w. farrar

the real form was doubtless an “asherim,” a modified palm-tree, as we have already shown.
ancient pagan and modern christian symbolism thomas inman

n.

1863, wooden pillar used as symbol of canaanite goddess ashera, of unknown origin.

and pl. asherim in revised version, instead of “grove” and “groves” of the authorized version. this was the name of a sensual canaanitish goddess astarte, the feminine of the -ssyrian ishtar. its symbol was the stem of a tree deprived of its boughs, and rudely shaped into an image, and planted in the ground. such religious symbols (“groves”) are frequently alluded to in scripture (ex. 34:13; judg. 6:25; 2 kings 23:6; 1 kings 16:33, etc.). these images were also sometimes made of silver or of carved stone (2 kings 21:7; “the graven image of asherah,” r.v.). (see grove øt0001556 [1].).