Astarte (See ASHTORETH.) (Jeremiah 7:18; Jeremiah 44:17-25). Wife of Baal or Moloch, "king of heaven." The male and female pair symbolized nature's generative powers, from whence prostitution was practiced in her worship. The worshippers stoutly refused to give up her worship, attributing their recent deprival of plenty to discontinuing her service, and their former plenty to her service. God makes fools' present prosperity their doom (Proverbs 1:32) and does good to His people in their latter end (Deuteronomy 8:16). In Jeremiah 44:19 Maurer translated "did we form her image." Crescent-shaped cakes were offered to the moon. Beltis, the female of Bel or Baal, was the Babylonian "queen of heaven." Ishtar the Babylonian Venus (in the Sardanapalus inscriptions) was also "the mistress of heaven and earth." Babylon, Israel's instrument of sin, was in righteous retribution made Israel's punishment (Jeremiah 2:19).
From the co-author of the classic Jamieson, Fausset and Brown Commentary, Fausset's Bible Dictionary stands as one of the best single-volume Bible encyclopedias ever written for general use. The author's writing style is always clear and concise, and he tackles issues important to the average student of the Bible, not just the Biblical scholars. This makes Fausset an excellent tool for both everyday Bible study and in-depth lesson or sermon preparation.Wikipedia
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