Bible Meaning: Star
Strong's Concordance #H6252
Ashtaroth is spelled Ashtoreth (Strong's #H6253) in the King James version of 1Kings 11:5, 33 and 2Kings 23:13.
The city is also referenced as Ashteroth Karnaim, a name that means "Ashtoreth of the two horns or peaks" or "Ashtaroth of the double horns" (#H6255) as in Genesis 14:5. It was the first of many cities Chedorlaomer and his allied forces conquered in the first wars mentioned in the Bible (Genesis 14:5).
Ashtaroth (Ashtoreth) later became a Levitical city in the tribe of Manasseh's territory located east of the Jordan River. The city was on a major north-south trading route called the King's Highway.
Pagan deity
King Saul, as well as his son Jonathan, lost their lives on Mount Gilboa after battling the Philistines. When the enemy found Saul's body, they desecrated it by cutting off his head and passing it around their cities as a war trophy. They also took his armor and displayed it in their temple dedicated to Ashtaroth and gruesomely nailed his headless body to the wall of Bethshan (1Samuel 31).
Important Verses
City
Genesis 14:5
And in the fourteenth year came Chedorlaomer, and the kings that were with him, and smote the Rephaims in Ashteroth Karnaim, and the Zuzims in Ham, and the Emims in Shaveh Kiriathaim . . .
Joshua 9:10
And all that he did to the two kings of the Amorites, that were beyond Jordan, to Sihon king of Heshbon, and to Og king of Bashan, which was at Ashtaroth.
Joshua 12:4
And the coast of Og king of Bashan, which was of the remnant of the giants, that dwelt at Ashtaroth and at Edrei . . .
Pagan deity
Judges 2:11 - 13
And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord, and served Baalim: And they forsook the Lord God of their fathers, which brought them out of the land of Egypt . . .
And they forsook the Lord, and served Baal and Ashtaroth.
Judges 10:5 - 6
And Jair (a Judge of Israel) died, and was buried in Camon.
And the children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the Lord, and served Baalim, and Ashtaroth, and the Gods of Syria, and the Gods of Zidon, and the Gods of Moab, and the Gods of the children of Ammon, and the Gods of the Philistines . . .
And Samuel spake unto all the house of Israel, saying, If ye do return unto the Lord with all your hearts, then put away the strange Gods and Ashtaroth from among you, and prepare your hearts unto the Lord, and serve him only: and he will deliver you out of the hand of the Philistines.
1Samuel 12:10
And they cried unto the Lord, and said, We have sinned, because we have forsaken the Lord, and have served Baalim and Ashtaroth: but now deliver us out of the hand of our enemies, and we will serve thee.
1Kings 11:4 - 5
For it came to pass, when Solomon was old, that his wives turned away his heart after other Gods: and his heart was not perfect with the Lord his God, as was the heart of David his father.
For Solomon went after Ashtoreth the Goddess of the Zidonians, and after Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites.
2Kings 23:13
And the high places that were before Jerusalem, which were on the right hand of the mount of corruption, which Solomon the king of Israel had builded for Ashtoreth (Ashtaroth) the abomination of the Zidonians, and for Chemosh the abomination of the Moabites, and for Milcom the abomination of the children of Ammon, did the king (Josiah who ruled over the Kingdom of Judah) defile.