Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch Old Testament Commentary

"Thou shalt not plant thee as asherah any wood beside the altar of Jehovah." נטע, to plant, used figuratively, to plant up or erect, as in Ecc 12:11; Dan 11:25; cf. Isa 51:16. Asherah, the symbol of Astarte (see at Exo 34:13), cannot mean either a green tree or a grove (as Movers, Relig. der Phnizier, p. 572, supposes), for the simple reason that in other passages we find the words עשׂה, make (Kg1 14:15; Kg1 16:33; Kg2 17:16; Kg2 21:3; Ch2 33:3), or הצּיב, set up (Kg2 17:10), העמיד, stand up (Ch2 33:19), and בּנה, build (Kg1 14:23), used to denote the erection of an asherah, not one of which is at all suitable to a tree or grove. But what is quite decisive is the fact that in Kg1 14:23; Kg2 17:10; Jer 17:2, the asherah is spoken of as being set up under, or by the side of, the green tree. This idol generally consisted of a wooden column; and a favourite place for setting it up was by the side of the altars of Baal.