,preservation ,department ,digital ,library7 ,transcriber's ,notes3 ,variations in spelling and hyphenation have been left as in the original4 ,words italicized in the original are surrounded by underscores4 ,characters superscripted in the original are enclosed in braces4 ,in this text1 in words translated from ,hebrew1 represents an aleph1 and ' represents an ayin4 ,some typographical and punctuation errors have been corrected4 ,a complete list follows the text4 ,there are diacritic accents in the original4 ,in this text1 they are represented as follows3 a a with a macron 7e e with a breve e e with a macron vs s with a caron i i with a macron v,s ,s with a caron o o with a macron ,h4 ,h with an underdot u u with a macron h4 h with an underdot ,,the ,,astronomy ,,of ,,the ,,bible ,illustration3 ,from the ,painting by ,sir ,edward ,burne-,jones in the ,birmingham ,art ,gallery4 ,,the ,,star ,,of ,,bethlehem4 ,we have seen ,his star in the east1 and are come to worship ,him4 ,frontispiece4 ,,the ,,astronomy ,,of ,,the ,,bible ,,an ,,elementary ,,commentary ,,on ,,the ,,astronomical ,,references ,,of ,,holy ,,scripture ,,by ,e4 ,,walter ,,maunder1 ,f4,r4,a4,s4 ,,author ,,of ',,the ,,royal ,,observatory1 ,,greenwich3 ,,its ,,history ,,and ,,work1' ,,and ',,astronomy ,,without ,a ,,telescope' ,,with ,,thirty-,,four ,,illustrations ,,new ,,york ,,mitchell ,,kennerley ,,richard ,,clay ,,sons1 ,,limited1 ,,bread ,,street ,,hill1 ,e4,c41 ,,and ,,bungay1 ,,suffolk4 ,to ,,my ,,wife ,my helper in this ,book and in all things4 ,,preface ,why should an astronomer write a commentary on the ,bible8 ,because commentators as a rule are not astronomers1 and therefore either pass over the astronomical allusions of ,scripture in silence1 or else annotate them in a way which1 from a scientific point of view1 leaves much to be desired4 ,astronomical allusions in the ,bible1 direct and indirect1 are not few in number1 and1 in order to bring out their full significance1 need to be treated astronomically4 ,astronomy further gives us the power of placing ourselves to some degree in the position of the patriarchs and prophets of old4 ,we know that the same sun and moon1 stars and planets1 shine upon us as shone upon ,abraham and ,moses1 ,david and ,isaiah4 ,we can1 if we will1 see the unchanging heavens with their eyes1 and understand their attitude towards them4 ,it is worth while for us so to do4 ,for the immense advances in science1 made since the ,canon of ,holy ,scripture was closed1 and especially during the last three hundred years1 may enable us to realize the significance of a most remarkable fact4 ,even in those early ages1 when to all the nations surrounding ,israel the heavenly bodies were objects for divination or idolatry1 the attitude of the sacred writers toward them was perfect in its sanity and truth4 ,astronomy has a yet further part to play in ,biblical study4 ,the dating of the several books of the ,bible1 and the relation of certain heathen mythologies to the ,scripture narratives of the world's earliest ages1 have received much attention of late years4 ,literary analysis has thrown much light on these subjects1 but hitherto any evidence that astronomy could give has been almost wholly neglected2 although1 from the nature of the case1 such evidence1 so far as it is available1 must be most decisive and exact4 ,i have endeavoured1 in the present book1 to make an astronomical commentary on the ,bible1 in a manner that shall be both clear and interesting to the general reader1 dispensing as far as possible with astronomical technicalities1 since the principles concerned are1 for the most part1 quite simple4 ,i trust1 also1 that ,i have taken the first step in a new inquiry which promises to give results of no small importance4 ,e4 ,,walter ,,maunder4 ,st4 ,john's1 ,london1 ,s4,e4 ,january #aijh4 ,,contents ,,book ,i ,,the ,,heavenly ,,bodies ,,chapter ,i4 ,,the ,,hebrew ,,and ,,astronomy ,modern ,astronomy--,astronomy in the ,classical ,age--,the ,canon of ,holy ,scripture closed before the ,classical ,age--,character of the ,scriptural ,references to the ,heavenly ,bodies--,tradition of ,solomon's ,eminence in ,science--,attitude towards ,nature of the ,sacred ,writers--,plan of the ,book #c ,,chapter ,,ii4 ,,the ,,creation ,indian ,eclipse of #ahih--;,contrast between the ,heathen and ,scientific ,attitudes--,the ,law of ,causality--,inconsistent with ,polytheism--,faith in ,one ,god the ,source to the ,hebrews of ,intellectual ,freedom--,the ,first ,words of ,genesis the ,charter of the ,physical ,sciences--,the ,limitations of ,science--,explanations of the ,first ,chapter of ,genesis--,its ,real ,purposes--,the ,sabbath #ab ,,chapter ,,iii4 ,,the ,,deep ,babylonian ,creation ,myth--,tiamat1 the ,dragon of ,chaos--,overcome by ,merodach--,similarity to the ,scandinavian ,myth--,no ,resemblance to the ,narrative in ,genesis--,meanings of the ,hebrew ,word tehom--,date of the ,babylonian ,creation ,story #be ,,chapter ,,iv4 ,,the ,,firmament ,twofold ,application of the ,hebrew ,word raqia--,its ,etymological ,meaning--,the ,idea of ,solidity introduced by the ,seventy--,not the ,hebrew ,idea--,the ,foundations of ,heaven and ,earth--,the ,canopy of ,heaven--,the ,stories of ,heaven--,clouds and ,rain--,the ,atmospheric ,circulation--,hebrew ,appreciation even of the ,terrible in ,nature--,the ,balancings and ,spreadings of the ,clouds--,the ,windows of ,heaven--,not ,literal ,sluice-gates--,the ,four ,winds--,the ,four ,quarters--,the ,circle of the ,earth--,the ,waters under the ,earth--,the ,depths #ce ,,chapter ,v4 ,,the ,,ordinances ,,of ,,the ,,heavens ,the ,order of the ,heavenly ,movements--,daily ,movement of the ,sun--,nightly ,movements of the ,stars--,the ,host of ,heaven-- ,symbolic of the ,angelic ,host--,morning ,stars--,the ,scripture ,view of the ,heavenly ,order #ee ,,chapter ,,vi4 ,,the ,,sun ,the ,double ,purpose of the ,two ,great ,heavenly ,bodies--,symbolic ,use of the ,sun as ,light-giver--,no ,deification of the ,sun or of ,light--,solar ,idolatry in ,israel--,shemesh and ,h4eres-- ,sun-spots--,light before the ,sun--,under the ,sun--,the ,circuit of the ,sun--,sunstroke--,variableness--,our present ,knowledge of the ,sun--,sir ,william ,herschel's ,theory--,conflict between the ,old ,science and the ,new--,galileo--,a ,question of ,evidence--,a ,question of ,principle #fc ,,chapter ,,vii4 ,,the ,,moon ,importance of the ,moon in ,olden ,times--,especially to the ,shepherd--,jewish ,feasts at the ,full ,moon--,the ,harvest ,moon--,the ,hebrew ,month a ,natural one--,different ,hebrew ,words for ,moon-- ,moon-worship forbidden--,similitudes of the ,moon--,worship of ,ashtoreth--,no mention of ,lunar ,phases--,the ,moon for ,seasons #gi ,,chapter ,,viii4 ,,the ,,stars ,number of the ,stars--,magnitudes of the ,stars--,distances of the ,stars #ie ,,chapter ,,ix4 ,,comets ,great ,comets unexpected ,visitors--,description of ,comets-- ,formation of the ,tail--,possible ,references in ,scripture to ,comets #ajc ,,chapter ,x4 ,,meteors ,aerolites--,diana of the ,ephesians--,star-showers--,the ,leonid ,meteors--,references in ,scripture--,the ,aurora ,borealis #aaa ,,chapter ,,xi4 ,,eclipses ,,of ,,the ,,sun ,,and ,,moon ,vivid ,impression produced by a ,total ,solar ,eclipse--,eclipses not ,omens to the ,hebrews--,eclipses visible in ,ancient ,palestine-- ,explanation of ,eclipses--,the ,saros--,scripture ,references to ,eclipses--,the ,corona--,the ,egyptian ,winged ,disc--,the ,babylonian ,ring with ,wings--,the ,corona at ,minimum #aah ,,chapter ,,xii4 ,,saturn ,,and ,,astrology ,the ,seven ,planets--,possible ,scripture ,references to ,venus and ,jupiter--,your ,god ,remphan probably ,saturn--,the ,sabbath and ,saturn's ,day--,r4 ,a4 ,proctor on the ,names of the ,days of the ,week--,order of the ,planets--,alexandrian ,origin of the ,weekday ,names--,the ,relation of ,astrology to ,astronomy--,early ,babylonian ,astrology--,hebrew ,contempt for ,divination #acj ,,book ,,ii ,,the ,,constellations ,,chapter ,i4 ,,the ,,origin ,,of ,,the ,,constellations ,the ,greek ,sphere--,aratus--,st ,paul's ,sermon at ,athens--,the ,constellations of ,ptolemy's ,catalogue--,references to the ,constellations in ,hesiod and ,homer--,the ,constellation ,figures on ,greek ,coins--,and on ,babylonian ,boundary-stones--,the ,unmapped ,space in the ,south--,its ,explanation--,precession--,date and ,place of the ,origin of the ,constellations--,significant ,positions of the ,serpent ,forms in the ,constellations--,the ,four ,royal ,stars--,the ,constellations earlier than the ,old ,testament #adi ,,chapter ,,ii4 ,,genesis ,,and ,,the ,,constellations ,the ,bow set in the ,cloud--,the ,conflict with the ,serpent--,the ,seed of the ,woman--,the ,cherubim--,the ,mighty ,hunter #afb ,,chapter ,,iii4 ,,the ,,story ,,of ,,the ,,deluge ,resemblance between the ,babylonian and ,genesis ,deluge ,stories--,the ,deluge ,stories in ,genesis--,their ,special ,features--,the ,babylonian ,deluge ,story--,question as to its ,date--,its ,correspondence with both the ,genesis ,narratives--,the ,constellation ,deluge ,picture--,its ,correspondence with both the ,genesis ,narratives--,the ,genesis ,deluge ,story independent of ,star ,myth and ,babylonian ,legend #agj ,,chapter ,,iv4 ,,the ,,tribes ,,of ,,israel ,,and ,,the ,,zodiac ,joseph's ,dream--,alleged ,association of the ,zodiacal ,figures with the ,tribes of ,israel--,the ,standards of the ,four ,camps of ,israel--,the ,blessings of ,jacob and ,moses--,the ,prophecies of ,balaam--,the ,golden ,calf--,the ,lion of ,judah #ahf ,,chapter ,v4 ,,leviathan ,the ,four ,serpent-like ,forms in the ,constellations--,their ,significant ,positions--,the ,dragon's ,head and ,tail--,the ,symbols for the ,nodes--,the ,dragon of ,eclipse--,hindu ,myth of ,eclipses--,leviathan--,references to the ,stellar ,serpents in ,scripture--,rahab--,andromeda--,the ,eyelids of the ,morning--,poetry1 ,science1 and ,myth #aif ,,chapter ,,vi4 ,,the ,,pleiades ,difficulty of ,identification--,the most ,attractive ,constellations--,kimah--,not a ,babylonian ,star ,name--,a ,pre-exilic ,hebrew ,term--,the ,pleiades traditionally ,seven--,mdler's ,suggestion--,pleiades associated in ,tradition with the ,rainy ,season--,and with the ,deluge--,their ,sweet ,influences--,the ,return of ,spring--,the ,pleiades in recent ,photographs--,great ,size and ,distance of the ,cluster #bac ,,chapter ,,vii4 ,,orion ,kesil--,probably ,orion--,appearance of the ,constellation-- ,identified in ,jewish ,tradition with ,nimrod1 who was probably ,merodach--,altitude of ,orion in the ,sky--,kesilim--,the ,bands of ,orion--,the ,bow-star and ,lance-star1 ,orion's ,dogs--,identification of ,tiamat with ,cetus #bca ,,chapter ,,viii4 ,,mazzaroth ,probably the ,signs of the ,zodiac--,babylonian ,creation ,story--,significance of its ,astronomical ,references--,difference between the ,signs and the ,constellations of the ,zodiac--,date of the ,change--,and of the ,babylonian ,creation ,epic--,stages of ,astrology--,astrology ,younger than ,astronomy by #bjjj ,years-- ,mazzaroth and the ,chambers of the ,south--,mazzaloth--,the ,solar and ,lunar ,zodiacs--,mazzaroth in his ,season #bdc ,,chapter ,,ix4 ,,arcturus ,ash and ,ayish--,uncertainty as to their ,identification-- ,probably the ,great ,bear--,mezarim--,probably another ,name for the ,bears--,canst thou guide the ,bear8--,proper ,motions of the ,plough-stars--,estimated ,distance #beh ,,book ,,iii ,,times ,,and ,,seasons ,,chapter ,i4 ,,the ,,day ,,and ,,its ,,divisions ,rotation ,period of ,venus--,difficulty of the ,time ,problem on ,venus--,the ,sun and ,stars as ,time ,measurers--,the apparent ,solar ,day the ,first in ,use--,it began at ,sunset--,subdivisions of the ,day ,interval--,between the ,two ,evenings--,the ,watches of the ,night--,the #ab-;hour ,day and the #bd-;hour ,day #bfi ,,chapter ,,ii4 ,,the ,,sabbath ,,and ,,the ,,week ,the ,week not an ,astronomical ,period--,different ,weeks employed by the ,ancients--,four ,origins assigned for the ,week--,the ,quarter-month--,the ,babylonian ,system--,the ,babylonian ,sabbath not a ,rest ,day--,the ,jewish ,sabbath amongst the ,romans--,alleged ,astrological ,origin of the ,week--,origin of the ,week given in the ,bible #bhc ,,chapter ,,iii4 ,,the ,,month ,the ,new ,moon a ,holy ,day with the ,hebrews--,the ,full ,moons at the ,two ,equinoxes also ,holy ,days--,the ,beginnings of the ,months determined from actual ,observation--,rule for finding ,easter--,names of the ,jewish ,months--,phoenician and ,babylonian ,month ,names-- ,number of ,days in the ,month--,babylonian ,dead ,reckoning--,present ,jewish ,calendar #bic ,,chapter ,,iv4 ,,the ,,year ,the ,jewish ,year a ,luni-solar one--,need for an ,intercalary ,month--,the ,metonic ,cycle--,the ,sidereal and ,tropical ,years--,the ,hebrew a ,tropical ,year--,beginning near the ,spring ,equinox--,meaning of the ,end of the ,year--,early ,babylonian ,method of determining the ,first ,month--,capella as the ,indicator ,star--,the ,triad of ,stars--,the ,tropical ,year in the ,deluge ,story #cje ,,chapter ,v4 ,,the ,,sabbatic ,,year ,,and ,,the ,,jubilee ,law of the ,sabbatic ,year--,a ,year of ,rest and ,release--,the ,jubilee--,difficulties connected with the ,sabbatic ,year and the ,jubilee--,the ,sabbatic ,year1 an ,agricultural one--,interval between the ,jubilees1 ,forty-nine ,years1 not ,fifty--,forty-nine ,years an ,astronomical ,cycle #cbf ,,chapter ,,vi4 ,,the ,,cycles ,,of ,,daniel ,the ,jubilee ,cycle possessed only by the ,hebrews--,high ,estimation of ,daniel and his ,companions entertained by ,nebuchadnezzar--,due possibly to ,daniel's ,knowledge of ,luni-solar ,cycles--,cycles in ,daniel's ,prophecy--#bcjj ,years and #abfj ,years as ,astronomical ,cycles--,early ,astronomical ,progress of the ,babylonians much overrated--,yet their ,real ,achievements not ,small--,limitations of the ,babylonian--,freedom of the ,hebrew #ccg ,,book ,,iv ,,three ,,astronomical ,,marvels ,,chapter ,i4 ,,joshua',s ,,long ,,day ,,method ,,of ,,studying ,,the ,,record--,to be discussed as it stands--,an early ,astronomical ,observation4 ,,before ,,the ,,battle--,movements of the ,israelites--,reasons for the ,gibeonites' ,action--,rapid ,movements of all the ,parties4 ,,day1 ,,hour1 ,,and ,,place ,,of ,,the ,,miracle--,indication of the ,sun's ,declination--,joshua was at ,gibeon--,and at ,high ,noon--,on the #bast ,day of the ,fourth ,month4 ,,joshua',s ,,strategy--,key to it in the ,flight of the ,amorites by the ,beth-horon ,route--,the ,amorites defeated but not surrounded--,king ,david as a ,strategist4 ,,the ,,miracle--,the ,noon-day ,heat1 the great ,hindrance to the ,israelites--,joshua desired the ,heat to be tempered--,the ,sun made to be silent--,the ,hailstorm--,the ,march to ,makkedah--,a ,full ,day's ,march in the ,afternoon--,the ,miracle not a ,poetic ,hyperbole--,exact ,accord of the ,poem and the ,prose ,chronicle--,the ,record made at the ,time--,their ,march1 the ,israelites' ,measure of ,time #cea ,,chapter ,,ii4 ,,the ,,dial ,,of ,,ahaz ,the ,narrative--,suggested ,explanations--,the ,dial of ,ahaz1 probably a ,staircase--,probable ,history and ,position of the ,staircase--,significance of the ,sign #che ,,chapter ,,iii4 ,,the ,,star ,,of ,,bethlehem ,the ,narrative--,no ,astronomical ,details given--,purpose of the ,scripture ,narrative--,kepler's suggested ,identification of the ,star--,the ,new ,star of #aegb--,legend of the ,well of ,bethlehem--,true ,significance of the ,reticence of the ,gospel ,narrative #cic ,a ,,table ,,of ,,scriptural ,,reference #dja ,,index #dje ,,illustrations ,,page ,,the ,,star ,,of ,,bethlehem 7,burne-,jones7 ,frontispiece ,,the ,,rainbow 7,rubens7 #b ,,merodach ,,and ,,tiamat #be ,,cirrus ,,and ,,cumuli #dg ,a ,,corner ,,of ,,the ,,milky ,,way #id ,,the ,,great ,,comet ,,of #ahdc #ajb ,,fall ,,of ,,an ,,aerolite #aaj ,,meteoric ,,shower ,,of #agii #aae ,,the ,,assyrian ',,ring ,,with ,,wings' #abf ,,corona ,,of ,,minimum ,,type #abg ,,st4 ,,paul ,,preaching ,,at ,,athens 7,raphael7 #adh ,,the ,,ancient ,,constellations ,,south ,,of ,,the ,,ecliptic #aee ,,the ,,celestial ,,sphere #aef ,,the ,,midnight ,,constellations ,,of ,,spring1 ,b4,c4 #bgjj #afd ,,the ,,midnight ,,constellations ,,of ,,winter1 ,b4,c4 #bgjj #afe ,,ophiuchus ,,and ,,the ,,neighbouring ,,constellations #ahi ,,aquarius ,,and ,,the ,,neighbouring ,,constellations #aib ,,hercules ,,and ,,draco #aig ,,hydra ,,and ,,the ,,neighbouring ,,constellations #bjj ,,andromeda ,,and ,,cetus #bjg ,,stars ,,of ,,the ,,pleiades #bai ,,inner ,,nebulosities ,,of ,,the ,,pleiades #bbg ,,stars ,,of ,,orion #bcb ,,orion ,,and ,,the ,,neighbouring ,,constellations #bcf ,,position ,,of ,,spring ,,equinox1 ,b4,c4 #bgjj #bdf ,,position ,,of ,,spring ,,equinox1 ,a4,d4 #aijj #bdg ,,stars ,,of ,,the ,,plough1 ,,as ,,the ,,winnowing ,,fan #bfc ',,blow ,,up ,,the ,,trumpet ,,in ,,the ,,new ,,moon' #bfh ,,position ,,of ,,the ,,new ,,moon ,,at ,,the ,,equinoxes #caf ,,boundary-,,stone ,,in ,,the ,,louvre #cah ,,worship ,,of ,,the ,,sun-,,god ,,at ,,sippara #cbb ',,sun1 ,,stand ,,thou ,,still ,,upon ,,gibeon1 ,,and ,,thou ,,moon ,,in ,,the ,,valley ,,of ,,ajalon' #cej ,,map ,,of ,,southern ,,palestine #ceg ,,bearings ,,of ,,the ,,rising ,,and ,,setting ,,points ,,of ,,the ,,sun ,,from ,,gibeon #cfc ,illustration3 ,by permission of the ,autotype ,co4 #gd1 ,new ,oxford ,street1 ,london ,w4,c4 ,,the ,,rainbow 7by ,rubens74 ,the bow that is in the cloud on the day of rain4 ,,the ,,astronomy ,,of ,,the ,,bible ,,book ,i ,,the ,,heavenly ,,bodies ,,chapter ,i ,,the ,,hebrew ,,and ,,astronomy ,modern astronomy began a little more than three centuries ago with the invention of the telescope and ,galileo's application of it to the study of the heavenly bodies4 ,this new instrument at once revealed to him the mountains on the moon1 the satellites of ,jupiter1 and the spots on the sun1 and brought the celestial bodies under observation in a way that no one had dreamed of before4 ,in our view to-day1 the planets of the solar system are worlds2 we can examine their surfaces and judge wherein they resemble or differ from our earth4 ,to the ancients they were but points of light2 to us they are vast bodies that we have been able to measure and to weigh4 ,the telescope has enabled us also to penetrate deep into outer space2 we have learnt of other systems besides that of our own sun and its dependents1 many of them far more complex2 clusters and clouds of stars have been revealed to us1 and mysterious nebul1 which suggest by their forms that they are systems of suns in the making4 ,more lately the invention of the spectroscope has informed us of the very elements which go to the composition of these numberless stars1 and we can distinguish those which are in a similar condition to our sun from those differing from him4 ,and photography has recorded for us objects too faint for mere sight to detect1 even when aided by the most powerful telescope2 too detailed and intricate for the most skilful hand to depict4 ,galileo's friend and contemporary1 ,kepler1 laid the foundations of another department of modern astronomy at about the same time4 ,he studied the apparent movements of the planets until they yielded him their secret so far that he was able to express them in three simple laws1 laws which1 two generations later1 ,sir ,isaac ,newton demonstrated to be the outcome of one grand and simple law of universal range1 the law of gravitation4 ,upon this law the marvellous mathematical conquests of astronomy have been based4 ,all these wonderful results have been attained by the free exercise of men's mental abilities1 and it cannot be imagined that ,god would have intervened to hamper their growth in intellectual power by revealing to men facts and methods which it was within their own ability to discover for themselves4 ,men's mental powers have developed by their exercise2 they would have been stunted had men been led to look to revelation rather than to diligent effort for the satisfaction of their curiosity4 ,we therefore do not find any reference in the ,bible to that which modern astronomy has taught us4 ,yet it may be noted that some expressions1 appropriate at any time1 have become much more appropriate1 much more forcible1 in the light of our present-day knowledge4 ,the age of astronomy which preceded the ,modern1 and may be called the ,classical age1 was almost as sharply defined in its beginning as its successor4 ,it lasted about two thousand years1 and began with the investigations into the movements of the planets made by some of the early ,greek mathematicians4 ,classical1 like ,modern astronomy1 had its two sides1--the instrumental and the mathematical4 ,on the instrumental side was the invention of graduated instruments for the determination of the positions of the heavenly bodies2 on the mathematical1 the development of geometry and trigonometry for the interpretation of those positions when thus determined4 ,amongst the great names of this period are those of ,eudoxus of ,knidus 7,b4,c4 #djh-cee71 and ,hipparchus of ,bithynia1 who lived rather more than two centuries later4 ,under its first leaders astronomy in the ,classical age began to advance rapidly1 but it soon experienced a deadly blight4 ,men were not content to observe the heavenly bodies for what they were2 they endeavoured to make them the sources of divination4 ,the great school of ,alexandria 7founded about #cjj ,b4,c471 the headquarters of astronomy1 became invaded by the spirit of astrology1 the bastard science which has always tried--parasite-like--to suck its life from astronomy4 ,thus from the days of ,claudius ,ptolemy to the end of the ,middle ,ages the growth of astronomy was arrested1 and it bore but little fruit4 ,it will be noticed that the ,classical age did not commence until about the time of the completion of the last books of the ,old ,testament2 so we do not find any reference in ,holy ,scripture to the astronomical achievements of that period1 amongst which the first attempts to explain the apparent motions of sun1 moon1 stars1 and planets were the most considerable4 ,we have a complete history of astronomy in the ,modern and ,classical periods1 but there was an earlier astronomy1 not inconsiderable in amount1 of which no history is preserved4 ,for when ,eudoxus commenced his labours1 the length of the year had already been determined1 the equinoxes and solstices had been recognized1 the ecliptic1 the celestial equator1 and the poles of both great circles were known1 and the five principal planets were familiar objects4 ,this ,early astronomy must have had its history1 its stages of development1 but we can only with difficulty trace them out4 ,it cannot have sprung into existence full-grown any more than the other sciences2 it must have started from zero1 and men must have slowly fought their way from one observation to another1 with gradually widening conceptions1 before they could bring it even to that stage of development in which it was when the observers of the ,museum of ,alexandria began their work4 ,the books of the ,old ,testament were written at different times during the progress of this ,early age of astronomy4 ,we should therefore naturally expect to find the astronomical allusions written from the standpoint of such scientific knowledge as had then been acquired4 ,we cannot for a moment expect that any supernatural revelation of purely material facts would be imparted to the writers of sacred books1 two or three thousand years before the progress of science had brought those facts to light1 and we ought not to be surprised if expressions are occasionally used which we should not ourselves use to-day1 if we were writing about the phenomena of nature from a technical point of view4 ,it must further be borne in mind that the astronomical references are not numerous1 that they occur mostly in poetic imagery1 and that ,holy ,scripture was not intended to give an account of the scientific achievements1 if any1 of the ,hebrews of old4 ,its purpose was wholly different3 it was religious1 not scientific2 it was meant to give spiritual1 not intellectual enlightenment4 ,an exceedingly valuable and interesting work has recently been brought out by the most eminent of living ,italian astronomers1 ,prof4 ,g4 ,v4 ,schiaparelli1 on this subject of ,astronomy in the ,old ,testament1 to which work ,i should like here to acknowledge my indebtedness4 ,yet ,i feel that the avowed object of his book1#g3a--to discover what ideas the ancient ,jewish sages held regarding the structure of the universe1 what observations they made of the stars1 and how far they made use of them for the measurement and division of time--is open to this criticism1--that sufficient material for carrying it out is not within our reach4 ,if we were to accept implicitly the argument from the silence of ,scripture1 we should conclude that the ,hebrews--though their calendar was essentially a lunar one1 based upon the actual observation of the new moon--had never noticed that the moon changed its apparent form as the month wore on1 for there is no mention in the ,bible of the lunar phases4 ,the references to the heavenly bodies in ,scripture are not numerous1 and deal with them either as time-measurers or as subjects for devout allusion1 poetic simile1 or symbolic use4 ,but there is one characteristic of all these references to the phenomena of ,nature1 that may not be ignored4 ,none of the ancients ever approached the great ,hebrew writers in spiritual elevation2 none equalled them in poetic sublimity2 and few1 if any1 surpassed them in keenness of observation1 or in quick sympathy with every work of the ,creator4 ,these characteristics imply a natural fitness of the ,hebrews for successful scientific work1 and we should have a right to believe that under propitious circumstances they would have shown a pre-eminence in the field of physical research as striking as is the superiority of their religious conceptions over those of the surrounding nations4 ,we cannot1 of course1 conceive of the average ,jew as an ,isaiah1 any more than we can conceive of the average ,englishman as a ,shakespeare1 yet the one man1 like the other1 is an index of the advancement and capacity of his race2 nor could ,isaiah's writings have been preserved1 more than those of ,shakespeare1 without a true appreciation of them on the part of many of his countrymen4 ,but the necessary conditions for any great scientific development were lacking to ,israel4 ,a small nation1 planted between powerful and aggressive empires1 their history was for the most part the record of a struggle for bare existence2 and after three or four centuries of the unequal conflict1 first the one and then the other of the two sister kingdoms was overwhelmed4 ,there was but little opportunity during these years of storm and stress for men to indulge in any curious searchings into the secrets of nature4 ,once only was there a long interval of prosperity and peace2 viz4 from the time that ,david had consolidated the kingdom to the time when it suffered disruption under his grandson1 ,rehoboam2 and it is significant that tradition has ascribed to ,solomon and to his times just such a scientific activity as the ability and temperament of the ,hebrew race would lead us to expect it to display when the conditions should be favourable for it4 ,thus1 in the fourth chapter of the ,first ,book of ,kings1 not only are the attainments of ,solomon himself described1 but other men1 contemporaries either of his father ,david or himself1 are referred to1 as distinguished in the same direction1 though to a less degree4 ,and ,god gave ,solomon wisdom and understanding exceeding much1 and largeness of heart1 even as the sand that is on the seashore4 ,and ,solomon's wisdom excelled the wisdom of all the children of the east country1 and all the wisdom of ,egypt4 ,for he was wiser than all men2 than ,ethan the ,ezrahite1 and ,heman1 and ,chalcol1 and ,darda1 the sons of ,mahol3 and his fame was in all nations round about4 ,and he spake three thousand proverbs3 and his songs were a thousand and five4 ,and he spake of trees1 from the cedar-tree that is in ,lebanon even unto the hyssop that springeth out of the wall3 he spake also of beasts1 and of fowl1 and of creeping things1 and of fishes4 ,and there came of all people to hear the wisdom of ,solomon1 from all kings of the earth1 which had heard of his wisdom4 ,the tradition of his great eminence in scientific research is also preserved in the words put into his mouth in the ,book of the ,wisdom of ,solomon1 now included in the ,apocrypha4 ,for 7,god7 ,himself gave me an unerring knowledge of the things that are1 to know the constitution of the world1 and the operation of the elements2 the beginning and end and middle of times1 the alternations of the solstices and the changes of seasons1 the circuits of years and the positions 7margin1 constellations7 of stars2 the natures of living creatures and the ragings of wild beasts1 the violences of winds and the thoughts of men1 the diversities of plants and the virtues of roots3 all things that are either secret or manifest ,i learned1 for she that is the artificer of all things taught me1 even ,wisdom4 ,two great names have impressed themselves upon every part of the ,east3--the one1 that of ,solomon the son of ,david1 as the master of every secret source of knowledge2 and the other that of ,alexander the ,great1 as the mightiest of conquerors4 ,it is not unreasonable to believe that the traditions respecting the first have been founded upon as real a basis of actual achievement as those respecting the second4 ,but to such scientific achievements we have no express allusion in ,scripture1 other than is afforded us by the two quotations just made4 ,natural objects1 natural phenomena are not referred to for their own sake4 ,every thought leads up to ,god or to man's relation to ,him4 ,nature1 as a whole and in its every aspect and detail1 is the handiwork of ,jehovah3 that is the truth which the heavens are always declaring2--and it is ,his power1 ,his wisdom1 and ,his goodness to man which it is sought to illustrate1 when the beauty or wonder of natural objects is described4 ,when ,i consider ,thy heavens1 the work of ,thy fingers1 ,the moon and the stars1 which ,thou hast ordained2 ,what is man1 that ,thou art mindful of him8 ,and the son of man1 that ,thou visitest him8 ,the first purpose1 therefore1 of the following study of the astronomy of the ,bible is1--not to reconstruct the astronomy of the ,hebrews1 a task for which the material is manifestly incomplete1--but to examine such astronomical allusions as occur with respect to their appropriateness to the lesson which the writer desired to teach4 ,following this1 it will be of interest to examine what connection can be traced between the ,old ,testament ,scriptures and the ,constellations2 the arrangement of the stars into constellations having been the chief astronomical work effected during the centuries when those ,scriptures were severally composed4 ,the use made of the heavenly bodies as time-measurers amongst the ,hebrews will form a third division of the subject2 whilst there are two or three incidents in the history of ,israel which appear to call for examination from an astronomical point of view1 and may suitably be treated in a fourth and concluding section4 ,,footnotes3 #g3a ,astronomy in the ,old ,testament1 p4 #ab4 ,,chapter ,,ii ,,the ,,creation ,a few years ago a great eclipse of the sun1 seen as total along a broad belt of country right across ,india1 drew thither astronomers from the very ends of the earth4 ,not only did many ,english observers travel thither1 but the ,united ,states of ,america in the far west1 and ,japan in the far east sent their contingents1 and the entire length of country covered by the path of the shadow was dotted with the temporary observatories set up by the men of science4 ,it was a wonderful sight that was vouchsafed to these travellers in pursuit of knowledge4 ,in a sky of unbroken purity1 undimmed even for a moment by haze or cloud1 there shone down the fierce ,indian sun4 ,gradually a dark mysterious circle invaded its lower edge1 and covered its brightness2 coolness replaced the burning heat2 slowly the dark covering crept on2 slowly the sunlight diminished until at length the whole of the sun's disc was hidden4 ,then in a moment a wonderful starlike form flashed out1 a noble form of glowing silver light on the deep purple-coloured sky4 ,there was1 however1 no time for the astronomers to devote to admiration of the beauty of the scene1 or indulgence in rhapsodies4 ,two short minutes alone were allotted them to note all that was happening1 to take all their photographs1 to ask all the questions1 and obtain all the answers for which this strange veiling of the sun1 and still stranger unveiling of his halo-like surroundings1 gave opportunity4 ,it was two minutes of intensest strain1 of hurried though orderly work2 and then a sudden rush of sunlight put an end to all4 ,the mysterious vision had withdrawn itself2 the colour rushed back to the landscape1 so corpse-like whilst in the shadow2 the black veil slid rapidly from off the sun2 the heat returned to the air2 the eclipse was over4 ,but the astronomers from distant lands were not the only people engaged in watching the eclipse4 ,at their work1 they could hear the sound of a great multitude1 a sound of weeping and wailing1 a people dismayed at the distress of their god4 ,it was so at every point along the shadow track1 but especially where that track met the course of the sacred river4 ,along a hundred roads the pilgrims had poured in unceasing streams towards ,holy ,mother ,gunga2 towards ,benares1 the sacred city2 towards ,buxar1 where the eclipse was central at the river bank4 ,it is always meritorious--so the ,hindoo holds--to bathe in that sacred river1 but such a time as this1 when the sun is in eclipse1 is the most propitious moment of all for such lustration4 ,could there be a greater contrast than that offered between the millions trembling and dismayed at the signs of heaven1 and the little companies who had come for thousands of miles over land and sea1 rejoicing in the brief chance that was given them for learning a little more of the secrets of the wonders of ,nature8 ,the contrast between the heathen and the scientists was in both their spiritual and their intellectual standpoint1 and1 as we shall see later1 the intellectual contrast is a result of the spiritual4 ,the heathen idea is that the orbs of heaven are divine1 or at least that each expresses a divinity4 ,this does not in itself seem an unnatural idea when we consider the great benefits that come to us through the instrumentality of the sun and moon4 ,it is the sun that morning by morning rolls back the darkness1 and brings light and warmth and returning life to men2 it is the sun that rouses the earth after her winter sleep and quickens vegetation4 ,it is the moon that has power over the great world of waters1 whose pulse beats in some kind of mysterious obedience to her will4 ,natural1 then1 has it been for men to go further1 and to suppose that not only is power lodged in these1 and in the other members of the heavenly host1 but that it is living1 intelligent1 personal power2 that these shining orbs are beings1 or the manifestations of beings2 exalted1 mighty1 immortal2--that they are gods4 ,but if these are gods1 then it is sacrilegious1 it is profane1 to treat them as mere things2 to observe them minutely in the microscope or telescope2 to dissect them1 as it were1 in the spectroscope2 to identify their elements in the laboratory2 to be curious about their properties1 influences1 relations1 and actions on each other4 ,and if these are gods1 there are many gods1 not ,one ,god4 ,and if there are many gods1 there are many laws1 not one law4 ,thus scientific observations cannot be reconciled with polytheism1 for scientific observations demand the assumption of one universal law4 ,the wise king expressed this law thus3-- ,the thing that hath been1 it is that which shall be4 ,the actual language of science1 as expressed by ,professor ,thiele1 a leading ,continental astronomer1 states that-- ,everything that exists1 and everything that happens1 exists or happens as a necessary consequence of a previous state of things4 ,if a state of things is repeated in every detail1 it must lead to exactly the same consequences4 ,any difference between the results of causes that are in part the same1 must be explainable by some difference in the other part of the causes4#ae3a ,the law stated in the above words has been called the ,law of ,causality4 ,it cannot be proved1 but must be believed2 in the same way as we believe the fundamental assumptions of religion1 with which it is closely and intimately connected4 ,the law of causality forces itself upon our belief4 ,it may be denied in theory1 but not in practice4 ,any person who denies it1 will1 if he is watchful enough1 catch himself constantly asking himself1 if no one else1 why this has happened1 and not that4 ,but in that very question he bears witness to the law of causality4 ,if we are consistently to deny the law of causality1 we must repudiate all observation1 and particularly all prediction based on past experience1 as useless and misleading4 ,if we could imagine for an instant that the same complete combination of causes could have a definite number of different consequences1 however small that number might be1 and that among these the occurrence of the actual consequence was1 in the old sense of the word1 accidental1 no observation would ever be of any particular value4#af3a ,so long as men hold1 as a practical faith1 that the results which attend their efforts depend upon whether ,jupiter is awake and active1 or ,neptune is taking an unfair advantage of his brother's sleep2 upon whether ,diana is bending her silver bow for the battle1 or flying weeping and discomfited because ,juno has boxed her ears--so long is it useless for them to make or consult observations4 ,but1 as ,professor ,thiele goes on to say-- ,if the law of causality is acknowledged to be an assumption which always holds good1 then every observation gives us a revelation which1 when correctly appraised and compared with others1 teaches us the laws by which ,god rules the world4 ,by what means have the modern scientists arrived at a position so different from that of the heathen8 ,it cannot have been by any process of natural evolution that the intellectual standpoint which has made scientific observation possible should be derived from the spiritual standpoint of polytheism which rendered all scientific observation not only profane but useless4 ,in the old days the heathen in general regarded the heavenly host and the heavenly bodies as the heathen do to-day4 ,but by one nation1 the ,hebrews1 the truth that-- ,in the beginning ,god created the heaven and the earth was preserved in the first words of their ,sacred ,book4 ,that nation declared-- ,all the gods of the people are idols3 but the ,lord made the heavens4 ,for that same nation the watchword was-- ,hear1 ,o ,israel3 the ,lord our ,god is one ,lord4 ,from these words the ,hebrews not only learned a great spiritual truth1 but derived intellectual freedom4 ,for by these words they were taught that all the host of heaven and of earth were created things--merely things1 not divinities--and not only that1 but that the ,creator was ,one ,god1 not many gods2 that there was but one law-giver2 and that therefore there could be no conflict of laws4 ,these first words of ,genesis1 then1 may be called the charter of all the physical sciences1 for by them is conferred freedom from all the bonds of unscientific superstition1 and by them also do men know that consistent law holds throughout the whole universe4 ,it is the intellectual freedom of the ,hebrew that the scientist of to-day inherits4 ,he may not indeed be able to rise to the spiritual standpoint of the ,hebrew1 and consciously acknowledge that-- ,thou1 even ,thou1 art ,lord alone2 ,thou hast made heaven1 the heaven of heavens1 with all their host1 the earth1 and all things that are therein1 the seas1 and all that is therein1 and ,thou preservest them all2 and the host of heaven worshippeth ,thee4 ,but he must at least unconsciously assent to it1 for it is on the first great fundamental assumption of religion as stated in the first words of ,genesis1 that the fundamental assumption of all his scientific reasoning depends4 ,scientific reasoning and scientific observation can only hold good so long and in so far as the ,law of ,causality holds good4 ,we must assume a pre-existing state of affairs which has given rise to the observed effect2 we must assume that this observed effect is itself antecedent to a subsequent state of affairs4 ,science therefore cannot go back to the absolute beginnings of things1 or forward to the absolute ends of things4 ,it cannot reason about the way matter and energy came into existence1 or how they might cease to exist2 it cannot reason about time or space1 as such1 but only in the relations of these to phenomena that can be observed4 ,it does not deal with things themselves1 but only with the relations between things4 ,science indeed can only consider the universe as a great machine which is in going order1 and it concerns itself with the relations which some parts of the machine bear to other parts1 and with the laws and manner of the going of the machine in those parts4 ,the relations of the various parts1 one to the other1 and the way in which they work together1 may afford some idea of the design and purpose of the machine1 but it can give no information as to how the material of which it is composed came into existence1 nor as to the method by which it was originally constructed4 ,once started1 the machine comes under the scrutiny of science1 but the actual starting lies outside its scope4 ,men therefore cannot find out for themselves how the worlds were originally made1 how the worlds were first moved1 or how the spirit of man was first formed within him2 and this1 not merely because these beginnings of things were of necessity outside his experience1 but also because beginnings1 as such1 must lie outside the law by which he reasons4 ,by no process of research1 therefore1 could man find out for himself the facts that are stated in the first chapter of ,genesis4 ,they must have been revealed4 ,science cannot inquire into them for the purpose of checking their accuracy2 it must accept them1 as it accepts the fundamental law that governs its own working1 without the possibility of proof4 ,and this is what has been revealed to man3--that the heaven and the earth were not self-existent from all eternity1 but were in their first beginning created by ,god4 ,as the writer of the ,epistle to the ,hebrews expresses it3 ,through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of ,god1 so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear4 ,and a further fact was revealed that man could not have found out for himself2 viz4 that this creation was made and finished in six ,divine actings1 comprised in what the narrative denominates days4 ,it has not been revealed whether the duration of these days can be expressed in any astronomical units of time4 ,since under these conditions science can afford no information1 it is not to be wondered at that the hypotheses that have been framed from time to time to explain the first chapter of ,genesis1 or to express it in scientific terms1 are not wholly satisfactory4 ,at one time the chapter was interpreted to mean that the entire universe was called into existence about #f1jjj years ago1 in six days of twenty-four hours each4 ,later it was recognized that both geology and astronomy seemed to indicate the existence of matter for untold millions of years instead of some six thousand4 ,it was then pointed out that1 so far as the narrative was concerned1 there might have been a period of almost unlimited duration between its first verse and its fourth2 and it was suggested that the six days of creation were six days of twenty-four hours each1 in which1 after some great cataclysm1 #f1jjj years ago1 the face of the earth was renewed and replenished for the habitation of man1 the preceding geological ages being left entirely unnoticed4 ,some writers have confined the cataclysm and renewal to a small portion of the earth's surface--to ,eden1 and its neighbourhood4 ,other commentators have laid stress on the truth revealed in ,scripture that one day is with the ,lord as a thousand years1 and a thousand years as one day1 and have urged the argument that the six days of creation were really vast periods of time1 during which the earth's geological changes and the evolution of its varied forms of life were running their course4 ,others1 again1 have urged that the six days of creation were six literal days1 but instead of being consecutive were separated by long ages4 ,and yet again1 as no man was present during the creation period1 it has been suggested that the ,divine revelation of it was given to ,moses or some other inspired prophet in six successive visions or dreams1 which constituted the six days in which the chief facts of creation were set forth4 ,all such hypotheses are based on the assumption that the opening chapters of ,genesis are intended to reveal to man certain physical details in the material history of this planet2 to be in fact a little compendium of the geological and zoological history of the world1 and so a suitable introduction to the history of the early days of mankind which followed it4 ,it is surely more reasonable to conclude that there was no purpose whatever of teaching us anything about the physical relationships of land and sea1 of tree and plant1 of bird and fish2 it seems1 indeed1 scarcely conceivable that it should have been the ,divine intention so to supply the ages with a condensed manual of the physical sciences4 ,what useful purpose could it have served8 ,what man would have been the wiser or better for it8 ,who could have understood it until the time when men1 by their own intellectual strivings1 had attained sufficient knowledge of their physical surroundings to do without such a revelation at all8 ,but although the opening chapters of ,genesis were not designed to teach the ,hebrew certain physical facts of nature1 they gave him the knowledge that he might lawfully study nature4 ,for he learnt from them that nature has no power nor vitality of its own2 that sun1 and sea1 and cloud1 and wind are not separate deities1 nor the expression of deities that they are but things1 however glorious and admirable2 that they are the handiwork of ,god2 and-- ,the works of the ,lord are great1 ,sought out of all them that have pleasure therein4 ,his work is honour and majesty2 ,and ,his righteousness endureth for ever4 ,he hath made ,his wonderful works to be remembered4 ,what1 then1 is the significance of the detailed account given us of the works effected on the successive days of creation8 ,why are we told that light was made on the first day1 the firmament on the second1 dry land on the third1 and so on8 ,probably for two reasons4 ,first1 that the rehearsal1 as in a catalogue1 of the leading classes of natural objects1 might give definiteness and precision to the teaching that each and all were creatures1 things made by the word of ,god4 ,the bald statement that the heaven and the earth were made by ,god might still have left room for the imagination that the powers of nature were co-eternal with ,god1 or were at least subordinate divinities2 or that other powers than ,god had worked up into the present order the materials ,he had created4 ,the detailed account makes it clear that not only was the universe in general created by ,god1 but that there was no part of it that was not fashioned by ,him4 ,the next purpose was to set a seal of sanctity upon the ,sabbath4 ,in the second chapter of ,genesis we read-- ,on the seventh day ,god ended ,his work which ,he had made2 and ,he rested on the seventh day from all ,his work which ,he had made4 ,and ,god blessed the seventh day1 and sanctified it3 because that in it ,he had rested from all ,his work which ,god created and made4 ,in this we get the institution of the week1 the first ordinance imposed by ,god upon man4 ,for in the fourth of the ten commandments which ,god gave through ,moses1 it is said-- ,the seventh day is the sabbath of the ,lord thy ,god3 in it thou shalt not do any work4 4 4 4 ,for in six days the ,lord made heaven and earth1 the sea1 and all that in them is1 and rested the seventh day3 wherefore the ,lord blessed the sabbath day1 and hallowed it4 ,and again1 when the tabernacle was being builded1 it was commanded-- ,the children of ,israel shall keep the sabbath1 to observe the sabbath throughout their generations1 for a perpetual covenant4 ,it is a sign between ,me and the children of ,israel for ever3 for in six days the ,lord made heaven and earth1 and on the seventh day ,he rested1 and was refreshed4 ,god made the sun1 moon1 and stars1 and appointed them for signs1 and for seasons1 and for days1 and years4 ,the sun marks out the days2 the moon by her changes makes the months2 the sun and the stars mark out the seasons and the years4 ,these were divisions of time which man would naturally adopt4 ,but there is not an exact number of days in the month1 nor an exact number of days or months in the year4 ,still less does the period of seven days fit precisely into month or season or year2 the week is marked out by no phase of the moon1 by no fixed relation between the sun1 the moon1 or the stars4 ,it is not a division of time that man would naturally adopt for himself2 it runs across all the natural divisions of time4 ,what are the six days of creative work1 and the seventh day--the ,sabbath--of creative rest8 ,they are not days of man1 they are days of ,god2 and our days of work and rest1 our week with its ,sabbath1 can only be the figure and shadow of that week of ,god2 something by which we may gain some faint apprehension of its realities1 not that by which we can comprehend and measure it4 ,our week1 therefore1 is ,god's own direct appointment to us2 and ,his revelation that ,he fulfilled the work of creation in six acts or stages1 dignifies and exalts the toil of the labouring man1 with his six days of effort and one of rest1 into an emblem of the creative work of ,god4 ,,footnotes3 #ae3a ,t4 ,n4 ,thiele1 ,director of the ,copenhagen ,observatory1 ,theory of ,observations1 p4 #a4 #af3a ,t4 ,n4 ,thiele1 ,director of the ,copenhagen ,observatory1 ,theory of ,observations1 p4 #a4 ,illustration3 ,,merodach ,,and ,,tiamat4 ,to face p4 #be4 ,sculpture from the ,palace of ,assur-nazir-pel1 ,king of ,assyria4 ,now in the ,british ,museum4 ,damaged by fire4 ,supposed to represent the defeat of ,tiamat by ,merodach4 ,,chapter ,,iii ,,the ,,deep ,the second verse of ,genesis states1 ,and the earth was without form and void i4 e4 waste and empty and darkness was upon the face of the deep4 ,the word tehom1 here translated deep1 has been used to support the theory that the ,hebrews derived their ,creation story from one which1 when exiles in ,babylon1 they heard from their conquerors4 ,if this theory were substantiated1 it would have such an important bearing upon the subject of the attitude of the inspired writers towards the objects of nature1 that a little space must be spared for its examination4 ,the purpose of the first chapter of ,genesis is to tell us that-- ,in the beginning ,god created the heaven and the earth4 ,from it we learn that the universe and all the parts that make it up--all the different forms of energy1 all the different forms of matter--are neither deities themselves1 nor their embodiments and expressions1 nor the work of conflicting deities4 ,from it we learn that the universe is not self-existent1 nor even 7as the pantheist thinks of it7 the expression of one vague1 impersonal and unconscious1 but all-pervading influence4 ,it was not self-made2 it did not exist from all eternity4 ,it is not ,god1 for ,god made it4 ,but the problem of its origin has exercised the minds of many nations beside the ,hebrews1 and an especial interest attaches to the solution arrived at by those nations who were near neighbours of the ,hebrews and came of the same great ,semitic stock4 ,from the nature of the case1 accounts of the origin of the world cannot proceed from experience1 or be the result of scientific experiment4 ,they cannot form items of history1 or arise from tradition4 ,there are only two possible sources for them2 one1 ,divine revelation2 the other1 the invention of men4 ,the account current amongst the ,babylonians has been preserved to us by the ,syrian writer ,damascius1 who gives it as follows3-- ,but the ,babylonians1 like the rest of the ,barbarians1 pass over in silence the one principle of the ,universe1 and they constitute two1 ,tavth and ,apasn1 making ,apasn the husband of ,tavth1 and denominating her the mother of the gods4 ,and from these proceeds an only-begotten son1 ,mumis1 which1 ,i conceive1 is no other than the intelligible world proceeding from the two principles4 ,from them also another progeny is derived1 ,lakh and ,lakhos2 and again a third1 ,kissar and ,assros1 from which last three others proceed1 ,anos and ,illinos and ,aos4 ,and of ,aos and ,dakh is born a son called ,blos1 who1 they say1 is the fabricator of the world4#bf3a ,the actual story1 thus summarized by ,damascius1 was discovered by ,mr4 ,george ,smith1 in the form of a long epic poem1 on a series of tablets1 brought from the royal library of ,kouyunjik1 or ,nineveh1 and he published them in #ahge1 in his book on ,the ,chaldean ,account of ,genesis4 ,none of the tablets were perfect2 and of some only very small portions remain4 ,but portions of other copies of the poem have been discovered in other localities1 and it has been found possible to piece together satisfactorily a considerable section1 so that a fair idea of the general scope of the poem has been given to us4 ,it opens with the introduction of a being1 ,tiamtu--the ,tavth of the account of ,damascius1--who is regarded as the primeval mother of all things4 ,when on high the heavens were unnamed1 ,beneath the earth bore not a name3 ,the primeval ocean was their producer2 ,mummu ,tiamtu was she who begot the whole of them4 ,their waters in one united themselves1 and ,the plains were not outlined1 marshes were not to be seen4 ,when none of the gods had come forth1 ,they bore no name1 the fates 7had not been determined7 ,there were produced the gods 7all of them74#bg3a ,the genealogy of the gods follows1 and after a gap in the story1 ,tiamat1 or ,tiamtu1 is represented as preparing for battle1 ,she who created everything 4 4 4 produced giant serpents4 ,she chose one of the gods1 ,kingu1 to be her husband and the general of her forces1 and delivered to him the tablets of fate4 ,the second tablet shows the god ,anvsar1 angered at the threatening attitude of ,tiamat1 and sending his son ,anu to speak soothingly to her and calm her rage4 ,but first ,anu and then another god turned back baffled1 and finally ,merodach1 the son of ,ea1 was asked to become the champion of the gods4 ,merodach gladly consented1 but made good terms for himself4 ,the gods were to assist him in every possible way by entrusting all their powers to him1 and were to acknowledge him as first and chief of all4 ,the gods in their extremity were nothing loth4 ,they feasted ,merodach and1 when swollen with wine1 endued him with all magical powers1 and hailed him-- ,merodach1 thou art he who is our avenger1 7,over7 the whole universe have we given thee the kingdom4#bh3a ,at first the sight of his terrible enemy caused even ,merodach to falter1 but plucking up courage he advanced to meet her1 caught her in his net1 and1 forcing an evil wind into her open mouth-- ,he made the evil wind enter so that she could not close her lips4 ,the violence of the winds tortured her stomach1 and her heart was prostrated and her mouth was twisted4 ,he swung the club1 he shattered her stomach2 he cut out her entrails2 he over-mastered 7her7 heart2 he bound her and ended her life4 ,he threw down her corpse2 he stood upon it4#bh3b ,the battle over and the enemy slain1 ,merodach considered how to dispose of the corpse4 ,he strengthens his mind1 he forms a clever plan1 ,and he stripped her of her skin like a fish1 according to his plan4#bh3c ,of one half of the corpse of ,tiamat he formed the earth1 and of the other half1 the heavens4 ,he then proceded to furnish the heavens and the earth with their respective equipments2 the details of this work occupying apparently the fifth1 sixth1 and seventh tablets of the series4 ,under ordinary circumstances such a legend as the foregoing would not have attracted much attention4 ,it is as barbarous and unintelligent as any myth of ,zulu or ,fijian4 ,strictly speaking1 it is not a ,creation myth at all4 ,tiamat and her serpent-brood and the gods are all existent before ,merodach commences his work1 and all that the god effects is a reconstruction of the world4 ,the method of this reconstruction possesses no features superior to those of the ,creation myths of other barbarous nations4 ,our own ,scandinavian ancestors had a similar one1 the setting of which was certainly not inferior to the grotesque battle of ,merodach with ,tiamat4 ,the prose ,edda tells us that the first man1 ,bur1 was the father of ,br1 who was in turn the father of ,odin and his two brothers ,vili and ,ve4 ,these sons of ,br slew ,ymir1 the old frost giant4 ,they dragged the body of ,ymir into the middle of ,ginnungagap1 and of it formed the earth4 ,from ,ymir's blood they made the sea and waters2 from his flesh1 the land2 from his bones1 the mountains2 and his teeth and jaws1 together with some bits of broken bones1 served them to make the stones and pebbles4 ,it will be seen that there is a remarkable likeness between the ,babylonian and ,scandinavian myths in the central and essential feature of each1 viz4 the way in which the world is supposed to have been built up by the gods from the fragments of the anatomy of a huge primval monster4 ,yet it is not urged that there is any direct genetic connection between the two2 that the ,babylonians either taught their legend to the ,scandinavians or learnt it from them4 ,under ordinary circumstances it would hardly have occurred to any one to try to derive the monotheistic narrative of ,gen4 i4 from either of these pagan myths1 crowded as they are with uncouth and barbarous details4 ,but it happened that ,mr4 ,george ,smith1 who brought to light the ,assyrian ,creation tablets1 brought also to light a ,babylonian account of the ,flood1 which had a large number of features in common with the narrative of ,gen4 vi4-ix4 ,the actual resemblance between the two ,deluge narratives has caused a resemblance to be imagined between the two ,creation narratives4 ,it has been well brought out in some of the later comments of ,assyriologists that1 so far from there being any resemblance in the ,babylonian legend to the narrative in ,genesis1 the two accounts differ in toto4 ,mr4 ,t4 ,g4 ,pinches1 for example1 points out that in the ,babylonian account there is-- ,no direct statement of the creation of the heavens and the earth2 ,no systematic division of the things created into groups and classes1 such as is found in ,genesis2 ,no reference to the ,days of ,creation2 ,no appearance of the ,deity as the first and only cause of the existence of things4#cj3a ,indeed1 in the ,babylonian account1 the heavens and the earth are represented as existing1 though in a chaotic form1 from the first4 ,yet on this purely imaginary resemblance between the ,biblical and ,babylonian ,creation narratives the legend has been founded that the introductory chapters of the ,book of ,genesis present to us the ,hebrew version of a mythology common to many of the ,semitic peoples4 ,and the legend has been yet further developed1 until writers of the standing of ,prof4 ,friedrich ,delitzsch have claimed that the ,genesis narrative was borrowed from the ,babylonian1 though the priestly scholar who composed ,genesis1 chapter i4 endeavoured of course to remove all possible mythological features of this ,creation story4#ca3a ,if the ,hebrew priest did borrow from the ,babylonian myth1 what was it that he borrowed8 ,not the existence of sea and land1 of sun and moon1 of plants and animals1 of birds and beasts and fishes4 ,for surely the ,hebrew may be credited with knowing this much of himself1 without any need for a transportation to ,babylon to learn it4 ,in writing an account of the ,creation1 statements as to what are the things created must of necessity be inserted1#ca3b whenever1 wherever1 and by whomsoever that account is written4 ,what else1 then1 is there common to the two accounts8 ,tiamat is the name given to the ,babylonian mother of the universe1 the dragon of the deep2 and in ,genesis it is written that darkness was upon the face of the deep 7tehom74 ,here1 and here only1 is a point of possible connection2 but if it be evidence of a connection1 what kind of a connection does it imply8 ,it implies that the ,babylonian based his barbarous myth upon the ,hebrew narrative4 ,there is no other possible way of interpreting the connection1--if connection there be4 ,the ,hebrew word would seem to mean1 etymologically1 surges1 storm-tossed waters1--,deep calleth unto deep at the noise of ,thy waterspouts4 ,our word deep is apt to give us the idea of stillness--we have the proverb1 ,still waters run deep1--whereas in some instances tehom is used in ,scripture of waters which were certainly shallow1 as1 for instance1 those passed through by ,israel at the ,red ,sea3-- ,pharaoh's chariots and his host hath ,he cast into the sea3 his chosen captains also are drowned in the ,red ,sea4 ,the depths have covered them4 ,in other passages the words used in our ,authorized ,version1 deep or depths1 give the correct signification4 ,but deep waters1 or waters in commotion1 are in either case natural objects4 ,we get the word tehom used continually in ,scripture in a perfectly matter-of-fact way1 where there is no possibility of personification or myth being intended4 ,tiamat1 on the contrary1 the ,babylonian dragon of the waters1 is a mythological personification4 ,now the natural object must come first4 ,it never yet has been the case that a nation has gained its knowledge of a perfectly common natural object by de-mythologizing one of the mythological personifications of another nation4 ,the ,israelites did not learn about tehom1 the surging water of the ,red ,sea1 that rolled over the ,egyptians in their sight1 from any ,babylonian fable of a dragon of the waters1 read by their descendants hundreds of years later4 ,yet further1 the ,babylonian account of ,creation is comparatively late2 the ,hebrew account1 as certainly1 comparatively early4 ,it is not merely that the actual cuneiform tablets are of date about #gjj ,b4,c41 coming as they do from the ,kouyunjik mound1 the ruins of the palace of ,sennacherib and ,assurbanipal1 built about that date4 ,the poem itself1 as ,prof4 ,sayce has pointed out1 indicates1 by the peculiar pre-eminence given in it to ,merodach1 that it is of late composition4 ,it was late in the history of ,babylon that ,merodach was adopted as the supreme deity4 ,the astronomical references in the poem are more conclusive still1 for1 as will be shown later on1 they point to a development of astronomy that cannot be dated earlier than #gjj ,b4,c4 ,on the other hand1 the first chapter of ,genesis was composed very early4 ,the references to the heavenly bodies in verse #af bear the marks of the most primitive condition possible of astronomy4 ,the heavenly bodies are simply the greater light1 the lesser light1 and the stars--the last being introduced quite parenthetically4 ,it is the simplest reference to the heavenly bodies that is made in ,scripture1 or that1 indeed1 could be made4 ,there may well have been ,babylonians who held higher conceptions of ,god and nature than those given in the ,tiamat myth4 ,it is certain that very many ,hebrews fell short of the teaching conveyed in the first chapter of ,genesis4 ,but the fact remains that the one nation preserved the ,tiamat myth1 the other the narrative of ,genesis1 and each counted its own ,creation story sacred4 ,we can only rightly judge the two nations by what they valued4 ,thus judged1 the ,hebrew nation stands as high above the ,babylonian in intelligence1 as well as in faith1 as the first chapter of ,genesis is above the ,tiamat myth4 ,,footnotes3 #bf3a ,records of the ,past1 vol4 i4 p4 #abd4 #bg3a ,the ,old ,testament in the ,light of the ,historical ,records of ,assyria and ,babylonia1 by ,t4 ,g4 ,pinches1 p4 #af4 #bh3a ,the ,old ,testament in the ,light of the ,historical ,records of ,assyria and ,babylonia1 by ,t4 ,g4 ,pinches1 p4 #af4 #bh3b ,records of the ,past1 vol4 i4 p4 #adj4 #bh3c ,ibid4 p4 #adb4 #cj3a ,the ,old ,testament in the ,light of the ,historical ,records of ,assyria and ,babylonia1 by ,t4 ,g4 ,pinches1 p4 #di4 #ca3a ,babel and ,bible1 ,johns' translation1 pp4 #cf and #cg4 #ca3b ,the ,old ,testament in the ,light of the ,historical ,records of ,assyria and ,babylonia1 by ,t4 ,g4 ,pinches1 p4 #dh4 ,,chapter ,,iv ,,the ,,firmament ,the sixth verse of the first chapter of ,genesis presents a difficulty as to the precise meaning of the principal word1 viz4 that translated firmament4 ,and ,god said1 ,let there be a raqia in the midst of the waters1 and let it divide the waters from the waters4 ,and ,god made the raqia1 and divided the waters which were under the raqia from the waters which were above the raqia3 and it was so4 ,and ,god called the raqia ,shamayim4 ,and the evening and the morning were the second day4 ,it is1 of course1 perfectly clear that by the word raqia in the preceding passage it is the atmosphere that is alluded to4 ,but later on in the chapter the word is used in a slightly different connection4 ,god said1 ,let there be lights in the firmament of heaven4 ,as we look upward from the earth1 we look through a twofold medium4 ,near the earth we have our atmosphere2 above that there is inter-stellar space1 void of anything1 so far as we know1 except the ,ether4 ,we are not able to detect any line of demarcation where our atmosphere ends1 and the outer void begins4 ,both therefore are equally spoken of as the firmament2 and yet there is a difference between the two4 ,the lower supports the clouds2 in the upper are set the two great lights and the stars4 ,the upper1 therefore1 is emphatically reqia hasshamayim1 the firmament of heaven1 of the uplifted4 ,it is in the face of--that is1 before1 or under the eyes of1 beneath1--this higher expanse that the fowls of the air fly to and fro4 ,the firmament1 then1 is that which ,tennyson sings of as the central blue1 the seeming vault of the sky1 which we can consider as at any height above us that we please4 ,the clouds are above it in one sense2 yet in another1 sun1 moon and stars1 which are clearly far higher than the clouds1 are set in it4 ,there is no question therefore as to what is referred to by the word firmament2 but there is a question as to the etymological meaning of the word1 and associated with that1 a question as to how the ,hebrews themselves conceived of the celestial vault4 ,the word raqia1 translated firmament1 properly signifies an expanse1 or extension1 something stretched or beaten out4 ,the verb from which this noun is derived is often used in ,scripture1 both as referring to the heavens and in other connections4 ,thus in ,job xxxvii4 #ah1 the question is asked1 ,canst thou with ,him spread out the sky1 which is strong as a molten mirror8 ,eleazar1 the priest1 after the rebellion of ,korah1 ,dathan and ,abiram took the brazen censers of the rebels1 and they were made broad plates for a covering of the altar4 ,the goldsmith described by ,isaiah as making an idol1 spreadeth it over with gold2 whilst ,jeremiah says1 silver spread into plates is brought from ,tarshish4 ,again1 in ,psalm cxxxvi41 in the account of creation we have the same word used with reference to the earth1 ,to him that stretched out the earth above the waters4 ,in this and in many other passages the idea of extension is clearly that which the word is intended to convey4 ,but the ,seventy1 in making the ,greek ,version of the ,old ,testament1 were naturally influenced by the views of astronomical science then held in ,alexandria1 the centre of ,greek astronomy4 ,here1 and at this time1 the doctrine of the crystalline spheres--a misunderstanding of the mathematical researches of ,eudoxus and others--held currency4 ,these spheres were supposed to be a succession of perfectly transparent and invisible solid shells1 in which the sun1 moon1 and planets were severally placed4 ,the ,seventy no doubt considered that in rendering raqia1 by stereoma1 i4 e4 firmament1 thus conveying the idea of a solid structure1 they were speaking the last word of up-to-date science4 ,there should be no reluctance in ascribing to the ,hebrews an erroneous scientific conception if there is any evidence that they held it4 ,we cannot too clearly realize that the writers of the ,scriptures were not supernaturally inspired to give correct technical scientific descriptions2 and supposing they had been so inspired1 we must bear in mind that we should often consider those descriptions wrong just in proportion to their correctness1 for the very sufficient reason that not even our own science of to-day has yet reached finality in all things4 ,there should be no reluctance in ascribing to the ,hebrews an erroneous scientific conception if there is any evidence that they held it4 ,in this case1 there is no such evidence2 indeed1 there is strong evidence to the contrary4 ,the ,hebrew word raqia1 as already shown1 really signifies extension1 just as the word for heaven1 shamayim means the uplifted4 ,in these two words1 therefore1 significant respectively of a surface and of height1 there is a recognition of the three dimensions1--in other words1 of ,space4 ,when we wish to refer to super-terrestrial space1 we have two expressions in modern ,english by which to describe it3 we can speak of the vault of heaven1 or of the canopy of heaven4 ,the vault of heaven is most used1 it has indeed been recently adopted as the title of a scientific work by a well-known astronomer4 ,but the word vault certainly gives the suggestion of a solid structure2 whilst the word canopy calls up the idea of a slighter covering1 probably of some textile fabric4 ,the reasons for thinking that the ,hebrews did not consider the firmament a solid structure are1 first1 that the word does not necessarily convey that meaning2 next1 that the attitude of the ,hebrew mind towards nature was not such as to require this idea4 ,the question1 ,what holds up the waters above the firmament8 would not have troubled them4 ,it would have been sufficient for them1 as for the writer to the ,hebrews1 to consider that ,god was upholding all things by the word of ,his power1 and they would not have troubled about the machinery4 ,but besides this1 there are many passages in ,scripture1 some occurring in the earliest books1 which expressly speak of the clouds as carrying the water2 so that the expressions placing waters above the firmament1 or above the heavens1 can mean no more than in the clouds4 ,indeed1 as we shall see1 quite a clear account is given of the atmospheric circulation1 such as could hardly be mended by a modern poet4 ,it is true that ,david sang that the foundations of heaven moved and shook1 because ,he was wroth1 and ,job says that the pillars of heaven tremble and are astonished at ,his reproof4 ,but not only are the references to foundations and pillars evidently intended merely as poetic imagery1 but they are also used much more frequently of the earth1 and yet at the same time ,job expressly points out that ,god stretcheth out the north over the empty place1 and hangeth the earth upon nothing4 ,the ,hebrew formed no ideas like those of the ,hindus1 who thought the earth supported by elephants1 the elephants by a tortoise1 the tortoise by a snake4 ,in ,scripture1 in most cases the word earth 7eretz7 does not mean the solid mass of this our planet1 but only its surface2 the dry land as opposed to the seas2 the countries1 the dwelling place of man and beast4 ,the pillars or foundations of the earth in this sense are the great systems of the rocks1 and these were conceived of as directly supported by the power of ,god1 without any need of intermediary structures4 ,the ,hebrew clearly recognized that it is the will of ,god alone that keeps the whole secure4 ,thus ,hannah sang-- ,the pillars of the earth are the ,lord's1 ,and ,he hath set the world upon them4 ,and ,asaph represents the ,lord as saying3-- ,the earth and all the inhabitants thereof are dissolved3 ,i bear up the pillars of it4 ,yet again1 just as we speak of the celestial canopy1 so ,psalm civ4 describes the ,lord as ,he who stretchest out the heavens like a curtain1 and ,isaiah gives the image in a fuller form1--that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain1 and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in4 ,the same expression of stretching out the heavens is repeatedly used in ,isaiah2 it is indeed one of his typical phrases4 ,here1 beyond question1 extension1 spreading out1 is the idea sought to be conveyed1 not that of solidity4 ,the prophet ,amos uses yet another parallel4 ,it is ,he that buildeth ,his stories in the heaven4 ,while ,isaiah speaks of the entire stellar universe as the tent or pavilion of ,jehovah1 ,amos likens the height of the heavens as the steps up to ,his throne2 the stories are the ascent1 as ,moses speaks of the ascent of ,akrabbim1 and ,david makes the ascent of the ,mount of ,olives4 ,the ,hebrews cannot have regarded the heavens as1 literally1 both staircase and reservoir4 ,the firmament1 i4 e4 the atmosphere1 is spoken of as dividing between the waters that are under the firmament1 i4 e4 oceans1 seas1 rivers1 etc41 from the waters that are above the firmament1 i4 e4 the masses of water vapour carried by the atmosphere1 seen in the clouds1 and condensing from them as rain4 ,we get the very same expression as this of the waters which were above in the ,psalm of ,praise3-- ,praise ,him1 ye heavens of heavens1 ,and ye waters that be above the heavens2 and again in the ,song of the ,three ,children3-- ,o all ye waters that be above the heaven1 bless ye the ,lord4 ,in the later books of the ,bible the subject of the circulation of water through the atmosphere is referred to much more fully4 ,twice over the prophet ,amos describes ,jehovah as ,he that calleth for the waters of the sea1 and poureth them out upon the face of the earth4 ,this is not merely a reference to the tides1 for the ,preacher in the book of ,ecclesiastes expressly points out that all the rivers run into the sea1 yet the sea is not full2 unto the place from whence the rivers come1 thither they return again2 and ,isaiah seems to employ something of the same thought3 ,for as the rain cometh down and the snow from heaven1 and returneth not thither1 but watereth the earth1 and maketh it bring forth and bud1 and giveth seed to the sower and bread to the eater4 ,schiaparelli indeed argues that this very passage from ,isaiah expressly excludes any idea of an atmospheric circulation of waters#da3a on the ground that the water so falling is thought to be transmuted into seeds and fruits4 ,but surely the image is as true as it is beautiful6 ,the rain is absorbed by vegetation1 and is transmuted into seeds and fruit1 and it would go hard to say that the same particles of rain are again evaporated and taken up afresh into the clouds4 ,besides1 if we complete the quotation we find that what is stated is that the rain does not return until it has accomplished its purpose3-- ,so shall ,my word be that goeth forth out of ,my mouth3 it shall not return unto ,me void1 but it shall accomplish that which ,i please1 and it shall prosper in the thing whereto ,i sent it4 ,elihu describes the process of evaporation precisely3-- ,behold1 ,god is great1 and we know ,him not2 ,the number of ,his years is unsearchable4 ,for ,he draweth up the drops of water1 ,which distil in rain from ,his vapour3 ,which the skies pour down ,and drop upon man abundantly4 ,throughout the books of ,holy ,scripture1 the connection between the clouds and the rain is clearly borne in mind4 ,deborah says in her song the clouds dropped water4 ,in the ,psalms there are many references4 ,in lxxvii4 #ag1 ,the clouds poured out water2 in cxlvii4 #h1 ,who covereth the heaven with clouds1 ,who prepareth rain for the earth4 ,proverbs xvi4 #ae1 ,his favour is as a cloud of the latter rain4 ,the ,preacher says that clouds return after the rain2 and ,isaiah1 ,i will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it2 and ,jude1 ,clouds they are without water1 carried about of winds4 ,the clouds1 too1 were not conceived as being heavy4 ,nahum says that the clouds are the dust of ,his feet1 and ,isaiah speaks of a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest4 ,the ,preacher clearly understood that the waters above were not pent in by solid barriers2 that they were carried by the clouds2 for if the clouds be full of rain1 they empty themselves upon the earth4 ,and ,job says of ,jehovah1 ,he bindeth up the waters in ,his thick clouds1 and the cloud is not rent under them2 and1 later1 ,jehovah ,himself asks3-- ,canst thou lift up thy voice to the clouds1 ,that abundance of waters may cover thee8 99 99 99 99 99 ,who can number the clouds by wisdom1 ,or who can pour out the bottles of heaven8 ,the ,hebrews1 therefore1 were quite aware that the waters of the sea were drawn up into the atmosphere by evaporation1 and were carried by it in the form of clouds4 ,no doubt their knowledge in this respect1 as in others1 was the growth of time4 ,but there is no need to suppose that1 even in the earlier stages of their development1 the ,hebrews thought of the waters that be above the heavens as contained in a literal cistern overhead4 ,still less is there reason to adopt ,prof4 ,schiaparelli's strange deduction3 ,considering the spherical and convex shape of the firmament1 the upper waters could not remain above without a second wall to hold them in at the sides and the top4 ,so a second vault above the vault of the firmament closes in1 together with the firmament1 a space where are the storehouses of rain1 hail1 and snow4#dc3a ,there seems to be nowhere in ,scripture the slightest hint or suggestion of any such second vault2 certainly not in the beautiful passage to which ,prof4 ,schiaparelli is here referring4 ,where is the way to the dwelling of light1 ,and as for darkness1 where is the place thereof2 ,that thou shouldest take it to the bound thereof1 ,and that thou shouldst discern the paths to the house thereof4 99 99 99 99 99 ,hast thou entered the treasuries of the snow1 ,or hast thou seen the treasuries of the hail1 ,which ,i have reserved against the time of trouble1 ,against the day of battle and war8 ,by what way is the light parted1 ,or the east wind scattered upon the earth8 ,who hath cleft a channel for the water-flood1 ,or a way for the lightning of the thunder2 99 99 99 99 99 ,hath the rain a father8 ,or who hath begotten the drops of dew8 ,out of whose womb came the ice8 ,and the hoary frost of heaven1 who hath gendered it8 ,the ,song of ,david1 ,psalm xviii41 clearly shows that its writer held no fantasy of a solidly built cistern of waters in the sky1 but thought of the dark waters in the heavens1 as identical with the thick clouds4 ,the passage is worth quoting at some length1 not merely as supplying a magnificent word picture of a storm1 but as showing the free and courageous spirit of the ,hebrew poet1 a spirit more emancipated than can be found in any other nation of antiquity4 ,it was not only the gentler aspect of nature that attracted him2 even for its most terrible1 he had a sympathy1 rising1 under the influence of his strong faith in ,god1 into positive exultation in it4 ,in my distress ,i called upon the ,lord1 ,and cried unto my ,god3 ,he heard my voice out of ,his temple1 ,and my cry before ,him came into ,his ears4 ,then the earth shook and trembled1 ,the foundations also of the mountains moved ,and were shaken1 because ,he was wroth4 ,there went up a smoke out of ,his nostrils1 ,and fire out of ,his mouth devoured3 ,coals were kindled by it4 ,he bowed the heavens also1 and came down2 ,and thick darkness was under ,his feet4 ,and ,he rode upon a cherub1 and did fly3 ,yea1 ,he flew swiftly upon the wings of the wind4 ,he made darkness ,his hiding place1 ,his pavilion round about ,him2 ,darkness of waters1 thick clouds of the skies4 ,at the brightness before ,him ,his thick clouds passed1 ,hailstones and coals of fire4 ,the ,lord also thundered in the heavens1 ,and the ,most ,high uttered ,his voice2 ,hailstones and coals of fire4 ,and ,he sent out ,his arrows1 and scattered them2 ,yea lightnings manifold1 and discomfited them4 ,then the channels of waters appeared1 ,and the foundations of the world were laid bare1 ,at ,thy rebuke1 ,o ,lord1 ,at the blast of the breath of ,thy nostrils4 ,he sent from on high1 ,he took me2 ,he drew me out of many waters4 ,he delivered me from my strong enemy1 ,and from them that hated me1 for they were too mighty for me4 ,two other passages point to the circulation of water vapour upward from the earth before its descent as rain2 one in the prophecy of ,jeremiah1 the other1 almost identical with it1 in ,psalm cxxxv4 #g3 ,when ,he uttereth ,his voice1 there is a tumult of waters in the heavens1 and ,he causeth the vapours to ascend from the ends of the earth2 ,he maketh lightnings for the rain1 and bringeth forth the wind out of ,his treasuries4 ,here we get a hint of a close observing of nature among the ,hebrews4 ,for by the foreshortening that clouds undergo in the distance1 they inevitably appear to form chiefly on the horizon1 at the ends of the earth1 whence they move upwards towards the zenith4 ,a further reference to clouds reveals not observation only but acute reflection1 though it leaves the mystery without solution4 ,dost thou know the balancings of the clouds1 the wondrous works of ,him ,which is perfect in knowledge8 ,there is a deep mystery here1 which science is far from having completely solved1 how it is that the clouds float1 each in its own place1 at its own level2 each perfectly balanced in the thin air4 ,that mist which lies in the morning so softly in the valley1 level and white1 through which the tops of the trees rise as if through an inundation--why is it so heavy8 and why does it lie so low1 being yet so thin and frail that it will melt away utterly into splendour of morning1 when the sun has shone on it but a few moments more8 ,those colossal pyramids1 huge and firm1 with outlines as of rocks1 and strength to bear the beating of the high sun full on their fiery flanks--why are they so light--their bases high over our heads1 high over the heads of ,alps8 why will these melt away1 not as the sun rises1 but as he descends1 and leave the stars of twilight clear1 while the valley vapour gains again upon the earth like a shroud8#df3a ,the fact of the balancing has been brought home to us during the past hundred years very vividly by the progress of arial navigation4 ,balloons are objects too familiar even to our children to cause them any surprise1 and every one knows how instantly a balloon1 when in the air1 rises up higher if a few pounds of ballast are thrown out1 or sinks if a little of the gas is allowed to escape4 ,we know of no balancing more delicate than this1 of a body floating in the air4 ,illustration3 ,,cirrus ,,from ,,south ,,kensington1 #aijf1 ,,may #bi4 ,illustration3 ,,cumuli ,,from ,,tunbridge ,,wells1 #aijf1 ,,may #bj4 7,photographs of clouds1 taken by ,dr4 ,w4 ,j4 ,s4 ,lockyer47 ,dost thou know the balancing of the clouds8 ,the spreadings of the clouds1 mentioned by ,elihu are of the same nature as their balancings1 but the expression is less remarkable4 ,the spreading is a thing manifest to all1 but it required the mind both of a poet and a man of science to appreciate that such spreading involved a delicate poising of each cloud in its place4 ,the heavy rain which fell at the time of the ,deluge is indeed spoken of as if it were water let out of a reservoir by its floodgates1--the windows of heaven were opened2 but it seems to show some dulness on the part of an objector to argue that this expression involves the idea of a literal stone built reservoir with its sluices4 ,those who have actually seen tropical rain in full violence will find the ,scriptural phrase not merely appropriate but almost inevitable4 ,the rain does indeed fall like hitherto pent-up waters rushing forth at the opening of a sluice1 and it seems unreasonable to try to place too literal an interpretation upon so suitable a simile4 ,there is the less reason to insist upon this very matter-of-fact rendering of the windows of heaven1 that in two out of the three connections in which it occurs1 the expression is certainly used metaphorically4 ,on the occasion of the famine in the city of ,samaria1 ,elisha prophesied that-- ,to-morrow about this time shall a measure of fine flour be sold for a shekel1 and two measures of barley for a shekel1 in the gate of ,samaria4 ,then a lord on whose hand the king leaned answered the man of ,god1 and said1 ,behold1 if the ,lord would make windows in heaven1 might this thing be8 ,so again ,malachi exhorted the ,jews after the ,return from ,babylon3-- ,bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse1 that there may be meat in ,mine house1 and prove ,me now herewith1 saith the ,lord of hosts1 if ,i will not open you the windows of heaven1 and pour you out a blessing1 that there shall not be room enough to receive it4 ,in neither case can the windows of heaven have been meant by the speaker to convey the idea of the sluice-gates of an actual1 solidly-built reservoir in the sky4 ,one other cloud fact--their dissipation as the sun rises high in the heavens--is noticed in one of the most tender and pathetic passages in all the prophetic ,scriptures4 ,the ,lord1 by the mouth of ,hosea1 is mourning over the instability of ,his people4 ,o ,ephraim1 what shall ,i do unto thee8 ,o ,judah1 what shall ,i do unto thee8 ,for your goodness is as a morning cloud1 and as the early dew it goeth away4 ,the winds of heaven were considered as four in number1 corresponding to our own four cardinal points4 ,thus the great horn of ,daniel's he-goat was broken and succeeded by four notable horns toward the four winds of heaven2 as the empire of ,alexander the ,great was divided amongst his four generals4 ,in ,ezekiel's vision of the dry bones the prophet prays1 ,come from the four winds1 ,o breath1 and breathe upon these slain2 and ,jeremiah foretells that the four winds from the four quarters of heaven shall be brought upon ,elam1 and scatter its outcasts into every nation4 ,the circulation of the winds is clearly set forth by the ,preacher in the ,book of ,ecclesiastes4 ,the wind goeth toward the south1 and turneth about unto the north2 it whirleth about continually1 and the wind returneth again according to his circuits4 ,of the four quarters1 the ,hebrews reckoned the east as first4 ,it was to the east that they supposed themselves always looking4 ,the chief word for east1 therefore1 kedem1 means that which is before1 the front2 and the word next in use is1 naturally1 mizrach1 the rising of the sun4 ,the west is1 as naturally1 mebo hasshemesh1 the going down of the sun2 but as the ,mediterranean ,sea lay to the westward of ,palestine the sea 7yam7 is frequently put instead of that point of the compass4 ,with the east in front1 the south becomes the right1 and the north the left4 ,the south also was negeb1 the desert1 since the desert shut in ,palestine to the south1 as the sea to the west4 ,in opposition to tsaphon1 the dark or hidden north1 the south is darom1 the bright and sunny region4 ,the phrase four corners of the earth does not imply that the ,hebrews thought of the earth as square4 ,several expressions on the contrary show that they thought of it as circular4 ,the ,lord sitteth upon the circle of the earth1 and in another passage the same form is applied to the ocean4 ,he set a compass 7margin circle7 upon the face of the depth4 ,this circle is no doubt the circle of the visible horizon1 within which earth and sea are spread out apparently as a plain2 above it the vault of heaven 7,job xxii4 #ad2 ,r4,v4 margin7 is arched4 ,there does not appear to be allusion1 anywhere in ,scripture1 to the spherical form of the earth4 ,the ,hebrew knowledge of the extent of the terrestrial plain was of course very limited1 but it would seem that1 like many other nations of antiquity1 they supposed that the ocean occupied the outer part of the circle surrounding the land which was in the centre4 ,this may be inferred from ,job's statement-- ,he hath described a boundary upon the face of the waters1 ,unto the confines of light and darkness4 ,the boundary of the world is represented as being described1 or more properly circumscribed1 drawn as a circle1 upon the ocean4 ,this ocean is considered as essentially one1 exactly as by actual exploration we now know it to be2--,let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place2--all the oceans and seas communicate4 ,beneath the earth there are the waters4 ,the ,lord hath founded the world upon the seas1 and established it upon the floods1 and 7,psalm cxxxvi4 #f7 stretched out the earth above the waters4 ,this for the most part means simply that the water surface lies lower than the land surface4 ,but there are waters1--other than those of the ocean1--which are1 in a strict sense1 beneath the earth2 the subterranean waters1 which though in the very substance of the earth1 and existing there in an altogether different way from the great masses of water we see upon the surface1 form a water system1 which may legitimately be termed a kind of ocean underground4 ,from these subterranean waters our springs issue forth1 and it is these waters we tap in our wells4 ,of the cedar in ,lebanon ,ezekiel spoke3 ,the waters made him great1 the deep set him up on high with her rivers running round about his plants1 and sent out her little rivers 7margin1 conduits7 unto all the trees of the field4 ,the deep1 tehom1 applies therefore1 not merely to the restless waters of the ocean1 but to these unseen waters as well2 and means1 not merely surging waters1 but depths of any kind4 ,when in the great ,deluge the floodgates of heaven were opened1 these fountains of the great deep were broken up as well4 ,and later both fountains and windows were stopped4 ,so the ,lord asks ,job1 ,hast thou entered into the springs of the sea8 or hast thou walked in the search of the depth8 and in ,proverbs it is said of the ,lord1 ,by ,his knowledge the depths are broken up1 and the clouds drop down the dew4 ,the tides upon the sea-coast of ,palestine are very slight1 but some have seen a reference to them in ,jer4 v4 #bb where the ,lord says1 ,i have placed the sand for the bound of the sea by a perpetual decree1 that it cannot pass it3 and though the waves thereof toss themselves1 yet can they not prevail2 though they roar1 yet can they not pass over it4 ,more probably the idea to be conveyed is merely that of the restraint of the sea to its proper basin1 as in the passage where the ,lord asks ,job1 ,who shut up the sea with doors when it brake forth1 as if it had issued out of the womb8 ,and the writer of ,proverbs sums all up3-- ,when ,he prepared the heavens ,i ,wisdom was there3 when ,he set a compass upon the face of the depth3 when ,he established the clouds above3 when ,he strengthened the fountains of the deep3 when ,he gave to the sea ,his decree1 that the waters should not pass ,his commandment3 when ,he appointed the foundations of the earth4 ,,footnotes3 #da3a ,astronomy in the ,old ,testament1 p4 #cc note4 #dc3a ,astronomy in the ,old ,testament1 p4 #cb4 #df3a ,ruskin1 ,modern ,painters1 part vii4 chap4 i4 ,,chapter ,v ,,the ,,ordinances ,,of ,,the ,,heavens ,as has been already pointed out1 the astronomical references in ,scripture are not numerous1 and probably give but an inadequate idea of the actual degree of progress attained by the ,hebrews in astronomical science4 ,yet it is clear1 even from the record which we have1 that there was one great astronomical fact which they had observed1 and that it had made a deep impression upon them4 ,that fact was the sublime ,order of the heavenly movements4 ,first amongst these was the order of the daily progress of the sun2 rising in the east and moving slowly1 majestically1 and resistlessly upward to the meridian1--the midst or bisection of heaven1 of ,josh4 x4 #ac1--;and then passing downwards as smoothly and unfalteringly to his setting in the west4 ,this motion of the sun inspires the simile employed by the ,psalmist in the astronomical psalm1 the nineteenth4 ,he sings-- ,the heavens declare the glory of ,god4 99 99 99 99 99 ,in them hath ,he set a tabernacle for the sun1 ,which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber1 ,and rejoiceth as a strong man to run his course4 ,his going forth is from the end of the heaven1 ,and his circuit unto the ends of it3 ,and there is nothing hid from the heat thereof4 ,the night revealed another ,order1 in its way more majestic still4 ,as the twilight faded away the bright and silent watchers of the heavens mustered each in his place4 ,and each1 like the sun during the day1 was moving1 slowly1 majestically1 resistlessly1 without haste1 without rest4 ,each had its appointed place1 its appointed path4 ,some moved in small circles in the north2 some rose in the east1 and swept in long curves over towards their setting in the west1 some scarcely lifted themselves above the southern horizon4 ,but each one kept its own place4 ,none jostled another1 or hurried in advance1 or lagged behind4 ,it is no wonder that as the multitude of the stars was observed1 and the unbroken order of their going1 that the simile suggested itself of an army on the march--the host of heaven4 ,and the sight of the unbroken order of these bright celestial orbs suggested a comparison with the unseen army of exalted beings1 the angels2 the army or host of heaven in another sense1 marshalled1 like the stars1 in perfect obedience to the ,divine will4 ,so in the vision of ,micaiah1 the son of ,imlah1 the host of heaven are the thousands of attendant spirits waiting around the throne of ,god to fulfil ,his bidding4 ,i saw the ,lord sitting on ,his throne1 and all the host of heaven standing by him on ,his right hand and on ,his left4 ,but more frequently it is the starry1 not the angelic1 army to which reference is made4 ,so ,jeremiah prophesies-- ,as the host of heaven cannot be numbered1 ,neither the sand of the sea measured3 ,so will ,i multiply the seed of ,david ,my servant1 ,and the ,levites that minister unto ,me4 ,the prophets of ,israel recognized clearly1 that the starry host of heaven and the angelic host were distinct2 that the first1 in their brightness1 order1 and obedience formed fitting comparison for the second2 but that both were created beings2 neither were divinities4 ,the heathen nations around recognized also the hosts both of the stars and of spiritual beings1 but the first they took as the manifestations of the second1 whom they counted as divinities4 ,there was often a great confusion between the two1 and the observance or worship of the first could not be kept distinguished from the recognition or worship of the other2 the very ideogram for a god was an #h-rayed star4 ,the ,hebrews were warned again and again lest1 confusing in their minds these two great hosts of stars and angels1 they should deem the one the divine manifestation of the other1 the divinity1 not accounting them both fellow-servants1 the handiwork of ,god4 ,thus1 in the wilderness1 the ,lord commands them through ,moses-- ,take ye therefore good heed unto yourselves1 4 4 4 lest thou lift up thine eyes unto heaven1 and when thou seest the sun1 and the moon1 and the stars1 even all the host of heaven1 shouldest be driven to worship them1 and serve them1 which the ,lord thy ,god hath divided distributed unto all nations under the whole heaven4 ,but the one celestial army continually suggests the other1 and the two are placed in the closest parallelism when reference is made to the time when the foundations of the earth were fastened1 and the corner stone thereof was laid1 ,when the morning stars sang together1 ,and all the sons of ,god shouted for joy4 ,so when ,deborah sings of the deliverance which the ,lord gave to ,israel at the battle of the ,kishon1 she puts the stars for the angelic legions that she feels assured were engaged in warring in their support4 ,they fought from heaven2 ,the stars in their courses fought against ,sisera4 ,the courses of the stars are the paths which they appear to follow as they move round the pole of the heavens as the night proceeds1 whilst the stars themselves stand for the heavenly helpers who1 unseen1 had mingled in the battle and discomforted the squadrons of ,sisera's war-chariots4 ,it almost reads as if to ,deborah had been vouchsafed such a vision as ,elisha prayed might be given to his servant3-- ,therefore sent the ,king of ,syria thither horses1 and chariots1 and a great host3 and they came by night1 and compassed the city about4 ,and when the servant of the man of ,god was risen early1 and gone forth1 behold1 an host compassed the city both with horses and chariots4 ,and his servant said unto him1 ,alas1 my master6 how shall we do8 ,and he answered1 ,fear not3 for they that be with us are more than they that be with them4 ,and ,elisha prayed1 and said1 ,lord1 ,i pray ,thee1 open his eyes that he may see4 ,and the ,lord opened the eyes of the young man2 and he saw3 and1 behold1 the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about ,elisha4 ,the solemn procession of the starry host through the long night--the rising in the east1 the southing1 and the setting in the west--is not the only ordered movement of the stars of heaven that may be recognized4 ,as night by night brightens to its dawn1 if we watch the eastern horizon and note what stars are the last to rise above it before the growing daylight overpowers the feeble stellar rays1 then we see that some bright star1 invisible on the preceding mornings1 shines out for a few moments low down in the glimmer of the dawn4 ,as morning succeeds morning it rises earlier1 until at last it mounts when it is yet dark1 and some other star takes its place as the herald of the rising sun4 ,we recognize to-day this heliacal rising of the stars4 ,though we do not make use of it in our system of time-measuring1 it played an important part in the calendar-making of the ancients4 ,such heralds of the rising sun were called morning stars by the ,hebrews1 and they used them for seasons and for years4 ,one star or constellation of stars would herald by its heliacal rising the beginning of spring1 another the coming of winter2 the time to plough1 the time to sow1 the time of the rains1 would all be indicated by the successive morning stars as they appeared4 ,and after an interval of three hundred and sixty-five or three hundred and sixty-six days the same star would again show itself as a morning star for a second time1 marking out the year1 whilst the other morning stars would follow1 each in its due season4 ,so we read in ,job1 that ,god led forth the ,mazzaroth in their season4 ,this wonderful procession of the midnight sky is not known and admired by those who live in walled cities and ceiled houses1 as it is by those who live in the open1 in the wilderness4 ,it is not therefore to be wondered at1 that we find praise of these works of the ,lord 4 4 4 sought out of all them that have pleasure therein1 mostly amongst the shepherds1 the herdsmen1 the wanderers in the open--in the words and prophecies of ,job1 of ,jacob1 ,moses1 ,david and ,amos4 ,the thought that each new day1 beginning with a new outburst of light1 was1 in its degree1 a kind of new creation1 an emblem of the original act by which the world was brought into being1 renders appropriate and beautiful the ascription of the term morning stars to those sons of ,god1 the angels4 ,as the stars in the eastern sky are poetically thought of as singing together to herald the creation of each new day1 so in the verses already quoted from the ,book of ,job1 the angels of ,god are represented as shouting for joy when the foundations of the earth were laid4 ,the morning star again stands as the type and earnest of that new creation which ,god has promised to ,his servants4 ,the epistle to ,thyatira concludes with the promise--,he that overcometh1 and keepeth my works unto the end1 4 4 4 ,i will give him the morning star4 ,the brightest of these heralds of the sun is the planet ,venus1 and such a morning star for power1 glory1 and magnificence1 the king of ,babylon had once been2 like one of the angels of ,god4 ,but as addressed in ,isaiah's prophecy1 he has been brought down to ,sheol3-- ,how art thou fallen from heaven1 ,o ,lucifer1 son of the morning64 4 4 ,for thou hast said in thine heart1 ,i will ascend into heaven1 ,i will exalt my throne above the stars of ,god 4 4 4 ,i will ascend above the heights of the clouds2 ,i will be like the most ,high4 ,but the morning star is taken as a higher type1 even of our ,lord ,himself1 and of ,his future coming in glory4 ,st4 ,peter bids the disciples1 to whom he writes1 take heed unto the word of prophecy as unto a lamp shining in a dark place until the day dawn1 and the ,day star arise in your hearts4 ,in almost the last words of the ,bible1 the ,lord uses the same image ,himself3-- ,i1 ,jesus1 have sent ,mine angel to testify unto you these things in the ,churches4 ,i am the root and the offspring of ,david1 the bright and morning star4 ,in the sublime and ordered movements of the various heavenly bodies1 the ,hebrews recognized the ordinances of ,god4 ,the point of view always taken in ,scripture is the theo-centric one2 the relation sought to be brought out is not the relation of thing to thing--which is the objective of physical science--but the relation of creature to ,creator4 ,we have no means of knowing whether they made attempt to find any mechanical explanation of the movements2 such inquiry would lie entirely outside the scope of the books of ,holy ,scripture1 and other ancient ,hebrew literature has not been transmitted to us4 ,the lesson which the ,psalmists and the ,prophets desired to teach was not the daily rotation of the earth upon its axis1 nor its yearly revolution round the sun1 but that-- ,if those ordinances depart from before ,me1 saith the ,lord1 then the seed of ,israel also shall cease from being a nation before ,me for ever4 ,in the ,bible all intermediate steps are omitted1 and the result is linked immediately to the first ,cause4 ,god ,himself is the theme1 and trust in ,him the lesson4 ,lift up your eyes on high1 and see ,who hath created these1 ,that bringeth out their host by number3 ,he calleth them all by name2 by the greatness of ,his might1 and for that ,he is strong in power1 not one is lacking4 ,why sayest thou1 ,o ,jacob1 and speakest1 ,o ,israel1 ,my way is hid from the ,lord1 and my judgment is passed away from my ,god4 ,hast thou not known8 hast thou not heard8 the everlasting ,god1 the ,lord1 the ,creator of the ends of the earth1 fainteth not1 neither is weary2 there is no searching of ,his understanding4 ,he giveth power to the faint2 and to him that hath no might ,he increaseth strength4 ,even the youths shall faint and be weary1 and the young men shall utterly fall3 but they that wait upon the ,lord shall renew their strength2 they shall mount up with wings as eagles2 they shall run1 and not be weary2 they shall walk1 and not faint4 ,,chapter ,,vi ,,the ,,sun ,and ,god said ,let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night2 and let them be for signs1 and for seasons and for days1 and years3 and let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven1 to give light upon the earth3 and it was so4 ,and ,god made two great lights2 the greater light to rule the day1 and the lesser light to rule the night3 ,he made the stars also4 ,and ,god set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth1 and to rule over the day and over the night1 and to divide the light from the darkness3 and ,god saw that it was good4 ,and the evening and the morning were the fourth day4 ,a double purpose for the two great heavenly bodies is indicated here1--first1 the obvious one of giving light2 next1 that of time measurement4 ,these1 from the human and practical point of view1 are the two main services which the sun and moon render to us1 and naturally sufficed for the object that the writer had before him4 ,there is no evidence that he had any idea that the moon simply shone by reflecting the light of the sun2 still less that the sun was a light for worlds other than our own2 but if he had known these facts we can hardly suppose that he would have mentioned them2 there would have been no purpose to be served by so doing4 ,but it is remarkable that no reference is made either to the incalculable benefits conferred by the action of the sun in ripening the fruits of the earth1 or to the services of the moon as a time-measurer1 in dividing off the months4 ,both these actions are clearly indicated later on in the ,scriptures1 where ,moses1 in the blessing which he pronounced upon the tribe of ,joseph1 prayed that his land might be blessed for the precious things of the fruits of the sun1 so that we may take their omission here1 together with the omission of all mention of the planets1 and the slight parenthetical reference to the stars1 as indicating that this chapter was composed at an exceedingly early date4 ,the chief purpose of the sun is to give light2 it rules or regulates the day and divides the light from the darkness4 ,as such it is the appropriate emblem of ,god ,himself1 ,who is ,light1 and in ,him is no darkness at all4 ,these images are frequently repeated in the ,scriptures1 and it is only possible to give a few instances4 ,david sings1 ,the ,lord is my light and my salvation4 ,the ,lord shall be unto thee an everlasting light1 is the promise made to ,zion4 ,st4 ,john expressly uses the term of the ,son of ,god1 our ,lord3 ,that was the true ,light which lighteth every man that cometh into the world4 ,whilst the more concrete emblem is used as often4 ,in the eighty-fourth psalm1 the psalm of pilgrimage1 we read1 ,the ,lord ,god is a sun and shield2 ,malachi predicts that the ,sun of ,righteousness shall arise with healing in ,his wings1 and ,st ,james1 with the same thought of the sun in his mind1 speaks of ,god as the ,father of lights4 ,but in none of these or the other parallel passages is there the remotest approach to any deification of the sun1 or even of that most ethereal of influences1 light itself4 ,both are creatures1 both are made by ,god2 they are things and things only1 and are not even the shrines of a deity4 ,they may be used as emblems of ,god in some of ,his attributes2 they do not even furnish any indication of ,his special presence1 for ,he is equally present where sun and light are not4 ,the darkness hideth not from ,thee2 but the night shineth as the day3 the darkness and the light are both alike to ,thee4 ,the worship of the sun and of other heavenly bodies is one of the sins most unsparingly denounced in ,scripture4 ,it was one of the first warnings of the ,book of ,deuteronomy that ,israel as a people were to take heed lest thou lift up thine eyes unto heaven1 and when thou seest the sun1 and the moon1 and the stars1 even all the host of heaven1 shouldest be driven to worship them and serve them1 and the utter overthrow of the nation was foretold should they break this law4 ,and as for the nation1 so for the individual1 any man or woman that hath wrought wickedness in the sight of the ,lord thy ,god1 in transgressing ,his covenant and hath gone and served other gods1 and worshipped them1 either the sun1 or moon1 or any of the host of heaven was when convicted of working such abomination unsparingly to be put to death4 ,yet with all this1 sun-worship prevailed in ,israel again and again4 ,two of the reforming kings of ,judah1 ,asa and ,josiah1 found it necessary to take away the sun-images2 indeed1 the latter king found that the horses and chariots which his predecessors1 ,manasseh and ,amon1 had dedicated to sun worship were kept at the very entrance to the temple4 ,in spite of his reformation1 however1 the evil spread until the final corruption of ,jerusalem was shown in vision to ,ezekiel1 ,seventy men of the ancients--that is the complete ,sanhedrim--offered incense to creeping things and abominable beasts2 the women wept for ,tammuz1 probably the sun-god in his decline to winter death2 and deepest apostasy of all1 five and twenty men1 the high-priest1 and the chief priests of the twenty-four courses1 with their backs toward the temple of the ,lord1 and their faces toward the east2 and they worshipped the sun toward the east4 ,the entire nation1 as represented in its chief members in ,state1 ,society1 and ,church1 was apostate1 and its ruin followed4 ,five years more and the temple was burned and ,jerusalem destroyed1 and in captivity and exile the nation learned to abhor the idolatry that had brought about its overthrow4 ,four words are translated sun in our ,authorized ,version4 ,of these one1 used ,job xxxi4 #bf1 should really be light1 as in the margin--,if ,i beheld the light when it shined1--though the sun is obviously meant4 ,the second word is one used in poetry chiefly in conjunction with a poetical word for the moon1 and refers to the sun's warmth1 as the other does to the whiteness of the moon4 ,thus the ,bride in the ,song of ,solomon is described as fair as the moon1 clear as the sun4 ,the third word has given use to some ambiguity4 ,in the eighth chapter of ,judges in the ,authorized ,version1 it is stated that ,gideon1 the son of ,joash1 returned from the battle before the sun was up1 but in the ,revised ,version that he returned from the battle from the ascent of ,heres4 ,there was a mount ,h4eres1 a mount of the sun1 in the portion of the ,danites held by the ,amorites1 but that cannot have been the ,h4eres of ,gideon4 ,still the probability is that a mount sacred to the sun is meant here as well as in the reference to the ,danites2 though h4eres as meaning the sun itself occurs in the story of ,samson's riddle1 for the men of the city gave him the answer to it which they had extorted from his wife1 before the sun 7h4eres7 went down4 ,shemesh1 the ,samas of the ,babylonians1 is the usual word for the sun2 and we find it in ,beth-shemesh1 the house of the sun1 a ,levitical city within the tribe of ,judah1 the scene of the return of the ark after its captivity amongst the ,philistines4 ,there was another ,beth-shemesh in ,naphtali on the borders of ,issachar1 and ,jeremiah prophesies that ,nebuchadnezzar shall break also the images of ,beth-shemesh1 that is in the land of ,egypt1 probably the obelisks of the sun in ,on1 or ,heliopolis4 ,it was from this city that ,joseph1 when vizier of ,egypt1 took his wife1 the daughter of the high priest there4 ,the images of the sun1 and of ,baal as the sun-god1 seem to have been obelisks or pillars of stone1 and hence had to be broken down2 whilst the ,asherah1 the groves of the ,authorized ,version1 the images of ,ashtoreth as the moon-goddess1 were wooden pillars1 to be cut or hewn down4 ,another city of the sun in the land of ,egypt is also mentioned by ,isaiah1 in his prophecy of the conversion and restoration of the ,egyptians4 ,five cities in the land of ,egypt shall speak the language of ,canaan1 and swear to the ,lord of hosts2 one shall be called ,the city of destruction2 lit4 of ,h4eres1 or of the sun4 ,it was upon the strength of this text that ,onias1 the son of ,onias the high priest1 appealed to ,ptolemy ,philometer to be allowed to build a temple to ,jehovah in the prefecture of ,heliopolis 7the city of the sun71 and obtained his permission to do so1 ,b4,c4 #adi4fh3a ,the epithet applied to the sun in ,cant4 vi4 already quoted1 ,clear as the sun1 may be taken as equivalent to spotless4 ,that is its ordinary appearance to the naked eye1 though from time to time--far more frequently than most persons have any idea--there are spots upon the sun sufficiently large to be seen without any optical assistance4 ,thus in the twenty years from #ahhb to #aija inclusive1 such a phenomenon occurred on the average once in each week4 ,no reference to the existence of sun-spots occurs in ,scripture4 ,nor is this surprising1 for it would not have fallen within the purpose of ,scripture to record such a fact4 ,but it is surprising that whilst the ,chinese detected their occasional appearance1 there is no distinct account of such an observation given either on ,babylonian tablets or by classical or medival writers4 ,the achievement of the ,chinese in this direction is very notable1 for the difficulty of looking directly at the sun1 under ordinary circumstances is so great1 and the very largest sunspots are so small as compared with the entire disc1 that it argues great perseverance in watching such appearances on the part of the ,chinese1 for them to have assured themselves that they were not due to very small distant clouds in our own atmosphere4 ,it has often been the subject of comment that light is mentioned in ,gen4 i4 as having been created on the first day1 but the sun not until the fourth4 ,the order is entirely appropriate from an astronomical point of view1 for we know that our sun is not the only source of light1 since it is but one out of millions of stars1 many of which greatly exceed it in splendour4 ,further1 most astronomers consider that our solar system existed as a luminous nebula long ages before the sun was formed as a central condensation4 ,but the true explanation of the creation of light being put first is probably this--that there might be no imagining that1 though gross solid bodies1 like earth and sea1 sun and moon might require a ,creator1 yet something so ethereal and all-pervading as light was self-existent1 and by its own nature1 eternal4 ,this was a truth that needed to be stated first4 ,god is light1 but light is not ,god4 ,the other references to the sun in ,scripture do not call for much comment4 ,its apparent unchangeableness qualifies it for use as an expression for eternal duration1 as in the seventy-second1 the ,royal1 ,psalm1 ,they shall fear ,thee as long as the sun and moon endure2 and again1 ,his name shall endure for ever3 ,his name shall be continued as long as the sun4 ,and again1 in the eighty-ninth ,psalm1 it is said of ,david3 ,his seed shall endure for ever1 and his throne as the sun before ,me4 ,the daily course of the sun from beyond the eastern horizon to beyond the western gives the widest expression for the compass of the whole earth4 ,the mighty ,god1 even the ,lord1 hath spoken1 and called the earth1 from the rising of the sun unto the going down thereof4 ,from the rising of the sun1 unto the going down of the same1 the ,lord's name is to be praised4 ,the sun's rays penetrate everywhere4 ,his going forth is from the end of the heaven1 and his circuit unto the ends of it3 and there is nothing hid from the heat thereof4 ,whilst in the ,book of ,ecclesiastes1 the melancholy words of the ,preacher revert over and over again to that which is done under the sun4 ,what profit hath a man of all his labour which he taketh under the sun8 ,it should be noted that this same ,book of ,ecclesiastes shows a much clearer idea of the sun's daily apparent motion than was held by many of the writers of antiquity4 ,there is1 of course1 nowhere in ,scripture any mention of the rotation of the earth on its axis as the mechanical explanation of the sun's daily apparent motion2 any more than we should refer to it ourselves to-day except when writing from a purely technical point of view4 ,as said already1 the ,hebrews had probably not discovered this explanation1 and would certainly have not gone out of their way to mention it in any of their ,scriptures if they had4 ,one passage of great beauty has sometimes been quoted as if it contained a reference to the earth's rotation1 but when carefully examined it is seen to be dealing simply with the apparent motion of the sun in the course of the year and of the day4 ,hast thou commanded the morning since thy days2 ,and caused the dayspring to know his place2 ,that it might take hold of the ends of the earth1 ,that the wicked might be shaken out of it8 ,it is turned as clay to the seal2 ,and they stand as a garment4 ,the earth appears to be spoken of as being turned to the sun1 the dayspring2 and this1 we know1 takes place1 morning by morning1 in consequence of the diurnal rotation4 ,but the last two lines are better rendered in the ,revised ,version-- ,it is changed as clay under the seal2 ,and all things stand forth as a garment4 ,the ancient seals were cylinders1 rolled over the clay1 which1 formless before1 took upon it the desired relief as the seal passed over it4 ,so a garment1 laid aside and folded up during the night1 is shapeless1 but once again takes form when the wearer puts it on4 ,and the earth1 formless in the darkness1 gains shape and colour and relief with the impress upon it of the morning light4 ,it is quite clear that the ,hebrews did not suppose that it was a new sun that came up from the east each morning1 as did ,xenophanes and the ,epicureans amongst the ,greeks4 ,it was the same sun throughout4 ,nor is there any idea of his hiding himself behind a mysterious mountain during the night4 ,the sun1 the ,preacher tells us1 ariseth and the sun goeth down1 and hasteth to his place where he arose4 ,the ,hebrew was quite aware that the earth was unsupported in space1 for he knew that the ,lord stretcheth out the north over the empty place1 and hangeth the earth upon nothing4 ,there was therefore nothing to hinder the sun passing freely under the earth from west to east1 and thus making his path1 not a mere march onward ending in his dissolution at sunset1 but a complete circuit1 as noted by the writer of the nineteenth ,psalm4 ,the fierceness of the sun's heat in ,palestine rendered sun-stroke a serious danger4 ,the little son of the ,shunammite was probably so smitten as he watched his father at work with the reapers4 ,so the promise is given to ,god's people more than once3 ,the sun shall not smite thee by day4 ,they shall not hunger nor thirst2 neither shall the heat nor sun smite them4 ,the martyrs who pass through the great tribulation shall hunger no more1 neither thirst any more2 neither shall the sun light on them1 nor any heat4 ,there are fewer references in ,scripture to the vivifying effects of sunlight upon vegetation than we might have expected4 ,the explanation is possibly to be found in the terrible perversion men had made of the benefits which came to them by means of this action of sunlight1 by using them as an excuse for plunging into all kinds of nature-worship4 ,yet there are one or two allusions not without interest4 ,as already mentioned1 the precious fruits brought forth by the sun were promised to the tribe of ,joseph1 whilst the great modern discovery that nearly every form of terrestrial energy is derived ultimately from the energy of the sun's rays gives a most striking appropriateness to the imagery made use of by ,st4 ,james4 ,every good gift and every perfect gift is from above1 and cometh down from the ,father of ,lights1 with ,whom is no variableness1 neither shadow of turning4 ,god1 that is to say1 is the true ,sun1 the true ,origin of all ,lights1 the true bestower of every good and perfect gift4 ,the word rendered variableness1 is a technical word1 used by ourselves in modern ,english as parallax1 and employed in the ,septuagint ,version to denote the revolutions of the heavenly bodies1 described in the thirty-eighth chapter of the book of ,job1 as the ordinances of the heavens4 ,with the natural sun1 therefore1 there is variableness1 that is to say1 real or apparent change of place2 there is none with ,god4 ,neither is there with ,him any darkness of eclipse2 any shadow caused as in the case of the material sun1 by the turning of earth and moon in their orbits4 ,the knowledge of the alternations of the turning of the sun1 described in the ,book of ,wisdom as a feature of the learning of ,solomon1 was a knowledge of the laws of this variableness and turning2 especially of the turning of its rising and setting points at the two solstices2 and ,st4 ,james may well have had that passage in his mind when he wrote4 ,for ,science deals with the knowledge of things that change1 as they change1 and of their changes1 but ,faith with the knowledge of ,him that abideth for ever1 and it is to this higher knowledge that ,st4 ,james wished to point his readers4 ,science deals with the knowledge of things that change1 as they change and of their changes4 ,the physical facts that we have learned in the last years about that changeful body the sun are briefly these3-- ,its core or inner nucleus is not accessible to observation1 its nature and constitution being a mere matter of inference4 ,the photosphere is a shell of incandescent cloud surrounding the nucleus1 but the depth1 or thickness of this shell is quite unknown4 ,the outer surface--which we see--of the photosphere is certainly pretty sharply defined1 though very irregular1 rising at points into whiter aggregations1 called facul1 and perhaps depressed at other places in the dark spots4 ,immediately above the photosphere lies the reversing layer in which are found the substances which give rise to the gaps in the sun's spectrum--the ,fraunhofer lines4 ,above the reversing layer lies the scarlet chromosphere with prominences of various forms and dimensions rising high above the solar surface2 and over1 and embracing all1 is the corona1 with its mysterious petal-like forms and rod-like rays4 ,the great body of the sun is gaseous1 though it is impossible for us to conceive of the condition of the gaseous core1 subjected1 as it is1 at once to temperature and pressure both enormously great4 ,probably it is a gas so viscous that it would resist motion as pitch or putty does4 ,nor do we know much of the nature of either the sun-spots or the solar corona4 ,both seem to be produced by causes which lie within the sun2 both undergo changes that are periodical and connected with each other4 ,they exercise some influence upon the earth's magnetism1 but whether this influence extends to terrestrial weather1 to rainfall and storms1 is still a matter of controversy4 ,the sun itself is distant from the earth in the mean1 about #ib1hhe1jjj miles1 but this distance varies between ,january and ,june by #c1ajj1jjj miles4 ,the diameter of the sun is #hff1djj miles1 but perhaps this is variable to the extent of some hundreds of miles4 ,it would contain #a1cje1jjj times the bulk of the earth1 but its mean density is but one-quarter that of the earth4 ,the force of gravity at its surface is #bg-a_/b times that at the surface of the earth1 and it rotates on its axis in about #be days4 ,but the sun's surface does not appear to rotate as a whole1 so this time of rotating varies by as much as two days if we consider a region on the sun's equator or at a distance from it of #de4 ,the intensity of sunlight at the surface of the sun is about #aij1jjj times that of a candle-flame1 and the effective temperature of the solar surface is eight or ten thousand degrees centigrade4 ,such are some of the facts about the sun that are received1 or1 as it would be technically expressed1 adopted to-day4 ,doubtless a very few years will find them altered and rendered more accurate as observations accumulate4 ,in a few hundred years1 knowledge of the constitution of the sun may have so increased that these data and suggestions may seem so erroneous as to be absurd4 ,it is little more than a century since one of the greatest of astronomers1 ,sir ,william ,herschel1 contended that the central globe of the sun might be a habitable world1 sheltered from the blazing photosphere by a layer of cool non-luminous clouds4 ,such an hypothesis was not incompatible with what was then known of the constitution of the heavenly bodies1 though it is incompatible with what we know now4 ,it was simply a matter on which more evidence was to be accumulated1 and the holding of such a view does not1 and did not1 detract from the scientific status of ,sir ,william ,herschel4 ,the hypotheses of science require continual restatement in the light of new evidence1 and1 as to the weight and interpretation to be given to such evidence1 there is continual conflict--if it may so be called--between the old and the new science1 between the science that is established and the science that is being established4 ,it is by this conflict that knowledge is rendered sure4 ,such a conflict took place rather more than #cjj years ago at the opening of the ,modern ,era of astronomy4 ,it was a conflict between two schools of science--between the disciples of ,aristotle and ,claudius ,ptolemy on the one hand and the disciples of ,copernicus on the other4 ,it has often been represented as a conflict between religion and science1 whereas that which happened was that the representatives of the older school of science made use of the powers of the ,church to persecute the newer school as represented by ,galileo4 ,that persecution was no doubt a flagrant abuse of authority1 but it should be impossible at the present day for any one to claim a theological standing for either theory1 whether ,copernican or ,ptolemaic4 ,so long as evidence sufficient to demonstrate the ,copernican hypothesis was not forthcoming1 it was possible for a man to hold the ,ptolemaic1 without detracting from his scientific position1 just as it is thought no discredit to ,sir ,william ,herschel that he held his curious idea of a cool sun under the conditions of knowledge of a hundred years ago4 ,even at the present day1 we habitually use the ,ptolemaic phraseology4 ,not only do we speak of sunrise and sunset1 but astronomers in strictly technical papers use the expression1 acceleration of the sun's motion when acceleration of the earth's motion is meant4 ,the question as to whether the earth goes round the sun or the sun goes round the earth has been decided by the accumulation of evidence4 ,it was a question for evidence to decide4 ,it was an open question so long as the evidence available was not sufficient to decide it4 ,it was perfectly possible at one time for a scientific or a religious man to hold either view4 ,neither view interfered with his fundamental standing or with his mental attitude towards either sun or earth4 ,in this respect--important as the question is in itself--it might be said to be a mere detail1 almost a matter of indifference4 ,but it is not a mere detail1 a matter of indifference to either scientist or religious man1 as to what the sun and earth are--whether he can treat them as things that can be weighed1 measured1 compared1 analyzed1 as1 a few pages back1 we have shown has been done1 or whether1 as one of the chief astrologers of to-day puts it1 he-- ,believes that the sun is the body of the ,logos of this solar system1 'in ,him we live and move and have our being4' ,the planets are his angels1 being modifications in the consciousness of the ,logos1 and that the sun ,stands as ,power1 having ,love and ,will united4 ,the difference between these two points of view is fundamental1 and one of root principle4 ,the foundation1 the common foundation on which both the believer and the scientist build1 is threatened by this false science and false religion4 ,the calling1 the very existence of both is assailed1 and they must stand or fall together4 ,the believer in one ,god cannot acknowledge a ,sun-god1 a ,solar ,logos1 these planetary angels2 the astronomer cannot admit the intrusion of planetary influences that obey no known laws1 and the supposed effects of which are in no way proportional to the supposed causes4 ,the ,law of ,causality does not run within the borders of astrology4 ,it is the old antithesis restated of the ,hebrew and the heathen4 ,the believer in one ,god and the scientist alike derive their heritage from the ,hebrew1 whilst the modern astrologer claims that the astrology of to-day is once more a revelation of the ,chaldean and ,assyrian religions4 ,but polytheism--whether in its gross form of many gods1 of planetary angels1 or in the more subtle form of pantheism1--is the very negation of sane religion2 and astrology is the negation of sane astronomy4 ,for the invisible things of ,him from the creation of the world are clearly seen1 being understood by the things that are made1 even ,his eternal power and ,godhead2 so that they are without excuse3 because that1 when they knew ,god1 they glorified ,him not as ,god1 neither were thankful2 but became vain in their imaginations1 and their foolish heart was darkened4 ,professing themselves to be wise1 they became fools1 and changed the glory of the uncorruptible ,god into an image made like to corruptible man1 and to birds1 and fourfooted beasts1 and creeping things4 ,,footnotes3 #fh3a ,josephus1 ,antiquities1 ,,xiii4 iii4 #a4 ,,chapter ,,vii ,,the ,,moon ,the balmy moon of blessed ,israel ,floods all the deep-blue gloom with beams divine3 ,all night the splintered crags that wall the dell ,with spires of silver shine4 ,so1 in ,tennyson's words1 sang ,jephthah's daughter1 as she recalled the days of her mourning before she accomplished her self-sacrifice4 ,it is hard for modern dwellers in towns to realize the immense importance of the moon to the people of old4 ,the night cometh when no man can work fitly describes their condition when she was absent4 ,in sub-tropical countries like ,palestine1 twilight is short1 and1 the sun once set1 deep darkness soon covers everything4 ,such artificial lights as men then had would now be deemed very inefficient4 ,there was little opportunity1 when once darkness had fallen1 for either work or enjoyment4 ,but1 when the moon was up1 how very different was the case4 ,then men might say-- ,this night1 methinks1 is but the daylight sick2 ,it looks a little paler3 'tis a day1 ,such as the day is when the sun is hid4 ,in the long moonlit nights1 travelling was easy and safe2 the labours of the field and house could still be carried on2 the friendly feast need not be interrupted4 ,but of all men1 the shepherd would most rejoice at this season2 all his toils1 all his dangers were immeasurably lightened during the nights near the full4 ,as in the beautiful rendering which ,tennyson has given us of one of the finest passages in the ,iliad-- ,in heaven the stars about the moon ,look beautiful1 when all the winds are laid1 ,and every height comes out1 and jutting peak ,and valley1 and the immeasurable heavens ,break open to their highest1 and all the stars ,shine1 and the ,shepherd gladdens in his heart4 ,a large proportion of the people of ,israel1 long after their settlement in ,palestine1 maintained the habits of their forefathers1 and led the shepherd's life4 ,to them1 therefore1 the full of the moon must have been of special importance2 yet there is no single reference in ,scripture to this phase as such2 nor indeed to any change of the moon's apparent figure4 ,in two cases in our ,revised ,version we do indeed find the expression at the full moon1 but if we compare these passages with the ,authorized ,version1 we find them there rendered in the time appointed1 or at the day appointed4 ,this latter appears to be the literal meaning1 though there can be no question1 as is seen by a comparison with the ,syriac1 that the period of the full moon is referred to4 ,no doubt it was because travelling was so much more safe and easy than in the moonless nights1 that the two great spring and autumn festivals of the ,jews were held at the full moon4 ,indeed1 the latter feast1 when the ,israelites camped out for a week in booths1 was held at the time of the harvest moon4 ,the phenomenon of the harvest moon may be briefly explained as follows4 ,at the autumnal equinox1 when the sun is crossing from the north side of the equator to the south1 the full moon is crossing from the south side of the equator to the north4 ,it is thus higher in the sky1 when it souths1 on each succeeding night1 and is therefore up for a greater length of time4 ,this counterbalances to a considerable extent its movement eastward amongst the stars1 so that1 for several nights in succession1 it rises almost at sundown4 ,these nights of the ,feast of ,tabernacles1 when all ,israel was rejoicing over the ingathered fruits1 each family in its tent or arbour of green boughs1 were therefore the fullest of moonlight in the year4#ha3a ,modern civilization has almost shut us off from the heavens1 at least in our great towns and cities4 ,these offer many conveniences1 but they remove us from not a few of the beauties which nature has to offer4 ,and so it comes that1 taking the population as a whole1 there is perhaps less practically known of astronomy in ,england to-day than there was under the ,plantagenets4 ,a very few are astronomers1 professional and amateur1 and know immeasurably more than our forefathers did of the science4 ,then there is a large1 more or less cultured1 public that know something of the science at secondhand through books4 ,but the great majority know nothing of the heavenly bodies except of the sun2 they need to look in the almanack to find out moonshine4 ,but to simpler peoples the difference between the light half of the month1 from the first quarter to the last quarter through the full of the moon1 and the dark half1 from the last quarter to the first quarter1 through new1 is very great4 ,indian astronomers so divide the month to this day4 ,in one passage of ,holy ,scripture1 the description which ,isaiah gives of the ,city of the ,lord1 the ,zion of the ,holy ,one of ,israel1 there is a reference to the dark part of the month4 ,thy sun shall no more go down2 neither shall thy moon 7literally month7 withdraw itself3 for the ,lord shall be thine everlasting light1 and the days of thy mourning shall be ended4 ,the parallelism expressed in the verse lies between the darkness of night whilst the sun is below the horizon1 and the special darkness of those nights when the moon1 being near conjunction with the sun1 is absent from the sky during the greater part or whole of the night hours1 and has but a small portion of her disc illuminated4 ,just as half the day is dark because the sun has withdrawn itself1 so half the nights of the month are dark because the moon has withdrawn itself4 ,the ,hebrew month was a natural one1 determined by actual observation of the new moon4 ,they used three words in their references to the moon1 the first of which1 chodesh1 derived from a root meaning to be new1 indicates the fact that the new moon1 as actually observed1 governed their calendar4 ,the word therefore signifies the new moon--the day of the new moon3 and thus a month2 that is1 a lunar month beginning at the new moon4 ,this is the ,hebrew word used in the ,deluge story in the seventh chapter of ,genesis2 and in all references to feasts depending on a day in the month4 ,as when the ,lord spake to ,moses1 saying1 ,also in the day of your gladness1 and in your solemn days1 and in the beginnings of your months1 ye shall blow with your trumpets over your burnt offerings1 and over the sacrifices of your peace offerings4 ,and again in the ,psalm of ,asaph to the chief musician upon ,gittith3 ,blow up the trumpet in the new moon1 in the time appointed1 on our solemn feast day4 ,this is the word also that ,isaiah uses in describing the bravery of the daughters of ,zion1 the tinkling ornaments about their feet1 and their cauls1 and their round tires like the moon1 the chains1 and the bracelets4 ,the round tires were not discs1 like the full moon1 but were round like the crescent4 ,generally speaking1 chodesh is employed where either reference is made to the shape or newness of the crescent moon1 or where month is used in any precise way4 ,this is the word for month employed throughout by the prophet ,ezekiel1 who is so precise in the dating of his prophecies4 ,when the moon is mentioned as the lesser light of heaven1 without particular reference to its form1 or when a month is mentioned as a somewhat indefinite period of time1 then the ,hebrew word yareach1 is used4 ,here the word has the root meaning of paleness2 it is the silver moon4 ,yareach is the word always used where the moon is classed among the heavenly bodies2 as when ,joseph dreamed of the sun1 the moon1 and the eleven constellations2 or in ,jer4 viii4 #b1 where the ,lord says that they shall bring out the bones of the kings1 princes1 priests1 prophets1 and inhabitants of ,jerusalem1 and they shall spread them before the sun1 and the moon1 and all the host of heaven1 whom they have loved1 and whom they have served1 and after whom they have walked1 and whom they have sought1 and whom they have worshipped4 ,the same word is used for the moon in its character of making ordinances4 ,thus we have it several times in the ,psalms3 ,he 7the ,lord7 appointed the moon for seasons4 ,his seed shall endure for ever1 and his throne as the sun before ,me4 ,it shall be established for ever as the moon1 and as a faithful witness in heaven4 ,and again3 ,the moon and stars rule by night2 whilst ,jeremiah says1 ,thus saith the ,lord1 ,which giveth the sun for a light by day1 and the ordinances of the moon and of the stars for a light by night4 ,in all passages where reference seems to be made to the darkening or withdrawing of the moon's light 7,eccl4 xii4 #b2 ,isa4 xiii4 #aj2 ,ezek4 xxxii4 #g2 ,joel ii4 #aj1 #ca1 and iii4 #ae2 and ,hab4 iii4 #aa7 the word yareach is employed4 ,a slight variant of the same word indicates the month when viewed as a period of time not quite defined1 and not in the strict sense of a lunar month4 ,this is the term used in ,exod4 ii4 #b1 for the three months that the mother of ,moses hid him when she saw that he was a goodly child2 by ,moses1 in his prophecy for ,joseph1 of ,blessed of the ,lord be his land 4 4 4 for the precious fruits brought forth by the sun1 and for the precious things put forth by the months4 ,such a full month of days did ,shallum the son of ,jabesh reign in ,samaria in the nine and thirtieth year of ,uzziah1 king of ,judah4 ,such also were the twelve months of warning given to ,nebuchadnezzar1 king of ,babylon1 before his madness fell upon him4 ,the same word is once used for a true lunar month1 viz4 in ,ezra vi4 #ae1 when the building of the house was finished on the third day of the month ,adar1 which was in the sixth year of the reign of ,darius the king4 ,in all other references to the months derived from the ,babylonians1 such as the month ,chisleu in ,neh4 i4 #a1 the term chodesh is used1 since these1 like the ,hebrew months1 were defined by the observation of the new moon2 but for the ,tyrian months1 ,zif1 ,bul1 ,ethanim1 we find the term yerach in three out of the four instances4 ,in three instances a third word is used poetically to express the moon4 ,this is lebanah1 which has the meaning of whiteness4 ,in ,song of ,sol4 vi4 #aj1 it is asked-- ,who is she that looketh forth as the morning1 fair as the moon1 clear as the sun1 and terrible as an army with banners8 ,isaiah also says-- ,then the moon shall be confounded1 and the sun ashamed1 when the ,lord of ,hosts shall reign in ,mount ,zion1 and in ,jerusalem1 and before ,his ancients gloriously4 ,and yet again-- ,moreover the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun1 and the light of the sun shall be sevenfold1 as the light of seven days1 in the day that the ,lord bindeth up the breach of ,his people1 and healeth the stroke of their wound4 ,it may not be without significance that each of these three passages1 wherein the moon is denominated by its name of whiteness or purity1 looks forward prophetically to the same great event1 pictured yet more clearly in the ,revelation-- ,and ,i heard as it were the voice of a great multitude1 and as the voice of many waters1 and as the voice of mighty thunderings1 saying1 ,alleluia3 for the ,lord ,god omnipotent reigneth4 ,let us be glad and rejoice1 and give honour to ,him3 for the marriage of the ,lamb is come1 and ,his wife hath made herself ready4 ,and to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen1 clean and white3 for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints4 ,chodesh and yareach are masculine words2 lebanah is feminine4 ,but nowhere throughout the ,old ,testament is the moon personified1 and in only one instance is it used figuratively to represent a person4 ,this is in the case of ,jacob's reading of ,joseph's dream1 already referred to1 where he said-- ,behold ,i have dreamed a dream more2 and1 behold1 the sun and the moon and the eleven stars made obeisance to me4 ,and his father quickly rebuked him1 saying-- ,what is this dream that thou hast dreamed8 ,shall ,i and thy mother and thy brethren indeed come to bow down ourselves to thee to the earth8 ,here ,jacob understands that the moon 7yareach7 stands for a woman1 his wife4 ,but in ,mesopotamia1 whence his grandfather ,abraham had come out1 ,sin1 the moon-god1 was held to be a male god1 high indeed among the deities at that time1 and superior even to ,samas1 the sun-god4 ,terah1 the father of ,abraham1 was held by ,jewish tradition to have been an especial worshipper of the moon-god1 whose great temple was in ,haran1 where he dwelt4 ,wherever the land of ,uz may have been1 at whatever period ,job may have lived1 there and then it was an iniquity to worship the moon or the moon-god4 ,in his final defence to his friends1 when the three men ceased to answer ,job1 because he was righteous in his own eyes1 ,job1 justifying his life1 said-- ,if ,i beheld the sun when it shined1 ,or the moon walking in brightness2 ,and my heart hath been secretly enticed1 ,and my mouth hath kissed my hand3 ,this also were an iniquity to be punished by the judges3 ,for ,i should have lied to ,god that is above4 ,the ,hebrews1 too1 were forbidden to worship the sun1 the moon1 or the stars1 the host of heaven1 and disobeyed the commandment both early and late in their history4 ,when ,moses spake unto all ,israel on this side ,jordan in the wilderness in the plain over against the ,red ,sea1 he said to them-- ,the ,lord spake unto you out of the midst of the fire3 ye heard the voice of the words1 but saw no similitude2 only ye heard a voice4 4 4 4 ,take ye therefore good heed unto yourselves2 for ye saw no manner of similitude on the day that the ,lord spake unto you in ,horeb out of the midst of the fire3 ,lest ye corrupt yourselves1 and make you a graven image1 the similitude of any figure1 the likeness of male or female4 4 4 4 ,and lest thou lift up thine eyes unto heaven1 and when thou seest the sun1 and the moon1 and the stars1 even all the host of heaven1 shouldst be driven to worship them1 and serve them1 which the ,lord thy ,god hath divided unto all nations under the whole heaven4 ,we know what the similitude of the sun and the moon were like among the surrounding nations4 ,we see their hieroglyphs on numberless seals and images from the ruins of ,nineveh or ,babylon4 ,that of the sun was first a rayed star or disc1 later a figure1 rayed and winged4 ,that of the moon was a crescent1 one lying on its back1 like a bowl or cup1 the actual attitude of the new moon at the beginning of the new year4 ,just such moon similitudes did the soldiers of ,gideon take from off the camels of ,zebah and ,zalmunna2 just such were the round tires like the moon that ,isaiah condemns among the bravery of the daughters of ,zion4 ,the similitude or token of ,ashtoreth1 the paramount goddess of the ,zidonians1 was the ashera1 the grove of the ,authorized ,version1 probably in most cases merely a wooden pillar4 ,this goddess1 the abomination of the ,zidonians1 was a moon-goddess1 concerning whom ,eusebius preserves a statement by the ,phoenician historian1 ,sanchoniathon1 that her images had the head of an ox4 ,in the wars in the days of ,abraham we find ,chedorlaomer1 and the kings that were with him1 smiting the ,rephaim in ,ashteroth ,karnaim1 that is1 in the ,ashtoreths of the horns4 ,it is impossible to decide at this date whether the horns which gave the distinctive title to this shrine of ,ashtoreth owed their origin to the horns of the animal merged in the goddess1 or to the horns of the crescent moon1 with which she was to some extent identified4 ,possibly there was always a confusion between the two in the minds of her worshippers4 ,the cult of ,ashtoreth was spread not only among the ,hebrews1 but throughout the whole plain of ,mesopotamia4 ,in the times of the ,judges1 and in the days of ,samuel1 we find continually the statement that the people served ,baalim and ,ashtaroth--the plurals of ,baal and ,ashtoreth--these representing the sun and moon1 and reigning as king and queen in heaven4 ,when the ,philistines fought with ,saul at ,mount ,gilboa1 and he was slain1 they stripped off his armour and put it in the house of ,ashtaroth4 ,yet later we find that ,solomon loved strange women of the ,zidonians1 who turned his heart after ,ashtoreth1 the goddess of the ,zidonians1 and he built a high place for her on the right hand of the ,mount of ,olives1 which remained for some three and a half centuries1 until ,josiah1 the king1 defiled it4 ,nevertheless1 the worship of ,ashtoreth continued1 and the prophet ,jeremiah describes her cult3-- ,the children gather wood1 and the fathers kindle the fire1 and the women knead their dough1 to make cakes to the queen of heaven4 ,this was done in the cities of ,judah and streets of ,jerusalem1 but the ,jews carried the cult with them even when they fled into ,egypt1 and whilst there they answered ,jeremiah-- ,we will certainly do whatsoever thing goeth forth out of our own mouth1 to burn incense unto the queen of heaven1 and to pour out drink offerings unto her1 as we have done1 we1 and our fathers1 our kings1 and our princes1 in the cities of ,judah1 and in the streets of ,jerusalem3 for then had we plenty of victuals1 and were well1 and saw no evil4 ,but since we left off to burn incense to the queen of heaven1 and to pour out drink offerings unto her1 we have wanted all things1 and have been consumed by the sword and by the famine4 ,ashtoreth1 according to ,pinches#ij3a is evidently a lengthening of the name of the ,assyrio-,babylonian goddess ,ivstar1 and the ,babylonian legend of the ,descent of ,ivstar may well have been a myth founded on the varying phases of the moon4 ,but it must be remembered that1 though ,ashtoreth or ,ivstar might be the queen of heaven1 the moon was not necessarily the only aspect in which her worshippers recognized her4 ,in others1 the planet ,venus may have been chosen as her representative2 in others the constellation ,taurus1 at one time the leader of the ,zodiac2 in others1 yet again1 the actual form of a material bull or cow4 ,the ,hebrews recognized the great superiority in brightness of the sun over the moon1 as testified in their names of the greater and lesser lights1 and in such passages as that already quoted from ,isaiah 7xxx4 #bf74 ,the word here used for moon is the poetic one1 lebanah4 ,of course no argument can be founded on the parallelism employed so as to lead to the conclusion that the ,hebrews considered that the solar light exceeded the lunar by only seven times1 instead of the #fjj1jjj times indicated by modern photometric measurement4 ,in only one instance in ,scripture--that already quoted of the moon withdrawing itself--is there even an allusion to the changing phases of the moon1 other than that implied in the frequent references to the new moons4 ,the appointment of certain feasts to be held on the fifteenth day of the month is a confirmation of the supposition that their months were truly lunar1 for then the moon is fully lighted1 and rides the sky the whole night long from sunset to sunrise4 ,it is clear1 therefore1 that the ,hebrews1 not only noticed the phases of the moon1 but made regular use of them4 ,yet1 if we adopted the argument from silence1 we should suppose that they had never observed its changes of shape1 for there is no direct allusion to them in ,scripture4 ,we cannot1 therefore1 argue from silence as to whether or no they had divined the cause of those changes1 namely that the moon shines by reflecting the light of the sun4 ,nor are there any references to the markings on the moon4 ,it is quite obvious to the naked eye that there are grey stains upon her silver surface1 that these grey stains are always there1 most of them forming a chain which curves through the upper hemisphere4 ,of the bright parts of the moon1 some shine out with greater lustre than others1 particularly one spot in the lower left-hand quadrant1 not far from the edge of the full disc4 ,the edges of the moon gleam more brightly as a rule than the central parts4 ,all this was apparent to the ,hebrews of old1 as it is to our unassisted sight to-day4 ,the moon's influence in raising the tides is naturally not mentioned4 ,the ,hebrews were not a seafaring race1 nor are the tides on the coast of ,palestine pronounced enough to draw much attention4 ,one influence is ascribed to the moon2 an influence still obscure1 or even disputed4 ,for the promise that-- ,the sun shall not smite thee by day1 ,nor the moon by night1 quite obvious in its application to the sun1 with the moon seems to refer to its supposed influence on certain diseases and in causing moon-blindness4 ,the chief function of the moon1 as indicated in ,scripture1 is to regulate the calendar1 and mark out the times for the days of solemnity4 ,in the words of the #ajdth ,psalm3-- ,he 7,god7 appointed the moon for seasons3 ,the sun knoweth his going down4 ,thou makest darkness1 and it is night2 ,wherein all the beasts of the forest do creep forth4 ,the young lions roar after their prey1 ,and seek their meat from ,god4 ,the sun ariseth1 they get them away1 ,and lay them down in their dens4 ,man goeth forth unto his work ,and to his labour until the evening4 ,o ,lord1 how manifold are ,thy works6 ,in wisdom hast ,thou made them all3 ,the earth is full of ,thy riches4 ,,footnotes3 #ha3a ,how the little children must have revelled in that yearly holiday6 #ij3a ,t4 ,g4 ,pinches1 ,the ,old ,testament in the ,light of the ,historical ,records of ,assyria and ,babylonia1 p4 #bgh4 ,illustration3 ,a ,,corner ,,of ,,the ,,milky ,,way4 ,the ,america ,nebula3 photographed by ,dr4 ,max ,wolf1 at ,heidelberg4 ,,chapter ,,viii ,,the ,,stars ,the stars and the heaven1 whose host they are1 were used by the ,hebrew writers to express the superlatives of number1 of height1 and of expanse4 ,to an observer1 watching the heavens at any particular time and place1 not more than some two thousand stars are separately visible to the unassisted sight4 ,but it was evident to the ,hebrew1 as it is to any one to-day1 that the stars separately visible do not by any means make up their whole number4 ,on clear nights the whole vault of heaven seems covered with a tapestry or curtain the pattern of which is formed of patches of various intensities of light1 and sprinkled upon this patterned curtain are the brighter stars that may be separately seen4 ,the most striking feature in the pattern is the ,milky ,way1 and it may be easily discerned that its texture is made up of innumerable minute points of light1 a granulation1 of which some of the grains are set more closely together1 forming the more brilliant patches1 and some more loosely1 giving the darker shades4 ,the mind easily conceives that the minute points of light whose aggregations make up the varying pattern of the ,milky ,way1 though too small to be individually seen1 are also stars1 differing perhaps from the stars of the ,pleiades or the ,bears only in their greater distance or smaller size4 ,it was of all these that the ,lord said to ,abram-- ,look now toward heaven1 and tell the stars1 if thou be able to number them3 and ,he said unto him1 ,so shall thy seed be4 ,the first catalogue of the stars of which we have record was that of ,hipparchus in #abi ,b4,c4 ,it contained #a1jbe stars1 and ,ptolemy brought this catalogue up to date in the ,almagest of #acg ,a4,d4 ,tycho ,brah in #afjb made a catalogue of #ggg stars1 and ,kepler republished this in #afbg1 and increased the number to #a1jje4 ,these were before the invention of the telescope1 and consequently contained only naked-eye stars4 ,since astronomers have been able to sound the heavens more deeply1 catalogues have increased in size and number4 ,flamsteed1 the first ,astronomer ,royal1 made one of #c1caj stars2 from the observations of ,bradley1 the third1 a yet more famous catalogue has been compiled4 ,in our own day more than three hundred thousand stars have been catalogued in the ,bonn ,durchmusterung2 and the great ,international ,photographic ,chart of the ,heavens will probably show not less than fifty millions of stars1 and in this it has limited itself to stars exceeding the fourteenth magnitude in brightness1 thus leaving out of its pages many millions of stars that are visible through our more powerful telescopes4 ,so when ,abraham1 ,moses1 ,job or ,jeremiah speaks of the host of heaven that cannot be numbered1 it does not mean simply that these men had but small powers of numeration4 ,to us1--who can count beyond that which we can conceive1--as to the ,psalmist1 it is a sign of infinite power1 wisdom and knowledge that ,he telleth the number of the stars2 ,he calleth them all by their names4 ,isaiah describes the ,lord as ,he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth1 4 4 4 that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain1 and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in4 ,and many others of the prophets use the same simile of a curtain which we have seen to be so appropriate to the appearance of the starry sky4 ,nowhere1 however1 have we any indication whether or not they considered the stars were all set on this curtain1 that is to say were all at the same distance from us4 ,we now know that they are not equidistant from us1 but this we largely base on the fact that the stars are of very different orders of brightness1 and we judge that1 on an average1 the fainter a star appears1 the further is it distant from us4 ,to the ,hebrews1 as to us1 it was evident that the stars differ in magnitude1 and the writer of the ,epistle to the ,corinthians expressed this when he wrote-- ,there is one glory of the sun1 and another glory of the moon1 and another glory of the stars3 for one star differeth from another star in glory4 ,the ancient ,greek astronomers divided the stars according to their brightness into six classes1 or six magnitudes1 to use the modern technical term4 ,the average star of any particular magnitude gives about two and a half times as much light as the average star of the next magnitude4 ,more exactly1 the average first magnitude star gives one hundred times the light of the average star of the sixth magnitude4 ,in a few instances we have been able to measure1 in the very roughest degree1 the distances of stars2 not a hundred stars have their parallaxes known1 and these have all been measured in the course of the last century4 ,and so far away are these stars1 even the nearest of them1 that we do not express their distance from us in millions of miles2 we express it in the time that their light takes in travelling from them to us4 ,now it takes light only one second to traverse #ahf1cjj miles1 and yet it requires four and a third years for the light from the nearest star to reach us4 ,this is a star of the first magnitude1 ,alpha in the constellation of the ,centaur4 ,the next nearest star is a faint one of between the seventh and eighth magnitudes1 and its light takes seven years to come4 ,from a sixth magnitude star in the constellation of the ,swan1 the light requires eight years2 and from ,sirius1 the brightest star in the heavens1 light requires eight and a half years4 ,these four stars are the nearest to us2 from no other star1 that we know of1 does light take less than ten years to travel2 from the majority of those whose distance we have succeeded in measuring1 the light takes at least twenty years4 ,to get some conception of what a light-year means1 let us remember that light could travel right round the earth at its equator seven times in the space of a single second1 and that there are #ca1eef1ibe seconds in a year4 ,light then could girdle the earth a thousand million times whilst it comes from ,alpha ,centauri4 ,or we may put it another way4 ,the distance from ,alpha ,centauri exceeds the equator of the earth by as much as this exceeds an inch and a half2 or by as much as the distance from ,london to ,manchester exceeds the hundredth of an inch4 ,of all the rest of the innumerable stars1 as far as actual measurement is concerned1 for us1 as for the ,hebrews1 they might all actually lie on the texture of a curtain1 at practically the same distance from us4 ,we have measured the distances of but a very few stars2 the rest--as every one of them was for the ,hebrew--are at a greater distance than any effort of ours can reach1 be our telescopes ever so great and powerful1 our measuring instruments ever so precise and delicate4 ,for them1 as for us1 the heaven of stars is for height1 for a height which is beyond measure and therefore the only fitting image for the immensity of ,god4 ,so ,zophar the ,naamathite said-- ,canst thou find out the ,almighty unto perfection8 ,it is as high as heaven2 what canst thou do8 and ,eliphaz the ,temanite reiterated still more strongly-- ,is not ,god in the height of heaven8 ,and behold the height of the stars1 how high they are4 ,god ,himself is represented as using the expanse of heaven as a measure of the greatness of his fidelity and mercy4 ,the prophet ,jeremiah writes-- ,thus saith the ,lord2 if ,heaven above can be measured1 and the foundations of the earth searched out beneath1 ,i will also cast off all the seed of ,israel for all that they have done1 saith the ,lord4 ,as if he were using the figure of a great cross1 whose height was that of the heavens1 whose arms stretched from east to west1 ,david testifies of the same mercy and forgiveness3-- ,for as the heaven is high above the earth1 ,so great is ,his mercy toward them that fear ,him4 ,as far as the east is from the west1 ,so far hath ,he removed our transgressions from us4 ,illustration3 ,,the ,,great ,,comet ,,of #ahdc4 ,running like a road through the constellations 7see p4 #aje74 ,,chapter ,,ix ,,comets ,great comets are almost always unexpected visitors4 ,there is only one great comet that we know has been seen more than once1 and expect with reasonable certainty to see again4 ,this is ,halley's comet1 which has been returning to a near approach to the sun at somewhat irregular intervals of seventy-five to seventy-eight years during the last centuries3 indeed1 it is possible that it was this comet that was coincident with the invasion of ,england by ,william the ,conqueror4 ,there are other small comets that are also regular inhabitants of the solar system2 but1 as with ,halley's comet1 so with these1 two circumstances are to be borne in mind4 ,first1 that each successive revolution round the sun involves an increasing degradation of their brightness1 since there is a manifest waste of their material at each near approach to the sun2 until at length the comet is seen no more1 not because it has left the warm precincts of the sun for the outer darkness1 but because it has spent its substance4 ,halley's comet was not as brilliant or as impressive in #ahce as it was in #agei3 in #aiaj it may have become degraded to an appearance of quite the second order4 ,next1 we have no knowledge1 no evidence1 that any of these comets have always been members of the solar family4 ,some of them1 indeed1 we know were adopted into it by the influence of one or other of the greater planets3 ,uranus we know is responsible for the introduction of one1 ,jupiter of a considerable number4 ,the vast majority of comets1 great or small1 seem to blunder into the solar system anyhow1 anywhere1 from any direction3 they come within the attractive influence of the sun2 obey his laws whilst within that influence2 make one close approach to him1 passing rapidly across our sky2 and then depart in an orbit which will never bring them to his neighbourhood again4 ,some chance of direction1 some compelling influence of a planet that it may have approached1 so modified the path of ,halley's comet when it first entered the solar system1 that it has remained a member ever since1 and may so remain until it has ceased to be a comet at all4 ,it follows1 therefore1 that1 as to the number of great comets that may be seen in any age1 we can scarcely even apply the laws of probability4 ,during the last couple of thousand years1 since chronicles have been abundant1 we know that many great comets have been seen4 ,we may suppose1 therefore1 that during the preceding age1 that in which the ,scriptures were written1 there were also many great comets seen1 but we do not know4 ,and most emphatically we are not able to say1 from our knowledge of comets themselves and of their motions1 that in the days of this or that writer a comet was flaming in the sky4 ,if a comet had been observed in those ages we might not recognize the description of it4 ,thus in the fourth year of the #ajast ,olympiad1 the ,greeks were startled by a celestial portent4 ,they did not draw fine distinctions1 and posterity might have remained ignorant that the terrifying object was possibly a comet1 had not ,aristotle1 who saw it as a boy at ,stagira1 left a rather more scientifically worded description of it4 ,it flared up from the sunset sky with a narrow definite tail running like a road through the constellations4 ,in recent times the great comet of #ahdc may be mentioned as having exactly such an appearance4 ,so we cannot expect to find in the ,scriptures definite and precise descriptions that we can recognize as those of comets4 ,at the most we may find some expressions1 some descriptions1 that to us may seem appropriate to the forms and appearances of these objects1 and we may therefore infer that the appearance of a comet may have suggested these descriptions or expressions4 ,the head of a great comet is brilliant1 sometimes starlike4 ,but its tail often takes on the most impressive appearance4 ,donati's comet1 in #aheh1 assumed the most varied shapes--sometimes its tail was broad1 with one bright and curving edge1 the other fainter and finer1 the whole making up a stupendous semi-circular blade-like object4 ,later1 the tail was shaped like a scimitar1 and later again1 it assumed a duplex form4 ,though the bulk of comets is huge1 they contain extraordinarily little substance4 ,their heads must contain some solid matter1 but it is probably in the form of a loose aggregation of stones enveloped in vaporous material4 ,there is some reason to suppose that comets are apt to shed some of these stones as they travel along their paths1 for the orbits of the meteors that cause some of our greatest star showers are coincident with the paths of comets that have been observed4 ,but it is not only by shedding its loose stones that a comet diminishes its bulk2 it loses also through its tail4 ,as the comet gets close to the sun its head becomes heated1 and throws off concentric envelopes1 much of which consists of matter in an extremely fine state of division4 ,now it has been shown that the radiations of the sun have the power of repelling matter1 whilst the sun itself attracts by its gravitational force4 ,but there is a difference in the action of the two forces4 ,the light-pressure varies with the surface of the particle upon which it is exercised2 the gravitational attraction varies with the mass or volume4 ,if we consider the behaviour of very small particles1 it follows that the attraction due to gravitation 7depending on the volume of the particle7 will diminish more rapidly than the repulsion due to light-pressure 7depending on the surface of the particle71 as we decrease continually the size of the particle1 since its volume diminishes more rapidly than its surface4 ,a limit therefore will be reached below which the repulsion will become greater than the attraction4 ,thus for particles less than the #a_/bejjj part of an inch in diameter the repulsion of the sun is greater than its attraction4 ,particles in the outer envelope of the comet below this size will be driven away in a continuous stream1 and will form that thin1 luminous fog which we see as the comet's tail4 ,we cannot tell whether such objects as these were present to the mind of ,joel when he spoke of blood and fire and pillars of smoke2 possibly these metaphors are better explained by a sand- or thunder-storm1 especially when we consider that the ,hebrew expression for the pillars of smoke indicates a resemblance to a palm-tree1 as in the spreading out of the head of a sand- or thunder-cloud in the sky4 ,the suggestion has been made1--following the closing lines of ,paradise ,lost 7for ,milton is responsible for many of our interpretations of ,scripture7 ,high in front advanced1 ,the brandished sword of ,god before them blazed1 ,fierce as a comet1 --that a comet was indeed the flaming sword which turned every way1 to keep the way of the tree of life4 ,there is less improbability in the suggestion made by several writers that1 when the pestilence wasted ,jerusalem1 and ,david offered up the sacrifice of intercession in the threshing floor of ,ornan the ,jebusite1 the king may have seen1 in the scimitar-like tail of a comet such as ,donati's1 ,god's minister1--a flame of fire1--the angel of the ,lord stand between the earth and the heaven1 having a drawn sword in his hand stretched out over ,jerusalem4 ,the late ,r4 ,a4 ,proctor describes the wanderings of a comet thus3-- ,a comet is seen in the far distant depths of space as a faint and scarcely discernible speck4 ,it draws nearer and nearer with continually increasing velocity1 growing continually larger and brighter4 ,faster and faster it rushes on until it makes its nearest approach to our sun1 and then1 sweeping round him1 it begins its long return voyage into infinite space4 ,as it recedes it grows fainter and fainter1 until at length it passes beyond the range of the most powerful telescopes made by man1 and is seen no more4 ,it has been seen for the first and last time by the generation of men to whom it has displayed its glories4 ,it has been seen for the first and last time by the race of man itself4#ajh3a ,these are 4 4 4 wandering stars1 to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever4 ,,footnotes3 #ajh3a ,r4 ,a4 ,proctor1 ,the ,expanse of ,heaven1 p4 #acd4 ,illustration3 ,,fall ,,of ,,an ,,aerolite4 ,there fell a great star from heaven1 burning as it were a lamp4 7see p4 #aaf74 ,,chapter ,x ,,meteors ,great meteorites--aerolites as they are called--are like great comets1 chance visitors to our world4 ,now and then they come1 but we cannot foretell their coming4 ,such an aerolite exploded some fifteen miles above ,madrid at about #i;h #bim1 on the morning of ,february #aj1 #ahif3-- ,a vivid glare of blinding light was followed in #a-a_/b minutes by a loud report1 the concussion being such as not merely to create a panic1 but to break many windows1 and in some cases to shake down partitions4 ,the sky was clear1 and the sun shining brightly1 when a white cloud1 bordered with red1 was seen rushing from south-west to north-east1 leaving behind it a train of fine white dust4 ,a red-tinted cloud was long visible in the east4 ,many fragments were picked up1 and analyzed1 and1 like other aerolites1 were found to consist of materials already known on the earth4 ,the outer crust showed the signs of fire1--the meteoric stone had been fused and ignited by its very rapid rush through the air--but the interior was entirely unaffected by the heat4 ,the manner in which the elements were combined is somewhat peculiar to aerolites2 the nearest terrestrial affinity of the minerals aggregated in them1 is to be found in the volcanic products from great depths4 ,thus aerolites seem to be broken-up fragments from the interior parts of globes like our own4 ,they do not come from our own volcanoes1 for the velocities with which they entered our atmosphere prove their cosmical origin4 ,had our atmosphere not entangled them1 many1 circuiting the sun in a parabolic or hyperbolic curve1 would have escaped for ever from our system4 ,the swift motions1 which they had on entering our atmosphere1 are considerably greater on the average than those of comets1 and probably their true home is not in our solar system1 but in interstellar space4 ,the aerolites that reach the surface are not always exploded into very small fragments1 but every now and then quite large masses remain intact4 ,most of these are stony2 some have bits of iron scattered through them2 others are almost pure iron1 or with a little nickel alloy1 or have pockets in them laden with stone4 ,there are hundreds of accounts of the falls of aerolites during the past #b1ejj years4 ,the ,greeks and ,romans considered them as celestial omens1 and kept some of them in temples4 ,one at ,mecca is revered by the faithful ,mohammedans1 and ,jehangir1 the great ,mogul1 is said to have had a sword forged from an iron aerolite which fell in #afbj in the ,panjab4 ,diana of ,ephesus stood on a shapeless block which1 tradition says1 was a meteoric stone1 and reference may perhaps be found to this in the speech of the town-clerk of the city to appease the riot stirred up against ,st4 ,paul by ,demetrius the silversmith and his companions3-- ,ye men of ,ephesus1 what man is there who knoweth not how that the city of the ,ephesians is temple-keeper of the great ,diana1 and of the image which fell down from ,jupiter8 ,aerolites come singly and unexpectedly1 falling actually to earth on land or sea4 ,shooting stars come usually in battalions4 ,they travel together in swarms1 and the earth may meet the same swarm again and again4 ,they are smaller than aerolites1 probably mere particles of dust1 and for the most part are entirely consumed in our upper atmosphere1 so that they do not actually reach the earth4 ,the swarms travel along paths that resemble cometary orbits2 they are very elongated ellipses1 inclined at all angles to the plane of the ecliptic4 ,indeed1 several of the orbits are actually those of known comets1 and it is generally held that these meteorites or shooting stars are the dbris that a comet sheds on its journey4 ,we can never see the same shooting star twice2 its visibility implies its dissolution1 for it is only as it is entrapped and burnt up in our atmosphere that we see it1 or can see it4 ,its companions in a great meteoric swarm1 are1 however1 as the sand on the sea-shore1 and we recognize them as members of the same swarm by their agreement in direction and date4 ,the swarms move in a closed orbit1 and it is where this orbit intersects that of the earth that we get a great star shower1 if both earth and swarm are present together at the intersection4 ,if the swarm is drawn out1 so that many meteorites are scattered throughout the whole circuit of its orbit1 then we get a shower every year4 ,if the meteor swarm is more condensed1 so as to form a cluster1 then the shower only comes when the gem of the ring1 as it is termed1 is at the intersection of the orbits1 and the earth is there too4 ,such a conjunction may present the most impressive spectacle that the heavens can afford4 ,the ,leonid meteor shower is1 perhaps1 the most famous4 ,it has been seen at intervals of about thirty-three years1 since early in the tenth century4 ,when ,ibrahim ben ,ahmed lay dying1 in the year #ijb ,a4,d41 it was recorded that an infinite number of stars were seen during the night1 scattering themselves like rain to the right and left1 and that year was known as the year of stars4 ,when the earth encountered the same system in #abjb ,a4,d4 the ,mohammedan record runs that on the night of ,saturday1 on the last day of ,muharram1 stars shot hither and thither in the heavens1 eastward and westward1 and flew against one another1 like a scattering swarm of locusts1 to the right and left4 ,there are not records of all the returns of this meteoric swarm between the thirteenth century and the eighteenth1 but when the earth encountered it in #agii1 ,humboldt reported that from the beginning of the phenomenon there was not a space in the firmament equal in extent to three diameters of the moon that was not filled every instant with bolides and falling stars2 and ,mr4 ,andrew ,ellicott1 an agent of the ,united ,states1 cruising off the coast of ,florida1 watched this same meteoric display1 and made the drawing reproduced on the opposite page4 ,in #ahcc a planter in ,south ,carolina wrote of a return of this same system1 ,never did rain fall much thicker than the meteors fell towards the earth2 east1 west1 north1 south1 it was the same4 ,in #ahff the shower was again heavy and brilliant1 but at the end of the nineteenth century1 when the swarm should have returned1 the display was meagre and ineffective4 ,illustration3 ,,meteoric ,,shower ,,of #agii1 ,,november #ab4 ,seen off ,cape ,florida1 by ,mr4 ,andrew ,ellicott4 ,the ,leonid system of meteorites did not always move in a closed orbit round our sun4 ,tracing back their records and history1 we find that in ,a4,d4 #abf the swarm passed close to ,uranus1 and probably at that time the planet captured them for the sun4 ,but we cannot doubt that some such similar sight as they have afforded us suggested the imagery employed by the ,apostle ,st4 ,john when he wrote1 ,the stars of heaven fell unto the earth1 even as a fig-tree casteth her untimely figs1 when she is shaken of a mighty wind4 ,and the heavens departed as a scroll when it is rolled together4 ,and the prophet ,isaiah used a very similar figure-- ,all the host of heaven shall be dissolved1 and the heavens shall be rolled together as a scroll3 and all their host shall fall down1 as the leaf falleth off from the vine1 and as a falling fig from the fig-tree4 ,whilst the simile of a great aerolite is that employed by ,st4 ,john in his description of the star ,wormwood-- ,the third angel sounded1 and there fell a great star from heaven1 burning as it were a lamp1 and it fell upon the third part of the rivers1 and upon the fountains of waters4 ,st4 ,jude's simile of the wandering stars1 to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever1 may have been drawn from meteors rather than from comets4 ,but1 as has been seen1 the two classes of objects are closely connected4 ,the word meteor is sometimes used for any unusual light seen in the sky4 ,the ,zodiacal ,light1 the pale conical beam seen after sunset in the west in the spring1 and before sunrise in the east in the autumn1 and known to the ,arabs as the ,false ,dawn1 does not appear to be mentioned in ,scripture4 ,some commentators wrongly consider that the expression1 the eyelids of the morning1 occurring twice in the ,book of ,job1 is intended to describe it1 but the metaphor does not in the least apply4 ,the ,aurora ,borealis1 on the other hand1 seldom though it is seen on an impressive scale in ,palestine1 seems clearly indicated in one passage4 ,out of the north cometh golden splendour would well fit the gleaming of the ,northern ,lights1 seen1 as they often are1 as sheaves of golden rays4 ,,chapter ,,xi ,,eclipses ,,of ,,the ,,sun ,,and ,,moon ,we do not know what great comets1 or aerolites1 or star-showers were seen in ,palestine during the centuries in which the books of the ,bible were composed4 ,but we do know that eclipses1 both of the sun and moon1 must have been seen1 for these are not the results of chance conjunctions4 ,we know more1 that not only partial eclipses of the sun1 but total eclipses1 fell within the period so covered4 ,there is no phenomenon of nature which is so truly impressive as a total eclipse of the sun4 ,the beautiful pageants of the evening and the morning are too often witnessed to produce the same effect upon us1 whilst the storm and the earthquake and the volcano in eruption1 by the confusion and fear for personal safety they produce1 render men unfit to watch their developments4 ,but the eclipse awes and subdues by what might almost be called moral means alone3 no noise1 no danger accompanies it2 the body is not tortured1 nor the mind confused by the rush of the blast1 the crash of the thunder-peal1 the rocking of the earthquake1 or the fires of the volcano4 ,the only sense appealed to is that of sight2 the movements of the orbs of heaven go on without noise or confusion1 and with a majestic smoothness in which there is neither hurry nor delay4 ,this impression is felt by every one1 no matter how perfectly acquainted1 not only with the cause of the phenomenon1 but also with the appearances to be expected1 and scientific men have found themselves awestruck and even overwhelmed4 ,but if such are the feelings called forth by an eclipse now-a-days1 in those who are expecting it1 who are prepared for it1 knowing perfectly what will happen and what brings it about1 how can we gauge aright the unspeakable terror such an event must have caused in ages long ago1 when it came utterly unforeseen1 and it was impossible to understand what was really taking place8 ,and so1 in olden time1 an eclipse of the sun came as an omen of terrible disaster1 nay as being itself one of the worst of disasters4 ,it came so to all nations but one4 ,but to that nation the word of the prophet had come-- ,learn not the way of the heathen1 and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven2 for the heathen are dismayed at them4 ,god did not reveal the physical explanation of the eclipse to the ,hebrews3 that1 in process of time1 they could learn by the exercise of their own mental powers4 ,but ,he set them free from the slavish fear of the heathen2 they could look at all these terror-striking signs without fear2 they could look with calmness1 with confidence1 because they looked in faith4 ,it is not easy to exaggerate the advantage which this must have given the ,hebrews over the neighbouring nations1 from a scientific point of view4 ,the word of ,god gave them intellectual freedom1 and so far as they were faithful to it1 there was no hindrance to their fully working out the scientific problems which came before them4 ,they neither worshipped the heavenly bodies nor were dismayed at their signs4 ,we have no record as to how far the ,hebrews made use of this freedom1 for1 as already pointed out1 the ,holy ,scriptures were not written to chronicle their scientific achievements4 ,but there can be no doubt that1 given the leisure of peace1 it is a priori more likely that they should have taught astronomy to their neighbours1 than have learnt it even from the most advanced4 ,there must have been numberless eclipses of the moon seen in the ages during which the ,canon of ,holy ,scripture was written4 ,of eclipses of the sun1 total or very nearly total over the regions of ,palestine or ,mesopotamia1 in the times of the ,old ,testament1 we know of four that were actually seen1 whose record is preserved in contemporaneous history1 and a fifth that was nearly total in ,juda about midday4 ,the first of the four is recorded on a tablet from ,babylon1 lately deciphered1 in which it states that on the #bfth day of ,sivan1 day was turned into night1 and fire appeared in the midst of heaven4 ,this has been identified with the eclipse of ,july #ca1 #ajfc ,b4,c41 and we do not find any reference to it in ,scripture4 ,the second is that of ,aug4 #ae1 #hca ,b4,c4 ,no specific record of this eclipse has been found as yet1 but it took place during the lifetime of the prophets ,joel and ,amos1 and may have been seen by them1 and their recollection of it may have influenced the wording of their prophecies4 ,the third eclipse is recorded on a tablet from ,nineveh1 stating the coincidence of an eclipse in ,sivan with a revolt in the city of ,assur4 ,this has been identified with the eclipse of ,june #ae1 #gfc ,b4,c4 ,the fourth is that known as the eclipse of ,larissa on ,may #ah1 #fjc ,b4,c41 which was coincident with the final overthrow of the ,assyrian ,empire1 and the fifth is that of ,thales on ,may #bh1 #ehe ,b4,c4 ,the earth goes round the sun once in a year1 the moon goes round the earth once in a month1 and sometimes the three bodies are in one straight line4 ,in this case the intermediate body--earth or moon--deprives the other1 wholly or partially of the light from the sun1 thus causing an eclipse4 ,if the orbits of the earth and moon were in the same plane1 an eclipse would happen every time the moon was new or full2 that is to say1 at every conjunction and every opposition1 or about twenty-five times a year4 ,but the plane of the moon's orbit is inclined to the plane of the earth's orbit at an angle of about #e1 and so an eclipse only occurs when the moon is in conjunction or opposition and is at the same time at or very near one of the nodes--that is1 one of the two points where the plane of the earth's orbit intersects the moon's orbit4 ,if the moon is in opposition1 or full1 then1 under these conditions1 an eclipse of the moon takes place1 and this is visible at all places where the moon is above the horizon at the time4 ,if1 however1 the moon is in conjunction1 or new1 it is the sun that is eclipsed1 and as the shadow cast by the moon is but small1 only a portion of the earth's surface will experience the solar eclipse4 ,the nodes of the moon's orbit are not stationary1 but have a daily retrograde motion of #c #ajfd4 ,it takes the moon therefore #bg;d #e;h #em #cfs 7#bgbabbb;d7 to perform a journey in its orbit from one node back to that node again2 this is called a ,draconic period4 ,but it takes the moon #bi;d #ab;h #ddm #bhgs 7#biecjei;d7 to pass from new to new1 or from full to full1 i4 e4 to complete a lunation4 ,now #bdb ,draconic periods very nearly equal #bbc lunations1 being about #ah years #aj-a_/c days1 and both are very nearly equal to #ai returns of the sun to the moon's node2 so that if the moon is new or full when at a node1 in #ah years and #aj or #aa days it will be at that node again1 and again new or full1 and the sun will be also present in very nearly its former position4 ,if1 therefore1 an eclipse occurred on the former occasion1 it will probably occur on the latter4 ,this recurrence of eclipses after intervals of #ahjc years is called the ,saros1 and was known to the ,chaldeans4 ,we do not know whether it was known to the ,hebrews prior to their captivity in ,babylon1 but possibly the statement of the wise king1 already quoted from the ,apocryphal ,wisdom of ,solomon1 may refer to some such knowledge4 ,our calendar to-day is a purely solar one2 our months are twelve in number1 but of purely arbitrary length1 divorced from all connection with the moon2 and to us1 the ,saros cycle does not readily leap to the eye1 for eclipses of sun or moon seem to fall haphazard on any day of the month or year4 ,but with the ,hebrews1 ,assyrians1 and ,babylonians it was not so4 ,their calendar was a luni-solar one--their year was on the average a solar year1 their months were true lunations2 the first day of their new month began on the evening when the first thin crescent of the moon appeared after its conjunction with the sun4 ,this observation is what is meant in the ,bible by the new moon4 ,astronomers now by new moon mean the time when it is actually in conjunction with the sun1 and is therefore not visible4 ,nations whose calendar was of this description were certain to discover the ,saros much sooner than those whose months were not true lunations1 like the ,egyptians1 ,greeks1 and ,romans4 ,there are no direct references to eclipses in ,scripture4 ,they might have been used in the historical portions for the purpose of dating events1 as was the great earthquake in the days of ,king ,uzziah1 but they were not so used4 ,but we find not a few allusions to their characteristic appearances and phenomena in the books of the prophets4 ,god in the beginning set the two great lights in the firmament for signs as well as for seasons2 and the prophets throughout use the relations of the sun and moon as types of spiritual relations4 ,the ,messiah was the ,sun of ,righteousness2 the chosen people1 the ,church1 was as the moon1 which derives her light from ,him4 ,the signs of heaven were symbols of great spiritual events1 not omens of mundane disasters4 ,the prophets ,joel and ,amos are clear and vivid in their descriptions2 probably because the eclipse of #hca ,b4,c4 was within their recollection4 ,joel says first1 ,the sun and the moon shall be dark2 and again1 more plainly1-- ,i will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth1 blood1 and fire1 and pillars of smoke4 ,the sun shall be turned into darkness1 and the moon into blood1 before the great and the terrible day of the ,lord come4 ,this prophecy was quoted by ,st4 ,peter on the day of ,pentecost4 ,and in the ,apocalypse1 ,st4 ,john says that when the sixth seal was opened1 the sun became black as sackcloth of hair1 and the moon became as blood4 ,in these references1 the two kinds of eclipses are referred to--the sun becomes black when the moon is new and hides it2 the moon becomes as blood when it is full and the earth's shadow falls upon it2 its deep copper colour1 like that of dried blood1 being due to the fact that the light1 falling upon it1 has passed through a great depth of the earth's atmosphere4 ,these two eclipses cannot therefore be coincident1 but they may occur only a fortnight apart--a total eclipse of the sun may be accompanied by a partial eclipse of the moon1 a fortnight earlier or a fortnight later2 a total eclipse of the moon may be accompanied by partial eclipses of the sun1 both at the preceding and following new moons4 ,writing at about the same period1 the prophet ,amos says-- ,saith the ,lord ,god1 ,i will cause the sun to go down at noon1 and ,i will darken the earth in the clear day1 and seems to refer to the fact that the eclipse of #hca ,b4,c4 occurred about midday in ,juda4 ,later ,micah writes-- ,the sun shall go down over the prophets1 and the day shall be dark over them4 ,isaiah says that the sun shall be darkened in his going forth1 and ,jeremiah that her sun is gone down while it was yet day4 ,whilst ,ezekiel says-- ,i will cover the sun with a cloud1 and the moon shall not give her light4 ,all the bright lights of heaven will ,i make dark over thee1 and set darkness upon thy land1 saith the ,lord ,god4 ,but a total eclipse is not all darkness and terror2 it has a beauty and a glory all its own4 ,scarcely has the dark moon hidden the last thread of sunlight from view1 than spurs of rosy light are seen around the black disc that now fills the place so lately occupied by the glorious king of day4 ,and these rosy spurs of light shine on a background of pearly glory1 as impressive in its beauty as the swift march of the awful shadow1 and the seeming descent of the darkened heavens1 were in terror4 ,there it shines1 pure1 lovely1 serene1 radiant with a light like molten silver1 wreathing the darkened sun with a halo like that round a saintly head in some noble altar-piece2 so that while in some cases the dreadful shadow has awed a laughing and frivolous crowd into silence1 in others the radiance of that halo has brought spectators to their knees with an involuntary exclamation1 ,the ,glory6 as if ,god ,himself had made known ,his presence in the moment of the sun's eclipse4 ,and this1 indeed1 seems to have been the thought of both the ,babylonians and ,egyptians of old4 ,both nations had a specially sacred symbol to set forth the ,divine ,presence--the ,egyptians1 a disc with long outstretched wings2 the ,babylonians1 a ring with wings4 ,the latter symbol on ,assyrian monuments is always shown as floating over the head of the king1 and is designed to indicate the presence and protection of the ,deity4 ,illustration3 ,,the ,,assyrian ,,ring ,,with ,,wings4 ,we may take it for granted that the ,egyptians and ,chaldeans of old1 as modern astronomers to-day1 had at one time or another presented to them every type of coronal form4 ,but there would1 no doubt1 be a difficulty in grasping or remembering the irregular details of the corona as seen in most eclipses4 ,sometimes1 however1 the corona shows itself in a striking and simple form--when sun-spots are few in number1 it spreads itself out in two great equatorial streamers4 ,at the eclipse of ,algiers in #aijj1 already referred to1 one observer who watched the eclipse from the sea1 said-- ,the sky was blue all round the sun1 and the effect of the silvery corona projected on it was beyond any one to describe4 ,i can only say it seemed to me what angels' wings will be like4#abi3a ,illustration3 ,,corona ,,of ,,minimum ,,type4 ,drawing made by ,w4 ,h4 ,wesley1 from photographs of the #aijj ,eclipse4 ,it seems exceedingly probable that the symbol of the ring with wings owed its origin not to any supposed analogy between the ring and the wings and the divine attributes of eternity and power1 but to the revelations of a total eclipse with a corona of minimum type4 ,moreover the ,assyrians1 when they insert a figure of their deity within the ring1 give him a kilt-like dress1 and this kilted or feathered characteristic is often retained where the figure is omitted4 ,this gives the symbol a yet closer likeness to the corona1 whose polar rays are remarkably like the tail feathers of a bird4 ,perhaps the prophet ,malachi makes a reference to this characteristic of the eclipsed sun1 with its corona like angels' wings1 when he predicts-- ,but unto you that fear ,my name shall the ,sun of ,righteousness arise with healing in ,his wings4 ,but1 if this be so1 it must be borne in mind that the prophet uses the corona as a simile only4 ,no more than the sun itself1 is it the ,deity1 or the manifestation of the ,deity4 ,in the ,new ,testament we may find perhaps a reference to what causes an eclipse--to the shadow cast by a heavenly body in its revolution--its turning4 ,every good gift and every perfect boon is from above1 coming down from the ,father of ,lights1 with ,whom can be no variation1 neither shadow that is cast by turning4 ,,footnotes3 #abi3a ,the ,total ,solar ,eclipse of ,may1 #aijj1 p4 #bb4 ,,chapter ,,xii ,,saturn ,,and ,,astrology ,the planets1 as such1 are nowhere mentioned in the ,bible4 ,in the one instance in which the word appears in our versions1 it is given as a translation of ,mazzaloth1 better rendered in the margin as the twelve signs or constellations4 ,the evidence is not fully conclusive that allusion is made to any planet1 even in its capacity of a god worshipped by the surrounding nations4 ,of planets1 besides the earth1 modern astronomy knows ,mercury1 ,venus1 ,mars1 many planetoids1 ,jupiter1 ,saturn1 ,uranus1 and ,neptune4 ,and of satellites revolving round planets there are at present known1 the moon which owns our earth as primary1 two satellites to ,mars1 seven satellites to ,jupiter1 ten to ,saturn1 four to ,uranus1 and one to ,neptune4 ,the ancients counted the planets as seven1 numbering the moon and the sun amongst them4 ,the rest were ,mercury1 ,venus1 ,mars1 ,jupiter and ,saturn4 ,they recognized no satellites to any planet4 ,we have no evidence that the ancient ,semitic nations considered that the moon was more intimately connected with the earth than any of the other six4 ,but though the planets were sometimes regarded as seven in number1 the ancients perfectly recognized that the sun and moon stood in a different category altogether from the other five4 ,and though the heathen recognized them as deities1 confusion resulted as to the identity of the deity of which each was a manifestation4 ,samas was the sun-god and ,baal was the sun-god1 but ,samas and ,baal1 or ,bel1 were not identical1 and both were something more than merely the sun personified4 ,again1 ,merodach1 or ,marduk1 is sometimes expressly identified with ,bel as sun-god1 sometimes with the divinity of the planet ,jupiter4 ,similarly ,ashtoreth1 or ,ivstar1 is sometimes identified with the goddess of the moon1 sometimes with the planet ,venus4 ,it would not be safe1 therefore1 to assume that reference is intended to any particular heavenly body1 because a deity is mentioned that has been on occasions identified with that heavenly body4 ,still less safe would it be to assume astronomical allusions in the description of the qualities or characteristics of that deity4 ,though ,ashtoreth1 or ,ivstar1 may have been often identified with the planet ,venus1 it is ridiculous to argue1 as some have done1 from the expression ,ashteroth-,karnaim1 ,ashteroth of the horns1 that the ancients had sight or instruments sufficiently powerful to enable them to observe that ,venus1 like the moon1 had her phases1 her horns4 ,though ,nebo has been identified with the planet ,mercury1 we must not see any astronomical allusion to its being the nearest planet to the sun in ,isaiah's coupling the two together1 where he says1 ,bel boweth down1 ,nebo stoopeth4 ,isaiah speaks of the ,king of ,babylon-- ,how art thou fallen from ,heaven1 ,o ,lucifer1 son of the morning6 ,the word here translated ,lucifer1 light-bearer1 is the word helel from the root halal1 and means spreading brightness4 ,in the ,assyrio-,babylonian1 the planet ,venus is sometimes termed ,mustelel1 from the root elil1 and she is the most lustrous of all the morning stars1 of the stars that herald the dawn4 ,but except that her greater brilliancy marks her as especially appropriate to the expression1 ,sirius or any other in its capacity of morning star would be suitable as an explanation of the term4 ,st4 ,peter uses the equivalent ,greek expression ,phosphorus in his second epistle3 ,a light that shineth in a dark place1 until the day dawn and the day-star 7light-bringer7 arise in your hearts4 ,isaiah again says-- ,ye are they that forsake the ,lord1 that forget ,my holy mountain1 that prepare a table for that ,troop1 and that furnish the drink offering unto that ,number4 ,gad and ,meni1 here literally translated as ,troop and ,number1 are in the ,revised ,version rendered as ,fortune and ,destiny4 ,a reference to this god ,meni has been suggested in the mysterious inscription which the ,king of ,babylon saw written by a hand upon the wall1 which ,daniel interpreted as ,god hath numbered thy kingdom1 and brought it to an end4 ,by some commentators ,meni is understood to be the planet ,venus1 and ,gad to be ,jupiter1 for these are associated in ,arabian astrology with ,fortune or ,fate in the sense of good luck4 ,or1 from the similarity of ,meni with the ,greek mene1 moon1 that ,number might be identified with the moon1 and that ,troop1 by analogy1 with the sun4 ,it is more probable1 if any astrological deities are intended1 that the two little star clusters--the ,pleiades and the ,hyades--situated on the back and head of the ,bull1 may have been accounted the manifestations of the divinities which are by their names so intimately associated with the idea of multitude4 ,the number seven has been held a sacred number1 and has been traditionally associated with both the little star groups4 ,in one instance alone does there seem to be any strong evidence that reference is intended to one of the five planets known to the ancients1 when worshipped as a god2 and even that is not conclusive4 ,the prophet ,amos1 charging the ,israelites with idolatry even in the wilderness1 asks-- ,have ye offered unto ,me sacrifices and offerings in the wilderness forty years1 ,o house of ,israel8 ,but ye have borne the tabernacle of your ,moloch and ,chiun your images1 the star of your god1 which ye made to yourselves4 ,but the ,septuagint ,version makes the accusation run thus3-- ,ye took up the tabernacle of ,moloch and the star of your god ,remphan1 figures which ye made to worship them4 ,this was the version which ,st4 ,stephen quoted in his defence before the ,high ,priest4 ,it is quite clear that it was star worship to which he was referring1 for he prefaces his quotation by saying1 ,god turned and gave them up to serve the host of heaven1 as it is written in the book of the prophets4 ,the difference between the names ,chiun and ,remphan is explained by a probable misreading on the part of the ,septuagint translators into the ,greek1 who seemed to have transcribed the initial of the word as resh1 where it should have been caph--,r instead of ,k1--thus the real word should be transliterated ,kaivan1 which was the name of the planet ,saturn both amongst the ancient ,arabs and ,syrians1 and also amongst the ,assyrians1 whilst ,kevan is the name of that planet in the sacred books of the ,parsees4 ,on the other hand1 there seems to be some difficulty in supposing that a deity is intended of which there is no other mention in ,scripture1 seeing that the reference1 both by ,amos and ,st4 ,stephen1 would imply that the particular object of idolatry denounced was one exceedingly familiar to them4 ,gesenius1 therefore1 after having previously accepted the view that we have here a reference to the worship of ,saturn1 finally adopted the rendering of the ,latin ,vulgate1 that the word ,chiun should be translated statue or image4 ,the passage would then become-- ,ye have borne the booth of your ,moloch and the image of your idols1 the star of your god which ye made for yourselves4 ,if we accept the view that the worship of the planet ,saturn is indeed referred to1 it does not necessarily follow that the prophet ,amos was stating that the ,israelites in the wilderness actually observed and worshipped him as such4 ,the prophet may mean no more than that the ,israelites1 whilst outwardly conforming to the worship of ,jehovah1 were in their secret desires hankering after ,sabism--the worship of the heavenly host4 ,and it may well be that he chooses ,moloch and ,saturn as representing the cruellest and most debased forms of heathenism4 ,the planet ,saturn gives its name to the seventh day of our week1 ,saturn's day1 the sabbath of the week of the ,jews1 and the coincidence of the two has called forth not a few ingenious theories4 ,why do the days of our week bear their present names1 and what is the explanation of their order8 ,the late well-known astronomer1 ,r4 ,a4 ,proctor1 gives the explanation as follows3-- ,the twenty-four hours of each day were devoted to those planets in the order of their supposed distance from the earth1--,saturn1 ,jupiter1 ,mars1 the ,sun1 ,venus1 ,mercury1 and the ,moon4 ,the outermost planet1 ,saturn1 which also travels in the longest period1 was regarded in this arrangement as of chief dignity1 as encompassing in his movement all the rest1 ,jupiter was of higher dignity than ,mars1 and so forth4 ,moreover to the outermost planet1 partly because of ,saturn's gloomy aspect1 partly because among half-savage races the powers of evil are always more respected than the powers that work for good1 a maleficent influence was attributed4 ,now1 if we assign to the successive hours of a day the planets as above-named1 beginning with ,saturn on the day assigned to that powerful deity1 it will be found that the last hour of that day will be assigned to ,mars--'the lesser infortune1' as ,saturn was 'the greater infortune1' of the old system of astrology--and the first hour of the next day to the next planet1 the ,sun2 the day following ,saturday would thus be ,sunday4 ,the last hour of ,sunday would fall to ,mercury1 and the first of the next to the ,moon2 so ,monday1 the ,moon's day1 follows ,sunday4 ,the next day would be the day of ,mars1 who1 in the ,scandinavian theology1 is represented by ,tuisco2 so ,tuisco's day1 or ,tuesday 7,mardi71 follows ,monday4 ,then1 by following the same system1 we come to ,mercury's day 7,mercredi71 ,woden's day1 or ,wednesday2 next to ,jupiter's day1 ,jove's day 7,jeudi71 ,thor's day1 or ,thursday2 to ,venus's day1 ,vendredi 7,veneris dies71 ,freya's day1 or ,friday1 and so to ,saturday again4 ,that the day devoted to the most evil and most powerful of all the deities of the ,sabdans 7sic7 should be set apart--first as one on which it was unlucky to work1 and afterwards as one on which it was held to be sinful to work--was but the natural outcome of the superstitious belief that the planets were gods ruling the fates of men and nations4#acf3a ,this theory appears at first sight so simple1 so plausible1 that many are tempted to say1 ,it must be true1 and it has accordingly gained a wide acceptance4 ,yet a moment's thought shows that it makes many assumptions1 some of which rest without any proof1 and others are known to be false4 ,when were the planets discovered8 ,not certainly at the dawn of astronomy4 ,the fixed stars must have become familiar1 and have been recognized in their various groupings before it could have been known that there were others that were not fixed1--were planets1 i4 e4 wanderers4 ,thus1 amongst the ,greeks1 no planet is alluded to by ,hesiod1 and ,homer mentions no planet other than ,venus1 and apparently regarded her as two distinct objects1 according as she was seen as a morning and as an evening star4 ,pythagoras is reputed to have been the first of the ,greek philosophers to realize the identity of ,phosphorus and ,hesperus1 that is ,venus at her two elongations1 so that the ,greeks did not know this until the sixth century before our era4 ,we are yet without certain knowledge as to when the ,babylonians began to notice the different planets1 but the order of discovery can hardly have been different from what it seems to have been amongst the ,greeks--that is to say1 first ,venus as two separate objects1 then ,jupiter and ,mars1 and1 probably much later1 ,saturn and ,mercury4 ,this last1 again1 would originally be considered a pair of planets1 just as ,venus had been4 ,later these planets as morning stars would be identified with their appearances as evening stars4 ,after this obscurity had been cleared up1 there was a still further advance to be made before the astrologers could have adopted their strange grouping of the sun and moon as planets equally with the other five4 ,this certainly is no primitive conception2 for the sun and moon have such appreciable dimensions and are of such great brightness that they seem to be marked off 7as in the first chapter of ,genesis7 as of an entirely different order from all the other heavenly bodies4 ,the point in common with the other five planets1 namely their apparent periodical movements1 could only have been brought out by very careful and prolonged observation4 ,the recognition1 therefore1 of the planets as being seven1 two of the seven being the sun and moon1 must have been quite late in the history of the world4 ,the connection of the seven planets with the seven days of the week was something much later still4 ,it implies1 as we have seen1 the adoption of a particular order for the planets1 and this order further implies that a knowledge had been obtained of their relative distances1 and involves a particular theory of the solar system1 that which we now know as the ,ptolemaic4 ,it is not the order of the ,babylonians1 for they arranged them1 ,moon1 ,sun1 ,mercury1 ,venus1 ,saturn1 ,jupiter1 ,mars4 ,there are further considerations which show that the ,babylonians could not have given these planetary names to the days of the week4 ,the order of the names implies that a twenty-four hour day was used1 but the ,babylonian hours were twice the length of those which we use2 hence there were only twelve of them4 ,further1 the ,babylonian week was not a true week running on continuously2 it was tied to the month1 and hence did not lend itself to such a notation4 ,but the order adopted for the planets is that current amongst the ,greek astronomers of ,alexandria1 who did use a twenty-four hour day4 ,hence it was certainly later than #cjj ,b4,c4 ,but the ,greeks and ,egyptians alike used a week of ten days1 not of seven4 ,how then did the planetary names come to be assigned to the seven-day week8 ,it was a consequence of the power which the ,jews possessed of impressing their religious ideas1 and particularly their observance of the sabbath day1 upon their conquerors4 ,they did so with the ,romans4 ,we find such writers as ,cicero1 ,horace1 ,juvenal and others remarking upon the sabbath1 and1 indeed1 in the early days of the ,empire there was a considerable observance of it4 ,much more1 then1 must the ,alexandrian ,greeks have been aware of the ,jewish sabbath1--which involved the ,jewish week1--at a time when the ,jews of that city were both numerous and powerful1 having equal rights with the ,greek inhabitants1 and when the ,ptolemies were sanctioning the erection of a ,jewish temple in their dominions1 and the translation of the ,jewish ,scriptures into ,greek4 ,it was after the ,alexandrian ,greeks had thus learned of the ,jewish week that they assigned the planets to the seven days of that week1 since it suited their astrological purposes better than the ,egyptian week of ten days4 ,that allotment could not possibly have brought either week or sabbath into existence4 ,both had been recognized many centuries earlier4 ,it was foisted upon that which had already a venerable antiquity4 ,as ,professor ,schiaparelli well remarks1 we are indebted for these names to mathematical astrology1 the false science which came to be formed after the time of ,alexander the ,great from the strange intermarriage between ,chaldean and ,egyptian superstitions and the mathematical astronomy of the ,greeks4#aci3a ,there is a widespread notion that early astronomy1 whether amongst the ,hebrews or elsewhere1 took the form of astrology2 that the fortune-telling came first1 and the legitimate science grew out of it4 ,indeed1 a claim is not infrequently made that no small honour is due to the early astrologers1 since from their efforts1 the most majestic of all the sciences is said to have arisen4 ,these ideas are the exact contrary of the truth4 ,mathematical1 or perhaps as we might better call it1 planetary astrology1 as we have it to-day1 concerns itself with the apparent movements of the planets in the sense that it uses them as its material2 just as a child playing in a library might use the books as building blocks1 piling1 it may be1 a book of sermons on a history1 and a novel on a mathematical treatise4 ,astrology does not contribute1 has not contributed a single observation1 a single demonstration to astronomy4 ,it owes to astronomy all that it knows of mathematical processes and planetary positions4 ,in astronomical language1 the calculation of a horoscope is simply the calculation of the azimuths of the different planets1 and of certain imaginary points on the ecliptic for a given time4 ,this is an astronomical process1 carried out according to certain simple formul4 ,the calculation of a horoscope is therefore a straightforward business1 but1 as astrologers all admit1 its interpretation is where the skill is required1 and no real rules can be given for that4 ,here is the explanation why the sun and moon are classed together with such relatively insignificant bodies as the other five planets1 and are not even ranked as their chief4 ,the ancient astrologer1 like the modern1 cared nothing for the actual luminary in the heavens2 all he cared for was its written symbol on his tablets1 and there ,sun and ,saturn could be looked upon as equal1 or ,saturn as the greater4 ,it is a rare thing for a modern astrologer to introduce the place of an actual star into a horoscope2 the calculations all refer to the positions of the ,signs of the ,zodiac1 which are purely imaginary divisions of the heavens2 not to the ,constellations of the ,zodiac1 which are the actual star-groups4 ,until astronomers had determined the apparent orbits of the planets1 and drawn up tables by which their apparent places could be predicted for some time in advance1 it was impossible for astrologers to cast horoscopes of the present kind4 ,all they could do was to divide up time amongst the deities supposed to preside over the various planets4 ,to have simply given a planet to each day would have allowed the astrologer a very small scope in which to work for his prophecies2 the ingenious idea of giving a planet to each hour as well1 gave a wider range of possible combinations4 ,there seems to have been deliberate spitefulness in the assignment of the most evil of the planetary divinities to the sacred day of the ,jews--their sabbath4 ,it should be noticed at the same time that1 whilst the ,jewish sabbath coincides with the astrological ,saturn's ,day1 that particular day is the seventh day of the ,jewish week1 but the first of the astrological4 ,for the very nature of the reckoning by which the astrologers allotted the planets to the days of the week1 implies1 as shown in the extract quoted from ,proctor1 that they began with ,saturn and worked downwards from the highest planet--as they called it--to the lowest4 ,this detail of itself should have sufficed to have demonstrated to ,proctor1 or any other astronomer1 that the astrological week had been foisted upon the already existing week of the ,jews4 ,before astrology took its present mathematical form1 astrologers used as their material for prediction the stars or constellations which happened to be rising or setting at the time selected1 or were upon the same meridian1 or had the same longitude1 as such constellations4 ,one of the earliest of these astrological writers was ,zeuchros of ,babylon1 who lived about the time of the ,christian era1 some of whose writings have been preserved to us4 ,from these it is clear that the astrologers found twelve signs of the zodiac did not give them enough play4 ,they therefore introduced the decans1 that is to say the idea of thirty-six divinities--three to each month--borrowed from the ,egyptian division of the year into thirty-six weeks 7of ten days71 each under the rule of a separate god4 ,of course this ,egyptian year bore no fixed relation to the actual lunar months or solar year1 nor therefore to the ,jewish year1 which was related to both4 ,but even with this increase of material1 the astrologers found the astronomical data insufficient for their fortune-telling purposes4 ,additional figures quite unrepresented in the heavens1 were devised1 and were drawn upon1 as needed1 to supplement the genuine constellations1 and as it was impossible to recognize these additions in the sky1 the predictions were made1 not from observation of the heavens1 but from observations on globes1 often very inaccurate4 ,earlier still we have astrological tablets from ,assyria and ,babylon1 many of which show that they had nothing to do with any actual observation1 and were simply invented to give completeness to the tables of omens4 ,thus an ,assyrian tablet has been found upon which are given the significations of eclipses falling upon each day of the month ,tammuz1 right up to the middle of the month4 ,it is amusing to read the nave comment of a distinguished ,assyriologist1 that tablets such as these prove how careful1 and how long continued had been the observations upon which they were based4 ,it was not recognized that no eclipses either of sun or moon could possibly occur on most of the dates given1 and that they could never occur in the north1 which is one of the quarters indicated4 ,they were no more founded on actual observation than the portent mentioned on another tablet1 of a woman giving birth to a lion1 which1 after all1 is not more impossible than that an eclipse should occur in the north on the second day of ,tammuz4 ,in all ages it has been the same2 the astrologer has had nothing to do with science as such1 even in its most primitive form2 he has cared nothing for the actual appearance of the heavens upon which he pretended to base his predictions2 an imaginary planet1 an imaginary eclipse1 an imaginary constellation were just as good for his fortune-telling as real ones4 ,such fortune-telling was forbidden to the ,hebrews2 necessarily forbidden1 for astrology had no excuse unless the stars and planets were gods1 or the vehicles and engines of gods4 ,further1 all attempts to extort from spirits or from inanimate things a glimpse into the future was likewise forbidden them4 ,they were to look to ,god1 and to ,his revealed will alone for all such light4 ,when they shall say unto you1 ,seek unto them that have familiar spirits1 and unto wizards that peep1 and that mutter3 should not a people seek unto their ,god8 ,the ,hebrews were few in number1 their kingdoms very small compared with the great empires of ,egypt1 ,assyria1 or ,babylon1 but here1 in this question of divination or fortune-telling1 they stand on a plane far above any of the surrounding nations4 ,there is just contempt in the picture drawn by ,ezekiel of the king of ,babylon1 great though his military power might be-- ,the king of ,babylon stood at the parting of the way1 at the head of the two ways1 to use divination3 he shook the arrows to and fro1 he consulted the teraphim1 he looked in the liver4 ,and ,isaiah calls upon the city of ,babylon-- ,stand now with thine enchantments1 and with the multitude of thy sorceries1 wherein thou hast laboured from thy youth2 if so thou shalt be able to profit1 if so be thou mayest prevail4 ,thou art wearied in the multitude of thy counsels3 let now the astrologers1 the stargazers1 the monthly prognosticators stand up1 and save thee from these things that shall come upon thee4 ,isaiah knew the ,lord to be ,he that frustrateth the tokens of the liars and maketh diviners mad4 ,and the word of the ,lord to ,israel through ,jeremiah was-- ,thus saith the ,lord4 ,learn not the way of the heathen1 and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven2 for the heathen are dismayed at them4 ,it is to our shame that even to-day1 in spite of all our enlightenment and scientific advances1 astrology still has a hold upon multitudes4 ,astrological almanacs and treatises are sold by the tens of thousands1 and astrological superstitions are still current4 ,the star of the god ,chiun is not indeed openly worshipped2 but ,saturn is still looked upon as the planet bringing such diseases as toothache1 agues1 and all that proceeds from cold1 consumption1 the spleen particularly1 and the bones1 rheumatic gouts1 jaundice1 dropsy1 and all complaints arising from fear1 apoplexies1 etc42 and charms made of ,saturn's metal1 lead1 are still worn upon ,saturn's finger1 in the belief that these will ward off the threatened evil2 a tradition of the time when by so doing the wearers would have proclaimed themselves votaries of the god1 and therefore under his protection4 ,astrology is inevitably linked with heathenism1 and both shut up spirit and mind against the knowledge of ,god ,himself1 which is religion2 and against the knowledge of ,his works1 which is science4 ,and though a man may be religious without being scientific1 or scientific without being religious1 religion and science alike both rest on one and the same basis--the belief in ,one ,god1 ,maker of heaven and earth4 ,that belief was the reason why ,israel of old1 so far as it was faithful to it1 was free from the superstitions of astrology4 ,it is no small honour for this nation to have been wise enough to see the inanity of this and all other forms of divination4 4 4 4 ,of what other ancient civilized nation could as much be said8#ade3a ,,footnotes3 #acf3a ,r4 ,a4 ,proctor1 ,the ,great ,pyramid1 pp4 #bgd-bgf4 #aci3a ,g4 ,v4 ,schiaparelli1 ,astronomy in the ,old ,testament1 p4 #acg4 #ade3a ,g4 ,v4 ,schiaparelli1 ,astronomy in the ,old ,testament1 p4 #eb4 ,illustration3 ,by permission of the ,autotype ,co4 #gd1 ,new ,oxford ,street1 ,london1 ,w4,c4 ,,st4 ,,paul ,,preaching ,,at ,,athens 7by ,raphael74 ,as certain also of your own poets have said1 ,for we are also ,his offspring4 ,,book ,,ii ,,the ,,constellations ,,chapter ,i ,,the ,,origin ,,of ,,the ,,constellations ,the age of ,classical astronomy began with the labours of ,eudoxus and others1 about four centuries before the ,christian ,era1 but there was an ,earlier astronomy whose chief feature was the arrangement of the stars into constellations4 ,the best known of all such arrangements is that sometimes called the ,greek ,sphere1 because those constellations have been preserved to us by ,greek astronomers and poets4 ,the earliest complete catalogue of the stars1 as thus arranged1 that has come down to us was compiled by ,claudius ,ptolemy1 the astronomer of ,alexandria1 and completed #acg ,a4,d4 ,in this catalogue1 each star is described by its place in the supposed figure of the constellation1 whilst its celestial latitude and longitude are added1 so that we can see with considerable exactness how the astronomers of that time imagined the star figures4 ,the earliest complete description of the constellations1 apart from the places of the individual stars1 is given in the poem of ,aratus of ,soli--,the ,phenomena1 published about #bgj ,b4,c4 ,were these constellations known to the ,hebrews of old8 ,we can answer this question without hesitation in the case of ,st4 ,paul4 ,for in his sermon to the ,athenians on ,mars' ,hill1 he quotes from the opening verses of this constellation poem of ,aratus3-- ,god that made the world and all things therein1 seeing that ,he is ,lord of heaven and earth1 dwelleth not in temples made with hands2 neither is worshipped with men's hands1 as though ,he needed anything1 seeing ,he giveth to all life1 and breath1 and all things2 and hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth1 and hath determined the times before appointed1 and the bounds of their habitation2 that they should seek the ,lord1 if haply they might feel after ,him1 and find ,him1 though ,he be not far from every one of us3 for in ,him we live1 and move1 and have our being2 as certain also of your own poets have said1 ,for we are also ,his offspring4 ,the poem of ,aratus begins thus3-- ,to ,god above we dedicate our song2 ,to leave ,him unadored1 we never dare2 ,for ,he is present in each busy throng1 ,in every solemn gathering ,he is there4 ,the sea is ,his2 and ,his each crowded port2 ,in every place our need of ,him we feel2 ,,for ,,we ,,his ,,offspring ,,are4 ,aratus1 like ,st4 ,paul himself1 was a native of ,cilicia1 and had been educated at ,athens4 ,his poem on the constellations came1 in the opinion of the ,greeks1 next in honour to the poems of ,homer1 so that ,st4 ,paul's quotation from it appealed to his hearers with special force4 ,the constellations of ,ptolemy's catalogue are forty-eight in number4 ,those of ,aratus correspond to them in almost every particular1 but one or two minor differences may be marked4 ,according to ,ptolemy1 the constellations are divided into three sets3--twenty-one northern1 twelve in the zodiac1 and fifteen southern4 ,the northern constellations are--to use the names by which they are now familiar to us--#a1 ,ursa ,minor1 the ,little ,bear2 #b1 ,ursa ,major1 the ,great ,bear2 #c1 ,draco1 the ,dragon2 #d1 ,cepheus1 the ,king2 #e1 ,botes1 the ,herdsman2 #f1 ,corona ,borealis1 the ,northern ,crown2 #g1 ,hercules1 the ,kneeler2 #h1 ,lyra1 the ,lyre or ,swooping ,eagle2 #i1 ,cygnus1 the ,bird2 #aj1 ,cassiopeia1 the ,throned ,queen1 or the ,lady in the ,chair2 #aa1 ,perseus2 #ab1 ,auriga1 the ,holder of the ,reins2 #ac1 ,ophiuchus1 the ,serpent-holder2 #ad1 ,serpens1 the ,serpent2 #ae1 ,sagitta1 the ,arrow2 #af1 ,aquila1 the ,soaring ,eagle2 #ag1 ,delphinus1 the ,dolphin2 #ah1 ,equuleus1 the ,horse's ,head2 #ai1 ,pegasus1 the ,winged ,horse2 #bj1 ,andromeda1 the ,chained ,woman2 #ba1 ,triangulum1 the ,triangle4 ,the zodiacal constellations are3 #a1 ,aries1 the ,ram2 #b1 ,taurus1 the ,bull2 #c1 ,gemini1 the ,twins2 #d1 ,cancer1 the ,crab2 #e1 ,leo1 the ,lion2 #f1 ,virgo1 the ,virgin2 #g1 ,libra1 the ,scales1--also called the ,claws1 that is of the ,scorpion2 #h1 ,scorpio1 the ,scorpion2 #i1 ,sagittarius1 the ,archer2 #aj1 ,capricornus1 the ,sea-goat1 i4 e4 ,goat-fish2 #aa1 ,aquarius1 the ,water-pourer2 #ab1 ,pisces1 the ,fishes4 ,the southern constellations are3 #a1 ,cetus1 the ,sea-,monster2 #b1 ,orion1 the ,giant2 #c1 ,eridanus1 the ,river2 #d1 ,lepus1 the ,hare2 #e1 ,canis ,major1 the ,great ,dog2 #f1 ,canis ,minor1 the ,little ,dog2 #g1 ,argo1 the ,ship and ,rock2 #h1 ,hydra1 the ,water-snake2 #i1 ,crater1 the ,cup2 #aj1 ,corvus1 the ,raven2 #aa1 ,centaurus1 the ,centaur2 #ab1 ,lupus1 the ,beast2 #ac1 ,ara1 the ,altar2 #ad1 ,corona ,australis1 the ,southern ,crown2 #ae1 ,piscis ,australis1 the ,southern ,fish4 ,aratus1 living four hundred years earlier than ,ptolemy1 differs only from him in that he reckons the cluster of the ,pleiades--counted by ,ptolemy in ,taurus--as a separate constellation1 but he has no constellation of ,equuleus4 ,the total number of constellations was thus still forty-eight4 ,aratus further describes the ,southern ,crown1 but gives it no name2 and in the constellation of the ,little ,dog he only mentions one star1 ,procyon1 the ,dog's ,forerunner4 ,he also mentions that the two ,bears were also known as two ,wagons or ,chariots4 ,were these constellations1 so familiar to us to-day1 known before the time of ,aratus1 and if so1 by whom were they devised1 and when and where8 ,they were certainly known before the time of ,aratus1 for his poem was confessedly a versification of an account of them written by ,eudoxus more than a hundred years previous4 ,at a yet earlier date1 ,panyasis1 uncle to the great historian ,herodotus1 incidentally discusses the name of one of the constellations1 which must therefore have been known to him4 ,earlier still1 ,hesiod1 in the second book of his ,works and ,days1 refers to several3-- ,orion and the ,dog1 each other nigh1 ,together mounted to the midnight sky1 ,when in the rosy morn ,arcturus shines1 ,then pluck the clusters from the parent vines4 99 99 99 99 99 ,next in the round do not to plough forget ,when the ,seven ,virgins and ,orion set4 ,much the same constellations are referred to by ,homer4 ,thus1 in the fifth book of the ,odyssey1-- ,and now1 rejoicing in the prosperous gales1 ,with beating heart ,ulysses spreads his sails3 ,placed at the helm he sate1 and marked the skies1 ,nor closed in sleep his ever-watchful eyes4 ,there view'd the ,pleiads and the ,northern ,team1 ,and great ,orion's more refulgent beam1 ,to which around the axle of the sky ,the ,bear1 revolving1 points his golden eye4 ,thus it is clear that several of the constellations were perfectly familiar to the ,greeks a thousand years before the ,christian era2 that is to say1 about the time of ,solomon4 ,we have other evidence that the constellations were known in early times4 ,we often find on ,greek coins1 a bull1 a ram1 or a lion represented2 these may well be references to some of the signs of the zodiac1 but offer no conclusive evidence4 ,but several of the constellation figures are very unusual in form2 thus the ,sea-goat has the head and fore-legs of a goat1 but the hinder part of a fish2 and the ,archer has the head and shoulders of a man1 but the body and legs of a horse4 ,pegasus1 the horse with wings1 not only shows this unnatural combination1 but the constellation figure only gives part of the animal--the head1 neck1 wings1 breast1 and fore-legs4 ,now some of these characteristic figures are found on quite early ,greek coins1 and yet earlier on what are known as boundary stones from ,babylonia4 ,these are little square pillars1 covered with inscriptions and sculptures1 and record for the most part the gift1 transfer1 or sale of land4 ,they are dated according to the year of the reigning king1 so that a clear idea can be formed as to their age4 ,a great many symbols1 which appear to be astronomical1 occur upon them2 amongst these such very distinguishing shapes as the ,archer1 ,sea-goat1 and ,scorpion 7see p4 #cah74 ,so that1 just as we know from ,homer and ,hesiod that the principal constellations were known of old by the same names as those by which we know them to-day1 we learn from ,babylonian boundary stones that they were then known as having the same forms as we now ascribe to them4 ,the date of the earliest boundary stones of the kind in our possession would show that the ,babylonians knew of our constellations as far back as the twelfth century ,b4,c41 that is to say1 whilst ,israel was under the ,judges4 ,we have direct evidence thus far back as to the existence of the constellations4 ,but they are older than this1 so much older that tradition as well as direct historical evidence fails us4 ,the only earlier evidence open to us is that of the constellations themselves4 ,a modern celestial globe is covered over with figures from pole to pole1 but the majority of these are of quite recent origin and belong to the ,modern period of astronomy4 ,they have been framed since the invention of the telescope1 and since the progress of geographical discovery brought men to know the southern skies4 ,if these modern constellations are cleared off1 and only those of ,aratus and ,ptolemy suffered to remain1 it becomes at once evident that the ancient astronomers were not acquainted with the entire heavens4 ,for there is a large space in the south1 left free from all the old constellations1 and no explanation1 why it should have been so left free1 is so simple and satisfactory as the obvious one1 that the ancient astronomers did not map out the stars in that region because they never saw them2 those stars never rose above their horizon4 ,illustration3 ,,the ,,ancient ,,constellations ,,south ,,of ,,the ,,ecliptic4 ,thus at the present time the heavens for an observer in ,england are naturally divided into three parts1 as shown in the accompanying diagram4 ,in the north1 round the pole-star are a number of constellations that never set2 they wheel unceasingly around the pole4 ,on every fine night we can see the ,great ,bear1 the ,little ,bear1 the ,dragon1 ,cepheus and ,cassiopeia4 ,but the stars in the larger portion of the sky have their risings and settings1 and the seasons in which they are visible or are withdrawn from sight4 ,thus we see ,orion and the ,pleiades and ,sirius in the winter1 not in the summer1 but the ,scorpion and ,sagittarius in the summer4 ,similarly there is a third portion of the heavens which never comes within our range4 ,we never see the ,southern ,cross1 and hardly any star in the great constellation of the ,ship1 though these are very familiar to ,new ,zealanders4 ,illustration3 ,,the ,,celestial ,,sphere4 ,zenith 99 99 99 99 ,north ,pole 99 99 ,stars _/ 4 99 ,always 4 ,visible 4 _/ 4 ,visible _/ 4 ,hemisphere _/ 4 _/ 4 _/ 4 _/ 4 _/ 7,earth surface7 4 _/ 7,earth surface7 ,south --------------------------------------- ,north _/ 4 ,celestial _/ 4 _/ ,equator ,invisible 4 _/ 4 _/ ,hemisphere 4 _/ 4 ,stars _/ 4 ,never 4 _/ ,visible _/ ,south ,pole ,,the ,,celestial ,,sphere4 ,the outline of this unmapped region must therefore correspond roughly to the horizon of the place where the constellations were originally designed1 or at least be roughly parallel to it1 since we may well suppose that stars which only rose two or three degrees above that horizon might have been neglected4 ,from this we learn that the constellations were designed by people living not very far from the #djth parallel of north latitude1 not further south than the #cgth or #cfth4 ,this is important1 as it shows that they did not originate in ancient ,egypt or ,india1 nor even in the city of ,babylon1 which is in latitude #cb-a_/b4aeg3a ,but this vacant space reveals another fact of even more importance4 ,it gives us a hint as to the date when the constellations were designed4 ,an observer in north latitude #dj at the present time would be very far from seeing all the stars included in the forty-eight constellations4 ,he would see nothing at all of the constellation of the ,altar1 and a good deal of that of the ,centaur would be hidden from him4 ,on the other hand1 there are some bright constellations1 such as the ,phoenix and the ,crane1 unknown to the ancients1 which would come within his range of vision4 ,this is due to what is known as precession2 a slow movement of the axis upon which the earth rotates4 ,in consequence of this1 the pole of the heavens seems to trace out a circle amongst the stars which it takes #be1hjj years to complete4 ,it is therefore a matter of very simple calculation to find the position of the south pole of the heavens at any given date1 past or future1 and we find that the centre of the unmapped space was the south pole of the heavens something like #d1fjj years ago1 that is to say about #b1gjj ,b4,c4 ,it is1 of course1 not possible to fix either time or latitude very closely1 since the limits of the unmapped space are a a little vague4 ,but it is significant that if we take a celestial globe1 arranged so as to represent the heavens for the time #b1gjj ,b4,c41 and for north latitude #dj1 we find several striking relations4 ,first of all1 the ,great ,dragon then linked together the north pole of the celestial equator1 and the north pole of the ecliptic2 it was as nearly as possible symmetrical with regard to the two2 it occupied the very crown of the heavens4 ,with the single exception of the ,little ,bear1 which it nearly surrounds1 the ,dragon was the only constellation that never set4 ,next1 the ,water-snake 7see diagram1 p4 #bjj7 lay at this time right along the equator1 extending over #aje of ,right ,ascension2 or1 to put it less technically1 it took seven hours out of the twenty-four to cross the meridian4 ,it covered nearly one-third of the equatorial belt4 ,thirdly1 the intersection of the equator with one of the principal meridians of the sky was marked by the ,serpent1 which is carried by the ,serpent-holder in a very peculiar manner4 ,the meridian at midnight at the time of the spring equinox is called a colure1--the autumnal colure1 because the sun crosses it in autumn4 ,now the ,serpent was so arranged as to be shown writhing itself for some distance along the equator1 and then struggling upwards1 along the autumnal colure1 marking the zenith with its head4 ,the lower part of the autumnal colure was marked by the ,scorpion1 and the foot of the ,serpent-holder pressed down the creature's head1 just where the colure1 the equator1 and the ecliptic intersected 7see diagram1 p4 #afd74 ,it is scarcely conceivable that this fourfold arrangement1 not suggested by any natural grouping of the stars1 should have come about by accident2 it must have been intentional4 ,for some reason1 the equator1 the colure1 the zenith and the poles were all marked out by these serpentine or draconic forms4 ,the unmapped space gives us a clue only to the date and latitude of the designing of the most southerly constellations4 ,we now see that a number of the northern hold positions which were specially significant under the same conditions1 indicating that they were designed at about the same date4 ,there is therefore little room for doubt that some time in the earlier half of the third millennium before our era1 and somewhere between the #cfth and #djth parallels of north latitude1 the constellations were designed1 substantially as we have them now1 the serpent forms being intentionally placed in these positions of great astronomical importance4 ,it will have been noticed that ,ptolemy makes the ,ram the first constellation of the zodiac4 ,it was so in his days1 but it was the ,bull that was the original leader1 as we know from a variety of traditions2 the sun at the spring equinox being in the centre of that constellation about #cjjj ,b4,c4 ,at the time when the constellations were designed1 the sun at the spring equinox was near ,aldebaran1 the brightest star of the ,bull2 at the summer solstice it was near ,regulus1 the brightest star of the ,lion2 at the autumnal equinox it was near ,antares1 the brightest star of the ,scorpion2 at the winter solstice it was near ,fomalhaut1 the brightest star in the neighbourhood of the ,waterpourer4 ,these four stars have come down to us with the name of the ,royal ,stars1 probably because they were so near to the four most important points in the apparent path of the sun amongst the stars4 ,there is also a celebrated passage in the first of ,virgil's ,georgics which speaks of the white bull with golden horns that opens the year4 ,so when the ,mithraic religion adopted several of the constellation figures amongst its symbols1 the ,bull as standing for the spring equinox1 the ,lion for the summer solstice1 were the two to which most prominence was given1 and they are found thus used in ,mithraic monuments as late as the second or third century ,a4,d41 long after the ,ram had been recognized as the leading sign4 ,it is not possible to push back the origin of the constellations to an indefinite antiquity4 ,they cannot at the very outside be more than #ejjj years old2 they must be considerably more than #djjj4 ,but during the whole of this millennium the sun at the spring equinox was in the constellation of the ,bull4 ,there is therefore no possible doubt that the ,bull--and not the ,twins nor the ,ram--was the original leader of the zodiac4 ,the constellations1 therefore1 were designed long before the nation of ,israel had its origin1 indeed before ,abraham left ,ur of the ,chaldees4 ,the most probable date--#bgjj ,b4,c4--would take us to a point a little before the ,flood1 if we accept the ,hebrew chronology1 a few centuries after the ,flood1 if we accept the ,septuagint chronology4 ,just as the next great age of astronomical activity1 which ,i have termed the ,classical1 began after the close of the canon of the ,old ,testament scriptures1 so the constellation age began before the first books of those scriptures were compiled4 ,broadly speaking1 it may be said that the knowledge of the constellation figures was the chief asset of astronomy in the centuries when the ,old ,testament was being written4 ,seeing that the knowledge of these figures was preserved in ,mesopotamia1 the country from which ,abraham came out1 and that they were in existence long before his day1 it is not unreasonable to suppose that both he and his descendants were acquainted with them1 and that when he and they looked upward to the glories of the silent stars1 and recalled the promise1 ,so shall thy seed be1 they pictured round those glittering points of light much the same forms that we connect with them to-day4 ,,footnotes3 #aeg3a ,delitzsch is1 therefore1 in error when he asserts that when we divide the zodiac into twelve signs and style them the ,ram1 ,bull1 ,twins1 etc4 4 4 4 the ,sumerian-,babylonian culture is still living and operating even at the present day 7,babel and ,bible1 p4 #fg74 ,the constellations may have been originally designed by the ,akkadians1 but if so it was before they came down from their native highlands into the ,mesopotamian valley4 ,,chapter ,,ii ,,genesis ,,and ,,the ,,constellations ,as we have just shown1 the constellations evidently were designed long before the earliest books of the ,old ,testament received their present form4 ,but the first nine chapters of ,genesis give the history of the world before any date that we can assign to the constellations1 and are clearly derived from very early documents or traditions4 ,when the constellations are compared with those nine chapters1 several correspondences appear between the two2 remarkable1 when it is borne in mind how few are the events that can be plainly set forth in a group of forty-eight figures on the one hand1 and how condensed are the narratives of those nine chapters on the other4 ,look at the six southern constellations 7see pp4 #afd1 #afe7 which were seen during the nights of spring in that distant time4 ,the largest of these six is a great ,ship resting on the southern horizon4 ,just above1 a ,raven is perched on the stretched-out body of a reptile4 ,a figure of a ,centaur appears to have just left the ,ship1 and is represented as offering up an animal on an ,altar4 ,the animal is now shown as a ,wolf1 but ,aratus1 our earliest authority1 states that he did not know what kind of animal it was that was being thus offered up4 ,the cloud of smoke from the ,altar is represented by the bright coiling wreaths of the ,milky ,way1 and here in the midst of that cloud is set the ,bow--the bow of ,sagittarius1 the ,archer4 ,is it possible that this can be mere coincidence1 or was it indeed intended as a memorial of the covenant which ,god made with ,noah1 and with his children for ever8--,i do set ,my bow in the cloud1 and it shall be for a token of a covenant between ,me and the earth4 ,close by this group was another1 made up of five constellations4 ,towards the south1 near midnight in spring1 the observer in those ancient times saw the ,scorpion4 ,the figure of a man was standing upon that venomous beast1 with his left foot pressed firmly down upon its head2 but the scorpion's tail was curled up to sting him in the right heel4 ,ophiuchus1 the ,serpent-holder1 the man treading on the ,scorpion1 derives his name from the ,serpent which he holds in his hands and strangles2 the ,serpent that1 as we have seen in the preceding chapter1 marked the autumnal colure4 ,the head of ,ophiuchus reached nearly to the zenith1 and there close to it was the head of another hero1 so close that to complete the form of the two heads the same stars must be used to some extent twice over4 ,facing north1 this second hero1 now known to us as ,hercules1 but to ,aratus simply as the ,kneeler1 was seen kneeling with his foot on the head of the great northern ,dragon4 ,this great conflict between the man and the serpent1 therefore1 was presented in a twofold form4 ,looking south there was the picture of ,ophiuchus trampling on the scorpion and strangling the snake1 yet wounded in the heel by the scorpion's sting2 looking north1 the corresponding picture of the kneeling figure of ,hercules treading down the dragon's head4 ,here there seems an evident reference to the word spoken by ,god to the serpent in the garden in ,eden3 ,i will put enmity between thee and the woman1 and between thy seed and her ,seed2 ,it shall bruise thy head1 and thou shalt bruise ,his heel4 ,illustration3 ,,the ,,midnight ,,constellations ,,of ,,spring1 ,b4,c4 #bgjj4 ,these two groups of star-figures seem therefore to point to the two great promises made to mankind and recorded in the early chapters of ,genesis2 the ,promise of the ,deliverer1 ,who1 ,seed of the woman1 should bruise the serpent's head1 and the promise of the ,bow set in the cloud1 the pledge that the world should not again be destroyed by a flood4 ,illustration3 ,,the ,,midnight ,,constellations ,,of ,,winter1 ,b4,c4 #bgjj4 ,one or two other constellations appear1 less distinctly1 to refer to the first of these two promises4 ,the ,virgin1 the woman of the zodiac1 carries in her hand a bright star1 the ear of corn1 the seed2 whilst1 immediately under her1 the great ,water-snake1 ,hydra1 is drawn out at enormous length1 going on its belly2 not writhing upwards like the ,serpent1 nor twined round the crown of the sky like the ,dragon4 ,yet again1 the narrative in ,genesis tells us that ,god drove out the man 7i4 e4 ,adam71 and ,he placed at the east of the garden of ,eden the cherubim1 and the flame of a sword which turned every way1 to keep the way of the tree of life4 ,no description is given of the form of the cherubim in that passage1 but they are fully described by ,ezekiel1 who saw them in vision when he was by the river ,chebar1 as the likeness of four living creatures4 ,the same beings were also seen in vision by ,st4 ,john1 and are described by him in the ,apocalypse as four living creatures 7,zoa74 ,the first creature was like a lion1 and the second creature like a calf1 and the third creature had a face as of a man1 and the fourth creature was like a flying eagle4 ,ezekiel gives a fuller and more complex description1 but agreeing in its essential elements with that given by the ,apostle1 and1 at the close of one of these descriptions1 he adds1 ,this is the living creature that ,i saw under the ,god of ,israel by the river of ,chebar2 and ,i knew that they were cherubim--no doubt because as a priest he had been familiar with the cherubic forms as they were embroidered upon the curtains of the ,temple1 and carved upon its walls and doors4 ,the same four forms were seen amongst the constellation figures2 not placed at random amongst them1 but as far as possible in the four most important positions in the sky4 ,for the constellations were originally so designed that the sun at the time of the summer solstice was in the middle of the constellation ,leo1 the ,lion2 at the time of the spring equinox in the middle of ,taurus1 the ,bull2 and at the time of the winter solstice1 in the middle of ,aquarius1 the ,man bearing the waterpot4 ,the fourth point1 that held by the sun at the autumnal equinox1 would appear to have been already assigned to the foot of the ,serpent-holder as he crushes down the ,scorpion's head2 but a flying eagle1 ,aquila1 is placed as near the equinoctial point as seems to have been consistent with the ample space that it was desired to give to the emblems of the great conflict between the ,deliverer and the ,serpent4 ,thus1 as in the vision of ,ezekiel1 so in the constellation figures1 the ,lion1 the ,ox1 the ,man1 and the ,eagle1 stood as the upholders of the firmament1 as the pillars of heaven4 ,they looked down like watchers upon all creation2 they seemed to guard the four quarters of the sky4 ,if we accept an old ,jewish tradition1 the constellations may likewise give us some hint of an event recorded in the tenth chapter of ,genesis4 ,for it has been supposed that the great stellar giant ,orion is none other than ,nimrod1 the mighty hunter before the ,lord1 and the founder of the ,babylonian kingdom2 identified by some ,assyriologists with ,merodach1 the tutelary deity of ,babylon3 and by others with ,gilgamesh1 the tyrant of ,erech1 whose exploits have been preserved to us in the great epic now known by his name4 ,possibly both identifications may prove to be correct4 ,more than one third of the constellation figures thus appear to have a close connection with some of the chief incidents recorded in the first ten chapters of ,genesis as having taken place in the earliest ages of the world's history4 ,if we include the ,hare and the two ,dogs as adjuncts of ,orion1 and the ,cup as well as the ,raven with ,hydra1 then no fewer than twenty-two out of the forty-eight are directly or indirectly so connected4 ,but the constellation figures only deal with a very few isolated incidents1 and these are necessarily such as lend themselves to graphic representation4 ,the points in common with the ,genesis narrative are indeed striking1 but the points of independence are no less striking4 ,the majority of the constellation figures do not appear to refer to any incidents in ,genesis2 the majority of the incidents in the ,genesis narrative find no record in the sky4 ,even in the treatment of incidents common to both there are differences1 which make it impossible to suppose that either was directly derived from the other4 ,but it is clear that when the constellations were devised1--that is to say1 roughly speaking1 about #b1gjj ,b4,c41--the promise of the ,deliverer1 the ,seed of the woman who should bruise the serpent's head1 was well known and highly valued2 so highly valued that a large part of the sky was devoted to its commemoration and to that of the curse on the serpent4 ,the story of the ,flood was also known1 and especially the covenant made with those who were saved in the ark1 that the world should not again be destroyed by water1 the token of which covenant was the ,bow set in the cloud4 ,the fourfold cherubic forms were known1 the keepers of the way of the tree of life1 the symbols of the presence of ,god2 and they were set in the four parts of the heaven1 marking it out as the tabernacle which ,he spreadeth abroad1 for ,he dwelleth between the cherubim4 ,,chapter ,,iii ,,the ,,story ,,of ,,the ,,deluge ,beside the narrative of the ,flood given to us in ,genesis1 and the pictorial representation of it preserved in the star figures1 we have ,deluge stories from many parts of the world4 ,but in particular we have a very striking one from ,babylonia4 ,in the ,epic of ,gilgamesh1 already alluded to1 the eleventh tablet is devoted to an interview between the hero and ,pir-napistim1 the ,babylonian ,noah1 who recounts to him how he and his family were saved at the time of the great flood4 ,this ,babylonian story of the ,deluge stands in quite a different relation from the ,babylonian story of ,creation in its bearing on the account given in ,genesis4 ,as we have already seen1 the stories of ,creation have practically nothing in common2 the stories of the ,deluge have many most striking points of resemblance1 and may reasonably be supposed to have had a common origin4 ,prof4 ,friedrich ,delitzsch1 in his celebrated lectures ,babel and ,bible1 refers to this ,babylonian ,deluge story in the following terms3-- ,the ,babylonians divided their history into two great periods3 the one before1 the other after the ,flood4 ,babylon was in quite a peculiar sense the land of deluges4 ,the alluvial lowlands along the course of all great rivers discharging into the sea are1 of course1 exposed to terrible floods of a special kind--cyclones and tornadoes accompanied by earthquakes and tremendous downpours of rain4 ,after referring to the great cyclone and tidal wave which wrecked the ,sunderbunds at the mouths of the ,ganges in #ahgf1 when #bae1jjj persons met their death by drowning1 ,prof4 ,delitzsch goes on-- ,it is the merit of the celebrated ,viennese geologist1 ,eduard ,suess1 to have shown that there is an accurate description of such a cyclone1 line for line1 in the ,babylonian ,deluge story4 4 4 4 ,the whole story1 precisely as it was written down1 travelled to ,canaan4 ,but1 owing to the new and entirely different local conditions1 it was forgotten that the sea was the chief factor1 and so we find in the ,bible two accounts of the ,deluge1 which are not only scientifically impossible1 but1 furthermore1 mutually contradictory--the one assigning to it a duration of #cfe days1 the other of #dj 7#c x #g7 #fa days4 ,science is indebted to ,jean ,astruc1 that strictly orthodox ,catholic physician of ,louis ,,xiv41 for recognizing that two fundamentally different accounts of a deluge have been worked up into a single story in the ,bible4#aga3a ,the importance of the ,babylonian ,deluge story does not rest in anything intrinsic to itself1 for there are many deluge stories preserved by other nations quite as interesting and as well told4 ,it derives its importance from its points of resemblance to the ,genesis story1 and from the deduction that some have drawn from these that it was the original of that story--or rather of the two stories--that we find imperfectly recombined in ,genesis4 ,the suggestion of ,jean ,astruc that two fundamentally different accounts of a deluge have been worked up into a single story in the ,bible has been generally accepted by those who have followed him in the minute analysis of the literary structure of ,holy ,scripture2 and the names of the ,priestly ,narrative and of the ,jehovistic ,narrative have1 for the sake of distinctness1 been applied to them4 ,the former is so called because the chapters in ,exodus and the two following books1 which treat with particular minuteness of the various ceremonial institutions of ,israel1 are considered to be by the same writer4 ,the latter has received its name from the preference shown by the writer for the use1 as the ,divine name1 of the word ,jehovah1--so spelt when given in our ,english versions1 but generally translated the ,,lord4 ,there is a very close accord between different authorities as to the way in which ,genesis1 chapters vi4-ix41 should be allotted to these two sources4 ,the following is ,dr4 ,driver's arrangement3-- ,,priestly ,,narrative4 ,,jehovistic ,,narrative4 ,chap4 ,verse4 ,chap4 ,verse4 ,genesis vi4 #i-bb4 ,genesis vii4 #a-e4 vii4 #f4 #g-aj4 #aa4 #ab4 #ac-af;a4 #af;b4 #ag;a4 #ag;b4 #ah-ba4 #bb-bc4 #bd4 viii4 #b;b-#c;a4 viii4 #a-b;a4 #f-ab4 #c;b-#e4 #ac;b4 #ac;a4 #bj-bb4 #ad-ai4 ix4 #a-ag4 ,the ,priestly narrative therefore tells us the cause of the ,flood--that is to say1 the corruption of mankind2 describes the dimensions of the ark1 and instructs ,noah to bring of every living thing of all flesh1 two of every sort shalt thou bring into the ark1 to keep them alive with thee2 they shall be male and female4 ,it further supplies the dates of the chief occurrences during the ,flood1 states that the waters prevailed above the tops of the mountains1 that when the ,flood diminished the ark rested upon the mountains of ,ararat2 and gives the account of ,noah and his family going forth from the ark1 and of the covenant which ,god made with them1 of which the token was to be the bow seen in the cloud4 ,the most striking notes of the ,jehovistic narrative are1--the incident of the sending out of the raven and the dove2 the account of ,noah's sacrifice2 and the distinction made between clean beasts and beasts that are not clean--the command to ,noah being1 ,of every clean beast thou shalt take to thee by sevens1 the male and his female3 and of beasts that are not clean by two1 the male and his female4 ,the significant points of distinction between the two accounts are that the ,priestly writer gives the description of the ark1 the ,flood prevailing above the mountains1 the grounding on ,mount ,ararat1 and the bow in the cloud2 the ,jehovistic gives the sending out of the raven and the dove1 and the account of ,noah's sacrifice1 which involves the recognition of the distinction between the clean and unclean beasts and the more abundant provision of the former4 ,he also lays emphasis on the ,lord's smelling a sweet savour and promising never again to smite everything living1 for the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth4 ,the chief features of the ,babylonian story of the ,deluge are as follows3--,the ,god ,ae spoke to ,pir-napistim1 the ,babylonian ,noah-- ',destroy the house1 build a ship1 ,leave what thou hast1 see to thy life4 ,destroy the hostile and save life4 ,take up the seed of life1 all of it1 into the midst of the ship4 ,the ship which thou shalt make1 even thou4 ,let its size be measured2 ,let it agree as to its height and its length4' ,the description of the building of the ship seems to have been very minute1 but the record is mutilated1 and what remains is difficult to translate4 ,as in the ,priestly narrative1 it is expressly mentioned that it was pitched within and without4 ,the narrative proceeds in the words of ,pir-napistim3-- ,all ,i possessed1 ,i collected it1 ,all ,i possessed ,i collected it1 of silver2 ,all ,i possessed ,i collected it1 of gold2 ,all ,i possessed ,i collected it1 the seed of life1 the whole4 ,i caused to go up into the midst of the ship1 ,all my family and relatives1 ,the beasts of the field1 the animals of the field1 the sons of the artificers--all of them ,i sent up4 ,the ,god v,samavs appointed the time-- ,muir ,kukki--',in the night ,i will cause the heavens to rain destruction1 ,enter into the midst of the ship1 and shut thy door4' ,that time approached-- ,muir ,kukki--,in the night the heavens rained destruction ,i saw the appearance of the day3 ,i was afraid to look upon the day-- ,i entered into the midst of the ship1 and shut my door 99 99 99 99 99 ,at the appearance of dawn in the morning1 ,there arose from the foundation of heaven a dark cloud3 99 99 99 99 99 ,the first day1 the storm8 4 4 4 4 ,swiftly it swept1 and 4 4 4 4 ,like a battle against the people it sought4 ,brother saw not brother4 ,the people were not to be recognized4 ,in heaven ,the gods feared the flood1 and ,they fled1 they ascended to the heaven of ,anu4 ,the gods kenneled like dogs1 crouched down in the enclosures4 99 99 99 99 99 ,the gods had crouched down1 seated in lamentation1 ,covered were their lips in the assemblies1 ,six days and nights ,the wind blew1 the deluge and flood overwhelmed the land4 ,the seventh day1 when it came1 the storm ceased1 the raging flood1 ,which had contended like a whirlwind1 ,quieted1 the sea shrank back1 and the evil wind and deluge ended4 ,i noticed the sea making a noise1 ,and all mankind had turned to corruption4 99 99 99 99 99 ,i noted the regions1 the shore of the sea1 ,for twelve measures the region arose4 ,the ship had stopped at the land of ,nisir4 ,the mountain of ,nisir seized the ship1 and would not let it pass4 ,the first day and the second day the mountains of ,nisir seized the ship1 and would not let it pass4 99 99 99 99 99 ,the seventh day1 when it came ,i sent forth a dove1 and it left2 ,the dove went1 it turned about1 ,but there was no resting-place1 and it returned4 ,i sent forth a swallow1 and it left1 ,the swallow went1 it turned about1 ,but there was no resting-place1 and it returned4 ,i sent forth a raven1 and it left1 ,the raven went1 the rushing of the waters it saw1 ,it ate1 it waded1 it croaked1 it did not return4 ,i sent forth 7the animals7 to the four winds1 ,i poured out a libation1 ,i made an offering on the peak of the mountain1 ,seven and seven ,i set incense-vases there1 ,in their depths ,i poured cane1 cedar1 and rosewood 7874 ,the gods smelled a savour2 ,the gods smelled a sweet savour4 ,the gods gathered like flies over the sacrificer4 ,then the goddess ,srtu1 when she came1 ,raised the great signets that ,anu had made at her wish3 ',these gods--by the lapis-stone of my neck--let me not forget2 ,these days let me remember1 nor forget them for ever6 ,let the gods come to the sacrifice1 ,but let not ,bl come to the sacrifice1 ,for he did not take counsel1 and made a flood1 ,and consigned my people to destruction4' ,then ,bl1 when he came1 ,saw the ship4 ,and ,bl stood still1 ,filled with anger on account of the gods and the spirits of heaven4 ',what1 has a soul escaped8 ,let not a man be saved from the destruction4' ,ninip opened his mouth and spake4 ,he said to the warrior ,bl3 ',who but ,ae has done the thing8 ,and ,ae knows every event4' ,ae opened his mouth and spake1 ,he said to the warrior ,bl3 ',thou sage of the gods1 warrior1 ,verily thou hast not taken counsel1 and hast made a flood4 ,the sinner has committed his sin1 ,the evil-doer has committed his misdeed1 ,be merciful--let him not be cut off--yield1 let not perish4 ,why hast thou made a flood8 ,let the lion come1 and let men diminish4 ,why hast thou made a flood8 ,let the hyena come1 and let men diminish4 ,why hast thou made a flood8 ,let a famine happen1 and let the land be 787 ,why hast thou made a flood8 ,let ,ura 7pestilence7 come1 and let the land be 787'#agf3a ,of the four records before us1 we can only date one approximately4 ,the constellations1 as we have already seen1 were mapped out some time in the third millennium before our era1 probably not very far from #bgjj ,b4,c4 ,when was the ,babylonian story written8 ,does it1 itself1 afford any evidence of date8 ,it occurs in the eleventh tablet of the ,epic of ,gilgamesh1 and the theory has been started that as ,aquarius1 a watery constellation1 is now the eleventh sign of the zodiac1 therefore we have in this epic of twelve tablets a series of solar myths founded upon the twelve signs of the zodiac1 the eleventh giving us a legend of a flood to correspond to the stream of water which the man in ,aquarius pours from his pitcher4 ,if this theory be accepted we can date the ,epic of ,gilgamesh with much certainty3 it must be later1 probably much later1 than #gjj ,b4,c4 ,for it cannot have been till about that time that the present arrangement of the zodiacal signs--that is to say with ,aries as the first and ,aquarius as the eleventh--can have been adopted4 ,we have then to allow for the growth of a mythology with the twelve signs as its motif4 ,had this supposed series of zodiacal myths originated before #gjj ,b4,c41 before ,aries was adopted as the leading sign1 then the ,bull1 ,taurus1 would have given rise to the myth of the first tablet and ,aquarius to the tenth1 not to the eleventh where we find the story of the flood4 ,assyriologists do not assign so late a date to this poem1 and it must be noted that the theory supposes1 not merely that the tablet itself1 but that the poem and the series of myths upon which it was based1 were all later in conception than #gjj ,b4,c4 ,one conclusive indication of its early date is given by the position in the pantheon of ,ae and ,bl4 ,ae has not receded into comparative insignificance1 nor has ,bl attained to that full supremacy which1 as ,merodach1 he possesses in the ,babylonian ,creation story4 ,we may therefore put on one side as an unsupported and unfortunate guess the suggestion that the ,epic of ,gilgamesh is the setting forth of a series of zodiacal myths4 ,any legends1 any mythology1 any pantheon based upon the zodiac must necessarily be more recent than the zodiac2 any system involving ,aries as the first sign of the zodiac must be later than the adoption of ,aries as the first sign1 that is to say1 later than #gjj ,b4,c4 ,systems arising before that date would inevitably be based upon ,taurus as first constellation4 ,we cannot then1 from astronomical relationships1 fix the date of the ,babylonian story of the ,flood4 ,is it possible1 however1 to form any estimate of the comparative ages of the ,babylonian legend and of the two narratives given in ,genesis1 or of either of these two8 ,does the ,babylonian story connect itself with one of the ,genesis narratives rather than the other8 ,the significant points in the ,babylonian story are these3--the command to ,pir-napistim to build a ship1 with detailed directions2 the great rise of the flood so that even the gods in the heaven of ,anu feared it2 the detailed dating of the duration of the flood2 the stranding of the ship on the mountain of ,nisir2 the sending forth of the dove1 the swallow1 and their return2 the sending forth of the raven1 and its non-return2 the sacrifice2 the gods smelling its sweet savour2 the vow of remembrance of the goddess by the lapis-stone necklace2 the determination of the gods not to send a flood again upon the earth1 since sin is inevitable from the sinner4 ,to all these points we find parallels in the account as given in ,genesis4 ,but it is in the ,priestly narrative that we find the directions for the building of the ship2 the great prevalence of the flood even to the height of the mountains2 the stranding of the ship on a mountain2 and the bow in the clouds as a covenant of remembrance--this last being perhaps paralleled in the ,babylonian story by the mottled 7blue-and-white7 lapis necklace of the goddess which she swore by as a remembrancer4 ,there is therefore manifest connection with the narrative told by the ,priestly writer4 ,but it is in the ,jehovistic narrative1 on the other hand1 that we find the sending forth of the raven1 and its non-return2 the sending forth of the dove1 and its return2 the sacrifice1 and the sweet savour that was smelled of the ,lord2 and the determination of the ,lord not to curse the earth any more for man's sake1 nor smite any more every living thing1 for the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth4 ,there is1 therefore1 no less manifest connection with the narrative told by the ,jehovistic writer4 ,but the narrative told by the writer of the ,babylonian story is one single account2 even if it were a combination of two separate traditions1 they have been so completely fused that they cannot now be broken up so as to form two distinct narratives1 each complete in itself4 ,the whole story precisely as it was written down travelled to ,canaan1--so we are told4 ,and there1--we are asked to believe1--two ,hebrew writers of very different temperaments and schools of thought1 each independently worked up a complete story of the ,deluge from this ,gilgamesh legend4 ,they chose out different incidents1 one selecting what the other rejected1 and vice versa1 so that their two accounts were mutually contradictory4 ,they agreed1 however1 in cleansing it from its polytheistic setting1 and giving it a strictly monotheistic tone4 ,later1 an editor put the two narratives together1 with all their inconsistencies and contradictions1 and interlocked them into one1 which presents all the main features of the original ,gilgamesh story except its polytheism4 ,in other words1 two ,hebrew scribes each told in his own way a part of the account of the ,deluge which he had derived from ,babylon1 and a third unwittingly so recombined them as to make them represent the ,babylonian original6 ,the two accounts of the ,deluge1 supposed to be present in ,genesis1 therefore cannot be derived from the ,gilgamesh epic1 nor be later than it1 seeing that what is still plainly separable in ,genesis is inseparably fused in the epic4 ,on the other hand1 can the ,babylonian narrative be later than1 and derived from1 the ,genesis account8 ,since so many of the same circumstances are represented in both1 this is a more reasonable proposition1 if we assume that the ,babylonian narrator had the ,genesis account as it now stands1 and did not have to combine two separate statements4 ,for surely if he had the separate ,priestly and ,jehovistic narratives we should now be able to decompose the ,babylonian narrative just as easily as we do the one in ,genesis4 ,the ,babylonian adapter of the ,genesis story must have either been less astute than ourselves1 and did not perceive that he had really two distinct 7and contradictory7 narratives to deal with1 or he did not consider this circumstance of the slightest importance1 and had no objection to merging them inextricably into one continuous account4 ,it is therefore possible that the ,babylonian account was derived from that in ,genesis2 but it is not probable4 ,the main circumstances are the same in both1 but the details1 the presentment1 the attitude of mind are very different4 ,we can better explain the agreement in the general circumstances1 and even in many of the details1 by presuming that both are accounts--genuine traditions--of the same actual occurrence4 ,the differences in detail1 presentment1 and attitude1 are fully and sufficiently explained by supposing that we have traditions from two1 if not three1 witnesses of the event4 ,we have also the pictorial representation of the ,flood given us in the constellations4 ,what evidence do they supply8 ,here the significant points are3 the ship grounded upon a high rock2 the raven above it1 eating the flesh of a stretched-out reptile2 a sacrifice offered up by a person1 who has issued forth from the ship1 upon an altar1 whose smoke goes up in a cloud1 in which a bow is set4 ,in this grouping of pictures we have two characteristic features of the ,priestly narrative1 in the ship grounded on a rock1 and in the bow set in the cloud2 we have also two characteristic features of the ,jehovistic narrative1 in the smoking altar of sacrifice1 and in the carrion bird4 ,there is therefore manifest connection between the constellation grouping and both the narratives given in ,genesis4 ,but the constellational picture story is the only one of all these narratives that we can date4 ,it must have been designed--as we have seen--about #bgjj ,b4,c4 ,the question again comes up for answer4 ,were the ,genesis and ,babylonian narratives1 any or all of them1 derived from the pictured story in the constellations2 or1 on the other hand1 was this derived from any or all of them8 ,the constellations were mapped out near the north latitude of #dj1 far to the north of ,babylonia1 so the pictured story cannot have come from thence4 ,we do not know where the ,genesis narratives were written1 but if the ,flood of the constellations was pictured from them1 then they must have been already united into the account that is now presented to us in ,genesis1 very early in the third millennium before ,christ4 ,could the account in ,genesis have been derived from the constellations8 ,if it is a double account1 most decidedly not2 since the pictured story in the constellations is one1 and presents impartially the characteristic features of both the narratives4 ,and 7as in comparing the ,genesis and the ,babylonian narratives7 we see that though the main circumstances are the same--in so far as they lend themselves to pictorial representations--the details1 the presentment1 the attitude are different4 ,in the ,genesis narrative1 the bow set in the cloud is a rainbow in a cloud of rain2 in the constellation picture1 the bow set in the cloud is the bow of an archer1 and the cloud is the pillar of smoke from off the altar of sacrifice4 ,in the narratives of ,genesis and ,babylonia1 ,noah and ,pir-napistim are men3 no hint is given anywhere that by their physical form or constitution they were marked off from other men2 in the storied picture1 he who issues from the ship is a centaur3 his upper part is the head and body of a man1 his lower part is the body of a horse4 ,as before1 there is no doubt that we can best explain the agreement in circumstance of all the narratives by presuming that they are independent accounts of the same historical occurrence4 ,we can1 at the same time1 explain the differences in style and detail between the narratives by presuming that the originals were by men of different qualities of mind who each wrote as the occurrence most appealed to him4 ,the ,babylonian narrator laid hold of the promise that1 though beast1 or famine1 or pestilence might diminish men1 a flood should not again sweep away every living thing1 and connected the promise with the signets--the lapis necklace of the goddess ,srtu that she touched as a remembrancer4 ,the picturer of the constellations saw the pledge in the smoke of the sacrifice1 in the spirit of the words of the ,lord as given by ,asaph1 ,gather ,my saints together unto me2 those that have made a covenant with ,me by sacrifice4 ,the writer in ,genesis saw the promise in the rain-cloud1 for the rainbow can only appear with the shining of the sun4 ,the writer in ,genesis saw in ,noah a righteous man1 worthy to escape the flood of desolation that swept away the wickedness around2 there is no explanation apparent1 at least on the surface1 as to why the designer of the constellations made him1 who issued from the ship and offered the sacrifice1 a centaur--one who partook of two natures4 ,the comparison of the ,deluge narratives from ,genesis1 from the constellations1 and from ,babylonia1 presents a clear issue4 ,if all the accounts are independent1 and if there are two accounts intermingled into one in ,genesis1 then the chief facts presented in both parts of that dual narrative must have been so intermingled at an earlier date than #bgjj ,b4,c4 ,the editor who first united the two stories into one must have done his work before that date4 ,but if the accounts are not independent histories1 and the narrative as we have it in ,genesis is derived either in whole or in part from ,babylonia or from the constellations--if1 in short1 the ,genesis story came from a ,babylonian or a stellar myth--then we cannot escape from this conclusion3 that the narrative in ,genesis is not1 and never has been1 two separable portions2 that the scholars who have so divided it have been entirely in error4 ,but we cannot so lightly put on one side the whole of the results which the learning and research of so many scholars have given us in the last century-and-a-half4 ,we must therefore unhesitatingly reject the theory that the ,genesis ,deluge story owes anything either to star myth or to ,babylonian mythology4 ,and if the ,genesis ,deluge story is not so derived1 certainly no other portion of ,holy ,scripture4 ,,footnotes3 #aga3a ,babel and ,bible1 ,johns' translation1 pp4 #db-df4 #agf3a ,t4 ,g4 ,pinches1 ,the ,old ,testament in the ,light of the ,historical ,records of ,assyria and ,babylonia1 pp4 #ajb-ajg4 ,,chapter ,,iv ,,the ,,tribes ,,of ,,israel ,,and ,,the ,,zodiac ,the earliest reference in ,scripture to the constellations of the zodiac occurs in the course of the history of ,joseph4 ,in relating his second dream to his brethren he said-- ,behold1 ,i have dreamed a dream more2 and1 behold1 the sun and the moon1 and the eleven stars made obeisance to me4 ,the word ,kochab in the ,hebrew means both star and constellation4 ,the significance1 therefore1 of the reference to the eleven stars is clear4 ,just as ,joseph's eleven brethren were eleven out of the twelve sons of ,jacob1 so ,joseph saw eleven constellations out of the twelve come and bow down to him4 ,and the twelve constellations can only mean the twelve of the zodiac4 ,there can be no reasonable doubt that the zodiac in question was practically the same as we have now1 the one transmitted to us through ,aratus and ,ptolemy4 ,it had been designed quite a thousand years earlier than the days of ,joseph2 it was known in ,mesopotamia from whence his ancestors had come2 it was known in ,egypt2 that is to say it was known on both sides of ,canaan4 ,there have been other zodiacs3 thus the ,chinese have one of their own3 but we have no evidence of any zodiac1 except the one transmitted to us by the ,greeks1 as having been at any time adopted in ,canaan or the neighbouring countries4 ,there is no need to suppose that each of the brethren had a zodiacal figure already assigned to him as a kind of armorial bearing or device4 ,the dream was appropriate1 and perfectly intelligible to ,jacob1 to ,joseph1 and his brethren1 without supposing that any such arrangement had then been made4 ,it is quite true that there are ,jewish traditions assigning a constellation to each of the tribes of ,israel1 but it does not appear that any such traditions can be distinctly traced to a great antiquity1 and they are mostly somewhat indefinite4 ,josephus1 for instance1 makes a vague assertion about the twelve precious stones of the ,high ,priest's breast-plate1 each of which bore the name of one of the tribes1 connecting them with the signs of the zodiac3-- ,now the names of all those sons of ,jacob were engraven in these stones1 whom we esteem the heads of our tribes1 each stone having the honour of a name1 in the order according to which they were born4 4 4 4 ,and for the twelve stones whether we understand by them the months1 or whether we understand the like number of the signs of that circle which the ,greeks call the ,zodiac1 we shall not be mistaken in their meaning4#ahg3a ,but whilst there is no sufficient evidence that each of the sons of ,jacob had a zodiacal figure for his coat-of-arms1 nor even that the tribes deriving their names from them were so furnished1 there is strong and harmonious tradition as to the character of the devices borne on the standards carried by the four divisions of the host in the march through the wilderness4 ,the four divisions1 or camps1 each contained three tribes1 and were known by the name of the principal tribe in each4 ,the camp of ,judah was on the east1 and the division of ,judah led on the march4 ,the camp of ,reuben was on the south4 ,the camp of ,ephraim was on the west4 ,the camp of ,dan was on the north1 and the division of ,dan brought up the rear4 ,and the traditional devices shown on the four standards were these3--,for ,judah1 a lion2 for ,reuben1 a man and a river2 for ,ephraim1 a bull2 for ,dan1 an eagle and a serpent4 ,in these four standards we cannot fail to see again the four cherubic forms of lion1 man1 ox and eagle2 but in two cases an addition was made to the cherubic form1 an addition recalling the constellation figure4 ,for just as the crest of ,reuben was not a man only1 but a man and a river1 so ,aquarius is not a man only1 but a man pouring out a stream of water4 ,and as the crest of ,dan was not an eagle only1 but an eagle and a serpent1 so the great group of constellations1 clustering round the autumnal equinox1 included not only the ,eagle1 but also the ,scorpion and the ,serpent 7see diagram1 p4 #ahi74 ,there appears to be an obvious connection between these devices and the blessings pronounced by ,jacob upon his sons1 and by ,moses upon the tribes2 indeed1 it would seem probable that it was the former that largely determined the choice of the devices adopted by the four great divisions of the host in the wilderness4 ,the blessing pronounced by ,jacob on ,judah runs1 ,judah is a lion's whelp3 from the prey1 my son1 thou art gone up3 he stooped down1 he couched as a lion1 and as an old lion2 who shall rouse him up8 ,the ,lion of the tribe of ,judah is the title given to our ,lord ,himself in the ,apocalypse of ,st4 ,john4 ,illustration3 ,,ophiuchus ,,and ,,the ,,neighbouring ,,constellations4 ,the blessing pronounced upon ,joseph by ,moses bears as emphatic a reference to the bull4 ,the firstling of his bullock1 majesty is his2 and his horns are the horns of the wild-ox4 ,jacob's blessing upon ,joseph does not show any reference to the ox or bull in our ,authorized ,version4 ,but in our ,revised ,version ,jacob says of ,simeon and ,levi-- ,in their anger they slew a man1 ,and in their self-will they houghed an ox4 ,the first line appears to refer to the massacre of the ,shechemites2 the second is interpreted by the ,jerusalem ,targum1 ,in their wilfulness they sold ,joseph their brother1 who is likened to an ox4 ,and in the blessing of ,joseph it is said that his branches 7margin1 daughters71 run over the wall4 ,some translators have rendered this1 ,the daughters walk upon the bull1 wall and bull being only distinguishable in the original by a slight difference in the pointing4 ,of ,reuben1 his father said1 ,unstable as water1 thou shalt not excel2 and of ,dan1 ,dan shall be a serpent by the way1 an adder in the path1 that biteth the horse heels1 so that his rider shall fall backward4 ,these two last prophecies supply the water and the serpent1 which1 added to the man and eagle of the cherubic forms1 are needed to complete the traditional standards1 and are needed also to make them conform more closely to the constellation figures4 ,no such correspondence can be traced between the eight remaining tribes and the eight remaining constellations4 ,different writers combine them in different ways1 and the allusions to constellation figures in the blessings of those tribes are in most cases very doubtful and obscure1 even if it can be supposed that any such allusions are present at all4 ,the connection cannot be pushed safely beyond the four chief tribes1 and the four cherubic forms as represented in the constellations of the four quarters of the sky4 ,these four standards1 or rather1 three of them1 meet us again in a very interesting connection4 ,when ,israel reached the borders of ,moab1 ,balak1 the king of ,moab1 sent for a seer of great reputation1 ,balaam1 the son of ,beor1 to ,come1 curse me ,jacob1 and come1 defy ,israel4 ,balaam came1 but instead of cursing ,jacob1 blessed the people in four prophecies1 wherein he made1 what would appear to be1 distinct references to the standards of ,judah1 ,joseph and ,reuben4 ,behold the people riseth up as a lioness1 ,and as a lion doth he lift himself up4 ,then again-- ,he couched1 he lay down as a lion1 ,and as a lioness2 who shall rouse him up8 ,and in two passages-- ,god bringeth him forth out of ,egypt2 ,he hath as it were the strength of the wild ox4 ,the wild ox and lion are obvious similes to use concerning a powerful and warlike people4 ,these two similes are1 therefore1 not sufficient by themselves to prove that the tribal standards are being referred to4 ,but the otherwise enigmatical verse-- ,water shall flow from his buckets1 appears more expressly as an allusion to the standard of ,reuben1 the man with the river1 ,aquarius pouring water from his pitcher2 and if one be a reference to a standard1 the others may also well be4 ,illustration3 ,,aquarius ,,and ,,the ,,neighbouring ,,constellations4 ,it is surely something more than coincidence that ,joseph1 who by his father's favour and his own merit was made the leader of the twelve brethren1 should be associated with the bull or wild ox1 seeing that ,taurus was the leader of the zodiac in those ages4 ,it may also well be more than coincidence1 that when ,moses was in the mount and the people gathered themselves unto ,aaron1 and said unto him1 ,up1 make us gods1 which shall go before us2 for as for this ,moses1 the man that brought us up out of the land of ,egypt1 we wot not what is become of him1 ,aaron fashioned the golden earrings given him into the form of a molten calf2 into the similitude1 that is to say1 of ,taurus1 then ,prince of the ,zodiac4 ,if we turn to ,st4 ,stephen's reference to this occurrence1 we find that he says-- ,and they made a calf in those days1 and offered sacrifice unto the idol1 and rejoiced in the works of their own hands4 ,then ,god turned1 and gave them up to worship the host of heaven4 ,in other words1 their worship of the golden calf was star worship4 ,it has been often pointed out that this sin of the ,israelites1 deep as it was1 was not in itself a breach of the first commandment-- ,thou shalt have no other gods before me4 ,it was a breach of the second-- ,thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image1 or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above1 or that is in the earth beneath1 or that is in the water under the earth3 thou shalt not bow down thyself to them nor serve them4 ,the ,israelites did not conceive that they were abandoning the worship of ,jehovah2 they still considered themselves as worshipping the one true ,god4 ,they were monotheists still1 not polytheists4 ,but they had taken the first false step that inevitably leads to polytheism2 they had forgotten that they had seen no manner of similitude on the day that the ,lord spake unto them in ,horeb out of the midst of the fire1 and they had worshipped this golden calf as the similitude of ,god2 they had changed their glory into the similitude of an ox that eateth grass4 ,and that was treason against ,him2 therefore ,st4 ,stephen said1 ,god turned1 and gave them up to worship the host of heaven2 the one sin inevitably led to the other1 indeed1 involved it4 ,in a later day1 when ,jeroboam1 who had been appointed by ,solomon ruler over all the charge of the house of ,joseph1 led the rebellion of the ten tribes against ,rehoboam1 king of ,judah1 he set up golden calves at ,dan and ,bethel1 and said unto his people1 ,it is too much for you to go up to ,jerusalem3 behold thy gods1 ,o ,israel1 which brought thee up out of the land of ,egypt4 ,there can be little doubt that1 in this case1 ,jeroboam was not so much recalling the transgression in the wilderness--it was not an encouraging precedent--as he was adopting the well-known cognizance of the tribe of ,joseph1 that is to say1 of the two tribes of ,ephraim and ,manasseh1 which together made up the more important part of his kingdom1 as the symbol of the presence of ,jehovah4 ,the southern kingdom would naturally adopt the device of its predominant tribe1 ,judah1 and it was as the undoubted cognizance of the kingdom of ,judah that our ,richard ,i41 the ,crusader1 placed the ,lion on his shield4 ,more definitely still1 we find this one of the cherubic forms applied to set forth ,christ ,himself1 as ,the ,root of ,david1 ,prince of the house of ,judah-- ,behold1 the ,lion of the tribe of ,juda1 the ,root of ,david1 hath prevailed to open the book1 and to loose the seven seals thereof4 ,,footnotes3 #ahg3a ,josephus1 ,antiquities of the ,jews1 ,,iii4 vii4 #e-g4 ,,chapter ,v ,,leviathan ,there are amongst the constellations four great draconic or serpent-like forms4 ,chief of these is the great dragon coiled round the pole of the ecliptic and the pole of the equator as the latter was observed some #dfjj years ago4 ,this is the dragon with which the ,kneeler1 ,hercules1 is fighting1 and whose head he presses down with his foot4 ,the second is the great watersnake1 ,hydra1 which #dfjj years ago stretched for #aje along the celestial equator of that day4 ,its head was directed towards the ascending node1 that is to say the point where the ecliptic1 the sun's apparent path1 crosses the equator at the spring equinox2 and its tail stretched nearly to the descending node1 the point where the ecliptic again meets the equator at the autumn equinox4 ,the third was the ,serpent1 the one held in the grip of the ,serpent-holder4 ,its head erected itself just above the autumn equinox1 and reached up as far as the zenith2 its tail lay along the equator4 ,the fourth of these draconic forms was the great ,sea-monster1 stretched out along the horizon1 with a double river--,eridanus--proceeding from it1 just below the spring equinox4 ,illustration3 ,,hercules ,,and ,,draco4 ,none of these four figures was suggested by the natural grouping of the stars4 ,very few of the constellation-figures were so suggested1 and these four in particular1 as so high an authority as ,prof4 ,schiaparelli expressly points out1 were not amongst that few4 ,their positions show that they were designed some #dfjj years ago1 and that they have not been materially altered down to the present time4 ,though no forms or semblances of forms are there in the heavens1 yet we still seem to see1 as we look upwards1 not merely the stars themselves1 but the same snakes and dragons1 first imagined so many ages ago as coiling amongst them4 ,the tradition of these serpentine forms and of their peculiar placing in the heavens was current among the ,babylonians quite #aejj years after the constellations were devised4 ,for the little boundary stones often display1 amongst many other astronomical symbols1 the coiled dragon round the top of the stone1 the extended snake at its base 7see p4 #cah71 and at one or other corner the serpent bent into a right angle like that borne by the ,serpent-holder--that is to say1 the three out of the four serpentine forms that hold astronomically important positions in the sky4 ,the positions held by these three serpents or dragons have given rise to a significant set of astronomical terms4 ,the ,dragon marked the poles of both ecliptic and equator2 the ,watersnake marked the equator almost from node to node2 the ,serpent marked the equator at one of the nodes4 ,the ,dragon's ,head and the ,dragon's ,tail therefore have been taken as astronomical symbols of the ascending and descending nodes of the sun's apparent path--the points where he seems to ascend above the equator in the spring1 and to descend below it again in the autumn4 ,the moon's orbit likewise intersects the apparent path of the sun in two points1 its two nodes2 and the interval of time between its passage through one of these nodes and its return to that same node again is called a ,draconic month1 a month of the ,dragon4 ,the same symbols are applied by analogy to the moon's nodes4 ,indeed the ,dragon's ,head1 symbol1 is the general sign for the ascending node of any orbit1 whether of moon1 planet or comet1 and the ,dragon's ,tail1 symbol1 for the descending node4 ,we not only use these signs in astronomical works to-day1 but the latter sign frequently occurs1 figured exactly as we figure it now1 on ,babylonian boundary stones #cjjj years old4 ,but an eclipse either of the sun or of the moon can only take place when the latter is near one of its two nodes--is in the ,dragon's ,head or in the ,dragon's ,tail4 ,this relation might be briefly expressed by saying that the ,dragon--that is of the nodes--causes the eclipse4 ,hence the numerous myths1 found in so many nations1 which relate how a dragon devours the sun 7or moon7 at the time of an eclipse4 ,illustration3 ,,hydra ,,and ,,the ,,neighbouring ,,constellations4 ,the dragon of eclipse finds its way into ,hindoo mythology in a form which shows clearly that the myth arose from a misunderstanding of the constellations4 ,the equatorial ,water-snake1 stretching from one node nearly to the other1 has resting upon it1 ,crater1 the ,cup4 ,combining this with the expression for the two nodes1 the ,hindu myth has taken the following form4 ,the gods churned the surface of the sea to make the ,amrita ,cup1 the cup of the water of life4 ,and while the gods were drinking that nectar after which they had so much hankered1 a ,danava1 named ,rahu1 was drinking it in the guise of a god4 ,and when the nectar had only reached ,rahu's throat1 the sun and the moon discovered him1 and communicated the fact to the gods4 ,rahu's head was at once cut off1 but1 as the nectar had reached thus far1 it was immortal1 and rose to the sky4 ,from that time hath arisen a long-standing quarrel between ,rahu's head and the sun and moon1 and the head swallows them from time to time1 causing eclipses4 ,rahu's head marks the ascending1 ,ketu1 the tail1 the descending node4 ,this myth is very instructive4 ,before it could have arisen1 not only must the constellations have been mapped out1 and the equator and ecliptic both recognized1 but the inclination of the moon's orbit to that of the sun must also have been recognized1 together with the fact that it was only when the moon was near its node that the eclipses1 either of the sun or moon1 could take place4 ,in other words1 the cause of eclipses must have been at one time understood1 but that knowledge must have been afterwards lost4 ,we have seen already1 in the chapter on ,the ,deep1 that the ,hebrew idea of tehom could not possibly have been derived from the ,babylonian myth of ,tiamat1 since the knowledge of the natural object must precede the myth founded upon it4 ,if1 therefore1 ,gen4 i4 and the ,babylonian story of ,creation be connected1 the one as original1 the other as derived from that original1 it is the ,babylonian story that has been borrowed from the ,hebrew1 and it has been degraded in the borrowing4 ,so in this case1 the myth of the ,dragon1 whose head and tail cause eclipses1 must have been derived from a corruption and misunderstanding of a very early astronomical achievement4 ,the myth is evidence of knowledge lost1 of science on the down-grade4 ,some may object that the myth may have brought about the conception of the draconic constellations4 ,a very little reflection will show that such a thing was impossible4 ,if the superstition that an eclipse is caused by an invisible dragon swallowing the sun or moon had really been the origin of the constellational dragons1 they would certainly have all been put in the zodiac1 the only region of the sky where sun or moon can be found2 not outside it1 where neither can ever come1 and in consequence where no eclipse can take place4 ,nor could such a superstition have led on to the discoveries above-mentioned3 that the moon caused eclipses of the sun1 the earth those of the moon2 that the moon's orbit was inclined to the ecliptic1 and that eclipses took place only near the nodes4 ,the idea of an unseen spiritual agent being at work would prevent any search for a physical explanation1 since polytheism is necessarily opposed to science4 ,there is a word used in ,scripture to denote a reptilian monster1 which appears in one instance at least to refer to this dragon of eclipse1 and so to be used in an astronomical sense4 ,job1 in his first outburst of grief cursed the day in which he was born1 and cried-- ,let them curse it that curse the day1 ,who are ready 7margin1 skilful7 to rouse up ,leviathan4 ,let the stars of the twilight thereof be dark ,let it look for light1 but have none2 ,neither let it behold the eyelids of the morning4 ,leviathan denotes an animal wreathed1 gathering itself in coils3 hence a serpent1 or some great reptile4 ,the description in ,job xli4 is evidently that of a mighty crocodile1 though in ,psalm civ4 leviathan is said to play in the great and wide sea1 which has raised a difficulty as to its identification in the minds of some commentators4 ,in the present passage it is supposed to mean one of the stellar dragons1 and hence the mythical dragon of eclipse4 ,job desired that the day of his birth should have been cursed by the magicians1 so that it had been a day of complete and entire eclipse1 not even the stars that preceded its dawn being allowed to shine4 ,the astronomical use of the word leviathan here renders it possible that there may be in ,isa4 xxvii4 an allusion--quite secondary and indirect however--to the chief stellar dragons4 ,in that day the ,lord with ,his sore and great and strong sword shall punish leviathan the piercing serpent1 even leviathan that crooked serpent2 and ,he shall slay the dragon that is in the sea4 ,the marginal reading gives us instead of piercing1 crossing like a bar2 a most descriptive epithet for the long-drawn-out constellation of ,hydra1 the ,water-snake1 which stretched itself for one hundred and five degrees along the primitive equator1 and crossed the meridian like a bar for seven hours out of every twenty-four4 ,the crooked serpent would denote the dragon coiled around the poles1 whilst the dragon which is in the sea would naturally refer to ,cetus1 the ,sea-monster4 ,the prophecy would mean then1 that in that day the ,lord will destroy all the powers of evil which have1 as it were1 laid hold of the chief places1 even in the heavens4 ,in one passage the crooked serpent1 here used as a synonym of leviathan1 distinctly points to the dragon of the constellations4 ,in ,job's last answer to ,bildad the ,shuhite1 he says-- ,he divideth the sea with ,his power1 ,and by ,his understanding ,he smiteth through the proud4 7,r4,v4 ,rahab47 ,by ,his spirit ,he hath garnished the heavens2 ,his hand hath formed the crooked serpent4 ,the passage gives a good example of the parallelism of ,hebrew poetry2 the repetition of the several terms of a statement1 term by term1 in a slightly modified sense2 a rhyme1 if the expression may be used1 not of sound1 but of signification4 ,thus in the four verses just quoted1 we have three terms in each--agent1 action1 object2--each appears in the first statement1 each appears likewise in the second4 ,the third statement1 in like manner1 has its three terms repeated in a varied form in the fourth4 ,thus-- ,his power ,his understanding4 ,divideth ,smiteth through4 ,the sea ,rahab 7the proud74 ,and-- ,his spirit ,his hand4 ,hath garnished ,hath formed4 ,the heavens ,the crooked serpent4 ,there can be no doubt as to the significance of the two parallels4 ,in the first1 dividing the sea1 i4 e4 the ,red ,sea1 is the correlative of smiting through ,rahab1 the proud one1 the name often applied to ,egypt1 as in ,isa4 xxx4 #g3 ,for ,egypt helpeth in vain1 and to no purpose3 therefore have ,i called her ,rahab that sitteth still4 ,in the second1 adorning the heavens is the correlative of forming the crooked serpent4 ,the great constellation of the writhing dragon1 emphatically a crooked serpent1 placed at the very crown of the heavens1 is set for all the constellations of the sky4 ,there are several references to ,rahab1 as the dragon which is in the sea1 all clearly referring to the kingdom of ,egypt1 personified as one of her own crocodiles lying-in-wait in her own river1 the ,nile1 or transferred1 by a figure of speech1 to the ,red ,sea1 which formed her eastern border4 ,thus in chapter li4 ,isaiah apostrophizes the arm of the ,lord4 ,art ,thou not ,it that cut ,rahab in pieces1 ,that pierced the dragon8 ,art ,thou not ,it that dried up the sea1 ,the waters of the great deep2 ,that made the depths of the sea a way for the redeemed to pass over8 ,and in ,psalm lxxxix4 we have-- ,thou rulest the raging of the sea2 ,when the waves thereof arise ,thou stillest them4 ,thou hast broken ,rahab in pieces as one that is slain1 ,thou hast scattered ,thine enemies with ,thy strong arm4 ,so the prophet ,ezekiel is directed-- ,son of man1 take up a lamentation for ,pharaoh1 king of ,egypt1 and say unto him1 thou wast likened unto a young lion of the nations3 yet art thou as a dragon in the seas4 ,in all these passages it is only in an indirect and secondary sense that we can see any constellational references in the various descriptions of the dragon that is in the sea4 ,it is the crocodile of ,egypt that is intended2 ,egypt the great oppressor of ,israel1 and one of the great powers of evil1 standing as a representative of them all4 ,the serpent or dragon forms in the constellations also represented the powers of evil2 especially the great enemy of ,god and man1 the dragon1 that old serpent1 which is the ,devil1 and ,satan4 ,so there is some amount of appropriateness to the watery dragons of the sky--,hydra and ,cetus--in these descriptions of ,rahab1 the dragon of ,egypt1 without there being any direct reference4 ,thus it is said of the ,egyptian dragon in the seas1 ,i have given thee for meat to the beasts of the earth1 and to the fowls of the heaven2 and again1 ,i will cause all the fowls of the heaven to settle upon thee1 just as ,corvus1 the ,raven1 is shown as having settled upon ,hydra1 the ,water-snake1 and is devouring its flesh4 ,again1 ,pharaoh1 the ,egyptian dragon1 says1 ,my river is mine own1 and ,i have made it for myself2 just as ,cetus1 the ,sea-monster1 is represented as pouring forth ,eridanus1 the river1 from its mouth4 ,illustration3 ,,andromeda ,,and ,,cetus4 ,but a clear and direct allusion to this last grouping of the constellations occurs in the ,apocalypse4 ,in the twelfth chapter1 the proud oppressor dragon from the sea is shown us again with much fulness of detail4 ,there the ,apostle describes his vision of a woman1 who evidently represents the people of ,god1 being persecuted by a dragon4 ,there is still a reminiscence of the deliverance of ,israel in the ,exodus from ,egypt1 for the woman fled into the wilderness1 where she hath a place prepared of ,god1 that there they may nourish her a thousand two hundred and threescore days4 ,and the vision goes on3-- ,and the serpent cast out of his mouth1 after the woman water as a river1 that he might cause her to be carried away by the stream4 ,and the earth helped the woman1 and the earth opened her mouth1 and swallowed up the river which the dragon cast out of his mouth4 ,this appears to be precisely the action which is presented to us in the three constellations of ,andromeda1 ,cetus1 and ,eridanus4 ,andromeda is always shown as a woman in distress1 and the ,sea-monster1 though placed far from her in the sky1 has always been understood to be her persecutor4 ,thus ,aratus writes-- ,andromeda1 though far away she flies1 ,dreads the ,sea-monster1 low in southern skies4 ,the latter1 baffled in his pursuit of his victim1 has cast the river1 ,eridanus1 out of his mouth1 which1 flowing down below the southern horizon1 is apparently swallowed up by the earth4 ,it need occasion no surprise that we should find imagery used by ,st4 ,john in his prophecy already set forth in the constellations nearly #c1jjj years before he wrote4 ,just as1 in this same book1 ,st4 ,john repeated ,daniel's vision of the fourth beast1 and ,ezekiel's vision of the living creatures1 as he used the well-known details of the ,jewish ,temple1 the candlesticks1 the laver1 the altar of incense1 so he used a group of stellar figures perfectly well known at the time when he wrote4 ,in so doing the beloved disciple only followed the example which his ,master had already set him4 ,for the imagery in the parables of our ,lord is always drawn from scenes and objects known and familiar to all men4 ,in two instances in which leviathan is mentioned1 a further expression is used which has a distinct astronomical bearing4 ,in the passage already quoted1 where ,job curses the day of his birth1 he desires that it may not behold the eyelids of the morning4 ,and in the grand description of leviathan1 the crocodile1 in chapter xli41 we have-- ,his neesings flash forth light1 ,and his eyes are like the eyelids of the morning4 ,canon ,driver considers this as an allusion1 probably to the reddish eyes of the crocodile1 which are said to appear gleaming through the water before the head comes to the surface4 ,this is because of the position of the eyes on the animal's head1 not because they have any peculiar brilliancy4 ,it is an idea exclusively ,egyptian1 and is another link in the chain of evidence which connects the author of the poem with ,egypt4 ,the crocodile's head is so formed that its highest points are the eyes2 and when it rises obliquely to the surface the eyes are the first part of the whole animal to emerge4 ,the ,egyptians observing this1 compared it to the sun rising out of the sea1 and made it the hieroglyphic representative of the idea of sunrise4 ,thus ,horus ,apollo says3 ,when the ,egyptians represent the sunrise1 they paint the eye of the crocodile1 because it is first seen as that animal emerges from the water4#bji3a ,in this likening of the eyes of the crocodile to the eyelids of the morning1 we have the comparison of one natural object with another4 ,such comparison1 when used in one way and for one purpose1 is the essence of poetry2 when used in another way and for another purpose1 is the essence of science4 ,both poetry and science are opposed to myth1 which is the confusion of natural with imaginary objects1 the mistaking the one for the other4 ,thus it is poetry when the ,psalmist speaks of the sun as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber2 for there is no confusion in his thought between the two natural objects4 ,the sun is like the bridegroom in the glory of his appearance4 ,the ,psalmist does not ascribe to him a bride and children4 ,it is science when the astronomer compares the spectrum of the sun with the spectra of various metals in the laboratory4 ,he is comparing natural object with natural object1 and is enabled to draw conclusions as to the elements composing the sun1 and the condition in which they there exist4 ,but it is myth when the ,babylonian represents ,bel or ,merodach as the solar deity1 destroying ,tiamat1 the dragon of darkness1 for there is confusion in the thought4 ,the imaginary god is sometimes given solar1 sometimes human1 sometimes superhuman characteristics4 ,there is no actuality in much of what is asserted as to the sun or as to the wholly imaginary being associated with it4 ,the mocking words of ,elijah to the priests of ,baal were justified by the intellectual confusion of their ideas1 as well as by the spiritual degradation of their idolatry4 ,cry aloud3 for he is a god2 either he is talking1 or he is pursuing1 or he is in a journey1 or peradventure he sleepeth1 and must be awakened4 ,such nature-myths are not indications of the healthy mental development of a primitive people2 they are the clear signs of a pathological condition1 the symptoms of intellectual disease4 ,it is well to bear in mind this distinction1 this opposition between poetry and myth1 for ignoring it has led to not a little misconception as to the occurrence of myth in ,scripture1 especially in connection with the names associated with the crocodile4 ,thus it has been broadly asserted that the original mythical signification of the monsters tehm1 livyathan1 tannim1 rahb1 is unmistakably evident4 ,of these names the first signifies the world of waters2 the second and third real aquatic animals2 and the last1 the proud one1 is simply an epithet of ,egypt1 applied to the crocodile as the representation of the kingdom4 ,there is no more myth in setting forth ,egypt by the crocodile or leviathan than in setting forth ,great ,britain by the lion1 or ,russia by the bear4 ,the ,hebrews in setting forth their enemies by crocodile and other ferocious reptiles were not describing any imaginary monsters of the primval chaos1 but real oppressors4 ,the ,egyptian1 with his house of bondage1 the ,assyrian1 which smote with a rod1 the ,chaldean who made havoc of ,israel altogether1 were not dreams4 ,and in beseeching ,god to deliver them from their latest oppressor the ,hebrews naturally recalled1 not some idle tale of the fabulous achievements of ,babylonian deities1 but the actual deliverance ,god had wrought for them at the ,red ,sea4 ,there the ,egyptian crocodile had been made meat to the people inhabiting the wilderness when the corpses of ,pharaoh's bodyguard1 cast up on the shore1 supplied the children of ,israel with the weapons and armour of which they stood in need4 ,so in the day of their utter distress they could still cry in faith and hope-- ,yet ,god is my ,king of old1 ,working salvation in the midst of the earth4 ,thou didst divide the sea by ,thy strength3 ,thou brakest the heads of the dragons in the waters4 ,thou brakest the heads of leviathan in pieces1 ,and gavest him to be meat to the people inhabiting the wilderness4 ,thou didst cleave the fountain and the flood3 ,thou driedst up mighty rivers4 ,the day is ,thine1 the night also is ,thine3 ,thou hast prepared the light and the sun4 ,thou hast set all the borders of the earth3 ,thou hast made summer and winter4 ,,footnotes3 #bji3a ,p4 ,h4 ,gosse1 in the ,imperial ,bible-,dictionary4 ,,chapter ,,vi ,,the ,,pleiades ,the translators of the ,bible1 from time to time1 find themselves in a difficulty as to the correct rendering of certain words in the original4 ,this is especially the case with the names of plants and animals4 ,some sort of clue may be given by the context1 as1 for instance1 if the region is mentioned in which a certain plant is found1 or the use that is made of it2 or1 in the case of an animal1 whether it is clean or unclean1 what are its habits1 and with what other animals it is associated4 ,but in the case of the few ,scripture references to special groups of stars1 we have no such help4 ,we are in the position in which ,macaulay's ,new ,zealander might be1 if1 long after the ,english nation had been dispersed1 and its language had ceased to be spoken amongst men1 he were to find a book in which the rivers ,thames1 ,trent1 ,tyne1 and ,tweed were mentioned by name1 but without the slightest indication of their locality4 ,his attempt to fit these names to particular rivers would be little more than a guess--a guess the accuracy of which he would have no means for testing4 ,this is somewhat our position with regard to the four ,hebrew names1 ,kimah1 ,k7esil1 ,ayish1 and ,mazzaroth2 yet in each case there are some slight indications which have given a clue to the compilers of our ,revised ,version1 and have1 in all probability1 guided them correctly4 ,the constellations are not all equally attractive4 ,a few have drawn the attention of all men1 however otherwise inattentive4 ,north-,american ,indians and ,australian savages have equally noted the flashing brilliancy of ,orion1 and the compact little swarm of the ,pleiades4 ,all northern nations recognize the seven bright stars of the ,great ,bear1 and they are known by a score of familiar names4 ,they are the ,plough1 or ,charles's ,wain of ,northern ,europe2 the ,seven ,plough ,oxen of ancient ,rome2 the ,bier and ,mourners of the ,arabs2 the ,chariot1 or ,waggon1 of the old ,chaldeans2 the ,big ,dipper of the prosaic ,new ,england farmer4 ,these three groups are just the three which we find mentioned in the earliest poetry of ,greece4 ,so ,homer writes1 in the ,fifth ,book of the ,odyssey1 that ,ulysses-- ,there view'd the ,pleiads1 and the ,northern ,team1 ,and ,great ,orion's more refulgent beam1 ,to which1 around the axle of the sky1 ,the ,bear1 revolving1 points his golden eye4 ,it seems natural to conclude that these constellations1 the most striking1 or at all events the most universally recognized1 would be those mentioned in the ,bible4 ,the passages in which the ,hebrew word ,kimah1 is used are the following-- 7,god7 maketh ,arcturus1 ,orion1 and ,pleiades 7,kimah71 and the chambers of the south 7,job ix4 #i74 ,canst thou bind the sweet influences of ,pleiades 7,kimah71 or loose the bands of ,orion8 7,job xxxviii4 #ca74 ,seek ,him that maketh the seven stars 7,kimah7 and ,orion 7,amos v4 #h74 ,in our ,revised ,version1 ,kimah is rendered ,pleiades in all three instances1 and of course the translators of the ,authorized ,version meant the same group by the seven stars in their free rendering of the passage from ,amos4 ,the word kimah signifies a heap1 or a cluster1 and would seem to be related to the ,assyrian word kimtu1 family1 from a root meaning to tie1 or bind2 a family being a number of persons bound together by the very closest tie of relationship4 ,if this be so we can have no doubt that our translators have rightly rendered the word4 ,there is one cluster in the sky1 and one alone1 which appeals to the unaided sight as being distinctly and unmistakably a family of stars--the ,pleiades4 ,the names ,ash1 or ,ayish1 ,k7esil1 and ,kimah are peculiar to the ,hebrews1 and are not1 so far as we have any evidence at present1 allied to names in use for any constellation amongst the ,babylonians and ,assyrians2 they have1 as yet1 not been found on any cuneiform inscription4 ,amos1 the herdsman of ,tekoa1 living in the eighth century ,b4,c41 two centuries before the ,jews were carried into exile to ,babylon1 evidently knew well what the terms signified1 and the writer of the ,book of ,job was no less aware of their signification4 ,but the ,seventy1 who translated the ,hebrew ,scriptures into ,greek1 were not at all clear as to the identification of these names of constellations2 though they made their translation only two or three centuries after the ,jews returned to ,jerusalem under ,ezra and ,nehemiah1 when oral tradition should have still supplied the meaning of such astronomical terms4 ,had these names been then known in ,babylon1 they could not have been unknown to the learned men of ,alexandria in the second century before our era1 since at that time there was a very direct scientific influence of the one city upon the other4 ,this ,hebrew astronomy was so far from being due to ,babylonian influence and teaching1 that1 though known centuries before the exile1 after the exile we find the knowledge of its technical terms was lost4 ,on the other hand1 kima was the term used in all ,syriac literature to denominate the ,pleiades1 and we accordingly find in the ,peschitta1 the ancient ,syriac version of the ,bible1 made about the second century ,a4,d41 the term kima retained throughout1 but kesil and ayish were reduced to their supposed ,syriac equivalents4 ,whatever uncertainty was felt as to the meaning of kimah by the early translators1 it is not now seriously disputed that the ,pleiades is the group of stars in question4 ,the word kimah means1 as we have seen1 cluster or heap1 so also the word ,pleiades1 which we use to-day1 is probably derived from the ,greek ,pleiones1 many4 ,several ,greek poets--,athenus1 ,hesiod1 ,pindar1 and ,simonides--wrote the word ,peleiades1 i4 e4 rock pigeons1 considered as flying from the ,hunter ,orion2 others made them the seven doves who carried ambrosia to the infant ,zeus4 ,d',arcy ,thompson says1 ,the ,pleiad is in many languages associated with bird-names1 4 4 4 and ,i am inclined to take the bird on the bull's back in coins of ,eretria1 ,dica1 and ,thurii for the associated constellation of the ,pleiad#bag3a--the ,pleiades being situated on the shoulder of ,taurus the ,bull4 ,the ,hyades were situated on the head of the ,bull1 and in the ,euphrates region these two little groups of stars were termed together1 ,mas-tab-ba-gal-gal-la1 the ,great ,twins of the ecliptic1 as ,castor and ,pollux were the ,twins of the zodiac4 ,in one tablet 'mina bi1 the sevenfold one1 and ,gut-da1 the ,bull-in-front1 are mentioned side by side1 thus agreeing well with their interpretation of ,pleiades and ,hyades4 ,the ,semitic name for the ,pleiades was also ,tmennu2 and these groups of stars1 worshipped as gods by the ,babylonians1 may possibly have been the ,gad and ,meni1 that troop1 and that number1 referred to by the prophet ,isaiah 7lxv4 #aa74 ,on many ,babylonian cylinder seals there are engraved seven small discs1 in addition to other astronomical symbols4 ,these seven small stellar discs are almost invariably arranged in the form 333' or333 much as we should now-a-days plot the cluster of the ,pleiades when mapping on a small scale the constellations round the ,bull4 ,it is evident that these seven little stellar discs do not mean the seven planets1 for in many cases the astronomical symbols which accompany them include both those of the sun and moon4 ,it is most probable that they signify the ,pleiades1 or perhaps alternatively the ,hyades4 ,possibly1 reference is made to the worship of the ,pleiades when the king of ,assyria1 in the seventh century ,b4,c41 brought men from ,babylon and other regions to inhabit the depopulated cities of ,samaria1 and the men of ,babylon made ,succoth-benoth4 ,the ,rabbis are said to have rendered this by the booths of the ,maidens1 or the tents of the ,daughters1--the ,pleiades being the maidens in question4 ,generally they are the ,seven ,sisters4 ,hesiod calls them the ,seven ,virgins1 and the ,virgin ,stars4 ,the names given to the individual stars are those of the seven daughters of ,atlas and ,pleione2 thus ,milton terms them the ,seven ,atlantic ,sisters4 ,as we have seen 7p4 #ahi71 the device associated expressly with ,joseph is the ,bull1 and ,jacob's blessing to his son has been sometimes rendered-- ,joseph is a fruitful bough1 even a fruitful bough by a well2 the daughters walk upon the bull4 ,that is1 the ,seven ,sisters1 the ,pleiades1 are on the shoulder of ,taurus4 ,aratus wrote of the number of the ,pleiades-- ,seven paths aloft men say they take1 ,yet six alone are viewed by mortal eyes4 ,from ,zeus' abode no star unknown is lost1 ,since first from birth we heard1 but thus the tale is told4 ,illustration3 ,,stars ,,of ,,the ,,pleiades4 ,euripides speaks of these seven paths1 and ,eratosthenes calls them the seven-starred ,pleiad1 although he describes one as ,all-,invisible4 ,there is a surprisingly universal tradition that they were seven who now are six4 ,we find it not only in ancient ,greece and ,italy1 but also among the black fellows of ,australia1 the ,malays of ,borneo1 and the negroes of the ,gold ,coast4 ,there must be some reason to account for this widespread tradition4 ,some of the stars are known to be slightly variable1 and one of the fainter stars in the cluster may have shone more brightly in olden time2--the gaseous spectrum of ,pleione renders it credible that this star may once have had great brilliancy4 ,alcyone1 now the brightest star in the cluster1 was not mentioned by ,ptolemy among the four brightest ,pleiads of his day4 ,the six now visible to ordinary sight are ,alcyone1 ,electra1 ,atlas1 ,maia1 ,merope and ,taygeta4 ,celoeno is the next in brightness1 and the present candidate for the seventh place4 ,by good sight1 several more may be made out3 thus ,maestlin1 the tutor of ,kepler1 mapped eleven before the invention of the telescope1 and in our own day ,carrington and ,denning have counted fourteen with the naked eye4 ,in clear mountain atmosphere more than seven would be seen by any keen-sighted observer4 ,usually six stars may be made out with the naked eye in both the ,pleiades and the ,hyades1 or1 if more than six1 then several more2 though with both groups the number of seven has always been associated4 ,in the ,new ,testament we find the ,seven ,stars also mentioned4 ,in the first chapter of the ,revelation1 the ,apostle ,st4 ,john says that he saw seven golden candlesticks2 and in the midst of the seven candlesticks one like unto the ,son of ,man1 4 4 4 and ,he had in ,his right hand seven stars4 ,later in the same chapter it is explained that the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches2 and the seven candlesticks which thou sawest are the seven churches4 ,the seven stars in a single compact cluster thus stand for the ,church in its many diversities and its essential unity4 ,this beautiful little constellation has become associated with a foolish fable4 ,when it was first found that not only did the planets move round the sun in orbits1 but that the sun itself also was travelling rapidly through space1 a ,german astronomer1 ,mdler1 hazarded the suggestion that the centre of the sun's motion lay in the ,pleiades4 ,it was soon evident that there was no sufficient ground for this suggestion1 and that many clearly established facts were inconsistent with it4 ,nevertheless the idea caught hold of the popular mind1 and it has acquired an amazing vogue4 ,non-astronomical writers have asserted that ,alcyone1 the brightest ,pleiad1 is the centre of the entire universe2 some have even been sufficiently irreverent to declare that it is the seat of heaven1 the throne of ,god4 ,a popular ,london divine1 having noticed a bright ring round ,alcyone on a photograph of the group1 took that halo1 which every photographer would at once recognize as a mere photographic defect1 as a confirmation of this baseless fancy4 ,foolishness of this kind has nothing to support it in science or religion2 it is an offence against both4 ,we have no reason to regard the ,pleiades as the centre of the universe1 or as containing the attracting mass which draws our sun forward in its vast mysterious orbit4 ,r4 ,h4 ,allen1 in his survey of the literature of the ,pleiades1 mentions that ,drach surmised that their midnight culmination in the time of ,moses1 ten days after the autumnal equinox1 may have fixed the ,day of ,atonement on the #ajth of ,tishri4#bba3a ,this is worth quoting as a sample of the unhappy astronomical guesses of commentators4 ,drach overlooked that his suggestion necessitated the assumption that in the time of ,moses astronomers had already learned1 first1 to determine the actual equinox2 next1 to observe the culmination of stars on the meridian rather than their risings and settings2 and1 third and more important1 to determine midnight by some artificial measurement of time4 ,none of these can have been primitive operations2 we have no knowledge that any of the three were in use in the time of ,moses2 certainly they were not suitable for a people on the march1 like the ,israelites in the wilderness4 ,above all1 ,drach ignored in this suggestion the fact that the ,jewish calendar was a lunar-solar one1 and hence that the tenth day of the seventh month could not bear any fixed relation either to the autumnal equinox1 or to the midnight culmination of the ,pleiades2 any more than our ,easter ,sunday is fixed to the spring equinox on ,march #bb4 ,the ,pleiades were often associated with the late autumn1 as ,aratus writes-- ,men mark them rising with ,sol's setting light1 ,forerunners of the winter's gloomy night4 ,this is what is technically known as the acronical rising of the ,pleiades1 their rising at sunset2 in contrast to their heliacal rising1 their rising just before daybreak1 which ushered in the spring time4 ,this acronical rising has led to the association of the group with the rainy season1 and with floods4 ,thus ,statius called the cluster ,pliadum nivosum sidus1 and ,valerius ,flaccus distinctly used the word ,pliada for the showers4 ,josephus says that during the siege of ,jerusalem by ,antiochus ,epiphanes in #agj ,b4,c41 the besieged wanted for water until relieved by a large shower of rain which fell at the setting of the ,pleiades4 ,r4 ,h4 ,allen1 in his ,star-,names and their ,meanings1 states that the ,pleiades are intimately connected with traditions of the flood found among so many and widely separated nations1 and especially in the ,deluge-myth of ,chalda1 but he does not cite authorities or instances4 ,the ,talmud gives a curious legend connecting the ,pleiades with the ,flood3-- ,when the ,holy ,one1 blessed be ,he6 wished to bring the ,deluge upon the world1 ,he took two stars out of ,pleiades1 and thus let the ,deluge loose4 ,and when ,he wished to arrest it1 ,he took two stars out of ,arcturus and stopped it4#bbc3a ,it would seem from this that the ,rabbis connected the number of visible stars with the number of the family in the ,ark--with the few1 that is1 eight souls 4 4 4 saved by water1 of whom ,st4 ,peter speaks4 ,six ,pleiades only are usually seen by the naked eye2 traditionally seven were seen2 but the ,rabbis assumed that two1 not one1 were lost4 ,perhaps we may trace a reference to this supposed association of ,kimah with the ,flood in the passage from ,amos already quoted3-- ,seek ,him that maketh the seven stars and ,orion1 4 4 4 that calleth for the waters of the sea1 and poureth them out upon the face of the earth3 the ,lord is ,his name4 ,many ancient nations have set apart days in the late autumn in honour of the dead1 no doubt because the year was then considered as dead4 ,this season being marked by the acronical rising of the ,pleiades1 that group has become associated with such observances4 ,there is1 however1 no reference to any custom of this kind in ,scripture4 ,what is the meaning of the inquiry addressed to ,job by the ,almighty8 ,canst thou bind the sweet influences of ,pleiades8 ,what was the meaning which it possessed in the thought of the writer of the book8 ,what was the meaning which we should now put on such an inquiry1 looking at the constellations from the standpoint which the researches of modern astronomy have given us8 ,the first meaning of the text would appear to be connected with the apparent movement of the sun amongst the stars in the course of the year4 ,we cannot see the stars by daylight1 or see directly where the sun is situated with respect to them2 but1 in very early times1 men learnt to associate the seasons of the year with the stars which were last seen in the morning1 above the place where the sun was about to rise2 in the technical term once in use1 with the heliacal risings of stars4 ,when the constellations were first designed1 the ,pleiades rose heliacally at the beginning of ,april1 and were the sign of the return of spring4 ,thus ,aratus1 in his constellation poem writes-- ,men mark them 7i4 e4 the ,pleiades7 rising with the solar ray1 ,the harbinger of summer's brighter day4 ,they heralded1 therefore1 the revival of nature from her winter sleep1 the time of which the kingly poet sang so alluringly-- ,for1 lo1 the winter is past1 ,the rain is over and gone2 ,the flowers appear on the earth2 ,the time of the singing of birds is come1 ,and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land2 ,the fig-tree ripeneth her green figs1 ,and the vines are in blossom1 ,they give forth their fragrance4 ,the constellation which thus heralded the return of this genial season was poetically taken as representing the power and influence of spring4 ,their sweet influences were those that had rolled away the gravestone of snow and ice which had lain upon the winter tomb of nature4 ,theirs was the power that brought the flowers up from under the turf2 earth's constellations of a million varied stars to shine upwards in answer to the constellations of heaven above4 ,their influences filled copse and wood with the songs of happy birds4 ,theirs stirred anew the sap in the veins of the trees1 and drew forth their reawakened strength in bud and blossom4 ,theirs was the bleating of the new-born lambs2 theirs the murmur of the reviving bees4 ,upon this view1 then1 the question to ,job was1 in effect1 ,what control hast thou over the powers of nature8 ,canst thou hold back the sun from shining in spring-time--from quickening flower1 and herb1 and tree with its gracious warmth8 ,this is ,god's work1 year by year over a thousand lands1 on a million hills1 in a million valleys4 ,what canst thou do to hinder it8 ,the question was a striking one2 one which must have appealed to the patriarch1 evidently a keen observer and lover of nature2 and it was entirely in line with the other inquiries addressed to him in the same chapter4 ,where wast thou when ,i laid the foundations of the earth8 ,the ,revised ,version renders the question-- ,canst thou bind the cluster of the ,pleiades8 reading the ,hebrew word ,maanaddoth1 instead of ,ma'adannoth1 following in this all the most ancient versions4 ,on this view1 ,job is1 in effect1 asked1 ,canst thou gather together the stars in the family of the ,pleiades and keep them in their places8 ,the expression of a chain or band is one suggested by the appearance of the group to the eye1 but it is no less appropriate in the knowledge which photography and great telescopes have given us4 ,to quote from ,miss ,clerke's description of the nebula discovered round the brighter stars of the ,pleiades--,alcyone1 ,asterope1 ,celoeno1 ,electra1 ,maia1 ,merope and ,taygeta3-- ,besides the ,maia vortex1 the ,paris photographs depicted a series of nebulous bars on either side of ,merope1 and a curious streak extending like a finger-post from ,electra towards ,alcyone 4 4 4 ,streamers and fleecy masses of cosmical fog seem almost to fill the spaces between the stars1 as clouds choke a mountain valley4 ,the chief points of its concentration are the four stars ,alcyone1 ,merope1 ,maia1 and ,electra2 but it includes as well ,celoeno and ,taygeta1 and is traceable southward from ,asterope over an arc of #a #aj4 4 4 4 ,the greater part of the constellation is shown as veiled in nebulous matter of most unequal densities4 ,in some places it lies in heavy folds and wreaths1 in others it barely qualifies the darkness of the sky-ground4 ,the details of its distribution come out with remarkable clearness1 and are evidently to a large extent prescribed by the relative situations of the stars4 ,their lines of junction are frequently marked by nebulous rays1 establishing between them1 no doubt1 relations of great physical importance2 and masses of nebula1 in numerous instances1 seem as if pulled out of shape and drawn into festoons by the attractions of neighbouring stars4 ,but the strangest exemplification of this filamentous tendency is in a fine1 thread-like process1 #c or #d wide1 but #ce to #dj long1 issuing in an easterly direction from the edge of the nebula about ,maia1 and stringing together seven stars1 met in its advance1 like beads on a rosary4 ,the largest of these is apparently the occasion of a slight deviation from its otherwise rectilinear course4 ,a second similar but shorter streak runs1 likewise east and west1 through the midst of the formation4#bbi3a ,illustration3 ,,nebulosities ,,of ,,the ,,pleiades4 ,photographed by ,dr4 ,max ,wolf1 ,heidelberg4 ,later photographs have shown that not only are the several stars of the ,pleiades linked together by nebulous filaments1 but the whole cluster is embedded in a nebulous net that spreads its meshes far out into space4 ,not only is the group thus tied or bound together by nebulous clouds1 it has other tokens of forming but a single family4 ,the movements of the several stars have been carefully measured1 and for the most part the entire cluster is drifting in the same direction2 a few stars do not share in the common motion1 and are probably apparent members1 seen in perspective projected on the group1 but in reality much nearer to us4 ,the members of the group also show a family likeness in constitution4 ,when the spectroscope is turned upon it1 the chief stars are seen to closely resemble each other2 the principal lines in their spectra being those of hydrogen1 and these are seen as broad and diffused bands1 so that the spectrum we see resembles that of the brightest star of the heavens1 ,sirius4 ,there can be little doubt but that the leaders of the group are actually greater1 brighter suns than ,sirius itself4 ,we do not know the exact distance of the ,pleiades1 they are so far off that we can scarcely do more than make a guess at it2 but it is probable that they are so far distant that our sun at like distance would prove much too faint to be seen at all by the naked eye4 ,the ,pleiades then would seem to be a most glorious star-system1 not yet come to its full growth4 ,from the standpoint of modern science we may interpret the chain or the sweet influences of the ,pleiades as consisting in the enfolding wisps of nebulosity which still1 as it were1 knit together those vast young suns2 or1 and in all probability more truly1 as that mysterious force of gravitation which holds the mighty system together1 and in obedience to which the group has taken its present shape4 ,the question1 if asked us to-day1 would be1 in effect1 ,canst thou bind together by nebulous chains scores of suns1 far more glorious than thine own1 and scattered over many millions of millions of miles of space2 or canst thou loosen the attraction which those suns exercise upon each other1 and move them hither and thither at thy will8 ,,footnotes3 #bag3a ,glossary of ,greek ,birds1 pp4 #bh1 #bi4 #bba3a ,r4 ,h4 ,allen1 ,star ,names and their ,meanings1 p4 #dja4 #bbc3a ,berachoth1 fol4 #ei1 col4 #a4 #bbi3a ,the ,system of the ,stars1 #ast edit41 pp4 #bcj-bcb4 ,,chapter ,,vii ,,orion ,k7esil1 the word rendered by our translators ,orion1 occurs in an astronomical sense four times in the ,scriptures2 twice in the ,book of ,job1 once in the prophecy of ,amos1 and once1 in the plural1 in the prophecy of ,isaiah4 ,in the three first cases the word is used in conjunction with ,kimah1 the ,pleiades1 as shown in the preceding chapter4 ,the fourth instance is rendered in the ,authorized ,version-- ,for the stars of heaven and the constellations 7,k7esilim7 thereof shall not give their light4 ,the ,hebrew word ,k7esil signifies a fool1 and that in the general sense of the term as used in ,scripture2 not merely a silly1 untaught1 feckless person1 but a godless and an impious one4 ,thus1 in the ,book of ,proverbs1 ,divine ,wisdom is represented as appealing-- ,how long1 ye simple ones1 will ye love simplicity8 the scorners delight in their scorning1 and fools hate knowledge8 ,illustration3 ,,the ,,stars ,,of ,,orion4 ,what constellation was known to the ancient ,hebrews as the fool8 ,the ,seventy who rendered the ,old ,testament into ,greek confess themselves at fault4 ,once1 in ,amos1 both ,kimah and ,k7esil are left untranslated4 ,instead of ,him that maketh the seven stars and ,orion1 we have the paraphrase1 ,that maketh and transformeth all things4 ,once1 in ,job1 it is rendered ,hesperus1 the evening star2 and in the other two instances it is given as ,orion4 ,the tradition of the real meaning of the word as an astronomical term had been lost1 or at least much confused before the ,septuagint ,version was undertaken4 ,the ,jews had not1 so far as there is any present evidence1 learned the term in ,babylon1 for the word has not yet been found as a star-name on any cuneiform inscription4 ,it was well known before the ,exile1 for ,amos and ,isaiah both use it1 and the fact that the author of ,job also uses it1 indicates that he did not gain his knowledge of the constellation during the ,babylonian captivity4 ,the majority of translators and commentators have1 however1 agreed in believing that the brightest and most splendid constellation in the sky is intended--the one which we know as ,orion4 ,this constellation is one of the very few in which the natural grouping of the stars seems to suggest the figure that has been connected with it4 ,four bright stars1 in a great trapezium1 are taken to mark the two shoulders and the two legs of a gigantic warrior2 a row of three bright stars1 midway between the four first named1 suggest his gemmed belt2 another row of stars straight down from the centre star of the belt1 presents his sword2 a compact cluster of three stars marks his head4 ,a gigantic warrior1 armed for the battle1 seems thus to be outlined in the heavens4 ,as ,longfellow describes him-- ,begirt with many a blazing star1 ,stood the great giant1 ,algebar1 ,orion1 hunter of the beast6 ,his sword hung gleaming by his side1 ,and1 on his arm1 the lion's hide ,scattered across the midnight air ,the golden radiance of its hair4 ,in accord with the form naturally suggested by the grouping of the stars1 the ,syrians have called the constellation ,gabbara2 and the ,arabs1 ,al ,jabbar2 and the ,jews1 ,gibbor4 ,the brightest star of the constellation1 the one in the left knee1 now generally known as ,rigel1 is still occasionally called ,algebar1 a corruption of ,al ,jabbar1 though one of the fainter stars near it now bears that name4 ,the meaning in each case is the giant1 the mighty one1 the great warrior1 and no doubt from the first formation of the constellations1 this1 the most brilliant of all1 was understood to set forth a warrior armed for the battle4 ,there were gibborim before the ,flood2 we are told that after the sons of ,god came in unto the daughters of men1 and they bare children to them1 the same became mighty men 7gibborim7 which were of old1 men of renown4 ,but according to ,jewish tradition1 this constellation was appropriated to himself by a particular mighty man4 ,we are told in ,gen4 x4 that-- ,cush begat ,nimrod3 he began to be a mighty one 7gibbor7 in the earth4 and it is alleged that he1 or his courtiers1 in order to flatter him1 gave his name to this constellation1 just as thousands of years later the ,university of ,leipzic proposed to call the belt stars of ,orion1 ,stell ,napoleonis1 the ,constellation of ,napoleon4#bcd3a ,there was at one time surprise felt1 that1 deeply as the name of ,nimrod had impressed itself upon ,eastern tradition1 his name1 as such1 was nowhere found in the extensive literature which has come down to us from ,babylon4 ,it is now considered that the word1 ,nimrod1 is simply a ,hebrew variant of ,merodach1 the well-known head of the ,babylonian pantheon4 ,he was probably the first king of ,babylonia or the first really great ruler of the country4 ,it is significant1 as ,mr4 ,t4 ,g4 ,pinches points out1 in his ,old ,testament in the ,light of the ,records from ,assyria and ,babylonia1 that just as in ,genesis it is stated that the beginning of his 7,nimrod's7 kingdom was ,babel1 and ,erech1 and ,accad1 and ,calneh1 so ,merodach is stated1 in the cuneiform records1 to have built ,babel and ,erech and ,niffer1 which last is probably ,calneh4 ,the ,hebrew scribes would seem to have altered the name of ,merodach in two particulars3 they dropped the last syllable1 thus suggesting that the name was derived from ,marad1 the rebellious one2 and they prefixed the syllable ,ni1 just as ,nisroch was written for ,assur4 ,from a linguistic point of view1 therefore1 the identification of ,nimrod as a changed form of ,merodach is fully justified4 ,illustration3 ,,orion ,,and ,,the ,,neighbouring ,,constellations4 ,the attitude of ,orion in the sky is a striking one4 ,the warrior is represented as holding a club in the right hand1 and a skin or shield in the left4 ,his left foot is raised high as if he were climbing a steep ascent1 he seems to be endeavouring to force his way up into the zodiac1 and--as ,longfellow expresses it--to be beating the forehead of the ,bull4 ,his right leg is not shown below the knee1 for immediately beneath him is the little constellation of the ,hare1 by the early ,arabs sometimes called1 ,al ,kursiyy al ,jabbar1 the ,chair of the ,giant1 from its position4 ,behind ,orion are the two ,dogs1 each constellation distinguished by a very brilliant star2 the ,greater ,dog1 by ,sirius1 the brightest star in the heavens2 the ,lesser ,dog1 by ,procyon1 i4e4 the ,dog's ,forerunner4 ,not far above ,orion1 on the shoulder of the ,bull1 is the little cluster of the ,pleiades4 ,there are--as we have seen--only three passages where ,kimah1 literally the cluster or company1--the group we know as the ,pleiades1--is mentioned in ,scripture2 and in each case it is associated with ,k7esil1 the fool1--,orion4 ,several ,greek poets give us the same association1 likening the stars to rock-pigeons1 flying from the ,hunter ,orion4 ,and ,hesiod in his ,works and ,days writes-- ,do not to plough forget1 ,when the ,seven ,virgins1 and ,orion1 set3 ,thus an advantage always shall appear1 ,in ev'ry labour of the various year4 ,if o'er your mind prevails the love of gain1 ,and tempts you to the dangers of the main1 ,yet in her harbour safe the vessel keep1 ,when strong ,orion chases to the deep ,the ,virgin stars4 ,there is a suggestion of intense irony in this position of ,orion amongst the other constellations4 ,he is trampling on the ,hare--most timid of creatures2 he is climbing up into the zodiac to chase the little company of the ,pleiades--be they seven doves or seven maidens--and he is thwarted even in this unheroic attempt by the determined attitude of the guardian ,bull4 ,a similar irony is seen in the ,hebrew name for the constellation4 ,the mighty ,hunter1 the great hero whom the ,babylonians had deified and made their supreme god1 the ,hebrews regarded as the fool1 the impious rebel4 ,since ,orion is ,nimrod1 that is ,merodach1 there is small wonder that ,k7esil was not recognized as his name in ,babylonia4#bch3a ,the attitude of ,orion--attempting to force his way upward into the zodiac--and the identification of ,merodach with him1 gives emphasis to ,isaiah's reproach1 many centuries later1 against the king of ,babylon1 the successor of ,merodach-- ,thou hast said in thine heart1 ,i will ascend into heaven1 ,i will exalt my throne above the stars of ,god3 ,i will sit also upon the mount of the congregation1 in the sides of the north3 ,i will ascend above the heights of the clouds2 ,i will be like the ,most ,high4 ,in the sight of the ,hebrew prophets and poets1 ,merodach1 in taking to himself this group of stars1 published his shame and folly4 ,he had ascended into heaven1 but his glittering belt was only his fetter2 he was bound and gibbeted in the sky like a captive1 a rebel1 and who could loose his bands8 ,in the thirteenth chapter of ,isaiah we have the plural of k7esil--k7esilim4 ,it is usually understood that we have here ,orion1 as the most splendid constellation in the sky1 put for the constellations in general4 ,but if we remember that k7esil stands for ,nimrod or ,merodach1 the first proud tyrant mentioned by name in ,scripture1 the particular significance of the allusion becomes evident-- ,behold1 the day of the ,lord cometh1 cruel both with wrath and fierce anger1 to lay the land desolate3 and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it4 ,for the stars of heavens and the constellations--7that is the k7esilim1 the ,nimrods or ,merodachs of the sky7--thereof shall not give their light3 the sun shall be darkened in his going forth1 and the moon shall not cause her light to shine4 ,and ,i will punish the world for their evil1 and the wicked for their iniquity2 and ,i will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease1 and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible4 ,the strictly astronomical relations of ,orion and the ,pleiades seem to be hinted at in ,amos and in ,job-- ,seek ,him that maketh the seven stars and ,orion1 and turneth the shadow of death into the morning1 and maketh the day dark with night4 ,in this passage the parallelism seems to be between the seven stars1 the ,pleiades1 with sunrise1 and ,orion with sunset4 ,now at the time and place when the constellations were mapped out1 the ,pleiades were the immediate heralds of sunrise1 shortly after the spring equinox1 at the season which would correspond to the early part of ,april in our present calendar4 ,the rising of ,orion at sunset--his acronical rising--was early in ,december1 about the time when the coldest season of the year begins4 ,the astronomical meaning of the bands of ,orion would therefore be the rigour in which the earth is held during the cold of winter4 ,it is possible that the two great stars which follow ,orion1 ,sirius and ,procyon1 known to the ancients generally and to us to-day as the ,dogs1 were by the ,babylonians known as the ,bow-star and the ,lance-star2 the weapons1 that is to say1 of ,orion or ,merodach4 ,jensen identifies ,sirius with the ,bow-star1 but considers that the ,lance-star was ,antares2 ,hommel1 however1 identifies the ,lance-star with ,procyon4 ,in the fifth tablet of the ,babylonian ,creation epic as translated by ,dr4 ,l4 ,w4 ,king1 there is an interesting account of the placing of the ,bow-star in the heavens4 ,after ,merodach had killed ,tiamat-- #ge4 ,the gods 7his fathers7 beheld the net which he had made1 #gf4 ,they beheld the bow and how 7its work7 was accomplished4 #gg4 ,they praised the work which he had done 4 4 4 #gh4 ,then ,anu raised the 4 4 4 in the assembly of the gods4 #gi4 ,he kissed the bow1 7saying71 ',it is 4 4 4 '6 #hj4 ,and thus he named the names of the bow1 7saying71 #ha4 ',long-wood shall be one name1 and the second name shall be 4 4 4 1 #hb4 ,and its third name shall be the ,bow-star1 in heaven shall it 4 4 4 6' #hc4 ,then he fixed a station for it4 ,dr4 ,cheyne even considers that he has found a reference to these two stars in ,job xxxviii4 #cf-- ,who hath put wisdom in the inward parts 7,lance-star71 ,or who hath given understanding to the heart 7,bow-star74 ,but this interpretation does not appear to have been generally accepted4 ,the same high authority suggests that the astronomical allusions in ,amos may have been inserted by a post-exilic editor1 thus accounting for the occurrence of the same astronomical terms as are found in ,job1 which he assigns to the exilic or post-exilic period4 ,this seems a dangerous expedient1 as it might with equal reason be used in many other directions4 ,further1 it entirely fails to explain the real difficulty that kimah and k7esil have not been found as ,babylonian constellation names1 and that their astronomical signification had been lost by the time that the ,seventy undertook their labours4 ,quite apart from the fact that the ,babylonians could not give the name of ,fool to the representation in the sky of their supreme deity1 the ,hebrews and the ,babylonians regarded the constellation in different ways4 ,several ,assyriologists consider that the constellations1 ,orion and ,cetus1 represent the struggle between ,merodach and ,tiamat1 and this conjecture is probably correct1 so far as ,babylonian ideas of the constellations are concerned1 for ,tiamat is expressly identified on a ,babylonian tablet with a constellation near the ecliptic4#bda3a ,but this means that the myth originated in the star figures1 and was the ,babylonian interpretation of them4 ,in this case1 ,cetus--that is ,tiamat--must have been considered as a goddess1 and as directly and immediately the ancestress of all the gods4 ,orion--,merodach--must have been likewise a god1 the great-great-grandson of ,tiamat1 whom he destroys4 ,the ,hebrew conception was altogether different4 ,neither ,merodach1 nor ,tiamat1 nor the constellations of ,orion and ,cetus1 nor the actual stars of which they are composed1 are anything but creatures4 ,jehovah has made ,orion1 as well as the ,seven ,stars1 as ,his hand hath formed the crooked serpent4 ,by the mouth of ,isaiah ,he says1 ,i form the light1 and create darkness3 ,i make peace1 and create evil3 ,i the ,lord1 do all these things4 ,the ,babylonian view was of two divinities pitted against each other1 and the evil divinity was the original and the originator of the good4 ,in the ,hebrew view1 even the powers of evil are created things2 they are not self-existent4 ,and the ,hebrews took a different view from the ,babylonians of the story told by these constellations4 ,the ,hebrews always coupled ,orion with the ,pleiades2 the ,babylonians coupled ,orion with ,cetus--that is1 ,merodach with ,tiamat4 ,the view that has come down to us through the ,greeks agrees much better with the association of the constellations as held amongst the ,hebrews1 rather than amongst the ,babylonians4 ,the ,hunter ,orion1 according to the ,greeks1 chased the ,pleiades--the little company of ,seven ,virgins1 or ,seven ,doves--and he was confronted by the ,bull4 ,in their view1 too1 the ,sea-monster was not warring against ,orion1 but against the chained woman1 ,andromeda4 ,,footnotes3 #bcd3a ,but the fact that ,napoleon's name was thus coupled with this constellation does not warrant us in asserting that ,napoleon had no historical existence1 and that his long contest with the great sea-power 7,england71 with its capital on the river ,thames 78 tehom71 was only a stellar myth1 arising from the nearness of ,orion to the ,sea-monster in the sky--a variant1 in fact1 of the great ,babylonian myth of ,marduk and ,tiamat1 the dragon of the deep4 ,it seems necessary to make this remark1 since the process of astrologizing history1 whether derived from the ,bible or from secular writers1 has been carried very far4 ,thus ,dr4 ,h4 ,winckler writes down the account of the first three ,persian kings1 given us by ,herodotus1 as myths of ,aries1 ,taurus1 and ,gemini2 ,david and ,goliath1 too1 are but ,marduk and ,tiamat1 or ,orion and ,cetus1 but ,david has become the ,giant1 and ,goliath the ,dragon1 for ,goliath is claimed as a word-play on the ,babylonian galittu1 ocean4 ,examining an ,arabic globe of date #abgi ,a4,d4--that is to say some #d1jjj years after the constellations were devised1--,dr4 ,winckler found that ,orion was represented as left-handed4 ,he therefore used this left-handed ,orion as the link of identification between ,ehud1 the left-handed judge of ,israel1 and ,tyr1 the left-handed ,mars of the ,scandinavian pantheon4 ,dr4 ,winckler seems to have been unaware of the elementary fact that a celestial globe necessarily shows its figures inside out4 ,we look up to the sky1 to see the actual constellations from within the sphere2 we look down upon a celestial globe from without1 and hence see the designs upon it as in the looking-glass4 #bch3a ,dr4 ,cheyne says1 in a note on p4 #eb of ,job and ,solomon1 ,heb4 ,k'sil1 the name of the foolhardy giant who strove with ,jehovah4 ,the ,chaldeo-,assyrian astrology gave the name ,kisiluv to the ninth month1 connecting it with the zodiacal sign ,sagittarius4 ,but there are valid reasons for attaching the ,hebrew popular myth to ,orion4 ,so ,col4 ,conder1 in p4 #agi of ,the ,hittites and their ,language1 translates the name of the ,assyrian ninth month1 ,cisleu1 as giant4 ,now ,sagittarius is in the heavens just opposite to ,orion1 so when in the ninth month the sun was in conjunction with ,sagittarius1 ,orion was in opposition4 ,in ,cisleu1 therefore1 the giant1 ,orion1 was riding the heavens all night1 occupying the chamber of the south at midnight1 so that the ninth month might well be called the month of the giant4 #bda3a ,dr4 ,l4 ,w4 ,king1 ,tablets of ,creation1 appendix iii4 p4 #bjh4 ,,chapter ,,viii ,,mazzaroth ,we have no assistance from any cuneiform inscriptions as to the astronomical significance of ,ayish1 ,kimah1 and ,k7esil1 but the case is different when we come to ,mazzaroth4 ,in the fifth tablet of the ,babylonian ,creation epic we read-- #a4 ,he 7,marduk7 made the stations for the great gods2 #b4 ,the stars1 their images1 as the stars of the zodiac1 he fixed4 #c4 ,he ordained the year1 and into sections 7mizrata7 he divided it2 #d4 ,for the twelve months he fixed three stars4 #e4 ,after he had 4 4 4 the days of the year 4 4 4 images #f4 ,he founded the station of ,nibir to determine their bounds2 #g4 ,that none might err or go astray4 #h4 ,he set the station of ,bel and ,ea along with him4 ,in the third line mizrata1 cognate with the ,hebrew ,mazzaroth1 means the sections or divisions of the year1 corresponding to the signs of the zodiac mentioned in the second line4 ,there can therefore be little doubt that the translators who gave us our ,english versions are practically correct in the rendering of ,job xxxviii4 #cb which they give in the margin1 ,canst thou bring forth ,mazzaroth 7or the twelve signs7 in his season8 ,the foregoing extract from the fifth tablet of ,creation has no small astronomical interest4 ,merodach is represented as setting in order the heavenly bodies4 ,first of all he allots their stations to the great gods1 dividing to them the constellations of the zodiac1 and the months of the year2 so that the arrangement by which every month had its tutelary deity or deities1 is here said to be his work4 ,next1 he divides up the constellations of the zodiac2 not merely arranging the actual stars1 but appropriating to each constellation its special design or image4 ,third1 he divides up the year to correspond with the zodiac1 making twelve months with three stars or constellations to each4 ,in other words1 he carries the division of the zodiac a step further1 and divides each sign into three equal parts1 the decans of the astrologers1 each containing #aj 7deka7 of the ecliptic4 ,the statement made in line #d refers to an important development of astronomy4 ,the constellations of the zodiac1 that is1 the groups made up of the actual stars1 are very unequal in size and irregular in shape4 ,the numerous theories1 ancient or modern1 in which the constellations are supposed to owe their origin to the distinctive weather of the successive months1 each constellation figure being a sort of hieroglyph for its particular month1 are therefore all manifestly erroneous1 for there never could have been any real fixed or steady correlation between the constellations and the months4 ,similarly1 the theories which claim that the ancient names for the months were derived from the constellations are equally untenable4 ,some writers have even held both classes of theory1 overlooking the fact that they mutually contradict each other4 ,but there came a time when the inconvenience of the unequal division of the zodiac by the constellations was felt to be an evil1 and it was remedied by dividing the ecliptic into twelve equal parts1 each part being called after the constellation with which it corresponded most nearly at the time such division was made4 ,these equal divisions have been called the ,signs of the zodiac4 ,it must be clearly understood that they have always and at all times been imaginary divisions of the heavens1 that they were never associated with real stars4 ,they were simply a picturesque mode of expressing celestial longitude2 the distance of a star from the place of the sun at the spring equinox1 as measured along the ecliptic1--the sun's apparent path during the year4 ,the ,signs once arranged1 the next step was an easy one4 ,each sign was equivalent to #cj degrees of longitude4 ,a third of a sign1 a decan1 was #aj degrees of longitude1 corresponding to the week of ten days used in ,egypt and in ,greece4 ,this change from the constellations to the ,signs cannot have taken place very early4 ,the place of the spring equinox travels backwards amongst the stars at the rate of very little more than a degree in #gb years4 ,when the change was made the spring equinox was somewhere in the constellation ,aries1 the ,ram1 and therefore ,aries was then adopted as the first ,sign1 and must always remain such1 since the ,signs move amongst the stars with the equinox4 ,illustration3 ,,position ,,of ,,spring ,,equinox1 ,b4,c4 #bgjj4 ,we cannot fix when this change was made within a few years1 but it cannot have been before the time when the sun at the spring equinox was situated just below ,hamal1 the brightest star of the ,ram4 ,this was about #gjj ,b4,c4 ,the equal division of the zodiac must have taken place not earlier than this1 and with it1 the ,bull must have been deposed from the position it had always held up to that time1 of leader of the zodiac4 ,it is probable that some direct method of determining the equinox itself was introduced much about the same time4 ,this new system involved nothing short of a revolution in astronomy1 but the ,babylonian ,creation story implies that this revolution had already taken place when it was composed1 and that the equal division of the zodiac was already in force4 ,it is possible that the sixth and seventh lines of the poem indicate that the ,babylonians had already noticed a peculiar fact1 viz4 that just as the moon passes through all the signs in a month1 whilst the sun passes through only one sign in that time2 so the sun passes through all the signs in a year1 whilst ,jupiter passes through but one sign4 ,nibir was the special ,babylonian name of the planet ,jupiter when on the meridian2 and ,merodach1 as the deity of that planet1 is thus represented as pacing out the bounds of the zodiacal ,signs by his movement in the course of the year4 ,the planet also marks out the third part of a sign1 i4 e4 ten degrees2 for during one-third of each year it appears to retrograde1 moving from east to west amongst the stars instead of from west to east4 ,during this retrogression it covers the breadth of one decan ten degrees4 ,illustration3 ,,position ,,of ,,spring ,,equinox1 ,a4,d4 #aijj4 ,the ,babylonian ,creation epic is therefore quite late1 for it introduces astronomical ideas not current earlier than #gjj ,b4,c4 in ,babylonia or anywhere else4 ,this new development of astronomy enables us also to roughly date the origin of the different orders of systematic astrology4 ,astrology1 like astronomy1 has passed through successive stages4 ,it began at zero4 ,an unexpected event in the heavens was accounted portentous1 because it was unexpected1 and it was interpreted in a good or bad sense according to the state of mind of the beholder4 ,there can have been at first no system1 no order1 no linking up of one specific kind of prediction with one kind of astronomical event4 ,it can have been originally nothing but a crude jumble of omens1 just on a level with the superstitions of some of our peasantry as to seeing hares1 or cats1 or magpies2 and the earliest astrological tablets from ,mesopotamia are precisely of this character4 ,but the official fortune-tellers at the courts of the kings of ,nineveh or ,babylon must speedily have learned the necessity of arranging some systems of prediction for their own protection--systems definite enough to give the astrologer a groundwork for a prediction which he could claim was dependent simply upon the heavenly bodies1 and hence for which the astrologer could not be held personally responsible1 and at the same time elastic enough to enable him to shape his prediction to fit in with his patron's wishes4 ,the astrology of to-day shows the same essential features4 ,this necessity explains the early ,babylonian tablets with catalogues of eclipses on all days of the month1 and in all quarters of the sky4 ,the great majority of the eclipses could never happen1 but they could be1 none-the-less1 made use of by a court magician4 ,if an eclipse of the sun took place on the #bith day and in the south1 he could always point out how exceedingly unpleasant things might have been for the king and the country if he1 the magician1 had not by his diligence1 prevented its happening1 say1 on the #bjth1 and in the north4 ,a ,zulu witch-doctor is quite equal to analogous subterfuges to-day1 and no doubt his ,babylonian congeners were not less ingenious #c1jjj years ago4 ,such subterfuges were not always successful when a ,chaka or a ,nebuchadnezzar had to be dealt with1 but with kings of a more ordinary type either in ,zululand or ,mesopotamia they would answer well enough4 ,coming down to times when astronomy had so far advanced that a catalogue of the stars had been drawn up1 with their positions determined by actual measurement1 it became possible for astrologers to draw up something like a definite system of prediction1 based upon the constellations or parts of a constellation that happened to be rising at any given moment1 and this was the system employed when ,zeuchros of ,babylon wrote in the first century of our era4 ,his system must have been started later than #gjj ,b4,c41 for in it ,aries is considered as the leader of the zodiac2 the constellations are already disestablished in favour of the ,signs2 and the ,signs are each divided into three4 ,a practical drawback to this particular astrological system was that the aspect presented by the heavens on one evening was precisely the same as that presented on the next evening four minutes earlier4 ,the field for prediction therefore was very limited and repeated itself too much for the purpose of fortune-tellers4 ,the introduction of the planets into astrology gave a greater diversity to the material used by the fortune-tellers4 ,an early phase of planetary astrology consisted in the allotment of a planet to each hour of the day and also to each day of the week4 ,it has been already shown in the chapter on ,saturn and ,astrology1 that this system arose from the ,ptolemaic idea of the solar system grafted on the ,egyptian division of the day into twenty-four hours1 and applied to the week of seven days4 ,it probably originated in ,alexandria1 and arose not earlier than the third century before our era4 ,mathematical astrology--the complex system now in vogue--involves a considerable knowledge of the apparent movements of the planets and a development of mathematics such as did not exist until the days of ,hipparchus4 ,it also employs the purely imaginary signs of the zodiac1 not the constellations2 and reckons the first point of ,aries as at the spring equinox4 ,so far as we can ascertain1 the spring equinox marked the first point of the constellation ,aries about ,b4,c4 #aaj4 ,all these varied forms of astrology are therefore comparatively recent4 ,before that it was of course reckoned ominous if an eclipse took place1 or a comet was seen1 or a bright planet came near the moon1 just as spilling salt or crossing knives may be reckoned ominous to-day4 ,the omens had as little to do with observation1 or with anything that could be called scientific1 in the one case as in the other4 ,it is important to realize that astrology1 as anything more than the crude observance of omens1 is younger than astronomy by at least #b1jjj years4 ,mazzaroth occurs only once in the ,bible1 viz4 in ,job xxxviii4 #cb1 already so often quoted1 but a similar word ,mazzaloth occurs in #b ,kings xxiii4 #e1 where it is said that ,josiah put down the idolatrous priests1 them also that burned incense unto ,baal1 to the sun1 and to the moon1 and to the planets 7,mazzaloth71 and to all the host of heaven4 ,the context itself1 as well as the parallel passage in ,deuteronomy--,when thou seest the sun1 and the moon1 and the stars1 even all the host of heaven1 shouldst be driven to worship them1--shows clearly that celestial luminaries of some kind are intended1 probably certain groups of stars1 distinguished from the general host of heaven4 ,comparing ,job ix4 #i1 with ,job xxxviii4 #ca1 #cb1 we find ,ash1 or ,ayish1 ,kimah and ,k7esil common to the two passages2 if we take ,ash and ,ayish as identical1 this leaves the chambers of the south as the equivalent of ,mazzaroth4 ,the same expression occurs in the singular in ,job xxxvii4 #i--,out of the south 7marg4 chamber7 cometh the whirlwind4 ,there need be but little question as to the significance of these various passages4 ,the correspondence of the word ,mazzaroth with the ,babylonian mizrata1 the divisions of the year1 answering to the twelve signs of the zodiac1 points in exactly the same direction as the correspondence in idea which is evident between the chambers of the south and the ,arabic ,al manazil1 the mansions or resting-places of the moon in the lunar zodiac4 ,mazzaroth are therefore the divisions of the zodiac1 the chambers through which the sun successively passes in the course of the year1 his resting-place for a month4 ,they are the chambers of the south1 since that is their distinctive position4 ,in ,palestine1 the sun1 even at rising or setting at midsummer1 passes but little to the north of east or west4 ,roughly speaking1 the south is the sun's quarter1 and therefore it is necessarily the quarter of the constellation in which the sun is placed4 ,it has been made an objection to this identification that the ,israelites are said to have worshipped ,mazzaloth1 and we have no direct evidence that the signs or constellations of the zodiac were worshipped as such4 ,but this is to make a distinction that is hardly warranted4 ,the ,creation tablets1 as we have seen1 distinctly record the allocation of the great gods to the various signs1 ,merodach himself being one of the three deities associated with the month ,adar1 just as in ,egypt a god presided over each one of the thirty-six decades of the year4 ,again1 it is probable that the golden calf1 worshipped by the ,israelites in the wilderness1 and1 after the disruption1 at ,bethel and at ,dan1 was none other than an attempt to worship ,jehovah under the symbol of ,taurus1 the leader of the zodiac and cognizance of the tribe of ,joseph2 regarded as a type of ,him ,who had been the ,leader of the people out of ,egypt1 and the ,giver of the blessings associated with the return of the sun to ,taurus1 the revival of nature in spring-time4 ,it was intended as a worship of ,jehovah2 it was in reality dire rebellion against ,him1 and a beginning of the worship of ,mazzaloth and the heavenly host2 an idolatry that was bound to bring other idolatries in its train4 ,a three-fold symbol found continually on ,babylonian monuments1 the triad of stars1 undoubtedly at one time set forth ,sin1 the moon-god1 ,samas1 the sun-god1 and ,ivstar1 in this connection possibly the planet ,venus4 ,it has therefore been suggested by ,prof4 ,schiaparelli that ,mazzaloth is the planet ,venus2 and1 since the word is plural in form1 ,venus in her double capacity2--sometimes an evening1 sometimes a morning star4 ,the sun and the moon and ,mazzaloth would then set forth the three brightest luminaries1 whilst the general congress of stars would be represented by the host of heaven4 ,but though ,venus is sometimes the brightest of the planets1 she is essentially of the same order as ,jupiter or ,mars1 and is not of the same order as the sun and moon1 with whom1 on this supposition1 she is singled out to be ranked4 ,moreover1 if ,ivstar or ,ashtoreth were intended in this passage1 it does not appear why she should not be expressly named as such2 especially as ,baal1 so often coupled with her1 is named4 ,the triad of stars1 too1 had originally quite a different meaning1 as will be seen later4 ,moreover1 the parallelism between ,job ix4 and ,job xxxviii4 is destroyed by this rendering1 since the planet ,venus could not be described as the chambers of the south4 ,these are therefore referred by ,professor ,schiaparelli to the glorious mass of stars in the far south1 shining in the constellations that set forth the ,deluge story1--the ,ship1 and the ,centaur1 much the most brilliant region of the whole sky4 ,another interpretation of ,mazzaroth is given by ,dr4 ,cheyne1 on grounds that refute ,professor ,schiaparelli's suggestion1 but it is itself open to objection from an astronomical point of view4 ,he writes-- ,mazzaroth is probably not to be identified with ,mazzaloth 7#b ,kings xxiii4 #e7 in spite of the authority of the ,sept4 and the ,targum4 4 4 4 ,mazzaroth ,ass4 ,mazarati2 ,mazzaloth 7i4e4 the zodiacal signs7 seems to be the plural of ,mazzala ,ass4 ,manzaltu1 station4#bed3a ,dr4 ,cheyne therefore renders the passage thus-- ,dost thou bring forth the moon's watches at their season1 ,and the ,bear and her offspring--dost thou guide them8 ,knowest thou the laws of heaven8 ,dost thou determine its influence upon the earth8 ,mazzaloth are therefore the zodiacal signs1 but ,mazzaroth the watches or stations of the moon1 which marked the progress of the month2#bed3b or1 in other words1 the lunar zodiac4 ,but the lunar and the solar zodiac are only different ways of dividing the same belt of stars4 ,consequently when1 as in the passage before us1 reference is made to the actual belt of stars as a whole1 there is no difference between the two4 ,so that we are obliged1 as before1 to consider ,mazzaroth and ,mazzaloth as identical1 and both as setting forth the stars of the zodiac4 ,so far as the two zodiacs differ1 it is the solar and not the lunar zodiac that is intended4 ,this is evident when we consider the different natures of the apparent motions of the sun and the moon4 ,the sun passes through a twelfth part of the zodiac each month1 and month by month the successive constellations of the zodiac are brought out1 each in its own season2 each having a period during which it rises at sunset1 is visible the whole night1 and sets at sunrise4 ,the solar ,mazzaroth are therefore emphatically brought out1 each in its season4 ,not so the lunar ,mazzaroth4 ,the expression1 the watches or stations of the moon which marked the progress of the month1 is unsuitable when astronomically considered4 ,watches refer strictly to divisions of the day and night2 the stations of the moon refer to the twenty-seven or twenty-eight divisions of the lunar zodiac2 the progress of the month refers to the complete sequence of the lunar phases4 ,these are three entirely different matters1 and ,dr4 ,cheyne has confused them4 ,the progress of the moon through its complete series of stations is accomplished in a siderial month--that is1 twenty-seven days eight hours1 but from the nature of the case it cannot be said that these stations are brought out each in his season1 in that time1 as a month makes but a small change in the aspect of the sky4 ,the moon passes through the complete succession of its phases in the course of a synodical month1 which is in the mean twenty-nine days1 thirteen hours--that is to say from new to new1 or full to full--but no particular star1 or constellation1 or station has any fixed relation to any one given phase of the moon4 ,in the course of some four or five years the moon will have been both new and full in every one of the lunar stations4 ,knowest thou the ordinances of heaven8 ,canst thou set the dominion thereof in the earth8 ,he1 who has lived out under the stars1 in contact with the actual workings of nature1 knows what it is to watch ,mazzaroth brought out in his season2 the silent return to the skies of the constellations1 month by month1 simultaneous with the changes on the face of the earth4 ,overhead1 the glorious procession1 so regular and unfaltering1 of the silent1 unapproachable stars3 below1 in unfailing answer1 the succession of spring and summer1 autumn and winter1 seedtime and harvest1 cold and heat1 rain and drought4 ,if there be but eyes to see1 this majestic ,order1 so smooth in working1 so magnificent in scale1 will impress the most stolid as the immediate acting of ,god2 and the beholder will feel at the same a reverent awe1 and an uplifting of the spirit as he sees the action of the ordinances of heaven1 and the evidence of the dominion thereof in the earth4 ,dr4 ,cheyne1 however1 only sees in these beautiful and appropriate lines the influence upon the sacred writer of the physical theology of ,babylonia2#bef3a in other words1 its idolatrous astrology1 the influence of the sky upon the earth4 ,but what would ,job understand by the question1 ,canst thou bring forth ,mazzaroth in his season8 ,just this3 ,canst thou so move the great celestial sphere that the varied constellations of the zodiac shall come into view1 each in their turn1 and with them the earth pass through its proper successive seasons8 ,the question therefore embraced and was an extension of the two that preceded it4 ,canst thou bind the sweet influences of the ,pleiades8 ,canst thou prevent the revival of all the forces of nature in the springtime8 and ,canst thou loose the bands of ,orion2 canst thou free the ground from the numbing frosts of winter8 ,the question to us would not greatly differ in its meaning1 except that we should better understand the mechanism underlying the phenomena4 ,the question would mean1 ,canst thou move this vast globe of the earth1 weighing six thousand million times a million million tons1 continually in its orbit1 more than #ehj millions of miles in circuit1 with a speed of nearly nineteen miles in every second of time1 thus bringing into view different constellations at different times of the year1 and presenting the various zones of the earth in different aspects to the sun's light and heat8 ,to us1 as to ,job1 the question would come as3 ,knowest thou the ordinances of heaven8 ,canst thou set the dominion thereof in the earth8 ,it is going beyond astronomy1 yet it may be permitted to an astronomer1 to refer for comparison to a parallel thought1 not couched in the form of a question1 but in the form of a prayer3 ,thy will be done1 ,as in heaven1 so in earth4 ,,footnotes3 #bed3a ,rev4 ,t4 ,k4 ,cheyne1 ,m4,a41 ,job and ,solomon1 p4 #bij4 #bed3b ,ibid41 p4 #eb4 #bef3a ,rev4 ,t4 ,k4 ,cheyne1 ,m4,a41 ,job and ,solomon1 p4 #eb4 ,,chapter ,,ix ,,arcturus ,in two passages of the ,book of ,job a word1 ,ash or ,ayish1 is used1 by context evidently one of the constellations of the sky1 but the identification of which is doubtful4 ,in our ,authorized ,version the first passage is rendered thus3-- 7,god7 ,which maketh ,arcturus 7,ash71 ,orion1 and ,pleiades1 and the chambers of the south2 and the second3-- ,canst thou bind the sweet influences of ,pleiades1 ,or loose the bands of ,orion8 ,canst thou bring forth ,mazzaroth in his season8 ,or canst thou guide ,arcturus 7,ayish7 with his sons8 ,knowest thou the ordinances of heaven8 ,canst thou set the dominion thereof in the earth8 ,the words 7or word1 for possibly ,ayish is no more than a variant of ,ash7 here translated ,arcturus were rendered by the ,seventy as ,arktouros in the first passage2 as ,hesperos in the second passage2 and their rendering was followed by the ,vulgate4 ,the rendering ,hesper or ,vesper is absurd1 as the sons of ,hesper has no meaning4 ,arktouros is not improbably a misrendering of ,arktos1 the north1 which would give a free but not a literal translation of the meaning of the passage4 ,in another passage from ,job 7xxxvii4 #i7 where the south wind is contrasted with the cold from another quarter of the sky1 the ,seventy--again followed by the ,vulgate--rendered it as cold from ,arcturus4 ,now cold came to the ,jews1 as it does to us1 from the north1 and the star which we know as ,arcturus could not be described as typifying that direction either now or when the ,septuagint or ,vulgate versions were made4 ,the ,peschitta1 the ,syriac version of the ,bible1 made about the second century after ,christ1 gives as the ,syriac equivalent for ,ash1 or ,ayish1 the word iyutha1 but it also renders ,k7esil by the same word in ,amos v4 #h1 so that the translators were evidently quite at sea as to the identity of these constellations4 ,we are also in doubt as to what star or constellation the ,syrians meant by ,iyutha1 and apparently they were in some doubt themselves1 for in the ,talmud we are told that there was a disputation1 held in the presence of the great teacher ,rabbi ,jehuda1 about #aej years after ,christ1 whether ,iyutha was situated in the head of the ,bull1 or in the tail of the ,ram4 ,oriental scholars now assign it either to ,aldebaran in the head of the ,bull1 the sons being in this case the other members of the ,hyades group of which ,aldebaran is the brightest star2 or else identifying it with the ,arabic el-aiyuq1 the name of the star which the ,greeks call ,aix1 and we call ,capella1 the sons on this inference being the three small stars near1 called by the ,greeks and by ourselves the ,kids4 ,the word ,ash is used several times in ,scripture1 but without any astronomical signification1 and is there rendered moth1 as in ,isaiah1 where it says-- ,lo1 they all shall wax old as a garment2 the moth 7,ash7 shall eat them up4 ,this literal significance of the word does not help1 as we know of no constellation figured as a moth or bearing any resemblance to one4 ,but the word ash1 or ayish does not differ importantly from the word nash1 in ,hebrew assembly1 in ,arabic bier1 which has been the word used by the ,arabs from remote antiquity to denote the four bright stars in the hind-quarters of the ,great ,bear2 those which form the body of the ,plough4 ,moreover1 the three stars which form the tail of the ,great ,bear1 or the handle of the ,plough have been called by the ,arabs benat nash1 the daughters of nash4 ,the ,bear is the great northern constellation1 which swings constantly round the pole1 always visible throughout the changing seasons of the year4 ,there should be no hesitation then in accepting the opinion of the ,rabbi1 ,aben ,ezra1 who saw in ,ash1 or ,ayish the quadrilateral of the great ,bear1 whose four points are marked by the bright stars1 ,alpha1 ,beta1 ,gamma and ,delta1 and in the sons of ,ayish1 the three stars1 ,epsilon1 ,zeta1 and ,eta4 ,our ,revised ,version therefore renders the word as ,bear4 ,in both passages of ,job1 then1 we get the four quarters of the sky marked out as being under the dominion of the ,lord4 ,in the ninth chapter they are given in the order-- ,the ,bear1 which is in the ,north2 ,orion1 in its acronical rising1 with the sun setting in the ,west2 ,the ,pleiades1 in their heliacal rising1 with the sun rising in the ,east2 ,and the ,chambers of the ,south4 ,in the later passage they are given with fuller illustration1 and in the order-- ,the ,pleiades1 whose sweet influences are given by their heliacal rising in spring time1 with the sun rising in the ,east2 ,orion1 whose bands are those of winter1 heralded by his acronical rising with the sun setting in the ,west2 ,mazzaroth1 the constellations of the zodiac corresponding to the ,chambers of the ,south1 which the sun occupies each in its season4 ,the ,bear with its sons1 who1 always visible1 are unceasingly guided round the pole in the ,north4 ,the parallelism in the two passages in ,job gives us the right to argue that ,ash and ,ayish refer to the same constellation1 and are variants of the same name2 possibly their vocalization was the same1 and they are but two divergent ways of writing the word4 ,we must therefore reject ,prof4 ,schiaparelli's suggestion made on the authority of the ,peschitta version of the ,scriptures and of ,rabbi ,jehuda1 who lived in the second century ,a4,d41 that ,ash is ,iyutha which is ,aldebaran1 but that ,ayish and his sons may be ,capella and her ,kids4 ,equally we must reject ,prof4 ,stern's argument that ,kimah is ,sirius1 ,k7esil is ,orion1 ,mazzaroth is the ,hyades and ,ayish is the ,pleiades4 ,he bases his argument on the order in which these names are given in the second passage of ,job1 and on the contention of ,otfried ,mller that there are only four out of the remarkable groups of stars placed in the middle and southern regions of the sky which have given rise to important legends in the primitive mythology of the ,greeks4 ,these groups follow one after the other in a belt in the sky in the order just given1 and their risings and settings were important factors in the old ,greek meteorological and agricultural calendars4 ,prof4 ,stern assumes that k7esil means ,orion1 and from this identification deduces the others1 neglecting all etymological or traditional evidences to the contrary4 ,he takes no notice of the employment of the same names in passages of ,scripture other than that in the thirty-eighth chapter of ,job4 ,here he would interpret the chain1 or sweet influences of ,kimah ,sirius the dog1 by assuming that the ,jews considered that the dog was mad1 and hence was kept chained up4 ,more important still1 he fails to recognize that the ,jews had a continental climate in a different latitude from the insular climate of ,greece1 and that both their agricultural and their weather conditions were different1 and would be associated with different astronomical indications4 ,in the #ith verse of the #cgth chapter of ,job we get an antithesis which has already been referred to-- ,out of the south cometh the whirlwind3 and cold out of the north4 ,the ,hebrew word here translated north is mezarim1 a plural word which is taken literally to mean the scatterings4 ,for its interpretation ,prof4 ,schiaparelli makes a very plausible suggestion4 ,he says1 ,we may first observe that the five ,hebrew letters with which this name was written in the original unpointed text could equally well be read1 with a somewhat different pointing1 as mizrim1 or also as mizrayim1 of which the one is the plural1 the other the dual1 of mizreh4 ,now mizreh means a winnowing-fan1 the instrument with which grain is scattered in the air to sift it2 and it has its root1 like mezarim1 in the word zarah1 4 4 4 which1 besides the sense dispersit1 bears also the sense expandit1 ventilavit4#bfc3a ,illustration3 ,,stars ,,of ,,the ,,plough1 ,,as ,,the ,,winnowing ,,fan4 ,if ,prof4 ,schiaparelli is correct in his supposition1 then the word translated north in our versions is literally the two winnowing fans1 names which from the form suggested by the stars we may suppose that the ,jews gave to the two ,bears in the sky1 just as the ,chinese called them the ,ladles1 and the ,americans call them the ,big ,dipper and the ,little ,dipper4 ,the sense is still that of the north1 but we may recognize in the word employed another ,jewish name of the constellation1 alternative with ,ash or ,ayish1 or perhaps used in order to include in the region the ,lesser as well as the ,greater ,bear4 ,we should not be surprised at finding an alternative name for this great northern constellation1 for we ourselves call it by several different appellations1 using them indiscriminately1 perhaps even in the course of a single paragraph4 ,what to ,job did the question mean which the ,lord addressed to him3 ,canst thou guide the ,bear and his sons8 ,to ,job it meant1 ,canst thou guide this great constellation of stars in the north1 in their unceasing round1 as a charioteer guides his horses in a wide circle1 each keeping to his proper ring1 none entangling himself with another1 nor falling out of his place8 ,what would the same question mean to us1 if addressed to us to-day8 ,in the first place we might put it shortly as ,canst thou turn the earth on its axis regularly and continuously1 so as to produce this motion of the stars round the pole1 and to make day and night8 ,but modern astronomy can ask the question in a deeper and a wider sense4 ,it was an ancient idea that the stars were fixed in a crystal sphere1 and that they could not alter their relative positions2 and indeed until the last century or two1 instruments were not delicate enough to measure the small relative shift that stars make4 ,it is within the last seventy years that we have been able to measure the annual parallax of certain stars1--that is1 the difference in the position of a star when viewed by the earth from the opposite ends of a diameter of the earth's orbit round the sun4 ,besides their yearly shift due to annual parallax1 most stars have a proper or peculiar motion of their own1 which is in most cases a very small amount indeed1 but can be determined more easily than annual parallax because its effect accumulates year after year4 ,if1 therefore1 we are able to observe a star over a period of fifty1 or a hundred or more years1 it may seem to have moved quite an appreciable amount when examined by the powerful and delicate instruments that we have now at our disposal4 ,observations of the exact positions of stars have been made ever since the founding of ,greenwich ,observatory1 so that now we have catalogues giving the proper motions of several hundreds of stars4 ,when these are examined it is seen that some groups of stars move in fellowship together through space1 having the same direction1 and moving at the same rate1 and of these companies the most striking are the stars of the ,plough1 that is ,ayish and his sons4 ,not all the stars move together2 out of the seven1 the first and the last have a different direction1 but the other five show a striking similarity in their paths4 ,and not only are their directions of movement1 and the amounts of it1 the same for the five stars1 but spectroscopic observations of their motion in the line of sight show that they are all approaching us with a speed of about eighteen miles a second1 that is to say with much the same speed as the earth moves in her orbit round the sun4 ,another indication of their family likeness is that all their spectra are similar4 ,a ,german astronomer1 ,dr4 ,hffler1 has found for this system a distance from us so great that it would take light #aib years to travel from them to us4 ,yet so vast is this company of five stars that it would take light seventy years1 travelling at the rate of #ahf1jjj miles in every second of time to go from the leading star1 ,merak--,beta of the ,bear--to ,mizar--,zeta of the ,bear--the final brilliant of the five4 ,so bright and great are these suns that they shine to us as gems of the second magnitude1 and yet if our sun were placed amongst them at their distance from us he would be invisible to the keenest sight4 ,dr4 ,hffler's estimate may be an exaggerated one1 but it still remains true that whilst the cluster of the ,pleiades forms a great and wonderful family group1 it is dwarfed into insignificance by the vast distances between these five stars of the ,great ,bear4 ,yet these also form one family1 though they are united by no nebulous bands1 and are at distances so great from each other that the bonds of gravitation must cease to show their influence2 yet all are alike1 all are marshalled together in their march under some mysterious law4 ,we cannot answer the question1 ,by what means are ,ayish and his sons guided8 much more are we speechless when we are asked1 ,canst thou guide them8 ,,footnotes3 #bfc3a ,astronomy in the ,old ,testament1 p4 #fi4 ,illustration3 ,,blow ,,up ,,the ,,trumpet ,,in ,,the ,,new ,,moon4 ,,book ,,iii ,,times ,,and ,,seasons ,,chapter ,i ,,the ,,day ,,and ,,its ,,divisions ,there is a difference of opinion at the present day amongst astronomers as to the time in which the planet ,venus rotates upon her axis4 ,this difference arises through the difficulty of perceiving or identifying any markings on her brilliantly lighted surface4 ,she is probably continually cloud-covered1 and the movements of the very faint shadings that are sometimes seen upon her have been differently interpreted4 ,the older observers concurred in giving her a rotation period of #bc;h #bam1 which is not very different from that of the earth4 ,many astronomers1 amongst them ,schiaparelli1 assign a rotation period of #bbe days1 that is to say the same period as that in which she goes round the sun in her orbit4 ,the axis on which she rotates is almost certainly at right angles to the plane in which she moves round the sun1 and she has no moon4 ,we do not know if the planet is inhabited by intelligent beings1 but assuming the existence of such1 it will be instructive to inquire as to the conditions under which they must live if this view be correct1 and the rotation period of ,venus1 and her revolution period be the same4 ,venus would then always turn the same face to the sun1 just as our moon always turns the same face to us and so never appears to turn round4 ,venus would therefore have no days1 for on her one hemisphere there would be eternal light1 and on the other eternal darkness4 ,since she has no moon1 she has no month4 ,since she moves round the sun in a circle1 and the axis through her north and south poles lies at right angles to her ecliptic1 she has no seasons1 she can have no year4 ,on her daylight side1 the sun remains fixed in one spot in the sky1 so long as the observer does not leave his locality2 it hangs overhead1 or near some horizon1 north1 south1 east1 or west1 continually4 ,there are no hours1 therefore no divisions of time1 it might be almost said no time itself4 ,there are no points of the compass even1 no north1 south1 east or west1 no directions except towards the place where the sun is overhead or away from it4 ,there could be no history in the sense we know it1 for there would be no natural means of dating4 ,time must there be artificial1 uncertain and arbitrary4 ,on the night side of ,venus1 if her men can see the stars at all for cloud1 they would perceive the slow procession of stars coming out1 for ,venus turns continually to the heavens--though not to the sun4 ,mazzaroth would still be brought out in his season1 but there would be no answering change on ,venus4 ,her men might still know the ordinances of heaven1 but they could not know the dominion thereof set upon their earth4 ,this imaginary picture of the state of our sister planet may illustrate the fourteenth verse of the first chapter of ,genesis3-- ,and ,god said1 ,let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night2 and let them be for signs1 and for seasons1 and for days1 and years4 ,the making of the calendar is in all nations an astronomical problem3 it is the movements of the various heavenly bodies that give to us our most natural divisions of time4 ,we are told in ,deuteronomy3-- ,the sun1 and the moon1 and the stars1 even all the host of heaven1 4 4 4 the ,lord thy ,god hath divided unto all nations under the whole heaven4 ,this is the legitimate use of the heavenly bodies1 just as the worship of them is their abuse1 for the division of time--in other words1 the formation of a calendar--is a necessity4 ,but as there are many heavenly bodies and several natural divisions of time1 the calendars in use by different peoples differ considerably4 ,one division1 however1 is common to all calendars--the day4 ,the day is the first and shortest natural division of time4 ,at present we recognize three kinds of days--the sidereal day1 which is the interval of time between successive passages of a fixed star over a given meridian2 the apparent solar day1 which is the interval between two passages of the sun's centre over a given meridian1 or the interval between two successive noons on a sundial2 and the mean solar day1 which is the interval between the successive passages of a fictitious sun moving uniformly eastward in the celestial equator1 and completing its annual course in exactly the same time as that in which the actual sun makes the circuit of the ecliptic4 ,the mean solar days are all exactly the same length2 they are equal to the length of the average apparent solar day2 and they are each four minutes longer than a sidereal day4 ,we divide our days into #bd hours2 each hour into #fj minutes2 each minute into #fj seconds4 ,this subdivision of the day requires some mechanical means of continually registering time1 and for this purpose we use clocks and watches4 ,the sidereal day and the mean solar day necessitate some means of registering time1 such as clocks2 therefore the original day in use must have been the apparent solar day4 ,it must then have been reckoned either from sunset to sunset1 or from sunrise to sunrise4 ,later it might have been possible to reckon it from noon to noon1 when some method of fixing the moment of noon had been invented2 some method1 that is to say1 of fixing the true north and south1 and of noting that the sun was due south1 or the shadow due north4 ,our own reckoning from midnight to midnight is a late method4 ,midnight is not marked by the peculiar position of any visible heavenly body2 it has1 in general1 to be registered by some mechanical time-measurer4 ,in the ,old ,testament ,scriptures the ecclesiastical reckoning was always from one setting of the sun to the next4 ,in the first chapter of ,genesis the expressions for the days run1 ,the evening and the morning1 as if the evening took precedence of the morning4 ,when the ,passover was instituted as a memorial feast1 the command ran-- ,in the first month1 on the fourteenth day of the month at even1 ye shall eat unleavened bread1 until the one and twentieth day of the month at even4 ,seven days shall there be no leaven4 ,and again1 for the sabbath of rest in the seventh month-- ,in the ninth day of the month at even1 from even unto even1 shall ye celebrate your sabbath4 ,the ecclesiastical day of the ,jews1 therefore1 began in the evening1 with sunset4 ,it does not by any means follow that their civil day began at this time4 ,it would be more natural for such business contracts as the hiring of servants or labourers to date from morning to morning rather than from evening to evening4 ,naturally any allusion in the ,scriptures to the civil calendar as apart from the ecclesiastical would be indirect1 but that common custom was not entirely in agreement with the ecclesiastical formula we may perhaps gather from the fact that in the ,old ,testament there are twenty-six cases in which the phrases day and night1 day or night are employed1 and only three where night comes before day4 ,we have a similar divergence of usage in the case of our civil and astronomical days2 the first beginning at midnight1 and the second at the following noon1 since the daylight is the time for work in ordinary business life1 but the night for the astronomers4 ,the ,babylonians1 at least at a late date in their history1 had also a twofold way of determining when the day began4 ,epping and ,strassmaier have translated and elucidated a series of ,babylonian lunar calendars of dates between the first and second centuries before our era4 ,in one column of these was given the interval of time which elapsed between the true new moon and the first visible crescent4 ,curious to relate1 at first all ,father ,epping's calculations to establish this result were out by a mean interval of six hours4 ,the solution was found in the fact that the ,babylonian astronomers were not content with such a variable instant of time as sunset for their calculations1 as indeed they ought not to have been1 but used as the origin of the astronomical day at ,babylon the midnight which followed the setting of the sun1 marking the beginning of the civil day4 ,it may be mentioned that the days as reckoned from sunset to sunset1 sunrise to sunrise1 and noon to noon1 would give intervals of slightly different lengths4 ,this would1 however1 be imperceptible so long as their lengths were not measured by some accurate mechanical time-measurer such as a clepsydra1 sandglass1 pendulum1 or spring clock4 ,the first obvious and natural division of the whole day-interval is into the light part and the dark part4 ,as we have seen in ,genesis1 the evening and the morning are the day4 ,since ,palestine is a sub-tropical country1 these would never differ very greatly in length1 even at midsummer or midwinter4 ,the next subdivision1 of the light part of the day1 is into morning1 noon and evening4 ,as ,david says in the fifty-fifth ,psalm-- ,evening1 and morning1 and at noon1 will ,i pray4 ,none of these three subdivisions were marked out definitely in their beginning or their ending1 but each contained a definite epoch4 ,morning contained the moment at which the sun rose2 noon the moment at which he was at his greatest height1 and was at the same time due south2 evening contained the moment at which the sun set4 ,in the early ,scriptures of the ,old ,testament1 the further divisions of the morning and the evening are still natural ones4 ,for the progress of the morning we have1 first1 the twilight1 as in ,job-- ,let the stars of the twilight thereof be dark2 ,let it look for light but have none2 ,neither let it see the eyelids of the morning4 ,then1 daybreak1 as in the ,song of ,solomon-- ,until the day break 7literally1 breathe7 and the shadows flee away1 where the reference is to the cool breezes of twilight4 ,so too in ,genesis1 in ,joshua1 in the ,judges and in ,samuel1 we find references to the break of day 7literally1 the rising of the morning1 or when it became light to them7 and the dawning of the day or about the spring of the day4 ,the progress of the morning is marked by the increasing heat2 thus as the sun waxed hot1 the manna melted2 whilst ,saul promised to let the men of ,jabesh-,gilead have help by that time the sun be hot1 or1 as we should put it1 about the middle of the morning4 ,noon is often mentioned4 ,ish-bosheth was murdered as he lay on a bed at noon1 and ,jezebel's prophets called on the name of ,baal from morning even unto noon4 ,we find the afternoon 7lit4 till the day declined7 mentioned in the nineteenth chapter of the ,judges1 and in the same chapter this period is further described in ,the day draweth toward evening 7lit4 is weak71 and ,the day groweth to an end 7lit4 ,it is the pitching time of the day1 that is to say1 the time for pitching tents1 in preparation for the nightly halt74 ,as there was no dividing line between the morning and noontide1 neither was there any between the afternoon and evening4 ,the shadows of the night were spoken of as chased away by the cool breezes of the morning1 so the lengthening shadows cast by the declining sun marked the progress of the evening4 ,job speaks of the servant who earnestly desireth the shadow2 that is to say1 the intimation1 from the length of his own shadow1 that his day's work was done2 and ,jeremiah says1 ,the shadows of the evening are stretched out4 ,then came sundown1 and the remaining part of the evening is described in ,proverbs3 ,in the twilight1 in the evening1 in the black and dark night4 ,in a country like ,palestine1 near the tropics1 with the days not differing extravagantly in length from one part of the year to another1 and the sun generally bright and shining1 and throwing intense shadows1 it was easy1 even for the uneducated1 to learn to tell the time of day from the length of the shadow4 ,here1 in our northern latitude1 the problem is a more complex one1 yet we learn from the ,canterbury ,tales1 that ,englishmen in the time of the ,plantagenets could read the position of the sun with quite sufficient accuracy for ordinary purposes4 ,thus the host of the ,tabard inn1 though not a learned man-- ,saw wel1 that the brighte sonne ,the ark of his artificial day had ronne ,the fourthe part1 and half an houre and more2 ,and though he was not depe experte in lore1 ,he wiste it was the eighte and twenty day ,of ,april1 that is messager to ,may2 ,and saw wel that the shadow of every tree ,was as in lengthe of the same quantitee ,that was the body erect1 that caused it2 ,and therfore by the shadow he toke his wit1 ,that ,phebus1 which that shone so clere and bright1 ,degrees was five and fourty clombe on hight2 ,and for that day1 as in that latitude1 ,it was ten of the clok1 he gan conclude4#bgg3a ,in the latter part of the day there is an expression used several times in ,exodus1 ,leviticus1 and ,numbers between the two evenings which has given rise to much controversy4 ,the lamb of the ,passover was killed in this period2 so also was the lamb of the first year offered daily at the evening sacrifice2 and day by day ,aaron was then commanded to light the seven lamps and burn incense4 ,it is also mentioned once1 in no connection with the evening sacrifice1 when the ,lord sent quails to the children of ,israel saying1 ,at even 7between the two evenings7 ye shall eat flesh4 ,in ,deuteronomy1 where a command is again given concerning the ,passover1 it is explained that it is at even1 at the going down of the sun4 ,the ,samaritans1 the ,karaite ,jews1 and ,aben ,ezra held the two evenings to be the interval between the sun's setting and the entrance of total darkness2 i4 e4 between about six o'clock and seven or half-past seven4 ,a graphic description of the commencement of the sabbath is given in ,disraeli's novel of ,alroy1 and may serve to illustrate this1 the original1 idea of between the two evenings4 ,the dead were plundered1 and thrown into the river1 the encampment of the ,hebrews completed4 ,alroy1 with his principal officers1 visited the wounded1 and praised the valiant4 ,the bustle which always succeeds a victory was increased in the present instance by the anxiety of the army to observe with grateful strictness the impending sabbath4 ,when the sun set the sabbath was to commence4 ,the undulating horizon rendered it difficult to ascertain the precise moment of his fall4 ,the crimson orb sunk below the purple mountains1 the sky was flushed with a rich and rosy glow4 ,then might be perceived the zealots1 proud in their ,talmudical lore1 holding the skein of white silk in their hands1 and announcing the approach of the sabbath by their observation of its shifting tints4 ,while the skein was yet golden1 the forge of the armourers still sounded1 the fire of the cook still blazed1 still the cavalry led their steeds to the river1 and still the busy footmen braced up their tents1 and hammered at their palisades4 ,the skein of silk became rosy1 the armourer worked with renewed energy1 the cook puffed with increased zeal1 the horsemen scampered from the river1 the footmen cast an anxious glance at the fading light4 ,the skein of silk became blue2 a dim1 dull1 sepulchral1 leaden tinge fell over its purity4 ,the hum of gnats arose1 the bat flew in circling whirls over the tents1 horns sounded from all quarters1 the sun had set1 the sabbath had commenced4 ,the forge was mute1 the fire extinguished1 the prance of horses and the bustle of men in a moment ceased4 ,a deep1 a sudden1 an all-pervading stillness dropped over that mighty host4 ,it was night2 the sacred lamps of the sabbath sparkled in every tent of the camp1 which vied in silence and in brilliancy with the mute and glowing heavens4 ,in later times1 on account of ritualistic necessities1 a different interpretation was held4 ,so ,josephus says3 ,so these high-priests1 upon the coming of their feast which is called the ,passover1 4 4 4 slay their sacrifices1 from the ninth hour till the eleventh4#bgi3a ,and the ,talmud made the first evening to begin with the visible decline of the sun and the second with sunset1 or the two evenings to last from three till about six4 ,schiaparelli gives the first evening from sunset until the time that the newly visible lunar crescent could be seen in the twilight sky1 or about half an hour after sunset1 and the second evening from that until darkness set in1 basing his argument on the directions to ,aaron to light the lamps between the two evenings1 since1 he argues1 these would not be made to burn in the daylight4 ,probably in the days of ,moses and ,aaron the period could not be defined as accurately as this would imply1 as the opportunity of seeing the new moon could only come once a month1 and we have no evidence of any mechanical time-measurer being then in use with them4 ,for shorter spaces of time we have the word moment or instant many times mentioned4 ,the words may mean1 the opening or winking of the eye1 the twinkling of an eye1 spoken of by ,st4 ,paul1 in his ,epistle to the ,corinthians1 and do not describe any actual duration of time1 or division of the day4 ,the only time-measurer mentioned in the ,bible is the dial of ,ahaz1 which will form the subject of a later chapter4 ,it need only be noted here that1 as it depended upon the fall of the shadow1 it was of use only whilst the sun was shining2 not during cloudy weather1 or at night4 ,as the day had three main divisions1 so had also the night4 ,there were three watches1 each1 like the watches on ship-board1 about four hours in length4 ,so in the ,psalms1 the watches are twice put as an equivalent for the night4 ,the ancient ,hebrews would have no difficulty in roughly dividing the night into three equal parts1 whenever the stars could be seen4 ,whether they watched ,arcturus and his sons1--the circumpolar constellations moving round like a vast dial in the north--or the bringing forth of ,mazzaroth1 the zodiacal constellations1 in the south1 they would soon learn to interpret the signs of night with sufficient accuracy for their purpose4 ,the first watch of night is mentioned in the book of ,lamentations4 ,arise1 cry out in the night3 in the beginning of the watches pour out thine heart like water before the face of the ,lord4 ,it was in the beginning of the middle watch2 and they had but newly set the watch1 that ,gideon and his gallant three hundred made their onslaught on the host of the ,midianites4 ,it was in the third1 the morning watch1 that the ,lord looked unto the host of the ,egyptians through the pillar of fire and of the cloud1 and troubled the host of the ,egyptians as they pursued ,israel into the midst of the ,red ,sea4 ,in this watch also1 ,saul surprised the ,ammonites as they besieged ,jabesh-,gilead1 and scattered them1 so that two of them were not left together4 ,in the ,new ,testament1 the ,roman method of dividing the night is adopted2 viz4 into four watches4 ,when the disciples were crossing the ,sea of ,galilee in their little boat1 and they had toiled all night in rowing because the wind was contrary1 it was in the fourth watch of the night that ,jesus came unto them4 ,there is no mention of any mechanical time-measurer in the ,old ,testament1 and in only one book is there mention in the ,english version of the word hour4 ,five times it is mentioned in the ,book of ,daniel as the rendering of the ,chaldean word shaah1 which literally means the instant of time4 ,no mention either is made of the differing lengths of the days or nights throughout the year--at midsummer the day is #ad-a_/d hours long1 and the night #i-c_/d4 ,job speaks1 however1 of causing the day-spring to know its place1 which may well refer to the varying places along the eastern horizon at which the sun rose during the course of the year4 ,thus in mid-winter the sun rose #bh south of the east point1 or half a point south of ,e4,s4,e4 ,similarly in midsummer it rose #bh north of east1 or half a point north of ,e4,n4,e4#bhb3a ,the ,babylonians divided the whole day interval into twelve kasbu1 or double hours4 ,those again were divided into sixty parts1 each equal to two of our minutes2 this being about the time that is required for the disc of the sun to rise or set wholly4 ,the ,babylonian kasbu was not only a division of time1 but a division of space1 signifying the space that might be marched in a kasbu of time4 ,similarly we find1 in the ,old ,testament1 the expression a day's journey1 or three days' journey1 to express distance1 and in the ,new ,testament we find the same idea applied to a shorter distance in the sabbath-day's journey1 which was about two miles4 ,but the ,jews in ,new ,testament times adopted1 not the ,babylonian day of twelve hours1 but the ,egyptian of twenty-four4 ,so we find1 in the parable of the ,labourers in the ,vineyard1 mention made of hiring early in the morning1 and at the third1 sixth1 ninth1 and eleventh hours2 and since those hired latest worked for but one hour1 it is evident that there were twelve hours in the daylight4 ,our ,lord alludes to this expressly in the ,gospel according to ,st4 ,john1 where he says-- ,are there not twelve hours in the day8 ,if any man walk in the day1 he stumbleth not1 because he seeth the light of this world4 ,but if a man walk in the night1 he stumbleth1 because there is no light in him4 ,,footnotes3 #bgg3a ,the ,man of ,lawe's ,prologue1 lines #ddba-ddcd4 #bgi3a ,josephus1 ,wars1 ,,vi4 ix4 #c4 #bhb3a ,see the diagram on p4 #cfc4 ,,chapter ,,ii ,,the ,,sabbath ,,and ,,the ,,week ,the present chapter has little1 if anything1 to do with astronomy1 for the week1 as such1 is not an astronomical period4 ,but the sabbath and the week of seven days are so intimately connected with the laws and customs of ,israel that it is impossible to leave them out of consideration in dealing with the times and seasons referred to in the ,bible4 ,the day1 the month and the year are each defined by some specific revolution of one of the great cosmical bodies2 there is in each case a return of the earth1 or of the earth and moon together1 to the same position1 relative to the sun1 as that held at the beginning of the period4 ,the week stands in a different category4 ,it is not defined by any astronomical revolution2 it is defined by the return of the sabbath1 the consecrated day4 ,a need for the division of time into short periods1 less than a month1 has been generally felt amongst civilized men4 ,business of state1 commercial arrangements1 social intercourse1 are all more easily carried out1 when some such period is universally recognized4 ,and so1 what we may loosely term a week1 has been employed in many ancient nations4 ,the ,aztecs1 using a short month of #bj days1 divided it into four quarters of #e days each4 ,the ,egyptians1 using a conventional month of #cj days1 divided it into #c decades2 and decades were also used by the ,athenians1 whose months were alternately of #bi and of #cj days4 ,hesiod tells us that the days regarded as sacred in his day were the fourth1 fourteenth and twenty-fourth of each month4 ,the fourth and twenty-fourth1 no grief should prey ,within thy breast1 for holy either day4 99 99 99 99 99 ,pierce on the fourth thy cask2 the fourteenth prize ,as holy2 and1 when morning paints the skies1 ,the twenty-fourth is best4 ,the ,babylonians divided the month somewhat differently2 the seventh1 fourteenth1 nineteenth1 twenty-first and twenty-eighth days being regarded as sabbaths4#bhd3a ,the sabbath enjoined upon the ,hebrews was every seventh day4 ,the week as defined by it was a free week2 it was tied neither to month nor year1 but ran its course uninterruptedly1 quite irrespective of the longer divisions of time4 ,it was1 therefore1 a different conception from that underlying the usages of the ,greeks or ,babylonians1 and1 it may be added1 a more reasonable and practical one4 ,four origins have been assigned for the week4 ,there are those who assert that it is simply the closest possible approximation to the quarter-month2 the mean month being #bi-a_/b days in length1 a quarter-month would be #g-c_/h days1 and since fractions of a day cannot be recognized in any practical division of time for general use1 the week of seven days forms the nearest approach to the quarter-month that could be adopted4 ,this is undeniably true1 but it is far more likely that such an origin would give rise to the ,babylonian system than to the ,jewish one1 for the ,babylonian system corrected the inequality of quarter-month and week every month1 and so kept the two in harmony2 whilst the ,hebrew disregarded the month altogether in the succession of his weeks4 ,next1 it is asserted that the ,hebrew sabbath was derived from the ,babylonian1 and that it is scarcely possible for us to doubt that we owe the blessings decreed in the sabbath or ,sunday day of rest in the last resort to that ancient and civilized race on the ,euphrates and ,tigris4#bhe3a ,there are two points to be considered here4 ,did the ,babylonians observe their sabbaths as days of rest2 and1 were they or the ,hebrews the more likely to hand on their observances to another nation8 ,we can answer both these questions4 ,as to the first1 a large number of ,babylonian documents on tablets1 preserved in the ,british ,museum1 have been published by ,father ,strassmaier1 and discussed by ,prof4 ,schiaparelli4 ,in all there were #b1gfd dated documents available for examination1 nearly all of them commercial and civil deeds1 and covering practically the whole period from the accession of ,nebuchadnezzar to the twenty-third year of ,darius ,hystaspes4 ,this number would give an average of #id deeds for each day of the month2 the number actually found for the four sabbaths1 i4 e4 for the #gth1 #adth1 #bast and #bhth days1 were #ajj1 #ih1 #aba and #ia respectively4 ,the ,babylonians evidently did not keep these days as days of rest1 or of abstinence from business1 as the ,jews keep their sabbath1 or ,christian countries their ,sunday4 ,they cannot even have regarded it as an unlucky day1 since we find the average of contracts is rather higher for a sabbath than for a common day4 ,the case is a little different with the #aith day of the month4 ,this1 as the #dith day from the beginning of the previous month1 was a sabbath of sabbaths1 at the end of a week of weeks4 ,in this case only #hi contracts are found1 which is slightly below the average1 though twelve common days show a lower record still4 ,but in most cases the date is written1 not as #ai1 but as #bj-a2 as if there were a superstition about the number #ai4 ,on the other hand1 this method of indicating the number may be nothing more than a mode of writing2 just as in our ,roman numerals1 ,,xix41 one less than ,,xx41 is written for #ai4 ,the ,babylonians1 therefore1 did not observe these days as days of rest1 though they seem to have marked them in the ritual of temple and court4 ,nor did they make every seventh or every fifth a rest-day1 for ,prof4 ,schiaparelli has specially examined these documents to see if they gave any evidence of abstention from business either on one day in seven or on one day in five1 and in both cases with a purely negative result4 ,when we inquire which nation has been successful in impressing their particular form of sabbath on the nations around the case is clear4 ,we have no evidence of the ,babylonians securing the adoption of their sabbatic arrangements by the ,persians1 ,greeks and ,parthians who successively overcame them4 ,it was entirely different with the ,jews4 ,the ,jewish kingdom before the ,captivity was a very small one compared with its enemies on either side--,assyria1 ,babylon and ,egypt2 it was but a shadow even of its former self after the ,return4 ,and imperial ,rome was a mightier power than ,assyria or ,babylon at their greatest4 ,if ever one state was secure from influence by another on the score of its greater magnitude and power1 ,rome was safe from any ,jewish impress4 ,yet it is perfectly well known that the impression made upon the ,romans by the ,jews in this very matter of sabbath-keeping was widespread and deep4 ,jewish influence was felt and acknowledged almost from the time that ,syria1 of which ,juda was but a petty division1 became a ,roman province1 and a generation had not passed away before we find ,horace making jocular allusion to the spread of the recognition of the ,jewish sabbath4 ,in his ninth satire he describes himself as being buttonholed by a bore1 and1 seeing a friend pass by1 as begging the latter to pretend business with him and so relieve him of his trouble4 ,his friend mischievously excuses himself from talking about business3-- ,to-day's the thirtieth sabbath4 ,can you mean ,thus to insult the circumcised ,jews8 ,persius1 in his fifth satire1 speaks of those who-- ,move their lips with silence1 and with fear ,the sabbath of the circumcised revere4 ,juvenal1 in his fourteenth satire1 describes how many ,romans reverence the sabbath2 and their sons1 bettering the example1 turn ,jews themselves3-- ,others there are1 whose sire the sabbath heeds1 ,and so they worship naught but clouds and sky4 ,they deem swine's flesh1 from which their father kept1 ,no different from a man's4 ,and soon indeed ,are circumcised2 affecting to despise ,the laws of ,rome1 they study1 keep and fear ,the ,jewish law1 whate'er in mystic book ,moses has handed down1--to show the way ,to none but he who the same rites observes1 ,and those athirst to lead unto the spring ,only if circumcised4 ,whereof the cause ,was he1 their sire1 to whom each seventh day ,was one of sloth1 whereon he took in hand ,no part in life4 ,ovid1 ,tibullus1 and others also speak of the ,jewish sabbath1 not merely as universally known1 but as largely observed amongst the ,romans1 so that it obtained almost a public recognition1 whilst the success of ,judaism in making proselytes1 until ,christianity came into rivalry with it1 is known to every one4 ,as to the general influence of ,judaism in securing the recognition of the week with its seventh day of rest1 the testimony of ,josephus is emphatic4 ,the multitude of mankind itself have had a great inclination of a long time to follow our religious observances2 for there is not any city of the ,grecians1 nor any of the barbarians1 nor any nation whatsoever1 whither our custom of resting on the seventh day hath not come1 and by which our fasts and lighting up lamps1 and many of our prohibitions as to our food1 are not observed2 they also endeavour to imitate our mutual concord with one another1 and the charitable distribution of our goods1 and our diligence in our trades1 and our fortitude in undergoing the distresses we are in1 on account of our laws2 and1 what is here matter of the greatest admiration1 our law hath no bait of pleasure to allure men to it1 but it prevails by its own force2 and as ,god ,himself pervades all the world1 so hath our law passed through all the world also4#bhi3a ,philo1 the ,jew1 bears equally distinct testimony to the fact that wheresoever the ,jews were carried in their dispersion1 their laws and religious customs1 especially their observance of every seventh day1 attracted attention1 and even secured a certain amount of acceptance4 ,the ,jews1 therefore1 even when1 as a nation1 they were ruined and crushed1 proved themselves possessed of such vital force1 of such tenacity1 as to impress their conquerors with interest in1 and respect for1 their sabbatic customs4 ,of their tenacity and force in general1 of their power to influence the nations amongst whom they have been scattered1 the history of the last two thousand five hundred years is eloquent4 ,it is not reasonable1 nor scientific1 to suppose that this nation1 steel since it returned from its captivity in ,babylon1 was wax before4 ,but the third suggestion as to the origin of the week of seven days1--that it was derived from the influence of the planets1--makes the matter clearer still4 ,this suggestion has already been noticed in the chapter on ,saturn and ,astrology4 ,it is sufficient to say here that it presupposes a state of astronomical advancement not attained until long after the sabbath was fully known4 ,the ,babylonians did observe the seven planets1 but there is no trace of their connection with the ,babylonian week4 ,but when the ,greek astronomers had worked out that system of the planetary motions which we call after ,ptolemy1 and the planets had been fitted by the ,alexandrian observers to the days of the ,jewish week and the hours of the ,egyptian day1 then the ,babylonian astrologers also adopted the mongrel combination4 ,thus indirectly ,babylon received the free week from the ,jews1 and did not give it4 ,the oldest use of the free and uniform week is found among the ,jews1 who had only a most imperfect knowledge of the planets4 ,the identity of the number of the days in the week with that of the planets is purely accidental1 and it is not permissible to assert that the former number is derived from the latter4#bij3a ,carried by the ,jews into their dispersion1 adopted by the ,chaldan astrologers for use in their divinations1 received by ,christianity and ,islam1 this cycle 7the free week of seven days71 so convenient and so useful for chronology1 has now been adopted throughout the world4 ,its use can be traced back for about #c1jjj years1 and there is every reason to believe that it will last through the centuries to come1 resisting the madness of useless novelty and the assaults of present and future iconoclasts4#bij3b ,the fourth account of the origin of the week is that given us in the ,bible itself4 ,in six days the ,lord made heaven and earth1 the sea1 and all that in them is1 and rested the seventh day3 wherefore the ,lord blessed the sabbath day1 and hallowed it4 ,the institution of the sabbath day is the crown of the work of creation1 the key to its purpose4 ,other times and seasons are marked out by the revolutions and conjunctions of the heavenly bodies4 ,this day is set apart directly by ,god ,himself2 it is ,his express handiwork1--the day which the ,lord hath made4 ,the great truth taught in the first chapter of ,genesis is that ,god is the ,one ,reality4 ,all that we can see above or around was made by ,him4 ,he alone is ,god4 ,and ,his creative work has a definite goal to which its several details all lead up--the creation of man1 made in the image of ,god4 ,as such1 man has a higher calling than that of the beasts that perish4 ,the chief object of their lives is to secure their food2 their aspirations extend no further4 ,but he is different2 he has higher wants1 nobler aspirations4 ,how can they be met8 ,the earth was created to form an abode suitable for man2 the varied forms of organic life were brought into existence to prepare the way for and minister to him4 ,for what was man himself made1 and made in the image of ,god1 but that he might know ,god and have communion with ,him8 ,to this the sabbath day gave the call1 and for this it offered the opportunity4 ,for what are men better than sheep or goats1 ,that nourish a blind life within the brain1 ,if1 knowing ,god1 they lift not hands of prayer8 ,,footnotes3 #bhd3a ,this is learnt from a single tablet of a ,babylonian ,calendar 7preserved in the ,british ,museum71 which unfortunately contains one month only4 #bhe3a ,babel and ,bible1 ,dr4 ,fried4 ,delitzsch1 ,johns' ,translation1 pp4 #dj1 #da4 #bhi3a ,flavius ,josephus against ,apion1 book ii4 #dj4 #bij3a ,schiaparelli1 ,astronomy in the ,old ,testament1 p4 #ace4 #bij3b ,ibid41 p4 #acc4 ,,chapter ,,iii ,,the ,,month ,the shortest natural division of time is the day4 ,next in length comes the month4 ,as was pointed out in the chapter on the ,moon1 the ,hebrews used two expressions for month--,chodesh1 from a root meaning to be new2 and ,yerach1 from the root meaning to be pale4 ,chodesh is the word most commonly employed1 and this1 in itself1 is sufficient to show that the ,hebrew calendar month was a lunar one4 ,but there are1 besides1 too many references to the actual new moons for there to be any doubt on the question4 ,every seventh day was commanded to be held as a sabbath of rest1 and on it were sacrificed four lambs1 instead of the two offered up1 the one at the morning and the other at the evening sacrifice of the six working days4 ,but the new moons are also mentioned as holy days1 and are coupled with the sabbaths4 ,the husband of the ,shunamite asked her why she wished to go to ,elisha1 as it is neither new moon1 nor sabbath4 ,isaiah1 speaking in the name of the ,lord1 says-- ,the new moons and sabbaths1 the calling of assemblies1 ,i cannot away with2 4 4 4 your new moons and your appointed feasts ,my soul hateth2 and again1 ,from one new moon to another1 and from one sabbath to another1 shall all flesh come to worship4 ,amos speaks of degenerate ,israel1 that they say-- ,when will the new moon be gone1 that we may sell corn8 and the sabbath1 that we may set forth wheat8 ,as late as ,apostolic times1 ,st4 ,paul refers to the feasts of the new moons1 saying1 ,let no man therefore judge you 4 4 4 in respect 4 4 4 of the new moon4 ,the ordinances respecting the observance of the new moons--the beginnings of months--were explicit4 ,trumpets were blown over the burnt offerings and over the sacrifices of the peace offerings1 and the nature of these offerings is given in detail in the twenty-eighth chapter of the ,book of ,numbers4 ,the ordinances were reiterated and emphasized in the days of ,david1 ,solomon1 ,hezekiah1 ,ezekiel1 ,ezra and ,nehemiah4 ,amongst the ,jews of the present day the trumpets are not blown at new moons2 extra prayers are read1 but the burnt and peace offerings are of necessity omitted4 ,beside the new moons and the sabbaths1 the ancient ,hebrews had three great festivals1 all defined as to the time of their celebration by the natural months4 ,the first was the ,feast of the ,passover1 which lasted a week1 and began with the killing of a lamb between the two evenings2 on the #adth day of the month ,abib1 the first month of the year--that is to say1 on the evening that the first moon of the year became full4 ,this feast corresponded to our ,easter4 ,the second was that of ,pentecost1 and was bound to the ,feast of the ,passover by being appointed to occur seven weeks after the consecration of the harvest season by the offering of the sheaf on the second day of the ,passover4 ,we still celebrate the ,feast of ,pentecost1 or ,whitsunday1 keeping it in remembrance of the birthday of the ,christian ,church4 ,this feast lasted but a single day1 and did not occur at either the new or the full of the moon1 but nearly at first quarter4 ,the third festival was threefold in its character4 ,it began with special sacrifices besides those usually offered at the new moon3-- ,in the seventh month1 on the first day of the month1 ye shall have an holy convocation2 ye shall do no servile work3 it is a day of blowing of trumpets unto you4 ,this then was especially dependent on the new moon1 being on the first day of the month4 ,on the #ajth day of the month was the ,day of ,atonement1 when the people should afflict their souls4 ,on the #aeth day of the month began the ,feast of ,tabernacles1 which commenced on the night that the moon was full1 and lasted for a week4 ,we have no special religious seasons in the ,christian ,church to correspond with these4 ,we thus see that with the ,hebrews all the days of the new moons1 and two days of full moon 7in the first and in the seventh months71 were days for which special ordinances were imposed4 ,and there is no doubt that the beginnings of the new months were obtained by direct observation of the moon1 when weather or other conditions permitted1 not by any rule of thumb computation4 ,the new moon observed was1 necessarily1 not the new moon as understood in the technical language of astronomy2 i4 e4 the moment when the moon is in conjunction with the sun1 having its dark side wholly turned towards the earth1 and being in consequence completely invisible4 ,the new moon as mentioned in the ,scriptures1 and as we ordinarily use the term1 is not this conjunction1 but the first visible crescent of the moon when it has drawn away from the sun sufficiently to be seen after sunset for a short time1 in the twilight1 before it sets2 for the moon when very slender cannot be seen in daylight4 ,it may1 therefore1 be first seen any time between about #ah hours and #dj hours after its conjunction with the sun2 in other words1 it may be first seen on one of two evenings4 ,but for the ecclesiastical rites it was necessary that there should be an authoritative declaration as to the time of the commencement of the month1 and1 moreover1 the great feasts were fixed for certain days in the month1 and so were dependent on its beginning4 ,during the period of the ,jewish restoration1 up to the destruction of ,jerusalem by ,titus1 the ,sanhedrim used to sit in the ,hall of ,polished ,stones to receive the testimony of credible witnesses that they had seen the new moon4 ,if the new moon had appeared at the commencement of the #cjth day--corresponding to our evening of the #bith--the ,sanhedrim declared the previous month imperfect1 or consisting only of #bi days4 ,if credible witnesses had not appeared to testify to the appearance of the new moon on the evening of the #bith1 the next evening1 i4 e4 that of the #cjth--according to our mode of reckoning--was taken as the commencement of the new month1 and the previous month was then declared to be full1 or of #cj days4 ,early in the ,christian era1 it was enacted that no testimony should be received from unknown persons1 because1 says the ,talmud1 the ,baithusites wished to impose on the ,mishnic ,rabbis1 and hired two men to do so for four hundred pieces of silver4 ,it is clear1 therefore1 that about the time of the ,christian era the beginnings of the months were determined astronomically from the actual observation of the new moons1 and we may safely conclude that it was the same also from the earliest times4 ,it was the actual new moon1 not any theoretical or fictitious new moon1 that regulated the great festivals1 and1 as we have seen1 there was often some considerable uncertainty possible in the fixing of the dates4 ,the witnesses might give conflicting testimony1 and the authoritative date might be proved to be in fault4 ,we have an instance of such conflicting authority in the different dating1 on one occasion1 of the ,day of ,atonement by the ,rabbi ,yehoshua1 and ,rabbon ,gamaliel1 the president of the ,sanhedrim1 grandson of the ,gamaliel at whose feet ,paul sat4 ,according to a statement in the ,mishna1 dating from the second century of our era1 the appearance of the new moon at ,jerusalem was signalled to ,babylonia during the century preceding the destruction of the ,holy ,city by ,titus1 and perhaps from earlier times4 ,the dispersion of the ,jews had therefore presented them with an additional difficulty in fixing the beginning of their months4 ,the problem is much more intricate to-day1 seeing that the ,jews are dispersed over the whole world1 and the new moon1 first visible on one evening at ,jerusalem1 might be seen the evening before1 according to the reckoning of places west of ,jerusalem1 or might be invisible until the following evening1 according to the reckoning of places east of it4 ,we have the same problem to solve in finding the date of ,easter ,sunday4 ,the ,prayer ,book rule for finding it runs thus3-- ,easter day is always the first ,sunday after the full moon which happens upon1 or next after1 the #bast day of ,march2 and if the full moon happens on a ,sunday1 ,easter day is the ,sunday after4 ,but the moon we choose for the ecclesiastical calendar is an imaginary body1 which is so controlled by specially constructed tables as to be full on a day not differing by more than two or three days at most from the date on which the actual moon is full4 ,this may seem1 at first sight1 a very clumsy arrangement1 but it has the advantage of defining the date of ,easter precisely1 without introducing any question as to the special meridian where the moon might be supposed to be observed4 ,thus1 in #aije1 the moon was full at #d;h #efm ,greenwich mean time on the morning of ,march #ba4 ,but ,easter ,day was not fixed for ,march #bf1 the next ,sunday following that full moon1 but a month later1 for ,april #bc4 ,for the calendar moon1 the imaginary moon1 was full on ,march #bj2 and it may be added that the actual moon1 though full on ,march #ba for ,european time1 was full on ,march #bj for ,american time4 ,there would have been an ambiguity1 therefore1 if the actual moon had been taken1 according to the country in which it was observed1 an ambiguity which is got rid of by adopting a technical or imaginary moon4 ,the names given to the different months in ,scripture have an interest of their own4 ,for the most part the months are simply numbered2 the month of the ,passover is the first month1 and the others follow1 as the second1 third1 fourth1 etc41 throughout the year2 examples of each occurring right up to the twelfth month4 ,there is no mention of a thirteenth month4 ,but occasionally we find names as well as numbers given to the months4 ,the first of these is ,abib1 meaning the month of green ears4 ,this was the first month1 the month of the ,passover1 and it received its name no doubt from the first green ears of barley offered before the ,lord during the feast that followed the ,passover4 ,the second month was called ,zif1 splendour2 apparently referring to the splendour of the flowers in full spring time4 ,it is mentioned together with two other names1 ,ethanim1 the seventh month1 and ,bul1 the eighth month1 in the account of the building and dedication of ,solomon's ,temple4 ,the last two are certainly ,phoenician names1 having been found on ,phoenician inscriptions2 the first is possibly ,phoenician also4 ,their occurrence in this special connection was no doubt a result of the very large part taken in the building of the ,temple and the construction of its furniture by the workmen of ,hiram1 king of ,tyre4 ,the ,phoenician names of the months would naturally appear in the contracts and accounts for the work1 side by side with the ,hebrew equivalents2 just as an ,english contractor to-day1 in negotiating for a piece of work to be carried out in ,russia1 would probably take care to use the dating both of the ,russian old style calendar1 and of the ,english new style4 ,the word used for month in these cases is generally1 not chodesh1 the month as beginning with the new moon1 but yerach1 as if the chronicler did not wish them to be understood as having been determined by ,jewish authorities or methods4 ,in one case1 however1 chodesh is used in connection with the month ,zif4 ,the other instances of names for the months are ,nisan1 ,sivan1 ,elul1 ,chisleu1 ,tebeth1 ,sebat1 and ,adar1 derived from month names in use in ,babylonia1 and employed only in the books of ,esther1 ,ezra1 ,nehemiah1 and ,zechariah1 all avowedly post-exilic writers4 ,the month word used in connection with them is chodesh--since the ,babylonian months were also lunar--except in the single case where ,ezra used a month name1 terming it yerach4 ,the other post-exilic writers or editors of the books of ,holy ,scripture would seem to have been at some pains to omit all ,babylonian month names4 ,these ,babylonian month names continue to be used in the ,jewish calendar of to-day4 ,in four places in ,scripture mention is made of a month of days1 the word for month being in two cases chodesh1 and in two1 yerach4 ,jacob1 when he came to ,padan-aram1 abode with ,laban for the space of a month1 before his crafty uncle broached the subject of his wages4 ,this may either merely mean full thirty days1 or the term chodesh may possibly have a special appropriateness1 as ,laban may have dated ,jacob's service so as to commence from the second new moon after his arrival4 ,again1 when the people lusted for flesh in the wilderness1 saying1 ,who shall give us flesh to eat8 the ,lord promised to send them flesh-- ,and ye shall eat4 ,ye shall not eat one day1 nor two days1 nor five days1 neither ten days1 nor twenty days1 but even a whole month4 4 4 4 ,and there went forth a wind from the ,lord1 and brought quails from the sea4 ,he rained flesh also upon them as dust1 ,and feathered fowls like as the sand of the sea4 ,the whole month in this case was evidently a full period of thirty days1 irrespective of the particular phase of the moon when it began and ended4 ,amongst the ,babylonians the sign for the word month was xxx1 expressing the usual number of days that it contained1 and without doubt amongst the ,hebrews that was the number of days originally assigned to the month1 except when the interval between two actually observed new moons was found to be twenty-nine4 ,in later times it was learned that the length for the lunation lay between twenty-nine and thirty days1 and that these lengths for the month must be alternate as a general rule4 ,but in early times1 if a long spell of bad weather prevented direct observation of the new moon1 we cannot suppose that anything less than thirty days would be assigned to each month4 ,such a long spell of bad observing weather did certainly occur on one occasion in the very early days of astronomy1 and we accordingly find that such was the number of days allotted to several consecutive months1 though the historian was evidently in the habit of observing the new moon1 for chodesh is the word used to express these months of thirty days4 ,we are told that-- ,in the six hundreth year of ,noah's life1 in the second month1 the seventeenth day of the month1 the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up1 and the windows of heaven were opened4 ,and later that-- ,after the end of the hundred and fifty days the waters were abated4 ,and the ark rested in the seventh month1 on the seventeenth day of the month1 upon the mountains of ,ararat4 ,the five months during which the waters prevailed upon the earth were1 therefore1 reckoned as of thirty days each4 ,if all the new moons1 or even that of the seventh month1 had been actually observed1 this event would have been ascribed to the nineteenth day of the month1 since #aej days is five months and two days2 but in the absence of such observations a sort of dead reckoning was applied1 which would of course be corrected directly the return of clear weather gave an opportunity for observing the new moon once again4 ,a similar practice was followed at a much later date in ,babylon1 where astronomy is supposed to have been highly developed from remote antiquity4 ,thus an inscription recently published by ,dr4 ,l4 ,w4 ,king records that-- ,on the #bfth day of the month ,sivan1 in the seventh year1 the day was turned into night1 and fire in the midst of heaven4 ,this has been identified by ,mr4 ,p4 ,h4 ,cowell1 ,f4,r4,s41 ,chief ,assistant at the ,royal ,observatory1 ,greenwich1 as the eclipse of the sun that was total at ,babylon on ,july #ca1 ,b4,c4 #ajfc4 ,the ,babylonians1 when bad weather obliged them to resort to dead reckoning1 were1 therefore1 still reckoning the month as precisely thirty days so late as the times of ,samuel and ,saul1 and in this particular instance were two1 if not three1 days out in their count4 ,had the new moon of ,sivan been observed1 or correctly calculated1 the eclipse must have been reckoned as falling on the #bhth or #bith day of the month4 ,the ,athenians in the days of ,solon1 five hundred years later than this1 adopted months alternately twenty-nine and thirty days in length1 which gives a result very nearly correct4 ,the ,jews after the ,dispersion adopted the system of thus alternating the lengths of their months1 and with some slight modifications it holds good to the present day4 ,as will be shown in the following chapter1 the ordinary years are of twelve months1 but seven years in every nineteen are embolismic1 having an extra month4 ,the names employed are those learned during the ,babylonian captivity1 and the year begins with the month ,tishri1 corresponding to ,september-,october of our calendar4 ,the lengths of most of the months are fixed as given in the following table1 but any adjustment necessary can be effected either by adding one day to ,heshvan1 which has usually twenty-nine days1 or taking away one day from ,kislev1 which has usually thirty-- ,,ordinary ,,year ,,embolismic ,,year ,,days ,,days ,tishri #cj #cj ,heshvan #bi #bi ,kislev #cj - #cj - ,tebeth #bi #bi ,shebat #cj #cj ,adar #bi #cj ,ve-adar 444 #bi ,nisan #cj #cj ,yiar #bi #bi ,sivan #cj #cj ,tamuz #bi #bi ,ab #cj #cj ,elul #bi #bi ,the ,jewish month1 therefore1 continues to be essentially a true lunar one1 though the exact definition of each month is1 to some extent1 conventional1 and the words of the ,son of ,sirach still apply to the ,hebrew calendar-- ,the moon also is in all things for her season1 ,for a declaration of times1 and a sign of the world4 ,from the moon is the sign of the feast day2 ,a light that waneth when she is come to the full4 ,for so ,god-- ,appointed the moon for seasons4 ,,chapter ,,iv ,,the ,,year ,the third great natural division of time is the year1 and1 like the day and the month1 it is defined by the relative apparent movements of the heavenly bodies4 ,as the ,rabbi ,aben ,ezra pointed out1 shanah1 the ordinary ,hebrew word used for year1 expresses the idea of annus or annulus1 a closed ring1 and therefore implies that the year is a complete solar one4 ,a year1 that is purely lunar1 consists of twelve lunations1 amounting to #ced days4 ,such is the year that the ,mohammedans use2 and since it falls short of a solar year of #cfe days by #aj or #aa days1 its beginning moves backwards rather rapidly through the seasons4 ,the ,jews used actual lunations for their months1 but their year was one depending on the position of the sun1 and their calendar was therefore a luni-solar one4 ,but lunations cannot be made to fit in exactly into a solar year--#ab lunations are some #aa days short of one year2 #cg lunations are #b or #c days too long for three years--but an approximation can be made by giving an extra month to every third year2 or more nearly still by taking #g years in every #ai as years of #ac months each4 ,this thirteenth month is called an intercalary month1 and in the present ,jewish calendar it is the month ,adar which is reduplicated under the name of ,ve-,adar4 ,but1 though from the necessity of the case1 this intercalation1 from time to time1 of a thirteenth month must have been made regularly from the first institution of the feast of unleavened bread1 we find no allusion1 direct or indirect1 in the ,hebrew ,scriptures to any such custom4 ,amongst the ,babylonians a year and a month were termed full when they contained #ac months and #cj days respectively1 and normal or incomplete when they contained but #ab months or #bi days4 ,the succession of full and normal years recurred in the same order1 at intervals of nineteen years4 ,for #ai years contain #fici days #ad-a_/b hours2 and #bce months1 #fici days #af-a_/b hours2 the two therefore differing only by about a couple of hours4 ,the discovery of this cycle is attributed to ,meton1 about #dcc ,b4,c41 and it is therefore known as the ,metonic cycle4 ,it supplies the ,golden ,numbers of the introduction to the ,book of ,common ,prayer4 ,there are two kinds of solar years1 with which we may have to do in a luni-solar calendar--the tropical or equinoctial year1 and the sidereal year4 ,the tropical year is the interval from one season till the return of that season again--spring to spring1 summer to summer1 autumn to autumn1 or winter to winter4 ,it is defined as the time included between two successive passages of the sun through the vernal equinox1 hence it is also called the equinoctial year4 ,its length is found to be #cfe days1 #e hours1 #di minutes1 and some ancient astronomers derived its length as closely as #cfe days1 #f hours1 by observing the dates when the sun set at exactly the opposite part of the horizon to that where it rose4 ,the sidereal year is the time occupied by the sun in apparently completing the circuit of the heavens from a given star to the same star again4 ,the length of the sidereal year is #cfe days1 #f hours1 #i minutes4 ,in some cases the ancients took the sidereal year from the heliacal risings or settings of stars1 that is from the interval between the time when a bright star was first seen in the morning just before the sun rose1 until it was first so seen again2 or last seen just after the sun set in the evening1 until it was last so seen again4 ,but to connect the spring new moon with the day when the sun has returned to the equinox is a more difficult and complicated matter4 ,the early ,hebrews would seem to have solved the problem practically1 by simply watching the progress of the growing grain4 ,if at one new moon in spring time it appeared clear that some of the barley would be ready in a fortnight for the offering of the green ears at the feast of unleavened bread1 then that was taken as beginning the new year4 ,if it appeared doubtful if it would be ready1 or certain that it would not be1 then the next new moon was waited for4 ,this method was sufficient in primitive times1 and so long as the nation of ,israel remained in its own land4 ,in the long run1 it gave an accurate value for the mean tropical year1 and avoided all the astronomical difficulties of the question4 ,it shows the early ,hebrews as practical men1 for the solution adopted was easy1 simple and efficient4 ,this practical method of determining the beginning of the year amongst the early ,hebrews1 does not appear to have been the one in use amongst the ,babylonians either early or late in their history4 ,the early ,babylonians used a sidereal year1 as will be shown shortly4 ,the later ,babylonians used a tropical year dependent on the actual observation of the spring equinox4 ,to those who have no clocks1 no telescopes1 no sundials1 no instruments of any kind1 there are two natural epochs at which the day might begin2 at sunrise1 the beginning of daylight2 and at sunset1 the beginning of darkness4 ,similarly1 to all nations which use the tropical year1 whether their calendar is dependent on the sun alone1 or on both sun and moon1 there are two natural epochs at which the year may begin2 at the spring equinox1 the beginning of the bright half of the year1 when the sun is high in the heavens1 and all nature is reviving under its heat and light2 and at the autumn equinox1 the beginning of the dark half of the year1 when the sun is low in the heavens1 and all nature seems dying4 ,as a nation becomes more highly equipped1 both in the means of observing1 and in knowledge1 it may not retain either of these epochs as the actual beginning of its year1 but the determination of the year still rests directly or indirectly upon the observation of the equinoxes4 ,at the exodus from ,egypt1 in the month ,abib1 the children of ,israel were commanded in these words-- ,this month shall be unto you the beginning of months3 it shall be the first month of the year to you4 ,this command may have abolished and reversed the previously existing calendar1 or it may have related solely to the ecclesiastical calendar1 and the civil calendar may have been still retained with a different epoch of commencement4 ,an inquiry into the question as to whether there is evidence in ,scripture of the use of a double calendar1 shows that in every case that the ,passover is mentioned it is as being kept in the first month1 except when ,hezekiah availed himself of the regulation which permitted its being kept in the second month4 ,since the ,passover was a spring feast1 this links the beginning of the year to the spring time4 ,similarly the feast of ,tabernacles1 which is an autumn festival1 is always mentioned as being held in the seventh month4 ,these feasts would naturally be referred to the ecclesiastical calendar4 ,but the slight evidences given in the civil history point the same way4 ,thus some men joined ,david at ,ziklag during the time of his persecution by ,saul1 in the first month4 ,this was spring time1 for it is added that ,jordan had overflowed all its banks4 ,similarly1 the ninth month fell in the winter3 for it was as he sat in the winter-house in the ninth month1 and there was a fire on the hearth burning before him that king ,jehoiakim took the prophecy of ,jeremiah and cut it with the penknife1 and cast it into the fire that was on the hearth4 ,the same ninth month is also mentioned in the ,book of ,ezra as a winter month1 a time of great rain4 ,the same result is given by the instances in which a ,babylonian month name is interpreted by its corresponding ,jewish month number4 ,in each case the ,jewish year is reckoned as beginning with ,nisan1 the month of the spring equinox4 ,in one case1 however1 two ,babylonian month names do present a difficulty4 ,in the ,book of ,nehemiah1 in the first chapter1 the writer says-- ,it came to pass in the month ,chisleu1 in the twentieth year1 as ,i was in ,shushan the palace1 that ,hanani1 one of my brethren1 came-- and told him concerning the sad state of ,jerusalem4 ,in consequence of this he subsequently approached the king on the subject in the month ,nisan1 in the twentieth year of ,artaxerxes the king4 ,if the twentieth year of king ,artaxerxes began in the spring1 ,nisan1 which is a spring month1 could not follow ,chisleu1 which is a month of late autumn4 ,but ,artaxerxes may have dated his accession1 and therefore his regnal years1 from some month between ,nisan and ,chisleu2 or the civil year may have been reckoned at the court of ,shushan as beginning with ,tishri4 ,it may be noted that ,nehemiah does not define either of these months in terms of the ,jewish4 ,elsewhere1 when referring to the ,jewish ,feast of ,tabernacles1 he attributes it to the seventh month1 in accord with its place in the ,mosaic calendar4 ,an alteration of the beginning of the year from the spring to the autumn was brought about amongst the ,jews at a later date1 and was systematized in the ,religious ,calendar by the ,rabbis of about the fourth century ,a4,d4 ,tishri begins the ,jewish year at the present day2 the first day of ,tishri being taken as the anniversary of the creation of the world4 ,the ,mishna1 ,the ,law of the ,lip1 was first committed to writing in #aia ,a4,d41 and the compilation of the ,babylonian ,talmud1 based on the ,mishna1 was completed about #ejj ,a4,d4 ,in its commentary on the first chapter of ,genesis1 there is an allusion to the year as beginning in spring1 for it says that-- ,a king crowned on the twenty-ninth of ,adar is considered as having completed the first year of his reign on the first of ,nisan 7i4 e4 the next day74 ,hence follows 7observes some one7 that the first of ,nisan is the new year's day of kings1 and that if one had reigned only one day in a year1 it is considered as a whole year4#caa3a ,it is not indicated whether this rule held good for the kings of ,persia1 as well as for those of ,israel4 ,if so1 and this tradition be correct1 then we cannot explain ,nehemiah's reckoning by supposing that he was counting from the month of the accession of ,artaxerxes1 and must assume that a civil or court year beginning with ,tishri1 i4 e4 in the autumn1 was the one in question4 ,a further1 but1 as it would seem1 quite an imaginary difficulty1 has been raised because the feast of ingathering1 or ,tabernacles1 though held in the seventh month1 is twice spoken of as being in the end of the year1 or1 as it is rendered in the margin in one case1 in the revolution of the year4 ,this latter expression occurs again in #b ,chron4 xxiv4 #bc1 when it is said that1 at the end of the year1 the host of ,syria came up2 but in this case it probably means early spring1 for it is only of late centuries that war has been waged in the winter months4 ,down to the ,middle ,ages1 the armies always went into winter quarters1 and in the spring the kings led them out again to battle4 ,one ,hebrew expression used in ,scripture means the return of the year1 as applied to the close of one and the opening of another year4 ,this is the expression employed in the ,second ,book of ,samuel1 and of the ,first ,book of ,chronicles1 where it is said after the year was expired1 at the time when kings go forth to battle1 implying that in the time of ,david the year began in the spring4 ,the same expression1 no doubt in reference to the same time of the year1 is also used in connection with the warlike expeditions of ,benhadad1 king of ,syria1 and of ,nebuchadnezzar1 king of ,babylon4 ,it is admitted that the ,feast of ,tabernacles was held in the autumn1 and in the seventh month4 ,the difficulty lies in the question of how it could be said to be in the end of the year1 at the year's end1 although it is clear from the cases just cited that these and similar expressions are merely of a general character1 as we ourselves might say1 when the year came round1 and do not indicate any rigid connection with a specific date of the calendar4 ,we ourselves use several years and calendars1 without any confusion4 ,the civil year begins1 at midnight1 on ,january #a2 the financial year on ,april #a2 the ecclesiastical year with ,advent1 about ,december #a2 the scholastic year about the middle of ,september1 and so on4 ,as the word year expresses with ourselves many different usages1 there is no reason to attribute to the ,jews the extreme pedantry of invariably using nothing but precise definitions drawn from their ecclesiastical calendar4 ,the services of the ,tabernacle and the ,temple were--with the exception of the slaying of the ,paschal lambs--all comprised within the hours of daylight2 there was no offering before the morning sacrifice1 none after the evening sacrifice4 ,so1 too1 the ,mosaic law directed all the great feasts to be held in the summer half of the year1 the light half2 none in the winter4 ,the ,paschal full moon was just after the spring equinox2 the harvest moon of the ,feast of ,tabernacles as near as possible to the autumn equinox4 ,until the introduction1 after the ,captivity1 of the ,feast of ,purim in the twelfth month1 the month ,adar1 the ecclesiastical year might be said to end with those seven days of joyous camping-out in the booths built of the green boughs2 just as all the great days of the ,christian year lie between ,advent and the octave of ,pentecost1 whilst the ,sundays after ,trinity stretch their length through six whole months4 ,there is1 therefore1 no contradiction between the command in ,exod4 xii41 to make ,abib1 the month of the ,passover1 the first month1 and the references elsewhere in ,exodus to the ,feast of ,ingathering as being in the end of the year4 ,it was at the end of the agricultural year2 it was also at the end of the period of feasts4 ,so1 if a workman is engaged for a day's work1 he comes in the morning1 and goes home in the evening1 and expects to be paid as he leaves2 no one would ask him to complete the twenty-four hours before payment and dismissal4 ,it is the end of his day2 though1 like the men in the parable of the ,labourers in the ,vineyard1 he has only worked twelve hours out of the twenty-four4 ,in the same way the ,feast of ,tabernacles1 though in the seventh month1 was in the end of the year1 both from the point of view of the farmer and of the ordinances of the sacred festivals4 ,the method employed in very early times in ,assyria and ,babylonia for determining the first month of the year was a simple and effective one1 the principle of which may be explained thus3 ,if we watch for the appearance of the new moon in spring time1 and1 as we see it setting in the west1 notice some bright star near it1 then #ab months later we should see the two together again2 but with this difference1 that the moon and star would be seen together1 not on the first1 but on the second evening of the month4 ,for since #ab lunar months fall short of a solar year by #aa days1 the moon on the first evening would be about #aa degrees short of her former position4 ,but as she moves about #ac degrees in #bd hours1 the next evening she would practically be back in her old place4 ,in the second year1 therefore1 moon and star would set together on the second evening of the first month2 and in like manner they would set together on the third evening in the third year2 and1 roughly speaking1 on the fourth evening of the fourth year4 ,but this last conjunction would mean that they would also set together on the first evening of the next month1 which would thus be indicated as the true first month of the year4 ,thus when moon and star set together on the third evening of a month1 thirteen months later they would set together on the first evening of a month4 ,thus the setting together of moon and star would not only mark which was to be first month of the year1 but if they set together on the first evening it would show that the year then beginning was to be an ordinary one of #ab months2 if on the third evening1 that the year ought to be a full one of #ac months4 ,this was precisely the method followed by the ,akkadians some #djjj years ago4 ,for ,prof4 ,sayce and ,mr4 ,bosanquet translate an old tablet in ,akkadian as follows3-- ,when on the first day of the month ,nisan the star of stars 7or ,dilgan7 and the moon are parallel1 that year is normal4 ,when on the third day of the month ,nisan the star of stars and the moon are parallel1 that year is full4#cae3a ,the star of stars of this inscription is no doubt the bright star ,capella1 and the year thus determined by the setting together of the moon and ,capella would begin on the average with the spring equinox about #bjjj ,b4,c4 ,when ,capella thus marked the first month of the year1 the twin stars1 ,castor and ,pollux1 marked the second month of the year in just the same way4 ,a reminiscence of this circumstance is found in the signs for the first two months2 that for the first month being a crescent moon lying on its back2 that for the second month a pair of stars4 ,the significance of the crescent being shown as lying on its back is seen at once when it is remembered that the new moon is differently inclined to the horizon according to the time of the year when it is seen4 ,it is most nearly upright at the time of the autumn equinox2 it is most nearly horizontal1 lying on its back1 at the spring equinox4 ,it is clear from this symbol1 therefore1 that the ,babylonians began their year in the spring4 ,illustration3 ,,position ,,of ,,the ,,new ,,moon ,,at ,,the ,,equinoxes4 ,this method1 by which the new moon was used as a kind of pointer for determining the return of the sun to the neighbourhood of a particular star at the end of a solar year1 is quite unlike anything that commentators on the astronomical methods of the ancients have supposed them to have used4 ,but we know from the ancient inscription already quoted that it was actually used2 it was eminently simple2 it was bound to have suggested itself wherever a luni-solar year1 starting from the observed new moon1 was used4 ,further1 it required no instruments or star-maps2 it did not even require a knowledge of the constellations2 only of one or two conspicuous stars4 ,though rough1 it was perfectly efficient1 and would give the mean length of the year with all the accuracy that was then required4 ,illustration3 ,,boundary-,,stone ,,in ,,the ,,louvre2 ,,approximate ,,date1 ,b4,c4 #abjj4 7,from a photograph by ,messrs4 ,w4 ,a4 ,mansell47 ,but it had one drawback1 which the ancients could not have been expected to foresee4 ,the effect of precession1 alluded to in the chapter on ,the ,origin of the ,constellations1 p4 #aeh1 would be to throw the beginning of the year1 as thus determined1 gradually later and later in the seasons1--roughly speaking1 by a day in every seventy years1--and the time came1 no doubt1 when it was noticed that the terrestrial seasons no longer bore their traditional relation to the year4 ,this probably happened at some time in the seventh or eighth centuries before our era1 and was connected with the astronomical revolution that has been alluded to before2 when the ecliptic was divided into twelve equal divisions1 not associated with the actual stars1 the ,signs were substituted for the ,constellations of the ,zodiac1 and the ,ram was taken as the leader instead of the ,bull4 ,the equinox was then determined by direct measurement of the length of the day and night2 for a tablet of about this period records-- ,on the sixth day of the month ,nisan the day and night were equal4 ,the day was six double-hours 7kasbu71 and the night was six double-hours4 ,so long as ,capella was used as the indicator star1 so long the year must have begun with the sun in ,taurus1 the ,bull2 but when the re-adjustment was made1 and the solar tropical year connected with the equinox was substituted for the sidereal year connected with the return of the sun to a particular star1 it would be seen that the association of the beginning of the year with the sun's presence in any given constellation could no longer be kept up4 ,the necessity for an artificial division of the zodiac would be felt1 and that artificial division clearly was not made until the sun at the spring equinox was unmistakably in ,aries1 the ,ram2 or about #gjj ,b4,c4 ,the eclipse of #ajfc ,b4,c4 incidentally proves that the old method of fixing ,nisan by the conjunction of the moon and ,capella was then still in use2 for the eclipse took place on ,july #ca1 which is called in the record the #bfth of ,sivan4 ,sivan being the third month1 its #bfth day could not have fallen so late1 if the year had begun with the equinox2 but it would have so fallen if the ,capella method were still in vogue4 ,there is a set of symbols repeated over and over again on ,babylonian monuments1 and always given a position of eminence2--it is the so-called ,triad of ,stars1 a crescent lying on its back and two stars near it4 ,they are seen very distinctly at the top of the photograph of the boundary-stone from the ,louvre1 given on p4 #cah1 and also immediately above the head of the ,sun-god in the photograph of the tablet from ,sippar1 on p4 #cbb4 ,their significance is now clear4 ,four thousand years before the ,christian era1 the two ,twin stars1 ,castor and ,pollux1 served as indicators of the first new moon of the year1 just as ,capella did two thousand years later4 ,the triad of stars1 then1 is simply a picture of what men saw1 year after year1 in the sunset sky at the beginning of the first month1 six thousand years ago4 ,it is the earliest record of an astronomical observation that has come down to us4 ,illustration3 ,,worship ,,of ,,the ,,sun-,,god ,,at ,,sippara4 ,how simple and easy the observation was1 and how distinctly the year was marked off by it6 ,the month was marked off by the first sight of the new thin crescent in the evening sky4 ,the day was marked off by the return of darkness1 the evening hour in which1 month by month1 the new moon was first observed2 so that the evening and the morning were the first day4 ,the year was marked off by the new moon being seen in the evening with a bright pair of stars1 the stars we still know as the ,twins2 and the length of the year was shown by the evening of the month1 when moon and stars came together4 ,if on the first evening1 it was a year of twelve months2 if on the third1 one of thirteen4 ,there was a time when these three observations constituted the whole of primitive astronomy4 ,in later days the original meaning of the ,triad of ,stars would seem to have been forgotten1 and they were taken as representing ,sin1 ,samas1 and ,istar2--the ,moon1 the ,sun and the planet ,venus4 ,yet now and again a hint of the part they once played in determining the length of the year is preserved4 ,thus1 on the tablet now in the ,british ,museum1 and shown on p4 #cbb1 sculptured with a scene representing the worship of the ,sun-god in the temple of ,sippar1 these three symbols are shown with the explanatory inscription3-- ,the ,moon-god1 the ,sun-god1 and ,istar1 dwellers in the abyss1 ,announce to the years what they are to expect2 possibly an astrological formula1 but it may well mean--announce whether the years should expect twelve or thirteen months4 ,as already pointed out1 this method had one drawback2 it gave a sidereal year1 not a tropical year1 and this inconvenience must have been discovered1 and ,capella substituted for the ,twin stars1 long before the giving of the ,law to ,israel4 ,the method employed by the priests of watching the progress of the ripening of the barley overcame this difficulty1 and gave a year to ,israel which1 on the average1 was a correct tropical one4 ,there is a detail in the history of the flood in ,gen4 vii4 and viii4 which has been taken by some as meant to indicate the length of the tropical year4 ,in the six hundredth year of ,noah's life1 in the second month1 the seventeenth day of the month1 the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up1 and the windows of heaven were opened4 ,and it came to pass in the six hundredth and first year1 4 4 4 in the second month1 on the seven and twentieth day of the month1 was the earth dried4 ,the interval from the commencement of the deluge to its close was therefore twelve lunar months and ten days2 i4 e4 #cfd or #cfe days4 ,the beginning of the rain would1 no doubt1 be sharply marked2 the end of the drying would be gradual1 and hence the selection of a day exactly 7so far as we can tell7 a full tropical year from the beginning of the flood would seem to be intentional4 ,a complete year had been consumed by the judgment4 ,no such total interruption of the kindly succession of the seasons shall ever occur again3-- ,while the earth remaineth1 seed-time and harvest1 and cold and heat1 and summer and winter1 and day and night shall not cease4 ,the rain is no longer for judgment1 but for blessing3-- ,thou visitest the earth1 and waterest it1 ,thou greatly enrichest it2 ,the river of ,god is full of water3 ,thou providest them corn1 when ,thou hast so prepared the earth4 ,thou waterest her furrows abundantly2 ,thou settlest the ridges thereof3 ,thou makest it soft with showers2 ,thou blessest the springing thereof4 ,thou crownest the year with ,thy goodness4 ,,footnotes3 #caa3a ,p4 ,i4 ,hershon1 ,genesis with a ,talmudical ,commentary1 p4 #cj4 #cae3a ,monthly ,notices of the ,royal ,astronomical ,society1 vol4 xxxix4 p4 #dee4 ,,chapter ,v ,,the ,,sabbatic ,,year ,,and ,,the ,,jubilee ,the principle of the week with its sabbath of rest was carried partially into the month1 and completely into the year4 ,the seventh month of the year was marked out pre-eminently by the threefold character of its services1 though every seventh month was not distinguished4 ,but the weekly sabbath was expressed not only in days but in years1 and was one both of rest and of release4 ,the sabbath of years was first enjoined from ,mount ,sinai1 in the third month after the departure from ,egypt1 certainly within a day or so1 if not on the actual day1 of the second great feast of the year1 variously known to the ,hebrews as the ,feast of ,firstfruits1 or the ,feast of ,weeks1 and to us as ,pentecost1 that is ,whitsuntide4 ,it is most shortly given in ,exod4 xxi4 #b1 and xxiii4 #aj1 #aa3-- ,if thou buy an ,hebrew servant1 six years he shall serve3 and in the seventh he shall go out free for nothing4 ,six years thou shalt sow thy land1 and shalt gather in the fruits thereof3 but the seventh year thou shalt let it rest and lie still2 that the poor of thy people may eat3 and what they leave the beasts of the field shall eat4 ,in like manner thou shalt deal with thy vineyard1 and with thy oliveyard4 ,these laws are given at greater length and with fuller explanation in the twenty-fifth chapter of the ,book of ,leviticus4 ,in addition there is given a promise of blessing for the fulfilment of the laws1 and1 in the twenty-sixth chapter1 a sign to follow on their breach4 ,if ye shall say1 ,what shall we eat the seventh year8 behold1 we shall not sow1 nor gather in our increase3 then ,i will command ,my blessing upon you in the sixth year1 and it shall bring forth fruit for three years4 ,and ye shall sow the eighth year1 and eat yet of old fruit until the ninth year3 until her fruits come in ye shall eat of the old store4 ,ye shall keep ,my sabbaths 4 4 4 and if ye walk contrary unto ,me 4 4 4 ,i will scatter you among the heathen1 and will draw out a sword after you3 and your land shall be desolate1 and your cities waste4 ,then shall the land enjoy her sabbaths1 as long as it lieth desolate1 and ye be in your enemies' land2 even then shall the land rest1 and enjoy her sabbaths4 ,as long as it lieth desolate it shall rest2 because it did not rest in your sabbaths1 when ye dwelt upon it4 ,in the fifteenth chapter of the ,book of ,deuteronomy this sabbatic year is called a year of release4 ,the specific injunctions here relate to loans made to a ,hebrew and to a foreigner1 and to the taking of a ,hebrew into bondage4 ,the laws as to loans had direct reference to the sabbath of the land1 for since only ,hebrews might possess the ,holy ,land1 interest on a debt might not be exacted from a ,hebrew in the sabbatic year1 as the land did not then yield him wherewith he might pay4 ,but loans to foreigners would be necessarily for commercial1 not agricultural1 purposes1 and since commerce was not interdicted in the sabbatic year1 interest on loans to foreigners might be exacted4 ,warning was given that the loans to a poor ,hebrew should not be withheld because the sabbatic year was close at hand4 ,the rules with respect to the ,hebrew sold for debt into bondage are the same as those given in the ,book of the ,exodus4 ,in ,deuteronomy it was also enjoined that-- at the end of every seven years1 in the solemnity of the year of release1 in the ,feast of ,tabernacles 7that is1 in the feast of the seventh month71 when all ,israel is come to appear before the ,lord thy ,god in the place which ,he shall choose1 thou shalt read this law before all ,israel in their hearing4 ,we find no more mention of the sabbatic year until the reign of ,zedekiah1 the last king of ,judah4 ,he had made a covenant with all the people which were at ,jerusalem1 to proclaim liberty unto them1 that every ,hebrew bondservant should go free1 but the princes and all the people caused their ,hebrew bondservants to return and be in subjection to them4 ,then ,jeremiah the prophet was sent to remind them of the covenant made with their fathers when they were brought out from the land of ,egypt1 from the house of bondmen2 and in the ,second ,book of ,chronicles it is said that the sign of the breaking of this covenant1 already quoted from the ,book of ,leviticus1 was being accomplished4 ,the ,captivity was-- to fulfil the word of the ,lord by the mouth of ,jeremiah1 until the land had enjoyed her sabbaths3 for as long as she lay desolate she kept sabbath1 to fulfil three-score and ten years4 ,after the exile1 we find one reference to the sabbatic year in the covenant sealed by the princes1 ,levites1 and priests and people1 in the ,book of ,nehemiah3-- ,that we would leave the seventh year1 and the exaction of every debt4 ,just as the ,feast of ,weeks was bound to the ,feast of the ,passover by numbering seven sabbaths from the day of the wave-offering--even unto the morrow after the seventh sabbath shall ye number fifty days3--so the year of ,jubilee was bound to the sabbatic year3-- ,thou shalt number seven sabbaths of years unto thee1 seven times seven years2 and the space of the seven sabbaths of years shall be unto thee forty and nine years4 ,then shalt thou cause the trumpet of the ,jubile to sound on the tenth day of the seventh month1 in the day of atonement shall ye make the trumpet sound throughout all your land4 ,and ye shall hallow the fiftieth year1 and proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof3 it shall be a ,jubile unto you2 and ye shall return every man unto his possession1 and ye shall return every man unto his family4 ,in this year of ,jubilee all land1 and village houses1 and the houses of the ,levites were to revert to their original owners4 ,these1 in other words1 could be leased only1 and not bought outright1 the price of the lease depending upon the number of years until the next ,jubilee4 ,a foreigner might not buy a ,hebrew outright as a bondslave2 he could but contract with him as a servant hired for a term2 this contract might be abolished by the payment of a sum dependent on the number of years until the next year of ,jubilee1 and in any case the ,hebrew servant and his family must go out free at the year of ,jubilee4 ,in the last chapter of the ,book of ,numbers we get a reference again to the year of ,jubilee1 and indirect allusions to it are made by ,isaiah1 in the acceptable year of the ,lord when liberty should be proclaimed1 and in the year of the redeemed4 ,in his prophecy of the restoration of ,israel1 ,ezekiel definitely refers to the year of liberty1 when the inheritance that has been granted to a servant shall return again to the prince4 ,the interpretation of the sabbatic year and the year of ,jubilee has greatly exercised commentators4 ,at what season did the sabbatic year begin8 was it coterminous with the ecclesiastical year2 or did it differ from it by six months8 ,was the year of ,jubilee held once in every forty-nine years or once in every fifty8 did it begin at the same season as the sabbatic year8 did it interrupt the reckoning of the sabbatic year1 so that a new cycle commenced immediately after the year of ,jubilee2 or was the sabbatic year every seventh1 irrespective of the year of ,jubilee8 did the year of ,jubilee always follow immediately on a sabbatic year1 or did this only happen occasionally8 ,the problem will be much simpler if it is borne in mind that the ,law1 as originally proclaimed1 was eminently practical and for practical men4 ,the period of pedantry1 of hair-splitting1 of slavery to mere technicalities1 came very late in ,jewish history4 ,it is clear from what has been already said in the chapter on the year1 that the only calendar year in the ,old ,testament was the sacred one1 beginning with the month ,abib or ,nisan1 in the spring4 ,at the same time the ,jews1 like ourselves1 would occasionally refer vaguely to the beginning1 or the end1 or the course of the year1 without meaning to set up any hard and fast connection with the authorized calendar4 ,now it is perfectly clear that the sabbatic year cannot have begun with the first day of the month ,abib1 because the first fruits were offered on the fifteenth of that month4 ,that being so1 the ploughing and the sowing must have taken place very considerably earlier4 ,it is not possible to suppose that the ,hebrew farmer would plough and sow his land in the last months of the previous year1 knowing that he could not reap during the sabbatic year4 ,similarly1 it seems hardly likely that it was considered as beginning with the first of ,tishri1 inasmuch as the harvest festival1 the ,feast of the ,ingathering1 or ,tabernacles1 took place in the middle of that month4 ,the plain and practical explanation is that1 after the ,feast of ,tabernacles of the sixth year1 the farmer would not again plough1 sow1 or reap his land until after the ,feast of ,tabernacles in the sabbatic year4 ,the sabbatic year1 in other words1 was a simple agricultural year1 and it did not correspond exactly with the ecclesiastical or with any calendar year4 ,for practical purposes the sabbatic year therefore ended with the close of the ,feast of ,tabernacles1 when the ,law was read before the whole people according to the command of ,moses2 and it practically began a year earlier4 ,the year of ,jubilee appears in the directions of ,lev4 xxv4 to have been most distinctly linked to the sabbatic year4 ,the space of the seven sabbaths of years shall be unto thee forty and nine years1 4 4 4 and ye shall hallow the fiftieth year1 and proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof3 it shall be a ,jubile unto you4 ,it would seem1 therefore1 that just as the week of days ran on continuously1 uninterrupted by any feasts or fasts1 so the week of years ran on continuously4 ,and as the ,feast of ,pentecost was the #dith day from the offering of the first-fruits on the morrow of the ,passover1 so the ,jubilee was the #dith year from the morrow of a sabbatic year2 it followed immediately after a sabbatic year4 ,the ,jubilee was thus the #dith year from the previous ,jubilee2 it was the #ejth from the particular sabbatic year from which the original reckoning was made4 ,actually the year of ,jubilee began before the sabbatic year was completed1 because the trumpet of the ,jubilee was to be blown upon the ,day of ,atonement1 the #ajth day of the seventh month--that is to say1 whilst the sabbatic year was yet in progress4 ,indeed1 literally speaking1 this trumpet1 loud of sound1 blown on the #ajth day of the seventh month1 was the ,jubilee1 that is to say1 the sound of rejoicing1 the joyful sound4 ,a difficulty comes in here4 ,the ,israelites were commanded-- ,ye shall not sow1 neither reap that which groweth of itself in it1 nor gather the grapes in it of thy vine undressed4 ,for it is the ,jubile2 it shall be holy unto you3 ye shall eat the increase thereof out of the field4 ,this would appear to mean that the ,jubilee extended over a whole year following a sabbatic year1 so that the land lay fallow for two consecutive years4 ,but this seems negatived by two considerations4 ,it is expressly laid down in the same chapter 7,lev4 xxv4 #bb7 that the ,israelites were to sow in the eighth year--that is to say1 in the year after a sabbatic year1 and the year of ,jubilee would be always a year of this character4 ,further1 if the next sabbatic year was the seventh after the one preceding the ,jubilee1 then the land would be tilled for only five consecutive years1 not for six1 though this is expressly commanded in ,lev4 xxv4 #c4 ,if1 on the contrary1 it was tilled for six years1 then the run of the sabbatic years would be interrupted4 ,the explanation of this difficulty may possibly be found in the fact that that which distinguished the year of ,jubilee was something which did not run through the whole circuit of the seasons4 ,the land in that year was to return to its original owners4 ,the freehold of the land was never sold2 the land was inalienable1 and in the year of ,jubilee it reverted4 ,in the year of this ,jubile ye shall return every man unto his possession4 ,it is quite clear that it could not have been left to the caprice of the owners of property as to when this transfer took place1 or as to when such ,hebrews as had fallen through poverty into slavery should be liberated4 ,if the time were made optional1 grasping men would put it off till the end of the year1 and sooner or later that would be the general rule4 ,there can be no doubt that the blowing of the trumpet on the #ajth day of the seventh month was the proclamation of liberty throughout all the land and to all the inhabitants thereof2 and that the transfer of the land must have taken place at the same time4 ,the slave would return to the possession of his ancestors in time to keep1 as a freeman1 the ,feast of ,tabernacles on his own land4 ,the four days between the great day of ,atonement and the ,feast of ,tabernacles were sufficient for this change to be carried out4 ,the term ,year of ,jubilee is therefore not to be taken as signifying that the events of the ,jubilee were spread over twelve months1 but simply1 that it was the year in which the restoration of the ,jubilee was accomplished4 ,we speak of the king's coronation year1 though his coronation took place on but a single day1 and the meaning that we should attach to the phrase would depend upon the particular sense in which we were using the word year4 ,whilst1 therefore1 the ,jubilee itself was strictly defined by the blowing of trumpets on the #ajth day of the seventh month1 it would be perfectly correct to give the title1 year of ,jubilee1 to any year1 no matter in what season it commenced1 that contained the day of that proclamation of liberty4 ,it is also correct to say that it was the fiftieth year because it was placed at the very end of the forty-ninth year4 ,the difficulty still remains as to the meaning of the prohibition to sow or reap in the year of ,jubilee4 ,the command certainly reads as if the land was to lie fallow for two consecutive years2 but it would seem an impracticable arrangement that the poor man returning to his inheritance should be forbidden to plough or sow until more than a twelvemonth had elapsed1 and hence that he should be forbidden to reap until nearly two full years had run their course4 ,it also1 as already stated1 seems directly contrary to the command to sow in the eighth year1 which would also be the fiftieth4 ,it may therefore be meant simply to emphasize the prohibition to sow and reap in the sabbatic year immediately preceding the ,jubilee4 ,the temptation would be great to a grasping man to get the most he could out of the land before parting with it for ever4 ,in spite of the strong array of commentators who claim that the ,jubilees were to be held every fifty years as we moderns should compute it1 there can be no doubt but that they followed each other at the same interval as every seventh sabbatic year2 in other words1 that they were held every #di years4 ,this is confirmed by an astronomical consideration4 ,forty-nine years make a convenient luni-solar cycle1 reconciling the lunar month and the tropical solar year4 ,though not so good as the ,metonic cycle of #ai years1 it is quite a practical one1 as the following table will show3-- #c years #ajiegc days 3 #cg months #ajibfc days #h #bibaid 3 #ii #bibcec #aa #djagff 3 #acf #djafaf #ai #ficifj 3 #bce #ficifi #di #aghifhg 3 #fjf #aghieed #fj #baiadec 3 #gdb #baiaagj ,the cycle of #di years would therefore be amply good enough to guide the priestly authorities in drawing up their calendar in cases where there was some ambiguity due to the interruption of observations of the moon1 and this was all that could be needed so long as the nation of ,israel remained in its own land4 ,the cycle of #h years is added above1 since it has been stated that the ,jews of ,alexandria adopted this at one time from the ,greeks4 ,this was not so good as the cycle of #aa years would have been1 and not to be compared with the combination of the two cycles in that of #ai years ascribed to ,meton4 ,the latter cycle was adopted by the ,babylonian ,jews1 and forms the basis of the ,jewish calendar in use to-day4 ,,chapter ,,vi ,,the ,,cycles ,,of ,,daniel ,the cycle of #di years1 marked out by the return of the ,jubilee1 was a useful and practical one4 ,it supplied1 in fact1 all that the ,hebrews1 in that age1 required for the purposes of their calendar4 ,the ,babylonian basic number1 #fj1 would have given--as will be seen from the table in the last chapter--a distinctly less accurate correspondence between the month and the tropical year4 ,there is another way of looking at the regulations for the ,jubilee1 which brings out a further significant relation4 ,on the #ajth day of the first month of any year1 the lamb was selected for the ,passover4 ,on the #ajth day of the seventh month of any year was the great ,day of ,atonement4 ,from the #ajth day of the first month of the first year after a ,jubilee to the next blowing of the ,jubilee trumpet on the great ,day of ,atonement1 was #fjj months1 that is #ej complete lunar years4 ,and the same interval necessarily held good between the ,passover of that first year and the ,feast of ,tabernacles of the forty-ninth year4 ,the ,passover recalled the deliverance of ,israel from the bondage of ,egypt2 and in like manner1 the release to be given to the ,hebrew slave at the year of ,jubilee was expressly connected with the memory of that national deliverance4 ,for they are ,my servants1 which ,i brought forth out of the land of ,egypt3 they shall not be sold as bondmen4 ,the day of ,jubilee fell in the middle of the ecclesiastical year4 ,from the close of the year of ,jubilee--that is to say1 of the ecclesiastical year in which the freeing1 both of the bondmen and of the land1 took place--to the next day of ,jubilee was #dh-a_/b solar years1 or--as seen above--#fjj lunations1 or #ej lunar years1 so that there can be no doubt that the period was expressly designed to exhibit this cycle1 a cycle which shows incidentally a very correct knowledge of the true lengths of the lunation and solar year4 ,this cycle was possessed by no other nation of antiquity2 therefore the ,hebrews borrowed it from none2 and since they did not borrow the cycle1 neither could they have borrowed the ritual with which that cycle was interwoven4 ,that the ,hebrews possessed this knowledge throws some light upon an incident in the early life of the prophet ,daniel4 ,in the third year of the reign of ,jehoiakim king of ,judah came ,nebuchadnezzar king of ,babylon unto ,jerusalem1 and besieged it4 4 4 4 ,and the king spake unto ,ashpenaz the master of his eunuchs1 that he should bring certain of the children of ,israel1 and of the king's seed1 and of the princes2 children in whom was no blemish1 but well favoured1 and skilful in all wisdom1 and cunning in knowledge1 and understanding science1 and such as had ability in them to stand in the king's palace1 and whom they might teach the learning and the tongue of the ,chaldeans4 4 4 4 ,now among these were of the children of ,judah1 ,daniel1 ,hananiah1 ,mishael1 and ,azariah3 unto whom the prince of the eunuchs gave names3 for he gave unto ,daniel the name of ,belteshazzar2 and to ,hananiah1 of ,shadrach2 and to ,mishael1 of ,meshach2 and to ,azariah1 of ,abed-nego4 4 4 4 ,as for these four children1 ,god gave them knowledge and skill in all learning and wisdom2 and ,daniel had understanding in all visions and dreams4 ,now at the end of the days that the king had said he should bring them in1 then the prince of the eunuchs brought them in before ,nebuchadnezzar4 ,and the king communed with them2 and among them all was found none like ,daniel1 ,hananiah1 ,mishael1 and ,azariah3 therefore stood they before the king4 ,and in all matters of wisdom and understanding1 that the king inquired of them1 he found them ten times better than all the magicians and astrologers that were in all his realm4 ,the ,hebrew children that king ,nebuchadnezzar desired to be brought were to be already possessed of knowledge2 they were to be further instructed in the learning and tongue of the ,chaldeans4 ,but when the four ,hebrew children were brought before the king1 and he communed with them1 he found them wiser than his own wise men4 ,no account is given of the questions asked by the king1 or of the answers made by the four young ,hebrews2 so it is merely a conjecture that possibly some question bearing on the calendar may have come up4 ,but if it did1 then certainly the information within the grasp of the ,hebrews could not have failed to impress the king4 ,we know how highly the ,greeks esteemed the discovery by ,meton1 in the #hfth ,olympiad1 of that relation between the movements of the sun and moon1 which gives the cycle of nineteen years1 and similar knowledge would certainly have given king ,nebuchadnezzar a high opinion of the young captives4 ,but there is evidence1 from certain numbers in the book which bears his name1 that ,daniel was acquainted with luni-solar cycles which quite transcended that of the ,jubilees in preciseness1 and indicate a knowledge such as was certainly not to be found in any other ancient nation4 ,the numbers themselves are used in a prophetic context1 so that the meaning of the whole is veiled1 but astronomical knowledge underlying the use of these numbers is unmistakably there4 ,one of these numbers is found in the eighth chapter4 ,how long shall be the vision concerning the daily sacrifice1 and the transgression of desolation1 to give both the sanctuary and the host to be trodden under foot8 ,and he said unto me1 ,unto two thousand and three hundred days2 then shall the sanctuary be cleansed4 ,the twelfth chapter gives the other number1 but in a more veiled form3-- ,and ,i heard the man clothed in linen1 which was upon the waters of the river1 when he held up his right hand and his left hand unto heaven1 and sware by ,him that liveth for ever that it shall be for a time1 times1 and an half2 and when he shall have accomplished to scatter the power of the holy people1 all these things shall be finished4 ,the numerical significance of the time1 times and an half1 or1 as it is expressed in the seventh chapter of ,daniel1 until a time1 and times1 and the dividing of time1 is plainly shown by the corresponding expressions in the ,apocalypse1 where a time and times and half a time would appear to be given elsewhere both as forty and two months and a thousand1 two hundred and three-score days4 ,forty-two conventional months--that is of #cj days each--make up #abfj days1 whilst #c-a_/b conventional years of #cfj days--that is twelve months of #cj days each--make up the same period4 ,the word times is expressly used as equivalent to years in the eleventh chapter of ,daniel1 where it is said that the king of the north shall come on at the end of the times1 even of years1 with a great army and with much substance4 ,then1 again in the vision which ,nebuchadnezzar had previous to his madness1 he heard the watcher and the holy one cry concerning him3-- ,let his heart be changed from man's1 and let a beast's heart be given unto him2 and let seven times pass over him4 ,it has been generally understood that the seven times in this latter case meant seven years4 ,the time1 times and an half are obviously meant as the half of seven times4 ,the two numbers1 #b1cjj and #a1bfj1 whatever be their significance in their particular context in these prophecies1 have an unmistakable astronomical bearing1 as the following table will show3-- #b1cjj solar years #hdj1jeg days1 #a hour4 #bh1ddg lunar months #hdj1jef #af hours4 difference #i #a1bfj solar years #dfj1bje #d #ae1ehd lunar months #dfj1bjd #ag difference #aa ,if the one number #a1bfj stood alone1 the fact that it was so close a lunar cycle might easily be ascribed to a mere coincidence4 ,seven is a sacred number1 and the days in the year may be conventionally represented as #cfj4 ,half the product of the two might1 perhaps1 seem to be a natural number to adopt for symbolic purposes4 ,but the number #b1cjj stands in quite a different category4 ,it is not suggested by any combination of sacred numbers1 and is not veiled under any mystic expression2 the number is given as it stands--#b1cjj4 ,but #b1cjj solar years is an exact number1 not only of lunations1 but also of anomalistic months4 ,the anomalistic month is the time occupied by the moon in travelling from its perigee1 that is its point of nearest approach to the earth1 round to its perigee again4 ,for the moon's orbit round the earth is not circular1 but decidedly elliptical2 the moon being #ca1jjj miles nearer to us at perigee than it is at apogee1 its point of greatest distance4 ,but it moves more rapidly when near perigee than when near apogee1 so that its motion differs considerably from perfect uniformity4 ,but the period in which the moon travels from her perigee round to perigee again is #bg days1 #ac hours1 #ah minutes1 #cg seconds1 and there are in #b1cjj solar years almost exactly #cj1dhg such periods or anomalistic months1 which amount to #hdj1jeg days1 #b hours4 ,if we take the mean of these three periods1 that is to say #hdj1jeg days1 as being the cycle1 it brings into harmony the day1 the anomalistic month1 the ordinary month1 and the solar year4 ,it is from this point of view the most perfect cycle known4 ,dr4 ,h4 ,grattan ,guinness#cdc3a has shown what a beautifully simple and accurate calendar could have been constructed on the basis of this period of #b1cjj years2 thus3-- #b1cjj solar years contain #bh1ddg synodic months1 of which #hdg are intercalary1 or epact months4 #b1cjj years are #hdj1jeg days3 ,days4 #bg1fjj #ac1hjj non-intercalary mths4 of #bi d4 each #djj1bjj #ac1hjj #cj #dad1jjj #hdg #dbc intercalary months of #cj days each #ab1fij #dbd #ca #ac1add #bc days additional for the #bc centuries #bc ------- #hdj1jeg ,the ,jewish calendar on this system would have consisted of ordinary months1 alternately #bi and #cj days in length4 ,the intercalary months would have contained alternately #cj or #ca days1 and once in every century one of the ordinary months would have had an additional day4 ,or1 what would come to very much the same thing1 this extra day might have been added at every alternate ,jubilee4 ,by combining these two numbers of ,daniel some cycles of extreme astronomical interest have been derived by ,de ,cheseaux1 a ,swiss astronomer of the eighteenth century1 and by ,dr4 ,h4 ,grattan ,guinness1 and ,dr4 ,w4 ,bell ,dawson in our own times4 ,thus1 the difference between #b1cjj and #a1bfj is #a1jdj1 and #a1jdj years give an extremely exact correspondence between the solar year and the month1 whilst the mean of the two numbers gives us #a1ghj1 and #a1ghj lunar years is #a1gbg solar years with extreme precision4 ,but since these are not given directly in the ,book of ,daniel1 and are only inferential from his numbers1 there seems no need to comment upon them here4 ,it is fair1 however1 to conclude that ,daniel was aware of the ,metonic cycle4 ,the #bcjj-year cycle gives evidence of a more accurate knowledge of the respective lengths of month and year than is involved in the cycle of #ai years4 ,and the latter is a cycle which a ,jew would be naturally led to detect1 as the number of intercalary months contained in it is seven1 the ,hebrew sacred number4 ,the ,book of ,daniel1 therefore1 itself proves to us that king ,nebuchadnezzar was perfectly justified in the high estimate which he formed of the attainments of the four ,hebrew children4 ,certainly one of them1 ,daniel1 was a better instructed mathematician and astronomer than any ,chaldean who had ever been brought into his presence4 ,we have the right to make this assertion1 for now we have an immense number of ,babylonian records at our command2 and can form a fairly accurate estimate as to the state there of astronomical and mathematical science at different epochs4 ,a kind of quasi-patriotism has induced some ,assyriologists to confuse in their accounts of ,babylonian attainments the work of times close to the ,christian era with that of many centuries1 if not of several millenniums earlier2 and the times of ,sargon of ,agad1 whose reputed date is #chjj ,b4,c41 have seemed to be credited with the astronomical work done in ,babylon in the first and second centuries before our era4 ,this is much as if we should credit our predecessors who lived in this island at the time of ,abraham with the scientific attainments of the present day4 ,the earlier astronomical achievements at ,babylon were not1 in any real sense1 astronomical at all4 ,they were simply the compilation of lists of crude astrological omens1 of the most foolish and unreasoning kind4 ,late in ,babylonian history there were observations of a high scientific order2 real observations of the positions of moon and planets1 made with great system and regularity4 ,but these were made after ,greek astronomy had attained a high level1 and ,babylon had come under ,greek rule4 ,whether this development of genuine astronomical observation was of native origin1 or was derived from their ,greek masters1 is not clear4 ,if it was native1 then certainly the ,babylonians were not able to use and interpret the observations which they made nearly so well as were ,greek astronomers1 such as ,eudoxus1 ,thales1 ,pythagoras1 ,hipparchus and many others4 ,but it must not be supposed that1 though their astronomical achievements have been grossly1 even ludicrously1 exaggerated by some popular writers1 the ,babylonians contributed nothing of value to the progress of the science4 ,we may infer from such a tablet as that already quoted on page #cbj1 when the equinox was observed on the #fth day of ,nisan1 since there were #f kasbu of day and #f kasbu of night1 that some mechanical time-measurer was in use4 ,indeed1 the record on one tablet has been interpreted as noting that the astronomer's clock or clepsydra had stopped4 ,if this be so1 then we owe to ,babylon the invention of clocks of some description1 and from an astronomical point of view1 this is of the greatest importance4 ,tradition also points to the ,chaldeans as the discoverers of the ,saros1 the cycle of #ah years1 #aj or #aa days1 after which eclipses of the sun or moon recur4 ,the fact that very careful watch was kept every month at the times of the new and of the full moon1 at many different stations1 to note whether an eclipse would take place1 would naturally bring about the discovery of the period1 sooner or later4 ,the achievements of a nation will be in accordance with its temperament and opportunities1 and it is evident from the records which they have left us that the ,babylonians1 though very superstitious1 were a methodical1 practical1 prosaic people1 and a people of that order1 if they are numerous1 and under strong rule1 will go far and do much4 ,the discovery of the ,saros was such as was within their power1 and was certainly no small achievement4 ,but it is to the ,greeks1 not to the ,babylonians1 that we trace the beginnings of mathematics and planetary theory4 ,we look in vain amongst such ,babylonian poetry as we possess for the traces of a ,homer1 a ,pindar1 a ,sophocles1 or even of a poet fit to enter into competition with those of the second rank in the literature of ,greece2 while it must remain one of the literary mysteries of our time that any one should deem the poetry of the books of ,isaiah and ,job dependent on ,babylonian inspiration4 ,there were two great hindrances under which the ,babylonian man of science laboured3 he was an idolater1 and he was an astrologer4 ,it is not possible for us in our freedom to fully realize how oppressive was the slavery of mind1 as well as spirit1 which was consequent upon this twofold superstition4 ,the ,greek was freer1 insomuch that he did not worship the planets1 and did not become a planetary astrologer until after he had learnt that superstition from ,chaldea2 in learning it he put an end to his scientific progress4 ,but the ,hebrew1 if he was faithful to the ,law that had been given to him1 was free in mind as well as in spirit4 ,he could fearlessly inquire into any and all the objects of nature1 for these were but things--the work of ,god's ,hands1 whereas he1 made in the image of ,god1 having the right of intercourse with ,god1 was the superior1 the ruler of everything he could see4 ,his religious attitude therefore gave him a great superiority for scientific advancement4 ,yet there was one phase of that attitude which1 whilst it preserved him from erroneous conceptions1 tended to check that spirit of curiosity which has led to so much of the scientific progress of modern times4 ,what8 ,how8 and ,why8 are the three questions which man is always asking of nature1 and to the ,hebrew the answer to the second and third was obvious3--,it is the power of ,god3 ,it is the will of ,god4 ,he did not need to invent for himself the crass absurdities of the cosmogonies of the heathen2 but neither was he induced to go behind the appearances of things2 the sufficient cause and explanation of all was ,god4 ,but of the appearances he was very observant1 as ,i trust has become clear in the course of this imperfect review of the traces of one particular science as noticed in ,holy ,scripture4 ,if he was faithful to the ,law which had been given him1 the ,hebrew was free in character as well as in mind4 ,his spirit was not that of a bondman1 and ,nebuchadnezzar certainly never met anything more noble1 anything more free1 than the spirit of the men who answered him in the very view of the burning fiery furnace3-- ,o ,nebuchadnezzar1 we are not careful to answer thee in this matter4 ,if it be so1 our ,god whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace1 and ,he will deliver us out of thine hand1 ,o king4 ,,but ,,if ,,not1 be it known unto thee1 ,o king1 that we will not serve thy gods1 nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up4 ,,footnotes3 #cdc3a ,creation centred in ,christ1 p4 #cdd4 ,illustration3 ,,sun1 ,,stand ,,thou ,,still ,,upon ,,gibeon1 ,,and ,,thou ,,moon ,,in ,,the ,,valley ,,of ,,ajalon4 ,,book ,,iv ,,three ,,astronomical ,,marvels ,,chapter ,i ,,joshua',s ,,long ,,day#cea3a #a4--,,method ,,of ,,studying ,,the ,,record ,there are three incidents recorded in ,holy ,scripture which may fairly1 if with no great exactness1 be termed astronomical miracles2--the long day on the occasion of ,joshua's victory at ,beth-horon2 the turning back of the shadow on the dial of ,ahaz1 as a sign of king ,hezekiah's recovery from sickness2 and the star which guided the wise men from the east to the birthplace of the ,holy ,child at ,bethlehem4 ,as astronomy has some bearing on each of these three remarkable events1 it will be of some interest to examine each of them from the point of view of our present astronomical knowledge4 ,it does not follow that this will throw any new light upon the narratives1 for we must always bear in mind that the ,scriptures were not intended to teach us the physical sciences2 consequently we may find that the very details have been omitted which an astronomer1 if he were writing an account of an astronomical observation1 would be careful to preserve4 ,and we must further remember that we have not the slightest reason to suppose that the sacred historians received any supernatural instruction in scientific matters4 ,their knowledge of astronomy therefore was that which they had themselves acquired from education and research1 and nothing more4 ,in other words1 the astronomy of the narrative must be read strictly in the terms of the scientific advancement of the writers4 ,but there is another thing that has also to be remembered4 ,the narrative which we have before us1 being the only one that we have1 must be accepted exactly as it stands4 ,that is the foundation of our inquiry2 we have no right to first cut it about at our will1 to omit this1 to alter that1 to find traces of two1 three1 or more original documents1 and so to split up the narrative as it stands into a number of imperfect fragments1 which by their very imperfection may seem to be more or less in conflict4 ,the scientific attitude with regard to the record of an observation cannot be too clearly defined4 ,if that record be the only one1 then we may accept it1 we may reject it1 we may be obliged to say1 ,we do not understand it1 or ,it is imperfect1 and we can make no use of it1 but we must not alter it4 ,a moment's reflection will show that a man who would permit himself to tamper with the sole evidence upon which he purports to work1 no matter how profoundly convinced he may be that his proposed corrections are sound1 is one who does not understand the spirit of science1 and is not going the way to arrive at scientific truth4 ,there is no need then to inquire as to whether the tenth chapter of the ,book of ,joshua comes from two or more sources2 we take the narrative as it stands4 ,and it is one which has1 for the astronomer1 an interest quite irrespective of any interpretation which he may place upon the account of the miracle which forms its central incident4 ,for ,joshua's exclamation3-- ,sun1 stand thou still upon ,gibeon2 ,and thou1 ,moon1 in the valley of ,ajalon1 implies that1 at the moment of his speaking1 the two heavenly bodies appeared to him to be1 the one upon or over ,gibeon1 the other over the valley of ,ajalon4 ,we have therefore1 in effect1 a definite astronomical observation2 interesting in itself1 as being one of the oldest that has been preserved to us2 doubly interesting in the conclusions that we are able to deduce from it4 ,the idea which has been most generally formed of the meaning of ,joshua's command1 is1 that he saw ,gibeon in the distance on the horizon in one direction with the sun low down in the sky immediately above it1 and the valley of ,ajalon in the distance1 on the horizon in another direction1 with the moon low down in the sky above it4 ,it would be quite natural to associate the sun and moon with distant objects if they were only some five or six degrees high2 it would be rather straining the point to do so if they were more than ten degrees high2 and if they were fifteen or more degrees high1 it would be quite impossible4 ,they could not be both in the same quarter of the sky2 both rising or both setting4 ,for this would mean that the moon was not only very near the sun in the sky1 but was very near to conjunction--in other words1 to new moon4 ,she could1 therefore1 have only shown a slender thread of light1 and it is perfectly certain that ,joshua1 facing the sun in such a country as southern ,palestine could not possibly have perceived the thin pale arch of light1 which would have been all that the moon could then have presented to him4 ,therefore the one must have been rising and the other setting1 and ,joshua must have been standing between ,gibeon and the valley of ,ajalon1 so that the two places were nearly in opposite directions from him4 ,the moon must have been in the west and the sun in the east1 for the valley of ,ajalon is west of ,gibeon4 ,that is to say1 it cannot have been more than an hour after sunrise1 and it cannot have been more than an hour before moonset4 ,adopting therefore the usual explanation of ,joshua's words1 we see at once that the common idea of the reason for ,joshua's command to the sun1 namely1 that the day was nearly over1 and that he desired the daylight to be prolonged1 is quite mistaken4 ,if the sun was low down in the sky1 he would have had practically the whole of the day still before him4 #b4--;,,before ,,the ,,battle ,before attempting to examine further into the nature of the miracle1 it will be well to summarize once again the familiar history of the early days of the ,hebrew invasion of ,canaan4 ,we are told that the passage of the ,jordan took place on the tenth day of the first month2 and that the ,feast of the ,passover was held on the fourteenth day of that month4 ,these are the only two positive dates given us4 ,the week of the ,pascal celebrations would have occupied the time until the moon's last quarter4 ,then preparations were made for the siege of ,jericho1 and another week passed in the daily processions round the city before the moment came for its destruction1 which must have been very nearly at the beginning of the second month of the year4 ,jericho having been destroyed1 ,joshua next ordered a reconnaissance of ,a1 a small fortified town1 some twenty miles distant1 and some #cdjj feet above the ,israelite camp at ,gilgal1 and commanding the upper end of the valley of ,achor1 the chief ravine leading up from the valley of the ,jordan4 ,the reconnaissance was followed by an attack on the town1 which resulted in defeat4 ,from the dejection into which this reverse had thrown him ,joshua was roused by the information that the command to devote the spoil of ,jericho to utter destruction had been disobeyed4 ,a searching investigation was held2 it was found that ,achan1 one of the ,israelite soldiers1 had seized for himself a royal robe and an ingot of gold2 he was tried1 condemned and executed1 and the army of ,israel was absolved from his guilt4 ,a second attack was made upon ,a2 the town was taken2 and the road was made clear for ,israel to march into the heart of the country1 in order to hold the great religious ceremony of the reading of the law upon the mountains of ,ebal and ,gerizim1 which had been commanded them long before4 ,no note is given of the date when this ceremony took place1 but bearing in mind that the second month of the year must have begun at the time of the first reconnaissance of ,a1 and that the original giving of the ,law upon ,mount ,sinai had taken place upon the third day of the third month1 it seems most likely that that anniversary would be chosen for a solemnity which was intended to recall the original promulgation in the most effective manner4 ,if this were so1 it would account for the circumstance1 which would otherwise have seemed so strange1 that ,joshua should have attacked two cities only1 ,jericho and ,a1 and then for a time have held his hand4 ,it was the necessity of keeping the great national anniversary on the proper day which compelled him to desist from his military operations after ,a was taken4 ,we are not told how long the religious celebrations at ,shechem lasted1 but in any case the ,israelites can hardly have been back in their camp at ,gilgal before the third moon of the year was at the full4 ,but after their return1 events must have succeeded each other with great rapidity4 ,the ,amorites must have regarded the pilgrimage of ,israel to ,shechem as an unhoped-for respite1 and they took advantage of it to organize a great confederacy4 ,whilst this confederacy was being formed1 the rulers of a small state of ,hivites--by which we must understand a community differing either in race or habits from the generality of their ,amorite neighbours--had been much exercised by the course of events4 ,they had indeed reason to be4 ,a1 the last conquest of ,israel1 was less than four miles1 as the crow flies1 from ,bireh1 which is usually identified with ,beeroth1 one of the four cities of the ,hivite ,state2 and the ,beerothites had1 without doubt1 watched the cloud of smoke go up from the burning town when it was sacked2 and the mound which now covered what had been so recently their neighbour city1 was visible almost from their gates4 ,that was an object-lesson which required no enforcement4 ,the ,hivites1 sure that otherwise their turn would come next1 resolved to make peace with ,israel before they were attacked4 ,illustration3 ,,map ,,of ,,southern ,,palestine4 ,amorite ,cities1 thus3 ,,hebron4 ,hivite ,cities3 ,,beeroth4 ,places taken by the ,israelites3 ,jericho4 ,conjectural line of march of ,joshua3 4444444444444444444 ,to do this they had to deceive the ,israelites into believing that they were inhabitants of some land far from ,canaan1 and this they must do1 not only before ,joshua actually attacked them1 but before he sent out another scouting party4 ,for ,beeroth would inevitably have been the very first town which it would have approached1 and once ,joshua's spies had surveyed it1 all chance of the ,hivites successfully imposing upon him would have vanished4 ,but they were exposed to another danger1 if possible more urgent still4 ,the headquarters of the newly formed ,amorite league was at ,jerusalem1 on the same plateau as ,gibeon1 the ,hivite capital1 and distant from it less than six miles4 ,a single spy1 a single traitor1 during the anxious time that their defection was being planned1 and ,adoni-zedec1 the king of ,jerusalem1 would have heard of it in less than a couple of hours2 and the ,gibeonites would have been overwhelmed before ,joshua had any inkling that they were anxious to treat with him4 ,whoever was dilatory1 whoever was slow1 the ,gibeonites dared not be4 ,it can1 therefore1 have been1 at most1 only a matter of hours after ,joshua's return to ,gilgal1 before their wily embassy set forth4 ,but their defection had an instant result4 ,adoni-zedec recognized in a moment the urgency of the situation4 ,with ,joshua in possession of ,gibeon and its dependencies1 the ,israelites would be firmly established on the plateau at his very gates1 and the states of southern ,palestine would be cut off from their brethren in the north4 ,adoni-zedec lost no time2 he sought and obtained the aid of four neighbouring kings and marched upon ,gibeon4 ,the ,gibeonites sent at once the most urgent message to acquaint ,joshua with their danger1 and ,joshua as promptly replied4 ,he made a forced march with picked troops all that night up from ,gilgal1 and next day he was at their gates4 ,counterblow had followed blow1 swift as the clash of rapiers in a duel of fencers4 ,all three of the parties concerned--,hivite1 ,amorite and ,israelite--had moved with the utmost rapidity4 ,and no wonder2 the stake for which they were playing was very existence1 and the forfeit1 which would be exacted on failure1 was extinction4 #c4--;,,day1 ,,hour1 ,,and ,,place ,,of ,,the ,,miracle ,the foregoing considerations enable us somewhat to narrow down the time of the year at which ,joshua's miracle can have taken place1 and from an astronomical point of view this is very important4 ,the ,israelites had entered the land of ,canaan on the #ajth day of the first month1 that is to say1 very shortly after the spring equinox--,march #ba of our present calendar4 ,seven weeks after that equinox--,may #aa--the sun attains a declination of #ah north4 ,from this time its declination increases day by day until the summer solstice1 when1 in ,joshua's time1 it was nearly #bd north4 ,after that it slowly diminishes1 and on ,august #d it is #ah again4 ,for twelve weeks1 therefore--very nearly a quarter of the entire year--the sun's northern declination is never less than #ah4 ,the date of the battle must have fallen somewhere within this period4 ,it cannot have fallen earlier2 the events recorded could not possibly have all been included in the seven weeks following the equinox4 ,nor1 in view of the promptitude with which all the contending parties acted1 and were bound to act1 can we postpone the battle to a later date than the end of this midsummer period4 ,we thus know1 roughly speaking1 what was the declination of the sun--that is to say1 its distance from the equator of the heavens--at the time of the battle2 it was not less than #ah north of the equator1 it could not have been more than #bd4 ,but1 if we adopt the idea most generally formed of the meaning of ,joshua's command1 namely1 that he saw the sun low down over ,gibeon in one direction1 and the moon low down over the valley of ,ajalon in another1 we can judge of the apparent bearing of those two heavenly bodies from an examination of the map4 ,and since1 if we may judge from the map of the ,palestine ,exploration ,fund1 the valley of ,ajalon lies about #ag north of west from ,gibeon1 and runs nearly in that direction from it1 the moon must1 to ,joshua1 have seemed about #ag north of west1 and the sun #ag south of east4 ,but for any date within the three summer months1 the sun in the latitude of ,gibeon1 when it bears #ag south of east1 must be at least #ef high4 ,at this height it would seem overhead1 and would not give the slightest idea of association with any distant terrestrial object4 ,not until some weeks after the autumnal equinox could the sun be seen low down on the horizon in the direction #ag south of east1 and at the same time the moon be as much as #ag north of the west point4 ,and1 as this would mean that the different combatants had remained so close to each other1 some four or five months without moving1 it is clearly inadmissible4 ,we are forced therefore to the unexpected conclusion that it is practically impossible that ,joshua could have been in any place from whence he could have seen1 at one and the name moment2 the sun low down in the sky over ,gibeon1 and the moon over the valley of ,ajalon4 ,is the narrative in error1 then8 ,or have we been reading into it our own erroneous impression8 ,is there any other sense in which a man would naturally speak of a celestial body as being over some locality on the earth1 except when both were together on his horizon8 ,most certainly4 ,there is another position which the sun can hold in which it may naturally be said to be over1 or upon a given place2 far more naturally and accurately than when it chances to lie in the same direction as some object on the horizon4 ,we have no experience of that position in these northern latitudes1 and hence perhaps our commentators have1 as a rule1 not taken it into account4 ,but those who1 in tropical or sub-tropical countries1 have been in the open at high noon1 when a man's foot can almost cover his shadow1 will recognize how definite1 how significant such a position is4 ,in southern ,palestine1 during the three summer months1 the sun is always so near the zenith at noon that it could never occur to any one to speak of it as anything but overhead4 ,and the prose narrative expressly tells us that this was the case4 ,it is intimated that when ,joshua spoke it was noon1 by the expression that the sun hasted not to go down about a whole day1 implying that the change in the rate in its apparent motion occurred only in the afternoon1 and that it had reached its culmination4 ,further1 as not a few commentators have pointed out1 the expression1--the sun stood still in the midst of heaven1--is literally in the bisection of heaven2 a phrase applicable indeed to any position on the meridian1 but especially appropriate to the meridian close to the zenith4 ,this1 then1 is what ,joshua meant by his command to the sun4 ,its glowing orb blazed almost in the centre of the whole celestial vault--in the midst of heaven--and poured down its vertical rays straight on his head4 ,it stood over him--it stood over the place where he was--,gibeon4 ,we have1 therefore1 been able to find that the narrative gives us1 by implication1 two very important particulars1 the place where ,joshua was1 and the time of the day4 ,he was at ,gibeon1 and it was high noon4 ,the expression1 ,thou1 ,moon1 in the valley of ,ajalon1 has now a very definite signification4 ,as we have already seen1 the valley of ,ajalon bears #ag north of west from ,gibeon1 according to the map of the ,palestine ,exploration ,fund1 so that this is the azimuth which the moon had at the given moment4 ,in other words1 it was almost exactly midway between the two points of the compass1 ,w4b4,n4 and ,w4,n4,w4 ,it was also in its last quarter or nearly so2 that is1 it was half-full1 and waning4 ,with the sun on the meridian it could not have been much more than half-full1 for in that case it would have already set2 nor much less than half-full1 or it would have been too faint to be seen in full daylight4 ,it was therefore almost exactly half-full1 and the day was probably the #bast day of the month in the ,jewish reckoning4 ,illustration3 ,,bearings ,,of ,,the ,,rising ,,and ,,setting ,,points ,,of ,,the ,,sun ,,from ,,gibeon4 ,but the moon cannot be as far as #ag north of west in latitude #ca #ea ,n4 on the #bast day of the month earlier than the fourth month of the ,jewish year1 or later than the eighth month4 ,now the #bast day of the fourth month is about seven weeks after the #crd day of the third month2 the #bast day of the fifth month is eleven weeks4 ,remembering how close ,gilgal1 ,gibeon and ,jerusalem were to each other1 and how important was the need for promptitude to ,israelite and ,amorite alike1 it can scarcely be disputed that eleven weeks is an inadmissible length of time to interpose between the reading of the ,law and the battle2 and that seven weeks is the utmost that can be allowed4 ,the battle took place1 then1 on or about the #bast day of the fourth month4 ,but it could only have done so if that particular year began late4 ,if the year had begun earlier than ,april #ast of our present calendar1 the moon could not have been so far north on the day named4 ,for the ,jewish calendar is a natural one and regulated both by the sun and the moon4 ,it begins with the new moon1 and it also begins as nearly as possible with the spring equinox4 ,but as twelve natural months fall short of a solar year by eleven days1 a thirteenth month has to be intercalated from time to time2 in every nineteen years1 seven are years having an extra month4 ,now the #bast day of the fourth month must have fallen on or about ,july #bb according to our present reckoning1 in order that the moon might have sufficient northing1 and that involves a year beginning after ,april #a2 so that the year of the battle of ,beth-horon must have been an ordinary year1 one of twelve months1 but must have followed a year of thirteen months4 ,summarizing all the conclusions at which we have now arrived1 ,joshua's observation was made at ,gibeon itself1 almost precisely at the moment of noon1 on or about the #bast day of the fourth month1 which day fell late in ,july according to our present reckoning2 probably on or about the #bbnd4 ,the sun's declination must have been about #bj north2 probably1 if anything1 a little more4 ,the sun rose therefore almost exactly at five in the morning1 and set almost exactly at seven in the evening1 the day being just fourteen hours long4 ,the moon had not yet passed her third quarter1 but was very near it2 that is to say1 she was about half full4 ,her declination did not differ greatly from #af north2 she was probably about #e above the horizon1 and was due to set in about half an hour4 ,she had risen soon after eleven o'clock the previous evening1 and had lighted the ,israelites during more than half of their night march up from ,gilgal4 #d4--;,,joshua',s ,,strategy ,these conclusions1 as to the place and time of day1 entirely sweep away the impression1 so often formed1 that ,joshua's victory was practically in the nature of a night surprise4 ,had it been so1 and had the ,amorites been put to flight at daybreak1 there would have seemed no conceivable reason why1 with fourteen hours of daylight before him1 ,joshua should have been filled with anxiety for the day to have been prolonged4 ,nor is it possible to conceive that he would still have been at ,gibeon at noon1 seven hours after he had made his victorious attack upon his enemy4 ,the fact is that1 in all probability1 ,joshua had no wish to make a night surprise4 ,his attitude was like that of ,nelson before the battle of ,trafalgar2 he had not the slightest doubt but that he would gain the victory1 but he was most anxious that it should be a complete one4 ,the great difficulty in the campaign which lay before him was the number of fortified places in the hands of the enemy1 and the costliness1 both in time and lives1 of all siege operations at that epoch4 ,his enemies having taken the field gave him the prospect of overcoming this difficulty1 if1 now that they were in the open1 he could succeed in annihilating them there2 to have simply scattered them would have brought him but little advantage4 ,that this was the point to which he gave chief attention is apparent from one most significant circumstance in the history2 the ,amorites fled by the road to ,beth-horon4 ,there have been several battles of ,beth-horon since the days of ,joshua1 and the defeated army has1 on more than one occasion1 fled by the route now taken by the ,amorites4 ,two of these are recorded by ,josephus2 the one in which ,judas ,maccabus defeated and slew ,nicanor1 and the other when ,cestius ,gallus retreated from ,jerusalem4 ,it is probable that ,beth-horon was also the scene of one1 if not two1 battles with the ,philistines1 at the commencement of ,david's reign4 ,in all these cases the defeated foe fled by this road because it had been their line of advance1 and was their shortest way back to safety4 ,but the conditions were entirely reversed in the case of ,joshua's battle4 ,the ,amorites fled away from their cities4 ,jerusalem1 the capital of ,adoni-zedec and the chief city of the confederation1 lay in precisely the opposite direction4 ,the other cities of their league lay beyond ,jerusalem1 further still to the south4 ,a reference to the map shows that ,gilgal1 the headquarters of the army of ,israel1 was on the plain of ,jericho1 close to the banks of the ,jordan1 at the bottom of that extraordinary ravine through which the river runs4 ,due west1 at a distance of about sixteen or seventeen miles as the crow flies1 but three thousand four hundred feet above the level of the ,jordan1 rises the ,ridge of the ,watershed1 the backbone of the structure of ,palestine4 ,on this ridge are the cities of ,jerusalem and ,gibeon1 and on it1 leading down to the ,maritime ,plain1 runs in a north-westerly direction1 the road through the two ,beth-horons4 ,the two ,beth-horons are one and a half miles apart1 with a descent of #gjj feet from the ,upper to the ,lower4 ,the flight of the ,amorites towards ,beth-horon proves1 beyond a doubt1 that ,joshua had possessed himself of the road from ,gibeon to ,jerusalem4 ,it is equally clear that this could not have been done by accident1 but that it must have been the deliberate purpose of his generalship4 ,jerusalem was a city so strong that it was not until the reign of ,david that the ,israelites obtained possession of the whole of it1 and to take it was evidently a matter beyond ,joshua's ability4 ,but to have defeated the ,amorites at ,gibeon1 and to have left open to them the way to ,jerusalem--less than six miles distant--would have been a perfectly futile proceeding4 ,we may be sure1 therefore1 that from the moment when he learned that ,adoni-zedek was besieging ,gibeon1 ,joshua's first aim was to cut off the ,amorite king from his capital4 ,the fact that the ,amorites fled1 not towards their cities but away from them1 shows clearly that ,joshua had specially manoeuvred so as to cut them off from ,jerusalem4 ,how he did it1 we are not told1 and any explanation offered must necessarily be merely of the nature of surmise4 ,yet a considerable amount of probability may attach to it4 ,the geographical conditions are perfectly well known1 and we can1 to some degree1 infer the course which the battle must have taken from these1 just as we could infer the main lines of the strategy employed by the ,germans in their war with the ,french in #ahgj1 simply by noting the places where the successive battles occurred4 ,the positions of the battlefields of ,mars-la-,tour1 ,gravelotte1 and ,sedan would show clearly that the object of the ,germans had been1 first1 to shut ,bazaine up in ,metz1 and then to hinder ,mac,mahon from coming to his relief4 ,so in the present case1 the fact that the ,amorites fled by the way of the two ,beth-horons1 shows1 first1 that ,joshua had completely cut them off from the road to ,jerusalem1 and next1 that somehow or other when they took flight they were a long way to the north of him4 ,had they not been so1 they could not have had any long start in their flight1 and the hailstorm which occasioned them such heavy loss would have injured the ,israelites almost as much4 ,how can these two circumstances be accounted for8 ,i think we can make a very plausible guess at the details of ,joshua's strategy from noting what he is recorded to have done in the case of ,a4 ,on that occasion1 as on this1 he had felt his inability to deal with an enemy behind fortifications4 ,his tactics therefore had consisted in making a feigned attack1 followed by a feigned retreat1 by which he drew his enemies completely away from their base1 which he then seized by means of a detachment which he had previously placed in ambush near4 ,then1 when the men of ,a were hopelessly cut off from their city1 he brought all his forces together1 surrounded his enemies in the open1 and destroyed them4 ,it was a far more difficult task which lay before him at ,gibeon1 but we may suppose that he still acted on the same general principles4 ,there were two points on the ridge of the watershed which1 for very different reasons1 it was important that he should seize4 ,the one was ,beeroth1 one of the cities of the ,hivites1 his allies1 close to his latest victory of ,a1 and commanding the highest point on the ridge of the watershed4 ,it is distant from ,jerusalem some ten miles--a day's journey4 ,tradition therefore gives it as the place where the ,virgin ,mary and ,st4 ,joseph turned back sorrowing1 seeking ,jesus4 ,for they1 supposing ,him to have been in the company1 went a day's journey1 and ,beeroth still forms the first halting-place for pilgrims from the north on their return journey4 ,beeroth also was the city of the two sons of ,rimmon who murdered ,ishbosheth1 the son of ,saul4 ,when it is remembered how ,saul had attempted to extirpate the ,gibeonites1 and how bitter a blood feud the latter entertained against his house in consequence1 it becomes very significant that the murderers of his son were men of this ,gibeonite town4 ,beeroth also commanded the exit from the principal ravine by which ,joshua could march upwards to the ridge--the valley of ,achor4 ,the ,israelites marching by this route would have the great advantage that ,beeroth1 in the possession of their allies1 the ,gibeonites1 would act as a cover to them whilst in the ravines1 and give them security whilst taking up a position on the plateau4 ,but ,beeroth had one fatal disadvantage as a sole line of advance4 ,from ,beeroth ,joshua would come down to ,gibeon from the north1 and the ,amorites1 if defeated1 would have a line of retreat1 clear and easy1 to ,jerusalem4 ,it was absolutely essential that somewhere or other he should cut the ,jerusalem road4 ,this would be a matter of great difficulty and danger1 as1 if his advance were detected whilst he was still in the ravines1 he would have been taken at almost hopeless disadvantage4 ,the fearful losses which the ,israelites sustained in the intertribal war with ,benjamin near this very place1 show what ,joshua might reasonably have expected had he tried to make his sole advance on the ridge near ,jerusalem4 ,is it not probable that he would have endeavoured1 under these circumstances1 to entice the ,amorites as far away to the north as possible before he ventured to bring his main force out on the ridge8 ,if so1 we may imagine that he first sent a strong force by the valley of ,achor to ,beeroth2 that they were instructed there to take up a strong position1 and when firmly established1 to challenge the ,amorites to attack them4 ,then1 when the ,israelite general in command at ,beeroth perceived that he had before him practically the whole ,amorite force--for it would seem clear that the five kings themselves1 together with the greater part of their army1 were thus drawn away--he would signal to ,joshua that the time had come for his advance4 ,just as ,joshua himself had signalled with his spear at the taking of ,a1 so the firing of a beacon placed on the summit of the ridge would suffice for the purpose4 ,joshua would then lead up the main body1 seize the ,jerusalem road1 and press on to ,gibeon at the utmost speed4 ,if this were so1 the small detachment of ,amorites left to continue the blockade was speedily crushed1 but perhaps was aware of ,joshua's approach soon enough to send swift runners urging the five kings to return4 ,the news would brook no delay2 the kings would turn south immediately2 but for all their haste they never reached ,gibeon4 ,they probably had but advanced as far as the ridge leading to ,beth-horon1 when they perceived that not only had ,joshua relieved ,gibeon and destroyed the force which they had left before it1 but that his line1 stretched out far to the right and left1 already cut them off1 not merely from the road to ,jerusalem and ,hebron1 but also from the valley of ,ajalon1 a shorter road to the ,maritime ,plain than the one they actually took4 ,east there was no escape2 north was the ,israelite army from ,beeroth2 south and west was the army of ,joshua4 ,out-manoeuvred and out-generalled1 they were in the most imminent danger of being caught between the two ,israelite armies1 and of being ground1 like wheat1 between the upper and nether millstones4 ,they had no heart for further fight2 the promise made to ,joshua1--there shall not a man of them stand before thee1--was fulfilled2 they broke and fled by the one way open to them1 the way of the two ,beth-horons4 ,whilst this conjectural strategy attributes to ,joshua a ready grasp of the essential features of the military position and skill in dealing with them1 it certainly does not attribute to him any greater skill than it is reasonable to suppose he possessed4 ,the ,hebrews have repeatedly proved1 not merely their valour in battle1 but their mastery of the art of war1 and1 as ,marcel ,dieulafoy has recently shown1#cgb3a the earliest general of whom we have record as introducing turning tactics in the field1 is ,david in the battle of the valley of ,rephaim1 recorded in #b ,sam4 v4 #bb-be and #a ,chron4 xiv4 #ac-ag4 ,the several evolutions of a complicated and hazardous nature which decided the fate of the battle would betoken1 even at the present day1 when successfully conducted1 a consummate general1 experienced lieutenants1 troops well accustomed to manoeuvres1 mobile1 and1 above all1 disciplined almost into unconsciousness1 so contrary is it to our instincts not to meet peril face to face4 4 4 4 ,in point of fact1 the ,israelites had just effected in the face of the ,philistines a turning and enveloping movement--that is to say1 an operation of war considered to be one of the boldest1 most skilful1 and difficult attempted by forces similar in number to those of the ,hebrews1 but1 at the same time1 very efficacious and brilliant when successful4 ,it was the favourite manoeuvre of ,frederick ,,ii1 and the one on which his military reputation rests4 ,but though the ,amorites had been discomfited by ,joshua1 they had not been completely surrounded2 one way of escape was left open4 ,more than this1 it appears that they obtained a very ample start in the race along the north-western road4 ,we infer this from the incident of the hailstorm which fell upon them whilst rushing down the precipitous road between the ,beth-horons2 a storm so sudden and so violent that more of the ,amorites died by the hailstones than had fallen in the contest at ,gibeon4 ,it does not appear that the ,israelites suffered from the storm2 they must consequently have1 at the time1 been much in the rear of their foes4 ,probably they were still in the way that goeth up to ,beth-horon2 that is to say1 in the ascent some two miles long from ,gibeon till the summit of the road is reached4 ,there would be a special appropriateness in this case in the phrasing of the record that the ,lord discomfited the ,amorites before ,israel1 and slew them with a great slaughter at ,gibeon1 and chased them along the way that goeth up to ,beth-horon1 and smote them to ,azekah and unto ,makkedah4 ,there was no slaughter on the road between ,gibeon and ,beth-horon4 ,it was a simple chase2 a pursuit with the enemy far in advance4 ,the ,israelites1 general and soldiers alike1 had done their best4 ,the forced march all night up the steep ravines1 the plan of the battle1 and the way in which it had been carried out were alike admirable4 ,yet when the ,israelites had done their best1 and the heat and their long exertions had nearly overpowered them1 ,joshua was compelled to recognize that he had been but partly successful4 ,he had relieved ,gibeon2 the ,amorites were in headlong flight2 he had cut them off from the direct road to safety1 but he had failed in one most important point4 ,he had not succeeded in surrounding them1 and the greater portion of their force was escaping4 #e4--,,the ,,miracle4 ,it was at this moment1 when his scouts announced to him the frustration of his hopes1 that ,joshua in the anxiety lest the full fruits of his victory should be denied him1 and in the supremest faith that the ,lord ,god1 in ,whose hand are all the powers of the universe1 was with him1 exclaimed3 ,sun1 stand thou still upon ,gibeon1 ,and thou1 ,moon1 in the valley of ,ajalon6 ,so his exclamation stands in our ,authorized ,version1 but1 as the marginal reading shows1 the word translated stand still is more literally be silent4 ,there can be no doubt that this expression1 so unusual in this connection1 must have been employed with intention4 ,what was it that ,joshua is likely to have had in his mind when he thus spoke8 ,the common idea is that he simply wished for more time2 for the day to be prolonged4 ,but as we have seen1 it was midday when he spoke1 and he had full seven hours of daylight before him4 ,there was a need which he must have felt more pressing4 ,his men had now been seventeen hours on the march1 for they had started at sunset--#g p4m4--on the previous evening1 and it was now noon1 the noon of a sub-tropical midsummer4 ,they had marched at least twenty miles in the time1 possibly considerably more according to the route which they had followed1 and the march had been along the roughest of roads1 and had included an ascent of #cdjj feet--about the height of the summit of ,snowdon above the sea-level4 ,they must have been weary1 and have felt sorely the heat of the sun1 now blazing right overhead4 ,surely it requires no words to labour this point4 ,joshua's one pressing need at that moment was something to temper the fierce oppression of the sun1 and to refresh his men4 ,this was what he prayed for2 this was what was granted him4 ,for the moment the sun seemed fighting on the side of his enemies1 and he bade it ,be silent4 ,instantly1 in answer to his command1 a mighty rush of dark storm-clouds came sweeping up from the sea4 ,refreshed by the sudden coolness1 the ,israelites set out at once in the pursuit of their enemies4 ,it is probable that for the first six miles they saw no trace of them1 but when they reached ,beth-horon the ,upper1 and stood at the top of its steep descent1 they saw the ,amorites again4 ,as it had been with their fathers at the ,red ,sea1 when the pillar of cloud had been a defence to them but the means of discomfiture to the ,egyptians1 so now the storm-clouds which had so revived them and restored their their strength1 had brought death and destruction to their enemies4 ,all down the rocky descent lay the wounded1 the dying1 the dead4 ,for the ,lord cast down great stones from heaven upon them1 unto ,azekah1 and they died3 they were more which died with hailstones than they whom the children of ,israel slew with the sword4 ,the might of the ,gentile1 unsmote by the sword1 ,had melted like snow in the glance of the ,lord4 ,far below them the panic-stricken remnants of the ,amorite host were fleeing for safety to the cities of the ,maritime ,plain4 ,the battle proper was over2 the one duty left to the army of ,israel was to overtake and destroy those remnants before they could gain shelter4 ,but the narrative continues4 ,the sun stayed in the midst of heaven1 and hasted not to go down about a whole day4 ,this statement evidently implies much more than the mere darkening of the sun by storm-clouds4 ,for its interpretation we must return to the remaining incidents of the day4 ,these are soon told4 ,joshua pursued the ,amorites to ,makkedah1 twenty-seven miles from ,gibeon by the route taken4 ,there the five kings had hidden themselves in a cave4 ,a guard was placed to watch the cave2 the ,israelites continued the pursuit for an undefined distance farther2 returned to ,makkedah and took it by assault2 brought the kings out of their cave1 and hanged them4 ,and it came to pass at the time of the going down of the sun1 that ,joshua commanded1 and they took them down off the trees1 and cast them into the cave wherein they had hidden themselves1 and laid great stones on the mouth of the cave1 unto this very day4 ,all these events--the pursuit for twenty-seven miles and more1 the taking of ,makkedah and the hanging of the kings--took place between noon and the going down of the sun1 an interval whose normal length1 for that latitude and at that time of the year1 was about seven hours4 ,this is an abnormal feat4 ,it is true that a single trained pedestrian might traverse the twenty-seven and odd miles1 and still have time to take part in an assault on a town and to watch an execution4 ,but it is an altogether different thing when we come to a large army4 ,it is well known that the speed with which a body of men can move diminishes with the number4 ,a company can march faster than a regiment2 a regiment than a brigade2 a brigade than an army corps4 ,but for a large force thirty miles in the entire day is heavy work4 ,thus ,sir ,archibald ,hunter's division1 in its march through ,bechuanaland to the relief of ,mafeking1 starting at four in the morning1 went on till seven or eight at night1 covering as many as thirty miles a day at times4 ,joshua's achievement was a march fully as long as any of ,general ,hunter's1 but it was accomplished in less than seven hours instead of from fifteen to sixteen1 and it followed straight on from a march seventeen hours in length which had ended in a battle4 ,in all1 between one sunset and the next he had marched between fifty and sixty miles besides fighting a battle and taking a town4 ,if we turn to the records of other battles fought in this neighbourhood1 we find that they agree as closely as we could expect1 not with ,joshua's achievement1 but with ,general ,hunter's4 ,in the case of the great victory secured by ,jonathan1 the gallant son of ,saul1 the ,israelites smote the ,philistines from ,michmash to ,ajalon2--not quite twenty miles4 ,in the defeat of ,cestius ,gallus1 the ,jews followed him from ,beth-horon to ,antipatris1 a little over twenty miles1 the pursuit beginning at daybreak1 and being evidently continued nearly till sundown4 ,the pursuit of the ,syrians under ,nicanor by ,judas ,maccabus seems also to have covered about the same distance1 for ,nicanor was killed at the first onslaught and his troops took to flight4 ,it is not at all unusual to read in comments on the ,book of ,joshua that the miracle is simply the result of the dulness of the prose chronicler in accepting as literal fact an expression that originated in the poetic exuberance of an old bard4 ,the latter1 so it is urged1 simply meaning to add a figure of dignity and importance to his song commemorating a great national victory1 had written3-- ,and the sun stood still1 and the moon stayed1 ,until the nation had avenged themselves of their enemies1 but with no more expectation that the stay of the moon would be accepted literally1 than the singers1 who welcomed ,david after the slaying of ,goliath1 imagined that any one would seriously suppose that ,saul had actually with his own hand killed two thousand ,philistines1 and ,david twenty thousand4 ,but1 say they1 the later prose chronicler1 quoting from the ballad1 and accepting a piece of poetic hyperbole as actual fact1 reproduced the statement in his own words1 and added1 the sun stayed in the midst of heaven1 and hasted not to go down about a whole day4 ,not so4 ,the poem and the prose chronicle make one coherent whole4 ,working from the poem alone1 treating the expressions in the first two lines merely as astronomical indications of time and place1 and without the slightest reference to any miraculous interpretation1 they lead to the inevitable conclusion that the time was noonday4 ,this result certainly does not lie on the surface of the poem1 and it was wholly beyond the power of the prose chronicler to have computed it1 yet it is just in the supposed stupid gloss of the prose chronicler1 and nowhere else1 that we find this fact definitely stated3 whilst the miracle recorded both by poem and prose narrative completely accords with the extraordinary distance traversed between noon and sunset4 ,any man1 however ignorant of science1 if he be but careful and conscientious1 can truthfully record an observation without any difficulty4 ,but to successfully invent even the simplest astronomical observation requires very full knowledge1 and is difficult even then4 ,every astronomer knows that there is hardly a single novelist1 no matter how learned or painstaking1 who can at this present day introduce a simple astronomical relation into his story1 without falling into egregious error4 ,we are therefore quite sure that ,joshua did use the words attributed to him2 that the moon and the valley of ,ajalon were not merely inserted in order to complete the parallelism by a bard putting a legend into poetic form4 ,nor was the prose narrative the result of an editor combining two or three narratives all written much after the date4 ,the original records must have been made at the time4 ,all astronomers know well how absolutely essential it is to commit an observation to writing on the spot4 ,illustrations of this necessity could be made to any extent4 ,one may suffice4 ,in vol4 ii4 of the ,life of ,sir ,richard ,burton1 by his wife1 p4 #bdd1 ,lady ,burton says3-- ,on the #fth ,december1 #ahhb 4 4 4 we were walking on the ,karso 7,opona7 alone2 the sky was clear1 and all of a sudden my niece said to me1 ',oh1 look up1 there is a star walking into the moon6' ',glorious6' ,i answered4 ',we are looking at the ,transit of ,venus1 which crowds of scientists have gone to the end of the world to see4' ,the ,transit of ,venus did take place on ,december #f1 #ahhb2 and though ,venus could have been seen without telescopic aid as a black spot on the sun's disc1 nothing can be more unlike ,venus in transit than a star walking into the moon4 ,the moon was not visible on that evening1 and ,venus was only visible when on the sun's disc1 and appeared then1 not as a star1 but as a black dot4 ,no doubt ,lady ,burton's niece did make the exclamation attributed to her1 but it must have been1 not on ,december #f1 #ahhb1 but on some other occasion4 ,lady ,burton may indeed have told her niece that this was the ,transit of ,venus1 but that was simply because she did not know what a transit was1 nor that it occurred in the daytime1 not at night4 ,lady ,burton's narrative was therefore not written at the time4 ,so if the facts of the tenth chapter of ,joshua1 as we have it1 had not been written at the time of the battle1 some gross astronomical discordance would inevitably have crept in4 ,let us suppose that the sun and moon did actually stand still in the sky for so long a time that between noon and sunset was equal to the full length of an ordinary day4 ,what effect would have resulted that the ,israelites could have perceived8 ,this1 and this only1 that they would have marched twice as far between noon and sunset as they could have done in any ordinary afternoon4 ,and this as we have seen1 is exactly what they are recorded to have done4 ,the only measure of time1 available to the ,israelites1 independent of the apparent motion of the sun1 was the number of miles marched4 ,indeed1 with the ,babylonians1 the same word 7kasbu7 was used to indicate three distinct1 but related measures4 ,it was a measure of time--the double hour2 of celestial arc--the twelfth part of a great circle1 thirty degrees1 that is to say the space traversed by the sun in two hours2 and it was a measure of distance on the surface of the earth--six or seven miles1 or a two hours' march4 ,if1 for the sake of illustration1 we may suppose that the sun were to stand still for us1 we should recognize it neither by sundial nor by shadow1 but we should see that whereas our clocks had indicated that the sun had risen 7we will say7 at six in the morning1 and had southed at twelve of noon2 it had not set until twelve of the night4 ,the register of work done1 shown by all our clocks and watches1 would be double for the afternoon what it had been for the morning4 ,and if all our clocks and watches did thus register upon some occasion twice the interval between noon and sunset that they had registered between sunrise and noon1 we should be justified in recording1 as the writer of the book of ,joshua has recorded1 ,the sun stood still in the midst of heaven1 and hasted not to go down about a whole day4 ,the real difficulty to the understanding of this narrative has lain in the failure of commentators to put themselves back into the conditions of the ,israelites4 ,the ,israelites had no time-measurers1 could have had no time-measurers4 ,a sundial1 if any such were in existence1 would only indicate the position of the sun1 and therefore could give no evidence in the matter4 ,beside1 a sundial is not a portable instrument1 and ,joshua and his men had something more pressing to do than to loiter round it4 ,clepsydr or clocks are of later date1 and no more than a sundial are they portable4 ,many comments1 one might almost say most comments on the narrative1 read as if the writers supposed that ,joshua and his men carried stop-watches1 and that their chief interest in the whole campaign was to see how fast the sun was moving4 ,since they had no such methods of measuring time1 since it is not possible to suppose that over and above any material miracle that was wrought1 the mental miracle was added of acquainting the ,israelites for this occasion only with the ,copernican system of astronomy1 all that the words of the narrative can possibly mean is1 that-- the sun stood still in the midst of heaven1 and hasted not to go down about a whole day1 according to the only means which the ,israelites had for testing the matter4 ,in short1 it simply states in other words1 what1 it is clear from other parts of the narrative1 was actually the case1 that the length of the march made between noon and sunset was equal to an ordinary march taking the whole of a day4 ,if we suppose--as has been generally done1 and as it is quite legitimate to do1 for all things are possible to ,god--that the miracle consisted in the slackening of the rotation of the earth1 what effect would have been perceived by the ,hebrews8 ,this1 and only this1 that they would have accomplished a full day's march in the course of the afternoon4 ,and what would have been the effects produced on all the neighbouring nations8 ,simply that they had managed to do more work than usual in the course of that afternoon1 and that they felt more than usually tired and hungry in the evening4 ,but would it have helped the ,israelites for the day to have been thus actually lengthened8 ,scarcely so1 unless they had been1 at the same time1 endowed with supernatural1 or at all events1 with unusual strength4 ,the ,israelites had already been #ca hours without sleep or rest1 they had made a remarkable march1 their enemies had several miles start of them2 would not a longer day have simply given the latter a better chance to make good their flight1 unless the ,israelites were enabled to pursue them with unusual speed8 ,and if the ,israelites were so enabled1 then no further miracle is required2 for them the sun would have hasted not to go down about a whole day4 ,leaving the question as to whether the sun appeared to stand still through the temporary arrest of the earth's rotation1 or through some exaltation of the physical powers of the ,israelites1 it seems clear1 from the foregoing analysis of the narrative1 that both the prose account and the poem were written by eye-witnesses1 who recorded what they had themselves seen and heard whilst every detail was fresh in their memory4 ,simple as the astronomical references are1 they are very stringent1 and can only have been supplied by those who were actually present4 ,nothing can be more unlike poetic hyperbole than the sum of actual miles marched to the men who trod them2 and these very concrete miles were the gauge of the lapse of time4 ,for just as nail1 and span1 and foot1 and cubit1 and pace were the early measures of small distance1 so the average day's march was the early measure of long distance4 ,the human frame1 in its proportions and in its abilities1 is sufficiently uniform to have furnished the primitive standards of length4 ,but the relation established between time and distance as in the case of a day's march1 works either way1 and is employed in either direction1 even at the present day4 ,when the ,israelites at the end of their campaign returned from ,makkedah to ,gibeon1 and found the march1 though wholly unobstructed1 was still a heavy performance for the whole of a long day1 what could they think1 how could they express themselves1 concerning that same march made between noon and sundown8 ,whatever construction we put upon the incident1 whatever explanation we may offer for it1 to all the men of ,israel1 judging the events of the afternoon by the only standard within their reach1 the eminently practical standard of the miles they had marched1 the only conclusion at which they could arrive was the one they so justly drew-- ,the sun stayed in the midst of heaven and hasted not to go down about a whole day4 ,and there was no day like that before it or after it1 that the ,lord hearkened unto the voice of a man3 for the ,lord fought for ,israel4 ,,footnotes3 #cea3a ,revised and reprinted from the ,sunday at ,home for ,february and ,march1 #aijd4 #cgb3a ,marcel ,dieulafoy1 ,david the ,king3 an ,historical ,enquiry1 pp4 #aee-age4 ,,chapter ,,ii ,,the ,,dial ,,of ,,ahaz ,the second astronomical marvel recorded in the ,scripture narrative is the going back of the shadow on the dial of ,ahaz1 at the time of ,hezekiah's recovery1 from his dangerous illness4 ,it was shortly after the deliverance of the kingdom of ,judah from the danger threatened it by ,sennacherib king of ,assyria1 that ,hezekiah fell sick unto death4 ,but in answer to his prayer1 ,isaiah was sent to tell him-- ,thus saith the ,lord1 the ,god of ,david thy father1 ,i have heard thy prayer1 ,i have seen thy tears3 behold1 ,i will heal thee3 on the third day thou shalt go up unto the house of the ,lord4 ,and ,i will add unto thy days fifteen years2 and ,i will deliver thee and this city out of the hand of the king of ,assyria2 and ,i will defend this city for ,mine own sake1 and for ,my servant ,david's sake4 ,and ,isaiah said1 ,take a lump of figs4 ,and they took and laid it on the boil1 and he recovered4 ,and ,hezekiah said unto ,isaiah1 ,what shall be the sign that the ,lord will heal me1 and that ,i shall go up into the house of the ,lord the third day8 ,and ,isaiah said1 ,this sign shalt thou have of the ,lord1 that the ,lord will do the thing that ,he hath spoken3 shall the shadow go forward ten degrees1 or go back ten degrees8 ,and ,hezekiah answered1 ,it is a light thing for the shadow to go down ten degrees3 nay1 but let the shadow return backward ten degrees4 ,and ,isaiah the prophet cried unto the ,lord3 and ,he brought the shadow ten degrees backward1 by which it had gone down in the dial of ,ahaz4 ,the narrative in the ,book of ,isaiah gives the concluding words in the form-- ,so the sun returned ten degrees1 by which degrees it was gone down4 ,the narrative is complete as a record of the healing of king ,hezekiah and of the sign given to him to assure him that he should recover2 complete for all the ordinary purposes of a narrative1 and for readers in general4 ,but for any purpose of astronomical analysis the narrative is deficient1 and it must be frankly confessed that it does not lie within the power of astronomy to make any use of it4 ,it has been generally assumed that it was an actual sundial upon which this sign was seen4 ,we do not know how far back the art of dialling goes4 ,the simplest form of dial is an obelisk on a flat pavement1 but it has the very important drawback that the graduation is different for different times of the year4 ,in a properly constructed dial the edge of the style casting the shadow should be made parallel to the axis of the earth4 ,consequently a dial for one latitude is not available without alteration when transferred to another latitude4 ,some fine types of dials on a large scale exist in the observatories built by ,jai ,singh4 ,the first of these--that at ,delhi--was probably completed about #agaj ,a4,d4 ,they are1 therefore1 quite modern1 but afford good illustrations of the type of structure which we can readily conceive of as having been built in what has been termed the ,stone ,age of astronomy4 ,the principal of these buildings1 the ,samrat ,yantra1 is a long staircase in the meridian leading up to nothing1 the shadow falling on to a great semicircular arc which it crosses4 ,the slope of the staircase is1 of course1 parallel to the earth's axis4 ,it has been suggested that if such a dial were erected at ,jerusalem1 and the style were that for a tropical latitude1 at certain times of the year the shadow would appear to go backward for a short time4 ,others1 again1 have suggested that if a small portable dial were tilted the same phenomenon would show itself4 ,it is1 of course1 evident that no such suggestion at all accords with the narrative4 ,hezekiah was now in the fourteenth year of his reign1 the dial--if dial it was--was made by his father1 and the miracle would have been reproduced day by day for a considerable part of each year1 and after the event it would have been apparent to every one that the miracle continued to be reproduced4 ,if this had been the case1 it would say very little for the astronomical science of the wise men of ,merodach-,baladan that he should have sent all the way from ,babylon to ,jerusalem to inquire of the wonder that was done in the land if the wonder was nothing more than a wrongly mounted dial4 ,others have hazarded the extreme hypothesis1 that there might have been an earthquake at the time which dipped the dial in the proper direction1 and then restored it to its proper place2 presumably1 of course1 without doing harm to ,jerusalem1 or any of its buildings1 and passing unnoticed by both king and people4 ,a much more ingenious theory than any of those was communicated by the late ,j4 ,w4 ,bosanquet to the ,royal ,asiatic ,society in #ahed4 ,an eclipse of the sun took place on ,january #aa1 #fhi ,b4,c4 ,it was an annular eclipse in ,asia ,minor1 and a very large partial eclipse at ,jerusalem1 the greatest phase taking place nearly at local noon4 ,mr4 ,bosanquet considers that the effect of the partial eclipse would be to practically shift the centre of the bright body casting the shadow4 ,at the beginning of the annular phase1 the part of the sun uncovered would be a crescent in a nearly vertical position2 at mid eclipse the crescent would be in a horizontal position2 at the end of the annular phase the crescent would again be in a vertical position2 so that the exposed part of the sun would appear to move down and up in the sky over a very small distance4 ,it is extremely doubtful whether any perceptible effect could be so produced on the shadow1 and one wholly fails to understand why the eclipse itself should not have been given as the sign1 and why neither the king nor the people seem to have noticed that it was in progress4 ,it is1 however1 sufficient to say that modern chronology shows that ,hezekiah died ten years before the eclipse in question1 so that it fell a quarter of a century too late for the purpose1 and no other eclipse is available to take its place during the lifetime of ,hezekiah4 ,but there is no reason to think that the word rendered in our ,authorized ,version as dial was a sundial at all4 ,the word translated dial is the same which is also rendered degrees in the ,a4,v4 and steps in the ,r4,v41 as is shown in the margin of the latter4 ,it occurs in the prophecy of ,amos1 where it is rendered stories or ascensions4 ,it means an ascent1 a going up1 a step4 ,thus king ,solomon's throne had six steps1 and there are fifteen ,psalms 7cxx4-cxxxiv47--that are called songs of degrees1 that is songs of steps4 ,we do not know how the staircase of ,ahaz faced1 but we can form some rough idea from the known positions of the ,temple and of the city of ,david1 and one or two little hints given us in the narrative itself4 ,it will be noted that ,hezekiah uses the movement of the shadow downward1 as equivalent to its going forward4 ,the going forward of course meant its ordinary direction of motion at that time of day2 so the return of the shadow backward meant that the shadow went up ten steps1 for in the ,book of ,isaiah it speaks of the sun returning ten degrees by which degrees it was gone down4 ,it was therefore in the afternoon1 and the sun was declining1 when the sign took place4 ,it is clear1 therefore1 that the staircase was so placed that the shadow went down the stairs as the sun declined in the sky4 ,the staircase1 therefore1 probably faced east or north-east1 as it would naturally do if it led from the palace towards the ,temple4 ,no doubt there was a causeway at the foot of this staircase1 and a corresponding ascent up the ,temple hill on the opposite side of the valley4 ,we can now conjecturally reproduce the circumstances4 ,it was afternoon1 and the palace had already cast the upper steps of the staircase into shadow4 ,the sick king1 looking longingly towards the ,temple1 could see the lower steps still gleaming in the bright ,judean sunshine4 ,it was natural therefore for him to say1 when the prophet ,isaiah offered him his choice of a sign1 ,shall the shadow go forward ten steps1 or back ten steps8 that it was a light thing for the shadow to go down ten steps3 nay1 but let the shadow return backward ten steps4 ,it would be quite obvious to him that a small cloud1 suitably placed1 might throw ten additional steps into shadow4 ,it will be seen that we are left with several details undetermined4 ,for the staircase1 wherever constructed1 was probably not meant to act as a sundial1 and was only so used because it chanced to have some rough suitability for the purpose4 ,in this case the shadow will probably have been thrown1 not by a properly constructed gnomon1 but by some building in the neighbourhood4 ,and as we have no record of the direction of the staircase1 its angle of inclination1 its height1 and the position of the buildings which might have cast a shadow upon it1 we are without any indication to guide us4 ,when the queen of ,sheba came to visit king ,solomon1 and saw all his magnificence1 one of the things which specially impressed her was his ascent by which he went up unto the house of the ,lord4 ,this was the causeway of the going up1 as it is called in the ,first ,book of ,chronicles4 ,we are told of a number of alterations1 made in the ,temple furniture and buildings by king ,ahaz1 and it is said that the covered way for the sabbath that they had built in the house1 and the king's entry without1 turned he unto 7margin1 round7 the house of the ,lord1 because of the king of ,assyria4 ,that is to say1 ,ahaz considered that ,solomon's staircase was too much exposed in the case of a siege1 being without the ,temple enclosure4 ,this probably necessitated the construction of a new staircase1 which would naturally be called the staircase of ,ahaz4 ,that there was1 in later times1 such a staircase at about this place we know from the route taken by the triumphal procession at the time of the dedication of the wall of ,jerusalem under ,nehemiah3-- ,at the fountain gate1 which was over against them1 they went up by the stairs of the ,city of ,david1 at the going up of the wall1 above the house of ,david1 even unto the water gate eastward4 ,in this case there would be a special appropriateness in the sign that was offered to ,hezekiah4 ,the sign that he would be so restored1 as once again to go up to the house of the ,lord1 was to be given him on the very staircase by which he would go4 ,he was now thirty-eight years old1 and had doubtless watched the shadow of the palace descend the staircase in the afternoon1 hundreds of times2 quite possibly he had actually seen a cloud make the shadow race forward4 ,but the reverse he had never seen4 ,once a step had passed into the shadow of the palace1 it did not again emerge until the next morning dawned4 ,the sign then was this3 ,it was afternoon1 probably approaching the time of the evening prayer1 and the court officials and palace attendants were moving down the staircase in the shadow1 when1 as the sick king watched them from above1 the shadow of the palace was rolled back up the staircase1 and a flood of light poured down on ten of the broad steps upon which the sun had already set4 ,how this lighting of the ten steps was brought about we are not told1 nor is any clue given us on which we can base a conjecture4 ,but this return of light was a figure of what was actually happening in the life of the king himself4 ,he had already1 as it were1 passed into the shadow that only deepens into night4 ,as he sang himself after his recovery-- ,i said1 ,in the noontide of my days ,i shall go into the gates of the grave3 ,i am deprived of the residue of my years4 ,i said1 ,i shall not see the ,lord1 even the ,lord in the land of the living3 ,i shall behold man no more with the inhabitants of the world4 ,but now the light had been brought back to him1 and he could say-- ,the living1 the living1 he shall praise ,thee1 as ,i do this day3 ,the father to the children shall make known ,thy truth4 ,the ,lord is ready to save me3 ,therefore we will sing my songs to the stringed instruments ,all the days of our life in the house of the ,lord4 ,,chapter ,,iii ,,the ,,star ,,of ,,bethlehem ,no narrative of ,holy ,scripture is more familiar to us than that of the visit of the wise men from the ,east to see ,him that was born ,king of the ,jews4 ,it was towards the end of the reign of ,herod the ,great that they arrived at ,jerusalem1 and threw ,herod the king and all the city into great excitement by their question-- ,where is ,he that is born ,king of the ,jews8 ,for we have seen ,his star in the east1 and are come to worship ,him4 ,herod at once gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together1 and demanded of them where the ,messiah should be born4 ,their reply was distinct and unhesitating-- ,in ,bethlehem of ,juda3 for thus it is written by the ,prophet1 ,and thou ,bethlehem1 in the land of ,juda1 art not the least among the princes of ,juda3 for out of thee shall come a ,governor1 that shall rule ,my people ,israel4 ,then ,herod1 when he had privily called the wise men1 inquired of them diligently what time the star appeared4 ,and he sent them to ,bethlehem1 and said1 ,go and search diligently for the young ,child2 and when ye have found ,him1 bring me word again1 that ,i may come and worship ,him also4 ,when they had heard the king1 they departed2 and1 lo1 the star1 which they saw in the east1 went before them1 till it came and stood over where the young ,child was4 ,when they saw the star1 they rejoiced with exceeding great joy4 ,so much1 and no more are we told of the star of ,bethlehem1 and the story is as significant in its omissions as in that which it tells us4 ,what sort of a star it was that led the wise men2 how they learnt from it that the ,king of the ,jews was born2 how it went before them2 how it stood over where the young ,child was1 we do not know4 ,nor is it of the least importance that we should know4 ,one verse more1 and that a short one1 would have answered these inquiries2 it would have told us whether it was some conjunction of the planets2 whether perchance it was a comet1 or a new or temporary star2 or whether it was a supernatural light1 like the pillar of fire that guided the children of ,israel in the wilderness4 ,but that verse has not been given4 ,the twelve or twenty additional words1 which could have cleared up the matter1 have been withheld1 and there can be no doubt as to the reason4 ,the star1 whatever its physical nature1 was of no importance1 except as a guide to the birthplace of the infant ,jesus4 ,information about it would have drawn attention from the object of the narrative2 it would have given to a mere sign-post the importance which belonged only to the ,word made flesh4 ,we are often told that the ,bible should be studied precisely as any other book is studied4 ,yet before we can criticize any book1 we must first ascertain what was the purpose that the author had in writing it4 ,the history of ,england1 for instance1 has been written by many persons and from many points of view4 ,one man has traced the succession of the dynasties1 the relationships of the successive royal families1 and the effect of the administrations of the various kings4 ,another has chiefly considered the development of representative government and of parliamentary institutions4 ,a third has concerned himself more with the different races that1 by their fusion1 have formed the nation as it is to-day4 ,a fourth has dealt with the social condition of the people1 the increase of comfort and luxury4 ,to a fifth the true history of ,england is the story of its expansion1 the foundation and growth of its colonial empire4 ,while to a sixth1 its religious history is the one that claims most attention1 and the struggles with ,rome1 the rise and decay of ,puritanism1 and the development of modern thought will fill his pages4 ,each of these six will select just those facts1 and those facts only1 that are relevant to his subject4 ,the introduction of irrelevant facts would be felt to mark the ignorant or unskilful workman4 ,the master of his craft will keep in the background the details that have no bearing on his main purpose1 and to those which have but a slight bearing he will give only such notice as their importance in this connection warrants4 ,the purpose of the ,bible is to reveal ,god to us1 and to teach us of our relationship to ,him4 ,it was not intended to gratify that natural and laudable curiosity which has been the foundation of the physical sciences4 ,our own efforts1 our own intelligence can help us here1 and the ,scriptures have not been given us in order to save us the trouble of exerting them4 ,there is no reason for surprise1 then1 that the information given us concerning the star is1 astronomically1 so imperfect4 ,we are1 indeed1 told but two facts concerning it4 ,first that its appearance1 in some way or other1 informed the wise men1 not of the birth of a king of the ,jews1 but of the ,king of the ,jews1 for ,whose coming not ,israel only1 but more or less consciously the whole civilized world1 was waiting4 ,next1 having come to ,juda in consequence of this information1 the star pointed out to them the actual spot where the new-born ,king was to be found4 ,it went before them till it came and stood over where the young ,child was4 ,it may also be inferred from ,matt4 ii4 #aj that in some way or other the wise men had for a time lost sight of the star1 so that the two facts mentioned of it relate to two separate appearances4 ,the first appearance induced them to leave the ,east1 and set out for ,juda2 the second pointed out to them the place at ,bethlehem where the object of their search was to be found4 ,nothing is told us respecting the star except its work as a guide4 ,some three centuries ago the ingenious and devout ,kepler supposed that he could identify the ,star with a conjunction of the planets ,jupiter and ,saturn1 in the constellation ,pisces4 ,this conjunction took place in the month of ,may1 ,b4,c4 #g1 not very long before the birth of our ,lord is supposed to have taken place4 ,but the late ,prof4 ,c4 ,pritchard has shown1 first1 that a similar and closer conjunction occurred #ei years earlier1 and should therefore have brought a ,magian deputation to ,juda then4 ,next1 that the two planets never approached each other nearer than twice the apparent diameter of the moon1 so that they would have appeared1 not as one star1 but as two4 ,and thirdly1 if the planets had seemed to stand over ,bethlehem as the wise men left ,jerusalem1 they most assuredly would not have appeared to do so when they arrived at the little city4 ,ingenious as the suggestion was1 it may be dismissed as unworthy of serious consideration4 ,another suggestion shows upon what slight foundations a well-rounded legend may be built4 ,in the year #aegb a wonderful new star appeared in the constellation ,cassiopeia4 ,at its brightest it outshone ,venus1 and1 though it gradually declined in splendour1 it remained visible for some sixteen months4 ,there have been other instances of outbursts of bright short-lived stars2 and brief notices1 in the annals of the years #abfe and #ieb may have referred to such objects1 but more probably these were comets4 ,the guess was hazarded that these objects might be one and the same2 that the star in ,cassiopeia might be a variable star1 bursting into brilliancy about every #cae or #caf years2 that it was the star that announced the birth of our ,lord1 and that it would reappear towards the end of the nineteenth century to announce ,his second coming4 ,one thing more was lacking to make the legend complete1 and this was supplied by the planet ,venus1 which shines with extraordinary brilliance when in particular parts of her orbit4 ,on one of these occasions1 when she was seen as a morning star in the east1 some hazy recollection of the legend just noticed caused a number of people to hail her as none other than the star of ,bethlehem at its predicted return4 ,there is no reason to suppose that the star of #aegb had ever appeared before that date1 or will ever appear again4 ,but in any case we are perfectly sure that it could not have been the star of ,bethlehem4 ,for ,cassiopeia is a northern constellation1 and the wise men1 when they set out from ,jerusalem to ,bethlehem must have had ,cassiopeia and all her stars behind them4 ,the fact that the star went before them and stood over where the young ,child lay1 gives the impression that it was some light1 like the ,shekinah glory resting on the ,ark in the tabernacle1 or the pillar of fire which led the children of ,israel through the wilderness4 ,but this view raises the questions as to the form in which it first appeared to the wise men when they were still in the ,east1 and how they came to call it a star1 when they must have recognized how very unstarlike it was4 ,whilst1 if what they saw when in the ,east was really a star1 it seems most difficult to understand how it can have appeared to go before them and to stand over the place where the young ,child lay4 ,i have somewhere come across a legend which may possibly afford the clue1 but ,i have not been able to find that the legend rests upon any authority4 ,it is that the star had been lost in the daylight by the time that the wise men reached ,jerusalem4 ,it was therefore an evening star during their journey thither4 ,but it is said that when they reached ,bethlehem1 apparently nearly at midday1 one of them went to the well of the inn1 in order to draw water4 ,looking down into the well1 he saw the star1 reflected from the surface of the water4 ,this would of course be an intimation to them that the star was directly overhead1 and its re-observation1 under such unusual circumstances1 would be a sufficient assurance that they had reached the right spot4 ,inquiry in the inn would lead to a knowledge of the visit of the shepherds1 and of the angelic message which had told them where to find the ,babe born in the city of ,david1 a ,saviour1 ,which is ,christ the ,lord4 ,if this story be true1 the ,star of ,bethlehem was probably a new star1 like that of #aegb4 ,its first appearance would then have caused the ,magi to set out on their journey1 though it does not appear how they knew what it signified1 unless we suppose that they were informed of it in a dream1 just as they were afterwards warned of ,god not to return to ,herod4 ,whilst they were travelling the course of the year would bring the star1 which shone straight before them in the west after sunset every evening1 nearer and nearer to the sun4 ,we may suppose that1 like other new stars1 it gradually faded1 so that by the time the wise men had reached ,jerusalem they had lost sight of it altogether4 ,having thus lost it1 they would probably not think of looking for it by daylight1 for it is no easy thing to detect by daylight even ,venus at her greatest brilliancy1 unless one knows exactly where to look4 ,the difficulty does not lie in any want of brightness1 but in picking up and holding steadily so minute a point of light in the broad expanse of the gleaming sky4 ,this difficulty would be overcome for them1 according to this story1 by the well1 which acted like a tube to direct them exactly to the star1 and like a telescope1 to lessen the sky glare4 ,it would be also necessary to suppose that the star was flashing out again with renewed brilliancy4 ,such a brief recovery of light has not been unknown in the case of some of our new or temporary stars4 ,i give the above story for what it is worth1 but ,i attach no importance to it myself4 ,some1 however1 may feel that it removes what they had felt as a difficulty in the narrative1--namely1 to understand how the star could stand over where the young ,child lay4 ,it would also explain1 what seems to be implied in the narrative1 how it happened that the ,magi alone1 and not the ,jews in general1 perceived the star at its second appearance4 ,for myself1 the narrative appears to me astronomically too incomplete for any astronomical conclusions to be drawn from it4 ,the reticence of the narrative on all points1 except those directly relating to our ,lord ,himself1 is an illustration of the truth that the ,scriptures were not written to instruct us in astronomy1 or in any of the physical sciences1 but that we might have eternal life4 ,,and ,,this ,,is ,,life ,,eternal1 ,,that ,,they ,,might ,,know ,,thee ,,the ,,only ,,true ,,god1 ,,and ,,jesus ,,christ1 ,,whom ,,thou ,,hast ,,sent4 ,a ,,table ,,of ,,scriptural ,,references ---------------------------------------- ----- ,page4 ,book4 ,chap4 and ,verse4 ---------------------------------------- ----- #i ,i4 ,kings v4 #bi-cd #aj ,wisdom vii4 #ag-bb 7,r4,v47 #aa ,psalm viii4 #c1 #d #ae ,eccl4 i4 #i #ag ,gen4 i4 #a ,i4 ,chron4 xvi4 #bf ,deut4 vi4 #d ,mark xii4 #bi ,neh4 ix4 #f #ai ,heb4 xi4 #bc #bj ,,ii4 ,pet4 iii4 #h #bb ,psalm cxi4 #b-d 7,r4,v47 ,gen4 ii4 #c #bc ,exod4 xx4 #aj1 #aa xxxi4 #af1 #ag ,gen4 i4 #ad #be i4 #a #cb ,exod4 xv4 #d1 #e #ce ,gen4 i4 #f-h i4 #ad #cf i4 #bj ,job xxxvii4 #ah 7,r4,v47 ,num4 xvii4 #ci ,isaiah xl4 #ai #cg ,jer4 x4 #i ,psalm cxxxvi4 #f #ch ,heb4 i4 #c #ci ,,ii4 ,sam4 xxii4 #h ,job xxvi4 #aa xxvi4 #g ,i4 ,sam4 ii4 #h #dj ,psalm lxxv4 #c civ4 #b ,isaiah xl4 #bb ,amos ix4 #f ,num4 xxxiv4 #d ,,ii4 ,sam4 xv4 #cj #da ,psalm cxlviii4 #d ,song of ,three ,children #ch ,amos v4 #h ix4 #f ,eccl4 i4 #g ,isaiah lv4 #aj 7,r4,v47 #db lv4 #aa ,job xxxvi4 #bf-bh 7,r4,v47 ,judges v4 #d ,psalm lxxvii4 #ag cxlvii4 #h ,prov4 xvi4 #ae ,eccl4 xii4 #b ,isaiah v4 #f ,jude #ab ,nahum i4 #c ,isaiah xviii4 #d #dc ,eccl4 xi4 #c ,job xxvi4 #h xxxviii4 #cd-cg #dd xxxviii4 #ai-bi 7,r4,v47 ,psalm xviii4 #f-ag 7,r4,v47 #de ,jer4 x4 #ac 7,r4,v47 ,psalm cxxxv4 #g #df ,job xxxvii4 #af #di xxxvi4 #bi ,gen4 vii4 #aa #ej ,,ii4 ,kings vii4 #a1 #b ,mal4 iii4 #aj ,hos4 vi4 #d ,dan4 viii4 #h ,ezek4 xxxvii4 #i #ea ,jer4 xlix4 #cf ,eccl4 i4 #f ,isaiah xi4 #ab xl4 #bb ,prov4 viii4 #bg #eb ,job xxii4 #ad 7,r4,v4 margin7 xxvi4 #aj 7,r4,v47 ,gen4 i4 #i ,psalm xxiv4 #b cxxxvi4 #f #ec ,ezek4 xxxi4 #d ,gen4 vii4 #aa viii4 #b ,job xxxviii4 #af ,prov4 iii4 #bj ,jer4 v4 #bb #ed ,job xxxviii4 #h ,prov4 viii4 #bg1 #bi #ee ,josh4 x4 #ac ,psalm xix4 #a-f 7,r4,v47 #ef ,i4 ,kings xxii4 #ai #eg ,jer4 xxxiii4 #bb ,deut4 iv4 #ae1 #ai #eh ,job xxxviii4 #g ,judges v4 #bj ,,ii4 ,kings vi4 #ad-ag #fj ,job xxxviii4 #eb 7,r4,v47 ,psalm cxi4 #b ,rev4 ii4 #bf1 #bh #fa ,isaiah xiv4 #ab-ad ,rev4 xxii4 #af #fb ,jer4 xxxi4 #cf ,isaiah xl4 #bf-ca 7,r4,v47 #fc ,gen4 i4 #ad-ai #fd ,deut4 xxxiii4 #ad 7,r4,v47 ,i4 ,john i4 #e ,psalm xxvii4 #a ,isaiah lx4 #ai ,john i4 #i ,psalm lxxxiv4 #aa ,mal4 iv4 #b #fe ,james i4 #ag ,psalm cxxxix4 #ab ,deut4 iv4 #ai xvii4 #b1 #c #ff ,,ii4 ,kings xxiii4 #aa ,ezek4 viii4 #aa viii4 #af ,job xxxi4 #bf ,cant4 vi4 #aj #fg ,judges viii4 #ac #fg ,judges xiv4 #ah ,jer4 xliii4 #ac #fh ,isaiah xix4 #ah ,cant4 vi4 #aj #fi ,psalm lxxii4 #e lxxii4 #ag #gj lxxxix4 #cf l4 #a cxiii4 #c xix4 #f ,eccl4 i4 #c #ga ,job xxxviii4 #ab-ad xxxviii4 #ad 7,r4,v47 ,eccl4 i4 #e #gb ,job xxvi4 #g ,psalm xix4 #f ,,ii4 ,kings iv4 #ai ,psalm cxxi4 #f ,isaiah xlix4 #aj ,rev4 vii4 #af ,deut4 xxxiii4 #ad #gc ,james i4 #ag ,job xxxviii4 #cc ,wisdom vii4 #ah #gh ,rom4 i4 #bj-bc #gi ,john ix4 #d #hj ,psalm lxxxi4 #c ,prov4 vii4 #bj #hb ,isaiah lx4 #bj #hc ,num4 x4 #aj ,psalm lxxxi4 #c ,isaiah iii4 #ah #hd ,gen4 xxxvii4 #i ,jer4 viii4 #b ,psalm civ4 #ai lxxxix4 #cf1 #cg cxxxvi4 #i ,jer4 xxxi4 #ce ,eccl4 xii4 #b ,isaiah xiii4 #aj ,ezek4 xxxii4 #g ,joel ii4 #aj1 #ca iii4 #ae ,hab4 iii4 #aa ,exod4 ii4 #b #he ,deut4 xxxiii4 #ac1 #ad ,,ii4 ,kings xv4 #ac ,dan4 iv4 #bi ,ezra vi4 #ae ,neh4 i4 #a ,i4 ,kings vi4 #a1 #cg1 #ch viii4 #b ,cant4 vi4 #aj ,isaiah lxxiv4 #bc #hf xxx4 #bf ,rev4 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7,r4,v47 #aca ,gen4 xiv4 #e ,isaiah xlvi4 #a #acb xiv4 #ab ,,ii4 ,peter i4 #ai ,isaiah lxv4 #aa ,dan4 v4 #bf 7,r4,v47 #acc ,amos v4 #be1 #bf ,acts vii4 #dc #adc ,isaiah viii4 #ai #add ,ezek4 xxi4 #ba 7,r4,v47 ,isaiah xlvii4 #ab1 #ac ,jer4 x4 #b #aej ,acts xvii4 #bd-bh #afc ,gen4 ix4 #ac #afd iii4 #ae #aff iii4 #bd ,ezek4 i4 #e ,rev4 iv4 #g 7,r4,v47 ,ezek4 x4 #bj ,i4 ,kings vi4 #bi1 #cb #afg ,gen4 x4 #i #afi ,psalm lxxx4 #a #agc ,gen4 vi4 #ai vii4 #b #ahd ,psalm l4 #e #ahf ,gen4 xxxvii4 #i #ahi xlix4 #i ,rev4 v4 #e #aij ,deut4 xxxiii4 #ag 7,r4,v47 ,gen4 xlix4 #f 7,r4,v47 xlix4 #d1 #ag #aia ,num4 xxiii4 #g1 #bd 7,r4,v47 xxiv4 #i 7,r4,v47 xxiv4 #h 7,r4,v47 xxiv4 #g 7,r4,v47 #aic ,exod4 xxxii4 #a ,acts vii4 #da1 #db ,exod4 xx4 #c xx4 #d1 #e #aid ,deut4 iv4 #ae ,psalm cvi4 #bj ,acts vii4 #db ,i4 ,kings xii4 #bh #aie ,rev4 v4 #e #bjc ,job iii4 #h1 #i 7,r4,v47 xli4 ,psalm civ4 #be ,isaiah xxvii4 #a #bjd ,job xxvi4 #ab1 #ac #bje ,isaiah xxx4 #g 7,r4,v47 li4 #i1 #aj 7,r4,v47 ,psalm lxxxix4 #i1 #aj #bjf ,ezek4 xxxii4 #b 7,r4,v47 ,rev4 xx4 #b ,ezek4 xxxii4 #d 7,r4,v47 xxix4 #c1 #e #bjg ,rev4 xii4 #f 7,r4,v47 #bjh xii4 #ae1 #af 7,r4,v47 #bji ,job iii4 #i 7,r4,v47 xli4 #ah 7,r4,v47 #baj ,psalm xix4 #e #baa ,i4 ,kings xviii4 #bg ,isaiah xxx4 #ca #bab ,psalm lxxiv4 #ab-ag #bae ,job ix4 #i xxxviii4 #ca ,amos v4 #h #bag ,isaiah lxv4 #aa #bah ,,ii4 ,kings xvii4 #cj ,gen4 xlix4 #bb #bbj ,rev4 i4 #ab1 #ac1 #ae i4 #bj #bbc ,i4 ,peter iii4 #bj ,amos v4 #h ,job xxxviii4 #ca #bbd ,cant4 ii4 #aa-ac 7,r4,v47 #bbe ,job xxxviii4 #d xxxviii4 #ca 7,r4,v47 #bca ix4 #i xxxviii4 #ca ,amos v4 #h ,isaiah xiii4 #aj ,prov4 i4 #bb #bcd ,gen4 x4 #h #bce x4 #aj #bch ,isaiah xiv4 #ac1 #ad #bci xiii4 #i-aa ,amos v4 #h #bda ,job xxxviii4 #cf #bdb xxvi4 #ac ,isaiah xlv4 #g #bdc ,job xxxviii4 #cb #bea xxxviii4 #cb ,,ii4 ,kings xxiii4 #e ,deut4 iv4 #ai ,job ix4 #i xxxviii4 #ca1 #cb xxxvii4 #i #beb ,exod4 xxxii4 ,i4 ,kings xii4 #bec ,,ii4 ,kings xxiii4 #e ,job ix41 xxxviii4 #beg xxxviii4 #cc ,luke xi4 #b #beh 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,chron4 ii4 xxix4 ,ezek4 xlv4 ,ezra iii4 ,neh4 x4 #bie ,num4 xxix4 #a xxix4 #g xxix4 #ab #bii ,deut4 xvi4 #a ,i4 ,kings vi4 #a1 #cg vi4 #ch viii4 #b #cjj ,esther ii4 #af iii4 #g1 #ac viii4 #i1 #ab ix4 #a1 #ag1 #ai1 #ba ,ezra vi4 #ae ,neh4 i4 #a ii4 #a ,zech4 vii4 #a ,deut4 xxi4 #ac 7yerach7 ,,ii4 ,kings xv4 #ac ,gen4 xxix4 #ad 7chodesh7 #cja ,num4 xi4 #ah-bj1 #ca ,psalm lxxviii4 #bg #cjb ,gen4 vii4 #aa viii4 #c1 #d #cjd ,ecclus4 xliii4 #f1 #g ,psalm civ4 #ai #cjh ,exod4 xii4 #b #cji ,i4 ,chron4 xii4 #ae ,jer4 xxxvi4 #bb1 #bc ,ezra x4 #i #caj ,neh4 i4 #a1 #b ii4 #a viii4 #ad #caa ,exod4 xxiii4 #af xxxiv4 #bb ,,ii4 ,chron4 xxiv4 #bc #cab ,,ii4 ,sam4 xi4 #a ,i4 ,chron4 xx4 #a ,i4 ,kings xx4 #bf ,,ii4 ,chron4 xxxvi4 #aj #cac ,exod4 xii4 #b xxiii4 #af xxxiv4 #bb #cba ,gen4 i4 #e #cbb vii4 #aa viii4 #ac1 #ad #cbe viii4 #bb ,psalm lxv4 #i-aa 7,r4,v47 #cbf ,exod4 xxi4 #b xxiii4 #aj1 #aa #cbg ,lev4 xxv4 #bj-bb ,lev4 xxvi4 #b1 #ba xxvi4 #cc-ce ,deut4 xv4 #a #cbh xxxi4 #aj1 #aa ,jer4 xxxiv4 ,lev4 xxvi4 #cb-ce ,,ii4 ,chron4 xxxvi4 #ba #cbi ,neh4 x4 #ca ,lev4 xxv4 #h-aj #ccj ,num4 xxxvi4 #d ,isaiah lxi4 #b ,ezek4 xlvi4 #ag #ccb ,lev4 xxv4 #h1 #aj xxv4 #aa1 #ab #ccc xxv4 #bb xxv4 #c xxv4 #aj #cch xxv4 #db ,dan4 i4 #a1 #c1 #d1 #f1 #g1 #ag-bj #cdj viii4 #ac1 #ad xii4 #g vii4 #be ,rev4 xii4 #ad #cda xiii4 #e xi4 #b1 #c xii4 #f ,dan4 xi4 #ac 7margin7 iv4 #af #cdh iii4 #af-ah #cec ,josh4 x4 #ab #cee iv4 #ai v4 #aj vii4 #b-e vii4 #a1 #ba viii4 #cef viii4 #cj-ce ,exod4 xix4 #a1 #aa #cfb ,josh4 x4 #ac #cfi ,luke ii4 #dd #cga ,josh4 x4 #h #cgc x4 #aj #cgd x4 #ab #cge x4 #aa #cgf x4 #bg 7,r4,v47 #cgh x4 #ac #chb x4 #ac #chd x4 #ac1 #ad #che ,,ii4 ,kings xx4 #e-aa #chf ,isaiah xxxviii4 #h #chg ,,ii4 ,chron4 xxxii4 #ca #chi ,isaiah xxxviii4 #h #cij ,,ii4 ,kings xx4 #i 7,r4,v47 ,i4 ,kings x4 #e ,i4 ,chron4 xxvi4 #af ,,ii4 ,kings xvi4 #ah 7,r4,v47 #cia ,neh4 xii4 #cg #cib ,isaiah xxxviii4 #aj1 #aa xxxviii4 #ai1 #bj #cic ,matt4 ii4 #b1 #e-aj #cif ii4 #aj #cii ,luke ii4 #aa #djj ,john xvii4 #c 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,sanhedrim1 #bif ,saros1 the1 #abb1 #abc1 #cdf ,saturn and ,astrology1 #acj-ade ,sayce1 ,a4 ,h41 #cc1 #cae ,schiaparelli1 ,g4 ,v41 #g1 #da1 #dc1 #aci1 #ade1 #aih1 #bec1 #bed1 #bfa-bfc1 #bfi1 #bgi1 #bhe1 #bhf1 #bij ,septuagint ,version1 #cg1 #acc1 #acd1 #afa1 #bae1 #bca1 #bda1 #beh1 #bei ,sin 7moon-god71 see ,moon ,sirius1 #ih1 #bdj ,sivan1 month1 #cjc1 #cbj ,smith1 ,george1 #bg1 #cj ,south 7darom1 bright71 #ea 7negeb1 desert71 #ea ,star of ,bethlehem1 #cic-djj ,stars1 #ge1 #ie-ajj morning1 #ei-fa royal1 #afj shooting1 #aac ,triad of1 #bec1 #cbj ,statius1 #bbb ,stern1 ,prof41 #bfa1 #bfb ,strassmaier1 #bgd1 #bhe ,sun1 #ee1 #fc-gh -god 7,samas71 #fg1 #aca1 #agd1 #bec1 #cbc1 #cbd -stroke1 #gb ,talmud1 #bbb1 #bgi1 #big1 #caa ,tammuz1 #ff ,targum1 the ,jerusalem1 #aij ,tavth1 see ,tiamat ,tehom1 see ,deep ,tennyson1 #cf1 #gi1 #hj ,thales1 #cde ,thiele1 ,prof41 #ae1 #af ,tiamat1 or ,tiamtu1 #bg-bi1 #cb1 #cd1 #bja1 #baj1 #bcd-bce1 #bdj-bdb ,tibullus1 #bhh ,tides1 #da1 #ec1 #ib ,tribes of ,israel and the ,zodiac1 #ahf-aie ,tycho ,brah1 #if ,venus1 #ij1 #aca1 #acb1 #acf1 #acg ,virgil1 #afj ,vulgate1 #beh1 #bei ,week and the ,sabbath1 #bhc-bib ,west 7mebo hasshemesh1 going down of the sun71 #ea 7yam1 the sea71 #ea ,winckler1 ,prof4 ,h41 #bce ,winds1 #ej1 #ea ,wormwood1 the star1 #aaf ,xenophanes1 #ga ,year1 #cje-cbe 7shanah71 #cje ,yehoshua1 ,rabbi1 #big ,zeuchros1 #adb1 #bdi ,zif1 month1 #he1 #bii ,zodiac1 constellations of1 #ada1 #aea1 #aeb sections of 7mizrata71 #bdc1 #bea signs of1 #ada1 #bde1 #bdi ,zodiacal ,light1 #aag ,,richard ,,clay ,,sons1 ,,limited1 ,,bread ,,street ,,hill1 ,e4,c41 ,,and ,,bungay1 ,,suffolk4 ,transcriber's ,notes3 ,ellipses match the original except in poetry quotations where a row of asterisks represent an ellipses4 ,the following corrections have been made to the text3 ,page #bg3 shows the god ,anvsaroriginal has ,an7sar ,page #bi3 not a ,creation myth at all4period missing in original ,page #hi3 representing the sunoriginal has son and moon ,page #adj3 place of an actual star into a horoscope2semi-colon missing in original ,page #agf3 gods and the spirits of heaven4period missing in original ,page #agf3 'quotation mark missing in original,what1 has a soul escaped8 ,page #agf3 'original has double quote,thou sage of the gods1 warrior ,page #bjf3 quotation mark missing in original,i have given thee for meat ,page #bfj3 tail of the ,great ,bearoriginal has extraneous quotation mark ,page #cgd3 and it was now noon1comma missing in original the noon ,page #chi3 fifteen ,psalms 7cxx4-cxxxiv47original has 7cxx4-cxxxiv74 ,page #dje3 ,allen1 ,r4 ,h4 #bba1;comma missing in original #bbb ,page #dje3 ,alroy #bghoriginal has #bba ,page #djg3 ,hommeloriginal has ,hmmel1 ,dr4 #bdj ,page #daj3 ,tavthoriginal has ,tavth1 see ,tiamat ,the following words use an oe ligature in the original3 ,celoeno manoeuvre_/manoeuvres_/manoeuvred_/,out- manoeuvred ,phoenician