Reference: Astronomy
American
The science, which treats of the heavenly bodies, was much studied in Asia in ancient times. The Chaldeans excelled in it. The Hebrews do not appear to have made great proficiency in it, though their climate and mode of life invited to the contemplation of the heavens. Revelation had taught them who created and governed all the world, Ge 1:1; 1-31, and the infinite presence of the one living and true God filled the universe, to their minks, with a glory unknown to others, Ps 19.1-14; Isa 40:26; Am 5:8. The Bible does not aim to teach the science of astronomy, but speaks of the sun, moon, and stars in the familiar language of mankind in all ages. The following heavenly bodies are alluded to particularly in Scripture: Venus, the morning star, Isa 14:12; Re 2:28; Orion, and the Pleiades, Job 9:9; 38:31; Am 5:8; the Great Bear, called "Arcturus," Job 9:9; 38:32; Draco, "the crooked serpent" Job 26:13; and Gemini, "the twins," 2Ki 23:5; Ac 28:11. The planets Jupiter and Venus were worshipped under various names, as Baal and Ahtoreth, Gad and Meni, Isa 65:11. Mercury is named as Nebo; in Isa 46:1; Saturn as Chiun, in Am 5:26; and Mars as Nergal, in 2Ki 17:30. See IDOLATRY and STARS.
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In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
And the men of Babylon made Succoth-benoth, and the men of Cuth made Nergal, and the men of Hamath made Ashima,
And he put down the idolatrous priests, whom the kings of Judah had ordained to burn incense in the high places in the cities of Judah, and in the places round about Jerusalem; those also who burned incense to Baal, to the sun, and
who makes the Bear, Orion, and the Pleiades, and the chambers of the south,
who makes the Bear, Orion, and the Pleiades, and the chambers of the south,
By his Spirit the heavens are garnished. His hand has pierced the swift serpent.
Can thou bind the cluster of the Pleiades, or loose the bands of Orion? Can thou lead forth the Mazzaroth in their season? Or can thou guide the Bear with her train?
How thou are fallen from heaven, O day-star, son of the morning! How thou are cut down to the ground, who laid the nations low!
Lift up your eyes on high, and see who has created these, who brings out their host by number. He calls them all by name, by the greatness of his might. And because he is strong in power, not one is lacking.
Bel bows down, Nebo stoops, their idols are upon the beasts, and upon the cattle. The things that ye carried about are made a load, a burden to the weary [beast].
But ye who forsake LORD, who forget my holy mountain, who prepare a table for Fortune, and who fill up mingled wine to Destiny,
[seek him] who makes the Pleiades and Orion, and turns the shadow of death into the morning, and makes the day dark with night, who calls for the waters of the sea, and pours them out upon the face of the earth (LORD is his name),
[seek him] who makes the Pleiades and Orion, and turns the shadow of death into the morning, and makes the day dark with night, who calls for the waters of the sea, and pours them out upon the face of the earth (LORD is his name),
Yea, ye have borne the tabernacle of Moloch, and the star of your god {Remphan (LXX/NT)}, your images which ye made to yourselves.
And after three months we set out in a ship that wintered at the island, an Alexandrian with The Twin Brothers emblem.
And I will give him the morning star.
Easton
The Hebrews were devout students of the wonders of the starry firmanent (Am 5:8; Ps 19). In the Book of Job, which is the oldest book of the Bible in all probability, the constellations are distinguished and named. Mention is made of the "morning star" (Re 2:28; comp. Isa 14:12), the "seven stars" and "Pleiades," "Orion," "Arcturus," the "Great Bear" (Am 5:8; Job 9:9; 38:31), "the crooked serpent," Draco (Job 26:13), the Dioscuri, or Gemini, "Castor and Pollux" (Ac 28:11). The stars were called "the host of heaven" (Isa 40:26; Jer 33:22).
The oldest divisions of time were mainly based on the observation of the movements of the heavenly bodies, the "ordinances of heaven" (Ge 1:14-18; Job 38:33; Jer 31:35; 33:25). Such observations led to the division of the year into months and the mapping out of the appearances of the stars into twelve portions, which received from the Greeks the name of the "zodiac." The word "Mazzaroth" (Job 38:32) means, as the margin notes, "the twelve signs" of the zodiac. Astronomical observations were also necessary among the Jews in order to the fixing of the proper time for sacred ceremonies, the "new moons," the "passover," etc. Many allusions are found to the display of God's wisdom and power as seen in the starry heavens (Ps 8; 19:1-6; Isa 51:6, etc.)
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And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of heaven to divide the day from the night, and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days and years. And let them be for lights in the firmament of heaven to give light upon the earth. And it was so. read more. And God made the two great lights, the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night, also the stars. And God set them in the firmament of heaven to give light upon the earth, and to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good.
who makes the Bear, Orion, and the Pleiades, and the chambers of the south,
By his Spirit the heavens are garnished. His hand has pierced the swift serpent.
Can thou bind the cluster of the Pleiades, or loose the bands of Orion? Can thou lead forth the Mazzaroth in their season? Or can thou guide the Bear with her train? read more. Do thou know the ordinances of the heavens? Can thou establish the dominion of it on the earth?
How thou are fallen from heaven, O day-star, son of the morning! How thou are cut down to the ground, who laid the nations low!
Lift up your eyes on high, and see who has created these, who brings out their host by number. He calls them all by name, by the greatness of his might. And because he is strong in power, not one is lacking.
Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look upon the earth beneath. For the heavens shall vanish away like smoke, and the earth shall grow old like a garment, and those who dwell in it shall die in like manner. But my salvation shal
Thus says LORD, who gives the sun for a light by day, and the ordinances of the moon and of the stars for a light by night, who stirs up the sea, so that the waves thereof roar. LORD of hosts is his name.
As the host of heaven cannot be numbered, neither the sand of the sea measured, so I will multiply the seed of David my servant, and the Levites that minister to me.
Thus says LORD: If my covenant of day and night [stand] not, if I have not appointed the ordinances of heaven and earth,
[seek him] who makes the Pleiades and Orion, and turns the shadow of death into the morning, and makes the day dark with night, who calls for the waters of the sea, and pours them out upon the face of the earth (LORD is his name),
[seek him] who makes the Pleiades and Orion, and turns the shadow of death into the morning, and makes the day dark with night, who calls for the waters of the sea, and pours them out upon the face of the earth (LORD is his name),
And after three months we set out in a ship that wintered at the island, an Alexandrian with The Twin Brothers emblem.
And I will give him the morning star.