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+Project Gutenberg's The Astronomy of the Bible, by E. Walter Maunder
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Astronomy of the Bible
+ An Elementary Commentary on the Astronomical References
+ of Holy Scripture
+
+Author: E. Walter Maunder
+
+Release Date: April 8, 2009 [EBook #28536]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ASTRONOMY OF THE BIBLE ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Curtis Weyant, Jeannie Howse, Lisa Reigel, and
+the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at
+https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images
+generously made available by Case Western Reserve University
+Preservation Department Digital Library)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+Transcriber's Notes: Variations in spelling and hyphenation have been
+left as in the original. Words italicized in the original are surrounded
+by _underscores_. Characters superscripted in the original are enclosed
+in {braces}. In this text, in words translated from Hebrew, ` represents
+an aleph, and ' represents an ayin. Some typographical and punctuation
+errors have been corrected. A complete list follows the text.
+
+There are diacritic accents in the original. In this text, they are
+represented as follows:
+
+ [=a] = "a" with a macron [)e] = "e" with a breve
+ [=e] = "e" with a macron [vs] = "s" with a caron
+ [=i] = "i" with a macron [vS] = "S" with a caron
+ [=o] = "o" with a macron [H.] = "H" with an underdot
+ [=u] = "u" with a macron [h.] = "h" with an underdot
+
+
+
+
+THE ASTRONOMY
+OF THE BIBLE
+
+
+[Illustration: _From the Painting by Sir Edward Burne-Jones in the
+Birmingham Art Gallery._
+
+THE STAR OF BETHLEHEM.
+
+"We have seen His star in the east, and are come to worship Him."
+
+[_Frontispiece._]
+
+
+
+
+THE ASTRONOMY
+OF THE BIBLE
+
+AN ELEMENTARY COMMENTARY ON THE
+ASTRONOMICAL REFERENCES
+OF HOLY SCRIPTURE
+
+
+BY
+E. WALTER MAUNDER, F.R.A.S.
+
+AUTHOR OF
+'THE ROYAL OBSERVATORY, GREENWICH: ITS HISTORY AND WORK,'
+AND 'ASTRONOMY WITHOUT A TELESCOPE'
+
+
+_WITH THIRTY-FOUR ILLUSTRATIONS_
+
+
+NEW YORK
+MITCHELL KENNERLEY
+
+
+RICHARD CLAY & SONS, LIMITED,
+BREAD STREET HILL, E.C., AND
+BUNGAY, SUFFOLK.
+
+
+To
+
+MY WIFE
+
+My helper in this Book
+and in all things.
+
+
+
+
+PREFACE
+
+
+Why should an astronomer write a commentary on the Bible?
+
+Because commentators as a rule are not astronomers, and therefore either
+pass over the astronomical allusions of Scripture in silence, or else
+annotate them in a way which, from a scientific point of view, leaves
+much to be desired.
+
+Astronomical allusions in the Bible, direct and indirect, are not few in
+number, and, in order to bring out their full significance, need to be
+treated astronomically. Astronomy further gives us the power of placing
+ourselves to some degree in the position of the patriarchs and prophets
+of old. We know that the same sun and moon, stars and planets, shine
+upon us as shone upon Abraham and Moses, David and Isaiah. We can, if we
+will, see the unchanging heavens with their eyes, and understand their
+attitude towards them.
+
+It is worth while for us so to do. For the immense advances in science,
+made since the Canon of Holy Scripture was closed, and especially during
+the last three hundred years, may enable us to realize the significance
+of a most remarkable fact. Even in those early ages, when to all the
+nations surrounding Israel the heavenly bodies were objects for
+divination or idolatry, the attitude of the sacred writers toward them
+was perfect in its sanity and truth.
+
+Astronomy has a yet further part to play in Biblical study. The dating
+of the several books of the Bible, and the relation of certain heathen
+mythologies to the Scripture narratives of the world's earliest ages,
+have received much attention of late years. Literary analysis has thrown
+much light on these subjects, but hitherto any evidence that astronomy
+could give has been almost wholly neglected; although, from the nature
+of the case, such evidence, so far as it is available, must be most
+decisive and exact.
+
+I have endeavoured, in the present book, to make an astronomical
+commentary on the Bible, in a manner that shall be both clear and
+interesting to the general reader, dispensing as far as possible with
+astronomical technicalities, since the principles concerned are, for the
+most part, quite simple. I trust, also, that I have taken the first step
+in a new inquiry which promises to give results of no small importance.
+
+ E. WALTER MAUNDER.
+
+ _St. John's, London, S.E._
+ _January 1908._
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+BOOK I
+
+THE HEAVENLY BODIES
+
+CHAPTER I. 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 3
+
+CHAPTER II. THE CREATION
+
+ Indian Eclipse of 1898--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 12
+
+CHAPTER III. THE DEEP
+
+ Babylonian Creation Myth--Tiamat, 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 25
+
+CHAPTER IV. 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" 35
+
+CHAPTER V. 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 55
+
+CHAPTER VI. 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 _[H.]eres_--
+ 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 63
+
+CHAPTER VII. 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" 79
+
+CHAPTER VIII. THE STARS
+
+ Number of the Stars--"Magnitudes" of the Stars--Distances of the
+ Stars 95
+
+CHAPTER IX. COMETS
+
+ Great Comets unexpected Visitors--Description of Comets--
+ Formation of the Tail--Possible References in Scripture to
+ Comets 103
+
+CHAPTER X. METEORS
+
+ Aerolites--Diana of the Ephesians--Star-showers--The Leonid
+ Meteors--References in Scripture--The Aurora Borealis 111
+
+CHAPTER XI. 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 118
+
+CHAPTER XII. SATURN AND ASTROLOGY
+
+ The "Seven Planets"--Possible Scripture References to Venus and
+ Jupiter--"Your God Remphan" probably Saturn--The Sabbath and
+ Saturn's Day--R. A. 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 130
+
+
+BOOK II
+
+THE CONSTELLATIONS
+
+CHAPTER I. 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 149
+
+CHAPTER II. 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" 162
+
+CHAPTER III. 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 170
+
+CHAPTER IV. 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 186
+
+CHAPTER V. 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"--Poetry, Science, and Myth 196
+
+CHAPTER VI. THE PLEIADES
+
+ Difficulty of Identification--The most Attractive
+ Constellations--_Kimah_--Not a Babylonian Star Name--A Pre-exilic
+ Hebrew Term--The Pleiades traditionally Seven--Maedler'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 213
+
+CHAPTER VII. ORION
+
+ _Kesil_--Probably Orion--Appearance of the Constellation--
+ Identified in Jewish Tradition with Nimrod, who was probably
+ Merodach--Altitude of Orion in the Sky--_Kesilim_--The "Bands" of
+ Orion--The Bow-star and Lance-star, Orion's Dogs--Identification
+ of Tiamat with Cetus 231
+
+CHAPTER VIII. 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 2000 Years--
+ _Mazzaroth_ and the "Chambers of the South"--_Mazzaloth_--The
+ Solar and Lunar Zodiacs--_Mazzaroth_ in his Season 243
+
+CHAPTER IX. ARCTURUS
+
+ _`Ash_ and _`Ayish_--Uncertainty as to their Identification--
+ Probably the Great Bear--_Mezarim_--Probably another Name for the
+ Bears--"Canst thou guide the Bear?"--Proper Motions of the
+ Plough-stars--Estimated Distance 258
+
+
+BOOK III
+
+TIMES AND SEASONS
+
+CHAPTER I. 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
+ 12-hour Day and the 24-hour Day 269
+
+CHAPTER II. 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 283
+
+CHAPTER III. 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 293
+
+CHAPTER IV. 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 305
+
+CHAPTER V. 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 Year, an Agricultural one--Interval between
+ the Jubilees, Forty-nine Years, not Fifty--Forty-nine Years an
+ Astronomical Cycle 326
+
+CHAPTER VI. 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--2300 Years and 1260 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 337
+
+
+BOOK IV
+
+THREE ASTRONOMICAL MARVELS
+
+CHAPTER I. JOSHUA'S LONG DAY
+
+ METHOD OF STUDYING THE RECORD--To be discussed as it stands--An
+ early Astronomical Observation. BEFORE THE BATTLE--Movements of
+ the Israelites--Reasons for the Gibeonites' Action--Rapid
+ Movements of all the Parties. DAY, HOUR, AND PLACE OF THE
+ MIRACLE--Indication of the Sun's Declination--Joshua was at
+ Gibeon--And at High Noon--On the 21st Day of the Fourth Month.
+ 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 Strategist. THE MIRACLE--The Noon-day Heat, 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 March, the
+ Israelites' Measure of Time 351
+
+CHAPTER II. THE DIAL OF AHAZ
+
+ The Narrative--Suggested Explanations--The "Dial of Ahaz,"
+ probably a Staircase--Probable History and Position of the
+ Staircase--Significance of the Sign 385
+
+CHAPTER III. 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 1572--Legend of the Well of Bethlehem--True
+ Significance of the Reticence of the Gospel Narrative 393
+
+ A TABLE OF SCRIPTURAL REFERENCE 401
+
+ INDEX 405
+
+
+
+
+ILLUSTRATIONS
+
+
+ PAGE
+ THE STAR OF BETHLEHEM (_Burne-Jones_) _Frontispiece_
+
+ THE RAINBOW (_Rubens_) 2
+
+ MERODACH AND TIAMAT 25
+
+ CIRRUS AND CUMULI 47
+
+ A CORNER OF THE MILKY WAY 94
+
+ THE GREAT COMET OF 1843 102
+
+ FALL OF AN AEROLITE 110
+
+ METEORIC SHOWER OF 1799 115
+
+ THE ASSYRIAN 'RING WITH WINGS' 126
+
+ CORONA OF MINIMUM TYPE 127
+
+ ST. PAUL PREACHING AT ATHENS (_Raphael_) 148
+
+ THE ANCIENT CONSTELLATIONS SOUTH OF THE ECLIPTIC 155
+
+ THE CELESTIAL SPHERE 156
+
+ THE MIDNIGHT CONSTELLATIONS OF SPRING, B.C. 2700 164
+
+ THE MIDNIGHT CONSTELLATIONS OF WINTER, B.C. 2700 165
+
+ OPHIUCHUS AND THE NEIGHBOURING CONSTELLATIONS 189
+
+ AQUARIUS AND THE NEIGHBOURING CONSTELLATIONS 192
+
+ HERCULES AND DRACO 197
+
+ HYDRA AND THE NEIGHBOURING CONSTELLATIONS 200
+
+ ANDROMEDA AND CETUS 207
+
+ STARS OF THE PLEIADES 219
+
+ INNER NEBULOSITIES OF THE PLEIADES 227
+
+ STARS OF ORION 232
+
+ ORION AND THE NEIGHBOURING CONSTELLATIONS 236
+
+ POSITION OF SPRING EQUINOX, B.C. 2700 246
+
+ POSITION OF SPRING EQUINOX, A.D. 1900 247
+
+ STARS OF THE PLOUGH, AS THE WINNOWING FAN 263
+
+ 'BLOW UP THE TRUMPET IN THE NEW MOON' 268
+
+ POSITION OF THE NEW MOON AT THE EQUINOXES 316
+
+ BOUNDARY-STONE IN THE LOUVRE 318
+
+ WORSHIP OF THE SUN-GOD AT SIPPARA 322
+
+ 'SUN, STAND THOU STILL UPON GIBEON, AND THOU MOON IN
+ THE VALLEY OF AJALON' 350
+
+ MAP OF SOUTHERN PALESTINE 357
+
+ BEARINGS OF THE RISING AND SETTING POINTS OF THE SUN
+ FROM GIBEON 363
+
+
+[Illustration: _By permission of the Autotype Co. 74, New Oxford
+Street, London W.C._
+
+THE RAINBOW (_by Rubens_).
+
+"The bow that is in the cloud on the day of rain."]
+
+
+
+
+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 bodies. This new instrument at once revealed to him the
+mountains on the moon, the satellites of Jupiter, and the spots on the
+sun, and brought the celestial bodies under observation in a way that no
+one had dreamed of before. In our view to-day, the planets of the solar
+system are worlds; we can examine their surfaces and judge wherein they
+resemble or differ from our earth. To the ancients they were but points
+of light; to us they are vast bodies that we have been able to measure
+and to weigh. The telescope has enabled us also to penetrate deep into
+outer space; we have learnt of other systems besides that of our own sun
+and its dependents, many of them far more complex; clusters and clouds
+of stars have been revealed to us, and mysterious nebulae, which suggest
+by their forms that they are systems of suns in the making. More lately
+the invention of the spectroscope has informed us of the very elements
+which go to the composition of these numberless stars, and we can
+distinguish those which are in a similar condition to our sun from those
+differing from him. And photography has recorded for us objects too
+faint for mere sight to detect, even when aided by the most powerful
+telescope; too detailed and intricate for the most skilful hand to
+depict.
+
+Galileo's friend and contemporary, Kepler, laid the foundations of
+another department of modern astronomy at about the same time. 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
+laws, laws which, two generations later, Sir Isaac Newton demonstrated
+to be the outcome of one grand and simple law of universal range, the
+law of gravitation. Upon this law the marvellous mathematical conquests
+of astronomy have been based.
+
+All these wonderful results have been attained by the free exercise of
+men's mental abilities, 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 themselves. Men's mental powers have developed by their exercise;
+they would have been stunted had men been led to look to revelation
+rather than to diligent effort for the satisfaction of their curiosity.
+We therefore do not find any reference in the Bible to that which
+modern astronomy has taught us. Yet it may be noted that some
+expressions, appropriate at any time, have become much more appropriate,
+much more forcible, in the light of our present-day knowledge.
+
+The age of astronomy which preceded the Modern, and may be called the
+Classical age, was almost as sharply defined in its beginning as its
+successor. It lasted about two thousand years, and began with the
+investigations into the movements of the planets made by some of the
+early Greek mathematicians. Classical, like Modern astronomy, had its
+two sides,--the instrumental and the mathematical. On the instrumental
+side was the invention of graduated instruments for the determination of
+the positions of the heavenly bodies; on the mathematical, the
+development of geometry and trigonometry for the interpretation of those
+positions when thus determined. Amongst the great names of this period
+are those of Eudoxus of Knidus (B.C. 408-355), and Hipparchus of
+Bithynia, who lived rather more than two centuries later. Under its
+first leaders astronomy in the Classical age began to advance rapidly,
+but it soon experienced a deadly blight. Men were not content to observe
+the heavenly bodies for what they were; they endeavoured to make
+them the sources of divination. The great school of Alexandria (founded
+about 300 B.C.), the headquarters of astronomy, became invaded by
+the spirit of astrology, the bastard science which has always
+tried--parasite-like--to suck its life from astronomy. Thus from the
+days of Claudius Ptolemy to the end of the Middle Ages the growth of
+astronomy was arrested, and it bore but little fruit.
+
+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 Testament; so we
+do not find any reference in Holy Scripture to the astronomical
+achievements of that period, amongst which the first attempts to explain
+the apparent motions of sun, moon, stars, and planets were the most
+considerable.
+
+We have a complete history of astronomy in the Modern and Classical
+periods, but there was an earlier astronomy, not inconsiderable in
+amount, of which no history is preserved. For when Eudoxus commenced his
+labours, the length of the year had already been determined, the
+equinoxes and solstices had been recognized, the ecliptic, the celestial
+equator, and the poles of both great circles were known, and the five
+principal planets were familiar objects. This Early astronomy must have
+had its history, its stages of development, but we can only with
+difficulty trace them out. It cannot have sprung into existence
+full-grown any more than the other sciences; it must have started from
+zero, and men must have slowly fought their way from one observation to
+another, with gradually widening conceptions, 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 work.
+
+The books of the Old Testament were written at different times during
+the progress of this Early age of astronomy. We should therefore
+naturally expect to find the astronomical allusions written from the
+standpoint of such scientific knowledge as had then been acquired. We
+cannot for a moment expect that any supernatural revelation of purely
+material facts would be imparted to the writers of sacred books, two or
+three thousand years before the progress of science had brought those
+facts to light, and we ought not to be surprised if expressions are
+occasionally used which we should not ourselves use to-day, if we were
+writing about the phenomena of nature from a technical point of view. It
+must further be borne in mind that the astronomical references are not
+numerous, that they occur mostly in poetic imagery, and that Holy
+Scripture was not intended to give an account of the scientific
+achievements, if any, of the Hebrews of old. Its purpose was wholly
+different: it was religious, not scientific; it was meant to give
+spiritual, not intellectual enlightenment.
+
+An exceedingly valuable and interesting work has recently been brought
+out by the most eminent of living Italian astronomers, Prof. G. V.
+Schiaparelli, on this subject of "Astronomy in the Old Testament," to
+which work I should like here to acknowledge my indebtedness. Yet I feel
+that the avowed object of his book,[7:1]--to "discover what ideas the
+ancient Jewish sages held regarding the structure of the universe, what
+observations they made of the stars, and how far they made use of them
+for the measurement and division of time"--is open to this
+criticism,--that sufficient material for carrying it out is not within
+our reach. If we were to accept implicitly the argument from the silence
+of Scripture, we should conclude that the Hebrews--though their calendar
+was essentially a lunar one, based upon the actual observation of the
+new moon--had never noticed that the moon changed its apparent form as
+the month wore on, for there is no mention in the Bible of the lunar
+phases.
+
+The references to the heavenly bodies in Scripture are not numerous, and
+deal with them either as time-measurers or as subjects for devout
+allusion, poetic simile, or symbolic use. But there is one
+characteristic of all these references to the phenomena of Nature, that
+may not be ignored. None of the ancients ever approached the great
+Hebrew writers in spiritual elevation; none equalled them in poetic
+sublimity; and few, if any, surpassed them in keenness of observation,
+or in quick sympathy with every work of the Creator.
+
+These characteristics imply a natural fitness of the Hebrews for
+successful scientific work, 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 nations. We
+cannot, of course, conceive of the average Jew as an Isaiah, any more
+than we can conceive of the average Englishman as a Shakespeare, yet the
+one man, like the other, is an index of the advancement and capacity of
+his race; nor could Isaiah's writings have been preserved, more than
+those of Shakespeare, without a true appreciation of them on the part of
+many of his countrymen.
+
+But the necessary conditions for any great scientific development were
+lacking to Israel. A small nation, planted between powerful and
+aggressive empires, their history was for the most part the record of a
+struggle for bare existence; and after three or four centuries of the
+unequal conflict, first the one and then the other of the two sister
+kingdoms was overwhelmed. There was but little opportunity during these
+years of storm and stress for men to indulge in any curious searchings
+into the secrets of nature.
+
+Once only was there a long interval of prosperity and peace; viz. from
+the time that David had consolidated the kingdom to the time when it
+suffered disruption under his grandson, Rehoboam; 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 it.
+
+Thus, in the fourth chapter of the First Book of Kings, not only are the
+attainments of Solomon himself described, but other men, contemporaries
+either of his father David or himself, are referred to, as distinguished
+in the same direction, though to a less degree.
+
+ "And God gave Solomon wisdom and understanding exceeding much,
+ and largeness of heart, even as the sand that is on the
+ seashore. And Solomon's wisdom excelled the wisdom of all the
+ children of the east country, and all the wisdom of Egypt. For
+ he was wiser than all men; than Ethan the Ezrahite, and Heman,
+ and Chalcol, and Darda, the sons of Mahol: and his fame was in
+ all nations round about. And he spake three thousand proverbs:
+ and his songs were a thousand and five. And he spake of trees,
+ from the cedar-tree that is in Lebanon even unto the hyssop
+ that springeth out of the wall: he spake also of beasts, and
+ of fowl, and of creeping things, and of fishes. And there came
+ of all people to hear the wisdom of Solomon, from all kings of
+ the earth, which had heard of his wisdom."
+
+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
+Solomon, now included in the Apocrypha.
+
+ "For" (God) "Himself gave me an unerring knowledge of the
+ things that are, to know the constitution of the world, and
+ the operation of the elements; the beginning and end and
+ middle of times, the alternations of the solstices and the
+ changes of seasons, the circuits of years and the positions"
+ (_margin_, constellations) "of stars; the natures of living
+ creatures and the ragings of wild beasts, the violences of
+ winds and the thoughts of men, the diversities of plants and
+ the virtues of roots: all things that are either secret or
+ manifest I learned, for she that is the artificer of all
+ things taught me, even Wisdom."
+
+Two great names have impressed themselves upon every part of the
+East:--the one, that of Solomon the son of David, as the master of every
+secret source of knowledge; and the other that of Alexander the Great,
+as the mightiest of conquerors. 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 second.
+
+But to such scientific achievements we have no express allusion in
+Scripture, other than is afforded us by the two quotations just made.
+Natural objects, natural phenomena are not referred to for their own
+sake. Every thought leads up to God or to man's relation to Him.
+Nature, as a whole and in its every aspect and detail, is the handiwork
+of Jehovah: that is the truth which the heavens are always
+declaring;--and it is His power, His wisdom, and His goodness to man
+which it is sought to illustrate, when the beauty or wonder of natural
+objects is described.
+
+ "When I consider Thy heavens, the work of Thy fingers,
+ The moon and the stars, which Thou hast ordained;
+ What is man, that Thou art mindful of him?
+ And the son of man, that Thou visitest him?"
+
+The first purpose, therefore, of the following study of the astronomy of
+the Bible is,--not to reconstruct the astronomy of the Hebrews, a task
+for which the material is manifestly incomplete,--but to examine such
+astronomical allusions as occur with respect to their appropriateness to
+the lesson which the writer desired to teach. Following this, it will be
+of interest to examine what connection can be traced between the Old
+Testament Scriptures and the Constellations; the arrangement of the
+stars into constellations having been the chief astronomical work
+effected during the centuries when those Scriptures were severally
+composed. The use made of the heavenly bodies as time-measurers amongst
+the Hebrews will form a third division of the subject; whilst there are
+two or three incidents in the history of Israel which appear to call for
+examination from an astronomical point of view, and may suitably be
+treated in a fourth and concluding section.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[7:1] _Astronomy in the Old Testament_, p. 12.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+THE CREATION
+
+
+A few years ago a great eclipse of the sun, seen as total along a broad
+belt of country right across India, drew thither astronomers from the
+very ends of the earth. Not only did many English observers travel
+thither, but the United States of America in the far west, and Japan in
+the far east sent their contingents, 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 science.
+
+It was a wonderful sight that was vouchsafed to these travellers in
+pursuit of knowledge. In a sky of unbroken purity, undimmed even for a
+moment by haze or cloud, there shone down the fierce Indian sun.
+Gradually a dark mysterious circle invaded its lower edge, and covered
+its brightness; coolness replaced the burning heat; slowly the dark
+covering crept on; slowly the sunlight diminished until at length the
+whole of the sun's disc was hidden. Then in a moment a wonderful
+starlike form flashed out, a noble form of glowing silver light on the
+deep purple-coloured sky.
+
+There was, however, no time for the astronomers to devote to admiration
+of the beauty of the scene, or indulgence in rhapsodies. Two short
+minutes alone were allotted them to note all that was happening, to take
+all their photographs, to ask all the questions, and obtain all the
+answers for which this strange veiling of the sun, and still stranger
+unveiling of his halo-like surroundings, gave opportunity. It was two
+minutes of intensest strain, of hurried though orderly work; and then a
+sudden rush of sunlight put an end to all. The mysterious vision had
+withdrawn itself; the colour rushed back to the landscape, so
+corpse-like whilst in the shadow; the black veil slid rapidly from off
+the sun; the heat returned to the air; the eclipse was over.
+
+But the astronomers from distant lands were not the only people engaged
+in watching the eclipse. At their work, they could hear the sound of a
+great multitude, a sound of weeping and wailing, a people dismayed at
+the distress of their god.
+
+It was so at every point along the shadow track, but especially where
+that track met the course of the sacred river. Along a hundred roads the
+pilgrims had poured in unceasing streams towards Holy Mother Gunga;
+towards Benares, the sacred city; towards Buxar, where the eclipse was
+central at the river bank. It is always meritorious--so the Hindoo
+holds--to bathe in that sacred river, but such a time as this, when the
+sun is in eclipse, is the most propitious moment of all for such
+lustration.
+
+Could there be a greater contrast than that offered between the millions
+trembling and dismayed at the signs of heaven, and the little companies
+who had come for thousands of miles over land and sea, rejoicing in the
+brief chance that was given them for learning a little more of the
+secrets of the wonders of Nature?
+
+The contrast between the heathen and the scientists was in both their
+spiritual and their intellectual standpoint, and, as we shall see later,
+the intellectual contrast is a result of the spiritual. The heathen idea
+is that the orbs of heaven are divine, or at least that each expresses a
+divinity. 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 moon. It is the sun that morning by morning rolls back
+the darkness, and brings light and warmth and returning life to men; it
+is the sun that rouses the earth after her winter sleep and quickens
+vegetation. It is the moon that has power over the great world of
+waters, whose pulse beats in some kind of mysterious obedience to her
+will.
+
+Natural, then, has it been for men to go further, and to suppose that
+not only is power lodged in these, and in the other members of the
+heavenly host, but that it is living, intelligent, personal power; that
+these shining orbs are beings, or the manifestations of beings; exalted,
+mighty, immortal;--that they are gods.
+
+But if these are gods, then it is sacrilegious, it is profane, to treat
+them as mere "things"; to observe them minutely in the microscope or
+telescope; to dissect them, as it were, in the spectroscope; to identify
+their elements in the laboratory; to be curious about their properties,
+influences, relations, and actions on each other.
+
+And if these are gods, there are many gods, not One God. And if there
+are many gods, there are many laws, not one law. Thus scientific
+observations cannot be reconciled with polytheism, for scientific
+observations demand the assumption of one universal law. The wise king
+expressed this law thus:--
+
+"The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be." The actual
+language of science, as expressed by Professor Thiele, a leading
+Continental astronomer, states that--
+
+ "Everything that exists, and everything that happens, exists
+ or happens as a necessary consequence of a previous state of
+ things. If a state of things is repeated in every detail, it
+ must lead to exactly the same consequences. Any difference
+ between the results of causes that are in part the same, must
+ be explainable by some difference in the other part of the
+ causes."[15:1]
+
+ The law stated in the above words has been called the Law of
+ Causality. It "cannot be proved, but must be believed; in the
+ same way as we believe the fundamental assumptions of
+ religion, with which it is closely and intimately connected.
+ The law of causality forces itself upon our belief. It may be
+ denied in theory, but not in practice. Any person who denies
+ it, will, if he is watchful enough, catch himself constantly
+ asking himself, if no one else, why _this_ has happened, and
+ not _that_. But in that very question he bears witness to the
+ law of causality. If we are consistently to deny the law of
+ causality, we must repudiate all observation, and particularly
+ all prediction based on past experience, as useless and
+ misleading.
+
+ "If we could imagine for an instant that the same complete
+ combination of causes could have a definite number of
+ different consequences, however small that number might be,
+ and that among these the occurrence of the actual consequence
+ was, in the old sense of the word, accidental, no observation
+ would ever be of any particular value."[16:1]
+
+So long as men hold, as a practical faith, that the results which attend
+their efforts depend upon whether Jupiter is awake and active, or
+Neptune is taking an unfair advantage of his brother's sleep; upon
+whether Diana is bending her silver bow for the battle, or flying
+weeping and discomfited because Juno has boxed her ears--so long is it
+useless for them to make or consult observations.
+
+But, as Professor Thiele goes on to say--
+
+ "If the law of causality is acknowledged to be an assumption
+ which always holds good, then every observation gives us a
+ revelation which, when correctly appraised and compared with
+ others, teaches us the laws by which God rules the world."
+
+By what means have the modern scientists arrived at a position so
+different from that of the heathen? 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 useless.
+
+In the old days the heathen in general regarded the heavenly host and
+the heavenly bodies as the heathen do to-day. But by one nation, the
+Hebrews, the truth that--
+
+ "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth"
+
+was preserved in the first words of their Sacred Book. That nation
+declared--
+
+ "All the gods of the people are idols: but the Lord made the
+ heavens."
+
+For that same nation the watchword was--
+
+ "Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God is one Lord."
+
+From these words the Hebrews not only learned a great spiritual truth,
+but derived intellectual freedom. For by these words they were taught
+that all the host of heaven and of earth were created things--merely
+"things," not divinities--and not only that, but that the Creator was
+One God, not many gods; that there was but one law-giver; and that
+therefore there could be no conflict of laws. These first words of
+Genesis, then, may be called the charter of all the physical sciences,
+for by them is conferred freedom from all the bonds of unscientific
+superstition, and by them also do men know that consistent law holds
+throughout the whole universe. It is the intellectual freedom of the
+Hebrew that the scientist of to-day inherits. He may not indeed be able
+to rise to the spiritual standpoint of the Hebrew, and consciously
+acknowledge that--
+
+ "Thou, even Thou, art Lord alone; Thou hast made heaven, the
+ heaven of heavens, with all their host, the earth, and all
+ things that are therein, the seas, and all that is therein,
+ and Thou preservest them all; and the host of heaven
+ worshippeth Thee."
+
+But he must at least unconsciously assent to it, for it is on the first
+great fundamental assumption of religion as stated in the first words of
+Genesis, that the fundamental assumption of all his scientific reasoning
+depends.
+
+Scientific reasoning and scientific observation can only hold good so
+long and in so far as the Law of Causality holds good. We must assume a
+pre-existing state of affairs which has given rise to the observed
+effect; we must assume that this observed effect is itself antecedent to
+a subsequent state of affairs. Science therefore cannot go back to the
+absolute beginnings of things, or forward to the absolute ends of
+things. It cannot reason about the way matter and energy came into
+existence, or how they might cease to exist; it cannot reason about time
+or space, as such, but only in the relations of these to phenomena that
+can be observed. It does not deal with things themselves, but only with
+the relations between things. Science indeed can only consider the
+universe as a great machine which is in "going order," and it concerns
+itself with the relations which some parts of the machine bear to other
+parts, and with the laws and manner of the "going" of the machine in
+those parts. The relations of the various parts, one to the other, and
+the way in which they work together, may afford some idea of the design
+and purpose of the machine, but it can give no information as to how the
+material of which it is composed came into existence, nor as to the
+method by which it was originally constructed. Once started, the
+machine comes under the scrutiny of science, but the actual starting
+lies outside its scope.
+
+Men therefore cannot find out for themselves how the worlds were
+originally made, how the worlds were first moved, or how the spirit of
+man was first formed within him; and this, not merely because these
+beginnings of things were of necessity outside his experience, but also
+because beginnings, as such, must lie outside the law by which he
+reasons.
+
+By no process of research, therefore, could man find out for himself the
+facts that are stated in the first chapter of Genesis. They must have
+been revealed. Science cannot inquire into them for the purpose of
+checking their accuracy; it must accept them, as it accepts the
+fundamental law that governs its own working, without the possibility of
+proof.
+
+And this is what has been revealed to man:--that the heaven and the
+earth were not self-existent from all eternity, but were in their first
+beginning created by God. As the writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews
+expresses it: "Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed
+by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of
+things which do appear." And a further fact was revealed that man could
+not have found out for himself; viz. that this creation was made and
+finished in six Divine actings, comprised in what the narrative
+denominates "days." It has not been revealed whether the duration of
+these "days" can be expressed in any astronomical units of time.
+
+Since under these conditions science can afford no information, it is
+not to be wondered at that the hypotheses that have been framed from
+time to time to "explain" the first chapter of Genesis, or to express it
+in scientific terms, are not wholly satisfactory. At one time the
+chapter was interpreted to mean that the entire universe was called into
+existence about 6,000 years ago, in six days of twenty-four hours each.
+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 thousand. It was then pointed out that, so far as the narrative
+was concerned, there might have been a period of almost unlimited
+duration between its first verse and its fourth; and it was suggested
+that the six days of creation were six days of twenty-four hours each,
+in which, after some great cataclysm, 6,000 years ago, the face of the
+earth was renewed and replenished for the habitation of man, the
+preceding geological ages being left entirely unnoticed. Some writers
+have confined the cataclysm and renewal to a small portion of the
+earth's surface--to "Eden," and its neighbourhood. Other commentators
+have laid stress on the truth revealed in Scripture that "one day is
+with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day," and
+have urged the argument that the six days of creation were really vast
+periods of time, during which the earth's geological changes and the
+evolution of its varied forms of life were running their course. Others,
+again, have urged that the six days of creation were six literal days,
+but instead of being consecutive were separated by long ages. And yet
+again, as no man was present during the creation period, it has been
+suggested that the Divine revelation of it was given to Moses or some
+other inspired prophet in six successive visions or dreams, which
+constituted the "six days" in which the chief facts of creation were set
+forth.
+
+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 planet; to be in fact a little
+compendium of the geological and zoological history of the world, and so
+a suitable introduction to the history of the early days of mankind
+which followed it.
+
+It is surely more reasonable to conclude that there was no purpose
+whatever of teaching us anything about the physical relationships of
+land and sea, of tree and plant, of bird and fish; it seems, indeed,
+scarcely conceivable that it should have been the Divine intention so to
+supply the ages with a condensed manual of the physical sciences. What
+useful purpose could it have served? What man would have been the wiser
+or better for it? Who could have understood it until the time when men,
+by their own intellectual strivings, had attained sufficient knowledge
+of their physical surroundings to do without such a revelation at all?
+
+But although the opening chapters of Genesis were not designed to teach
+the Hebrew certain physical facts of nature, they gave him the knowledge
+that he might lawfully study nature. For he learnt from them that nature
+has no power nor vitality of its own; that sun, and sea, and cloud, and
+wind are not separate deities, nor the expression of deities that they
+are but "things," however glorious and admirable; that they are the
+handiwork of God; and--
+
+ "The works of the Lord are great,
+ Sought out of all them that have pleasure therein.
+ His work is honour and majesty;
+ And His righteousness endureth for ever.
+ He hath made His wonderful works to be remembered."
+
+What, then, is the significance of the detailed account given us of the
+works effected on the successive days of creation? Why are we told that
+light was made on the first day, the firmament on the second, dry land
+on the third, and so on? Probably for two reasons. First, that the
+rehearsal, as in a catalogue, of the leading classes of natural objects,
+might give definiteness and precision to the teaching that each and all
+were creatures, things made by the word of God. 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 God, or
+were at least subordinate divinities; or that other powers than God had
+worked up into the present order the materials He had created. The
+detailed account makes it clear that not only was the universe in
+general created by God, but that there was no part of it that was not
+fashioned by Him.
+
+The next purpose was to set a seal of sanctity upon the Sabbath. In the
+second chapter of Genesis we read--
+
+ "On the seventh day God ended His work which He had made; and
+ He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had
+ made. And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it:
+ because that in it He had rested from all His work which God
+ created and made."
+
+In this we get the institution of the _week_, the first ordinance
+imposed by God upon man. For in the fourth of the ten commandments which
+God gave through Moses, it is said--
+
+ "The seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it
+ thou shalt not do any work. . . . For in six days the Lord
+ made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and
+ rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath
+ day, and hallowed it."
+
+And again, when the tabernacle was being builded, it was commanded--
+
+ "The children of Israel shall keep the sabbath, to observe the
+ sabbath throughout their generations, for a perpetual
+ covenant. It is a sign between Me and the children of Israel
+ for ever: for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and
+ on the seventh day He rested, and was refreshed."
+
+God made the sun, moon, and stars, and appointed them "for signs, and
+for seasons, and for days, and years." The sun marks out the days; the
+moon by her changes makes the months; the sun and the stars mark out the
+seasons and the years. These were divisions of time which man would
+naturally adopt. But there is not an exact number of days in the month,
+nor an exact number of days or months in the year. Still less does the
+period of seven days fit precisely into month or season or year; the
+week is marked out by no phase of the moon, by no fixed relation between
+the sun, the moon, or the stars. It is not a division of time that man
+would naturally adopt for himself; it runs across all the natural
+divisions of time.
+
+What are the six days of creative work, and the seventh day--the
+Sabbath--of creative rest? They are not days of man, they are days of
+God; and our days of work and rest, our week with its Sabbath, can only
+be the figure and shadow of that week of God; something by which we may
+gain some faint apprehension of its realities, not that by which we can
+comprehend and measure it.
+
+Our week, therefore, is God's own direct appointment to us; and His
+revelation that He fulfilled the work of creation in six acts or stages,
+dignifies and exalts the toil of the labouring man, with his six days of
+effort and one of rest, into an emblem of the creative work of God.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[15:1] T. N. Thiele, Director of the Copenhagen Observatory, _Theory of
+Observations_, p. 1.
+
+[16:1] T. N. Thiele, Director of the Copenhagen Observatory, _Theory of
+Observations_, p. 1.
+
+
+[Illustration: MERODACH AND TIAMAT.
+
+[_To face p. 25._
+
+Sculpture from the Palace of Assur-nazir-pel, King of Assyria. Now in
+the British Museum. Damaged by fire. Supposed to represent the defeat of
+Tiamat by Merodach.]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+THE DEEP
+
+
+The second verse of Genesis states, "And the earth was without form and
+void [_i. e._ waste and empty] and darkness was upon the face of the
+deep." The word _teh[=o]m_, here translated _deep_, has been used to
+support the theory that the Hebrews derived their Creation story from
+one which, when exiles in Babylon, they heard from their conquerors. If
+this theory were substantiated, it would have such an important bearing
+upon the subject of the attitude of the inspired writers towards the
+objects of nature, that a little space must be spared for its
+examination.
+
+The purpose of the first chapter of Genesis is to tell us that--
+
+ "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth."
+
+From it we learn that the universe and all the parts that make it
+up--all the different forms of energy, all the different forms of
+matter--are neither deities themselves, nor their embodiments and
+expressions, nor the work of conflicting deities. From it we learn that
+the universe is not self-existent, nor even (as the pantheist thinks of
+it) the expression of one vague, impersonal and unconscious, but
+all-pervading influence. It was not self-made; it did not exist from all
+eternity. It is not God, for God made it.
+
+But the problem of its origin has exercised the minds of many nations
+beside the Hebrews, 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 stock.
+
+From the nature of the case, accounts of the origin of the world cannot
+proceed from experience, or be the result of scientific experiment. They
+cannot form items of history, or arise from tradition. There are only
+two possible sources for them; one, Divine revelation; the other, the
+invention of men.
+
+The account current amongst the Babylonians has been preserved to us by
+the Syrian writer Damascius, who gives it as follows:--
+
+ "But the Babylonians, like the rest of the Barbarians, pass
+ over in silence the one principle of the Universe, and they
+ constitute two, Tavthe and Apason, making Apason the husband
+ of Tavthe, and denominating her "the mother of the gods." And
+ from these proceeds an only-begotten son, Mumis, which, I
+ conceive, is no other than the intelligible world proceeding
+ from the two principles. From them also another progeny is
+ derived, Lakhe and Lakhos; and again a third, Kissare and
+ Assoros, from which last three others proceed, Anos and
+ Illinos and Aos. And of Aos and Dakhe is born a son called
+ Belos, who, they say, is the fabricator of the world."[26:1]
+
+The actual story, thus summarized by Damascius, was discovered by Mr.
+George Smith, in the form of a long epic poem, on a series of tablets,
+brought from the royal library of Kouyunjik, or Nineveh, and he
+published them in 1875, in his book on _The Chaldean Account of
+Genesis_. None of the tablets were perfect; and of some only very small
+portions remain. But portions of other copies of the poem have been
+discovered in other localities, and it has been found possible to piece
+together satisfactorily a considerable section, so that a fair idea of
+the general scope of the poem has been given to us.
+
+It opens with the introduction of a being, Tiamtu--the Tavthe of the
+account of Damascius,--who is regarded as the primeval mother of all
+things.
+
+ "When on high the heavens were unnamed,
+ Beneath the earth bore not a name:
+ The primeval ocean was their producer;
+ Mummu Tiamtu was she who begot the whole of them.
+ Their waters in one united themselves, and
+ The plains were not outlined, marshes were not to be seen.
+ When none of the gods had come forth,
+ They bore no name, the fates (had not been determined)
+ There were produced the gods (all of them)."[27:1]
+
+The genealogy of the gods follows, and after a gap in the story, Tiamat,
+or Tiamtu, is represented as preparing for battle, "She who created
+everything . . . produced giant serpents." She chose one of the gods,
+Kingu, to be her husband and the general of her forces, and delivered to
+him the tablets of fate.
+
+The second tablet shows the god An[vs]ar, angered at the threatening
+attitude of Tiamat, and sending his son Anu to speak soothingly to her
+and calm her rage. But first Anu and then another god turned back
+baffled, and finally Merodach, the son of Ea, was asked to become the
+champion of the gods. Merodach gladly consented, but made good terms for
+himself. The gods were to assist him in every possible way by entrusting
+all their powers to him, and were to acknowledge him as first and chief
+of all. The gods in their extremity were nothing loth. They feasted
+Merodach and, when swollen with wine, endued him with all magical
+powers, and hailed him--
+
+ "Merodach, thou art he who is our avenger,
+ (Over) the whole universe have we given thee the kingdom."[28:1]
+
+At first the sight of his terrible enemy caused even Merodach to falter,
+but plucking up courage he advanced to meet her, caught her in his net,
+and, forcing an evil wind into her open mouth--
+
+ "He made the evil wind enter so that she could not close her lips.
+ The violence of the winds tortured her stomach, and
+ her heart was prostrated and her mouth was twisted.
+ He swung the club, he shattered her stomach;
+ he cut out her entrails; he over-mastered (her) heart;
+ he bound her and ended her life.
+ He threw down her corpse; he stood upon it."[28:2]
+
+The battle over and the enemy slain, Merodach considered how to dispose
+of the corpse.
+
+ "He strengthens his mind, he forms a clever plan,
+ And he stripped her of her skin like a fish, according to his
+ plan."[28:3]
+
+Of one half of the corpse of Tiamat he formed the earth, and of the
+other half, the heavens. He then proceded to furnish the heavens and the
+earth with their respective equipments; the details of this work
+occupying apparently the fifth, sixth, and seventh tablets of the
+series.
+
+Under ordinary circumstances such a legend as the foregoing would not
+have attracted much attention. It is as barbarous and unintelligent as
+any myth of Zulu or Fijian. Strictly speaking, it is not a Creation myth
+at all. Tiamat and her serpent-brood and the gods are all existent
+before Merodach commences his work, and all that the god effects is a
+reconstruction of the world. The method of this reconstruction possesses
+no features superior to those of the Creation myths of other barbarous
+nations. Our own Scandinavian ancestors had a similar one, the setting
+of which was certainly not inferior to the grotesque battle of Merodach
+with Tiamat. The prose Edda tells us that the first man, Bur, was the
+father of Boer, who was in turn the father of Odin and his two brothers
+Vili and Ve. These sons of Boer slew Ymir, the old frost giant.
+
+ "They dragged the body of Ymir into the middle of Ginnungagap,
+ and of it formed the earth. From Ymir's blood they made the
+ sea and waters; from his flesh, the land; from his bones, the
+ mountains; and his teeth and jaws, together with some bits of
+ broken bones, served them to make the stones and pebbles."
+
+It will be seen that there is a remarkable likeness between the
+Babylonian and Scandinavian myths in the central and essential feature
+of each, viz. 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 primaeval
+monster. Yet it is not urged that there is any direct genetic connection
+between the two; that the Babylonians either taught their legend to the
+Scandinavians or learnt it from them.
+
+Under ordinary circumstances it would hardly have occurred to any one to
+try to derive the monotheistic narrative of Gen. i. from either of these
+pagan myths, crowded as they are with uncouth and barbarous details. But
+it happened that Mr. George Smith, who brought to light the Assyrian
+Creation tablets, brought also to light a Babylonian account of the
+Flood, which had a large number of features in common with the narrative
+of Gen. vi.-ix. The actual resemblance between the two Deluge narratives
+has caused a resemblance to be imagined between the two Creation
+narratives. It has been well brought out in some of the later comments
+of Assyriologists that, so far from there being any resemblance in the
+Babylonian legend to the narrative in Genesis, the two accounts differ
+_in toto_. Mr. T. G. Pinches, for example, points out that in the
+Babylonian account there is--
+
+ "No direct statement of the creation of the heavens and the
+ earth;
+
+ "No systematic division of the things created into groups and
+ classes, such as is found in Genesis;
+
+ "No reference to the Days of Creation;
+
+ "No appearance of the Deity as the first and only cause of the
+ existence of things."[30:1]
+
+Indeed, in the Babylonian account, "the heavens and the earth are
+represented as existing, though in a chaotic form, from the first."
+
+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 peoples." And the
+legend has been yet further developed, until writers of the standing of
+Prof. Friedrich Delitzsch have claimed that the Genesis narrative was
+_borrowed_ from the Babylonian, though "the priestly scholar who
+composed Genesis, chapter i. endeavoured of course to remove all
+possible mythological features of this Creation story."[31:1]
+
+If the Hebrew priest did borrow from the Babylonian myth, what was it
+that he borrowed? Not the existence of sea and land, of sun and moon, of
+plants and animals, of birds and beasts and fishes. For surely the
+Hebrew may be credited with knowing this much of himself, without any
+need for a transportation to Babylon to learn it. "In writing an account
+of the Creation, statements as to what are the things created must of
+necessity be inserted,"[31:2] whenever, wherever, and by whomsoever that
+account is written.
+
+What else, then, is there common to the two accounts? _Tiamat_ is the
+name given to the Babylonian mother of the universe, the dragon of the
+deep; and in Genesis it is written that "darkness was upon the face of
+the _deep_ (_teh[=o]m_)."
+
+Here, and here only, is a point of possible connection; but if it be
+evidence of a connection, what kind of a connection does it imply? It
+implies that the Babylonian based his barbarous myth upon the Hebrew
+narrative. There is no other possible way of interpreting the
+connection,--if connection there be.
+
+The Hebrew word would seem to mean, etymologically, "_surges_,"
+"_storm-tossed waters_,"--"Deep calleth unto deep at the noise of Thy
+waterspouts." Our word "_deep_" is apt to give us the idea of
+stillness--we have the proverb, "Still waters run deep,"--whereas in
+some instances _teh[=o]m_ is used in Scripture of waters which were
+certainly shallow, as, for instance, those passed through by Israel at
+the Red Sea:--
+
+ "Pharaoh's chariots and his host hath He cast into the sea:
+ his chosen captains also are drowned in the Red Sea. The
+ _depths_ have covered them."
+
+In other passages the words used in our Authorized Version, "_deep_" or
+"_depths_," give the correct signification.
+
+But deep waters, or waters in commotion, are in either case natural
+objects. We get the word _teh[=o]m_ used continually in Scripture in a
+perfectly matter-of-fact way, where there is no possibility of
+personification or myth being intended. Tiamat, on the contrary, the
+Babylonian dragon of the waters, is a mythological personification. Now
+the natural object must come first. 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
+nation. The Israelites did not learn about _teh[=o]m_, the surging water
+of the Red Sea, that rolled over the Egyptians in their sight, from any
+Babylonian fable of a dragon of the waters, read by their descendants
+hundreds of years later.
+
+Yet further, the Babylonian account of Creation is comparatively late;
+the Hebrew account, as certainly, comparatively early. It is not merely
+that the actual cuneiform tablets are of date about 700 B.C., coming as
+they do from the Kouyunjik mound, the ruins of the palace of Sennacherib
+and Assurbanipal, built about that date. The poem itself, as Prof. Sayce
+has pointed out, indicates, by the peculiar pre-eminence given in it to
+Merodach, that it is of late composition. It was late in the history of
+Babylon that Merodach was adopted as the supreme deity. The astronomical
+references in the poem are more conclusive still, for, as will be shown
+later on, they point to a development of astronomy that cannot be dated
+earlier than 700 B.C.
+
+On the other hand, the first chapter of Genesis was composed very early.
+The references to the heavenly bodies in verse 16 bear the marks of the
+most primitive condition possible of astronomy. The heavenly bodies are
+simply the greater light, the lesser light, and the stars--the last
+being introduced quite parenthetically. It is the simplest reference to
+the heavenly bodies that is made in Scripture, or that, indeed, could be
+made.
+
+There may well have been Babylonians who held higher conceptions of God
+and nature than those given in the Tiamat myth. It is certain that very
+many Hebrews fell short of the teaching conveyed in the first chapter of
+Genesis. But the fact remains that the one nation preserved the Tiamat
+myth, the other the narrative of Genesis, and each counted its own
+Creation story sacred. We can only rightly judge the two nations by what
+they valued. Thus judged, the Hebrew nation stands as high above the
+Babylonian in intelligence, as well as in faith, as the first chapter of
+Genesis is above the Tiamat myth.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[26:1] _Records of the Past_, vol. i. p. 124.
+
+[27:1] _The Old Testament in the Light of the Historical Records of
+Assyria and Babylonia_, by T. G. Pinches, p. 16.
+
+[28:1] _The Old Testament in the Light of the Historical Records of
+Assyria and Babylonia_, by T. G. Pinches, p. 16.
+
+[28:2] _Records of the Past_, vol. i. p. 140.
+
+[28:3] _Ibid._ p. 142.
+
+[30:1] _The Old Testament in the Light of the Historical Records of
+Assyria and Babylonia_, by T. G. Pinches, p. 49.
+
+[31:1] _Babel and Bible_, Johns' translation, pp. 36 and 37.
+
+[31:2] _The Old Testament in the Light of the Historical Records of
+Assyria and Babylonia_, by T. G. Pinches, p. 48.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+THE FIRMAMENT
+
+
+The sixth verse of the first chapter of Genesis presents a difficulty as
+to the precise meaning of the principal word, viz. that translated
+_firmament_.
+
+ "And God said, Let there be a _r[=a]qi[=a]`_ in the midst of
+ the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters. And
+ God made the _r[=a]qi[=a]`_, and divided the waters which were
+ under the _r[=a]qi[=a]`_ from the waters which were above the
+ _r[=a]qi[=a]`_: and it was so. And God called the
+ _r[=a]qi[=a]`_ _Shamayim_. And the evening and the morning
+ were the second day."
+
+It is, of course, perfectly clear that by the word _r[=a]qi[=a]`_ in the
+preceding passage it is the atmosphere that is alluded to. But later on
+in the chapter the word is used in a slightly different connection. "God
+said, Let there be lights in the firmament of heaven."
+
+As we look upward from the earth, we look through a twofold medium. Near
+the earth we have our atmosphere; above that there is inter-stellar
+space, void of anything, so far as we know, except the Ether. We are not
+able to detect any line of demarcation where our atmosphere ends, and
+the outer void begins. Both therefore are equally spoken of as "the
+firmament"; and yet there is a difference between the two. The lower
+supports the clouds; in the upper are set the two great lights and the
+stars. The upper, therefore, is emphatically _reqi[=a]` hasshamayim_,
+"the firmament of heaven," of the "uplifted." It is "in the face
+of"--that is, "before," or "under the eyes of," "beneath,"--this higher
+expanse that the fowls of the air fly to and fro.
+
+The firmament, then, is that which Tennyson sings of as "the central
+blue," the seeming vault of the sky, which we can consider as at any
+height above us that we please. The clouds are above it in one sense;
+yet in another, sun, moon and stars, which are clearly far higher than
+the clouds, are set in it.
+
+There is no question therefore as to what is referred to by the word
+"firmament"; but there is a question as to the etymological meaning of
+the word, and associated with that, a question as to how the Hebrews
+themselves conceived of the celestial vault.
+
+The word _r[=a]qi[=a]`_, translated "firmament," properly signifies "an
+expanse," or "extension," something stretched or beaten out. The verb
+from which this noun is derived is often used in Scripture, both as
+referring to the heavens and in other connections. Thus in Job xxxvii.
+18, the question is asked, "Canst thou with Him _spread out_ the sky,
+which is strong as a molten mirror?" Eleazar, the priest, after the
+rebellion of Korah, Dathan and Abiram took the brazen censers of the
+rebels, and they were "_made broad_ plates for a covering of the altar."
+The goldsmith described by Isaiah as making an idol, "_spreadeth it
+over_ with gold"; whilst Jeremiah says, "silver _spread_ into plates is
+brought from Tarshish." Again, in Psalm cxxxvi., in the account of
+creation we have the same word used with reference to the earth, "To him
+that _stretched out_ the earth above the waters." In this and in many
+other passages the idea of extension is clearly that which the word is
+intended to convey. But the Seventy, in making the Greek Version of the
+Old Testament, were naturally influenced by the views of astronomical
+science then held in Alexandria, the centre of Greek astronomy. Here,
+and at this time, the doctrine of the crystalline spheres--a
+misunderstanding of the mathematical researches of Eudoxus and
+others--held currency. These spheres were supposed to be a succession of
+perfectly transparent and invisible solid shells, in which the sun,
+moon, and planets were severally placed. The Seventy no doubt considered
+that in rendering _r[=a]qi[=a]`_, by _stere[=o]ma_, i. e. firmament,
+thus conveying the idea of a solid structure, they were speaking the
+last word of up-to-date science.
+
+There should be no reluctance in ascribing to the Hebrews an erroneous
+scientific conception if there is any evidence that they held it. We
+cannot too clearly realize that the writers of the Scriptures were not
+supernaturally inspired to give correct technical scientific
+descriptions; and supposing they had been so inspired, we must bear in
+mind that we should often consider those descriptions wrong just in
+proportion to their correctness, for the very sufficient reason that not
+even our own science of to-day has yet reached finality in all things.
+
+There should be no reluctance in ascribing to the Hebrews an erroneous
+scientific conception if there is any evidence that they held it. In
+this case, there is no such evidence; indeed, there is strong evidence
+to the contrary.
+
+The Hebrew word _r[=a]qi[=a]`_, as already shown, really signifies
+"extension," just as the word for heaven, _shamayim_ means the
+"uplifted." In these two words, therefore, significant respectively of a
+surface and of height, there is a recognition of the "three
+dimensions,"--in other words, of Space.
+
+When we wish to refer to super-terrestrial space, we have two
+expressions in modern English by which to describe it: we can speak of
+"the vault of heaven," or of "the canopy of heaven." "The vault of
+heaven" is most used, it has indeed been recently adopted as the title
+of a scientific work by a well-known astronomer. But the word _vault_
+certainly gives the suggestion of a solid structure; whilst the word
+_canopy_ calls up the idea of a slighter covering, probably of some
+textile fabric.
+
+The reasons for thinking that the Hebrews did not consider the
+"firmament" a solid structure are, first, that the word does not
+necessarily convey that meaning; next, that the attitude of the Hebrew
+mind towards nature was not such as to require this idea. The question,
+"What holds up the waters above the firmament?" would not have troubled
+them. It would have been sufficient for them, as for the writer to the
+Hebrews, to consider that God was "upholding all things by the word of
+His power," and they would not have troubled about the machinery. But
+besides this, there are many passages in Scripture, some occurring in
+the earliest books, which expressly speak of the clouds as carrying the
+water; so that the expressions placing waters "above the firmament," or
+"above the heavens," can mean no more than "in the clouds." Indeed, as
+we shall see, quite a clear account is given of the atmospheric
+circulation, such as could hardly be mended by a modern poet.
+
+It is true that David sang that "the _foundations_ of heaven moved and
+shook, because He was wroth," and Job says that "the _pillars_ of heaven
+tremble and are astonished at His reproof." But not only are the
+references to foundations and pillars evidently intended merely as
+poetic imagery, but they are also used much more frequently of the
+earth, and yet at the same time Job expressly points out that God
+"stretcheth out the north over the empty place, and hangeth the earth
+upon nothing." The Hebrew formed no ideas like those of the Hindus, who
+thought the earth supported by elephants, the elephants by a tortoise,
+the tortoise by a snake.
+
+In Scripture, in most cases the word "earth" (_eretz_) does not mean the
+solid mass of this our planet, but only its surface; the "dry land" as
+opposed to the "seas"; the countries, the dwelling place of man and
+beast. The "pillars" or "foundations" of the earth in this sense are the
+great systems of the rocks, and these were conceived of as directly
+supported by the power of God, without any need of intermediary
+structures. The Hebrew clearly recognized that it is the will of God
+alone that keeps the whole secure.
+
+Thus Hannah sang--
+
+ "The pillars of the earth are the Lord's,
+ And He hath set the world upon them."
+
+And Asaph represents the Lord as saying:--
+
+ "The earth and all the inhabitants thereof are dissolved:
+ I bear up the pillars of it."
+
+Yet again, just as we speak of "the celestial canopy," so Psalm civ.
+describes the Lord as He "who stretchest out the heavens like a
+curtain," and Isaiah gives the image in a fuller form,--"that stretcheth
+out the heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell
+in." The same expression of "stretching out the heavens" is repeatedly
+used in Isaiah; it is indeed one of his typical phrases. Here, beyond
+question, extension, spreading out, is the idea sought to be conveyed,
+not that of solidity.
+
+The prophet Amos uses yet another parallel. "It is He that buildeth His
+stories in the heaven." While Isaiah speaks of the entire stellar
+universe as the tent or pavilion of Jehovah, Amos likens the height of
+the heavens as the steps up to His throne; the "stories" are the
+"ascent," as Moses speaks of the "ascent of Akrabbim," and David makes
+"the ascent" of the Mount of Olives. The Hebrews cannot have regarded
+the heavens as, literally, both staircase and reservoir.
+
+The firmament, _i. e._ the atmosphere, is spoken of as dividing between
+the waters that are under the firmament, _i. e._ oceans, seas, rivers,
+etc., from the waters that are above the firmament, _i. e._ the masses
+of water vapour carried by the atmosphere, seen in the clouds, and
+condensing from them as rain. We get the very same expression as this of
+the "waters which were above" in the Psalm of Praise:--
+
+ "Praise Him, ye heavens of heavens,
+ And ye waters that be above the heavens;"
+
+and again in the Song of the Three Children:--
+
+ "O all ye waters that be above the heaven, bless ye the Lord."
+
+In the later books of the Bible the subject of the circulation of water
+through the atmosphere is referred to much more fully. Twice over the
+prophet Amos describes Jehovah as "He that calleth for the waters of the
+sea, and poureth them out upon the face of the earth." This is not
+merely a reference to the tides, for the Preacher in the book of
+Ecclesiastes expressly points out that "all the rivers run into the sea,
+yet the sea is not full; unto the place from whence the rivers come,
+thither they return again"; and Isaiah seems to employ something of the
+same thought:
+
+ "For as the rain cometh down and the snow from heaven, and
+ returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it
+ bring forth and bud, and giveth seed to the sower and bread to
+ the eater."
+
+Schiaparelli indeed argues that this very passage from Isaiah "expressly
+excludes any idea of an atmospheric circulation of waters"[41:1] on the
+ground that the water so falling is thought to be transmuted into seeds
+and fruits. But surely the image is as true as it is beautiful! The rain
+is absorbed by vegetation, and is transmuted into seeds and fruit, and
+it would go hard to say that the same particles of rain are again
+evaporated and taken up afresh into the clouds. Besides, if we complete
+the quotation we find that what is stated is that the rain does not
+return _until_ it has accomplished its purpose:--
+
+ "So shall My word be that goeth forth out of My mouth: it
+ shall not return unto Me void, but it shall accomplish that
+ which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I
+ sent it."
+
+Elihu describes the process of evaporation precisely:--
+
+ "Behold, God is great, and we know Him not;
+ The number of His years is unsearchable.
+ For He draweth up the drops of water,
+ Which distil in rain from His vapour:
+ Which the skies pour down
+ And drop upon man abundantly."
+
+Throughout the books of Holy Scripture, the connection between the
+clouds and the rain is clearly borne in mind. Deborah says in her song
+"the clouds dropped water." In the Psalms there are many references. In
+lxxvii. 17, "The clouds poured out water;" in cxlvii. 8, "Who covereth
+the heaven with clouds, Who prepareth rain for the earth." Proverbs xvi.
+15, "His favour is as a cloud of the latter rain." The Preacher says
+that "clouds return after the rain"; and Isaiah, "I will also command
+the clouds that they rain no rain upon it"; and Jude, "Clouds they are
+without water, carried about of winds."
+
+The clouds, too, were not conceived as being heavy. Nahum says that "the
+clouds are the dust of His feet," and Isaiah speaks of "a cloud of dew
+in the heat of harvest." The Preacher clearly understood that "the
+waters above" were not pent in by solid barriers; that they were
+carried by the clouds; for "if the clouds be full of rain, they empty
+themselves upon the earth." And Job says of Jehovah, "He bindeth up the
+waters in His thick clouds, and the cloud is not rent under them;" and,
+later, Jehovah Himself asks:--
+
+ "Canst thou lift up thy voice to the clouds,
+ That abundance of waters may cover thee?
+
+ * * * * *
+
+ Who can number the clouds by wisdom,
+ Or who can pour out the bottles of heaven?"
+
+The Hebrews, therefore, were quite aware that the waters of the sea were
+drawn up into the atmosphere by evaporation, and were carried by it in
+the form of clouds. No doubt their knowledge in this respect, as in
+others, was the growth of time. But there is no need to suppose that,
+even in the earlier stages of their development, the Hebrews thought of
+the "waters that be above the heavens" as contained in a literal cistern
+overhead. Still less is there reason to adopt Prof. Schiaparelli's
+strange deduction: "Considering the spherical and convex shape of the
+firmament, the upper waters could not remain above without a second wall
+to hold them in at the sides and the top. So a second vault above the
+vault of the firmament closes in, together with the firmament, a space
+where are the storehouses of rain, hail, and snow."[43:1] There seems to
+be nowhere in Scripture the slightest hint or suggestion of any such
+second vault; certainly not in the beautiful passage to which Prof.
+Schiaparelli is here referring.
+
+ "Where is the way to the dwelling of light,
+ And as for darkness, where is the place thereof;
+ That thou shouldest take it to the bound thereof,
+ And that thou shouldst discern the paths to the house thereof.
+
+ * * * * *
+
+ Hast thou entered the treasuries of the snow,
+ Or hast thou seen the treasuries of the hail,
+ Which I have reserved against the time of trouble,
+ Against the day of battle and war?
+ By what way is the light parted,
+ Or the east wind scattered upon the earth?
+ Who hath cleft a channel for the water-flood,
+ Or a way for the lightning of the thunder;
+
+ * * * * *
+
+ Hath the rain a father?
+ Or who hath begotten the drops of dew?
+ Out of whose womb came the ice?
+ And the hoary frost of heaven, who hath gendered it?"
+
+The Song of David, Psalm xviii., clearly shows that its writer held no
+fantasy of a solidly built cistern of waters in the sky, but thought of
+the "dark waters" in the heavens, as identical with the "thick clouds."
+The passage is worth quoting at some length, not merely as supplying a
+magnificent word picture of a storm, but as showing the free and
+courageous spirit of the Hebrew poet, a spirit more emancipated than can
+be found in any other nation of antiquity. It was not only the gentler
+aspect of nature that attracted him; even for its most terrible, he had
+a sympathy, rising, under the influence of his strong faith in God, into
+positive exultation in it.
+
+ "In my distress I called upon the Lord,
+ And cried unto my God:
+ He heard my voice out of His temple,
+ And my cry before Him came into His ears.
+ Then the earth shook and trembled,
+ The foundations also of the mountains moved
+ And were shaken, because He was wroth.
+ There went up a smoke out of His nostrils,
+ And fire out of His mouth devoured:
+ Coals were kindled by it.
+ He bowed the heavens also, and came down;
+ And thick darkness was under His feet.
+ And He rode upon a cherub, and did fly:
+ Yea, He flew swiftly upon the wings of the wind.
+ He made darkness His hiding place,
+ His pavilion round about Him;
+ Darkness of waters, thick clouds of the skies.
+ At the brightness before Him His thick clouds passed,
+ Hailstones and coals of fire.
+ The Lord also thundered in the heavens,
+ And the Most High uttered His voice;
+ Hailstones and coals of fire.
+ And He sent out His arrows, and scattered them;
+ Yea lightnings manifold, and discomfited them.
+ Then the channels of waters appeared,
+ And the foundations of the world were laid bare,
+ At Thy rebuke, O Lord,
+ At the blast of the breath of Thy nostrils.
+ He sent from on high, He took me;
+ He drew me out of many waters.
+ He delivered me from my strong enemy,
+ And from them that hated me, for they were too mighty for me."
+
+Two other passages point to the circulation of water vapour upward from
+the earth before its descent as rain; one in the prophecy of Jeremiah,
+the other, almost identical with it, in Psalm cxxxv. 7: "When He
+uttereth His voice, there is a tumult of waters in the heavens, and He
+causeth the vapours to ascend from the ends of the earth; He maketh
+lightnings for the rain, and bringeth forth the wind out of His
+treasuries." Here we get a hint of a close observing of nature among
+the Hebrews. For by the foreshortening that clouds undergo in the
+distance, they inevitably appear to form chiefly on the horizon, "at the
+ends of the earth," whence they move upwards towards the zenith.
+
+A further reference to clouds reveals not observation only but acute
+reflection, though it leaves the mystery without solution. "Dost thou
+know the balancings of the clouds, the wondrous works of Him Which is
+perfect in knowledge?" There is a deep mystery here, which science is
+far from having completely solved, how it is that the clouds float, each
+in its own place, at its own level; each perfectly "balanced" in the
+thin air.
+
+ "That mist which lies in the morning so softly in the valley,
+ level and white, through which the tops of the trees rise as
+ if through an inundation--why is _it_ so heavy? and why does
+ it lie so low, being yet so thin and frail that it will melt
+ away utterly into splendour of morning, when the sun has shone
+ on it but a few moments more? Those colossal pyramids, huge
+ and firm, with outlines as of rocks, 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 heads, high over
+ the heads of Alps? why will these melt away, not as the sun
+ rises, but as he descends, and leave the stars of twilight
+ clear, while the valley vapour gains again upon the earth like
+ a shroud?"[46:1]
+
+The fact of the "balancing" has been brought home to us during the past
+hundred years very vividly by the progress of aerial navigation.
+Balloons are objects too familiar even to our children to cause them any
+surprise, and every one knows how instantly a balloon, when in the
+air, rises up higher if a few pounds of ballast are thrown out, or sinks
+if a little of the gas is allowed to escape. We know of no balancing
+more delicate than this, of a body floating in the air.
+
+[Illustration: CIRRUS FROM SOUTH KENSINGTON, 1906, MAY 29.]
+
+[Illustration: CUMULI FROM TUNBRIDGE WELLS, 1906, MAY 20.
+
+(Photographs of clouds, taken by Dr. W. J. S. Lockyer.)
+
+"Dost thou know the balancing of the clouds?"]
+
+"The spreadings of the clouds," mentioned by Elihu are of the same
+nature as their "balancings," but the expression is less remarkable. The
+"spreading" is a thing manifest to all, 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 place.
+
+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 floodgates,--"the
+windows of heaven were opened;" 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 sluices. Those who have actually
+seen tropical rain in full violence will find the Scriptural phrase not
+merely appropriate but almost inevitable. The rain does indeed fall like
+hitherto pent-up waters rushing forth at the opening of a sluice, and it
+seems unreasonable to try to place too literal an interpretation upon so
+suitable a simile.
+
+There is the less reason to insist upon this very matter-of-fact
+rendering of the "windows of heaven," that in two out of the three
+connections in which it occurs, the expression is certainly used
+metaphorically. On the occasion of the famine in the city of Samaria,
+Elisha prophesied that--
+
+ "To-morrow about this time shall a measure of fine flour be
+ sold for a shekel, and two measures of barley for a shekel, in
+ the gate of Samaria. Then a lord on whose hand the king leaned
+ answered the man of God, and said, Behold, if the Lord would
+ make windows in heaven, might this thing be?"
+
+So again Malachi exhorted the Jews after the Return from Babylon:--
+
+ "Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may
+ be meat in Mine house, and prove Me now herewith, saith the
+ Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven,
+ and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room
+ enough to receive it."
+
+In neither case can the "windows of heaven" have been meant by the
+speaker to convey the idea of the sluice-gates of an actual,
+solidly-built reservoir in the sky.
+
+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 Scriptures. The Lord, by the mouth of Hosea, is
+mourning over the instability of His people. "O Ephraim, what shall I do
+unto thee? O Judah, what shall I do unto thee? For your goodness is as a
+morning cloud, and as the early dew it goeth away."
+
+The winds of heaven were considered as four in number, corresponding to
+our own four "cardinal points." Thus the great horn of Daniel's he-goat
+was broken and succeeded by four notable horns toward the four winds of
+heaven; as the empire of Alexander the Great was divided amongst his
+four generals. In Ezekiel's vision of the dry bones the prophet prays,
+"Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain;" and
+Jeremiah foretells that "the four winds from the four quarters of
+heaven" shall be brought upon Elam, and scatter its outcasts into every
+nation.
+
+The circulation of the winds is clearly set forth by the Preacher in the
+Book of Ecclesiastes.
+
+ "The wind goeth toward the south, and turneth about unto the
+ north; it whirleth about continually, and the wind returneth
+ again according to his circuits."
+
+Of the four quarters, the Hebrews reckoned the east as first. It was to
+the east that they supposed themselves always looking. The chief word
+for east, therefore, _kedem_, means "that which is before," "the front";
+and the word next in use is, naturally, _mizrach_, the rising of the
+sun. The west is, as naturally, _meb[=o] hasshemesh_, the going down of
+the sun; but as the Mediterranean Sea lay to the westward of Palestine
+"the sea" (_yam_) is frequently put instead of that point of the
+compass. With the east in front, the south becomes the right, and the
+north the left. The south also was _negeb_, the desert, since the desert
+shut in Palestine to the south, as the sea to the west. In opposition to
+_tsaphon_, the dark or hidden north, the south is _darom_, the bright
+and sunny region.
+
+The phrase "four corners of the earth" does not imply that the Hebrews
+thought of the earth as square. Several expressions on the contrary show
+that they thought of it as circular. The Lord "sitteth upon the circle
+of the earth," and in another passage the same form is applied to the
+ocean. "He set a compass (_margin_ circle) upon the face of the depth."
+This circle is no doubt the circle of the visible horizon, within which
+earth and sea are spread out apparently as a plain; above it "the vault
+of heaven" (Job xxii. 14; R.V. _margin_) is arched. There does not
+appear to be allusion, anywhere in Scripture, to the spherical form of
+the earth.
+
+The Hebrew knowledge of the extent of the terrestrial plain was of
+course very limited, but it would seem that, like many other nations of
+antiquity, they supposed that the ocean occupied the outer part of the
+circle surrounding the land which was in the centre. This may be
+inferred from Job's statement--
+
+ "He hath described a boundary upon the face of the waters,
+ Unto the confines of light and darkness."
+
+The boundary of the world is represented as being "described," or more
+properly "circumscribed," drawn as a circle, upon the ocean. This ocean
+is considered as essentially one, exactly as by actual exploration we
+now know it to be;--"Let the waters under the heaven be gathered
+together unto one place;"--all the oceans and seas communicate.
+
+Beneath the earth there are the waters. The Lord hath founded the world
+"upon the seas, and established it upon the floods," and (Psalm cxxxvi.
+6) "stretched out the earth above the waters." This for the most part
+means simply that the water surface lies lower than the land surface.
+But there are waters,--other than those of the ocean,--which are, in a
+strict sense, beneath the earth; the subterranean waters, which though
+in the very substance of the earth, and existing there in an altogether
+different way from the great masses of water we see upon the surface,
+form a water system, which may legitimately be termed a kind of ocean
+underground. From these subterranean waters our springs issue forth, and
+it is these waters we tap in our wells. Of the cedar in Lebanon Ezekiel
+spoke: "The waters made him great, the deep set him up on high with her
+rivers running round about his plants, and sent out her little rivers
+(_margin_, conduits) unto all the trees of the field." The "deep,"
+_teh[=o]m_, applies therefore, not merely to the restless waters of the
+ocean, but to these unseen waters as well; and means, not merely
+"surging waters," but depths of any kind. When in the great Deluge the
+floodgates of heaven were opened, these "fountains of the great deep
+were broken up" as well. And later both fountains and windows were
+"stopped." So the Lord asks Job, "Hast thou entered into the springs of
+the sea? or hast thou walked in the search of the depth?" and in
+Proverbs it is said of the Lord, "By His knowledge the depths are broken
+up, and the clouds drop down the dew."
+
+The tides upon the sea-coast of Palestine are very slight, but some have
+seen a reference to them in Jer. v. 22 where the Lord says, I "have
+placed the sand for the bound of the sea by a perpetual decree, that it
+cannot pass it: and though the waves thereof toss themselves, yet can
+they not prevail; though they roar, yet can they not pass over it." More
+probably the idea to be conveyed is merely that of the restraint of the
+sea to its proper basin, as in the passage where the Lord asks Job, "Who
+shut up the sea with doors when it brake forth, as if it had issued out
+of the womb?" And the writer of Proverbs sums all up:--
+
+ "When He prepared the heavens I [Wisdom] was there: when He
+ set a compass upon the face of the depth: when He established
+ the clouds above: when He strengthened the fountains of the
+ deep: when He gave to the sea His decree, that the waters
+ should not pass His commandment: when He appointed the
+ foundations of the earth."
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[41:1] _Astronomy in the Old Testament_, p. 33 note.
+
+[43:1] _Astronomy in the Old Testament_, p. 32.
+
+[46:1] Ruskin, _Modern Painters_, part vii. chap. i.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+THE ORDINANCES OF THE HEAVENS
+
+
+As has been already pointed out, the astronomical references in
+Scripture are not numerous, and probably give but an inadequate idea of
+the actual degree of progress attained by the Hebrews in astronomical
+science. Yet it is clear, even from the record which we have, that there
+was one great astronomical fact which they had observed, and that it had
+made a deep impression upon them.
+
+That fact was the sublime Order of the heavenly movements. First amongst
+these was the order of the daily progress of the sun; rising in the east
+and moving slowly, majestically, and resistlessly upward to the
+meridian,--the "midst" or "bisection" of heaven, of Josh. x. 13,--and
+then passing downwards as smoothly and unfalteringly to his setting in
+the west.
+
+This motion of the sun inspires the simile employed by the Psalmist in
+the astronomical psalm, the nineteenth. He sings--
+
+ "The heavens declare the glory of God.
+
+ * * * * *
+
+ In them hath He set a tabernacle for the sun,
+ Which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber,
+ And rejoiceth as a strong man to run his course.
+ His going forth is from the end of the heaven,
+ And his circuit unto the ends of it:
+ And there is nothing hid from the heat thereof."
+
+The night revealed another Order, in its way more majestic still. As the
+twilight faded away the bright and silent watchers of the heavens
+mustered each in his place. And each, like the sun during the day, was
+moving, slowly, majestically, resistlessly, "without haste, without
+rest." Each had its appointed place, its appointed path. Some moved in
+small circles in the north; some rose in the east, and swept in long
+curves over towards their setting in the west, some scarcely lifted
+themselves above the southern horizon. But each one kept its own place.
+None jostled another, or hurried in advance, or lagged behind. It is no
+wonder that as the multitude of the stars was observed, and the unbroken
+order of their going, that the simile suggested itself of an army on the
+march--"the host of heaven." And the sight of the unbroken order of
+these bright celestial orbs suggested a comparison with the unseen army
+of exalted beings, the angels; the army or host of heaven in another
+sense, marshalled, like the stars, in perfect obedience to the Divine
+will. So in the vision of Micaiah, the son of Imlah, the "host of
+heaven" are the thousands of attendant spirits waiting around the throne
+of God to fulfil His bidding.
+
+ "I saw the Lord sitting on His throne, and all the host of
+ heaven standing by him on His right hand and on His left."
+
+But more frequently it is the starry, not the angelic, army to which
+reference is made.
+
+So Jeremiah prophesies--
+
+ "As the host of heaven cannot be numbered,
+ Neither the sand of the sea measured:
+ So will I multiply the seed of David My servant,
+ And the Levites that minister unto Me."
+
+The prophets of Israel recognized clearly, that the starry host of
+heaven and the angelic host were distinct; that the first, in their
+brightness, order, and obedience formed fitting comparison for the
+second; but that both were created beings; neither were divinities.
+
+The heathen nations around recognized also the hosts both of the stars
+and of spiritual beings, but the first they took as the manifestations
+of the second, whom they counted as divinities. There was often a great
+confusion between the two, and the observance or worship of the first
+could not be kept distinguished from the recognition or worship of the
+other; the very ideogram for a god was an 8-rayed star.
+
+The Hebrews were warned again and again lest, confusing in their minds
+these two great hosts of stars and angels, they should deem the one the
+divine manifestation of the other, the divinity, not accounting them
+both fellow-servants, the handiwork of God.
+
+Thus, in the wilderness, the Lord commands them through Moses--
+
+ "Take ye therefore good heed unto yourselves, . . . lest thou
+ lift up thine eyes unto heaven, and when thou seest the sun,
+ and the moon, and the stars, even all the host of heaven,
+ shouldest be driven to worship them, and serve them, which the
+ Lord thy God hath divided [distributed] unto all nations under
+ the whole heaven."
+
+But the one celestial army continually suggests the other, and the two
+are placed in the closest parallelism when reference is made to the time
+when the foundations of the earth were fastened, and the corner stone
+thereof was laid,
+
+ "When the morning stars sang together,
+ And all the sons of God shouted for joy."
+
+So when Deborah sings of the deliverance which the Lord gave to Israel
+at the battle of the Kishon, she puts the stars for the angelic legions
+that she feels assured were engaged in warring in their support.
+
+ "They fought from heaven;
+ The stars in their courses fought against Sisera."
+
+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 proceeds, whilst
+the stars themselves stand for the heavenly helpers who, unseen, had
+mingled in the battle and discomforted the squadrons of Sisera's
+war-chariots. It almost reads as if to Deborah had been vouchsafed such
+a vision as Elisha prayed might be given to his servant:--
+
+ "Therefore sent the King of Syria thither horses, and
+ chariots, and a great host: and they came by night, and
+ compassed the city about.
+
+ "And when the servant of the man of God was risen early, and
+ gone forth, behold, an host compassed the city both with
+ horses and chariots. And his servant said unto him, Alas, my
+ master! how shall we do?
+
+ "And he answered, Fear not: for they that be with us are more
+ than they that be with them.
+
+ "And Elisha prayed, and said, Lord, I pray Thee, open his
+ eyes that he may see. And the Lord opened the eyes of the
+ young man; and he saw: and, behold, the mountain was full of
+ horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha."
+
+The solemn procession of the starry host through the long night--the
+rising in the east, the southing, and the setting in the west--is not
+the only ordered movement of the stars of heaven that may be recognized.
+As night by night brightens to its dawn, 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 rays, then we see that some
+bright star, invisible on the preceding mornings, shines out for a few
+moments low down in the glimmer of the dawn. As morning succeeds morning
+it rises earlier, until at last it mounts when it is yet dark, and some
+other star takes its place as the herald of the rising sun. We recognize
+to-day this "heliacal rising" of the stars. Though we do not make use of
+it in our system of time-measuring, it played an important part in the
+calendar-making of the ancients. Such heralds of the rising sun were
+called "morning stars" by the Hebrews, and they used them "for seasons"
+and "for years." One star or constellation of stars would herald by its
+"heliacal rising" the beginning of spring, another the coming of winter;
+the time to plough, the time to sow, the time of the rains, would all be
+indicated by the successive "morning stars" as they appeared. 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 time, marking out the year, whilst the other morning stars
+would follow, each in its due season. So we read in Job, that God led
+"forth the Mazzaroth in their season."
+
+This wonderful procession of the midnight sky is not known and admired
+by those who live in walled cities and ceiled houses, as it is by those
+who live in the open, in the wilderness. It is not therefore to be
+wondered at, that we find praise of these "works of the Lord . . .
+sought out of all them that have pleasure therein," mostly amongst the
+shepherds, the herdsmen, the wanderers in the open--in the words and
+prophecies of Job, of Jacob, Moses, David and Amos.
+
+The thought that each new day, beginning with a new outburst of light,
+was, in its degree, a kind of new creation, an emblem of the original
+act by which the world was brought into being, renders appropriate and
+beautiful the ascription of the term "morning stars" to those "sons of
+God," the angels. As the stars in the eastern sky are poetically thought
+of as "singing together" to herald the creation of each new day, so in
+the verses already quoted from the Book of Job, the angels of God are
+represented as shouting for joy when the foundations of the earth were
+laid.
+
+The "morning star" again stands as the type and earnest of that new
+creation which God has promised to His servants. The epistle to Thyatira
+concludes with the promise--"He that overcometh, and keepeth my works
+unto the end, . . . I will give him the morning star."
+
+The brightest of these heralds of the sun is the planet Venus, and such
+a "morning star" for power, glory, and magnificence, the king of
+Babylon had once been; like one of the angels of God. But as addressed
+in Isaiah's prophecy, he has been brought down to Sheol:--
+
+ "How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the
+ morning!. . . For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend
+ into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God
+ . . . I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be
+ like the most High."
+
+But the "morning star" is taken as a higher type, even of our Lord
+Himself, and of His future coming in glory. St. Peter bids the
+disciples, to whom he writes, take heed unto the word of prophecy as
+unto a lamp shining in a dark place "until the day dawn, and the Day
+star arise in your hearts." In almost the last words of the Bible, the
+Lord uses the same image Himself:--
+
+ "I, Jesus, have sent Mine angel to testify unto you these
+ things in the Churches. I am the root and the offspring of
+ David, the bright and morning star."
+
+In the sublime and ordered movements of the various heavenly bodies, the
+Hebrews recognized the ordinances of God. The point of view always taken
+in Scripture is the theo-centric one; 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 Creator. We have no
+means of knowing whether they made attempt to find any mechanical
+explanation of the movements; such inquiry would lie entirely outside
+the scope of the books of Holy Scripture, and other ancient Hebrew
+literature has not been transmitted to us.
+
+The lesson which the Psalmists and the Prophets desired to teach was
+not the daily rotation of the earth upon its axis, nor its yearly
+revolution round the sun, but that--
+
+ "If those ordinances depart from before Me, saith the Lord,
+ then the seed of Israel also shall cease from being a nation
+ before Me for ever."
+
+In the Bible all intermediate steps are omitted, and the result is
+linked immediately to the first Cause. God Himself is the theme, and
+trust in Him the lesson.
+
+ "Lift up your eyes on high, and see Who hath created these,
+ That bringeth out their host by number: He calleth them all by
+ name; by the greatness of His might, and for that He is strong
+ in power, not one is lacking.
+
+ "Why sayest thou, O Jacob, and speakest, O Israel, My way is
+ hid from the Lord, and my judgment is passed away from my God.
+ Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard? the everlasting God,
+ the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not,
+ neither is weary; there is no searching of His understanding.
+ He giveth power to the faint; and to him that hath no might He
+ increaseth strength. Even the youths shall faint and be weary,
+ and the young men shall utterly fall: but they that wait upon
+ the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with
+ wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; they shall
+ walk, and not faint."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+THE SUN
+
+ "And God said Let there be lights in the firmament of the
+ 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 the heaven, to give light
+ upon the earth: and it was so. And God made two great lights;
+ the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to
+ rule the night: He made the stars also. And God set them in
+ the firmament of the 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. And the
+ evening and the morning were the fourth day."
+
+
+A double purpose for the two great heavenly bodies is indicated
+here,--first, the obvious one of giving light; next, that of time
+measurement. These, from the human and practical point of view, are the
+two main services which the sun and moon render to us, and naturally
+sufficed for the object that the writer had before him. There is no
+evidence that he had any idea that the moon simply shone by reflecting
+the light of the sun; still less that the sun was a light for worlds
+other than our own; but if he had known these facts we can hardly
+suppose that he would have mentioned them; there would have been no
+purpose to be served by so doing.
+
+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 earth, or to the services of the moon as a time-measurer,
+in dividing off the months. Both these actions are clearly indicated
+later on in the Scriptures, where Moses, in the blessing which he
+pronounced upon the tribe of Joseph, prayed that his land might be
+blessed "for the precious things of the fruits of the sun," so that we
+may take their omission here, together with the omission of all mention
+of the planets, and the slight parenthetical reference to the stars, as
+indicating that this chapter was composed at an exceedingly early date.
+
+The chief purpose of the sun is to give light; it "rules" or regulates
+the day and "divides the light from the darkness." As such it is the
+appropriate emblem of God Himself, Who "is Light, and in Him is no
+darkness at all." These images are frequently repeated in the
+Scriptures, and it is only possible to give a few instances. David
+sings, "The Lord is my light and my salvation." "The Lord shall be unto
+thee an everlasting light," is the promise made to Zion. St. John
+expressly uses the term of the Son of God, our Lord: "That was the true
+Light which lighteth every man that cometh into the world." Whilst the
+more concrete emblem is used as often. In the eighty-fourth psalm, the
+psalm of pilgrimage, we read, "The Lord God is a sun and shield;"
+Malachi predicts that "the Sun of Righteousness shall arise with
+healing in His wings," and St James, with the same thought of the sun in
+his mind, speaks of God as "the Father of lights."
+
+But in none of these or the other parallel passages is there the
+remotest approach to any deification of the sun, or even of that most
+ethereal of influences, light itself. Both are creatures, both are made
+by God; they are things and things only, and are not even the shrines of
+a deity. They may be used as emblems of God in some of His attributes;
+they do not even furnish any indication of His special presence, for He
+is equally present where sun and light are not. "The darkness hideth not
+from Thee; but the night shineth as the day: the darkness and the light
+are both alike to Thee."
+
+The worship of the sun and of other heavenly bodies is one of the sins
+most unsparingly denounced in Scripture. 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 heaven, and when thou seest the
+sun, and the moon, and the stars, even all the host of heaven, shouldest
+be driven to worship them and serve them," and the utter overthrow of
+the nation was foretold should they break this law. And as for the
+nation, so for the individual, any "man or woman that hath wrought
+wickedness in the sight of the Lord thy God, in transgressing His
+covenant and hath gone and served other gods, and worshipped them,
+either the sun, or moon, or any of the host of heaven" was when
+convicted of working "such abomination" unsparingly to be put to death.
+
+Yet with all this, sun-worship prevailed in Israel again and again. Two
+of the reforming kings of Judah, Asa and Josiah, found it necessary to
+take away "the sun-images;" indeed, the latter king found that the
+horses and chariots which his predecessors, Manasseh and Amon, had
+dedicated to sun worship were kept at the very entrance to the temple.
+In spite of his reformation, however, the evil spread until the final
+corruption of Jerusalem was shown in vision to Ezekiel, "Seventy men of
+the ancients"--that is the complete Sanhedrim--offered incense to
+creeping things and abominable beasts; the women wept for Tammuz,
+probably the sun-god in his decline to winter death; and deepest
+apostasy of all, five and twenty men, the high-priest, and the chief
+priests of the twenty-four courses, "with their backs toward the temple
+of the Lord, and their faces toward the east; and they worshipped the
+sun toward the east." The entire nation, as represented in its chief
+members in State, Society, and Church, was apostate, and its ruin
+followed. Five years more and the temple was burned and Jerusalem
+destroyed, and in captivity and exile the nation learned to abhor the
+idolatry that had brought about its overthrow.
+
+Four words are translated "sun" in our Authorized Version. Of these one,
+used Job xxxi. 26, should really be "light," as in the margin--"If I
+beheld the light when it shined,"--though the sun is obviously meant.
+The second word is one used in poetry chiefly in conjunction with a
+poetical word for the moon, and refers to the sun's warmth, as the other
+does to the whiteness of the moon. Thus the Bride in the Song of Solomon
+is described as "fair as the moon, clear as the sun." The third word
+has given use to some ambiguity. In the eighth chapter of Judges in the
+Authorized Version, it is stated that "Gideon, the son of Joash,
+returned from the battle before the sun was up," but in the Revised
+Version that he "returned from the battle from the ascent of Heres."
+There was a mount [H.]eres, a mount of the sun, in the portion of the
+Danites held by the Amorites, but that cannot have been the [H.]eres of
+Gideon. Still the probability is that a mount sacred to the sun is meant
+here as well as in the reference to the Danites; though _[h.]eres_ as
+meaning the sun itself occurs in the story of Samson's riddle, for the
+men of the city gave him the answer to it which they had extorted from
+his wife, "before the sun (_[h.]eres_) went down." _Shemesh_, the
+_Samas_ of the Babylonians, is the usual word for the sun; and we find
+it in Beth-shemesh, the "house of the sun," a Levitical city within the
+tribe of Judah, the scene of the return of the ark after its captivity
+amongst the Philistines. There was another Beth-shemesh in Naphtali on
+the borders of Issachar, and Jeremiah prophesies that Nebuchadnezzar
+"shall break also the images of Beth-shemesh, that is in the land of
+Egypt," probably the obelisks of the sun in On, or Heliopolis. It was
+from this city that Joseph, when vizier of Egypt, took his wife, the
+daughter of the high priest there. The images of the sun, and of Baal as
+the sun-god, seem to have been obelisks or pillars of stone, and hence
+had to be "broken down"; whilst the Asherah, the "groves" of the
+Authorized Version, the images of Ashtoreth as the moon-goddess, were
+wooden pillars, to be "cut" or "hewn down."
+
+Another "city of the sun" in the land of Egypt is also mentioned by
+Isaiah, in his prophecy of the conversion and restoration of the
+Egyptians. "Five cities in the land of Egypt shall speak the language of
+Canaan, and swear to the Lord of hosts; one shall be called The city of
+destruction;" lit. of _[H.]eres_, or of the sun. It was upon the
+strength of this text that Onias, the son of Onias the high priest,
+appealed to Ptolemy Philometer to be allowed to build a temple to
+Jehovah in the prefecture of Heliopolis (the city of the sun), and
+obtained his permission to do so, B.C. 149.[68:1]
+
+The epithet applied to the sun in Cant. vi. already quoted, "Clear as
+the sun," may be taken as equivalent to "spotless." That is its ordinary
+appearance to the naked eye, 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 assistance. Thus in
+the twenty years from 1882 to 1901 inclusive, such a phenomenon occurred
+on the average once in each week. No reference to the existence of
+sun-spots occurs in Scripture. Nor is this surprising, for it would not
+have fallen within the purpose of Scripture to record such a fact. But
+it is surprising that whilst the Chinese detected their occasional
+appearance, there is no distinct account of such an observation given
+either on Babylonian tablets or by classical or mediaeval writers.
+
+The achievement of the Chinese in this direction is very notable, for
+the difficulty of looking directly at the sun, under ordinary
+circumstances is so great, and the very largest sunspots are so small as
+compared with the entire disc, that it argues great perseverance in
+watching such appearances on the part of the Chinese, for them to have
+assured themselves that they were not due to very small distant clouds
+in our own atmosphere.
+
+It has often been the subject of comment that light is mentioned in Gen.
+i. as having been created on the first day, but the sun not until the
+fourth. The order is entirely appropriate from an astronomical point of
+view, for we know that our sun is not the only source of light, since it
+is but one out of millions of stars, many of which greatly exceed it in
+splendour. Further, most astronomers consider that our solar system
+existed as a luminous nebula long ages before the sun was formed as a
+central condensation.
+
+But the true explanation of the creation of light being put first is
+probably this--that there might be no imagining that, though gross solid
+bodies, like earth and sea, sun and moon might require a Creator, yet
+something so ethereal and all-pervading as light was self-existent, and
+by its own nature, eternal. This was a truth that needed to be stated
+first. God is light, but light is not God.
+
+The other references to the sun in Scripture do not call for much
+comment. Its apparent unchangeableness qualifies it for use as an
+expression for eternal duration, as in the seventy-second, the Royal,
+Psalm, "They shall fear Thee as long as the sun and moon endure;" and
+again, "His name shall endure for ever: His name shall be continued as
+long as the sun." And again, in the eighty-ninth Psalm, it is said of
+David: "His seed shall endure for ever, and his throne as the sun before
+Me."
+
+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
+earth. "The mighty God, even the Lord, hath spoken, and called the
+earth, from the rising of the sun unto the going down thereof." "From
+the rising of the sun, unto the going down of the same, the Lord's name
+is to be praised." The sun's rays penetrate everywhere. "His going forth
+is from the end of the heaven, and his circuit unto the ends of it: and
+there is nothing hid from the heat thereof." Whilst in the Book of
+Ecclesiastes, the melancholy words of the Preacher revert over and over
+again to that which is done "under the sun." "What profit hath a man of
+all his labour which he taketh under the sun?"
+
+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 antiquity. There is, of course, nowhere in Scripture any
+mention of the rotation of the earth on its axis as the mechanical
+explanation of the sun's daily apparent motion; any more than we should
+refer to it ourselves to-day except when writing from a purely technical
+point of view. As said already, the Hebrews had probably not discovered
+this explanation, and would certainly have not gone out of their way to
+mention it in any of their Scriptures if they had.
+
+One passage of great beauty has sometimes been quoted as if it contained
+a reference to the earth's rotation, 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 day.
+
+ "Hast thou commanded the morning since thy days;
+ And caused the dayspring to know his place;
+ That it might take hold of the ends of the earth,
+ That the wicked might be shaken out of it?
+ It is turned as clay to the seal;
+ And they stand as a garment."
+
+The earth appears to be spoken of as being "turned" to the sun, the
+dayspring; and this, we know, takes place, morning by morning, in
+consequence of the diurnal rotation. But the last two lines are better
+rendered in the Revised Version--
+
+ "It is changed as clay under the seal;
+ And _all things_ stand forth as a garment."
+
+The ancient seals were cylinders, rolled over the clay, which, formless
+before, took upon it the desired relief as the seal passed over it. So a
+garment, laid aside and folded up during the night, is shapeless, but
+once again takes form when the wearer puts it on. And the earth,
+formless in the darkness, gains shape and colour and relief with the
+impress upon it of the morning light.
+
+It is quite clear that the Hebrews did not suppose that it was a new sun
+that came up from the east each morning, as did Xenophanes and the
+Epicureans amongst the Greeks. It was the same sun throughout. Nor is
+there any idea of his hiding himself behind a mysterious mountain during
+the night. "The sun," the Preacher tells us, "ariseth and the sun goeth
+down, and hasteth to his place where he arose." The Hebrew was quite
+aware that the earth was unsupported in space, for he knew that the Lord
+"stretcheth out the north over the empty place, and hangeth the earth
+upon nothing." There was therefore nothing to hinder the sun passing
+freely under the earth from west to east, and thus making his path, not
+a mere march onward ending in his dissolution at sunset, but a complete
+"circuit," as noted by the writer of the nineteenth Psalm.
+
+The fierceness of the sun's heat in Palestine rendered sun-stroke a
+serious danger. The little son of the Shunammite was probably so smitten
+as he watched his father at work with the reapers. So the promise is
+given to God's people more than once: "The sun shall not smite thee by
+day." "They shall not hunger nor thirst; neither shall the heat nor sun
+smite them." The martyrs who pass through the great tribulation "shall
+hunger no more, neither thirst any more; neither shall the sun light on
+them, nor any heat."
+
+There are fewer references in Scripture to the vivifying effects of
+sunlight upon vegetation than we might have expected. 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 sunlight, by
+using them as an excuse for plunging into all kinds of nature-worship.
+Yet there are one or two allusions not without interest. As already
+mentioned, "the precious fruits brought forth by the sun" were promised
+to the tribe of Joseph, 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 St. James.
+
+ "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and
+ cometh down from the Father of Lights, with Whom is no
+ variableness, neither shadow of turning."
+
+God, that is to say, is the true Sun, the true Origin of all Lights, the
+true bestower of every good and perfect gift. The word rendered
+"variableness," is a technical word, used by ourselves in modern English
+as "parallax," and employed in the Septuagint Version to denote the
+revolutions of the heavenly bodies, described in the thirty-eighth
+chapter of the book of Job, as "the ordinances of the heavens." With the
+natural sun, therefore, there is "variableness," that is to say, real or
+apparent change of place; there is none with God. Neither is there with
+Him any darkness of eclipse; any "shadow" caused as in the case of the
+material sun, by the "turning" of earth and moon in their orbits. The
+knowledge of "the alternations of the turning of the sun," described in
+the Book of Wisdom as a feature of the learning of Solomon, was a
+knowledge of the laws of this "variableness" and "turning"; especially
+of the "turning" of its rising and setting points at the two solstices;
+and St. James may well have had that passage in his mind when he wrote.
+For Science deals with the knowledge of things that change, as they
+change, and of their changes, but Faith with the knowledge of Him that
+abideth for ever, and it is to this higher knowledge that St. James
+wished to point his readers.
+
+Science deals with the knowledge of things that change, as they change
+and of their changes. The physical facts that we have learned in the
+last years about that changeful body the sun are briefly these:--
+
+Its core or inner nucleus is not accessible to observation, its nature
+and constitution being a mere matter of inference. The "photosphere" is
+a shell of incandescent cloud surrounding the nucleus, but the depth, or
+thickness of this shell is quite unknown. The outer surface--which we
+see--of the photosphere is certainly pretty sharply defined, though very
+irregular, rising at points into whiter aggregations, called "faculae,"
+and perhaps depressed at other places in the dark "spots." 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 lines. Above the "reversing layer" lies the scarlet
+"chromosphere" with "prominences" of various forms and dimensions rising
+high above the solar surface; and over, and embracing all, is the
+"corona," with its mysterious petal-like forms and rod-like rays.
+
+The great body of the sun is gaseous, though it is impossible for us to
+conceive of the condition of the gaseous core, subjected, as it is, at
+once to temperature and pressure both enormously great. Probably it is a
+gas so viscous that it would resist motion as pitch or putty does. Nor
+do we know much of the nature of either the sun-spots or the solar
+corona. Both seem to be produced by causes which lie within the sun;
+both undergo changes that are periodical and connected with each other.
+They exercise some influence upon the earth's magnetism, but whether
+this influence extends to terrestrial weather, to rainfall and storms,
+is still a matter of controversy.
+
+The sun itself is distant from the earth in the mean, about 92,885,000
+miles, but this distance varies between January and June by 3,100,000
+miles. The diameter of the sun is 866,400 miles, but perhaps this is
+variable to the extent of some hundreds of miles. It would contain
+1,305,000 times the bulk of the earth, but its mean density is but
+one-quarter that of the earth. The force of gravity at its surface is
+27-1/2 times that at the surface of the earth, and it rotates on its
+axis in about 25 days. But the sun's surface does not appear to rotate
+as a whole, 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 45 deg..
+The intensity of sunlight at the surface of the sun is about 190,000
+times that of a candle-flame, and the effective temperature of the solar
+surface is eight or ten thousand degrees centigrade.
+
+Such are some of the facts about the sun that are received, or, as it
+would be technically expressed, "adopted" to-day. Doubtless a very few
+years will find them altered and rendered more accurate as observations
+accumulate. In a few hundred years, knowledge of the constitution of the
+sun may have so increased that these data and suggestions may seem so
+erroneous as to be absurd. It is little more than a century since one of
+the greatest of astronomers, Sir William Herschel, contended that the
+central globe of the sun might be a habitable world, sheltered from the
+blazing photosphere by a layer of cool non-luminous clouds. Such an
+hypothesis was not incompatible with what was then known of the
+constitution of the heavenly bodies, though it is incompatible with what
+we know now. It was simply a matter on which more evidence was to be
+accumulated, and the holding of such a view does not, and did not,
+detract from the scientific status of Sir William Herschel.
+
+The hypotheses of science require continual restatement in the light of
+new evidence, and, as to the weight and interpretation to be given to
+such evidence, there is continual conflict--if it may so be
+called--between the old and the new science, between the science that is
+established and the science that is being established. It is by this
+conflict that knowledge is rendered sure.
+
+Such a conflict took place rather more than 300 years ago at the opening
+of the Modern Era of astronomy. 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 other. It has often been
+represented as a conflict between religion and science, 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 Galileo. That persecution was no doubt a
+flagrant abuse of authority, but it should be impossible at the present
+day for any one to claim a theological standing for either theory,
+whether Copernican or Ptolemaic.
+
+So long as evidence sufficient to demonstrate the Copernican hypothesis
+was not forthcoming, it was possible for a man to hold the Ptolemaic,
+without detracting from his scientific position, 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 ago. Even
+at the present day, we habitually use the Ptolemaic phraseology. Not
+only do we speak of "sunrise" and "sunset," but astronomers in strictly
+technical papers use the expression, "acceleration of the sun's motion"
+when "acceleration of the earth's motion" is meant.
+
+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 evidence. It was
+a question for evidence to decide. It was an open question so long as
+the evidence available was not sufficient to decide it. It was perfectly
+possible at one time for a scientific or a religious man to hold either
+view. Neither view interfered with his fundamental standing or with his
+mental attitude towards either sun or earth. In this respect--important
+as the question is in itself--it might be said to be a mere detail,
+almost a matter of indifference.
+
+But it is not a mere detail, a matter of indifference to either
+scientist or religious man, as to what the sun and earth _are_--whether
+he can treat them as things that can be weighed, measured, compared,
+analyzed, as, a few pages back, we have shown has been done, or whether,
+as one of the chief astrologers of to-day puts it, he--
+
+ "Believes that the sun is the body of the Logos of this solar
+ system, 'in Him we live and move and have our being.' The
+ planets are his angels, being modifications in the
+ consciousness of the Logos,"
+
+and that the sun
+
+ "Stands as Power, having Love and Will united."
+
+The difference between these two points of view is fundamental, and one
+of root principle. The foundation, the common foundation on which both
+the believer and the scientist build, is threatened by this false
+science and false religion. The calling, the very existence of both is
+assailed, and they must stand or fall together. The believer in one God
+cannot acknowledge a Sun-god, a Solar Logos, these planetary angels; the
+astronomer cannot admit the intrusion of planetary influences that obey
+no known laws, and the supposed effects of which are in no way
+proportional to the supposed causes. The Law of Causality does not run
+within the borders of astrology.
+
+It is the old antithesis restated of the Hebrew and the heathen. The
+believer in one God and the scientist alike derive their heritage from
+the Hebrew, whilst the modern astrologer claims that the astrology of
+to-day is once more a revelation of the Chaldean and Assyrian religions.
+But polytheism--whether in its gross form of many gods, of planetary
+angels, or in the more subtle form of pantheism,--is the very negation
+of sane religion; and astrology is the negation of sane astronomy.
+
+ "For the invisible things of Him from the creation of the
+ world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that
+ are made, even His eternal power and Godhead; so that they are
+ without excuse: because that, when they knew God, they
+ glorified Him not as God, neither were thankful; but became
+ vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was
+ darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools,
+ and changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image
+ made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted
+ beasts, and creeping things."
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[68:1] Josephus, _Antiquities_, XIII. iii. 1.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+THE MOON
+
+ "The balmy moon of blessed Israel
+ Floods all the deep-blue gloom with beams divine:
+ All night the splintered crags that wall the dell
+ With spires of silver shine."
+
+
+So, in Tennyson's words, sang Jephthah's daughter, as she recalled the
+days of her mourning before she accomplished her self-sacrifice.
+
+It is hard for modern dwellers in towns to realize the immense
+importance of the moon to the people of old. "The night cometh when no
+man can work" fitly describes their condition when she was absent. In
+sub-tropical countries like Palestine, twilight is short, and, the sun
+once set, deep darkness soon covers everything. Such artificial lights
+as men then had would now be deemed very inefficient. There was little
+opportunity, when once darkness had fallen, for either work or
+enjoyment.
+
+But, when the moon was up, how very different was the case. Then men
+might say--
+
+ "This night, methinks, is but the daylight sick;
+ It looks a little paler: 'tis a day,
+ Such as the day is when the sun is hid."
+
+In the long moonlit nights, travelling was easy and safe; the labours
+of the field and house could still be carried on; the friendly feast
+need not be interrupted. But of all men, the shepherd would most rejoice
+at this season; all his toils, all his dangers were immeasurably
+lightened during the nights near the full. 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 beautiful, when all the winds are laid,
+ And every height comes out, and jutting peak
+ And valley, and the immeasurable heavens
+ Break open to their highest, and all the stars
+ Shine, and the Shepherd gladdens in his heart."
+
+A large proportion of the people of Israel, long after their settlement
+in Palestine, maintained the habits of their forefathers, and led the
+shepherd's life. To them, therefore, the full of the moon must have been
+of special importance; yet there is no single reference in Scripture to
+this phase as such; nor indeed to any change of the moon's apparent
+figure. In two cases in our Revised Version we do indeed find the
+expression "at the full moon," but if we compare these passages with the
+Authorized Version, we find them there rendered "in the time appointed,"
+or "at the day appointed." This latter appears to be the literal
+meaning, though there can be no question, as is seen by a comparison
+with the Syriac, that the period of the full moon is referred to. No
+doubt it was because travelling was so much more safe and easy than in
+the moonless nights, that the two great spring and autumn festivals of
+the Jews were held at the full moon. Indeed, the latter feast, when the
+Israelites "camped out" for a week "in booths," was held at the time of
+the "harvest moon." The phenomenon of the "harvest moon" may be briefly
+explained as follows. At the autumnal equinox, when the sun is crossing
+from the north side of the equator to the south, the full moon is
+crossing from the south side of the equator to the north. It is thus
+higher in the sky, when it souths, on each succeeding night, and is
+therefore up for a greater length of time. This counterbalances to a
+considerable extent its movement eastward amongst the stars, so that,
+for several nights in succession, it rises almost at sundown. These
+nights of the Feast of Tabernacles, when all Israel was rejoicing over
+the ingathered fruits, each family in its tent or arbour of green
+boughs, were therefore the fullest of moonlight in the year.[81:1]
+
+Modern civilization has almost shut us off from the heavens, at least in
+our great towns and cities. These offer many conveniences, but they
+remove us from not a few of the beauties which nature has to offer. And
+so it comes that, taking the population as a whole, there is perhaps
+less practically known of astronomy in England to-day than there was
+under the Plantagenets. A very few are astronomers, professional and
+amateur, and know immeasurably more than our forefathers did of the
+science. Then there is a large, more or less cultured, public that know
+something of the science at secondhand through books. But the great
+majority know nothing of the heavenly bodies except of the sun; they
+need to "look in the almanack" to "find out moonshine." But to simpler
+peoples the difference between the "light half" of the month, from the
+first quarter to the last quarter through the full of the moon, and the
+"dark half," from the last quarter to the first quarter, through new, is
+very great. Indian astronomers so divide the month to this day.
+
+In one passage of Holy Scripture, the description which Isaiah gives of
+the "City of the Lord, the Zion of the Holy One of Israel," there is a
+reference to the dark part of the month.
+
+ "Thy sun shall no more go down; neither shall thy moon
+ (literally "month") withdraw itself: for the Lord shall be
+ thine everlasting light, and the days of thy mourning shall be
+ ended."
+
+The parallelism expressed in the verse lies between the darkness of
+night whilst the sun is below the horizon, and the special darkness of
+those nights when the moon, being near conjunction with the sun, is
+absent from the sky during the greater part or whole of the night hours,
+and has but a small portion of her disc illuminated. Just as half the
+day is dark because the sun has withdrawn itself, so half the nights of
+the month are dark because the moon has withdrawn itself.
+
+The Hebrew month was a natural one, determined by actual observation of
+the new moon. They used three words in their references to the moon, the
+first of which, _chodesh_, derived from a root meaning "to be new,"
+indicates the fact that the new moon, as actually observed, governed
+their calendar. The word therefore signifies the new moon--the day of
+the new moon: and thus a month; that is, a lunar month beginning at the
+new moon. This is the Hebrew word used in the Deluge story in the
+seventh chapter of Genesis; and in all references to feasts depending on
+a day in the month. As when the Lord spake to Moses, saying, "Also in
+the day of your gladness, and in your solemn days, and in the beginnings
+of your months, ye shall blow with your trumpets over your burnt
+offerings, and over the sacrifices of your peace offerings." And again
+in the Psalm of Asaph to the chief musician upon Gittith: "Blow up the
+trumpet in the new moon, in the time appointed, on our solemn feast
+day." This is the word also that Isaiah uses in describing the bravery
+of the daughters of Zion, "the tinkling ornaments about their feet, and
+their cauls, and their round tires like the moon, the chains, and the
+bracelets." "The round tires" were not discs, like the full moon, but
+were round like the crescent.
+
+Generally speaking, _chodesh_ is employed where either reference is made
+to the shape or newness of the crescent moon, or where "month" is used
+in any precise way. This is the word for "month" employed throughout by
+the prophet Ezekiel, who is so precise in the dating of his prophecies.
+
+When the moon is mentioned as the lesser light of heaven, without
+particular reference to its form, or when a month is mentioned as a
+somewhat indefinite period of time, then the Hebrew word _yar[=e]ach_,
+is used. Here the word has the root meaning of "paleness"; it is the
+"silver moon."
+
+_Yar[=e]ach_ is the word always used where the moon is classed among the
+heavenly bodies; as when Joseph dreamed of the sun, the moon, and the
+eleven constellations; or in Jer. viii. 2, where the Lord says that they
+shall bring out the bones of the kings, princes, priests, prophets, and
+inhabitants of Jerusalem, "and they shall spread them before the sun,
+and the moon, and all the host of heaven, whom they have loved, and whom
+they have served, and after whom they have walked, and whom they have
+sought, and whom they have worshipped."
+
+The same word is used for the moon in its character of "making
+ordinances." Thus we have it several times in the Psalms: "He (the Lord)
+appointed the moon for seasons." "His seed shall endure for ever, and
+his throne as the sun before Me. It shall be established for ever as the
+moon, and as a faithful witness in heaven." And again: "The moon and
+stars rule by night;" whilst Jeremiah says, "Thus saith the Lord, Which
+giveth the sun for a light by day, and the ordinances of the moon and of
+the stars for a light by night."
+
+In all passages where reference seems to be made to the darkening or
+withdrawing of the moon's light (Eccl. xii. 2; Isa. xiii. 10; Ezek.
+xxxii. 7; Joel ii. 10, 31, and iii. 15; and Hab. iii. 11) the word
+_yar[=e]ach_ is employed. A slight variant of the same word indicates
+the month when viewed as a period of time not quite defined, and not in
+the strict sense of a lunar month. This is the term used in Exod. ii. 2,
+for the three months that the mother of Moses hid him when she saw that
+he was a goodly child; by Moses, in his prophecy for Joseph, of "Blessed
+of the Lord be his land . . . for the precious fruits brought forth by
+the sun, and for the precious things put forth by the months." Such a
+"full month of days" did Shallum the son of Jabesh reign in Samaria in
+the nine and thirtieth year of Uzziah, king of Judah. Such also were the
+twelve months of warning given to Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon,
+before his madness fell upon him. The same word is once used for a true
+lunar month, viz. in Ezra vi. 15, when the building of the "house was
+finished on the third day of the month Adar, which was in the sixth year
+of the reign of Darius the king." In all other references to the months
+derived from the Babylonians, such as the "month Chisleu" in Neh. i. 1,
+the term _chodesh_ is used, since these, like the Hebrew months, were
+defined by the observation of the new moon; but for the Tyrian months,
+Zif, Bul, Ethanim, we find the term _yerach_ in three out of the four
+instances.
+
+In three instances a third word is used poetically to express the moon.
+This is _lebanah_, which has the meaning of whiteness. In Song of Sol.
+vi. 10, it is asked--
+
+ "Who is she that looketh forth as the morning, fair as the
+ moon, clear as the sun, and terrible as an army with banners?"
+
+Isaiah also says--
+
+ "Then the moon shall be confounded, and the sun ashamed, when
+ the Lord of Hosts shall reign in Mount Zion, and in Jerusalem,
+ and before His ancients gloriously."
+
+And yet again--
+
+ "Moreover the light of the moon shall be as the light of the
+ sun, and the light of the sun shall be sevenfold, as the light
+ of seven days, in the day that the Lord bindeth up the breach
+ of His people, and healeth the stroke of their wound."
+
+It may not be without significance that each of these three passages,
+wherein the moon is denominated by its name of whiteness or purity,
+looks forward prophetically to the same great event, pictured yet more
+clearly in the Revelation--
+
+ "And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as
+ the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty
+ thunderings, saying, Alleluia: for the Lord God omnipotent
+ reigneth.
+
+ "Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to Him: for the
+ marriage of the Lamb is come, and His wife hath made herself
+ ready.
+
+ "And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine
+ linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the
+ righteousness of saints."
+
+_Chodesh_ and _yar[=e]ach_ are masculine words; _lebanah_ is feminine.
+But nowhere throughout the Old Testament is the moon personified, and in
+only one instance is it used figuratively to represent a person. This is
+in the case of Jacob's reading of Joseph's dream, already referred to,
+where he said--
+
+ "Behold I have dreamed a dream more; and, behold, the sun and
+ the moon and the eleven stars made obeisance to me."
+
+And his father quickly rebuked him, saying--
+
+ "What is this dream that thou hast dreamed? Shall I and thy
+ mother and thy brethren indeed come to bow down ourselves to
+ thee to the earth?"
+
+Here Jacob understands that the moon (_yar[=e]ach_) stands for a woman,
+his wife. But in Mesopotamia, whence his grandfather Abraham had come
+out, Sin, the moon-god, was held to be a male god, high indeed among the
+deities at that time, and superior even to Samas, the sun-god. Terah,
+the father of Abraham, was held by Jewish tradition to have been an
+especial worshipper of the moon-god, whose great temple was in Haran,
+where he dwelt.
+
+Wherever the land of Uz may have been, at whatever period Job may have
+lived, there and then it was an iniquity to worship the moon or the
+moon-god. In his final defence to his friends, when the "three men
+ceased to answer Job, because he was righteous in his own eyes," Job,
+justifying his life, said--
+
+ "If I beheld the sun when it shined,
+ Or the moon walking in brightness;
+ And my heart hath been secretly enticed,
+ And my mouth hath kissed my hand:
+ This also were an iniquity to be punished by the judges:
+ For I should have lied to God that is above."
+
+The Hebrews, too, were forbidden to worship the sun, the moon, or the
+stars, the host of heaven, and disobeyed the commandment both early and
+late in their history. When Moses spake unto all Israel on this side
+Jordan in the wilderness in the plain over against the Red Sea, he said
+to them--
+
+ "The Lord spake unto you out of the midst of the fire: ye
+ heard the voice of the words, but saw no similitude; only
+ ye heard a voice. . . . Take ye therefore good heed unto
+ yourselves; for ye saw no manner of similitude on the day that
+ the Lord spake unto you in Horeb out of the midst of the fire:
+
+ "Lest ye corrupt yourselves, and make you a graven image, the
+ similitude of any figure, the likeness of male or female. . . .
+ And lest thou lift up thine eyes unto heaven, and when thou
+ seest the sun, and the moon, and the stars, even all the host
+ of heaven, shouldst be driven to worship them, and serve them,
+ which the Lord thy God hath divided unto all nations under the
+ whole heaven."
+
+We know what the "similitude" of the sun and the moon were like among
+the surrounding nations. We see their "hieroglyphs" on numberless seals
+and images from the ruins of Nineveh or Babylon. That of the sun was
+first a rayed star or disc, later a figure, rayed and winged. That of
+the moon was a crescent, one lying on its back, like a bowl or cup, the
+actual attitude of the new moon at the beginning of the new year. Just
+such moon similitudes did the soldiers of Gideon take from off the
+camels of Zebah and Zalmunna; just such were the "round tires like the
+moon" that Isaiah condemns among the bravery of the daughters of Zion.
+
+The similitude or token of Ashtoreth, the paramount goddess of the
+Zidonians, was the _ashera_, the "grove" of the Authorized Version,
+probably in most cases merely a wooden pillar. This goddess, "the
+abomination of the Zidonians," was a moon-goddess, concerning whom
+Eusebius preserves a statement by the Phoenician historian,
+Sanchoniathon, that her images had the head of an ox. In the wars in
+the days of Abraham we find Chedorlaomer, and the kings that were with
+him, smiting the Rephaim in Ashteroth Karnaim, that is, in the
+Ashtoreths "of the horns." 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
+goddess, or to the horns of the crescent moon, with which she was to
+some extent identified. Possibly there was always a confusion between
+the two in the minds of her worshippers. The cult of Ashtoreth was
+spread not only among the Hebrews, but throughout the whole plain of
+Mesopotamia. In the times of the Judges, and in the days of Samuel, we
+find continually the statement that the people "served Baalim and
+Ashtaroth"--the plurals of Baal and Ashtoreth--these representing the
+sun and moon, and reigning as king and queen in heaven. When the
+Philistines fought with Saul at Mount Gilboa, and he was slain, they
+stripped off his armour and put it "in the house of Ashtaroth." Yet
+later we find that Solomon loved strange women of the Zidonians, who
+turned his heart after Ashtoreth, the goddess of the Zidonians, and he
+built a high place for her on the right hand of the Mount of Olives,
+which remained for some three and a half centuries, until Josiah, the
+king, defiled it. Nevertheless, the worship of Ashtoreth continued, and
+the prophet Jeremiah describes her cult:--
+
+ "The children gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire,
+ and the women knead their dough, to make cakes to the queen of
+ heaven."
+
+This was done in the cities of Judah and streets of Jerusalem, but the
+Jews carried the cult with them even when they fled into Egypt, and
+whilst there they answered Jeremiah--
+
+ "We will certainly do whatsoever thing goeth forth out of our
+ own mouth, to burn incense unto the queen of heaven, and to
+ pour out drink offerings unto her, as we have done, we, and
+ our fathers, our kings, and our princes, in the cities of
+ Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem: for then had we plenty
+ of victuals, and were well, and saw no evil. But since we left
+ off to burn incense to the queen of heaven, and to pour out
+ drink offerings unto her, we have wanted all things, and have
+ been consumed by the sword and by the famine."
+
+_Ashtoreth_, according to Pinches[90:1] is evidently a lengthening of
+the name of the Assyrio-Babylonian goddess I[vs]tar, and the Babylonian
+legend of the Descent of I[vs]tar may well have been a myth founded on
+the varying phases of the moon. But it must be remembered that, though
+Ashtoreth or I[vs]tar might be the queen of heaven, the moon was not
+necessarily the only aspect in which her worshippers recognized her. In
+others, the planet Venus may have been chosen as her representative; in
+others the constellation Taurus, at one time the leader of the Zodiac;
+in others, yet again, the actual form of a material bull or cow.
+
+The Hebrews recognized the great superiority in brightness of the sun
+over the moon, as testified in their names of the "greater" and "lesser"
+lights, and in such passages as that already quoted from Isaiah (xxx.
+26). The word here used for moon is the poetic one, _lebanah_. 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 times, instead of the 600,000 times indicated by
+modern photometric measurement.
+
+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 moon, other than that implied in the frequent references to the new
+moons. 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 lunar, for then the moon is fully lighted, and rides the sky the
+whole night long from sunset to sunrise. It is clear, therefore, that
+the Hebrews, not only noticed the phases of the moon, but made regular
+use of them. Yet, if we adopted the argument from silence, we should
+suppose that they had never observed its changes of shape, for there is
+no direct allusion to them in Scripture. We cannot, therefore, argue
+from silence as to whether or no they had divined the cause of those
+changes, namely that the moon shines by reflecting the light of the sun.
+
+Nor are there any references to the markings on the moon. It is quite
+obvious to the naked eye that there are grey stains upon her silver
+surface, that these grey stains are always there, most of them forming a
+chain which curves through the upper hemisphere. Of the bright parts of
+the moon, some shine out with greater lustre than others, particularly
+one spot in the lower left-hand quadrant, not far from the edge of the
+full disc. The edges of the moon gleam more brightly as a rule than the
+central parts. All this was apparent to the Hebrews of old, as it is to
+our unassisted sight to-day.
+
+The moon's influence in raising the tides is naturally not mentioned.
+The Hebrews were not a seafaring race, nor are the tides on the coast of
+Palestine pronounced enough to draw much attention. One influence is
+ascribed to the moon; an influence still obscure, or even disputed. For
+the promise that--
+
+ "The sun shall not smite thee by day,
+ Nor the moon by night,"
+
+quite obvious in its application to the sun, with the moon seems to
+refer to its supposed influence on certain diseases and in causing
+"moon-blindness."
+
+The chief function of the moon, as indicated in Scripture, is to
+regulate the calendar, and mark out the times for the days of solemnity.
+In the words of the 104th Psalm:--
+
+ "He (God) appointed the moon for seasons:
+ The sun knoweth his going down.
+ Thou makest darkness, and it is night;
+ Wherein all the beasts of the forest do creep forth.
+ The young lions roar after their prey,
+ And seek their meat from God.
+ The sun ariseth, they get them away,
+ And lay them down in their dens.
+ Man goeth forth unto his work
+ And to his labour until the evening.
+ O Lord, how manifold are Thy works!
+ In wisdom hast Thou made them all:
+ The earth is full of Thy riches."
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[81:1] How the little children must have revelled in that yearly
+holiday!
+
+[90:1] T. G. Pinches, _The Old Testament in the Light of the Historical
+Records of Assyria and Babylonia_, p. 278.
+
+
+[Illustration: A CORNER OF THE MILKY WAY.
+
+The "America Nebula": photographed by Dr. Max Wolf, at Heidelberg.]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+THE STARS
+
+
+The stars and the heaven, whose host they are, were used by the Hebrew
+writers to express the superlatives of number, of height, and of
+expanse. To an observer, watching the heavens at any particular time and
+place, not more than some two thousand stars are separately visible to
+the unassisted sight. But it was evident to the Hebrew, as it is to any
+one to-day, that the stars separately visible do not by any means make
+up their whole number. 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 light, and sprinkled upon this
+patterned curtain are the brighter stars that may be separately seen.
+The most striking feature in the pattern is the Milky Way, and it may be
+easily discerned that its texture is made up of innumerable minute
+points of light, a granulation, of which some of the grains are set more
+closely together, forming the more brilliant patches, and some more
+loosely, giving the darker shades. The mind easily conceives that the
+minute points of light whose aggregations make up the varying pattern of
+the Milky Way, though too small to be individually seen, are also
+stars, differing perhaps from the stars of the Pleiades or the Bears
+only in their greater distance or smaller size. It was of all these that
+the Lord said to Abram--
+
+ "Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able
+ to number them: and He said unto him, So shall thy seed be."
+
+The first catalogue of the stars of which we have record was that of
+Hipparchus in 129 B.C. It contained 1,025 stars, and Ptolemy brought
+this catalogue up to date in the Almagest of 137 A.D. Tycho Brahe in
+1602 made a catalogue of 777 stars, and Kepler republished this in 1627,
+and increased the number to 1,005. These were before the invention of
+the telescope, and consequently contained only naked-eye stars. Since
+astronomers have been able to sound the heavens more deeply, catalogues
+have increased in size and number. Flamsteed, the first Astronomer
+Royal, made one of 3,310 stars; from the observations of Bradley, the
+third, a yet more famous catalogue has been compiled. In our own day
+more than three hundred thousand stars have been catalogued in the Bonn
+Durchmusterung; and the great International Photographic Chart of the
+Heavens will probably show not less than fifty millions of stars, and in
+this it has limited itself to stars exceeding the fourteenth magnitude
+in brightness, thus leaving out of its pages many millions of stars that
+are visible through our more powerful telescopes.
+
+So when Abraham, Moses, Job or Jeremiah speaks of the host of heaven
+that cannot be numbered, it does not mean simply that these men had but
+small powers of numeration. To us,--who can count beyond that which we
+can conceive,--as to the Psalmist, it is a sign of infinite power,
+wisdom and knowledge that "He telleth the number of the stars; He
+calleth them all by their names."
+
+Isaiah describes the Lord as "He that sitteth upon the circle of the
+earth, . . . that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth
+them out as a tent to dwell in." 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 sky. Nowhere, however, have we any indication
+whether or not they considered the stars were all set _on_ this curtain,
+that is to say were all at the same distance from us. We now know that
+they are not equidistant from us, but this we largely base on the fact
+that the stars are of very different orders of brightness, and we judge
+that, on an average, the fainter a star appears, the further is it
+distant from us. To the Hebrews, as to us, it was evident that the stars
+differ in magnitude, and the writer of the Epistle to the Corinthians
+expressed this when he wrote--
+
+ "There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon,
+ and another glory of the stars: for one star differeth from
+ another star in glory."
+
+The ancient Greek astronomers divided the stars according to their
+brightness into six classes, or six "magnitudes," to use the modern
+technical term. The average star of any particular magnitude gives about
+two and a half times as much light as the average star of the next
+magnitude. More exactly, the average first magnitude star gives one
+hundred times the light of the average star of the sixth magnitude.
+
+In a few instances we have been able to measure, in the very roughest
+degree, the distances of stars; not a hundred stars have their
+parallaxes known, and these have all been measured in the course of the
+last century. And so far away are these stars, even the nearest of them,
+that we do not express their distance from us in millions of miles; we
+express it in the time that their light takes in travelling from them to
+us. Now it takes light only one second to traverse 186,300 miles, and
+yet it requires four and a third years for the light from the nearest
+star to reach us. This is a star of the first magnitude, Alpha in the
+constellation of the Centaur. The next nearest star is a faint one of
+between the seventh and eighth magnitudes, and its light takes seven
+years to come. From a sixth magnitude star in the constellation of the
+Swan, the light requires eight years; and from Sirius, the brightest
+star in the heavens, light requires eight and a half years. These four
+stars are the nearest to us; from no other star, that we know of, does
+light take less than ten years to travel; from the majority of those
+whose distance we have succeeded in measuring, the light takes at least
+twenty years.
+
+To get some conception of what a "light-year" means, let us remember
+that light could travel right round the earth at its equator seven times
+in the space of a single second, and that there are 31,556,925 seconds
+in a year. Light then could girdle the earth a thousand million times
+whilst it comes from Alpha Centauri. Or we may put it another way. The
+distance from Alpha Centauri exceeds the equator of the earth by as much
+as this exceeds an inch and a half; or by as much as the distance from
+London to Manchester exceeds the hundredth of an inch.
+
+Of all the rest of the innumerable stars, as far as actual measurement
+is concerned, for us, as for the Hebrews, they might all actually lie on
+the texture of a curtain, at practically the same distance from us.
+
+We have measured the distances of but a very few stars; the rest--as
+every one of them was for the Hebrew--are at a greater distance than any
+effort of ours can reach, be our telescopes ever so great and powerful,
+our measuring instruments ever so precise and delicate. For them, as for
+us, the heaven of stars is "for height," for a height which is beyond
+measure and therefore the only fitting image for the immensity of God.
+
+So Zophar the Naamathite said--
+
+ "Canst thou find out the Almighty unto perfection?
+ It is as high as heaven; what canst thou do?"
+
+and Eliphaz the Temanite reiterated still more strongly--
+
+ "Is not God in the height of heaven?
+ And behold the height of the stars, how high they are."
+
+God Himself is represented as using the expanse of heaven as a measure
+of the greatness of his fidelity and mercy. The prophet Jeremiah
+writes--
+
+ "Thus saith the Lord; if Heaven above can be measured, and the
+ foundations of the earth searched out beneath, I will also
+ cast off all the seed of Israel for all that they have done,
+ saith the Lord."
+
+As if he were using the figure of a great cross, whose height was that
+of the heavens, whose arms stretched from east to west, David testifies
+of the same mercy and forgiveness:--
+
+ "For as the heaven is high above the earth,
+ So great is His mercy toward them that fear Him.
+ As far as the east is from the west,
+ So far hath He removed our transgressions from us."
+
+
+[Illustration: THE GREAT COMET OF 1843.
+
+"Running like a road through the constellations" (_see_ p. 105).]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+COMETS
+
+
+Great comets are almost always unexpected visitors. There is only one
+great comet that we know has been seen more than once, and expect with
+reasonable certainty to see again. This is Halley's comet, 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
+centuries: indeed, it is possible that it was this comet that was
+coincident with the invasion of England by William the Conqueror.
+
+There are other small comets that are also regular inhabitants of the
+solar system; but, as with Halley's comet, so with these, two
+circumstances are to be borne in mind. First, that each successive
+revolution round the sun involves an increasing degradation of their
+brightness, since there is a manifest waste of their material at each
+near approach to the sun; until at length the comet is seen no more, not
+because it has left the warm precincts of the sun for the outer
+darkness, but because it has spent its substance. Halley's comet was not
+as brilliant or as impressive in 1835 as it was in 1759: in 1910 it may
+have become degraded to an appearance of quite the second order.
+
+Next, we have no knowledge, no evidence, that any of these comets have
+always been members of the solar family. Some of them, indeed, we know
+were adopted into it by the influence of one or other of the greater
+planets: Uranus we know is responsible for the introduction of one,
+Jupiter of a considerable number. The vast majority of comets, great or
+small, seem to blunder into the solar system anyhow, anywhere, from any
+direction: they come within the attractive influence of the sun; obey
+his laws whilst within that influence; make one close approach to him,
+passing rapidly across our sky; and then depart in an orbit which will
+never bring them to his neighbourhood again. Some chance of direction,
+some compelling influence of a planet that it may have approached, so
+modified the path of Halley's comet when it first entered the solar
+system, that it has remained a member ever since, and may so remain
+until it has ceased to be a comet at all.
+
+It follows, therefore, that, as to the number of great comets that may
+be seen in any age, we can scarcely even apply the laws of probability.
+During the last couple of thousand years, since chronicles have been
+abundant, we know that many great comets have been seen. We may suppose,
+therefore, that during the preceding age, that in which the Scriptures
+were written, there were also many great comets seen, but we do not
+know. And most emphatically we are not able to say, from our knowledge
+of comets themselves and of their motions, that in the days of this or
+that writer a comet was flaming in the sky.
+
+If a comet had been observed in those ages we might not recognize the
+description of it. Thus in the fourth year of the 101st Olympiad, the
+Greeks were startled by a celestial portent. They did not draw fine
+distinctions, and posterity might have remained ignorant that the
+terrifying object was possibly a comet, had not Aristotle, who saw it as
+a boy at Stagira, left a rather more scientifically worded description
+of it. It flared up from the sunset sky with a narrow definite tail
+running "like a road through the constellations." In recent times the
+great comet of 1843 may be mentioned as having exactly such an
+appearance.
+
+So we cannot expect to find in the Scriptures definite and precise
+descriptions that we can recognize as those of comets. At the most we
+may find some expressions, some descriptions, that to us may seem
+appropriate to the forms and appearances of these objects, and we may
+therefore infer that the appearance of a comet may have suggested these
+descriptions or expressions.
+
+The head of a great comet is brilliant, sometimes starlike. But its tail
+often takes on the most impressive appearance. Donati's comet, in 1858,
+assumed the most varied shapes--sometimes its tail was broad, with one
+bright and curving edge, the other fainter and finer, the whole making
+up a stupendous semi-circular blade-like object. Later, the tail was
+shaped like a scimitar, and later again, it assumed a duplex form.
+
+Though the bulk of comets is huge, they contain extraordinarily little
+substance. Their heads must contain some solid matter, but it is
+probably in the form of a loose aggregation of stones enveloped in
+vaporous material. There is some reason to suppose that comets are apt
+to shed some of these stones as they travel along their paths, for the
+orbits of the meteors that cause some of our greatest "star showers" are
+coincident with the paths of comets that have been observed.
+
+But it is not only by shedding its loose stones that a comet diminishes
+its bulk; it loses also through its tail. As the comet gets close to the
+sun its head becomes heated, and throws off concentric envelopes, much
+of which consists of matter in an extremely fine state of division. Now
+it has been shown that the radiations of the sun have the power of
+repelling matter, whilst the sun itself attracts by its gravitational
+force. But there is a difference in the action of the two forces. The
+light-pressure varies with the surface of the particle upon which it is
+exercised; the gravitational attraction varies with the mass or volume.
+If we consider the behaviour of very small particles, it follows that
+the attraction due to gravitation (depending on the volume of the
+particle) will diminish more rapidly than the repulsion due to
+light-pressure (depending on the surface of the particle), as we
+decrease continually the size of the particle, since its volume
+diminishes more rapidly than its surface. A limit therefore will be
+reached below which the repulsion will become greater than the
+attraction. Thus for particles less than the 1/25000 part of an inch in
+diameter the repulsion of the sun is greater than its attraction.
+Particles in the outer envelope of the comet below this size will be
+driven away in a continuous stream, and will form that thin, luminous
+fog which we see as the comet's tail.
+
+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 smoke"; possibly
+these metaphors are better explained by a sand- or thunder-storm,
+especially when we consider that the Hebrew expression for the "pillars
+of smoke" indicates a resemblance to a palm-tree, as in the spreading
+out of the head of a sand- or thunder-cloud in the sky. The suggestion
+has been made,--following the closing lines of _Paradise Lost_ (for
+Milton is responsible for many of our interpretations of Scripture)
+
+ "High in front advanced,
+ The brandished sword of God before them blazed,
+ Fierce as a comet,"
+
+--that a comet was indeed the "flaming sword which turned every way, to
+keep the way of the tree of life." There is less improbability in the
+suggestion made by several writers that, when the pestilence wasted
+Jerusalem, and David offered up the sacrifice of intercession in the
+threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite, the king may have seen, in the
+scimitar-like tail of a comet such as Donati's, God's "minister,"--"a
+flame of fire,"--"the angel of the Lord stand between the earth and the
+heaven, having a drawn sword in his hand stretched out over Jerusalem."
+
+The late R. A. Proctor describes the wanderings of a comet thus:--
+
+ "A comet is seen in the far distant depths of space as a
+ faint and scarcely discernible speck. It draws nearer and
+ nearer with continually increasing velocity, growing
+ continually larger and brighter. Faster and faster it rushes
+ on until it makes its nearest approach to our sun, and then,
+ sweeping round him, it begins its long return voyage into
+ infinite space. As it recedes it grows fainter and fainter,
+ until at length it passes beyond the range of the most
+ powerful telescopes made by man, and is seen no more. It has
+ been seen for the first and last time by the generation of men
+ to whom it has displayed its glories. It has been seen for the
+ first and last time by the race of man itself."[108:1]
+
+ "These are . . . wandering stars, to whom is reserved the
+ blackness of darkness for ever."
+
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[108:1] R. A. Proctor, _The Expanse of Heaven_, p. 134.
+
+
+[Illustration: FALL OF AN AEROLITE.
+
+"There fell a great star from heaven, burning as it were a lamp." (_see_
+p. 116).]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+METEORS
+
+
+Great meteorites--"aerolites" as they are called--are like great comets,
+chance visitors to our world. Now and then they come, but we cannot
+foretell their coming. Such an aerolite exploded some fifteen miles
+above Madrid at about 9{h} 29{m}, on the morning of February 10, 1896:--
+
+ "A vivid glare of blinding light was followed in 1-1/2 minutes
+ by a loud report, the concussion being such as not merely to
+ create a panic, but to break many windows, and in some cases
+ to shake down partitions. The sky was clear, and the sun
+ shining brightly, when a white cloud, bordered with red, was
+ seen rushing from south-west to north-east, leaving behind it
+ a train of fine white dust. A red-tinted cloud was long
+ visible in the east."
+
+Many fragments were picked up, and analyzed, and, like other aerolites,
+were found to consist of materials already known on the earth. The outer
+crust showed the signs of fire,--the meteoric stone had been fused and
+ignited by its very rapid rush through the air--but the interior was
+entirely unaffected by the heat. The manner in which the elements were
+combined is somewhat peculiar to aerolites; the nearest terrestrial
+affinity of the minerals aggregated in them, is to be found in the
+volcanic products from great depths. Thus aerolites seem to be broken-up
+fragments from the interior parts of globes like our own. They do not
+come from our own volcanoes, for the velocities with which they entered
+our atmosphere prove their cosmical origin. Had our atmosphere not
+entangled them, many, circuiting the sun in a parabolic or hyperbolic
+curve, would have escaped for ever from our system. The swift motions,
+which they had on entering our atmosphere, are considerably greater on
+the average than those of comets, and probably their true home is not in
+our solar system, but in interstellar space.
+
+The aerolites that reach the surface are not always exploded into very
+small fragments, but every now and then quite large masses remain
+intact. Most of these are stony; some have bits of iron scattered
+through them; others are almost pure iron, or with a little nickel
+alloy, or have pockets in them laden with stone. There are hundreds of
+accounts of the falls of aerolites during the past 2,500 years. The
+Greeks and Romans considered them as celestial omens, and kept some of
+them in temples. One at Mecca is revered by the faithful Mohammedans,
+and Jehangir, the great Mogul, is said to have had a sword forged from
+an iron aerolite which fell in 1620 in the Panjab. Diana of Ephesus
+stood on a shapeless block which, tradition says, was a meteoric stone,
+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 St. Paul
+by Demetrius the silversmith and his companions:--
+
+ "Ye men of Ephesus, what man is there who knoweth not how
+ that the city of the Ephesians is temple-keeper of the great
+ Diana, and of the image which fell down from Jupiter?"
+
+Aerolites come singly and unexpectedly, falling actually to earth on
+land or sea. "Shooting stars" come usually in battalions. They travel
+together in swarms, and the earth may meet the same swarm again and
+again. They are smaller than aerolites, probably mere particles of dust,
+and for the most part are entirely consumed in our upper atmosphere, so
+that they do not actually reach the earth. The swarms travel along paths
+that resemble cometary orbits; they are very elongated ellipses,
+inclined at all angles to the plane of the ecliptic. Indeed, several of
+the orbits are actually those of known comets, and it is generally held
+that these meteorites or "shooting stars" are the _debris_ that a comet
+sheds on its journey.
+
+We can never see the same "shooting star" twice; its visibility implies
+its dissolution, for it is only as it is entrapped and burnt up in our
+atmosphere that we see it, or can see it. Its companions in a great
+meteoric swarm, are, however, as the sand on the sea-shore, and we
+recognize them as members of the same swarm by their agreement in
+direction and date. The swarms move in a closed orbit, and it is where
+this orbit intersects that of the earth that we get a great "star
+shower," if both earth and swarm are present together at the
+intersection. If the swarm is drawn out, so that many meteorites are
+scattered throughout the whole circuit of its orbit, then we get a
+"shower" every year. If the meteor swarm is more condensed, so as to
+form a cluster, then the "shower" only comes when the "gem of the ring,"
+as it is termed, is at the intersection of the orbits, and the earth is
+there too.
+
+Such a conjunction may present the most impressive spectacle that the
+heavens can afford. The Leonid meteor shower is, perhaps, the most
+famous. It has been seen at intervals of about thirty-three years, since
+early in the tenth century. When Ibrahim ben Ahmed lay dying, in the
+year 902 A.D., it was recorded that "an infinite number of stars were
+seen during the night, scattering themselves like rain to the right and
+left, and that year was known as the year of stars." When the earth
+encountered the same system in 1202 A.D. the Mohammedan record runs that
+"on the night of Saturday, on the last day of Muharram, stars shot
+hither and thither in the heavens, eastward and westward, and flew
+against one another, like a scattering swarm of locusts, to the right
+and left." There are not records of all the returns of this meteoric
+swarm between the thirteenth century and the eighteenth, but when the
+earth encountered it in 1799, 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 stars;" and Mr. Andrew Ellicott, an agent of the
+United States, cruising off the coast of Florida, watched this same
+meteoric display, and made the drawing reproduced on the opposite page.
+In 1833 a planter in South Carolina wrote of a return of this same
+system, "Never did rain fall much thicker than the meteors fell towards
+the earth; east, west, north, south, it was the same." In 1866 the
+shower was again heavy and brilliant, but at the end of the nineteenth
+century, when the swarm should have returned, the display was meagre and
+ineffective.
+
+[Illustration: METEORIC SHOWER OF 1799, NOVEMBER 12.
+
+Seen off Cape Florida, by Mr. Andrew Ellicott.]
+
+The Leonid system of meteorites did not always move in a closed orbit
+round our sun. Tracing back their records and history, we find that in
+A.D. 126 the swarm passed close to Uranus, and probably at that time the
+planet captured them for the sun. But we cannot doubt that some such
+similar sight as they have afforded us suggested the imagery employed by
+the Apostle St. John when he wrote, "The stars of heaven fell unto the
+earth, even as a fig-tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken
+of a mighty wind. And the heavens departed as a scroll when it is rolled
+together."
+
+And the prophet Isaiah used a very similar figure--
+
+ "All the host of heaven shall be dissolved, and the heavens
+ shall be rolled together as a scroll: and all their host shall
+ fall down, as the leaf falleth off from the vine, and as a
+ falling fig from the fig-tree."
+
+Whilst the simile of a great aerolite is that employed by St. John in
+his description of the star "Wormwood"--
+
+ "The third angel sounded, and there fell a great star from
+ heaven, burning as it were a lamp, and it fell upon the third
+ part of the rivers, and upon the fountains of waters."
+
+St. Jude's simile of the "wandering stars, to whom is reserved the
+blackness of darkness for ever," may have been drawn from meteors rather
+than from comets. But, as has been seen, the two classes of objects are
+closely connected.
+
+The word "meteor" is sometimes used for any unusual light seen in the
+sky. The Zodiacal Light, the pale conical beam seen after sunset in the
+west in the spring, and before sunrise in the east in the autumn, and
+known to the Arabs as the "False Dawn," does not appear to be mentioned
+in Scripture. Some commentators wrongly consider that the expression,
+"the eyelids of the morning," occurring twice in the Book of Job, is
+intended to describe it, but the metaphor does not in the least apply.
+
+The Aurora Borealis, on the other hand, seldom though it is seen on an
+impressive scale in Palestine, seems clearly indicated in one passage.
+"Out of the north cometh golden splendour" would well fit the gleaming
+of the "Northern Lights," seen, as they often are, "as sheaves of golden
+rays."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+ECLIPSES OF THE SUN AND MOON
+
+
+We do not know what great comets, or aerolites, or "star-showers" were
+seen in Palestine during the centuries in which the books of the Bible
+were composed. But we do know that eclipses, both of the sun and moon,
+must have been seen, for these are not the results of chance
+conjunctions. We know more, that not only partial eclipses of the sun,
+but total eclipses, fell within the period so covered.
+
+There is no phenomenon of nature which is so truly impressive as a total
+eclipse of the sun. The beautiful pageants of the evening and the
+morning are too often witnessed to produce the same effect upon us,
+whilst the storm and the earthquake and the volcano in eruption, by the
+confusion and fear for personal safety they produce, render men unfit to
+watch their developments. But the eclipse awes and subdues by what might
+almost be called moral means alone: no noise, no danger accompanies it;
+the body is not tortured, nor the mind confused by the rush of the
+blast, the crash of the thunder-peal, the rocking of the earthquake, or
+the fires of the volcano. The only sense appealed to is that of sight;
+the movements of the orbs of heaven go on without noise or confusion,
+and with a majestic smoothness in which there is neither hurry nor
+delay.
+
+This impression is felt by every one, no matter how perfectly
+acquainted, not only with the cause of the phenomenon, but also with the
+appearances to be expected, and scientific men have found themselves
+awestruck and even overwhelmed.
+
+But if such are the feelings called forth by an eclipse now-a-days, in
+those who are expecting it, who are prepared for it, knowing perfectly
+what will happen and what brings it about, how can we gauge aright the
+unspeakable terror such an event must have caused in ages long ago, when
+it came utterly unforeseen, and it was impossible to understand what was
+really taking place?
+
+And so, in olden time, an eclipse of the sun came as an omen of terrible
+disaster, nay as being itself one of the worst of disasters. It came so
+to all nations but one. But to that nation the word of the prophet had
+come--
+
+ "Learn not the way of the heathen, and be not dismayed at the
+ signs of heaven; for the heathen are dismayed at them."
+
+God did not reveal the physical explanation of the eclipse to the
+Hebrews: that, in process of time, they could learn by the exercise of
+their own mental powers. But He set them free from the slavish fear of
+the heathen; they could look at all these terror-striking signs without
+fear; they could look with calmness, with confidence, because they
+looked in faith.
+
+It is not easy to exaggerate the advantage which this must have given
+the Hebrews over the neighbouring nations, from a scientific point of
+view. The word of God gave them intellectual freedom, and so far as they
+were faithful to it, there was no hindrance to their fully working out
+the scientific problems which came before them. They neither worshipped
+the heavenly bodies nor were dismayed at their signs. We have no record
+as to how far the Hebrews made use of this freedom, for, as already
+pointed out, the Holy Scriptures were not written to chronicle their
+scientific achievements. But there can be no doubt that, given the
+leisure of peace, it is _a priori_ more likely that they should have
+taught astronomy to their neighbours, than have learnt it even from the
+most advanced.
+
+There must have been numberless eclipses of the moon seen in the ages
+during which the Canon of Holy Scripture was written. Of eclipses of the
+sun, total or very nearly total over the regions of Palestine or
+Mesopotamia, in the times of the Old Testament, we know of four that
+were actually seen, whose record is preserved in contemporaneous
+history, and a fifth that was nearly total in Judaea about midday.
+
+The first of the four is recorded on a tablet from Babylon, lately
+deciphered, in which it states that on "the 26th day of Sivan, day was
+turned into night, and fire appeared in the midst of heaven." This has
+been identified with the eclipse of July 31, 1063 B.C., and we do not
+find any reference to it in Scripture.
+
+The second is that of Aug. 15, 831 B.C. No specific record of this
+eclipse has been found as yet, but it took place during the lifetime of
+the prophets Joel and Amos, and may have been seen by them, and their
+recollection of it may have influenced the wording of their prophecies.
+
+The third eclipse is recorded on a tablet from Nineveh, stating the
+coincidence of an eclipse in Sivan with a revolt in the city of Assur.
+This has been identified with the eclipse of June 15, 763 B.C.
+
+The fourth is that known as the eclipse of Larissa on May 18, 603 B.C.,
+which was coincident with the final overthrow of the Assyrian Empire,
+and the fifth is that of Thales on May 28, 585 B.C.
+
+The earth goes round the sun once in a year, the moon goes round the
+earth once in a month, and sometimes the three bodies are in one
+straight line. In this case the intermediate body--earth or
+moon--deprives the other, wholly or partially of the light from the sun,
+thus causing an eclipse. If the orbits of the earth and moon were in the
+same plane, an eclipse would happen every time the moon was new or full;
+that is to say, at every conjunction and every opposition, or about
+twenty-five times a year. But the plane of the moon's orbit is inclined
+to the plane of the earth's orbit at an angle of about 5 deg., 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 is, one of the
+two points where the plane of the earth's orbit intersects the moon's
+orbit. If the moon is in opposition, or "full," then, under these
+conditions, an eclipse of the moon takes place, and this is visible at
+all places where the moon is above the horizon at the time. If,
+however, the moon is in conjunction, or "new," it is the sun that is
+eclipsed, and as the shadow cast by the moon is but small, only a
+portion of the earth's surface will experience the solar eclipse. The
+nodes of the moon's orbit are not stationary, but have a daily
+retrograde motion of 3' 10.64''. It takes the moon therefore 27{d} 5{h}
+5{m} 36{s} (27.21222{d}) to perform a journey in its orbit from one node
+back to that node again; this is called a Draconic period. But it takes
+the moon 29{d} 12{h} 44{m} 2.87{s} (29.53059{d}) to pass from new to
+new, or from full to full, _i. e._ to complete a lunation. Now 242
+Draconic periods very nearly equal 223 lunations, being about 18 years
+10-1/3 days, and both are very nearly equal to 19 returns of the sun to
+the moon's node; so that if the moon is new or full when at a node, in
+18 years and 10 or 11 days it will be at that node again, and again new
+or full, and the sun will be also present in very nearly its former
+position. If, therefore, an eclipse occurred on the former occasion, it
+will probably occur on the latter. This recurrence of eclipses after
+intervals of 18.03 years is called the Saros, and was known to the
+Chaldeans. We do not know whether it was known to the Hebrews prior to
+their captivity in Babylon, but possibly the statement of the wise king,
+already quoted from the Apocryphal "Wisdom of Solomon," may refer to
+some such knowledge.
+
+Our calendar to-day is a purely solar one; our months are twelve in
+number, but of purely arbitrary length, divorced from all connection
+with the moon; and to us, the Saros cycle does not readily leap to the
+eye, for eclipses of sun or moon seem to fall haphazard on any day of
+the month or year.
+
+But with the Hebrews, Assyrians, and Babylonians it was not so. Their
+calendar was a luni-solar one--their year was on the average a solar
+year, their months were true lunations; 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 sun. This observation is what is meant in
+the Bible by the "new moon." Astronomers now by "new moon" mean the time
+when it is actually in conjunction with the sun, and is therefore not
+visible. Nations whose calendar was of this description were certain to
+discover the Saros much sooner than those whose months were not true
+lunations, like the Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans.
+
+There are no direct references to eclipses in Scripture. They might have
+been used in the historical portions for the purpose of dating events,
+as was the great earthquake in the days of King Uzziah, but they were
+not so used. But we find not a few allusions to their characteristic
+appearances and phenomena in the books of the prophets. God in the
+beginning set the two great lights in the firmament for signs as well as
+for seasons; and the prophets throughout use the relations of the sun
+and moon as types of spiritual relations. The Messiah was the Sun of
+Righteousness; the chosen people, the Church, was as the moon, which
+derives her light from Him. The "signs of heaven" were _symbols_ of
+great spiritual events, not _omens_ of mundane disasters.
+
+The prophets Joel and Amos are clear and vivid in their descriptions;
+probably because the eclipse of 831 B.C. was within their recollection.
+Joel says first, "The sun and the moon shall be dark;" and again, more
+plainly,--
+
+ "I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood,
+ and fire, and pillars of smoke. The sun shall be turned into
+ darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the
+ terrible day of the Lord come."
+
+This prophecy was quoted by St. Peter on the day of Pentecost. And in
+the Apocalypse, St. John says that when the sixth seal was opened, "the
+sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood."
+
+In these references, the two kinds of eclipses are referred to--the sun
+becomes black when the moon is "new" and hides it; the moon becomes as
+blood when it is "full" and the earth's shadow falls upon it; its deep
+copper colour, like that of dried blood, being due to the fact that the
+light, falling upon it, has passed through a great depth of the earth's
+atmosphere. These two eclipses cannot therefore be coincident, but they
+may occur only a fortnight apart--a total eclipse of the sun may be
+accompanied by a partial eclipse of the moon, a fortnight earlier or a
+fortnight later; a total eclipse of the moon may be accompanied by
+partial eclipses of the sun, both at the preceding and following "new
+moons."
+
+Writing at about the same period, the prophet Amos says--
+
+ "Saith the Lord God, I will cause the sun to go down at noon,
+ and I will darken the earth in the clear day,"
+
+and seems to refer to the fact that the eclipse of 831 B.C. occurred
+about midday in Judaea.
+
+Later Micah writes--
+
+ "The sun shall go down over the prophets, and the day shall be
+ dark over them."
+
+Isaiah says that the "sun shall be darkened in his going forth," and
+Jeremiah that "her sun is gone down while it was yet day." Whilst
+Ezekiel says--
+
+ "I will cover the sun with a cloud, and the moon shall not
+ give her light. All the bright lights of heaven will I make
+ dark over thee, and set darkness upon thy land, saith the Lord
+ God."
+
+But a total eclipse is not all darkness and terror; it has a beauty and
+a glory all its own. Scarcely has the dark moon hidden the last thread
+of sunlight from view, than spurs of rosy light are seen around the
+black disc that now fills the place so lately occupied by the glorious
+king of day. And these rosy spurs of light shine on a background of
+pearly glory, as impressive in its beauty as the swift march of the
+awful shadow, and the seeming descent of the darkened heavens, were in
+terror. There it shines, pure, lovely, serene, radiant with a light like
+molten silver, wreathing the darkened sun with a halo like that round a
+saintly head in some noble altar-piece; so that while in some cases the
+dreadful shadow has awed a laughing and frivolous crowd into silence, in
+others the radiance of that halo has brought spectators to their knees
+with an involuntary exclamation, "The Glory!" as if God Himself had made
+known His presence in the moment of the sun's eclipse.
+
+And this, indeed, seems to have been the thought of both the
+Babylonians and Egyptians of old. Both nations had a specially sacred
+symbol to set forth the Divine Presence--the Egyptians, a disc with long
+outstretched wings; the Babylonians, a ring with wings. The latter
+symbol on Assyrian monuments is always shown as floating over the head
+of the king, and is designed to indicate the presence and protection of
+the Deity.
+
+[Illustration: THE ASSYRIAN "RING WITH WINGS."]
+
+We may take it for granted that the Egyptians and Chaldeans of old, as
+modern astronomers to-day, had at one time or another presented to them
+every type of coronal form. But there would, no doubt, be a difficulty
+in grasping or remembering the irregular details of the corona as seen
+in most eclipses. Sometimes, however, the corona shows itself in a
+striking and simple form--when sun-spots are few in number, it spreads
+itself out in two great equatorial streamers. At the eclipse of Algiers
+in 1900, already referred to, one observer who watched the eclipse from
+the sea, said--
+
+ "The sky was blue all round the sun, and the effect of the
+ silvery corona projected on it was beyond any one to describe.
+ I can only say it seemed to me what angels' wings will be
+ like."[129:1]
+
+[Illustration: CORONA OF MINIMUM TYPE.
+
+Drawing made by W. H. Wesley, from photographs of the 1900 Eclipse.]
+
+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 power, but to the
+revelations of a total eclipse with a corona of minimum type. Moreover
+the Assyrians, when they insert a figure of their deity within the ring,
+give him a kilt-like dress, and this kilted or feathered characteristic
+is often retained where the figure is omitted. This gives the symbol a
+yet closer likeness to the corona, whose "polar rays" are remarkably
+like the tail feathers of a bird.
+
+Perhaps the prophet Malachi makes a reference to this characteristic of
+the eclipsed sun, with its corona like "angels' wings," when he
+predicts--
+
+ "But unto you that fear My name shall the Sun of Righteousness
+ arise with healing in His wings."
+
+But, if this be so, it must be borne in mind that the prophet uses the
+corona as a simile only. No more than the sun itself, is it the Deity,
+or the manifestation of the Deity.
+
+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
+"turning."
+
+ "Every good gift and every perfect boon is from above, coming
+ down from the Father of Lights, with Whom can be no variation,
+ neither shadow that is cast by turning."
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[129:1] _The Total Solar Eclipse of May, 1900_, p. 22.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+SATURN AND ASTROLOGY
+
+
+The planets, as such, are nowhere mentioned in the Bible. In the one
+instance in which the word appears in our versions, it is given as a
+translation of _Mazzaloth_, better rendered in the margin as the "twelve
+signs or constellations." The evidence is not fully conclusive that
+allusion is made to any planet, even in its capacity of a god worshipped
+by the surrounding nations.
+
+Of planets, besides the earth, modern astronomy knows Mercury, Venus,
+Mars, many planetoids, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. And of
+satellites revolving round planets there are at present known, the moon
+which owns our earth as primary, two satellites to Mars, seven
+satellites to Jupiter, ten to Saturn, four to Uranus, and one to
+Neptune.
+
+The ancients counted the planets as seven, numbering the moon and the
+sun amongst them. The rest were Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and
+Saturn. They recognized no satellites to any planet. 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 six.
+
+But though the planets were sometimes regarded as "seven" in number,
+the ancients perfectly recognized that the sun and moon stood in a
+different category altogether from the other five. And though the
+heathen recognized them as deities, confusion resulted as to the
+identity of the deity of which each was a manifestation. Samas was the
+sun-god and Baal was the sun-god, but Samas and Baal, or Bel, were not
+identical, and both were something more than merely the sun personified.
+Again, Merodach, or Marduk, is sometimes expressly identified with Bel
+as sun-god, sometimes with the divinity of the planet Jupiter. Similarly
+Ashtoreth, or I[vs]tar, is sometimes identified with the goddess of the
+moon, sometimes with the planet Venus. It would not be safe, therefore,
+to assume that reference is intended to any particular heavenly body,
+because a deity is mentioned that has been on occasions identified with
+that heavenly body. Still less safe would it be to assume astronomical
+allusions in the description of the qualities or characteristics of that
+deity. Though Ashtoreth, or I[vs]tar, may have been often identified
+with the planet Venus, it is ridiculous to argue, as some have done,
+from the expression "Ashteroth-Karnaim," Ashteroth of "the horns," that
+the ancients had sight or instruments sufficiently powerful to enable
+them to observe that Venus, like the moon, had her phases, her "horns."
+Though Nebo has been identified with the planet Mercury, we must not see
+any astronomical allusion to its being the nearest planet to the sun in
+Isaiah's coupling the two together, where he says, "Bel boweth down,
+Nebo stoopeth."
+
+Isaiah speaks of the King of Babylon--
+
+ "How art thou fallen from Heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning!"
+
+The word here translated Lucifer, "light-bearer," is the word _h[=e]lel_
+from the root _halal_, and means _spreading brightness_. In the
+Assyrio-Babylonian, the planet Venus is sometimes termed _Must[=e]lel_,
+from the root _[=e]lil_, and she is the most lustrous of all the
+"morning stars," of the stars that herald the dawn. But except that her
+greater brilliancy marks her as especially appropriate to the
+expression, Sirius or any other in its capacity of morning star would be
+suitable as an explanation of the term.
+
+St. Peter uses the equivalent Greek expression _Ph[=o]sphorus_ in his
+second epistle: "A light that shineth in a dark place, until the day
+dawn and the day-star" (light-bringer) "arise in your hearts."
+
+Isaiah again says--
+
+ "Ye are they that forsake the Lord, that forget My holy
+ mountain, that prepare a table for that Troop, and that
+ furnish the drink offering unto that Number."
+
+"Gad" and "Meni," here literally translated as "Troop" and "Number," are
+in the Revised Version rendered as "Fortune" and "Destiny." 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 wall, which
+Daniel interpreted as "God hath numbered thy kingdom, and brought it to
+an end." By some commentators Meni is understood to be the planet Venus,
+and Gad to be Jupiter, for these are associated in Arabian astrology
+with Fortune or Fate in the sense of good luck. Or, from the similarity
+of Meni with the Greek _m[=e]n[=e]_, moon, "that Number" might be
+identified with the moon, and "that Troop," by analogy, with the sun.
+
+It is more probable, if any astrological deities are intended, that the
+two little star clusters--the Pleiades and the Hyades--situated on the
+back and head of the Bull, may have been accounted the manifestations of
+the divinities which are by their names so intimately associated with
+the idea of multitude. The number seven has been held a sacred number,
+and has been traditionally associated with both the little star groups.
+
+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 ancients,
+when worshipped as a god; and even that is not conclusive. The prophet
+Amos, charging the Israelites with idolatry even in the wilderness,
+asks--
+
+ "Have ye offered unto Me sacrifices and offerings in the
+ wilderness forty years, O house of Israel? But ye have borne
+ the tabernacle of your Moloch and Chiun your images, the star
+ of your god, which ye made to yourselves."
+
+But the Septuagint Version makes the accusation run thus:--
+
+ "Ye took up the tabernacle of Moloch and the star of your god
+ Remphan, figures which ye made to worship them."
+
+This was the version which St. Stephen quoted in his defence before the
+High Priest. It is quite clear that it was star worship to which he was
+referring, for he prefaces his quotation by saying, "God turned and gave
+them up to serve the host of heaven, as it is written in the book of the
+prophets."
+
+The difference between the names "Chiun" and "Remphan" is explained by a
+probable misreading on the part of the Septuagint translators into the
+Greek, who seemed to have transcribed the initial of the word as "resh,"
+where it should have been "caph"--"R" instead of "K,"--thus the real
+word should be transliterated "_Kaivan_," which was the name of the
+planet Saturn both amongst the ancient Arabs and Syrians, and also
+amongst the Assyrians, whilst "_Kevan_" is the name of that planet in
+the sacred books of the Parsees. On the other hand, there seems to be
+some difficulty in supposing that a deity is intended of which there is
+no other mention in Scripture, seeing that the reference, both by Amos
+and St. Stephen, would imply that the particular object of idolatry
+denounced was one exceedingly familiar to them. Gesenius, therefore,
+after having previously accepted the view that we have here a reference
+to the worship of Saturn, finally adopted the rendering of the Latin
+Vulgate, that the word "Chiun" should be translated "statue" or "image."
+The passage would then become--
+
+ "Ye have borne the booth of your Moloch and the image of your
+ idols, the star of your god which ye made for yourselves."
+
+If we accept the view that the worship of the planet Saturn is indeed
+referred to, it does not necessarily follow that the prophet Amos was
+stating that the Israelites in the wilderness actually observed and
+worshipped him as such. The prophet may mean no more than that the
+Israelites, whilst outwardly conforming to the worship of Jehovah, were
+in their secret desires hankering after Sabaeism--the worship of the
+heavenly host. And it may well be that he chooses Moloch and Saturn as
+representing the cruellest and most debased forms of heathenism.
+
+The planet Saturn gives its name to the seventh day of our week,
+"Saturn's day," the sabbath of the week of the Jews, and the coincidence
+of the two has called forth not a few ingenious theories. Why do the
+days of our week bear their present names, and what is the explanation
+of their order?
+
+The late well-known astronomer, R. A. Proctor, gives the explanation as
+follows:--
+
+ "The twenty-four hours of each day were devoted to those
+ planets in the order of their supposed distance from the
+ earth,--Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, the Sun, Venus, Mercury, and
+ the Moon. The outermost planet, Saturn, which also travels in
+ the longest period, was regarded in this arrangement as of
+ chief dignity, as encompassing in his movement all the rest,
+ Jupiter was of higher dignity than Mars, and so forth.
+ Moreover to the outermost planet, partly because of Saturn's
+ gloomy aspect, partly because among half-savage races the
+ powers of evil are always more respected than the powers that
+ work for good, a maleficent influence was attributed. Now, if
+ we assign to the successive hours of a day the planets as
+ above-named, beginning with Saturn on the day assigned to that
+ powerful deity, it will be found that the last hour of that
+ day will be assigned to Mars--'the lesser infortune,' as
+ Saturn was 'the greater infortune,' of the old system of
+ astrology--and the first hour of the next day to the next
+ planet, the Sun; the day following Saturday would thus be
+ Sunday. The last hour of Sunday would fall to Mercury, and the
+ first of the next to the Moon; so Monday, the Moon's day,
+ follows Sunday. The next day would be the day of Mars, who, in
+ the Scandinavian theology, is represented by Tuisco; so
+ Tuisco's day, or Tuesday (Mardi), follows Monday. Then, by
+ following the same system, we come to Mercury's day
+ (Mercredi), Woden's day, or Wednesday; next to Jupiter's day,
+ Jove's day (Jeudi), Thor's day, or Thursday; to Venus's day,
+ Vendredi (Veneris dies), Freya's day, or Friday, and so to
+ Saturday again. That the day devoted to the most evil and most
+ powerful of all the deities of the Sabdans (_sic_) should be
+ set apart--first as one on which it was unlucky to work, 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
+ nations."[136:1]
+
+This theory appears at first sight so simple, so plausible, that many
+are tempted to say, "It must be true," and it has accordingly gained a
+wide acceptance. Yet a moment's thought shows that it makes many
+assumptions, some of which rest without any proof, and others are known
+to be false.
+
+When were the planets discovered? Not certainly at the dawn of
+astronomy. The fixed stars must have become familiar, and have been
+recognized in their various groupings before it could have been known
+that there were others that were not fixed,--were "planets," _i. e._
+wanderers. Thus, amongst the Greeks, no planet is alluded to by Hesiod,
+and Homer mentions no planet other than Venus, and apparently regarded
+her as two distinct objects, according as she was seen as a morning and
+as an evening star. Pythagoras is reputed to have been the first of the
+Greek philosophers to realize the identity of Phosphorus and Hesperus,
+that is Venus at her two elongations, so that the Greeks did not know
+this until the sixth century before our era. We are yet without certain
+knowledge as to when the Babylonians began to notice the different
+planets, but the order of discovery can hardly have been different from
+what it seems to have been amongst the Greeks--that is to say, first
+Venus as two separate objects, then Jupiter and Mars, and, probably much
+later, Saturn and Mercury. This last, again, would originally be
+considered a pair of planets, just as Venus had been. Later these
+planets as morning stars would be identified with their appearances as
+evening stars. After this obscurity had been cleared up, 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 five. This certainly is no primitive conception; for the
+sun and moon have such appreciable dimensions and are of such great
+brightness that they seem to be marked off (as in the first chapter of
+Genesis) as of an entirely different order from all the other heavenly
+bodies. The point in common with the other five planets, namely their
+apparent periodical movements, could only have been brought out by very
+careful and prolonged observation. The recognition, therefore, of the
+planets as being "seven," two of the seven being the sun and moon, must
+have been quite late in the history of the world. The connection of the
+"seven planets" with the seven days of the week was something much later
+still. It implies, as we have seen, the adoption of a particular order
+for the planets, and this order further implies that a knowledge had
+been obtained of their relative distances, and involves a particular
+theory of the solar system, that which we now know as the Ptolemaic. It
+is not the order of the Babylonians, for they arranged them, Moon, Sun,
+Mercury, Venus, Saturn, Jupiter, Mars.
+
+There are further considerations which show that the Babylonians could
+not have given these planetary names to the days of the week. The order
+of the names implies that a twenty-four hour day was used, but the
+Babylonian hours were twice the length of those which we use; hence
+there were only twelve of them. Further, the Babylonian week was not a
+true week running on continuously; it was tied to the month, and hence
+did not lend itself to such a notation.
+
+But the order adopted for the planets is that current amongst the Greek
+astronomers of Alexandria, who did use a twenty-four hour day. Hence it
+was certainly later than 300 B.C. But the Greeks and Egyptians alike
+used a week of ten days, not of seven. How then did the planetary names
+come to be assigned to the seven-day week?
+
+It was a consequence of the power which the Jews possessed of impressing
+their religious ideas, and particularly their observance of the sabbath
+day, upon their conquerors. They did so with the Romans. We find such
+writers as Cicero, Horace, Juvenal and others remarking upon the
+sabbath, and, indeed, in the early days of the Empire there was a
+considerable observance of it. Much more, then, must the Alexandrian
+Greeks have been aware of the Jewish sabbath,--which involved the Jewish
+week,--at a time when the Jews of that city were both numerous and
+powerful, having equal rights with the Greek inhabitants, and when the
+Ptolemies were sanctioning the erection of a Jewish temple in their
+dominions, and the translation of the Jewish Scriptures into Greek. It
+was after the Alexandrian Greeks had thus learned of the Jewish week
+that they assigned the planets to the seven days of that week, since it
+suited their astrological purposes better than the Egyptian week of ten
+days. That allotment could not possibly have brought either week or
+sabbath into existence. Both had been recognized many centuries earlier.
+It was foisted upon that which had already a venerable antiquity. As
+Professor Schiaparelli well remarks, "we are indebted for these names to
+mathematical astrology, 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 Greeks."[139:1]
+
+There is a widespread notion that early astronomy, whether amongst the
+Hebrews or elsewhere, took the form of astrology; that the
+fortune-telling came first, and the legitimate science grew out of it.
+Indeed, a claim is not infrequently made that no small honour is due to
+the early astrologers, since from their efforts, the most majestic of
+all the sciences is said to have arisen.
+
+These ideas are the exact contrary of the truth. Mathematical, or
+perhaps as we might better call it, planetary astrology, as we have it
+to-day, concerns itself with the apparent movements of the planets in
+the sense that it uses them as its material; just as a child playing in
+a library might use the books as building blocks, piling, it may be, a
+book of sermons on a history, and a novel on a mathematical treatise.
+Astrology does not contribute, has not contributed a single observation,
+a single demonstration to astronomy. It owes to astronomy all that it
+knows of mathematical processes and planetary positions. In astronomical
+language, the calculation of a horoscope is simply the calculation of
+the "azimuths" of the different planets, and of certain imaginary points
+on the ecliptic for a given time. This is an astronomical process,
+carried out according to certain simple formulae. The calculation of a
+horoscope is therefore a straightforward business, but, as astrologers
+all admit, its interpretation is where the skill is required, and no
+real rules can be given for that.
+
+Here is the explanation why the sun and moon are classed together with
+such relatively insignificant bodies as the other five planets, and are
+not even ranked as their chief. The ancient astrologer, like the modern,
+cared nothing for the actual luminary in the heavens; all he cared for
+was its written symbol on his tablets, and there Sun and Saturn could be
+looked upon as equal, or Saturn as the greater. It is a rare thing for a
+modern astrologer to introduce the place of an actual star into a
+horoscope; the calculations all refer to the positions of the _Signs_
+of the Zodiac, which are purely imaginary divisions of the heavens; not
+to the _Constellations_ of the Zodiac, which are the actual star-groups.
+
+Until astronomers had determined the apparent orbits of the planets, and
+drawn up tables by which their apparent places could be predicted for
+some time in advance, it was impossible for astrologers to cast
+horoscopes of the present kind. All they could do was to divide up time
+amongst the deities supposed to preside over the various planets. To
+have simply given a planet to each day would have allowed the astrologer
+a very small scope in which to work for his prophecies; the ingenious
+idea of giving a planet to each hour as well, gave a wider range of
+possible combinations. 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 sabbath. It should be noticed at the same
+time that, whilst the Jewish sabbath coincides with the astrological
+"Saturn's Day," that particular day is the seventh day of the Jewish
+week, but the first of the astrological. For the very nature of the
+reckoning by which the astrologers allotted the planets to the days of
+the week, implies, as shown in the extract quoted from Proctor, that
+they began with Saturn and worked downwards from the "highest
+planet"--as they called it--to the "lowest." This detail of itself
+should have sufficed to have demonstrated to Proctor, or any other
+astronomer, that the astrological week had been foisted upon the already
+existing week of the Jews.
+
+Before astrology took its present mathematical form, astrologers used
+as their material for prediction the stars or constellations which
+happened to be rising or setting at the time selected, or were upon the
+same meridian, or had the same longitude, as such constellations. One of
+the earliest of these astrological writers was Zeuchros of Babylon, who
+lived about the time of the Christian era, some of whose writings have
+been preserved to us. From these it is clear that the astrologers found
+twelve signs of the zodiac did not give them enough play. They therefore
+introduced the "decans," 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 (of ten days), each under the rule of a
+separate god. Of course this Egyptian year bore no fixed relation to the
+actual lunar months or solar year, nor therefore to the Jewish year,
+which was related to both. But even with this increase of material, the
+astrologers found the astronomical data insufficient for their
+fortune-telling purposes. Additional figures quite unrepresented in the
+heavens, were devised, and were drawn upon, as needed, to supplement the
+genuine constellations, and as it was impossible to recognize these
+additions in the sky, the predictions were made, not from observation of
+the heavens, but from observations on globes, often very inaccurate.
+
+Earlier still we have astrological tablets from Assyria and Babylon,
+many of which show that they had nothing to do with any actual
+observation, and were simply invented to give completeness to the tables
+of omens. Thus an Assyrian tablet has been found upon which are given
+the significations of eclipses falling upon each day of the month
+Tammuz, right up to the middle of the month. It is amusing to read the
+naive comment of a distinguished Assyriologist, that tablets such as
+these prove how careful, and how long continued had been the
+observations upon which they were based. It was not recognized that no
+eclipses either of sun or moon could possibly occur on most of the dates
+given, and that they could never occur "in the north," which is one of
+the quarters indicated. They were no more founded on actual observation
+than the portent mentioned on another tablet, of a woman giving birth to
+a lion, which, after all, is not more impossible than that an eclipse
+should occur in the north on the second day of Tammuz. In all ages it
+has been the same; the astrologer has had nothing to do with science as
+such, even in its most primitive form; he has cared nothing for the
+actual appearance of the heavens upon which he pretended to base his
+predictions; an imaginary planet, an imaginary eclipse, an imaginary
+constellation were just as good for his fortune-telling as real ones.
+Such fortune-telling was forbidden to the Hebrews; necessarily
+forbidden, for astrology had no excuse unless the stars and planets were
+gods, or the vehicles and engines of gods. Further, all attempts to
+extort from spirits or from inanimate things a glimpse into the future
+was likewise forbidden them. They were to look to God, and to His
+revealed will alone for all such light.
+
+ "When they shall say unto you, Seek unto them that have
+ familiar spirits, and unto wizards that peep, and that mutter:
+ should not a people seek unto their God?"
+
+The Hebrews were few in number, their kingdoms very small compared with
+the great empires of Egypt, Assyria, or Babylon, but here, in this
+question of divination or fortune-telling, they stand on a plane far
+above any of the surrounding nations. There is just contempt in the
+picture drawn by Ezekiel of the king of Babylon, great though his
+military power might be--
+
+ "The king of Babylon stood at the parting of the way, at the
+ head of the two ways, to use divination: he shook the arrows
+ to and fro, he consulted the teraphim, he looked in the
+ liver."
+
+And Isaiah calls upon the city of Babylon--
+
+ "Stand now with thine enchantments, and with the multitude of
+ thy sorceries, wherein thou hast laboured from thy youth; if
+ so thou shalt be able to profit, if so be thou mayest prevail.
+ Thou art wearied in the multitude of thy counsels: let now the
+ astrologers, the stargazers, the monthly prognosticators stand
+ up, and save thee from these things that shall come upon
+ thee."
+
+Isaiah knew the Lord to be He that "frustrateth the tokens of the liars
+and maketh diviners mad." And the word of the Lord to Israel through
+Jeremiah was--
+
+ "Thus saith the Lord. Learn not the way of the heathen, and be
+ not dismayed at the signs of heaven; for the heathen are
+ dismayed at them."
+
+It is to our shame that even to-day, in spite of all our enlightenment
+and scientific advances, astrology still has a hold upon multitudes.
+Astrological almanacs and treatises are sold by the tens of thousands,
+and astrological superstitions are still current. "The star of the god
+Chiun" is not indeed openly worshipped; but Saturn is still looked upon
+as the planet bringing such diseases as "toothache, agues, and all that
+proceeds from cold, consumption, the spleen particularly, and the bones,
+rheumatic gouts, jaundice, dropsy, and all complaints arising from fear,
+apoplexies, etc."; and charms made of Saturn's metal, lead, are still
+worn upon Saturn's finger, in the belief that these will ward off the
+threatened evil; a tradition of the time when by so doing the wearers
+would have proclaimed themselves votaries of the god, and therefore
+under his protection.
+
+Astrology is inevitably linked with heathenism, and both shut up spirit
+and mind against the knowledge of God Himself, which is religion; and
+against the knowledge of His works, which is science. And though a man
+may be religious without being scientific, or scientific without being
+religious, religion and science alike both rest on one and the same
+basis--the belief in "One God, Maker of heaven and earth."
+
+That belief was the reason why Israel of old, so far as it was faithful
+to it, was free from the superstitions of astrology.
+
+ "It is no small honour for this nation to have been wise
+ enough to see the inanity of this and all other forms of
+ divination. . . . Of what other ancient civilized nation could
+ as much be said?"[145:1]
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[136:1] R. A. Proctor, _The Great Pyramid_, pp. 274-276.
+
+[139:1] G. V. Schiaparelli, _Astronomy in the Old Testament_, p. 137.
+
+[145:1] G. V. Schiaparelli, _Astronomy in the Old Testament_, p. 52.
+
+
+[Illustration: _By permission of the Autotype Co._
+
+_74, New Oxford Street, London, W.C._
+
+ST. PAUL PREACHING AT ATHENS (_by Raphael_).
+
+"As certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also His
+offspring."]
+
+
+
+
+BOOK II
+
+THE CONSTELLATIONS
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+THE ORIGIN OF THE CONSTELLATIONS
+
+
+The age of Classical astronomy began with the labours of Eudoxus and
+others, about four centuries before the Christian Era, but there was an
+Earlier astronomy whose chief feature was the arrangement of the stars
+into constellations.
+
+The best known of all such arrangements is that sometimes called the
+"Greek Sphere," because those constellations have been preserved to us
+by Greek astronomers and poets. The earliest complete catalogue of the
+stars, as thus arranged, that has come down to us was compiled by
+Claudius Ptolemy, the astronomer of Alexandria, and completed 137 A.D.
+In this catalogue, each star is described by its place in the supposed
+figure of the constellation, whilst its celestial latitude and longitude
+are added, so that we can see with considerable exactness how the
+astronomers of that time imagined the star figures. The earliest
+complete description of the constellations, apart from the places of the
+individual stars, is given in the poem of Aratus of Soli--_The
+Phenomena_, published about 270 B.C.
+
+Were these constellations known to the Hebrews of old? We can answer
+this question without hesitation in the case of St. Paul. For in his
+sermon to the Athenians on Mars' Hill, he quotes from the opening verses
+of this constellation poem of Aratus:--
+
+ "God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that
+ He is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made
+ with hands; neither is worshipped with men's hands, as though
+ He needed anything, seeing He giveth to all life, and breath,
+ and all things; and hath made of one blood all nations of men
+ for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined
+ the times before appointed, and the bounds of their
+ habitation; that they should seek the Lord, if haply they
+ might feel after Him, and find Him, though He be not far from
+ every one of us: for in Him we live, and move, and have our
+ being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are
+ also His offspring."
+
+The poem of Aratus begins thus:--
+
+ "To God above we dedicate our song;
+ To leave Him unadored, we never dare;
+ For He is present in each busy throng,
+ In every solemn gathering He is there.
+ The sea is His; and His each crowded port;
+ In every place our need of Him we feel;
+ FOR WE HIS OFFSPRING ARE."
+
+Aratus, like St. Paul himself, was a native of Cilicia, and had been
+educated at Athens. His poem on the constellations came, in the opinion
+of the Greeks, next in honour to the poems of Homer, so that St. Paul's
+quotation from it appealed to his hearers with special force.
+
+The constellations of Ptolemy's catalogue are forty-eight in number.
+Those of Aratus correspond to them in almost every particular, but one
+or two minor differences may be marked. According to Ptolemy, the
+constellations are divided into three sets:--twenty-one northern, twelve
+in the zodiac, and fifteen southern.
+
+The northern constellations are--to use the names by which they are now
+familiar to us--1, _Ursa Minor_, the Little Bear; 2, _Ursa Major_, the
+Great Bear; 3, _Draco_, the Dragon; 4, _Cepheus_, the King; 5, _Booetes_,
+the Herdsman; 6, _Corona Borealis_, the Northern Crown; 7, _Hercules_,
+the Kneeler; 8, _Lyra_, the Lyre or Swooping Eagle; 9, _Cygnus_, the
+Bird; 10, _Cassiopeia_, the Throned Queen, or the Lady in the Chair; 11,
+_Perseus_; 12, _Auriga_, the Holder of the Reins; 13, _Ophiuchus_, the
+Serpent-holder; 14, _Serpens_, the Serpent; 15, _Sagitta_, the Arrow;
+16, _Aquila_, the Soaring Eagle; 17, _Delphinus_, the Dolphin; 18,
+_Equuleus_, the Horse's Head; 19, _Pegasus_, the Winged Horse; 20,
+_Andromeda_, the Chained Woman; 21, _Triangulum_, the Triangle.
+
+The zodiacal constellations are: 1, _Aries_, the Ram; 2, _Taurus_, the
+Bull; 3, _Gemini_, the Twins; 4, _Cancer_, the Crab; 5, _Leo_, the Lion;
+6, _Virgo_, the Virgin; 7, _Libra_, the Scales,--also called the Claws,
+that is of the Scorpion; 8, _Scorpio_, the Scorpion; 9, _Sagittarius_,
+the Archer; 10, _Capricornus_, the Sea-goat, _i. e._ Goat-fish; 11,
+_Aquarius_, the Water-pourer; 12, _Pisces_, the Fishes.
+
+The southern constellations are: 1, _Cetus_, the Sea-Monster; 2,
+_Orion_, the Giant; 3, _Eridanus_, the River; 4, _Lepus_, the Hare; 5,
+_Canis Major_, the Great Dog; 6, _Canis Minor_, the Little Dog; 7,
+_Argo_, the Ship and Rock; 8, _Hydra_, the Water-snake; 9, _Crater_, the
+Cup; 10, _Corvus_, the Raven; 11, _Centaurus_, the Centaur; 12,
+_Lupus_, the Beast; 13, _Ara_, the Altar; 14, _Corona Australis_, the
+Southern Crown; 15, _Piscis Australis_, the Southern Fish.
+
+Aratus, living four hundred years earlier than Ptolemy, differs only
+from him in that he reckons the cluster of the Pleiades--counted by
+Ptolemy in Taurus--as a separate constellation, but he has no
+constellation of _Equuleus_. The total number of constellations was thus
+still forty-eight. Aratus further describes the Southern Crown, but
+gives it no name; and in the constellation of the Little Dog he only
+mentions one star, _Procyon_, the Dog's Forerunner. He also mentions
+that the two Bears were also known as two Wagons or Chariots.
+
+Were these constellations, so familiar to us to-day, known before the
+time of Aratus, and if so, by whom were they devised, and when and
+where?
+
+They were certainly known before the time of Aratus, for his poem was
+confessedly a versification of an account of them written by Eudoxus
+more than a hundred years previous. At a yet earlier date, Panyasis,
+uncle to the great historian Herodotus, incidentally discusses the name
+of one of the constellations, which must therefore have been known to
+him. Earlier still, Hesiod, in the second book of his _Works and Days_,
+refers to several:--
+
+ "Orion and the Dog, each other nigh,
+ Together mounted to the midnight sky,
+ When in the rosy morn Arcturus shines,
+ Then pluck the clusters from the parent vines.
+
+ * * * * *
+
+ Next in the round do not to plough forget
+ When the Seven Virgins and Orion set."
+
+Much the same constellations are referred to by Homer. Thus, in the
+fifth book of the _Odyssey_,--
+
+ "And now, rejoicing in the prosperous gales,
+ With beating heart Ulysses spreads his sails:
+ Placed at the helm he sate, and marked the skies,
+ Nor closed in sleep his ever-watchful eyes.
+ There view'd the Pleiads and the Northern Team,
+ And great Orion's more refulgent beam,
+ To which around the axle of the sky
+ The Bear, revolving, points his golden eye."
+
+Thus it is clear that several of the constellations were perfectly
+familiar to the Greeks a thousand years before the Christian era; that
+is to say, about the time of Solomon.
+
+We have other evidence that the constellations were known in early
+times. We often find on Greek coins, a bull, a ram, or a lion
+represented; these may well be references to some of the signs of the
+zodiac, but offer no conclusive evidence. But several of the
+constellation figures are very unusual in form; thus the Sea-goat has
+the head and fore-legs of a goat, but the hinder part of a fish; and the
+Archer has the head and shoulders of a man, but the body and legs of a
+horse. Pegasus, the horse with wings, not only shows this unnatural
+combination, but the constellation figure only gives part of the
+animal--the head, neck, wings, breast, and fore-legs. Now some of these
+characteristic figures are found on quite early Greek coins, and yet
+earlier on what are known as "boundary stones" from Babylonia. These are
+little square pillars, covered with inscriptions and sculptures, and
+record for the most part the gift, transfer, or sale of land. They are
+dated according to the year of the reigning king, so that a clear idea
+can be formed as to their age. A great many symbols, which appear to be
+astronomical, occur upon them; amongst these such very distinguishing
+shapes as the Archer, Sea-goat, and Scorpion (_see_ p. 318). So that,
+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-day, we learn from Babylonian boundary stones that they were then
+known as having the same forms as we now ascribe to them. 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 B.C., that is to say, whilst Israel was under the
+Judges.
+
+We have direct evidence thus far back as to the existence of the
+constellations. But they are older than this, so much older that
+tradition as well as direct historical evidence fails us. The only
+earlier evidence open to us is that of the constellations themselves.
+
+A modern celestial globe is covered over with figures from pole to pole,
+but the majority of these are of quite recent origin and belong to the
+Modern period of astronomy. They have been framed since the invention of
+the telescope, and since the progress of geographical discovery brought
+men to know the southern skies. If these modern constellations are
+cleared off, and only those of Aratus and Ptolemy suffered to remain, it
+becomes at once evident that the ancient astronomers were not acquainted
+with the entire heavens. For there is a large space in the south, left
+free from all the old constellations, and no explanation, why it should
+have been so left free, is so simple and satisfactory as the obvious
+one, that the ancient astronomers did not map out the stars in that
+region because they never saw them; those stars never rose above their
+horizon.
+
+[Illustration: THE ANCIENT CONSTELLATIONS SOUTH OF THE ECLIPTIC.]
+
+Thus at the present time the heavens for an observer in England are
+naturally divided into three parts, as shown in the accompanying
+diagram. In the north, round the pole-star are a number of
+constellations that never set; they wheel unceasingly around the pole.
+On every fine night we can see the Great Bear, the Little Bear, the
+Dragon, Cepheus and Cassiopeia. But the stars in the larger portion of
+the sky have their risings and settings, and the seasons in which they
+are visible or are withdrawn from sight. Thus we see Orion and the
+Pleiades and Sirius in the winter, not in the summer, but the Scorpion
+and Sagittarius in the summer. Similarly there is a third portion of the
+heavens which never comes within our range. We never see the Southern
+Cross, and hardly any star in the great constellation of the Ship,
+though these are very familiar to New Zealanders.
+
+[Illustration: THE CELESTIAL SPHERE.
+
+
+ Zenith
+ * *
+
+ * * North Pole
+ *
+ * Stars /
+ . * Always
+ . Visible
+ . /
+ . Visible /
+ . Hemisphere /
+ . /
+ . /
+ . /
+ . /
+ (Earth surface) . / (Earth surface)
+ South --------------------------------------- North
+ / . Celestial
+ / . / Equator
+ Invisible .
+ / .
+ / Hemisphere .
+ / .
+ Stars / .
+ Never .
+ / Visible
+ /
+ South
+ Pole
+
+ THE CELESTIAL SPHERE.]
+
+The outline of this unmapped region must therefore correspond roughly to
+the horizon of the place where the constellations were originally
+designed, or at least be roughly parallel to it, since we may well
+suppose that stars which only rose two or three degrees above that
+horizon might have been neglected.
+
+From this we learn that the constellations were designed by people
+living not very far from the 40th parallel of north latitude, not
+further south than the 37th or 36th. This is important, as it shows that
+they did not originate in ancient Egypt or India, nor even in the city
+of Babylon, which is in latitude 32-1/2 deg..[157:1]
+
+But this vacant space reveals another fact of even more importance. It
+gives us a hint as to the date when the constellations were designed.
+
+An observer in north latitude 40 deg. at the present time would be very far
+from seeing all the stars included in the forty-eight constellations. He
+would see nothing at all of the constellation of the Altar, and a good
+deal of that of the Centaur would be hidden from him.
+
+On the other hand, there are some bright constellations, such as the
+Phoenix and the Crane, unknown to the ancients, which would come within
+his range of vision. This is due to what is known as "precession;" a
+slow movement of the axis upon which the earth rotates. In consequence
+of this, the pole of the heavens seems to trace out a circle amongst the
+stars which it takes 25,800 years to complete. It is therefore a matter
+of very simple calculation to find the position of the south pole of the
+heavens at any given date, past or future, and we find that the centre
+of the unmapped space was the south pole of the heavens something like
+4,600 years ago, that is to say about 2,700 B.C.
+
+It is, of course, not possible to fix either time or latitude very
+closely, since the limits of the unmapped space are a a little vague.
+But it is significant that if we take a celestial globe, arranged so as
+to represent the heavens for the time 2,700 B.C., and for north latitude
+40 deg., we find several striking relations. First of all, the Great Dragon
+then linked together the north pole of the celestial equator, and the
+north pole of the ecliptic; it was as nearly as possible symmetrical
+with regard to the two; it occupied the very crown of the heavens. With
+the single exception of the Little Bear, which it nearly surrounds, the
+Dragon was the only constellation that never set. Next, the Water-snake
+(see diagram, p. 200) lay at this time right along the equator,
+extending over 105 deg. of Right Ascension; or, to put it less technically,
+it took seven hours out of the twenty-four to cross the meridian. It
+covered nearly one-third of the equatorial belt. Thirdly, the
+intersection of the equator with one of the principal meridians of the
+sky was marked by the Serpent, which is carried by the Serpent-holder
+in a very peculiar manner. The meridian at midnight at the time of the
+spring equinox is called a "colure,"--the "autumnal colure," because the
+sun crosses it in autumn. Now the Serpent was so arranged as to be shown
+writhing itself for some distance along the equator, and then struggling
+upwards, along the autumnal colure, marking the zenith with its head.
+The lower part of the autumnal colure was marked by the Scorpion, and
+the foot of the Serpent-holder pressed down the creature's head, just
+where the colure, the equator, and the ecliptic intersected (_see_
+diagram, p. 164).
+
+It is scarcely conceivable that this fourfold arrangement, not suggested
+by any natural grouping of the stars, should have come about by
+accident; it must have been intentional. For some reason, the equator,
+the colure, the zenith and the poles were all marked out by these
+serpentine or draconic forms. The unmapped space gives us a clue only to
+the date and latitude of the designing of the most southerly
+constellations. We now see that a number of the northern hold positions
+which were specially significant under the same conditions, indicating
+that they were designed at about the same date. There is therefore
+little room for doubt that some time in the earlier half of the third
+millennium before our era, and somewhere between the 36th and 40th
+parallels of north latitude, the constellations were designed,
+substantially as we have them now, the serpent forms being intentionally
+placed in these positions of great astronomical importance.
+
+It will have been noticed that Ptolemy makes the Ram the first
+constellation of the zodiac. It was so in his days, but it was the Bull
+that was the original leader, as we know from a variety of traditions;
+the sun at the spring equinox being in the centre of that constellation
+about 3000 B.C. At the time when the constellations were designed, the
+sun at the spring equinox was near Aldebaran, the brightest star of the
+Bull; at the summer solstice it was near Regulus, the brightest star of
+the Lion; at the autumnal equinox it was near Antares, the brightest
+star of the Scorpion; at the winter solstice it was near Fomalhaut, the
+brightest star in the neighbourhood of the Waterpourer. These four stars
+have come down to us with the name of the "Royal Stars," probably
+because they were so near to the four most important points in the
+apparent path of the sun amongst the stars. 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 year. So when the Mithraic
+religion adopted several of the constellation figures amongst its
+symbols, the Bull as standing for the spring equinox, the Lion for the
+summer solstice, were the two to which most prominence was given, and
+they are found thus used in Mithraic monuments as late as the second or
+third century A.D., long after the Ram had been recognized as the
+leading sign.
+
+It is not possible to push back the origin of the constellations to an
+indefinite antiquity. They cannot at the very outside be more than 5000
+years old; they must be considerably more than 4000. But during the
+whole of this millennium the sun at the spring equinox was in the
+constellation of the Bull. There is therefore no possible doubt that
+the Bull--and not the Twins nor the Ram--was the original leader of the
+zodiac.
+
+The constellations, therefore, were designed long before the nation of
+Israel had its origin, indeed before Abraham left Ur of the Chaldees.
+The most probable date--2700 B.C.--would take us to a point a little
+before the Flood, if we accept the Hebrew chronology, a few centuries
+after the Flood, if we accept the Septuagint chronology. Just as the
+next great age of astronomical activity, which I have termed the
+Classical, began after the close of the canon of the Old Testament
+scriptures, so the constellation age began before the first books of
+those scriptures were compiled. Broadly speaking, 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 written.
+
+Seeing that the knowledge of these figures was preserved in Mesopotamia,
+the country from which Abraham came out, and that they were in existence
+long before his day, it is not unreasonable to suppose that both he and
+his descendants were acquainted with them, and that when he and they
+looked upward to the glories of the silent stars, and recalled the
+promise, "So shall thy seed be," they pictured round those glittering
+points of light much the same forms that we connect with them to-day.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[157:1] Delitzsch is, therefore, in error when he asserts that "when we
+divide the zodiac into twelve signs and style them the Ram, Bull, Twins,
+etc. . . . the Sumerian-Babylonian culture is still living and operating
+even at the present day" (_Babel and Bible_, p. 67). The constellations
+may have been originally designed by the _Akkadians_, but if so it was
+before they came down from their native highlands into the Mesopotamian
+valley.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+GENESIS AND THE CONSTELLATIONS
+
+
+As we have just shown, the constellations evidently were designed long
+before the earliest books of the Old Testament received their present
+form. But the first nine chapters of Genesis give the history of the
+world before any date that we can assign to the constellations, and are
+clearly derived from very early documents or traditions.
+
+When the constellations are compared with those nine chapters, several
+correspondences appear between the two; remarkable, 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 hand, and how condensed are the
+narratives of those nine chapters on the other.
+
+Look at the six southern constellations (_see_ pp. 164, 165) which were
+seen during the nights of spring in that distant time. The largest of
+these six is a great Ship resting on the southern horizon. Just above, a
+Raven is perched on the stretched-out body of a reptile. A figure of a
+Centaur appears to have just left the Ship, and is represented as
+offering up an animal on an Altar. The animal is now shown as a Wolf,
+but Aratus, our earliest authority, states that he did not know what
+kind of animal it was that was being thus offered up. The cloud of
+smoke from the Altar is represented by the bright coiling wreaths of the
+Milky Way, and here in the midst of that cloud is set the Bow--the bow
+of Sagittarius, the Archer. Is it possible that this can be mere
+coincidence, or was it indeed intended as a memorial of the covenant
+which God made with Noah, and with his children for ever?--"I do set My
+bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between Me
+and the earth."
+
+Close by this group was another, made up of five constellations. Towards
+the south, near midnight in spring, the observer in those ancient times
+saw the Scorpion. The figure of a man was standing upon that venomous
+beast, with his left foot pressed firmly down upon its head; but the
+scorpion's tail was curled up to sting him in the right heel. Ophiuchus,
+the Serpent-holder, the man treading on the Scorpion, derives his name
+from the Serpent which he holds in his hands and strangles; the Serpent
+that, as we have seen in the preceding chapter, marked the autumnal
+colure. The head of Ophiuchus reached nearly to the zenith, and there
+close to it was the head of another hero, so close that to complete the
+form of the two heads the same stars must be used to some extent twice
+over. Facing north, this second hero, now known to us as Hercules, but
+to Aratus simply as the "Kneeler," was seen kneeling with his foot on
+the head of the great northern Dragon. This great conflict between the
+man and the serpent, therefore, was presented in a twofold form. Looking
+south there was the picture of Ophiuchus trampling on the scorpion and
+strangling the snake, yet wounded in the heel by the scorpion's sting;
+looking north, the corresponding picture of the kneeling figure of
+Hercules treading down the dragon's head. Here there seems an evident
+reference to the word spoken by God to the serpent in the garden in
+Eden: "I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy
+seed and her Seed; It shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise His
+heel."
+
+[Illustration: THE MIDNIGHT CONSTELLATIONS OF SPRING, B.C. 2700.]
+
+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
+Genesis; the Promise of the Deliverer, Who, "Seed of the woman," should
+bruise the serpent's head, and the promise of the "Bow set in the
+cloud," the pledge that the world should not again be destroyed by a
+flood.
+
+[Illustration: THE MIDNIGHT CONSTELLATIONS OF WINTER, B.C. 2700.]
+
+One or two other constellations appear, less distinctly, to refer to the
+first of these two promises. The Virgin, the woman of the zodiac,
+carries in her hand a bright star, the ear of corn, the seed; whilst,
+immediately under her, the great Water-snake, Hydra, is drawn out at
+enormous length, "going on its belly;" not writhing upwards like the
+Serpent, nor twined round the crown of the sky like the Dragon.
+
+Yet again, the narrative in Genesis tells us that God "drove out the
+man" (_i. e._ Adam), "and He placed at the east of the garden of Eden
+the cherubim, and the flame of a sword which turned every way, to keep
+the way of the tree of life." No description is given of the form of the
+cherubim in that passage, but they are fully described by Ezekiel, who
+saw them in vision when he was by the river Chebar, as "the likeness of
+four living creatures." The same beings were also seen in vision by St.
+John, and are described by him in the Apocalypse as "four living
+creatures" (_Z[=o]a_). "The first creature was like a lion, and the
+second creature like a calf, and the third creature had a face as of a
+man, and the fourth creature was like a flying eagle." Ezekiel gives a
+fuller and more complex description, but agreeing in its essential
+elements with that given by the Apostle, and, at the close of one of
+these descriptions, he adds, "This is the living creature that I saw
+under the God of Israel by the river of Chebar; 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
+Temple, and carved upon its walls and doors.
+
+The same four forms were seen amongst the constellation figures; not
+placed at random amongst them, but as far as possible in the four most
+important positions in the sky. For the constellations were originally
+so designed that the sun at the time of the summer solstice was in the
+middle of the constellation _Leo_, the Lion; at the time of the spring
+equinox in the middle of _Taurus_, the Bull; and at the time of the
+winter solstice, in the middle of _Aquarius_, the Man bearing the
+waterpot. The fourth point, that held by the sun at the autumnal
+equinox, would appear to have been already assigned to the foot of the
+Serpent-holder as he crushes down the Scorpion's head; but a flying
+eagle, _Aquila_, 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 Serpent.
+Thus, as in the vision of Ezekiel, so in the constellation figures, the
+Lion, the Ox, the Man, and the Eagle, stood as the upholders of the
+firmament, as "the pillars of heaven." They looked down like watchers
+upon all creation; they seemed to guard the four quarters of the sky.
+
+If we accept an old Jewish tradition, the constellations may likewise
+give us some hint of an event recorded in the tenth chapter of Genesis.
+For it has been supposed that the great stellar giant Orion is none
+other than "Nimrod, the mighty hunter before the Lord," and the founder
+of the Babylonian kingdom; identified by some Assyriologists with
+Merodach, the tutelary deity of Babylon: and by others with Gilgamesh,
+the tyrant of Erech, whose exploits have been preserved to us in the
+great epic now known by his name. Possibly both identifications may
+prove to be correct.
+
+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 history. If we include the Hare and the two Dogs as adjuncts
+of Orion, and the Cup as well as the Raven with Hydra, then no fewer
+than twenty-two out of the forty-eight are directly or indirectly so
+connected. But the constellation figures only deal with a very few
+isolated incidents, and these are necessarily such as lend themselves to
+graphic representation. The points in common with the Genesis narrative
+are indeed striking, but the points of independence are no less
+striking. The majority of the constellation figures do not appear to
+refer to any incidents in Genesis; the majority of the incidents in the
+Genesis narrative find no record in the sky. Even in the treatment of
+incidents common to both there are differences, which make it impossible
+to suppose that either was directly derived from the other.
+
+But it is clear that when the constellations were devised,--that is to
+say, roughly speaking, about 2,700 B.C.,--the promise of the Deliverer,
+the "Seed of the woman" who should bruise the serpent's head, was well
+known and highly valued; so highly valued that a large part of the sky
+was devoted to its commemoration and to that of the curse on the
+serpent. The story of the Flood was also known, and especially the
+covenant made with those who were saved in the ark, that the world
+should not again be destroyed by water, the token of which covenant was
+the "Bow set in the cloud." The fourfold cherubic forms were known, the
+keepers of the way of the tree of life, the symbols of the presence of
+God; and they were set in the four parts of the heaven, marking it out
+as the tabernacle which He spreadeth abroad, for He dwelleth between the
+cherubim.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+THE STORY OF THE DELUGE
+
+
+Beside the narrative of the Flood given to us in Genesis, and the
+pictorial representation of it preserved in the star figures, we have
+Deluge stories from many parts of the world. But in particular we have a
+very striking one from Babylonia. In the _Epic of Gilgamesh_, already
+alluded to, the eleventh tablet is devoted to an interview between the
+hero and Pir-napistim, the Babylonian Noah, who recounts to him how he
+and his family were saved at the time of the great flood.
+
+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 Genesis. As we have already seen, the stories of Creation have
+practically nothing in common; the stories of the Deluge have many most
+striking points of resemblance, and may reasonably be supposed to have
+had a common origin.
+
+Prof. Friedrich Delitzsch, in his celebrated lectures _Babel and Bible_,
+refers to this Babylonian Deluge story in the following terms:--
+
+ "The Babylonians divided their history into two great periods:
+ the one before, the other after the Flood. Babylon was in
+ quite a peculiar sense the land of deluges. The alluvial
+ lowlands along the course of all great rivers discharging into
+ the sea are, of course, exposed to terrible floods of a
+ special kind--cyclones and tornadoes accompanied by
+ earthquakes and tremendous downpours of rain."
+
+After referring to the great cyclone and tidal wave which wrecked the
+Sunderbunds at the mouths of the Ganges in 1876, when 215,000 persons
+met their death by drowning, Prof. Delitzsch goes on--
+
+ "It is the merit of the celebrated Viennese geologist, Eduard
+ Suess, to have shown that there is an accurate description of
+ such a cyclone, line for line, in the Babylonian Deluge
+ story. . . . The whole story, precisely as it was written
+ down, travelled to Canaan. But, owing to the new and entirely
+ different local conditions, it was forgotten that the sea was
+ the chief factor, and so we find in the Bible two accounts of
+ the Deluge, which are not only scientifically impossible, but,
+ furthermore, mutually contradictory--the one assigning to it a
+ duration of 365 days, the other of [40 + (3 x 7)] = 61 days.
+ Science is indebted to Jean Astruc, that strictly orthodox
+ Catholic physician of Louis XIV., for recognizing that two
+ fundamentally different accounts of a deluge have been worked
+ up into a single story in the Bible."[171:1]
+
+The importance of the Babylonian Deluge story does not rest in anything
+intrinsic to itself, for there are many deluge stories preserved by
+other nations quite as interesting and as well told. It derives its
+importance from its points of resemblance to the Genesis story, 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 Genesis.
+
+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 Scripture; and the
+names of the "Priestly Narrative" and of the "Jehovistic Narrative"
+have, for the sake of distinctness, been applied to them. The former is
+so called because the chapters in Exodus and the two following books,
+which treat with particular minuteness of the various ceremonial
+institutions of Israel, are considered to be by the same writer. The
+latter has received its name from the preference shown by the writer for
+the use, as the Divine name, of the word _Jehovah_,--so spelt when given
+in our English versions, but generally translated "the LORD."
+
+There is a very close accord between different authorities as to the way
+in which Genesis, chapters vi.-ix., should be allotted to these two
+sources. The following is Dr. Driver's arrangement:--
+
+ PRIESTLY NARRATIVE. | JEHOVISTIC NARRATIVE.
+ |
+ Chap. Verse. | Chap. Verse.
+ Genesis vi. 9-22. |Genesis vii. 1-5.
+ vii. 6. | 7-10.
+ 11. | 12.
+ 13-16a. | 16b.
+ 17a. | 17b.
+ 18-21. | 22-23.
+ 24. | viii. 2b-3a.
+ viii. 1-2a. | 6-12.
+ 3b-5. | 13b.
+ 13a. | 20-22.
+ 14-19. |
+ ix. 1-17. |
+
+The Priestly narrative therefore tells us the cause of the Flood--that
+is to say, the corruption of mankind; describes the dimensions of the
+ark, and instructs Noah to bring "of every living thing of all flesh,
+two of every sort shalt thou bring into the ark, to keep them alive with
+thee; they shall be male and female." It further supplies the dates of
+the chief occurrences during the Flood, states that the waters prevailed
+above the tops of the mountains, that when the Flood diminished the ark
+rested upon the mountains of Ararat; and gives the account of Noah and
+his family going forth from the ark, and of the covenant which God made
+with them, of which the token was to be the bow seen in the cloud.
+
+The most striking notes of the Jehovistic narrative are,--the incident
+of the sending out of the raven and the dove; the account of Noah's
+sacrifice; and the distinction made between clean beasts and beasts that
+are not clean--the command to Noah being, "Of every clean beast thou
+shalt take to thee by sevens, the male and his female: and of beasts
+that are not clean by two, the male and his female." The significant
+points of distinction between the two accounts are that the Priestly
+writer gives the description of the ark, the Flood prevailing above the
+mountains, the grounding on Mount Ararat, and the bow in the cloud; the
+Jehovistic gives the sending out of the raven and the dove, and the
+account of Noah's sacrifice, which involves the recognition of the
+distinction between the clean and unclean beasts and the more abundant
+provision of the former. He also lays emphasis on the Lord's "smelling a
+sweet savour" and promising never again to smite everything living,
+"for the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth."
+
+The chief features of the Babylonian story of the Deluge are as
+follows:--The God Ae spoke to Pir-napistim, the Babylonian Noah--
+
+ "'Destroy the house, build a ship,
+ Leave what thou hast, see to thy life.
+ Destroy the hostile and save life.
+ Take up the seed of life, all of it, into the midst of the ship.
+ The ship which thou shalt make, even thou.
+ Let its size be measured;
+ Let it agree as to its height and its length.'"
+
+The description of the building of the ship seems to have been very
+minute, but the record is mutilated, and what remains is difficult to
+translate. As in the Priestly narrative, it is expressly mentioned that
+it was "pitched within and without."
+
+The narrative proceeds in the words of Pir-napistim:--
+
+ "All I possessed, I collected it,
+ All I possessed I collected it, of silver;
+ All I possessed I collected it, of gold;
+ All I possessed I collected it, the seed of life, the whole.
+ I caused to go up into the midst of the ship,
+ All my family and relatives,
+ The beasts of the field, the animals of the field, the sons of the
+ artificers--all of them I sent up.
+ The God [vS]ama[vs] appointed the time--
+ Muir Kukki--'In the night I will cause the heavens to rain
+ destruction,
+ Enter into the midst of the ship, and shut thy door.'
+ That time approached--
+ Muir Kukki--In the night the heavens rained destruction
+ I saw the appearance of the day:
+ I was afraid to look upon the day--
+ I entered into the midst of the ship, and shut my door
+
+ * * * * *
+
+ At the appearance of dawn in the morning,
+ There arose from the foundation of heaven a dark cloud:
+
+ * * * * *
+
+ The first day, the storm? . . . .
+ Swiftly it swept, and . . . .
+ Like a battle against the people it sought.
+ Brother saw not brother.
+ The people were not to be recognized. In heaven
+ The gods feared the flood, and
+ They fled, they ascended to the heaven of Anu.
+ The gods kenneled like dogs, crouched down in the enclosures.
+
+ * * * * *
+
+ The gods had crouched down, seated in lamentation,
+ Covered were their lips in the assemblies,
+ Six days and nights
+ The wind blew, the deluge and flood overwhelmed the land.
+ The seventh day, when it came, the storm ceased, the raging flood,
+ Which had contended like a whirlwind,
+ Quieted, the sea shrank back, and the evil wind and deluge ended.
+ I noticed the sea making a noise,
+ And all mankind had turned to corruption.
+
+ * * * * *
+
+ I noted the regions, the shore of the sea,
+ For twelve measures the region arose.
+ The ship had stopped at the land of Nisir.
+ The mountain of Nisir seized the ship, and would not let it pass.
+ The first day and the second day the mountains of Nisir seized the
+ ship, and would not let it pass.
+
+ * * * * *
+
+ The seventh day, when it came
+ I sent forth a dove, and it left;
+ The dove went, it turned about,
+ But there was no resting-place, and it returned.
+ I sent forth a swallow, and it left,
+ The swallow went, it turned about,
+ But there was no resting-place, and it returned.
+ I sent forth a raven, and it left,
+ The raven went, the rushing of the waters it saw,
+ It ate, it waded, it croaked, it did not return.
+ I sent forth (the animals) to the four winds, I poured out a
+ libation,
+ I made an offering on the peak of the mountain,
+ Seven and seven I set incense-vases there,
+ In their depths I poured cane, cedar, and rosewood (?).
+ The gods smelled a savour;
+ The gods smelled a sweet savour.
+ The gods gathered like flies over the sacrificer.
+ Then the goddess Sirtu, when she came,
+ Raised the great signets that Anu had made at her wish:
+ 'These gods--by the lapis-stone of my neck--let me not forget;
+ These days let me remember, nor forget them for ever!
+ Let the gods come to the sacrifice,
+ But let not Bel come to the sacrifice,
+ For he did not take counsel, and made a flood,
+ And consigned my people to destruction.'
+ Then Bel, when he came,
+ Saw the ship. And Bel stood still,
+ Filled with anger on account of the gods and the spirits of
+ heaven.
+ 'What, has a soul escaped?
+ Let not a man be saved from the destruction.'
+ Ninip opened his mouth and spake.
+ He said to the warrior Bel:
+ 'Who but Ae has done the thing?
+ And Ae knows every event.'
+ Ae opened his mouth and spake,
+ He said to the warrior Bel:
+ 'Thou sage of the gods, warrior,
+ Verily thou hast not taken counsel, and hast made a flood.
+ The sinner has committed his sin,
+ The evil-doer has committed his misdeed,
+ Be merciful--let him not be cut off--yield, let not perish.
+ Why hast thou made a flood?
+ Let the lion come, and let men diminish.
+ Why hast thou made a flood?
+ Let the hyena come, and let men diminish.
+ Why hast thou made a flood?
+ Let a famine happen, and let the land be (?)
+ Why hast thou made a flood?
+ Let Ura (pestilence) come, and let the land be (?)'"[176:1]
+
+Of the four records before us, we can only date one approximately. The
+constellations, as we have already seen, were mapped out some time in
+the third millennium before our era, probably not very far from 2700
+B.C.
+
+When was the Babylonian story written? Does it, itself, afford any
+evidence of date? It occurs in the eleventh tablet of the _Epic of
+Gilgamesh_, and the theory has been started that as Aquarius, a watery
+constellation, is now the eleventh sign of the zodiac, therefore we have
+in this epic of twelve tablets a series of solar myths founded upon the
+twelve signs of the zodiac, the eleventh giving us a legend of a flood
+to correspond to the stream of water which the man in Aquarius pours
+from his pitcher.
+
+If this theory be accepted we can date the _Epic of Gilgamesh_ with much
+certainty: it must be later, probably much later, than 700 B.C. 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 adopted. We have then to allow for the
+growth of a mythology with the twelve signs as its _motif_. Had this
+supposed series of zodiacal myths originated before 700 B.C., before
+Aries was adopted as the leading sign, then the Bull, Taurus, would have
+given rise to the myth of the first tablet and Aquarius to the tenth,
+not to the eleventh where we find the story of the flood.
+
+Assyriologists do not assign so late a date to this poem, and it must be
+noted that the theory supposes, not merely that the tablet itself, but
+that the poem and the series of myths upon which it was based, were all
+later in conception than 700 B.C. One conclusive indication of its early
+date is given by the position in the pantheon of Ae and Bel. Ae has not
+receded into comparative insignificance, nor has Bel attained to that
+full supremacy which, as Merodach, he possesses in the Babylonian
+Creation story. 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 myths.
+
+Any legends, any mythology, any pantheon based upon the zodiac must
+necessarily be more recent than the zodiac; any system involving Aries
+as the first sign of the zodiac must be later than the adoption of Aries
+as the first sign, that is to say, later than 700 B.C. Systems arising
+before that date would inevitably be based upon Taurus as first
+constellation.
+
+We cannot then, from astronomical relationships, fix the date of the
+Babylonian story of the Flood. Is it possible, however, to form any
+estimate of the comparative ages of the Babylonian legend and of the two
+narratives given in Genesis, or of either of these two? Does the
+Babylonian story connect itself with one of the Genesis narratives
+rather than the other?
+
+The significant points in the Babylonian story are these:--the command
+to Pir-napistim to build a ship, with detailed directions; the great
+rise of the flood so that even the gods in the heaven of Anu feared it;
+the detailed dating of the duration of the flood; the stranding of the
+ship on the mountain of Nisir; the sending forth of the dove, the
+swallow, and their return; the sending forth of the raven, and its
+non-return; the sacrifice; the gods smelling its sweet savour; the vow
+of remembrance of the goddess by the lapis-stone necklace; the
+determination of the gods not to send a flood again upon the earth,
+since sin is inevitable from the sinner. To all these points we find
+parallels in the account as given in Genesis.
+
+But it is in the Priestly narrative that we find the directions for the
+building of the ship; the great prevalence of the flood even to the
+height of the mountains; the stranding of the ship on a mountain; and
+the bow in the clouds as a covenant of remembrance--this last being
+perhaps paralleled in the Babylonian story by the mottled
+(blue-and-white) lapis necklace of the goddess which she swore by as a
+remembrancer. There is therefore manifest connection with the narrative
+told by the Priestly writer.
+
+But it is in the Jehovistic narrative, on the other hand, that we find
+the sending forth of the raven, and its non-return; the sending forth of
+the dove, and its return; the sacrifice, and the sweet savour that was
+smelled of the Lord; and the determination of the Lord not to curse the
+earth any more for man's sake, nor smite any more every living thing,
+"for the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth." There is,
+therefore, no less manifest connection with the narrative told by the
+Jehovistic writer.
+
+But the narrative told by the writer of the Babylonian story is one
+single account; even if it were a combination of two separate
+traditions, they have been so completely fused that they cannot now be
+broken up so as to form two distinct narratives, each complete in
+itself.
+
+"The whole story precisely as it was written down travelled to
+Canaan,"--so we are told. And there,--we are asked to believe,--two
+Hebrew writers of very different temperaments and schools of thought,
+each independently worked up a complete story of the Deluge from this
+Gilgamesh legend. They chose out different incidents, one selecting what
+the other rejected, and _vice versa_, so that their two accounts were
+"mutually contradictory." They agreed, however, in cleansing it from its
+polytheistic setting, and giving it a strictly monotheistic tone. Later,
+an "editor" put the two narratives together, with all their
+inconsistencies and contradictions, and interlocked them into one, which
+presents all the main features of the original Gilgamesh story except
+its polytheism. In other words, two Hebrew scribes each told in his own
+way a part of the account of the Deluge which he had derived from
+Babylon, and a third unwittingly so recombined them as to make them
+represent the Babylonian original!
+
+The two accounts of the Deluge, supposed to be present in Genesis,
+therefore cannot be derived from the Gilgamesh epic, nor be later than
+it, seeing that what is still plainly separable in Genesis is
+inseparably fused in the epic.
+
+On the other hand, can the Babylonian narrative be later than, and
+derived from, the Genesis account? Since so many of the same
+circumstances are represented in both, this is a more reasonable
+proposition, if we assume that the Babylonian narrator had the Genesis
+account as it now stands, and did not have to combine two separate
+statements. 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 Genesis. The Babylonian adapter of
+the Genesis story must have either been less astute than ourselves, and
+did not perceive that he had really two distinct (and "contradictory")
+narratives to deal with, or he did not consider this circumstance of the
+slightest importance, and had no objection to merging them inextricably
+into one continuous account.
+
+It is therefore possible that the Babylonian account was derived from
+that in Genesis; but it is not probable. The main circumstances are the
+same in both, but the details, the presentment, the attitude of mind are
+very different. We can better explain the agreement in the general
+circumstances, and even in many of the details, by presuming that both
+are accounts--genuine traditions--of the same actual occurrence. The
+differences in detail, presentment, and attitude, are fully and
+sufficiently explained by supposing that we have traditions from two, if
+not three, witnesses of the event.
+
+We have also the pictorial representation of the Flood given us in the
+constellations. What evidence do they supply?
+
+Here the significant points are: the ship grounded upon a high rock; the
+raven above it, eating the flesh of a stretched-out reptile; a sacrifice
+offered up by a person, who has issued forth from the ship, upon an
+altar, whose smoke goes up in a cloud, in which a bow is set.
+
+In this grouping of pictures we have two characteristic features of the
+Priestly narrative, in the ship grounded on a rock, and in the bow set
+in the cloud; we have also two characteristic features of the Jehovistic
+narrative, in the smoking altar of sacrifice, and in the carrion bird.
+There is therefore manifest connection between the constellation
+grouping and _both_ the narratives given in Genesis.
+
+But the constellational picture story is the only one of all these
+narratives that we can date. It must have been designed--as we have
+seen--about 2700 B.C.
+
+The question again comes up for answer. Were the Genesis and Babylonian
+narratives, any or all of them, derived from the pictured story in the
+constellations; or, on the other hand, was this derived from any or all
+of them?
+
+The constellations were mapped out near the north latitude of 40 deg., far
+to the north of Babylonia, so the pictured story cannot have come from
+thence. We do not know where the Genesis narratives were written, but if
+the Flood of the constellations was pictured from them, then they must
+have been already united into the account that is now presented to us in
+Genesis, very early in the third millennium before Christ.
+
+Could the account in Genesis have been derived from the constellations?
+If it is a double account, most decidedly not; since the pictured story
+in the constellations is one, and presents impartially the
+characteristic features of _both_ the narratives.
+
+And (as in comparing the Genesis and the Babylonian narratives) we see
+that though the main circumstances are the same--in so far as they lend
+themselves to pictorial representations--the details, the presentment,
+the attitude are different. In the Genesis narrative, the bow set in the
+cloud is a rainbow in a cloud of rain; in the constellation picture, the
+bow set in the cloud is the bow of an archer, and the cloud is the
+pillar of smoke from off the altar of sacrifice. In the narratives of
+Genesis and Babylonia, Noah and Pir-napistim are men: no hint is given
+anywhere that by their physical form or constitution they were marked
+off from other men; in the storied picture, he who issues from the ship
+is a centaur: his upper part is the head and body of a man, his lower
+part is the body of a horse.
+
+As before, 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 occurrence. We can, at the
+same time, 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 him.
+The Babylonian narrator laid hold of the promise that, though beast, or
+famine, or pestilence might diminish men, a flood should not again sweep
+away every living thing, and connected the promise with the signets--the
+lapis necklace of the goddess Sirtu that she touched as a remembrancer.
+The picturer of the constellations saw the pledge in the smoke of the
+sacrifice, in the spirit of the words of the Lord as given by Asaph,
+"Gather My saints together unto me; those that have made a covenant with
+Me by sacrifice." The writer in Genesis saw the promise in the
+rain-cloud, for the rainbow can only appear with the shining of the sun.
+The writer in Genesis saw in Noah a righteous man, worthy to escape the
+flood of desolation that swept away the wickedness around; there is no
+explanation apparent, at least on the surface, as to why the designer of
+the constellations made him, who issued from the ship and offered the
+sacrifice, a centaur--one who partook of two natures.
+
+The comparison of the Deluge narratives from Genesis, from the
+constellations, and from Babylonia, presents a clear issue. If all the
+accounts are independent, and if there are two accounts intermingled
+into one in Genesis, then the chief facts presented in both parts of
+that dual narrative must have been so intermingled at an earlier date
+than 2700 B.C. The editor who first united the two stories into one must
+have done his work before that date.
+
+But if the accounts are not independent histories, and the narrative as
+we have it in Genesis is derived either in whole or in part from
+Babylonia or from the constellations--if, in short, the Genesis story
+came from a Babylonian or a stellar myth--then we cannot escape from
+this conclusion: that the narrative in Genesis is not, and never has
+been, two separable portions; that the scholars who have so divided it
+have been entirely in error. 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-half. We must therefore
+unhesitatingly reject the theory that the Genesis Deluge story owes
+anything either to star myth or to Babylonian mythology. And if the
+Genesis Deluge story is not so derived, certainly no other portion of
+Holy Scripture.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[171:1] _Babel and Bible_, Johns' translation, pp. 42-46.
+
+[176:1] T. G. Pinches, _The Old Testament in the Light of the Historical
+Records of Assyria and Babylonia_, pp. 102-107.
+
+
+
+
+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 Joseph. In relating his second
+dream to his brethren he said--
+
+ "Behold, I have dreamed a dream more; and, behold, the sun and
+ the moon, and the eleven stars made obeisance to me."
+
+The word "_Kochab_" in the Hebrew means both "star" and "constellation."
+The significance, therefore, of the reference to the "eleven stars" is
+clear. Just as Joseph's eleven brethren were eleven out of the twelve
+sons of Jacob, so Joseph saw eleven constellations out of the twelve
+come and bow down to him. And the twelve constellations can only mean
+the twelve of the zodiac.
+
+There can be no reasonable doubt that the zodiac in question was
+practically the same as we have now, the one transmitted to us through
+Aratus and Ptolemy. It had been designed quite a thousand years earlier
+than the days of Joseph; it was known in Mesopotamia from whence his
+ancestors had come; it was known in Egypt; that is to say it was known
+on both sides of Canaan. There have been other zodiacs: thus the
+Chinese have one of their own: but we have no evidence of any zodiac,
+except the one transmitted to us by the Greeks, as having been at any
+time adopted in Canaan or the neighbouring countries.
+
+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 device.
+The dream was appropriate, and perfectly intelligible to Jacob, to
+Joseph, and his brethren, without supposing that any such arrangement
+had then been made. It is quite true that there are Jewish traditions
+assigning a constellation to each of the tribes of Israel, but it does
+not appear that any such traditions can be distinctly traced to a great
+antiquity, and they are mostly somewhat indefinite. Josephus, for
+instance, makes a vague assertion about the twelve precious stones of
+the High Priest's breast-plate, each of which bore the name of one of
+the tribes, connecting them with the signs of the zodiac:--
+
+ "Now the names of all those sons of Jacob were engraven in
+ these stones, whom we esteem the heads of our tribes, each
+ stone having the honour of a name, in the order according to
+ which they were born. . . . And for the twelve stones whether
+ we understand by them the months, or whether we understand the
+ like number of the signs of that circle which the Greeks call
+ the Zodiac, we shall not be mistaken in their meaning."[187:1]
+
+But whilst there is no sufficient evidence that each of the sons of
+Jacob had a zodiacal figure for his coat-of-arms, nor even that the
+tribes deriving their names from them were so furnished, 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 wilderness. The four divisions, or camps, each contained
+three tribes, and were known by the name of the principal tribe in each.
+The camp of Judah was on the east, and the division of Judah led on the
+march. The camp of Reuben was on the south. The camp of Ephraim was on
+the west. The camp of Dan was on the north, and the division of Dan
+brought up the rear. And the traditional devices shown on the four
+standards were these:--For Judah, a lion; for Reuben, a man and a river;
+for Ephraim, a bull; for Dan, an eagle and a serpent.
+
+In these four standards we cannot fail to see again the four cherubic
+forms of lion, man, ox and eagle; but in two cases an addition was made
+to the cherubic form, an addition recalling the constellation figure.
+For just as the crest of Reuben was not a man only, but a man and a
+river, so Aquarius is not a man only, but a man pouring out a stream of
+water. And as the crest of Dan was not an eagle only, but an eagle and a
+serpent, so the great group of constellations, clustering round the
+autumnal equinox, included not only the Eagle, but also the Scorpion and
+the Serpent (_see_ diagram, p. 189).
+
+There appears to be an obvious connection between these devices and the
+blessings pronounced by Jacob upon his sons, and by Moses upon the
+tribes; indeed, 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 wilderness.
+
+The blessing pronounced by Jacob on Judah runs, "Judah is a lion's
+whelp: from the prey, my son, thou art gone up: he stooped down, he
+couched as a lion, and as an old lion; who shall rouse him up?" "The
+Lion of the tribe of Judah" is the title given to our Lord Himself in
+the Apocalypse of St. John.
+
+[Illustration: OPHIUCHUS AND THE NEIGHBOURING CONSTELLATIONS.]
+
+The blessing pronounced upon Joseph by Moses bears as emphatic a
+reference to the bull. "The firstling of his bullock, majesty is his;
+and his horns are the horns of the wild-ox."
+
+Jacob's blessing upon Joseph does not show any reference to the ox or
+bull in our Authorized Version. But in our Revised Version Jacob says of
+Simeon and Levi--
+
+ "In their anger they slew a man,
+ And in their self-will they houghed an ox."
+
+The first line appears to refer to the massacre of the Shechemites; the
+second is interpreted by the Jerusalem Targum, "In their wilfulness they
+sold Joseph their brother, who is likened to an ox." And in the blessing
+of Joseph it is said that his "branches (_margin_, daughters), run over
+the wall." Some translators have rendered this, "The daughters walk upon
+the bull," "wall" and "bull" being only distinguishable in the original
+by a slight difference in the pointing.
+
+Of Reuben, his father said, "Unstable as water, thou shalt not excel;"
+and of Dan, "Dan shall be a serpent by the way, an adder in the path,
+that biteth the horse heels, so that his rider shall fall backward."
+
+These two last prophecies supply the "water" and the "serpent," which,
+added to the "man" and "eagle" of the cherubic forms, are needed to
+complete the traditional standards, and are needed also to make them
+conform more closely to the constellation figures.
+
+No such correspondence can be traced between the eight remaining tribes
+and the eight remaining constellations. Different writers combine them
+in different ways, and the allusions to constellation figures in the
+blessings of those tribes are in most cases very doubtful and obscure,
+even if it can be supposed that any such allusions are present at all.
+The connection cannot be pushed safely beyond the four chief tribes, and
+the four cherubic forms as represented in the constellations of the four
+quarters of the sky.
+
+These four standards, or rather, three of them, meet us again in a very
+interesting connection. When Israel reached the borders of Moab, Balak,
+the king of Moab, sent for a seer of great reputation, Balaam, the son
+of Beor, to "Come, curse me Jacob, and come, defy Israel." Balaam came,
+but instead of cursing Jacob, blessed the people in four prophecies,
+wherein he made, what would appear to be, distinct references to the
+standards of Judah, Joseph and Reuben.
+
+ "Behold the people riseth up as a lioness,
+ And as a lion doth he lift himself up."
+
+Then again--
+
+ "He couched, he lay down as a lion,
+ And as a lioness; who shall rouse him up?"
+
+And in two passages--
+
+ "God bringeth him forth out of Egypt;
+ He hath as it were the strength of the wild ox."
+
+The wild ox and lion are obvious similes to use concerning a powerful
+and warlike people. These two similes are, therefore, not sufficient by
+themselves to prove that the tribal standards are being referred to. But
+the otherwise enigmatical verse--
+
+ "Water shall flow from his buckets,"
+
+appears more expressly as an allusion to the standard of Reuben, the
+"man with the river," Aquarius pouring water from his pitcher; and if
+one be a reference to a standard, the others may also well be.
+
+[Illustration: AQUARIUS AND THE NEIGHBOURING CONSTELLATIONS.]
+
+It is surely something more than coincidence that Joseph, who by his
+father's favour and his own merit was made the leader of the twelve
+brethren, should be associated with the bull or wild ox, seeing that
+Taurus was the leader of the zodiac in those ages. It may also well be
+more than coincidence, that when Moses was in the mount and "the people
+gathered themselves unto Aaron, and said unto him, Up, make us gods,
+which shall go before us; for as for this Moses, the man that brought us
+up out of the land of Egypt, we wot not what is become of him," Aaron
+fashioned the golden earrings given him into the form of a molten calf;
+into the similitude, that is to say, of Taurus, then Prince of the
+Zodiac. If we turn to St. Stephen's reference to this occurrence, we
+find that he says--
+
+ "And they made a calf in those days, and offered sacrifice
+ unto the idol, and rejoiced in the works of their own hands.
+ Then God turned, and gave them up to worship the host of
+ heaven."
+
+In other words, their worship of the golden calf was star worship.
+
+It has been often pointed out that this sin of the Israelites, deep as
+it was, was not in itself a breach of the first commandment--
+
+ "Thou shalt have no other gods before me."
+
+It was a breach of the second--
+
+ "Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any
+ likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in
+ the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth:
+ thou shalt not bow down thyself to them nor serve them."
+
+The Israelites did not conceive that they were abandoning the worship of
+Jehovah; they still considered themselves as worshipping the one true
+God. They were monotheists still, not polytheists. But they had taken
+the first false step that inevitably leads to polytheism; 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 fire," and
+they had worshipped this golden calf as the similitude of God; they had
+"changed their glory into the similitude of an ox that eateth grass."
+And that was treason against Him; therefore St. Stephen said, "God
+turned, and gave them up to worship the host of heaven;" the one sin
+inevitably led to the other, indeed, involved it. In a later day, when
+Jeroboam, who had been appointed by Solomon ruler over all the charge of
+the house of Joseph, led the rebellion of the ten tribes against
+Rehoboam, king of Judah, he set up golden calves at Dan and Bethel, and
+said unto his people, "It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem:
+behold thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of
+Egypt." There can be little doubt that, in this case, 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 Joseph, that is to say, of the two tribes of Ephraim and
+Manasseh, which together made up the more important part of his kingdom,
+as the symbol of the presence of Jehovah.
+
+The southern kingdom would naturally adopt the device of its predominant
+tribe, Judah, and it was as the undoubted cognizance of the kingdom of
+Judah that our Richard I., the Crusader, placed the Lion on his shield.
+
+More definitely still, we find this one of the cherubic forms applied
+to set forth Christ Himself, as "The Root of David," Prince of the house
+of Judah--
+
+ "Behold, the Lion of the tribe of Juda, the Root of David,
+ hath prevailed to open the book, and to loose the seven seals
+ thereof."
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[187:1] Josephus, _Antiquities of the Jews_, III. vii. 5-7.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+LEVIATHAN
+
+
+There are amongst the constellations four great draconic or serpent-like
+forms. 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
+4600 years ago. This is the dragon with which the Kneeler, _Hercules_,
+is fighting, and whose head he presses down with his foot. The second is
+the great watersnake, _Hydra_, which 4600 years ago stretched for 105 deg.
+along the celestial equator of that day. Its head was directed towards
+the ascending node, that is to say the point where the ecliptic, the
+sun's apparent path, crosses the equator at the spring equinox; and its
+tail stretched nearly to the descending node, the point where the
+ecliptic again meets the equator at the autumn equinox. The third was
+the Serpent, the one held in the grip of the Serpent-holder. Its head
+erected itself just above the autumn equinox, and reached up as far as
+the zenith; its tail lay along the equator. The fourth of these draconic
+forms was the great Sea-monster, stretched out along the horizon, with a
+double river--_Eridanus_--proceeding from it, just below the spring
+equinox.
+
+[Illustration: HERCULES AND DRACO.]
+
+None of these four figures was suggested by the natural grouping of the
+stars. Very few of the constellation-figures were so suggested, and
+these four in particular, as so high an authority as Prof. Schiaparelli
+expressly points out, were not amongst that few. Their positions show
+that they were designed some 4600 years ago, and that they have not been
+materially altered down to the present time. Though no forms or
+semblances of forms are there in the heavens, yet we still seem to see,
+as we look upwards, not merely the stars themselves, but the same snakes
+and dragons, first imagined so many ages ago as coiling amongst them.
+
+The tradition of these serpentine forms and of their peculiar placing in
+the heavens was current among the Babylonians quite 1500 years after the
+constellations were devised. For the little "boundary stones" often
+display, amongst many other astronomical symbols, the coiled dragon
+round the top of the stone, the extended snake at its base (_see_ p.
+318), and at one or other corner the serpent bent into a right angle
+like that borne by the Serpent-holder--that is to say, the three out of
+the four serpentine forms that hold astronomically important positions
+in the sky.
+
+The positions held by these three serpents or dragons have given rise to
+a significant set of astronomical terms. The Dragon marked the poles of
+both ecliptic and equator; the Watersnake marked the equator almost from
+node to node; the Serpent marked the equator at one of the nodes. 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 spring, and to descend below it again in the autumn.
+
+The moon's orbit likewise intersects the apparent path of the sun in two
+points, its two nodes; 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 month, a month of the Dragon. The same symbols are
+applied by analogy to the moon's nodes.
+
+Indeed the "Dragon's Head," [symbol], is the general sign for the
+ascending node of any orbit, whether of moon, planet or comet, and the
+"Dragon's Tail," [symbol], for the descending node. We not only use
+these signs in astronomical works to-day, but the latter sign frequently
+occurs, figured exactly as we figure it now, on Babylonian boundary
+stones 3000 years old.
+
+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 Tail." This relation might be briefly expressed by saying
+that the Dragon--that is of the nodes--causes the eclipse. Hence the
+numerous myths, found in so many nations, which relate how "a dragon
+devours the sun (or moon)" at the time of an eclipse.
+
+[Illustration: HYDRA AND THE NEIGHBOURING CONSTELLATIONS.]
+
+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
+constellations. The equatorial Water-snake, stretching from one node
+nearly to the other, has resting upon it, _Crater_, the Cup. Combining
+this with the expression for the two nodes, the Hindu myth has taken
+the following form. The gods churned the surface of the sea to make the
+Amrita Cup, the cup of the water of life. "And while the gods were
+drinking that nectar after which they had so much hankered, a Danava,
+named Rahu, was drinking it in the guise of a god. And when the nectar
+had only reached Rahu's throat, the sun and the moon discovered him, and
+communicated the fact to the gods." Rahu's head was at once cut off,
+but, as the nectar had reached thus far, it was immortal, and rose to
+the sky. "From that time hath arisen a long-standing quarrel between
+Rahu's head and the sun and moon," and the head swallows them from time
+to time, causing eclipses. Rahu's head marks the ascending, Ketu, the
+tail, the descending node.
+
+This myth is very instructive. Before it could have arisen, not only
+must the constellations have been mapped out, and the equator and
+ecliptic both recognized, but the inclination of the moon's orbit to
+that of the sun must also have been recognized, together with the fact
+that it was only when the moon was near its node that the eclipses,
+either of the sun or moon, could take place. In other words, the cause
+of eclipses must have been at one time understood, but that knowledge
+must have been afterwards lost. We have seen already, in the chapter on
+"The Deep," that the Hebrew idea of _teh[=o]m_ could not possibly have
+been derived from the Babylonian myth of _Tiamat_, since the knowledge
+of the natural object must precede the myth founded upon it. If,
+therefore, Gen. i. and the Babylonian story of Creation be connected,
+the one as original, the other as derived from that original, it is the
+Babylonian story that has been borrowed from the Hebrew, and it has
+been degraded in the borrowing.
+
+So in this case, the myth of the Dragon, whose head and tail cause
+eclipses, must have been derived from a corruption and misunderstanding
+of a very early astronomical achievement. The myth is evidence of
+knowledge lost, of science on the down-grade.
+
+Some may object that the myth may have brought about the conception of
+the draconic constellations. A very little reflection will show that
+such a thing was impossible. 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 dragons, they would certainly have all
+been put in the zodiac, the only region of the sky where sun or moon can
+be found; not outside it, where neither can ever come, and in
+consequence where no eclipse can take place. Nor could such a
+superstition have led on to the discoveries above-mentioned: that the
+moon caused eclipses of the sun, the earth those of the moon; that the
+moon's orbit was inclined to the ecliptic, and that eclipses took place
+only near the nodes. The idea of an unseen spiritual agent being at work
+would prevent any search for a physical explanation, since polytheism is
+necessarily opposed to science.
+
+There is a word used in Scripture to denote a reptilian monster, which
+appears in one instance at least to refer to this dragon of eclipse, and
+so to be used in an astronomical sense. Job, in his first outburst of
+grief cursed the day in which he was born, and cried--
+
+ "Let them curse it that curse the day,
+ Who are ready (_margin_, skilful) to rouse up Leviathan.
+ Let the stars of the twilight thereof be dark
+ Let it look for light, but have none;
+ Neither let it behold the eyelids of the morning."
+
+"_Leviathan_" denotes an animal wreathed, gathering itself in coils:
+hence a serpent, or some great reptile. The description in Job xli. is
+evidently that of a mighty crocodile, though in Psalm civ. leviathan is
+said to play in "the great and wide sea," which has raised a difficulty
+as to its identification in the minds of some commentators. In the
+present passage it is supposed to mean one of the stellar dragons, and
+hence the mythical dragon of eclipse. Job desired that the day of his
+birth should have been cursed by the magicians, so that it had been a
+day of complete and entire eclipse, not even the stars that preceded its
+dawn being allowed to shine.
+
+The astronomical use of the word _leviathan_ here renders it possible
+that there may be in Isa. xxvii. an allusion--quite secondary and
+indirect however--to the chief stellar dragons.
+
+ "In that day the Lord with His sore and great and strong sword
+ shall punish leviathan the piercing serpent, even leviathan
+ that crooked serpent; and He shall slay the dragon that is in
+ the sea."
+
+The marginal reading gives us instead of "piercing," "crossing like a
+bar"; a most descriptive epithet for the long-drawn-out constellation of
+_Hydra_, the Water-snake, which stretched itself for one hundred and
+five degrees along the primitive equator, and "crossed" the meridian
+"like a bar" for seven hours out of every twenty-four. "The crooked
+serpent" would denote the dragon coiled around the poles, whilst "the
+dragon which is in the sea" would naturally refer to _Cetus_, the
+Sea-monster. The prophecy would mean then, that "in that day" the Lord
+will destroy all the powers of evil which have, as it were, laid hold of
+the chief places, even in the heavens.
+
+In one passage "the crooked serpent," here used as a synonym of
+_leviathan_, distinctly points to the dragon of the constellations. In
+Job's last answer to Bildad the Shuhite, he says--
+
+ "He divideth the sea with His power,
+ And by His understanding He smiteth through the proud. (R.V.
+ _Rahab_.)
+ By His spirit He hath garnished the heavens;
+ His hand hath formed the crooked serpent."
+
+The passage gives a good example of the parallelism of Hebrew poetry;
+the repetition of the several terms of a statement, term by term, in a
+slightly modified sense; a rhyme, if the expression may be used, not of
+sound, but of signification.
+
+Thus in the four verses just quoted, we have three terms in each--agent,
+action, object;--each appears in the first statement, each appears
+likewise in the second. The third statement, in like manner, has its
+three terms repeated in a varied form in the fourth.
+
+Thus--
+
+ His power = His understanding.
+ Divideth = Smiteth through.
+ The sea = _Rahab_ (the proud).
+
+And--
+
+ His spirit = His hand.
+ Hath garnished = Hath formed.
+ The heavens = The crooked serpent.
+
+There can be no doubt as to the significance of the two parallels. In
+the first, dividing the sea, _i. e._ the Red Sea, is the correlative of
+smiting through _Rahab_, "the proud one," the name often applied to
+Egypt, as in Isa. xxx. 7: "For Egypt helpeth in vain, and to no purpose:
+therefore have I called her Rahab that sitteth still." In the second,
+"adorning the heavens" is the correlative of "forming the crooked
+serpent." The great constellation of the writhing dragon, emphatically a
+"crooked serpent," placed at the very crown of the heavens, is set for
+all the constellations of the sky.
+
+There are several references to _Rahab_, as "the dragon which is in the
+sea," all clearly referring to the kingdom of Egypt, personified as one
+of her own crocodiles lying-in-wait in her own river, the Nile, or
+transferred, by a figure of speech, to the Red Sea, which formed her
+eastern border. Thus in chapter li. Isaiah apostrophizes "the arm of the
+Lord."
+
+ "Art Thou not It that cut Rahab in pieces,
+ That pierced the dragon?
+ Art Thou not It that dried up the sea,
+ The waters of the great deep;
+ That made the depths of the sea a way for the redeemed to pass
+ over?"
+
+And in Psalm lxxxix. we have--
+
+ "Thou rulest the raging of the sea;
+ When the waves thereof arise Thou stillest them.
+ Thou hast broken Rahab in pieces as one that is slain,
+ Thou hast scattered Thine enemies with Thy strong arm."
+
+So the prophet Ezekiel is directed--
+
+ "Son of man, take up a lamentation for Pharaoh, king of Egypt,
+ and say unto him, thou wast likened unto a young lion of the
+ nations: yet art thou as a dragon in the seas."
+
+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 sea." It is the crocodile of Egypt that is
+intended; Egypt the great oppressor of Israel, and one of the great
+powers of evil, standing as a representative of them all. The serpent or
+dragon forms in the constellations also represented the powers of evil;
+especially the great enemy of God and man, "the dragon, that old
+serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan." So there is some amount of
+appropriateness to the watery dragons of the sky--_Hydra_ and
+_Cetus_--in these descriptions of _Rahab_, the dragon of Egypt, without
+there being any direct reference. Thus it is said of the Egyptian
+"dragon in the seas," "I have given thee for meat to the beasts of the
+earth, and to the fowls of the heaven;" and again, "I will cause all the
+fowls of the heaven to settle upon thee," just as _Corvus_, the Raven,
+is shown as having settled upon _Hydra_, the Water-snake, and is
+devouring its flesh. Again, Pharaoh, the Egyptian dragon, says, "My
+river is mine own, and I have made it for myself;" just as _Cetus_, the
+Sea-monster, is represented as pouring forth _Eridanus_, the river, from
+its mouth.
+
+[Illustration: ANDROMEDA AND CETUS.]
+
+But a clear and direct allusion to this last grouping of the
+constellations occurs in the Apocalypse. In the twelfth chapter, the
+proud oppressor dragon from the sea is shown us again with much fulness
+of detail. There the Apostle describes his vision of a woman, who
+evidently represents the people of God, being persecuted by a dragon.
+There is still a reminiscence of the deliverance of Israel in the Exodus
+from Egypt, for "the woman _fled into the wilderness_, where she hath a
+place prepared of God, that there they may nourish her a thousand two
+hundred and threescore days." And the vision goes on:--
+
+ "And the serpent cast out of his mouth, after the woman water
+ as a river, that he might cause her to be carried away by the
+ stream. And the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened
+ her mouth, and swallowed up the river which the dragon cast
+ out of his mouth."
+
+This appears to be precisely the action which is presented to us in the
+three constellations of _Andromeda_, _Cetus_, and _Eridanus_. Andromeda
+is always shown as a woman in distress, and the Sea-monster, though
+placed far from her in the sky, has always been understood to be her
+persecutor. Thus Aratus writes--
+
+ "Andromeda, though far away she flies,
+ Dreads the Sea-monster, low in southern skies."
+
+The latter, baffled in his pursuit of his victim, has cast the river,
+_Eridanus_, out of his mouth, which, flowing down below the southern
+horizon, is apparently swallowed up by the earth.
+
+It need occasion no surprise that we should find imagery used by St.
+John in his prophecy already set forth in the constellations nearly
+3,000 years before he wrote. Just as, in this same book, St. John
+repeated Daniel's vision of the fourth beast, and Ezekiel's vision of
+the living creatures, as he used the well-known details of the Jewish
+Temple, the candlesticks, the laver, the altar of incense, so he used a
+group of stellar figures perfectly well known at the time when he wrote.
+In so doing the beloved disciple only followed the example which his
+Master had already set him. For the imagery in the parables of our Lord
+is always drawn from scenes and objects known and familiar to all men.
+
+In two instances in which _leviathan_ is mentioned, a further expression
+is used which has a distinct astronomical bearing. In the passage
+already quoted, where Job curses the day of his birth, he desires that
+it may not "behold the eyelids of the morning." And in the grand
+description of _leviathan_, the crocodile, in chapter xli., we have--
+
+ "His neesings flash forth light,
+ And his eyes are like the eyelids of the morning."
+
+Canon Driver considers this as an "allusion, probably to the reddish
+eyes of the crocodile, which are said to appear gleaming through the
+water before the head comes to the surface." This is because of the
+position of the eyes on the animal's head, not because they have any
+peculiar brilliancy.
+
+ "It is an idea exclusively Egyptian, and is another link in
+ the chain of evidence which connects the author of the poem
+ with Egypt. The crocodile's head is so formed that its highest
+ points are the eyes; and when it rises obliquely to the
+ surface the eyes are the first part of the whole animal to
+ emerge. The Egyptians observing this, compared it to the sun
+ rising out of the sea, and made it the hieroglyphic
+ representative of the idea of sunrise. Thus Horus Apollo says:
+ When the Egyptians represent the sunrise, they paint the eye
+ of the crocodile, because it is first seen as that animal
+ emerges from the water."[209:1]
+
+In this likening of the eyes of the crocodile to the eyelids of the
+morning, we have the comparison of one natural object with another. Such
+comparison, when used in one way and for one purpose, is the essence of
+poetry; when used in another way and for another purpose, is the essence
+of science. Both poetry and science are opposed to myth, which is the
+confusion of natural with imaginary objects, the mistaking the one for
+the other.
+
+Thus it is poetry when the Psalmist speaks of the sun "as a bridegroom
+coming out of his chamber"; for there is no confusion in his thought
+between the two natural objects. The sun is like the bridegroom in the
+glory of his appearance. The Psalmist does not ascribe to him a bride
+and children.
+
+It is science when the astronomer compares the spectrum of the sun with
+the spectra of various metals in the laboratory. He is comparing natural
+object with natural object, and is enabled to draw conclusions as to the
+elements composing the sun, and the condition in which they there exist.
+
+But it is myth when the Babylonian represents Bel or Merodach as the
+solar deity, destroying Tiamat, the dragon of darkness, for there is
+confusion in the thought. The imaginary god is sometimes given solar,
+sometimes human, sometimes superhuman characteristics. There is no
+actuality in much of what is asserted as to the sun or as to the wholly
+imaginary being associated with it. The mocking words of Elijah to the
+priests of Baal were justified by the intellectual confusion of their
+ideas, as well as by the spiritual degradation of their idolatry.
+
+ "Cry aloud: for he is a god; either he is talking, or he is
+ pursuing, or he is in a journey, or peradventure he sleepeth,
+ and must be awakened."
+
+Such nature-myths are not indications of the healthy mental development
+of a primitive people; they are the clear signs of a pathological
+condition, the symptoms of intellectual disease.
+
+It is well to bear in mind this distinction, this opposition between
+poetry and myth, for ignoring it has led to not a little misconception
+as to the occurrence of myth in Scripture, especially in connection with
+the names associated with the crocodile. Thus it has been broadly
+asserted that "the original mythical signification of the monsters
+_tehom_, _livy[=a]th[=a]n_, _tannim_, _rahab_, is unmistakably evident."
+
+Of these names the first signifies the world of waters; the second and
+third real aquatic animals; and the last, "the proud one," is simply an
+epithet of Egypt, applied to the crocodile as the representation of the
+kingdom. There is no more myth in setting forth Egypt by the crocodile
+or leviathan than in setting forth Great Britain by the lion, or Russia
+by the bear.
+
+The Hebrews in setting forth their enemies by crocodile and other
+ferocious reptiles were not describing any imaginary monsters of the
+primaeval chaos, but real oppressors. The Egyptian, with his "house of
+bondage," the Assyrian, "which smote with a rod," the Chaldean who made
+havoc of Israel altogether, were not dreams. And in beseeching God to
+deliver them from their latest oppressor the Hebrews naturally recalled,
+not some idle tale of the fabulous achievements of Babylonian deities,
+but the actual deliverance God had wrought for them at the Red Sea.
+There the Egyptian crocodile had been made "meat to the people
+inhabiting the wilderness" when the corpses of Pharaoh's bodyguard, cast
+up on the shore, supplied the children of Israel with the weapons and
+armour of which they stood in need. So in the day of their utter
+distress they could still cry in faith and hope--
+
+ "Yet God is my King of old,
+ Working salvation in the midst of the earth.
+ Thou didst divide the sea by Thy strength:
+ Thou brakest the heads of the dragons in the waters.
+ Thou brakest the heads of leviathan in pieces,
+ And gavest him to be meat to the people inhabiting the wilderness.
+ Thou didst cleave the fountain and the flood:
+ Thou driedst up mighty rivers.
+ The day is Thine, the night also is Thine:
+ Thou hast prepared the light and the sun.
+ Thou hast set all the borders of the earth:
+ Thou hast made summer and winter."
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[209:1] P. H. Gosse, in the _Imperial Bible-Dictionary_.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+THE PLEIADES
+
+
+The translators of the Bible, from time to time, find themselves in a
+difficulty as to the correct rendering of certain words in the original.
+This is especially the case with the names of plants and animals. Some
+sort of clue may be given by the context, as, for instance, if the
+region is mentioned in which a certain plant is found, or the use that
+is made of it; or, in the case of an animal, whether it is "clean" or
+"unclean," what are its habits, and with what other animals it is
+associated. But in the case of the few Scripture references to special
+groups of stars, we have no such help. We are in the position in which
+Macaulay's New Zealander might be, if, long after the English nation had
+been dispersed, and its language had ceased to be spoken amongst men, he
+were to find a book in which the rivers "Thames," "Trent," "Tyne," and
+"Tweed" were mentioned by name, but without the slightest indication of
+their locality. 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 testing.
+
+This is somewhat our position with regard to the four Hebrew names,
+_K[=i]mah_, _K[)e]s[=i]l_, _`Ayish_, and _Mazzaroth_; yet in each case
+there are some slight indications which have given a clue to the
+compilers of our Revised Version, and have, in all probability, guided
+them correctly.
+
+The constellations are not all equally attractive. A few have drawn the
+attention of all men, however otherwise inattentive. North-American
+Indians and Australian savages have equally noted the flashing
+brilliancy of Orion, and the compact little swarm of the Pleiades. All
+northern nations recognize the seven bright stars of the Great Bear, and
+they are known by a score of familiar names. They are the "Plough," or
+"Charles's Wain" of Northern Europe; the "Seven Plough Oxen" of ancient
+Rome; the "Bier and Mourners" of the Arabs; the "Chariot," or "Waggon,"
+of the old Chaldeans; the "Big Dipper" of the prosaic New England
+farmer. These three groups are just the three which we find mentioned in
+the earliest poetry of Greece. So Homer writes, in the Fifth Book of the
+_Odyssey_, that Ulysses--
+
+ "There view'd the Pleiads, and the Northern Team,
+ And Great Orion's more refulgent beam,
+ To which, around the axle of the sky,
+ The Bear, revolving, points his golden eye."
+
+It seems natural to conclude that these constellations, the most
+striking, or at all events the most universally recognized, would be
+those mentioned in the Bible.
+
+The passages in which the Hebrew word _K[=i]mah_, is used are the
+following--
+
+ (God) "maketh Arcturus, Orion, and Pleiades (_K[=i]mah_), and
+ the chambers of the south" (Job ix. 9).
+
+ "Canst thou bind the sweet influences of Pleiades
+ (_K[=i]mah_), or loose the bands of Orion?" (Job xxxviii. 31).
+
+ "Seek Him that maketh the seven stars (_K[=i]mah_) and Orion"
+ (Amos v. 8).
+
+In our Revised Version, _K[=i]mah_ is rendered "Pleiades" in all three
+instances, 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 Amos. The word _k[=i]mah_ signifies "a heap," or "a
+cluster," and would seem to be related to the Assyrian word _kimtu_,
+"family," from a root meaning to "tie," or "bind"; a family being a
+number of persons bound together by the very closest tie of
+relationship. If this be so we can have no doubt that our translators
+have rightly rendered the word. There is one cluster in the sky, and one
+alone, which appeals to the unaided sight as being distinctly and
+unmistakably a family of stars--the Pleiades.
+
+The names _`Ash_, or _`Ayish_, _K[)e]s[=i]l_, and _K[=i]mah_ are
+peculiar to the Hebrews, and are not, so far as we have any evidence at
+present, allied to names in use for any constellation amongst the
+Babylonians and Assyrians; they have, as yet, not been found on any
+cuneiform inscription. Amos, the herdsman of Tekoa, living in the eighth
+century B.C., two centuries before the Jews were carried into exile to
+Babylon, evidently knew well what the terms signified, and the writer of
+the Book of Job was no less aware of their signification. But the
+"Seventy," who translated the Hebrew Scriptures into Greek, were not at
+all clear as to the identification of these names of constellations;
+though they made their translation only two or three centuries after the
+Jews returned to Jerusalem under Ezra and Nehemiah, when oral tradition
+should have still supplied the meaning of such astronomical terms. Had
+these names been then known in Babylon, they could not have been unknown
+to the learned men of Alexandria in the second century before our era,
+since at that time there was a very direct scientific influence of the
+one city upon the other. This Hebrew astronomy was so far from being due
+to Babylonian influence and teaching, that, though known centuries
+before the exile, after the exile we find the knowledge of its technical
+terms was lost. On the other hand, _k[=i]ma_ was the term used in all
+Syriac literature to denominate the Pleiades, and we accordingly find in
+the Peschitta, the ancient Syriac version of the Bible, made about the
+second century A.D., the term _k[=i]ma_ retained throughout, but _kesil_
+and _`ayish_ were reduced to their supposed Syriac equivalents.
+
+Whatever uncertainty was felt as to the meaning of _k[=i]mah_ by the
+early translators, it is not now seriously disputed that the Pleiades is
+the group of stars in question.
+
+The word _k[=i]mah_ means, as we have seen, "cluster" or "heap," so also
+the word _Pleiades_, which we use to-day, is probably derived from the
+Greek _Pleiones_, "many." Several Greek poets--Athenaeus, Hesiod, Pindar,
+and Simonides--wrote the word _Peleiades_, i. e. "rock pigeons,"
+considered as flying from the Hunter Orion; others made them the seven
+doves who carried ambrosia to the infant Zeus. D'Arcy Thompson says,
+"The Pleiad is in many languages associated with bird-names, . . . and I
+am inclined to take the bird on the bull's back in coins of Eretria,
+Dicaea, and Thurii for the associated constellation of the
+Pleiad"[217:1]--the Pleiades being situated on the shoulder of Taurus
+the Bull.
+
+The Hyades were situated on the head of the Bull, and in the Euphrates
+region these two little groups of stars were termed together,
+_Mas-tab-ba-gal-gal-la_, the Great Twins of the ecliptic, as Castor and
+Pollux were the Twins of the zodiac. In one tablet _'Imina bi_, "the
+sevenfold one," and _Gut-dua_, "the Bull-in-front," are mentioned side
+by side, thus agreeing well with their interpretation of "Pleiades and
+Hyades." The Semitic name for the Pleiades was also _Temennu_; and these
+groups of stars, worshipped as gods by the Babylonians, may possibly
+have been the _Gad_ and _Meni_, "that troop," and "that number,"
+referred to by the prophet Isaiah (lxv. 11).
+
+On many Babylonian cylinder seals there are engraved seven small discs,
+in addition to other astronomical symbols. These seven small stellar
+discs are almost invariably arranged in the form :::' or:::. much as we
+should now-a-days plot the cluster of the Pleiades when mapping on a
+small scale the constellations round the Bull. It is evident that these
+seven little stellar discs do not mean the "seven planets," for in many
+cases the astronomical symbols which accompany them include both those
+of the sun and moon. It is most probable that they signify the Pleiades,
+or perhaps alternatively the Hyades.
+
+Possibly, reference is made to the worship of the Pleiades when the
+king of Assyria, in the seventh century B.C., brought men from Babylon
+and other regions to inhabit the depopulated cities of Samaria, "and the
+men of Babylon made Succoth-benoth." The Rabbis are said to have
+rendered this by the "booths of the Maidens," or the "tents of the
+Daughters,"--the Pleiades being the maidens in question.
+
+Generally they are the Seven Sisters. Hesiod calls them the Seven
+Virgins, and the Virgin Stars. The names given to the individual stars
+are those of the seven daughters of Atlas and Pleione; thus Milton terms
+them the Seven Atlantic Sisters.
+
+As we have seen (p. 189), the device associated expressly with Joseph is
+the Bull, and Jacob's blessing to his son has been sometimes rendered--
+
+ "Joseph is a fruitful bough, even a fruitful bough by a well;
+ _the daughters walk upon the bull_."
+
+That is, "the Seven Sisters," the Pleiades, are on the shoulder of
+Taurus.
+
+Aratus wrote of the number of the Pleiades--
+
+ "Seven paths aloft men say they take,
+ Yet six alone are viewed by mortal eyes.
+ From Zeus' abode no star unknown is lost,
+ Since first from birth we heard, but thus the tale is told."
+
+[Illustration: STARS OF THE PLEIADES.]
+
+Euripides speaks of these "seven paths," and Eratosthenes calls them
+"the seven-starred Pleiad," although he describes one as
+"All-Invisible." There is a surprisingly universal tradition that they
+"were seven who now are six." We find it not only in ancient Greece and
+Italy, but also among the black fellows of Australia, the Malays of
+Borneo, and the negroes of the Gold Coast. There must be some reason to
+account for this widespread tradition. Some of the stars are known to be
+slightly variable, and one of the fainter stars in the cluster may have
+shone more brightly in olden time;--the gaseous spectrum of Pleione
+renders it credible that this star may once have had great brilliancy.
+Alcyone, now the brightest star in the cluster, was not mentioned by
+Ptolemy among the four brightest Pleiads of his day. The six now visible
+to ordinary sight are Alcyone, Electra, Atlas, Maia, Merope and Taygeta.
+Celoeno is the next in brightness, and the present candidate for the
+seventh place. By good sight, several more may be made out: thus
+Maestlin, the tutor of Kepler, mapped eleven before the invention of the
+telescope, and in our own day Carrington and Denning have counted
+fourteen with the naked eye.
+
+In clear mountain atmosphere more than seven would be seen by any
+keen-sighted observer. Usually six stars may be made out with the naked
+eye in both the Pleiades and the Hyades, or, if more than six, then
+several more; though with both groups the number of "seven" has always
+been associated.
+
+In the New Testament we find the "Seven Stars" also mentioned. In the
+first chapter of the Revelation, the Apostle St. John says that he "saw
+seven golden candlesticks; and in the midst of the seven candlesticks
+one like unto the Son of Man, . . . and He had in His right hand seven
+stars." Later in the same chapter it is explained that "the seven stars
+are the angels of the seven churches; and the seven candlesticks which
+thou sawest are the seven churches." The seven stars in a single compact
+cluster thus stand for the Church in its many diversities and its
+essential unity.
+
+This beautiful little constellation has become associated with a foolish
+fable. When it was first found that not only did the planets move round
+the sun in orbits, but that the sun itself also was travelling rapidly
+through space, a German astronomer, Maedler, hazarded the suggestion that
+the centre of the sun's motion lay in the Pleiades. It was soon evident
+that there was no sufficient ground for this suggestion, and that many
+clearly established facts were inconsistent with it. Nevertheless the
+idea caught hold of the popular mind, and it has acquired an amazing
+vogue. Non-astronomical writers have asserted that Alcyone, the
+brightest Pleiad, is the centre of the entire universe; some have even
+been sufficiently irreverent to declare that it is the seat of heaven,
+the throne of God. A popular London divine, having noticed a bright ring
+round Alcyone on a photograph of the group, took that halo, which every
+photographer would at once recognize as a mere photographic defect, as a
+confirmation of this baseless fancy. Foolishness of this kind has
+nothing to support it in science or religion; it is an offence against
+both. We have no reason to regard the Pleiades as the centre of the
+universe, or as containing the attracting mass which draws our sun
+forward in its vast mysterious orbit.
+
+R. H. Allen, in his survey of the literature of the Pleiades, mentions
+that "Drach surmised that their midnight culmination in the time of
+Moses, ten days after the autumnal equinox, may have fixed the Day of
+Atonement on the 10th of Tishri."[221:1] This is worth quoting as a
+sample of the unhappy astronomical guesses of commentators. Drach
+overlooked that his suggestion necessitated the assumption that in the
+time of Moses astronomers had already learned, first, to determine the
+actual equinox; next, to observe the culmination of stars on the
+meridian rather than their risings and settings; and, third and more
+important, to determine midnight by some artificial measurement of time.
+None of these can have been primitive operations; we have no knowledge
+that any of the three were in use in the time of Moses; certainly they
+were not suitable for a people on the march, like the Israelites in the
+wilderness. Above all, Drach ignored in this suggestion the fact that
+the Jewish calendar was a lunar-solar one, and hence that the tenth day
+of the seventh month could not bear any fixed relation either to the
+autumnal equinox, or to the midnight culmination of the Pleiades; any
+more than our Easter Sunday is fixed to the spring equinox on March 22.
+
+The Pleiades were often associated with the late autumn, as Aratus
+writes--
+
+ "Men mark them rising with Sol's setting light,
+ Forerunners of the winter's gloomy night."
+
+This is what is technically known as the "acronical rising" of the
+Pleiades, their rising at sunset; in contrast to their "heliacal
+rising," their rising just before daybreak, which ushered in the spring
+time. This acronical rising has led to the association of the group with
+the rainy season, and with floods. Thus Statius called the cluster
+"Pliadum nivosum sidus," and Valerius Flaccus distinctly used the word
+"Pliada" for the showers. Josephus says that during the siege of
+Jerusalem by Antiochus Epiphanes in 170 B.C., the besieged wanted for
+water until relieved "by a large shower of rain which fell at the
+setting of the Pleiades." R. H. Allen, in his _Star-Names and their
+Meanings_, states that the Pleiades "are intimately connected with
+traditions of the flood found among so many and widely separated
+nations, and especially in the Deluge-myth of Chaldaea," but he does not
+cite authorities or instances.
+
+The Talmud gives a curious legend connecting the Pleiades with the
+Flood:--
+
+ "When the Holy One, blessed be He! wished to bring the Deluge
+ upon the world, He took two stars out of Pleiades, and thus
+ let the Deluge loose. And when He wished to arrest it, He took
+ two stars out of Arcturus and stopped it."[223:1]
+
+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 "few, that
+is, eight souls . . . saved by water," of whom St. Peter speaks. Six
+Pleiades only are usually seen by the naked eye; traditionally seven
+were seen; but the Rabbis assumed that two, not one, were lost.
+
+Perhaps we may trace a reference to this supposed association of
+_K[=i]mah_ with the Flood in the passage from Amos already quoted:--
+
+ "Seek Him that maketh the seven stars and Orion, . . . that
+ calleth for the waters of the sea, and poureth them out upon
+ the face of the earth: the Lord is His name."
+
+Many ancient nations have set apart days in the late autumn in honour of
+the dead, no doubt because the year was then considered as dead. This
+season being marked by the acronical rising of the Pleiades, that group
+has become associated with such observances. There is, however, no
+reference to any custom of this kind in Scripture.
+
+What is the meaning of the inquiry addressed to Job by the Almighty?
+
+ "Canst thou bind the sweet influences of Pleiades?"
+
+What was the meaning which it possessed in the thought of the writer of
+the book? What was the meaning which we should now put on such an
+inquiry, looking at the constellations from the standpoint which the
+researches of modern astronomy have given us?
+
+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
+year. We cannot see the stars by daylight, or see directly where the sun
+is situated with respect to them; but, in very early times, men learnt
+to associate the seasons of the year with the stars which were last seen
+in the morning, above the place where the sun was about to rise; in the
+technical term once in use, with the heliacal risings of stars. When the
+constellations were first designed, the Pleiades rose heliacally at the
+beginning of April, and were the sign of the return of spring. Thus
+Aratus, in his constellation poem writes--
+
+ "Men mark them (_i. e._ the Pleiades) rising with the solar ray,
+ The harbinger of summer's brighter day."
+
+They heralded, therefore, the revival of nature from her winter sleep,
+the time of which the kingly poet sang so alluringly--
+
+ "For, lo, the winter is past,
+ The rain is over and gone;
+ The flowers appear on the earth;
+ The time of the singing of birds is come,
+ And the voice of the turtle is heard in our land;
+ The fig-tree ripeneth her green figs,
+ And the vines are in blossom,
+ They give forth their fragrance."
+
+The constellation which thus heralded the return of this genial season
+was poetically taken as representing the power and influence of spring.
+Their "sweet influences" were those that had rolled away the gravestone
+of snow and ice which had lain upon the winter tomb of nature. Theirs
+was the power that brought the flowers up from under the turf; earth's
+constellations of a million varied stars to shine upwards in answer to
+the constellations of heaven above. Their influences filled copse and
+wood with the songs of happy birds. Theirs stirred anew the sap in the
+veins of the trees, and drew forth their reawakened strength in bud and
+blossom. Theirs was the bleating of the new-born lambs; theirs the
+murmur of the reviving bees.
+
+Upon this view, then, the question to Job was, in effect, "What control
+hast thou over the powers of nature? Canst thou hold back the sun from
+shining in spring-time--from quickening flower, and herb, and tree with
+its gracious warmth? This is God's work, year by year over a thousand
+lands, on a million hills, in a million valleys. What canst thou do to
+hinder it?"
+
+The question was a striking one; one which must have appealed to the
+patriarch, evidently a keen observer and lover of nature; and it was
+entirely in line with the other inquiries addressed to him in the same
+chapter.
+
+ "Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth?"
+
+The Revised Version renders the question--
+
+ "Canst thou bind the _cluster_ of the Pleiades?"
+
+reading the Hebrew word _Ma`anaddoth_, instead of _Ma'adannoth_,
+following in this all the most ancient versions. On this view, Job is,
+in effect, asked, "Canst thou gather together the stars in the family of
+the Pleiades and keep them in their places?"
+
+The expression of a chain or band is one suggested by the appearance of
+the group to the eye, but it is no less appropriate in the knowledge
+which photography and great telescopes have given us. To quote from Miss
+Clerke's description of the nebula discovered round the brighter stars
+of the Pleiades--Alcyone, Asterope, Celoeno, Electra, Maia, Merope and
+Taygeta:--
+
+ "Besides the Maia vortex, the Paris photographs depicted a
+ series of nebulous bars on either side of Merope, and a
+ curious streak extending like a finger-post from Electra
+ towards Alcyone . . . Streamers and fleecy masses of cosmical
+ fog seem almost to fill the spaces between the stars, as
+ clouds choke a mountain valley. The chief points of its
+ concentration are the four stars Alcyone, Merope, Maia, and
+ Electra; but it includes as well Celoeno and Taygeta, and is
+ traceable southward from Asterope over an arc of 1 deg. 10'. . . .
+ The greater part of the constellation is shown as veiled in
+ nebulous matter of most unequal densities. In some places it
+ lies in heavy folds and wreaths, in others it barely qualifies
+ the darkness of the sky-ground. The details of its
+ distribution come out with remarkable clearness, and are
+ evidently to a large extent prescribed by the relative
+ situations of the stars. Their lines of junction are
+ frequently marked by nebulous rays, establishing between them,
+ no doubt, relations of great physical importance; and masses
+ of nebula, in numerous instances, seem as if _pulled out of
+ shape_ and drawn into festoons by the attractions of
+ neighbouring stars. But the strangest exemplification of
+ this filamentous tendency is in a fine, thread-like process,
+ 3'' or 4'' wide, but 35' to 40' long, issuing in an easterly
+ direction from the edge of the nebula about Maia, and
+ stringing together seven stars, met in its advance, like beads
+ on a rosary. The largest of these is apparently the occasion
+ of a slight deviation from its otherwise rectilinear course. A
+ second similar but shorter streak runs, likewise east and
+ west, through the midst of the formation."[229:1]
+
+[Illustration: NEBULOSITIES OF THE PLEIADES.
+
+Photographed by Dr. Max Wolf, Heidelberg.]
+
+Later photographs have shown that not only are the several stars of the
+Pleiades linked together by nebulous filaments, but the whole cluster is
+embedded in a nebulous net that spreads its meshes far out into space.
+Not only is the group thus tied or bound together by nebulous clouds, it
+has other tokens of forming but a single family. The movements of the
+several stars have been carefully measured, and for the most part the
+entire cluster is drifting in the same direction; a few stars do not
+share in the common motion, and are probably apparent members, seen in
+perspective projected on the group, but in reality much nearer to us.
+The members of the group also show a family likeness in constitution.
+When the spectroscope is turned upon it, the chief stars are seen to
+closely resemble each other; the principal lines in their spectra being
+those of hydrogen, and these are seen as broad and diffused bands, so
+that the spectrum we see resembles that of the brightest star of the
+heavens, Sirius.
+
+There can be little doubt but that the leaders of the group are actually
+greater, brighter suns than Sirius itself. We do not know the exact
+distance of the Pleiades, they are so far off that we can scarcely do
+more than make a guess at it; 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 eye. The Pleiades then would seem to be a most
+glorious star-system, not yet come to its full growth. 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 still, as it were, knit together those vast young suns;
+or, and in all probability more truly, as that mysterious force of
+gravitation which holds the mighty system together, and in obedience to
+which the group has taken its present shape. The question, if asked us
+to-day, would be, in effect, "Canst thou bind together by nebulous
+chains scores of suns, far more glorious than thine own, and scattered
+over many millions of millions of miles of space; or canst thou loosen
+the attraction which those suns exercise upon each other, and move them
+hither and thither at thy will?"
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[217:1] _Glossary of Greek Birds_, pp. 28, 29.
+
+[221:1] R. H. Allen, _Star Names and their Meanings_, p. 401.
+
+[223:1] _Berachoth_, fol. 59, col. 1.
+
+[229:1] _The System of the Stars_, 1st edit., pp. 230-232.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+ORION
+
+
+_K[)e]s[=i]l_, the word rendered by our translators "Orion," occurs in
+an astronomical sense four times in the Scriptures; twice in the Book of
+Job, once in the prophecy of Amos, and once, in the plural, in the
+prophecy of Isaiah. In the three first cases the word is used in
+conjunction with _K[=i]mah_, "the Pleiades," as shown in the preceding
+chapter. The fourth instance is rendered in the Authorized Version--
+
+ "For the stars of heaven and the constellations
+ (_K[)e]s[=i]lim_) thereof shall not give their light."
+
+The Hebrew word _K[)e]s[=i]l_ signifies "a fool," and that in the
+general sense of the term as used in Scripture; not merely a silly,
+untaught, feckless person, but a godless and an impious one. Thus, in
+the Book of Proverbs, Divine Wisdom is represented as appealing--
+
+ "How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity? the
+ scorners delight in their scorning, and _fools_ hate
+ knowledge?"
+
+[Illustration: THE STARS OF ORION.]
+
+What constellation was known to the ancient Hebrews as "the fool"? The
+Seventy who rendered the Old Testament into Greek confess themselves at
+fault. Once, in Amos, both _K[=i]mah_ and _K[)e]s[=i]l_ are left
+untranslated. Instead of "Him that maketh the seven stars and Orion," we
+have the paraphrase, "That maketh and transformeth all things." Once, in
+Job, it is rendered "Hesperus," the evening star; and in the other two
+instances it is given as "Orion." The tradition of the real meaning of
+the word as an astronomical term had been lost, or at least much
+confused before the Septuagint Version was undertaken. The Jews had
+not, so far as there is any present evidence, learned the term in
+Babylon, for the word has not yet been found as a star-name on any
+cuneiform inscription. It was well known before the Exile, for Amos and
+Isaiah both use it, and the fact that the author of Job also uses it,
+indicates that he did not gain his knowledge of the constellation during
+the Babylonian captivity.
+
+The majority of translators and commentators have, however, agreed in
+believing that the brightest and most splendid constellation in the sky
+is intended--the one which we know as Orion. 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 it. Four bright stars,
+in a great trapezium, are taken to mark the two shoulders and the two
+legs of a gigantic warrior; a row of three bright stars, midway between
+the four first named, suggest his gemmed belt; another row of stars
+straight down from the centre star of the belt, presents his sword; a
+compact cluster of three stars marks his head. A gigantic warrior, armed
+for the battle, seems thus to be outlined in the heavens. As Longfellow
+describes him--
+
+ "Begirt with many a blazing star,
+ Stood the great giant, Algebar,
+ Orion, hunter of the beast!
+ His sword hung gleaming by his side,
+ And, on his arm, the lion's hide
+ Scattered across the midnight air
+ The golden radiance of its hair."
+
+In accord with the form naturally suggested by the grouping of the
+stars, the Syrians have called the constellation _Gabb[=a]r[=a]_; and
+the Arabs, _Al Jabb[=a]r_; and the Jews, _Gibb[=o]r_. The brightest star
+of the constellation, the one in the left knee, now generally known as
+_Rigel_, is still occasionally called _Algebar_, a corruption of _Al
+Jabb[=a]r_, though one of the fainter stars near it now bears that name.
+The meaning in each case is "the giant," "the mighty one," "the great
+warrior," and no doubt from the first formation of the constellations,
+this, the most brilliant of all, was understood to set forth a warrior
+armed for the battle. There were _gibb[=o]rim_ before the Flood; we are
+told that after "the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and
+they bare children to them, the same became mighty men (_gibb[=o]rim_)
+which were of old, men of renown."
+
+But according to Jewish tradition, this constellation was appropriated
+to himself by a particular mighty man. We are told in Gen. x. that--
+
+ "Cush begat Nimrod: he began to be a mighty one (_gibb[=o]r_)
+ in the earth."
+
+and it is alleged that he, or his courtiers, in order to flatter him,
+gave his name to this constellation, just as thousands of years later
+the University of Leipzic proposed to call the belt stars of Orion,
+_Stellae Napoleonis_, "the Constellation of Napoleon."[234:1]
+
+There was at one time surprise felt, that, deeply as the name of Nimrod
+had impressed itself upon Eastern tradition, his name, as such, was
+"nowhere found in the extensive literature which has come down to us"
+from Babylon. It is now considered that the word, Nimrod, is simply a
+Hebrew variant of Merodach, "the well-known head of the Babylonian
+pantheon." He was probably "the first king of Babylonia or the first
+really great ruler of the country." It is significant, as Mr. T. G.
+Pinches points out, in his _Old Testament in the Light of the Records
+from Assyria and Babylonia_, that just as in Genesis it is stated that
+"the beginning of his (Nimrod's) kingdom was Babel, and Erech, and
+Accad, and Calneh," so Merodach is stated, in the cuneiform records, to
+have built Babel and Erech and Niffer, which last is probably Calneh.
+The Hebrew scribes would seem to have altered the name of Merodach in
+two particulars: they dropped the last syllable, thus suggesting that
+the name was derived from _Marad_, "the rebellious one"; and they
+prefixed the syllable "Ni," just as "Nisroch" was written for "Assur."
+"From a linguistic point of view, therefore, the identification of
+Nimrod as a changed form of Merodach is fully justified."
+
+[Illustration: ORION AND THE NEIGHBOURING CONSTELLATIONS.]
+
+The attitude of Orion in the sky is a striking one. The warrior is
+represented as holding a club in the right hand, and a skin or shield in
+the left. His left foot is raised high as if he were climbing a steep
+ascent, he seems to be endeavouring to force his way up into the zodiac,
+and--as Longfellow expresses it--to be beating the forehead of the
+Bull. His right leg is not shown below the knee, for immediately
+beneath him is the little constellation of the Hare, by the early Arabs
+sometimes called, _Al Kursiyy al Jabb[=a]r_, "the Chair of the Giant,"
+from its position. Behind Orion are the two Dogs, each constellation
+distinguished by a very brilliant star; the Greater Dog, by _Sirius_,
+the brightest star in the heavens; the Lesser Dog, by _Procyon_, i.e.
+the "Dog's Forerunner." Not far above Orion, on the shoulder of the
+Bull, is the little cluster of the Pleiades.
+
+There are--as we have seen--only three passages where _K[=i]mah_,
+literally "the cluster" or "company,"--the group we know as the
+Pleiades,--is mentioned in Scripture; and in each case it is associated
+with _K[)e]s[=i]l_, "the fool,"--Orion. Several Greek poets give us the
+same association, likening the stars to "rock-pigeons, flying from the
+Hunter Orion." And Hesiod in his _Works and Days_ writes--
+
+ "Do not to plough forget,
+ When the Seven Virgins, and Orion, set:
+ Thus an advantage always shall appear,
+ In ev'ry labour of the various year.
+ If o'er your mind prevails the love of gain,
+ And tempts you to the dangers of the main,
+ Yet in her harbour safe the vessel keep,
+ When strong Orion chases to the deep
+ The Virgin stars."
+
+There is a suggestion of intense irony in this position of Orion amongst
+the other constellations. He is trampling on the Hare--most timid of
+creatures; 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 Bull.
+
+A similar irony is seen in the Hebrew name for the constellation. The
+"mighty Hunter," the great hero whom the Babylonians had deified and
+made their supreme god, the Hebrews regarded as the "fool," the "impious
+rebel." Since Orion is Nimrod, that is Merodach, there is small wonder
+that _K[)e]s[=i]l_ was not recognized as his name in Babylonia.[238:1]
+
+The attitude of Orion--attempting to force his way upward into the
+zodiac--and the identification of Merodach with him, gives emphasis to
+Isaiah's reproach, many centuries later, against the king of Babylon,
+the successor of Merodach--
+
+ "Thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I
+ will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also
+ upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north:
+ I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like
+ the Most High."
+
+In the sight of the Hebrew prophets and poets, Merodach, in taking to
+himself this group of stars, published his shame and folly. He had
+ascended into heaven, but his glittering belt was only his fetter; he
+was bound and gibbeted in the sky like a captive, a rebel, and who could
+loose his bands?
+
+In the thirteenth chapter of Isaiah we have the plural of
+_k[)e]s[=i]l_--_k[)e]s[=i]lim_. It is usually understood that we have
+here Orion, as the most splendid constellation in the sky, put for the
+constellations in general. But if we remember that _k[)e]s[=i]l_ stands
+for "Nimrod" or "Merodach," the first proud tyrant mentioned by name in
+Scripture, the particular significance of the allusion becomes evident--
+
+ "Behold, the day of the Lord cometh, cruel both with wrath and
+ fierce anger, to lay the land desolate: and he shall destroy
+ the sinners thereof out of it. For the stars of heavens and
+ the constellations"--(that is the _k[)e]s[=i]lim_, the Nimrods
+ or Merodachs of the sky)--"thereof shall not give their light:
+ the sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon
+ shall not cause her light to shine. And I will punish the
+ world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; and I
+ will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease, and will lay
+ low the haughtiness of the terrible."
+
+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 Orion, and turneth
+ the shadow of death into the morning, and maketh the day dark
+ with night."
+
+In this passage the parallelism seems to be between the seven stars, the
+Pleiades, with sunrise, and Orion with sunset. Now at the time and place
+when the constellations were mapped out, the Pleiades were the immediate
+heralds of sunrise, shortly after the spring equinox, at the season
+which would correspond to the early part of April in our present
+calendar. The rising of Orion at sunset--his acronical rising--was early
+in December, about the time when the coldest season of the year begins.
+The astronomical meaning of the "bands of Orion" would therefore be the
+rigour in which the earth is held during the cold of winter.
+
+It is possible that the two great stars which follow Orion, _Sirius_ and
+_Procyon_, known to the ancients generally and to us to-day as "the
+Dogs," were by the Babylonians known as "the Bow-star" and "the
+Lance-star"; the weapons, that is to say, of Orion or Merodach. Jensen
+identifies Sirius with the Bow-star, but considers that the Lance-star
+was Antares; Hommel, however, identifies the Lance-star with Procyon. In
+the fifth tablet of the Babylonian Creation epic as translated by Dr. L.
+W. King, there is an interesting account of the placing of the Bow-star
+in the heavens. After Merodach had killed Tiamat--
+
+ 75. "The gods (his fathers) beheld the net which he had made,
+ 76. They beheld the bow and how (its work) was accomplished.
+ 77. They praised the work which he had done [ . . . ]
+ 78. Then Anu raised [the . . .] in the assembly of the gods.
+ 79. He kissed the bow, (saying), 'It is [ . . . ]'!
+ 80. And thus he named the names of the bow, (saying),
+ 81. '_Long-wood_ shall be one name, and the second name [shall
+ be . . . ],
+ 82. And its third name shall be the _Bow-star_, in heaven [shall
+ it . . . ]!'
+ 83. Then he fixed a station for it."
+
+Dr. Cheyne even considers that he has found a reference to these two
+stars in Job xxxviii. 36--
+
+ "Who hath put wisdom in the inward parts (Lance-star),
+ Or who hath given understanding to the heart (Bow-star)."
+
+But this interpretation does not appear to have been generally accepted.
+The same high authority suggests that the astronomical allusions in Amos
+may have been inserted by a post-exilic editor, thus accounting for the
+occurrence of the same astronomical terms as are found in Job, which he
+assigns to the exilic or post-exilic period. This seems a dangerous
+expedient, as it might with equal reason be used in many other
+directions. Further, it entirely fails to explain the real difficulty
+that _k[=i]mah_ and _k[)e]s[=i]l_ have not been found as Babylonian
+constellation names, and that their astronomical signification had been
+lost by the time that the "Seventy" undertook their labours.
+
+Quite apart from the fact that the Babylonians could not give the name
+of "Fool" to the representation in the sky of their supreme deity, the
+Hebrews and the Babylonians regarded the constellation in different
+ways. Several Assyriologists consider that the constellations, _Orion_
+and _Cetus_, represent the struggle between Merodach and Tiamat, and
+this conjecture is probably correct, so far as Babylonian ideas of the
+constellations are concerned, for Tiamat is expressly identified on a
+Babylonian tablet with a constellation near the ecliptic.[241:1] But
+this means that the myth originated in the star figures, and was the
+Babylonian interpretation of them. In this case, Cetus--that is
+Tiamat--must have been considered as a goddess, and as directly and
+immediately the ancestress of all the gods. Orion--Merodach--must have
+been likewise a god, the great-great-grandson of Tiamat, whom he
+destroys.
+
+The Hebrew conception was altogether different. Neither Merodach, nor
+Tiamat, nor the constellations of Orion and Cetus, nor the actual stars
+of which they are composed, are anything but creatures. Jehovah has made
+Orion, as well as the "Seven Stars," as "His hand hath formed the
+crooked serpent." By the mouth of Isaiah He says, "I form the light, and
+create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the Lord, do all these
+things." The Babylonian view was of two divinities pitted against each
+other, and the evil divinity was the original and the originator of the
+good. In the Hebrew view, even the powers of evil are created things;
+they are not self-existent.
+
+And the Hebrews took a different view from the Babylonians of the story
+told by these constellations. The Hebrews always coupled Orion with the
+Pleiades; the Babylonians coupled Orion with Cetus--that is, Merodach
+with Tiamat.
+
+The view that has come down to us through the Greeks agrees much better
+with the association of the constellations as held amongst the Hebrews,
+rather than amongst the Babylonians. The Hunter Orion, according to the
+Greeks, chased the Pleiades--the little company of Seven Virgins, or
+Seven Doves--and he was confronted by the Bull. In their view, too, the
+Sea-monster was not warring against Orion, but against the chained
+woman, Andromeda.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[234:1] But the fact that Napoleon's name was thus coupled with this
+constellation does not warrant us in asserting that Napoleon had no
+historical existence, and that his long contest with the great sea-power
+(England), with its capital on the river Thames (? _tehom_), was only a
+stellar myth, arising from the nearness of Orion to the Sea-monster in
+the sky--a variant, in fact, of the great Babylonian myth of Marduk and
+Tiamat, the dragon of the deep.
+
+It seems necessary to make this remark, since the process of
+astrologizing history, whether derived from the Bible or from secular
+writers, has been carried very far. Thus Dr. H. Winckler writes down the
+account of the first three Persian kings, given us by Herodotus, as
+myths of Aries, Taurus, and Gemini; David and Goliath, too, are but
+Marduk and Tiamat, or Orion and Cetus, but David has become the Giant,
+and Goliath the Dragon, for "Goliath" is claimed as a word-play on the
+Babylonian _galittu_, "ocean." Examining an Arabic globe of date 1279
+A.D.--that is to say some 4,000 years after the constellations were
+devised,--Dr. Winckler found that Orion was represented as left-handed.
+He therefore used this left-handed Orion as the link of identification
+between Ehud, the left-handed judge of Israel, and Tyr, the left-handed
+Mars of the Scandinavian pantheon. Dr. Winckler seems to have been
+unaware of the elementary fact that a celestial globe necessarily shows
+its figures "inside out." We look up to the sky, to see the actual
+constellations from within the sphere; we look down upon a celestial
+globe from without, and hence see the designs upon it as in the
+looking-glass.
+
+[238:1] Dr. Cheyne says, in a note on p. 52 of _Job and Solomon_, "Heb.
+_K's[=i]l_, the name of the foolhardy giant who strove with Jehovah. The
+Chaldeo-Assyrian astrology gave the name _Kisiluv_ to the ninth month,
+connecting it with the zodiacal sign Sagittarius. But there are valid
+reasons for attaching the Hebrew popular myth to Orion." So Col. Conder,
+in p. 179 of _The Hittites and their Language_, translates the name of
+the Assyrian ninth month, _Cisleu_, as "giant." Now Sagittarius is in
+the heavens just opposite to Orion, so when in the ninth month the sun
+was in conjunction with Sagittarius, Orion was in opposition. In
+_Cisleu_, therefore, the giant, Orion, was riding the heavens all night,
+occupying the chamber of the south at midnight, so that the ninth month
+might well be called the month of the giant.
+
+[241:1] Dr. L. W. King, _Tablets of Creation_, appendix iii. p. 208.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+MAZZAROTH
+
+
+We have no assistance from any cuneiform inscriptions as to the
+astronomical significance of _`Ayish_, _K[=i]mah_, and _K[)e]s[=i]l_,
+but the case is different when we come to _Mazzaroth_. In the fifth
+tablet of the Babylonian Creation epic we read--
+
+ "1. He (Marduk) made the stations for the great gods;
+ 2. The stars, their images, as the stars of the zodiac, he fixed.
+ 3. He ordained the year, and into sections (_mizr[=a]ta_) he
+ divided it;
+ 4. For the twelve months he fixed three stars.
+ 5. After he had [. . .] the days of the year [. . .] images
+ 6. He founded the station of Nibir to determine their bounds;
+ 7. That none might err or go astray.
+ 8. He set the station of B[=e]l and Ea along with him."
+
+In the third line _mizr[=a]ta_, cognate with the Hebrew
+_Mazz[=a]r[=o]th_, means the sections or divisions of the year,
+corresponding to the signs of the zodiac mentioned in the second line.
+There can therefore be little doubt that the translators who gave us our
+English versions are practically correct in the rendering of Job
+xxxviii. 32 which they give in the margin, "Canst thou bring forth
+Mazzaroth (or the twelve signs) in his season?"
+
+The foregoing extract from the fifth tablet of Creation has no small
+astronomical interest. Merodach is represented as setting in order the
+heavenly bodies. First of all he allots their stations to the great
+gods, dividing to them the constellations of the zodiac, and the months
+of the year; so that the arrangement by which every month had its
+tutelary deity or deities, is here said to be his work. Next, he divides
+up the constellations of the zodiac; not merely arranging the actual
+stars, but appropriating to each constellation its special design or
+"image." Third, he divides up the year to correspond with the zodiac,
+making twelve months with three "stars" or constellations to each. In
+other words, he carries the division of the zodiac a step further, and
+divides each sign into three equal parts, the "decans" of the
+astrologers, each containing 10 deg. (_deka_) of the ecliptic.
+
+The statement made in line 4 refers to an important development of
+astronomy. The _constellations_ of the zodiac, that is, the groups made
+up of the actual stars, are very unequal in size and irregular in shape.
+The numerous theories, ancient or modern, in which the constellations
+are supposed to owe their origin to the distinctive weather of the
+successive months, each constellation figure being a sort of hieroglyph
+for its particular month, are therefore all manifestly erroneous, for
+there never could have been any real fixed or steady correlation between
+the constellations and the months. Similarly, the theories which claim
+that the ancient names for the months were derived from the
+constellations are equally untenable. Some writers have even held both
+classes of theory, overlooking the fact that they mutually contradict
+each other.
+
+But there came a time when the inconvenience of the unequal division of
+the zodiac by the constellations was felt to be an evil, and it was
+remedied by dividing the ecliptic into twelve equal parts, each part
+being called after the constellation with which it corresponded most
+nearly at the time such division was made. These equal divisions have
+been called the _Signs_ of the zodiac. It must be clearly understood
+that they have always and at all times been imaginary divisions of the
+heavens, that they were never associated with real stars. They were
+simply a picturesque mode of expressing celestial longitude; the
+distance of a star from the place of the sun at the spring equinox, as
+measured along the ecliptic,--the sun's apparent path during the year.
+
+The Signs once arranged, the next step was an easy one. Each sign was
+equivalent to 30 degrees of longitude. A third of a sign, a "decan," was
+10 degrees of longitude, corresponding to the "week" of ten days used in
+Egypt and in Greece.
+
+This change from the constellations to the Signs cannot have taken place
+very early. The place of the spring equinox travels backwards amongst
+the stars at the rate of very little more than a degree in 72 years.
+When the change was made the spring equinox was somewhere in the
+constellation _Aries_, the Ram, and therefore Aries was then adopted as
+the first Sign, and must always remain such, since the Signs move
+amongst the stars with the equinox.
+
+[Illustration: POSITION OF SPRING EQUINOX, B.C. 2700.]
+
+We cannot fix when this change was made within a few years, but it
+cannot have been _before_ the time when the sun at the spring equinox
+was situated just below _Hamal_, the brightest star of the Ram. This was
+about 700 B.C. The equal division of the zodiac must have taken place
+not earlier than this, and with it, the Bull must have been deposed from
+the position it had always held up to that time, of leader of the
+zodiac. It is probable that some direct method of determining the
+equinox itself was introduced much about the same time. This new system
+involved nothing short of a revolution in astronomy, but the Babylonian
+Creation story implies that this revolution had already taken place
+when it was composed, and that the equal division of the zodiac was
+already in force. It is possible that the sixth and seventh lines of the
+poem indicate that the Babylonians had already noticed a peculiar fact,
+viz. that just as the moon passes through all the signs in a month,
+whilst the sun passes through only one sign in that time; so the sun
+passes through all the signs in a year, whilst Jupiter passes through
+but one sign. _Nibir_ was the special Babylonian name of the planet
+Jupiter when on the meridian; and Merodach, as the deity of that planet,
+is thus represented as pacing out the bounds of the zodiacal Signs by
+his movement in the course of the year. The planet also marks out the
+third part of a sign, _i. e._ ten degrees; for during one-third of each
+year it appears to retrograde, moving from east to west amongst the
+stars instead of from west to east. During this retrogression it covers
+the breadth of one "decan" = ten degrees.
+
+[Illustration: POSITION OF SPRING EQUINOX, A.D. 1900.]
+
+The Babylonian Creation epic is therefore quite late, for it introduces
+astronomical ideas not current earlier than 700 B.C. in Babylonia or
+anywhere else. This new development of astronomy enables us also to
+roughly date the origin of the different orders of systematic astrology.
+
+Astrology, like astronomy, has passed through successive stages. It
+began at zero. An unexpected event in the heavens was accounted
+portentous, because it was unexpected, and it was interpreted in a good
+or bad sense according to the state of mind of the beholder. There can
+have been at first no system, no order, no linking up of one specific
+kind of prediction with one kind of astronomical event. It can have been
+originally nothing but a crude jumble of omens, just on a level with the
+superstitions of some of our peasantry as to seeing hares, or cats, or
+magpies; and the earliest astrological tablets from Mesopotamia are
+precisely of this character.
+
+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 bodies, and hence for which
+the astrologer could not be held personally responsible, and at the same
+time elastic enough to enable him to shape his prediction to fit in with
+his patron's wishes. The astrology of to-day shows the same essential
+features.
+
+This necessity explains the early Babylonian tablets with catalogues of
+eclipses on all days of the month, and in all quarters of the sky. The
+great majority of the eclipses could never happen, but they could be,
+none-the-less, made use of by a court magician. If an eclipse of the sun
+took place on the 29th day and in the south, he could always point out
+how exceedingly unpleasant things might have been for the king and the
+country if he, the magician, had not by his diligence, prevented its
+happening, say, on the 20th, and in the north. A Zulu witch-doctor is
+quite equal to analogous subterfuges to-day, and no doubt his Babylonian
+congeners were not less ingenious 3,000 years ago. Such subterfuges were
+not always successful when a Chaka or a Nebuchadnezzar had to be dealt
+with, but with kings of a more ordinary type either in Zululand or
+Mesopotamia they would answer well enough.
+
+Coming down to times when astronomy had so far advanced that a catalogue
+of the stars had been drawn up, with their positions determined by
+actual measurement, it became possible for astrologers to draw up
+something like a definite system of prediction, based upon the
+constellations or parts of a constellation that happened to be rising at
+any given moment, and this was the system employed when Zeuchros of
+Babylon wrote in the first century of our era. His system must have been
+started later than 700 B.C., for in it Aries is considered as the leader
+of the zodiac; the constellations are already disestablished in favour
+of the Signs; and the Signs are each divided into three. 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 earlier. The field for
+prediction therefore was very limited and repeated itself too much for
+the purpose of fortune-tellers.
+
+The introduction of the planets into astrology gave a greater diversity
+to the material used by the fortune-tellers. 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 week. It has been already shown in the
+chapter on "Saturn and Astrology," that this system arose from the
+Ptolemaic idea of the solar system grafted on the Egyptian division of
+the day into twenty-four hours, and applied to the week of seven days.
+It probably originated in Alexandria, and arose not earlier than the
+third century before our era. 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 Hipparchus. It also employs the purely
+imaginary signs of the zodiac, not the constellations; and reckons the
+first point of Aries as at the spring equinox. So far as we can
+ascertain, the spring equinox marked the first point of the
+constellation Aries about B.C. 110.
+
+All these varied forms of astrology are therefore comparatively recent.
+Before that it was of course reckoned ominous if an eclipse took place,
+or a comet was seen, or a bright planet came near the moon, just as
+spilling salt or crossing knives may be reckoned ominous to-day. The
+omens had as little to do with observation, or with anything that could
+be called scientific, in the one case as in the other.
+
+It is important to realize that astrology, as anything more than the
+crude observance of omens, is younger than astronomy by at least 2,000
+years.
+
+_Mazz[=a]r[=o]th_ occurs only once in the Bible, viz. in Job xxxviii.
+32, already so often quoted, but a similar word _Mazz[=a]l[=o]th_ occurs
+in 2 Kings xxiii. 5, where it is said that Josiah put down the
+idolatrous priests, "them also that burned incense unto Baal, to the
+sun, and to the moon, and to the planets (_Mazz[=a]l[=o]th_), and to all
+the host of heaven." The context itself, as well as the parallel passage
+in Deuteronomy--"When thou seest the sun, and the moon, and the stars,
+even all the host of heaven, shouldst be driven to worship them,"--shows
+clearly that celestial luminaries of some kind are intended, probably
+certain groups of stars, distinguished from the general "host of
+heaven."
+
+Comparing Job ix. 9, with Job xxxviii. 31, 32, we find _`Ash_, or
+_`Ayish_, _K[=i]mah_ and _K[)e]sil_ common to the two passages; if we
+take _`Ash_ and _`Ayish_ as identical, this leaves the "chambers of the
+south" as the equivalent of _Mazzaroth_. The same expression occurs in
+the singular in Job xxxvii. 9--"Out of the south (_marg._ chamber)
+cometh the whirlwind." There need be but little question as to the
+significance of these various passages. The correspondence of the word
+_Mazz[=a]r[=o]th_ with the Babylonian _mizr[=a]t[=a]_, the "divisions"
+of the year, answering to the twelve signs of the zodiac, points in
+exactly the same direction as the correspondence in idea which is
+evident between the "chambers of the south" and the Arabic _Al
+man[=a]zil_, "the mansions" or "resting-places" of the moon in the lunar
+zodiac.
+
+Mazzaroth are therefore the "divisions" of the zodiac, the "chambers"
+through which the sun successively passes in the course of the year, his
+"resting-place" for a month. They are "the chambers of the south," since
+that is their distinctive position. In Palestine, the sun, even at
+rising or setting at midsummer, passes but little to the north of east
+or west. Roughly speaking, the "south" is the sun's quarter, and
+therefore it is necessarily the quarter of the constellation in which
+the sun is placed.
+
+It has been made an objection to this identification that the Israelites
+are said to have worshipped _Mazz[=a]l[=o]th_, and we have no direct
+evidence that the signs or constellations of the zodiac were worshipped
+as such. But this is to make a distinction that is hardly warranted. The
+Creation tablets, as we have seen, distinctly record the allocation of
+the great gods to the various signs, Merodach himself being one of the
+three deities associated with the month Adar, just as in Egypt a god
+presided over each one of the thirty-six decades of the year.
+
+Again, it is probable that the "golden calf," worshipped by the
+Israelites in the wilderness, and, after the disruption, at Bethel and
+at Dan, was none other than an attempt to worship Jehovah under the
+symbol of Taurus, the leader of the zodiac and cognizance of the tribe
+of Joseph; regarded as a type of Him Who had been the Leader of the
+people out of Egypt, and the Giver of the blessings associated with the
+return of the sun to Taurus, the revival of nature in spring-time. It
+was intended as a worship of Jehovah; it was in reality dire rebellion
+against Him, and a beginning of the worship of "_Mazz[=a]l[=o]th_ and
+the heavenly host;" an idolatry that was bound to bring other idolatries
+in its train.
+
+A three-fold symbol found continually on Babylonian monuments, "the
+triad of stars," undoubtedly at one time set forth Sin, the moon-god,
+Samas, the sun-god, and I[vs]tar, in this connection possibly the planet
+Venus. It has therefore been suggested by Prof. Schiaparelli that
+_Mazz[=a]l[=o]th_ is the planet Venus; and, since the word is plural in
+form, Venus in her double capacity;--sometimes an evening, sometimes a
+morning star. The sun and the moon and _Mazz[=a]l[=o]th_ would then set
+forth the three brightest luminaries, whilst the general congress of
+stars would be represented by the "host of heaven." But though Venus is
+sometimes the brightest of the planets, she is essentially of the same
+order as Jupiter or Mars, and is not of the same order as the sun and
+moon, with whom, on this supposition, she is singled out to be ranked.
+Moreover, if I[vs]tar or Ashtoreth were intended in this passage, it
+does not appear why she should not be expressly named as such;
+especially as Baal, so often coupled with her, is named. The "triad of
+stars," too, had originally quite a different meaning, as will be seen
+later.
+
+Moreover, the parallelism between Job ix. and Job xxxviii. is destroyed
+by this rendering, since the planet Venus could not be described as "the
+chambers of the south." These are therefore referred by Professor
+Schiaparelli to the glorious mass of stars in the far south, shining in
+the constellations that set forth the Deluge story,--the Ship, and the
+Centaur, much the most brilliant region of the whole sky.
+
+Another interpretation of _Mazzaroth_ is given by Dr. Cheyne, on grounds
+that refute Professor Schiaparelli's suggestion, but it is itself open
+to objection from an astronomical point of view. He writes--
+
+ "_Mazzaroth_ is probably not to be identified with _Mazzaloth_
+ (2 Kings xxiii. 5) in spite of the authority of the Sept. and
+ the Targum. . . . _Mazzaroth_ = Ass. _Mazarati_; _Mazzaloth_
+ (i.e. the zodiacal signs) seems to be the plural of
+ _Mazz[=a]la_ = Ass. _Manzaltu_, station."[254:1]
+
+Dr. Cheyne therefore renders the passage thus--
+
+ "Dost thou bring forth the moon's watches at their season,
+ And the Bear and her offspring--dost thou guide them?
+ Knowest thou the laws of heaven?
+ Dost thou determine its influence upon the earth?"
+
+_Mazzaloth_ are therefore "the zodiacal signs," but _Mazzaroth_ "the
+watches or stations of the moon, which marked the progress of the
+month;"[254:2] or, in other words, the lunar zodiac.
+
+But the lunar and the solar zodiac are only different ways of dividing
+the same belt of stars. Consequently when, as in the passage before us,
+reference is made to the actual belt of stars as a whole, there is no
+difference between the two. So that we are obliged, as before, to
+consider _Mazzaroth_ and _Mazzaloth_ as identical, and both as setting
+forth the stars of the zodiac.
+
+So far as the two zodiacs differ, it is the solar and not the lunar
+zodiac that is intended. This is evident when we consider the different
+natures of the apparent motions of the sun and the moon. The sun passes
+through a twelfth part of the zodiac each month, and month by month the
+successive constellations of the zodiac are brought out, each in its own
+season; each having a period during which it rises at sunset, is visible
+the whole night, and sets at sunrise. The solar _Mazzaroth_ are
+therefore emphatically brought out, each "in its season." Not so the
+lunar _Mazzaroth_.
+
+The expression, "the watches or stations of the moon which marked the
+progress of the month," is unsuitable when astronomically considered.
+"Watches" refer strictly to divisions of the day and night; the
+"stations" of the moon refer to the twenty-seven or twenty-eight
+divisions of the lunar zodiac; the "progress of the month" refers to the
+complete sequence of the lunar phases. These are three entirely
+different matters, and Dr. Cheyne has confused them. The progress of the
+moon through its complete series of stations is accomplished in a
+siderial month--that is, twenty-seven days eight hours, but from the
+nature of the case it cannot be said that these "stations" are brought
+out each in his season, in that time, as a month makes but a small
+change in the aspect of the sky. The moon passes through the complete
+succession of its phases in the course of a synodical month, which is in
+the mean twenty-nine days, thirteen hours--that is to say from new to
+new, or full to full--but no particular star, or constellation, or
+"station" has any fixed relation to any one given phase of the moon. In
+the course of some four or five years the moon will have been both new
+and full in every one of the "lunar stations."
+
+ "Knowest thou the ordinances of heaven?
+ Canst thou set the dominion thereof in the earth?"
+
+He, who has lived out under the stars, in contact with the actual
+workings of nature, knows what it is to watch "Mazzaroth" brought "out
+in his season;" the silent return to the skies of the constellations,
+month by month, simultaneous with the changes on the face of the earth.
+Overhead, the glorious procession, so regular and unfaltering, of the
+silent, unapproachable stars: below, in unfailing answer, the succession
+of spring and summer, autumn and winter, seedtime and harvest, cold and
+heat, rain and drought. If there be but eyes to see, this majestic
+Order, so smooth in working, so magnificent in scale, will impress the
+most stolid as the immediate acting of God; and the beholder will feel
+at the same a reverent awe, and an uplifting of the spirit as he sees
+the action of "the ordinances of heaven," and the evidence of "the
+dominion thereof in the earth."
+
+Dr. Cheyne, however, only sees in these beautiful and appropriate lines
+the influence upon the sacred writer of "the physical theology of
+Babylonia";[256:1] in other words, its idolatrous astrology, "the
+influence of the sky upon the earth."
+
+But what would Job understand by the question, "Canst thou bring forth
+Mazz[=a]r[=o]th in his season?" Just this: "Canst thou so move the
+great celestial sphere that the varied constellations of the zodiac
+shall come into view, each in their turn, and with them the earth pass
+through its proper successive seasons?" The question therefore embraced
+and was an extension of the two that preceded it. "Canst thou bind the
+sweet influences of the Pleiades? Canst thou prevent the revival of all
+the forces of nature in the springtime?" and "Canst thou loose the bands
+of Orion; canst thou free the ground from the numbing frosts of winter?"
+
+The question to us would not greatly differ in its meaning, except that
+we should better understand the mechanism underlying the phenomena. The
+question would mean, "Canst thou move this vast globe of the earth,
+weighing six thousand million times a million million tons, continually
+in its orbit, more than 580 millions of miles in circuit, with a speed
+of nearly nineteen miles in every second of time, thus bringing into
+view different constellations at different times of the year, and
+presenting the various zones of the earth in different aspects to the
+sun's light and heat?" To us, as to Job, the question would come as:
+
+ "Knowest thou the ordinances of heaven?
+ Canst thou set the dominion thereof in the earth?"
+
+It is going beyond astronomy, yet it may be permitted to an astronomer,
+to refer for comparison to a parallel thought, not couched in the form
+of a question, but in the form of a prayer:
+
+ "Thy will be done,
+ As in heaven, so in earth."
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[254:1] Rev. T. K. Cheyne, M.A., _Job and Solomon_, p. 290.
+
+[254:2] _Ibid._, p. 52.
+
+[256:1] Rev. T. K. Cheyne, M.A., _Job and Solomon_, p. 52.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+ARCTURUS
+
+
+In two passages of the Book of Job a word, _`Ash_ or _`Ayish_, is used,
+by context evidently one of the constellations of the sky, but the
+identification of which is doubtful. In our Authorized Version the first
+passage is rendered thus:--
+
+ (God) "Which maketh Arcturus (_`Ash_), Orion, and Pleiades,
+ and the chambers of the south";
+
+and the second:--
+
+ "Canst thou bind the sweet influences of Pleiades,
+ Or loose the bands of Orion?
+ Canst thou bring forth Mazzaroth in his season?
+ Or canst thou guide Arcturus (_`Ayish_) with his sons?
+ Knowest thou the ordinances of heaven?
+ Canst thou set the dominion thereof in the earth?"
+
+The words (or word, for possibly _`Ayish_ is no more than a variant of
+_`Ash_) here translated "Arcturus" were rendered by the "Seventy" as
+"Arktouros" in the first passage; as "Hesperos" in the second passage;
+and their rendering was followed by the Vulgate. The rendering Hesper or
+Vesper is absurd, as "the sons" of Hesper has no meaning. "Arktouros"
+is not improbably a misrendering of "Arktos," "the north," which would
+give a free but not a literal translation of the meaning of the passage.
+In another passage from Job (xxxvii. 9) where the south wind is
+contrasted with the cold from another quarter of the sky, the
+"Seventy"--again followed by the Vulgate--rendered it as "cold from
+Arcturus." Now cold came to the Jews, as it does to us, from the north,
+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 made. The Peschitta, the Syriac version of the Bible, made
+about the second century after Christ, gives as the Syriac equivalent
+for `Ash, or `Ayish, the word _`iy[=u]th[=a]_, but it also renders
+_K[)e]s[=i]l_ by the same word in Amos v. 8, so that the translators
+were evidently quite at sea as to the identity of these constellations.
+We are also in doubt as to what star or constellation the Syrians meant
+by _`Iy[=u]th[=a]_, and apparently they were in some doubt themselves,
+for in the Talmud we are told that there was a disputation, held in the
+presence of the great teacher Rabbi Jehuda, about 150 years after
+Christ, whether _`Iy[=u]th[=a]_ was situated in the head of the Bull, or
+in the tail of the Ram. Oriental scholars now assign it either to
+Aldebaran in the head of the Bull, the "sons" being in this case the
+other members of the Hyades group of which Aldebaran is the brightest
+star; or else identifying it with the Arabic _el-`aiy[=u]q_, the name of
+the star which the Greeks call _Aix_, and we call Capella, the "sons" on
+this inference being the three small stars near, called by the Greeks
+and by ourselves the "Kids." The word _`Ash_ is used several times in
+Scripture, but without any astronomical signification, and is there
+rendered "moth," as in Isaiah, where it says--
+
+ "Lo, they all shall wax old as a garment; the moth (_`Ash_)
+ shall eat them up."
+
+This literal significance of the word does not help, as we know of no
+constellation figured as a "moth" or bearing any resemblance to one.
+
+But the word _`ash_, or _`ayish_ does not differ importantly from the
+word _na`sh_, in Hebrew "assembly," in Arabic "bier," 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 Bear; those which form the body
+of the Plough. Moreover, the three stars which form the "tail" of the
+Great Bear, or the "handle" of the Plough have been called by the Arabs
+_ben[=a]t na`sh_, "the daughters of na`sh." The Bear is the great
+northern constellation, which swings constantly round the pole, always
+visible throughout the changing seasons of the year. There should be no
+hesitation then in accepting the opinion of the Rabbi, Aben Ezra, who
+saw in _`Ash_, or _`Ayish_ the quadrilateral of the great Bear, whose
+four points are marked by the bright stars, Alpha, Beta, Gamma and
+Delta, and in the "sons" of _`Ayish_, the three stars, Epsilon, Zeta,
+and Eta. Our Revised Version therefore renders the word as "Bear."
+
+In both passages of Job, then, we get the four quarters of the sky
+marked out as being under the dominion of the Lord. In the ninth chapter
+they are given in the order--
+
+ The Bear, which is in the North;
+
+ Orion, in its acronical rising, with the sun setting in the
+ West;
+
+ The Pleiades, in their heliacal rising, with the sun rising in
+ the East;
+
+ And the Chambers of the South.
+
+In the later passage they are given with fuller illustration, and in the
+order--
+
+ The Pleiades, whose "sweet influences" are given by their
+ heliacal rising in spring time, with the sun rising in the
+ East;
+
+ Orion, whose "bands" are those of winter, heralded by his
+ acronical rising with the sun setting in the West;
+
+ Mazzaroth, the constellations of the zodiac corresponding to
+ the Chambers of the South, which the sun occupies each in its
+ "season."
+
+ The Bear with its "sons," who, always visible, are unceasingly
+ guided round the pole in the North.
+
+The parallelism in the two passages in Job gives us the right to argue
+that _`Ash_ and _`Ayish_ refer to the same constellation, and are
+variants of the same name; possibly their vocalization was the same, and
+they are but two divergent ways of writing the word. We must therefore
+reject Prof. Schiaparelli's suggestion made on the authority of the
+Peschitta version of the Scriptures and of Rabbi Jehuda, who lived in
+the second century A.D., that _`Ash_ is _`Iy[=u]th[=a]_ which is
+Aldebaran, but that _`Ayish_ and his "sons" may be Capella and her
+"Kids."
+
+Equally we must reject Prof. Stern's argument that _K[=i]mah_ is Sirius,
+_K[)e]s[=i]l_ is Orion, _Mazz[=a]r[=o]th_ is the Hyades and _`Ayish_ is
+the Pleiades. He bases his argument on the order in which these names
+are given in the second passage of Job, and on the contention of
+Otfried Mueller 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
+Greeks. These groups follow one after the other in a belt in the sky in
+the order just given, and their risings and settings were important
+factors in the old Greek meteorological and agricultural calendars.
+Prof. Stern assumes that _k[)e]s[=i]l_ means Orion, and from this
+identification deduces the others, neglecting all etymological or
+traditional evidences to the contrary. He takes no notice of the
+employment of the same names in passages of Scripture other than that in
+the thirty-eighth chapter of Job. Here he would interpret the "chain,"
+or "sweet influences" of _K[=i]mah_ = "Sirius the dog," by assuming that
+the Jews considered that the dog was mad, and hence was kept chained up.
+More important still, he fails to recognize that the Jews had a
+continental climate in a different latitude from the insular climate of
+Greece, and that both their agricultural and their weather conditions
+were different, and would be associated with different astronomical
+indications.
+
+In the 9th verse of the 37th chapter of Job we get an antithesis which
+has already been referred to--
+
+ "Out of the south cometh the whirlwind: and cold out of the
+ north."
+
+The Hebrew word here translated "north" is _mezar[=i]m_, a plural word
+which is taken literally to mean "the scatterings." For its
+interpretation Prof. Schiaparelli makes a very plausible suggestion. He
+says, "We may first observe that the five Hebrew letters with which this
+name was written in the original unpointed text could equally well be
+read, with a somewhat different pointing, as _mizrim_, or also as
+_mizrayim_, of which the one is the plural, the other the dual, of
+_mizreh_. Now _mizreh_ means a winnowing-fan, the instrument with which
+grain is scattered in the air to sift it; and it has its root, like
+_mezarim_, in the word _zarah_, . . . which, besides the sense
+_dispersit_, bears also the sense _expandit_, _ventilavit_."[263:1]
+
+[Illustration: STARS OF THE PLOUGH, AS THE WINNOWING FAN.]
+
+If Prof. Schiaparelli is correct in his supposition, then the word
+translated "north" in our versions is literally the "two winnowing
+fans," names which from the form suggested by the stars we may suppose
+that the Jews gave to the two Bears in the sky, just as the Chinese
+called them the "Ladles," and the Americans call them the "Big Dipper"
+and the "Little Dipper." The sense is still that of the north, but we
+may recognize in the word employed another Jewish name of the
+constellation, alternative with _`Ash_ or _`Ayish_, or perhaps used in
+order to include in the region the Lesser as well as the Greater Bear.
+We should not be surprised at finding an alternative name for this great
+northern constellation, for we ourselves call it by several different
+appellations, using them indiscriminately, perhaps even in the course of
+a single paragraph.
+
+What to Job did the question mean which the Lord addressed to him:
+"Canst thou guide the Bear and his sons?" To Job it meant, "Canst thou
+guide this great constellation of stars in the north, in their unceasing
+round, as a charioteer guides his horses in a wide circle, each keeping
+to his proper ring, none entangling himself with another, nor falling
+out of his place?"
+
+What would the same question mean to us, if addressed to us to-day? In
+the first place we might put it shortly as "Canst thou turn the earth on
+its axis regularly and continuously, so as to produce this motion of the
+stars round the pole, and to make day and night?" But modern astronomy
+can ask the question in a deeper and a wider sense.
+
+It was an ancient idea that the stars were fixed in a crystal sphere,
+and that they could not alter their relative positions; and indeed until
+the last century or two, instruments were not delicate enough to measure
+the small relative shift that stars make. It is within the last seventy
+years that we have been able to measure the "annual parallax" of certain
+stars,--that is, 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 sun. Besides their yearly shift due to "annual parallax," most
+stars have a "proper" or "peculiar motion" of their own, which is in
+most cases a very small amount indeed, but can be determined more easily
+than "annual parallax" because its effect accumulates year after year.
+If, therefore, we are able to observe a star over a period of fifty, or
+a hundred or more years, it may seem to have moved quite an appreciable
+amount when examined by the powerful and delicate instruments that we
+have now at our disposal. Observations of the exact positions of stars
+have been made ever since the founding of Greenwich Observatory, so that
+now we have catalogues giving the "proper motions" of several hundreds
+of stars. When these are examined it is seen that some groups of stars
+move in fellowship together through space, having the same direction,
+and moving at the same rate, and of these companies the most striking
+are the stars of the Plough, that is _`Ayish_ and his sons. Not all the
+stars move together; out of the seven, the first and the last have a
+different direction, but the other five show a striking similarity in
+their paths. And not only are their directions of movement, and the
+amounts of it, the same for the five stars, 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 second, that is to
+say with much the same speed as the earth moves in her orbit round the
+sun. Another indication of their "family likeness" is that all their
+spectra are similar. A German astronomer, Dr. Hoeffler, has found for
+this system a distance from us so great that it would take light 192
+years to travel from them to us. Yet so vast is this company of five
+stars that it would take light seventy years, travelling at the rate of
+186,000 miles in every second of time to go from the leading star,
+_Merak_--Beta of the Bear--to _Mizar_--Zeta of the Bear--the final
+brilliant of the five. So bright and great are these suns that they
+shine to us as gems of the second magnitude, and yet if our sun were
+placed amongst them at their distance from us he would be invisible to
+the keenest sight.
+
+Dr. Hoeffler's estimate may be an exaggerated one, but it still remains
+true that whilst the cluster of the Pleiades forms a great and wonderful
+family group, it is dwarfed into insignificance by the vast distances
+between these five stars of the Great Bear. Yet these also form one
+family, though they are united by no nebulous bands, and are at
+distances so great from each other that the bonds of gravitation must
+cease to show their influence; yet all are alike, all are marshalled
+together in their march under some mysterious law. We cannot answer the
+question, "By what means are _`Ayish_ and his sons guided?" much more
+are we speechless when we are asked, "Canst thou guide them?"
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[263:1] _Astronomy in the Old Testament_, p. 69.
+
+
+[Illustration: "BLOW UP THE TRUMPET IN THE NEW MOON."]
+
+
+
+
+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 axis. This
+difference arises through the difficulty of perceiving or identifying
+any markings on her brilliantly lighted surface. She is probably
+continually cloud-covered, and the movements of the very faint shadings
+that are sometimes seen upon her have been differently interpreted. The
+older observers concurred in giving her a rotation period of 23{h}
+21{m}, which is not very different from that of the earth. Many
+astronomers, amongst them Schiaparelli, assign a rotation period of 225
+days, that is to say the same period as that in which she goes round the
+sun in her orbit. The axis on which she rotates is almost certainly at
+right angles to the plane in which she moves round the sun, and she has
+no moon.
+
+We do not know if the planet is inhabited by intelligent beings, but
+assuming the existence of such, it will be instructive to inquire as to
+the conditions under which they must live if this view be correct, and
+the rotation period of Venus, and her revolution period be the same.
+
+Venus would then always turn the same face to the sun, just as our moon
+always turns the same face to us and so never appears to turn round.
+Venus would therefore have no "days," for on her one hemisphere there
+would be eternal light, and on the other eternal darkness. Since she has
+no moon, she has no "month." Since she moves round the sun in a circle,
+and the axis through her north and south poles lies at right angles to
+her ecliptic, she has no "seasons," she can have no "year." On her
+daylight side, the sun remains fixed in one spot in the sky, so long as
+the observer does not leave his locality; it hangs overhead, or near
+some horizon, north, south, east, or west, continually. There are no
+"hours," therefore no divisions of time, it might be almost said no
+"time" itself. There are no points of the compass even, no north, south,
+east or west, no directions except towards the place where the sun is
+overhead or away from it. There could be no history in the sense we know
+it, for there would be no natural means of dating. "Time" must there be
+artificial, uncertain and arbitrary.
+
+On the night side of Venus, if her men can see the stars at all for
+cloud, they would perceive the slow procession of stars coming out, for
+Venus turns continually to the heavens--though not to the sun.
+_Mazzaroth_ would still be brought out in his season, but there would be
+no answering change on Venus. Her men might still know the ordinances of
+heaven, but they could not know the dominion thereof set upon their
+earth.
+
+This imaginary picture of the state of our sister planet may illustrate
+the fourteenth verse of the first chapter of Genesis:--
+
+ "And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the
+ heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for
+ signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years."
+
+The making of the calendar is in all nations an astronomical problem: it
+is the movements of the various heavenly bodies that give to us our most
+natural divisions of time. We are told in Deuteronomy:--
+
+ "The sun, and the moon, and the stars, even all the host of
+ heaven, . . . the Lord thy God hath divided unto all nations
+ under the whole heaven."
+
+This is the legitimate use of the heavenly bodies, just as the worship
+of them is their abuse, for the division of time--in other words, the
+formation of a calendar--is a necessity. But as there are many heavenly
+bodies and several natural divisions of time, the calendars in use by
+different peoples differ considerably. One division, however, is common
+to all calendars--the day.
+
+The "day" is the first and shortest natural division of time. At present
+we recognize three kinds of "days"--_the sidereal day_, which is the
+interval of time between successive passages of a fixed star over a
+given meridian; _the apparent solar day_, which is the interval between
+two passages of the sun's centre over a given meridian, or the interval
+between two successive noons on a sundial; and _the mean solar day_,
+which is the interval between the successive passages of a fictitious
+sun moving uniformly eastward in the celestial equator, and completing
+its annual course in exactly the same time as that in which the actual
+sun makes the circuit of the ecliptic. The mean solar days are all
+exactly the same length; they are equal to the length of the average
+apparent solar day; and they are each four minutes longer than a
+sidereal day. We divide our days into 24 hours; each hour into 60
+minutes; each minute into 60 seconds. This subdivision of the day
+requires some mechanical means of continually registering time, and for
+this purpose we use clocks and watches.
+
+The sidereal day and the mean solar day necessitate some means of
+registering time, such as clocks; therefore the original day in use must
+have been the apparent solar day. It must then have been reckoned either
+from sunset to sunset, or from sunrise to sunrise. Later it might have
+been possible to reckon it from noon to noon, when some method of fixing
+the moment of noon had been invented; some method, that is to say, of
+fixing the true north and south, and of noting that the sun was due
+south, or the shadow due north. Our own reckoning from midnight to
+midnight is a late method. Midnight is not marked by the peculiar
+position of any visible heavenly body; it has, in general, to be
+registered by some mechanical time-measurer.
+
+In the Old Testament Scriptures the ecclesiastical reckoning was always
+from one setting of the sun to the next. In the first chapter of Genesis
+the expressions for the days run, "The evening and the morning," as if
+the evening took precedence of the morning. When the Passover was
+instituted as a memorial feast, the command ran--
+
+ "In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at
+ even, ye shall eat unleavened bread, until the one and
+ twentieth day of the month at even. Seven days shall there be
+ no leaven."
+
+And again, for the sabbath of rest in the seventh month--
+
+ "In the ninth day of the month at even, from even unto even,
+ shall ye celebrate your sabbath."
+
+The ecclesiastical "day" of the Jews, therefore, began in the evening,
+with sunset. It does not by any means follow that their civil day began
+at this time. 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 evening. Naturally any allusion in the
+Scriptures to the civil calendar as apart from the ecclesiastical would
+be indirect, 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 night," "day or night" are employed, and only three where "night"
+comes before "day." We have a similar divergence of usage in the case of
+our civil and astronomical days; the first beginning at midnight, and
+the second at the following noon, since the daylight is the time for
+work in ordinary business life, but the night for the astronomers. The
+Babylonians, at least at a late date in their history, had also a
+twofold way of determining when the day began. Epping and Strassmaier
+have translated and elucidated a series of Babylonian lunar calendars of
+dates between the first and second centuries before our era. In one
+column of these was given the interval of time which elapsed between the
+true new moon and the first visible crescent.
+
+ "Curious to relate, at first all Father Epping's calculations
+ to establish this result were out by a mean interval of six
+ hours. 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 calculations, as indeed they ought
+ not to have been, but used as the origin of the astronomical
+ day at Babylon the midnight which followed the setting of the
+ sun, marking the beginning of the civil day."
+
+It may be mentioned that the days as reckoned from sunset to sunset,
+sunrise to sunrise, and noon to noon, would give intervals of slightly
+different lengths. This would, however, be imperceptible so long as
+their lengths were not measured by some accurate mechanical
+time-measurer such as a clepsydra, sandglass, pendulum, or spring clock.
+
+The first obvious and natural division of the whole day-interval is into
+the light part and the dark part. As we have seen in Genesis, the
+evening and the morning are the day. Since Palestine is a sub-tropical
+country, these would never differ very greatly in length, even at
+midsummer or midwinter.
+
+The next subdivision, of the light part of the day, is into morning,
+noon and evening. As David says in the fifty-fifth Psalm--
+
+ "Evening, and morning, and at noon, will I pray."
+
+None of these three subdivisions were marked out definitely in their
+beginning or their ending, but each contained a definite epoch. Morning
+contained the moment at which the sun rose; noon the moment at which he
+was at his greatest height, and was at the same time due south; evening
+contained the moment at which the sun set.
+
+In the early Scriptures of the Old Testament, the further divisions of
+the morning and the evening are still natural ones.
+
+For the progress of the morning we have, first, the twilight, as in
+Job--
+
+ "Let the stars of the twilight thereof be dark;
+ Let it look for light but have none;
+ Neither let it see the eyelids of the morning."
+
+Then, daybreak, as in the Song of Solomon--
+
+ "Until the day break (literally, breathe) and the shadows flee
+ away,"
+
+where the reference is to the cool breezes of twilight. So too in
+Genesis, in Joshua, in the Judges and in Samuel, we find references to
+the "break of day" (literally, the rising of the morning, or when it
+became light to them) and "the dawning of the day" or "about the spring
+of the day."
+
+The progress of the morning is marked by the increasing heat; thus as
+"the sun waxed hot," the manna melted; whilst Saul promised to let the
+men of Jabesh-Gilead have help "by that time the sun be hot," or, as we
+should put it, about the middle of the morning.
+
+Noon is often mentioned. Ish-bosheth was murdered as he "lay on a bed at
+noon," and Jezebel's prophets "called on the name of Baal from morning
+even unto noon."
+
+We find the "afternoon" (lit. "till the day declined") mentioned in the
+nineteenth chapter of the Judges, and in the same chapter this period is
+further described in "The day draweth toward evening (lit. is weak),"
+and "The day groweth to an end" (lit. "It is the pitching time of the
+day," that is to say, the time for pitching tents, in preparation for
+the nightly halt).
+
+As there was no dividing line between the morning and noontide, neither
+was there any between the afternoon and evening. The shadows of the
+night were spoken of as chased away by the cool breezes of the morning,
+so the lengthening shadows cast by the declining sun marked the progress
+of the evening. Job speaks of the servant who "earnestly desireth the
+shadow;" that is to say, the intimation, from the length of his own
+shadow, that his day's work was done; and Jeremiah says, "The shadows of
+the evening are stretched out." Then came sundown, and the remaining
+part of the evening is described in Proverbs: "In the twilight, in the
+evening, in the black and dark night."
+
+In a country like Palestine, near the tropics, with the days not
+differing extravagantly in length from one part of the year to another,
+and the sun generally bright and shining, and throwing intense shadows,
+it was easy, even for the uneducated, to learn to tell the time of day
+from the length of the shadow. Here, in our northern latitude, the
+problem is a more complex one, yet we learn from the _Canterbury Tales_,
+that Englishmen in the time of the Plantagenets could read the position
+of the sun with quite sufficient accuracy for ordinary purposes. Thus
+the host of the Tabard inn, though not a learned man--
+
+ "Saw wel, that the brighte sonne
+ The ark of his artificial day had ronne
+ The fourthe part, and half an houre and more;
+ And though he was not depe experte in lore,
+ He wiste it was the eighte and twenty day
+ Of April, that is messager to May;
+ And saw wel that the shadow of every tree
+ Was as in lengthe of the same quantitee
+ That was the body erect, that caused it;
+ And therfore by the shadow he toke his wit,
+ That Phebus, which that shone so clere and bright,
+ Degrees was five and fourty clombe on hight;
+ And for that day, as in that latitude,
+ It was ten of the clok, he gan conclude."[277:1]
+
+In the latter part of the day there is an expression used several times
+in Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers "between the two evenings" which has
+given rise to much controversy. The lamb of the Passover was killed in
+this period; so also was the lamb of the first year offered daily at the
+evening sacrifice; and day by day Aaron was then commanded to light the
+seven lamps and burn incense. It is also mentioned once, in no
+connection with the evening sacrifice, when the Lord sent quails to the
+children of Israel saying, "At even (between the two evenings) ye shall
+eat flesh." In Deuteronomy, where a command is again given concerning
+the Passover, it is explained that it is "at even, at the going down of
+the sun." The Samaritans, the Karaite Jews, and Aben Ezra held "the two
+evenings" to be the interval between the sun's setting and the entrance
+of total darkness; _i. e._ between about six o'clock and seven or
+half-past seven. A graphic description of the commencement of the
+sabbath is given in Disraeli's novel of _Alroy_, and may serve to
+illustrate this, the original, idea of "between the two evenings."
+
+ "The dead were plundered, and thrown into the river, the
+ encampment of the Hebrews completed. Alroy, with his principal
+ officers, visited the wounded, and praised the valiant. 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 sabbath.
+
+ "When the sun set the sabbath was to commence. The undulating
+ horizon rendered it difficult to ascertain the precise moment
+ of his fall. The crimson orb sunk below the purple mountains,
+ the sky was flushed with a rich and rosy glow. Then might be
+ perceived the zealots, proud in their Talmudical lore, holding
+ the skein of white silk in their hands, and announcing the
+ approach of the sabbath by their observation of its shifting
+ tints. While the skein was yet golden, the forge of the
+ armourers still sounded, the fire of the cook still blazed,
+ still the cavalry led their steeds to the river, and still the
+ busy footmen braced up their tents, and hammered at their
+ palisades. The skein of silk became rosy, the armourer worked
+ with renewed energy, the cook puffed with increased zeal, the
+ horsemen scampered from the river, the footmen cast an
+ anxious glance at the fading light.
+
+ "The skein of silk became blue; a dim, dull, sepulchral,
+ leaden tinge fell over its purity. The hum of gnats arose, the
+ bat flew in circling whirls over the tents, horns sounded from
+ all quarters, the sun had set, the sabbath had commenced. The
+ forge was mute, the fire extinguished, the prance of horses
+ and the bustle of men in a moment ceased. A deep, a sudden, an
+ all-pervading stillness dropped over that mighty host. It was
+ night; the sacred lamps of the sabbath sparkled in every tent
+ of the camp, which vied in silence and in brilliancy with the
+ mute and glowing heavens."
+
+In later times, on account of ritualistic necessities, a different
+interpretation was held. So Josephus says: "So these high-priests, upon
+the coming of their feast which is called the Passover, . . . slay their
+sacrifices, from the ninth hour till the eleventh."[279:1] And the
+Talmud made the first evening to begin with the visible decline of the
+sun and the second with sunset, or "the two evenings" to last from three
+till about six. Schiaparelli gives the first evening from sunset until
+the time that the newly visible lunar crescent could be seen in the
+twilight sky, or about half an hour after sunset, and the second evening
+from that until darkness set in, basing his argument on the directions
+to Aaron to light the lamps "between the two evenings," since, he
+argues, these would not be made to burn in the daylight. Probably in the
+days of Moses and Aaron the period could not be defined as accurately as
+this would imply, as the opportunity of seeing the new moon could only
+come once a month, and we have no evidence of any mechanical
+time-measurer being then in use with them.
+
+For shorter spaces of time we have the word "moment" or "instant" many
+times mentioned. The words may mean, the opening or winking of the eye,
+"the twinkling of an eye," spoken of by St. Paul, in his Epistle to the
+Corinthians, and do not describe any actual duration of time, or
+division of the day.
+
+The only time-measurer mentioned in the Bible is the dial of Ahaz, which
+will form the subject of a later chapter. It need only be noted here
+that, as it depended upon the fall of the shadow, it was of use only
+whilst the sun was shining; not during cloudy weather, or at night.
+
+As the day had three main divisions, so had also the night. There were
+three "watches," each, like the watches on ship-board, about four hours
+in length. So in the Psalms, "the watches" are twice put as an
+equivalent for the night.
+
+The ancient Hebrews would have no difficulty in roughly dividing the
+night into three equal parts, whenever the stars could be seen. Whether
+they watched "Arcturus and his sons,"--the circumpolar constellations
+moving round like a vast dial in the north--or the bringing forth of
+Mazzaroth, the zodiacal constellations, in the south, they would soon
+learn to interpret the signs of night with sufficient accuracy for their
+purpose.
+
+The first watch of night is mentioned in the book of Lamentations.
+
+ "Arise, cry out in the night: in the beginning of the watches
+ pour out thine heart like water before the face of the Lord."
+
+It was "in the beginning of the middle watch; and they had but newly
+set the watch," that Gideon and his gallant three hundred made their
+onslaught on the host of the Midianites.
+
+It was in the third, the morning watch, that "the Lord looked unto the
+host of the Egyptians through the pillar of fire and of the cloud, and
+troubled the host of the Egyptians" as they pursued Israel into the
+midst of the Red Sea. In this watch also, Saul surprised the Ammonites
+as they besieged Jabesh-Gilead, and scattered them, "so that two of them
+were not left together."
+
+In the New Testament, the Roman method of dividing the night is adopted;
+viz. into four watches. When the disciples were crossing the Sea of
+Galilee in their little boat, and they had toiled all night in rowing
+because the wind was contrary, it was in "the fourth watch of the night"
+that Jesus came unto them.
+
+There is no mention of any mechanical time-measurer in the Old
+Testament, and in only one book is there mention in the English version
+of the word "hour." Five times it is mentioned in the Book of Daniel as
+the rendering of the Chaldean word _sha`ah_, which literally means "the
+instant of time."
+
+No mention either is made of the differing lengths of the days or nights
+throughout the year--at midsummer the day is 14-1/4 hours long, and the
+night 9-3/4. Job speaks, however, of causing "the day-spring to know its
+place," which may well refer to the varying places along the eastern
+horizon at which the sun rose during the course of the year. Thus in
+mid-winter the sun rose 28 deg. south of the east point, or half a point
+south of E.S.E. Similarly in midsummer it rose 28 deg. north of east, or
+half a point north of E.N.E.[282:1]
+
+The Babylonians divided the whole day interval into twelve _kasbu_, or
+"double hours." Those again were divided into sixty parts, each equal to
+two of our minutes; this being about the time that is required for the
+disc of the sun to rise or set wholly. The Babylonian _kasbu_ was not
+only a division of time, but a division of space, signifying the space
+that might be marched in a _kasbu_ of time. Similarly we find, in the
+Old Testament, the expression "a day's journey," or "three days'
+journey," to express distance, and in the New Testament we find the same
+idea applied to a shorter distance in the "sabbath-day's journey," which
+was about two miles. But the Jews in New Testament times adopted, not
+the Babylonian day of twelve hours, but the Egyptian of twenty-four. So
+we find, in the parable of the Labourers in the Vineyard, mention made
+of hiring early in the morning, and at the third, sixth, ninth, and
+eleventh hours; and since those hired latest worked for but one hour, it
+is evident that there were twelve hours in the daylight. Our Lord
+alludes to this expressly in the Gospel according to St. John, where he
+says--
+
+ "Are there not twelve hours in the day? If any man walk in the
+ day, he stumbleth not, because he seeth the light of this
+ world. But if a man walk in the night, he stumbleth, because
+ there is no light in him."
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[277:1] _The Man of Lawe's Prologue_, lines 4421-4434.
+
+[279:1] Josephus, _Wars_, VI. ix. 3.
+
+[282:1] See the diagram on p. 363.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+THE SABBATH AND THE WEEK
+
+
+The present chapter has little, if anything, to do with astronomy, for
+the week, as such, is not an astronomical period. 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
+Bible.
+
+The day, the month and the year are each defined by some specific
+revolution of one of the great cosmical bodies; there is in each case a
+return of the earth, or of the earth and moon together, to the same
+position, relative to the sun, as that held at the beginning of the
+period.
+
+The week stands in a different category. It is not defined by any
+astronomical revolution; it is defined by the return of the sabbath, the
+consecrated day.
+
+A need for the division of time into short periods, less than a month,
+has been generally felt amongst civilized men. Business of state,
+commercial arrangements, social intercourse, are all more easily carried
+out, when some such period is universally recognized. And so, what we
+may loosely term a "week," has been employed in many ancient nations.
+The Aztecs, using a short month of 20 days, divided it into four
+quarters of 5 days each. The Egyptians, using a conventional month of 30
+days, divided it into 3 decades; and decades were also used by the
+Athenians, whose months were alternately of 29 and of 30 days.
+
+Hesiod tells us that the days regarded as sacred in his day were the
+fourth, fourteenth and twenty-fourth of each month.
+
+ "The fourth and twenty-fourth, no grief should prey
+ Within thy breast, for holy either day.
+
+ * * * * *
+
+ Pierce on the fourth thy cask; the fourteenth prize
+ As holy; and, when morning paints the skies,
+ The twenty-fourth is best."
+
+The Babylonians divided the month somewhat differently; the seventh,
+fourteenth, nineteenth, twenty-first and twenty-eighth days being
+regarded as "sabbaths."[284:1]
+
+The sabbath enjoined upon the Hebrews was every seventh day. The week as
+defined by it was a "free" week; it was tied neither to month nor year,
+but ran its course uninterruptedly, quite irrespective of the longer
+divisions of time. It was, therefore, a different conception from that
+underlying the usages of the Greeks or Babylonians, and, it may be
+added, a more reasonable and practical one.
+
+Four origins have been assigned for the week. There are those who
+assert that it is simply the closest possible approximation to the
+quarter-month; the mean month being 29-1/2 days in length, a
+quarter-month would be 7-3/8 days, and since fractions of a day cannot
+be recognized in any practical division of time for general use, the
+week of seven days forms the nearest approach to the quarter-month that
+could be adopted. This is undeniably true, but it is far more likely
+that such an origin would give rise to the Babylonian system than to the
+Jewish one, for the Babylonian system corrected the inequality of
+quarter-month and week every month, and so kept the two in harmony;
+whilst the Hebrew disregarded the month altogether in the succession of
+his weeks.
+
+Next, it is asserted that the Hebrew sabbath was derived from the
+Babylonian, 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
+Tigris."[285:1]
+
+There are two points to be considered here. Did the Babylonians observe
+their "sabbaths" as days of rest; and, were they or the Hebrews the more
+likely to hand on their observances to another nation?
+
+We can answer both these questions. As to the first, a large number of
+Babylonian documents on tablets, preserved in the British Museum, have
+been published by Father Strassmaier, and discussed by Prof.
+Schiaparelli. In all there were 2,764 dated documents available for
+examination, nearly all of them commercial and civil deeds, and
+covering practically the whole period from the accession of
+Nebuchadnezzar to the twenty-third year of Darius Hystaspes. This number
+would give an average of 94 deeds for each day of the month; the number
+actually found for the four "sabbaths," _i. e._ for the 7th, 14th, 21st
+and 28th days, were 100, 98, 121 and 91 respectively. The Babylonians
+evidently did not keep these days as days of rest, or of abstinence from
+business, as the Jews keep their sabbath, or Christian countries their
+Sunday. They cannot even have regarded it as an unlucky day, since we
+find the average of contracts is rather higher for a "sabbath" than for
+a common day.
+
+The case is a little different with the 19th day of the month. This, as
+the 49th day from the beginning of the previous month, was a sabbath of
+sabbaths, at the end of a "week of weeks." In this case only 89
+contracts are found, which is slightly below the average, though twelve
+common days show a lower record still. But in most cases the date is
+written, not as 19, but as 20-1; as if there were a superstition about
+the number 19. On the other hand, this method of indicating the number
+may be nothing more than a mode of writing; just as in our Roman
+numerals, XIX., one less than XX., is written for 19.
+
+The Babylonians, therefore, did not observe these days as days of rest,
+though they seem to have marked them in the ritual of temple and court.
+Nor did they make every seventh or every fifth a rest-day, for Prof.
+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 five, and in both cases with a purely negative result.
+
+When we inquire which nation has been successful in impressing their
+particular form of sabbath on the nations around the case is clear. We
+have no evidence of the Babylonians securing the adoption of their
+sabbatic arrangements by the Persians, Greeks and Parthians who
+successively overcame them. It was entirely different with the Jews. The
+Jewish kingdom before the Captivity was a very small one compared with
+its enemies on either side--Assyria, Babylon and Egypt; it was but a
+shadow even of its former self after the Return. And imperial Rome was a
+mightier power than Assyria or Babylon at their greatest. If ever one
+state was secure from influence by another on the score of its greater
+magnitude and power, Rome was safe from any Jewish impress. 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 deep.
+Jewish influence was felt and acknowledged almost from the time that
+Syria, of which Judaea was but a petty division, became a Roman province,
+and a generation had not passed away before we find Horace making
+jocular allusion to the spread of the recognition of the Jewish sabbath.
+In his ninth satire he describes himself as being buttonholed by a bore,
+and, seeing a friend pass by, as begging the latter to pretend business
+with him and so relieve him of his trouble. His friend mischievously
+excuses himself from talking about business:--
+
+ "To-day's the thirtieth sabbath. Can you mean
+ Thus to insult the circumcised Jews?"
+
+Persius, in his fifth satire, speaks of those who--
+
+ "Move their lips with silence, and with fear
+ The sabbath of the circumcised revere."
+
+Juvenal, in his fourteenth satire, describes how many Romans reverence
+the sabbath; and their sons, bettering the example, turn Jews
+themselves:--
+
+ "Others there are, whose sire the sabbath heeds,
+ And so they worship naught but clouds and sky.
+ They deem swine's flesh, from which their father kept,
+ No different from a man's. And soon indeed
+ Are circumcised; affecting to despise
+ The laws of Rome, they study, keep and fear
+ The Jewish law, whate'er in mystic book
+ Moses has handed down,--to show the way
+ To none but he who the same rites observes,
+ And those athirst to lead unto the spring
+ Only if circumcised. Whereof the cause
+ Was he, their sire, to whom each seventh day
+ Was one of sloth, whereon he took in hand
+ No part in life."
+
+Ovid, Tibullus, and others also speak of the Jewish sabbath, not merely
+as universally known, but as largely observed amongst the Romans, so
+that it obtained almost a public recognition, whilst the success of
+Judaism in making proselytes, until Christianity came into rivalry with
+it, is known to every one.
+
+As to the general influence of Judaism in securing the recognition of
+the week with its seventh day of rest, the testimony of Josephus is
+emphatic.
+
+ "The multitude of mankind itself have had a great inclination
+ of a long time to follow our religious observances; for there
+ is not any city of the Grecians, nor any of the barbarians,
+ nor any nation whatsoever, whither our custom of resting on
+ the seventh day hath not come, and by which our fasts and
+ lighting up lamps, and many of our prohibitions as to our
+ food, are not observed; they also endeavour to imitate our
+ mutual concord with one another, and the charitable
+ distribution of our goods, and our diligence in our trades,
+ and our fortitude in undergoing the distresses we are in, on
+ account of our laws; and, what is here matter of the greatest
+ admiration, our law hath no bait of pleasure to allure men to
+ it, but it prevails by its own force; and as God Himself
+ pervades all the world, so hath our law passed through all the
+ world also."[289:1]
+
+Philo, the Jew, bears equally distinct testimony to the fact that
+wheresoever the Jews were carried in their dispersion, their laws and
+religious customs, especially their observance of every seventh day,
+attracted attention, and even secured a certain amount of acceptance.
+The Jews, therefore, even when, as a nation, they were ruined and
+crushed, proved themselves possessed of such vital force, of such
+tenacity, as to impress their conquerors with interest in, and respect
+for, their sabbatic customs. Of their tenacity and force in general, of
+their power to influence the nations amongst whom they have been
+scattered, the history of the last two thousand five hundred years is
+eloquent. It is not reasonable, nor scientific, to suppose that this
+nation, steel since it returned from its captivity in Babylon, was wax
+before.
+
+But the third suggestion as to the origin of the week of seven
+days,--that it was derived from the influence of the planets,--makes the
+matter clearer still. This suggestion has already been noticed in the
+chapter on "Saturn and Astrology." It is sufficient to say here that it
+presupposes a state of astronomical advancement not attained until long
+after the sabbath was fully known. The Babylonians did observe the seven
+planets, but there is no trace of their connection with the Babylonian
+week. But when the Greek astronomers had worked out that system of the
+planetary motions which we call after Ptolemy, and the planets had been
+fitted by the Alexandrian observers to the days of the Jewish week and
+the hours of the Egyptian day, then the Babylonian astrologers also
+adopted the mongrel combination. Thus indirectly Babylon received the
+free week from the Jews, and did not give it.
+
+ "The oldest use of the free and uniform week is found among
+ the Jews, who had only a most imperfect knowledge of the
+ planets. The identity of the number of the days in the week
+ with that of the planets is purely accidental, and it is not
+ permissible to assert that the former number is derived from
+ the latter."[290:1]
+
+ "Carried by the Jews into their dispersion, adopted by the
+ Chaldaean astrologers for use in their divinations, received by
+ Christianity and Islam, this cycle" (the free week of seven
+ days), "so convenient and so useful for chronology, has now
+ been adopted throughout the world. Its use can be traced back
+ for about 3,000 years, and there is every reason to believe
+ that it will last through the centuries to come, resisting the
+ madness of useless novelty and the assaults of present and
+ future iconoclasts."[290:2]
+
+The fourth account of the origin of the week is that given us in the
+Bible itself.
+
+ "In six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all
+ that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the
+ Lord blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it."
+
+The institution of the sabbath day is the crown of the work of creation,
+the key to its purpose. Other times and seasons are marked out by the
+revolutions and conjunctions of the heavenly bodies. This day is set
+apart directly by God Himself; it is His express handiwork,--"the day
+which the Lord hath made."
+
+The great truth taught in the first chapter of Genesis is that God is
+the One Reality. All that we can see above or around was made by Him. He
+alone is God.
+
+And His creative work has a definite goal to which its several details
+all lead up--the creation of man, made in the image of God.
+
+As such, man has a higher calling than that of the beasts that perish.
+The chief object of their lives is to secure their food; their
+aspirations extend no further. But he is different; he has higher wants,
+nobler aspirations. How can they be met?
+
+The earth was created to form an abode suitable for man; the varied
+forms of organic life were brought into existence to prepare the way for
+and minister to him. For what was man himself made, and made in the
+image of God, but that he might know God and have communion with Him?
+To this the sabbath day gave the call, and for this it offered the
+opportunity.
+
+ "For what are men better than sheep or goats,
+ That nourish a blind life within the brain,
+ If, knowing God, they lift not hands of prayer?"
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[284:1] This is learnt from a single tablet of a Babylonian Calendar
+(preserved in the British Museum), which unfortunately contains one
+month only.
+
+[285:1] _Babel and Bible_, Dr. Fried. Delitzsch, Johns' Translation, pp.
+40, 41.
+
+[289:1] _Flavius Josephus against Apion_, book ii. 40.
+
+[290:1] Schiaparelli, _Astronomy in the Old Testament_, p. 135.
+
+[290:2] _Ibid._, p. 133.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+THE MONTH
+
+
+The shortest natural division of time is the day. Next in length comes
+the month.
+
+As was pointed out in the chapter on the Moon, the Hebrews used two
+expressions for month--_Chodesh_, from a root meaning "to be new"; and
+_Yerach_, from the root meaning "to be pale."
+
+_Chodesh_ is the word most commonly employed, and this, in itself, is
+sufficient to show that the Hebrew calendar month was a lunar one. But
+there are, besides, too many references to the actual new moons for
+there to be any doubt on the question.
+
+Every seventh day was commanded to be held as a sabbath of rest, and on
+it were sacrificed four lambs, instead of the two offered up, the one at
+the morning and the other at the evening sacrifice of the six working
+days. But the new moons are also mentioned as holy days, and are coupled
+with the sabbaths. The husband of the Shunamite asked her why she wished
+to go to Elisha, as "it is neither new moon, nor sabbath." Isaiah,
+speaking in the name of the Lord, says--
+
+ "The new moons and sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I
+ cannot away with; . . . your new moons and your appointed
+ feasts My soul hateth"; and again, "From one new moon to
+ another, and from one sabbath to another, shall all flesh come
+ to worship."
+
+Amos speaks of degenerate Israel, that they say--
+
+ "When will the new moon be gone, that we may sell corn? and
+ the sabbath, that we may set forth wheat?"
+
+As late as Apostolic times, St. Paul refers to the feasts of the new
+moons, saying, "Let no man therefore judge you . . . in respect . . . of
+the new moon."
+
+The ordinances respecting the observance of the new moons--the
+"beginnings of months"--were explicit. Trumpets were blown over the
+burnt offerings and over the sacrifices of the peace offerings, and the
+nature of these offerings is given in detail in the twenty-eighth
+chapter of the Book of Numbers. The ordinances were reiterated and
+emphasized in the days of David, Solomon, Hezekiah, Ezekiel, Ezra and
+Nehemiah. Amongst the Jews of the present day the trumpets are not blown
+at new moons; extra prayers are read, but the burnt and peace offerings
+are of necessity omitted.
+
+Beside the "new moons" and the sabbaths, the ancient Hebrews had three
+great festivals, all defined as to the time of their celebration by the
+natural months.
+
+The first was the Feast of the Passover, which lasted a week, and began
+with the killing of a lamb "between the two evenings"; on the 14th day
+of the month Abib, the first month of the year--that is to say, on the
+evening that the first moon of the year became full. This feast
+corresponded to our Easter. The second was that of Pentecost, 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 Passover. We still celebrate the
+Feast of Pentecost, or Whitsunday, keeping it in remembrance of the
+birthday of the Christian Church. This feast lasted but a single day,
+and did not occur at either the new or the full of the moon, but nearly
+at first quarter.
+
+The third festival was threefold in its character. It began with special
+sacrifices besides those usually offered at the new moon:--
+
+ "In the seventh month, on the first day of the month, ye shall
+ have an holy convocation; ye shall do no servile work: it is a
+ day of blowing of trumpets unto you."
+
+This then was especially dependent on the new moon, being on the first
+day of the month.
+
+On the 10th day of the month was the Day of Atonement, when the people
+should afflict their souls. On the 15th day of the month began the Feast
+of Tabernacles, which commenced on the night that the moon was full, and
+lasted for a week.
+
+We have no special religious seasons in the Christian Church to
+correspond with these.
+
+We thus see that with the Hebrews all the days of the new moons, and two
+days of full moon (in the first and in the seventh months), were days
+for which special ordinances were imposed. And there is no doubt that
+the beginnings of the new months were obtained by direct observation of
+the moon, when weather or other conditions permitted, not by any rule of
+thumb computation. The new moon observed was, necessarily, not the new
+moon as understood in the technical language of astronomy; _i. e._ the
+moment when the moon is in "conjunction" with the sun, having its dark
+side wholly turned towards the earth, and being in consequence
+completely invisible. "The new moon" as mentioned in the Scriptures, and
+as we ordinarily use the term, is not this conjunction, 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 time, in the twilight,
+before it sets; for the moon when very slender cannot be seen in
+daylight. It may, therefore, be first seen any time between about 18
+hours and 40 hours after its conjunction with the sun; in other words,
+it may be first seen on one of two evenings. But for the ecclesiastical
+rites it was necessary that there should be an authoritative declaration
+as to the time of the commencement of the month, and, moreover, the
+great feasts were fixed for certain days in the month, and so were
+dependent on its beginning.
+
+During the period of the Jewish restoration, up to the destruction of
+Jerusalem by Titus, the Sanhedrim used to sit in the "Hall of Polished
+Stones" to receive the testimony of credible witnesses that they had
+seen the new moon. If the new moon had appeared at the commencement of
+the 30th day--corresponding to our evening of the 29th--the Sanhedrim
+declared the previous month "imperfect," or consisting only of 29 days.
+If credible witnesses had not appeared to testify to the appearance of
+the new moon on the evening of the 29th, the next evening, _i. e._ that
+of the 30th--according to our mode of reckoning--was taken as the
+commencement of the new month, and the previous month was then declared
+to be "full," or of 30 days.
+
+Early in the Christian era, it was enacted that no testimony should be
+received from unknown persons, because, says the Talmud, the Baithusites
+wished to impose on the Mishnic Rabbis, and hired two men to do so for
+four hundred pieces of silver.
+
+It is clear, therefore, that about the time of the Christian era the
+beginnings of the months were determined astronomically from the actual
+observation of the new moons, and we may safely conclude that it was the
+same also from the earliest times. It was the actual new moon, not any
+theoretical or fictitious new moon, that regulated the great festivals,
+and, as we have seen, there was often some considerable uncertainty
+possible in the fixing of the dates. The witnesses might give
+conflicting testimony, and the authoritative date might be proved to be
+in fault. We have an instance of such conflicting authority in the
+different dating, on one occasion, of the Day of Atonement by the Rabbi
+Yehoshua, and Rabbon Gamaliel, the president of the Sanhedrim, grandson
+of the Gamaliel at whose feet Paul sat.
+
+According to a statement in the Mishna, dating from the second century
+of our era, the appearance of the new moon at Jerusalem was signalled to
+Babylonia during the century preceding the destruction of the Holy City
+by Titus, and perhaps from earlier times. The dispersion of the Jews
+had therefore presented them with an additional difficulty in fixing the
+beginning of their months. The problem is much more intricate to-day,
+seeing that the Jews are dispersed over the whole world, and the new
+moon, first visible on one evening at Jerusalem, might be seen the
+evening before, according to the reckoning of places west of Jerusalem,
+or might be invisible until the following evening, according to the
+reckoning of places east of it. We have the same problem to solve in
+finding the date of Easter Sunday. The Prayer Book rule for finding it
+runs thus:--
+
+ "Easter day is always the first Sunday after the full moon
+ which happens upon, or next after, the 21st day of March; and
+ if the full moon happens on a Sunday, Easter day is the Sunday
+ after."
+
+But the "moon" we choose for the ecclesiastical calendar is an imaginary
+body, 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 full. This may seem, at first
+sight, a very clumsy arrangement, but it has the advantage of defining
+the date of Easter precisely, without introducing any question as to the
+special meridian where the moon might be supposed to be observed. Thus,
+in 1905, the moon was full at 4{h} 56{m} Greenwich mean time on the
+morning of March 21. But Easter Day was not fixed for March 26, the next
+Sunday following that full moon, but a month later, for April 23. For
+the calendar moon, the imaginary moon, was full on March 20; and it may
+be added that the actual moon, though full on March 21 for European
+time, was full on March 20 for American time. There would have been an
+ambiguity, therefore, if the actual moon had been taken, according to
+the country in which it was observed, an ambiguity which is got rid of
+by adopting a technical or imaginary moon.
+
+The names given to the different months in Scripture have an interest of
+their own. For the most part the months are simply numbered; the month
+of the Passover is the first month, and the others follow, as the
+second, third, fourth, etc., throughout the year; examples of each
+occurring right up to the twelfth month. There is no mention of a
+thirteenth month.
+
+But occasionally we find names as well as numbers given to the months.
+The first of these is Abib, meaning the month of "green ears." This was
+the first month, the month of the Passover, and it received its name no
+doubt from the first green ears of barley offered before the Lord during
+the feast that followed the Passover.
+
+The second month was called Zif, "splendour"; apparently referring to
+the splendour of the flowers in full spring time. It is mentioned
+together with two other names, Ethanim, the seventh month, and Bul, the
+eighth month, in the account of the building and dedication of Solomon's
+Temple. The last two are certainly Phoenician names, having been found
+on Phoenician inscriptions; the first is possibly Phoenician also. 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 Hiram, king of Tyre. The Phoenician
+names of the months would naturally appear in the contracts and accounts
+for the work, side by side with the Hebrew equivalents; just as an
+English contractor to-day, in negotiating for a piece of work to be
+carried out in Russia, would probably take care to use the dating both
+of the Russian old style calendar, and of the English new style. The
+word used for month in these cases is generally, not _chodesh_, the
+month as beginning with the new moon, but _yerach_, as if the chronicler
+did not wish them to be understood as having been determined by Jewish
+authorities or methods. In one case, however, _chodesh_ is used in
+connection with the month Zif.
+
+The other instances of names for the months are Nisan, Sivan, Elul,
+Chisleu, Tebeth, Sebat, and Adar, derived from month names in use in
+Babylonia, and employed only in the books of Esther, Ezra, Nehemiah, and
+Zechariah, all avowedly post-exilic writers. 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 name, terming
+it _yerach_. 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 names. These Babylonian month names continue to be used
+in the Jewish calendar of to-day.
+
+In four places in Scripture mention is made of a month of days, the word
+for month being in two cases _chodesh_, and in two, _yerach_. Jacob,
+when he came to Padan-aram, abode with Laban for "the space of a
+month," before his crafty uncle broached the subject of his wages. This
+may either merely mean full thirty days, or the term _chodesh_ may
+possibly have a special appropriateness, as Laban may have dated Jacob's
+service so as to commence from the second new moon after his arrival.
+Again, when the people lusted for flesh in the wilderness, saying, "Who
+shall give us flesh to eat?" the Lord promised to send them flesh--
+
+ "And ye shall eat. Ye shall not eat one day, nor two days, nor
+ five days, neither ten days, nor twenty days, but even a whole
+ month. . . . And there went forth a wind from the Lord, and
+ brought quails from the sea."
+
+ "He rained flesh also upon them as dust,
+ And feathered fowls like as the sand of the sea."
+
+The "whole month" in this case was evidently a full period of thirty
+days, irrespective of the particular phase of the moon when it began and
+ended.
+
+Amongst the Babylonians the sign for the word month was xxx, expressing
+the usual number of days that it contained, and without doubt amongst
+the Hebrews that was the number of days originally assigned to the
+month, except when the interval between two actually observed new moons
+was found to be twenty-nine. In later times it was learned that the
+length for the lunation lay between twenty-nine and thirty days, and
+that these lengths for the month must be alternate as a general rule.
+But in early times, if a long spell of bad weather prevented direct
+observation of the new moon, we cannot suppose that anything less than
+thirty days would be assigned to each month.
+
+Such a long spell of bad observing weather did certainly occur on one
+occasion in the very early days of astronomy, and we accordingly find
+that such was the number of days allotted to several consecutive months,
+though the historian was evidently in the habit of observing the new
+moon, for _chodesh_ is the word used to express these months of thirty
+days.
+
+We are told that--
+
+ "In the six hundreth year of Noah's life, in the second month,
+ the seventeenth day of the month, the same day were all the
+ fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of
+ heaven were opened."
+
+And later that--
+
+ "After the end of the hundred and fifty days the waters were
+ abated. And the ark rested in the seventh month, on the
+ seventeenth day of the month, upon the mountains of Ararat."
+
+The five months during which the waters prevailed upon the earth were,
+therefore, reckoned as of thirty days each. If all the new moons, or
+even that of the seventh month, had been actually observed, this event
+would have been ascribed to the nineteenth day of the month, since 150
+days is five months and two days; but in the absence of such
+observations a sort of "dead reckoning" was applied, which would of
+course be corrected directly the return of clear weather gave an
+opportunity for observing the new moon once again.
+
+A similar practice was followed at a much later date in Babylon, where
+astronomy is supposed to have been highly developed from remote
+antiquity. Thus an inscription recently published by Dr. L. W. King
+records that--
+
+ "On the 26th day of the month Sivan, in the seventh year, the
+ day was turned into night, and fire in the midst of heaven."
+
+This has been identified by Mr. P. H. Cowell, F.R.S., Chief Assistant at
+the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, as the eclipse of the sun that was
+total at Babylon on July 31, B.C. 1063. The Babylonians, when bad
+weather obliged them to resort to dead reckoning, were, therefore, still
+reckoning the month as precisely thirty days so late as the times of
+Samuel and Saul, and in this particular instance were two, if not three,
+days out in their count. Had the new moon of Sivan been observed, or
+correctly calculated, the eclipse must have been reckoned as falling on
+the 28th or 29th day of the month.
+
+The Athenians in the days of Solon, five hundred years later than this,
+adopted months alternately twenty-nine and thirty days in length, which
+gives a result very nearly correct.
+
+The Jews after the Dispersion adopted the system of thus alternating the
+lengths of their months, and with some slight modifications it holds
+good to the present day. As will be shown in the following chapter, the
+ordinary years are of twelve months, but seven years in every nineteen
+are "embolismic," having an extra month. The names employed are those
+learned during the Babylonian captivity, and the year begins with the
+month Tishri, corresponding to September-October of our calendar. The
+lengths of most of the months are fixed as given in the following
+table, but any adjustment necessary can be effected either by adding one
+day to Heshvan, which has usually twenty-nine days, or taking away one
+day from Kislev, which has usually thirty--
+
+ ORDINARY YEAR EMBOLISMIC YEAR
+ DAYS DAYS
+ Tishri 30 30
+ Heshvan 29 + 29 +
+ Kislev 30 - 30 -
+ Tebeth 29 29
+ Shebat 30 30
+ Adar 29 30
+ Ve-adar ... 29
+ Nisan 30 30
+ Yiar 29 29
+ Sivan 30 30
+ Tamuz 29 29
+ Ab 30 30
+ Elul 29 29
+
+The Jewish month, therefore, continues to be essentially a true lunar
+one, though the exact definition of each month is, to some extent,
+conventional, and the words of the Son of Sirach still apply to the
+Hebrew calendar--
+
+ "The moon also is in all things for her season,
+ For a declaration of times, and a sign of the world.
+ From the moon is the sign of the feast day;
+ A light that waneth when she is come to the full."
+
+For so God--
+
+ "Appointed the moon for seasons."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+THE YEAR
+
+
+The third great natural division of time is the year, and, like the day
+and the month, it is defined by the relative apparent movements of the
+heavenly bodies.
+
+As the Rabbi Aben Ezra pointed out, _shanah_, the ordinary Hebrew word
+used for year, expresses the idea of _annus_ or _annulus_, a closed
+ring, and therefore implies that the year is a complete solar one. A
+year, that is purely lunar, consists of twelve lunations, amounting to
+354 days. Such is the year that the Mohammedans use; and since it falls
+short of a solar year of 365 days by 10 or 11 days, its beginning moves
+backwards rather rapidly through the seasons.
+
+The Jews used actual lunations for their months, but their year was one
+depending on the position of the sun, and their calendar was therefore a
+luni-solar one. But lunations cannot be made to fit in exactly into a
+solar year--12 lunations are some 11 days short of one year; 37
+lunations are 2 or 3 days too long for three years--but an approximation
+can be made by giving an extra month to every third year; or more nearly
+still by taking 7 years in every 19 as years of 13 months each. This
+thirteenth month is called an intercalary month, and in the present
+Jewish calendar it is the month Adar which is reduplicated under the
+name of Ve-Adar. But, though from the necessity of the case, this
+intercalation, from time to time, of a thirteenth month must have been
+made regularly from the first institution of the feast of unleavened
+bread, we find no allusion, direct or indirect, in the Hebrew Scriptures
+to any such custom.
+
+Amongst the Babylonians a year and a month were termed "full" when they
+contained 13 months and 30 days respectively, and "normal" or
+"incomplete" when they contained but 12 months or 29 days. The
+succession of full and normal years recurred in the same order, at
+intervals of nineteen years. For 19 years contain 6939 days 14-1/2
+hours; and 235 months, 6939 days 16-1/2 hours; the two therefore
+differing only by about a couple of hours. The discovery of this cycle
+is attributed to Meton, about 433 B.C., and it is therefore known as the
+Metonic cycle. It supplies the "Golden Numbers" of the introduction to
+the Book of Common Prayer.
+
+There are two kinds of solar years, with which we may have to do in a
+luni-solar calendar--the tropical or equinoctial year, and the sidereal
+year. The tropical year is the interval from one season till the return
+of that season again--spring to spring, summer to summer, autumn to
+autumn, or winter to winter. It is defined as the time included between
+two successive passages of the sun through the vernal equinox, hence it
+is also called the equinoctial year. Its length is found to be 365 days,
+5 hours, 49 minutes, and some ancient astronomers derived its length as
+closely as 365 days, 6 hours, by observing the dates when the sun set at
+exactly the opposite part of the horizon to that where it rose.
+
+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
+again. The length of the sidereal year is 365 days, 6 hours, 9 minutes.
+In some cases the ancients took the sidereal year from the "heliacal"
+risings or settings of stars, that is from the interval between the time
+when a bright star was first seen in the morning just before the sun
+rose, until it was first so seen again; or last seen just after the sun
+set in the evening, until it was last so seen again.
+
+But to connect the spring new moon with the day when the sun has
+returned to the equinox is a more difficult and complicated matter. The
+early Hebrews would seem to have solved the problem practically, by
+simply watching the progress of the growing grain. 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 bread, then that was taken as beginning the new year. If it
+appeared doubtful if it would be ready, or certain that it would not be,
+then the next new moon was waited for. This method was sufficient in
+primitive times, and so long as the nation of Israel remained in its own
+land. In the long run, it gave an accurate value for the mean tropical
+year, and avoided all the astronomical difficulties of the question. It
+shows the early Hebrews as practical men, for the solution adopted was
+easy, simple and efficient. This practical method of determining the
+beginning of the year amongst the early Hebrews, does not appear to have
+been the one in use amongst the Babylonians either early or late in
+their history. The early Babylonians used a sidereal year, as will be
+shown shortly. The later Babylonians used a tropical year dependent on
+the actual observation of the spring equinox.
+
+To those who have no clocks, no telescopes, no sundials, no instruments
+of any kind, there are two natural epochs at which the day might begin;
+at sunrise, the beginning of daylight; and at sunset, the beginning of
+darkness. Similarly, to all nations which use the tropical year, whether
+their calendar is dependent on the sun alone, or on both sun and moon,
+there are two natural epochs at which the year may begin; at the spring
+equinox, the beginning of the bright half of the year, when the sun is
+high in the heavens, and all nature is reviving under its heat and
+light; and at the autumn equinox, the beginning of the dark half of the
+year, when the sun is low in the heavens, and all nature seems dying. As
+a nation becomes more highly equipped, both in the means of observing,
+and in knowledge, it may not retain either of these epochs as the actual
+beginning of its year, but the determination of the year still rests
+directly or indirectly upon the observation of the equinoxes.
+
+At the exodus from Egypt, in the month Abib, the children of Israel were
+commanded in these words--
+
+ "This month shall be unto you the beginning of months: it
+ shall be the first month of the year to you."
+
+This command may have abolished and reversed the previously existing
+calendar, or it may have related solely to the ecclesiastical calendar,
+and the civil calendar may have been still retained with a different
+epoch of commencement.
+
+An inquiry into the question as to whether there is evidence in
+Scripture of the use of a double calendar, shows that in every case that
+the Passover is mentioned it is as being kept in the first month, except
+when Hezekiah availed himself of the regulation which permitted its
+being kept in the second month. Since the Passover was a spring feast,
+this links the beginning of the year to the spring time. Similarly the
+feast of Tabernacles, which is an autumn festival, is always mentioned
+as being held in the seventh month.
+
+These feasts would naturally be referred to the ecclesiastical calendar.
+But the slight evidences given in the civil history point the same way.
+Thus some men joined David at Ziklag during the time of his persecution
+by Saul, "in the first month." This was spring time, for it is added
+that Jordan had overflowed all its banks. Similarly, the ninth month
+fell in the winter: for it was as he "sat in the winter-house in the
+ninth month, and there was a fire on the hearth burning before him" that
+king Jehoiakim took the prophecy of Jeremiah and "cut it with the
+penknife, and cast it into the fire that was on the hearth." The same
+ninth month is also mentioned in the Book of Ezra as a winter month, a
+time of great rain.
+
+The same result is given by the instances in which a Babylonian month
+name is interpreted by its corresponding Jewish month number. In each
+case the Jewish year is reckoned as beginning with Nisan, the month of
+the spring equinox.
+
+In one case, however, two Babylonian month names do present a
+difficulty.
+
+In the Book of Nehemiah, in the first chapter, the writer says--
+
+ "It came to pass in the month Chisleu, in the twentieth year,
+ as I was in Shushan the palace, that Hanani, one of my
+ brethren, came"--
+
+and told him concerning the sad state of Jerusalem. In consequence of
+this he subsequently approached the king on the subject "in the month
+Nisan, in the twentieth year of Artaxerxes the king."
+
+If the twentieth year of king Artaxerxes began in the spring, Nisan,
+which is a spring month, could not follow Chisleu, which is a month of
+late autumn. But Artaxerxes may have dated his accession, and therefore
+his regnal years, from some month between Nisan and Chisleu; or the
+civil year may have been reckoned at the court of Shushan as beginning
+with Tishri. It may be noted that Nehemiah does not define either of
+these months in terms of the Jewish. Elsewhere, when referring to the
+Jewish Feast of Tabernacles, he attributes it to the seventh month, in
+accord with its place in the Mosaic calendar. An alteration of the
+beginning of the year from the spring to the autumn was brought about
+amongst the Jews at a later date, and was systematized in the Religious
+Calendar by the Rabbis of about the fourth century A.D. Tishri begins
+the Jewish year at the present day; the first day of Tishri being taken
+as the anniversary of the creation of the world.
+
+The Mishna, "The Law of the Lip," was first committed to writing in 191
+A.D., and the compilation of the Babylonian Talmud, based on the Mishna,
+was completed about 500 A.D. In its commentary on the first chapter of
+Genesis, there is an allusion to the year as beginning in spring, 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" (_i. e._ the next day). "Hence follows (observes some
+ one) that the first of Nisan is the new year's day of kings,
+ and that if one had reigned only one day in a year, it is
+ considered as a whole year."[311:1]
+
+It is not indicated whether this rule held good for the kings of Persia,
+as well as for those of Israel. If so, and this tradition be correct,
+then we cannot explain Nehemiah's reckoning by supposing that he was
+counting from the month of the accession of Artaxerxes, and must assume
+that a civil or court year beginning with Tishri, _i. e._ in the autumn,
+was the one in question.
+
+A further, but, as it would seem, quite an imaginary difficulty, has
+been raised because the feast of ingathering, or Tabernacles, though
+held in the seventh month, is twice spoken of as being "in the end of
+the year," or, as it is rendered in the margin in one case, "in the
+revolution of the year." This latter expression occurs again in 2 Chron.
+xxiv. 23, when it is said that, "at the end of the year, the host of
+Syria came up"; but in this case it probably means early spring, for it
+is only of late centuries that war has been waged in the winter months.
+Down to the Middle Ages, the armies always went into winter quarters,
+and in the spring the kings led them out again to battle. One Hebrew
+expression used in Scripture means the return of the year, as applied to
+the close of one and the opening of another year. This is the expression
+employed in the Second Book of Samuel, and of the First Book of
+Chronicles, where it is said "after the year was expired, at the time
+when kings go forth to battle," implying that in the time of David the
+year began in the spring. The same expression, no doubt in reference to
+the same time of the year, is also used in connection with the warlike
+expeditions of Benhadad, king of Syria, and of Nebuchadnezzar, king of
+Babylon.
+
+It is admitted that the Feast of Tabernacles was held in the autumn, and
+in the seventh month. The difficulty lies in the question of how it
+could be said to be "in the end of the year," "at the year's end,"
+although it is clear from the cases just cited that these and similar
+expressions are merely of a general character, as we ourselves might
+say, "when the year came round," and do not indicate any rigid
+connection with a specific date of the calendar.
+
+We ourselves use several years and calendars, without any confusion. The
+civil year begins, at midnight, on January 1; the financial year on
+April 1; the ecclesiastical year with Advent, about December 1; the
+scholastic year about the middle of September, and so on. As the word
+"year" expresses with ourselves many different usages, there is no
+reason to attribute to the Jews the extreme pedantry of invariably using
+nothing but precise definitions drawn from their ecclesiastical
+calendar.
+
+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
+daylight; there was no offering before the morning sacrifice, none after
+the evening sacrifice. So, too, the Mosaic law directed all the great
+feasts to be held in the summer half of the year, the light half; none
+in the winter. The Paschal full moon was just after the spring equinox;
+the harvest moon of the Feast of Tabernacles as near as possible to the
+autumn equinox. Until the introduction, after the Captivity, of the
+Feast of Purim in the twelfth month, the month Adar, the ecclesiastical
+year might be said to end with those seven days of joyous "camping-out"
+in the booths built of the green boughs; just as all the great days of
+the Christian year lie between Advent and the octave of Pentecost,
+whilst the "Sundays after Trinity" stretch their length through six
+whole months. There is, therefore, no contradiction between the command
+in Exod. xii., to make Abib, the month of the Passover, the first month,
+and the references elsewhere in Exodus to the Feast of Ingathering as
+being in "the end of the year." It was at the end of the agricultural
+year; it was also at the end of the period of feasts. So, if a workman
+is engaged for a day's work, he comes in the morning, and goes home in
+the evening, and expects to be paid as he leaves; no one would ask him
+to complete the twenty-four hours before payment and dismissal. It is
+the end of his day; though, like the men in the parable of the Labourers
+in the Vineyard, he has only worked twelve hours out of the twenty-four.
+In the same way the Feast of Tabernacles, though in the seventh month,
+was in "the end of the year," both from the point of view of the farmer
+and of the ordinances of the sacred festivals.
+
+The method employed in very early times in Assyria and Babylonia for
+determining the first month of the year was a simple and effective one,
+the principle of which may be explained thus: If we watch for the
+appearance of the new moon in spring time, and, as we see it setting in
+the west, notice some bright star near it, then 12 months later we
+should see the two together again; but with this difference, that the
+moon and star would be seen together, not on the first, but on the
+second evening of the month. For since 12 lunar months fall short of a
+solar year by 11 days, the moon on the first evening would be about 11
+degrees short of her former position. But as she moves about 13 degrees
+in 24 hours, the next evening she would practically be back in her old
+place. In the second year, therefore, moon and star would set together
+on the second evening of the first month; and in like manner they would
+set together on the third evening in the third year; and, roughly
+speaking, on the fourth evening of the fourth year. But this last
+conjunction would mean that they would also set together on the first
+evening of the next month, which would thus be indicated as the true
+first month of the year. Thus when moon and star set together on the
+third evening of a month, thirteen months later they would set together
+on the first evening of a month. Thus the setting together of moon and
+star would not only mark which was to be first month of the year, but if
+they set together on the first evening it would show that the year then
+beginning was to be an ordinary one of 12 months; if on the third
+evening, that the year ought to be a full one of 13 months.
+
+This was precisely the method followed by the Akkadians some 4000 years
+ago. For Prof. Sayce and Mr. Bosanquet translate an old tablet in
+Akkadian as follows:--
+
+ "When on the first day of the month _Nisan_ the star of stars
+ (or _Dilgan_) and the moon are parallel, that year is normal.
+ When on the third day of the month _Nisan_ the star of stars
+ and the moon are parallel, that year is full."[315:1]
+
+The "star of stars" of this inscription is no doubt the bright star
+Capella, and the year thus determined by the setting together of the
+moon and Capella would begin on the average with the spring equinox
+about 2000 B.C.
+
+When Capella thus marked the first month of the year, the "twin stars,"
+Castor and Pollux, marked the second month of the year in just the same
+way. A reminiscence of this circumstance is found in the signs for the
+first two months; that for the first month being a crescent moon "lying
+on its back;" that for the second month a pair of stars.
+
+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
+seen. It is most nearly upright at the time of the autumn equinox; it is
+most nearly horizontal, "lying on its back," at the spring equinox. It
+is clear from this symbol, therefore, that the Babylonians began their
+year in the spring.
+
+[Illustration: POSITION OF THE NEW MOON AT THE EQUINOXES.]
+
+This method, 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 year, is quite unlike anything that
+commentators on the astronomical methods of the ancients have supposed
+them to have used. But we know from the ancient inscription already
+quoted that it was actually used; it was eminently simple; it was bound
+to have suggested itself wherever a luni-solar year, starting from the
+observed new moon, was used. Further, it required no instruments or
+star-maps; it did not even require a knowledge of the constellations;
+only of one or two conspicuous stars. Though rough, it was perfectly
+efficient, and would give the mean length of the year with all the
+accuracy that was then required.
+
+[Illustration: BOUNDARY-STONE IN THE LOUVRE; APPROXIMATE DATE, B.C.
+1200.
+
+(From a photograph by Messrs. W. A. Mansell.)]
+
+But it had one drawback, which the ancients could not have been expected
+to foresee. The effect of "precession," alluded to in the chapter on
+"The Origin of the Constellations," p. 158, would be to throw the
+beginning of the year, as thus determined, gradually later and later in
+the seasons,--roughly speaking, by a day in every seventy years,--and
+the time came, no doubt, when it was noticed that the terrestrial
+seasons no longer bore their traditional relation to the year. This
+probably happened at some time in the seventh or eighth centuries before
+our era, and was connected with the astronomical revolution that has
+been alluded to before; when the ecliptic was divided into twelve equal
+divisions, not associated with the actual stars, the Signs were
+substituted for the Constellations of the Zodiac, and the Ram was taken
+as the leader instead of the Bull. The equinox was then determined by
+direct measurement of the length of the day and night; for a tablet of
+about this period records--
+
+ "On the sixth day of the month Nisan the day and night were
+ equal. The day was six double-hours (_kasbu_), and the night
+ was six double-hours."
+
+So long as Capella was used as the indicator star, so long the year must
+have begun with the sun in Taurus, the Bull; but when the re-adjustment
+was made, 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 star, 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 up. The necessity for an artificial division of
+the zodiac would be felt, and that artificial division clearly was not
+made until the sun at the spring equinox was unmistakably in Aries, the
+Ram; or about 700 B.C.
+
+The eclipse of 1063 B.C. incidentally proves that the old method of
+fixing Nisan by the conjunction of the moon and Capella was then still
+in use; for the eclipse took place on July 31, which is called in the
+record "the 26th of Sivan." Sivan being the third month, its 26th day
+could not have fallen so late, if the year had begun with the equinox;
+but it would have so fallen if the Capella method were still in vogue.
+
+There is a set of symbols repeated over and over again on Babylonian
+monuments, and always given a position of eminence;--it is the so-called
+"Triad of Stars," a crescent lying on its back and two stars near it.
+They are seen very distinctly at the top of the photograph of the
+boundary-stone from the Louvre, given on p. 318, and also immediately
+above the head of the Sun-god in the photograph of the tablet from
+Sippar, on p. 322. Their significance is now clear. Four thousand years
+before the Christian era, the two Twin stars, Castor and Pollux, served
+as indicators of the first new moon of the year, just as Capella did two
+thousand years later. The "triad of stars," then, is simply a picture of
+what men saw, year after year, in the sunset sky at the beginning of the
+first month, six thousand years ago. It is the earliest record of an
+astronomical observation that has come down to us.
+
+[Illustration: WORSHIP OF THE SUN-GOD AT SIPPARA.]
+
+How simple and easy the observation was, and how distinctly the year was
+marked off by it! The month was marked off by the first sight of the new
+thin crescent in the evening sky. The day was marked off by the return
+of darkness, the evening hour in which, month by month, the new moon was
+first observed; so that "the evening and the morning were the first
+day." The year was marked off by the new moon being seen in the evening
+with a bright pair of stars, the stars we still know as the "Twins;" and
+the length of the year was shown by the evening of the month, when moon
+and stars came together. If on the first evening, it was a year of
+twelve months; if on the third, one of thirteen. There was a time when
+these three observations constituted the whole of primitive astronomy.
+
+In later days the original meaning of the "Triad of Stars" would seem to
+have been forgotten, and they were taken as representing Sin, Samas, and
+Istar;--the Moon, the Sun and the planet Venus. Yet now and again a hint
+of the part they once played in determining the length of the year is
+preserved. Thus, on the tablet now in the British Museum, and shown on
+p. 322, sculptured with a scene representing the worship of the Sun-god
+in the temple of Sippar, these three symbols are shown with the
+explanatory inscription:--
+
+ "The Moon-god, the Sun-god, and Istar, dwellers in the abyss,
+ Announce to the years what they are to expect;"
+
+possibly an astrological formula, but it may well mean--"announce
+whether the years should expect twelve or thirteen months."
+
+As already pointed out, this method had one drawback; it gave a sidereal
+year, not a tropical year, and this inconvenience must have been
+discovered, and Capella substituted for the Twin stars, long before the
+giving of the Law to Israel. The method employed by the priests of
+watching the progress of the ripening of the barley overcame this
+difficulty, and gave a year to Israel which, on the average, was a
+correct tropical one.
+
+There is a detail in the history of the flood in Gen. vii. and viii.
+which has been taken by some as meant to indicate the length of the
+tropical year.
+
+ "In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second
+ month, the seventeenth day of the month, the same day were all
+ the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of
+ heaven were opened."
+
+ "And it came to pass in the six hundredth and first year, . . .
+ in the second month, on the seven and twentieth day of the
+ month, was the earth dried."
+
+The interval from the commencement of the deluge to its close was
+therefore twelve lunar months and ten days; _i. e._ 364 or 365 days.
+The beginning of the rain would, no doubt, be sharply marked; the end of
+the drying would be gradual, and hence the selection of a day exactly
+(so far as we can tell) a full tropical year from the beginning of the
+flood would seem to be intentional. A complete year had been consumed by
+the judgment.
+
+No such total interruption of the kindly succession of the seasons shall
+ever occur again:--
+
+ "While the earth remaineth, seed-time and harvest, and cold
+ and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not
+ cease."
+
+The rain is no longer for judgment, but for blessing:--
+
+ "Thou visitest the earth, and waterest it,
+ Thou greatly enrichest it;
+ The river of God is full of water:
+ Thou providest them corn, when Thou hast so prepared the earth.
+ Thou waterest her furrows abundantly;
+ Thou settlest the ridges thereof:
+ Thou makest it soft with showers;
+ Thou blessest the springing thereof.
+ Thou crownest the year with Thy goodness."
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[311:1] P. I. Hershon, _Genesis with a Talmudical Commentary_, p. 30.
+
+[315:1] _Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society_, vol. xxxix.
+p. 455.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+THE SABBATIC YEAR AND THE JUBILEE
+
+
+The principle of the week with its sabbath of rest was carried partially
+into the month, and completely into the year. The seventh month of the
+year was marked out pre-eminently by the threefold character of its
+services, though every seventh month was not distinguished. But the
+weekly sabbath was expressed not only in days but in years, and was one
+both of rest and of release.
+
+The sabbath of years was first enjoined from Mount Sinai, in the third
+month after the departure from Egypt, certainly within a day or so, if
+not on the actual day, of the second great feast of the year, variously
+known to the Hebrews as the Feast of Firstfruits, or the Feast of Weeks,
+and to us as Pentecost, that is Whitsuntide. It is most shortly given in
+Exod. xxi. 2, and xxiii. 10, 11:--
+
+ "If thou buy an Hebrew servant, six years he shall serve: and
+ in the seventh he shall go out free for nothing."
+
+ "Six years thou shalt sow thy land, and shalt gather in the
+ fruits thereof: but the seventh year thou shalt let it rest
+ and lie still; that the poor of thy people may eat: and what
+ they leave the beasts of the field shall eat. In like manner
+ thou shalt deal with thy vineyard, and with thy oliveyard."
+
+These laws are given at greater length and with fuller explanation in
+the twenty-fifth chapter of the Book of Leviticus. In addition there is
+given a promise of blessing for the fulfilment of the laws, and, in the
+twenty-sixth chapter, a sign to follow on their breach.
+
+ "If ye shall say, What shall we eat the seventh year? behold,
+ we shall not sow, nor gather in our increase: then I will
+ command My blessing upon you in the sixth year, and it shall
+ bring forth fruit for three years. And ye shall sow the eighth
+ year, and eat yet of old fruit until the ninth year: until her
+ fruits come in ye shall eat of the old store."
+
+ "Ye shall keep My sabbaths . . . and if ye walk contrary unto
+ Me . . . I will scatter you among the heathen, and will draw
+ out a sword after you: and your land shall be desolate, and
+ your cities waste. Then shall the land enjoy her sabbaths, as
+ long as it lieth desolate, and ye be in your enemies' land;
+ even then shall the land rest, and enjoy her sabbaths. As long
+ as it lieth desolate it shall rest; because it did not rest in
+ your sabbaths, when ye dwelt upon it."
+
+In the fifteenth chapter of the Book of Deuteronomy this sabbatic year
+is called a year of release. The specific injunctions here relate to
+loans made to a Hebrew and to a foreigner, and to the taking of a Hebrew
+into bondage. The laws as to loans had direct reference to the sabbath
+of the land, for since only Hebrews might possess the Holy Land,
+interest on a debt might not be exacted from a Hebrew in the sabbatic
+year, as the land did not then yield him wherewith he might pay. But
+loans to foreigners would be necessarily for commercial, not
+agricultural, purposes, and since commerce was not interdicted in the
+sabbatic year, interest on loans to foreigners might be exacted.
+Warning was given that the loans to a poor Hebrew should not be withheld
+because the sabbatic year was close at hand. The rules with respect to
+the Hebrew sold for debt into bondage are the same as those given in the
+Book of the Exodus.
+
+In Deuteronomy it was also enjoined that--
+
+ "at the end of every seven years, in the solemnity of the year
+ of release, in the Feast of Tabernacles" (that is, in the
+ feast of the seventh month), "when all Israel is come to
+ appear before the Lord thy God in the place which He shall
+ choose, thou shalt read this law before all Israel in their
+ hearing."
+
+We find no more mention of the sabbatic year until the reign of
+Zedekiah, the last king of Judah. He had made a covenant with all the
+people which were at Jerusalem, to proclaim liberty unto them, that
+every Hebrew bondservant should go free, but the princes and all the
+people caused their Hebrew bondservants to return and be in subjection
+to them. 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 Egypt, from the house of bondmen; and in the Second Book of
+Chronicles it is said that the sign of the breaking of this covenant,
+already quoted from the Book of Leviticus, was being accomplished. The
+Captivity was--
+
+ "to fulfil the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah,
+ until the land had enjoyed her sabbaths: for as long as she
+ lay desolate she kept sabbath, to fulfil three-score and ten
+ years."
+
+After the exile, we find one reference to the sabbatic year in the
+covenant sealed by the princes, Levites, and priests and people, in the
+Book of Nehemiah:--
+
+ "That we would leave the seventh year, and the exaction of
+ every debt."
+
+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 days:"--so
+the year of Jubilee was bound to the sabbatic year:--
+
+ "Thou shalt number seven sabbaths of years unto thee, seven
+ times seven years; and the space of the seven sabbaths of
+ years shall be unto thee forty and nine years. Then shalt thou
+ cause the trumpet of the Jubile to sound on the tenth day of
+ the seventh month, in the day of atonement shall ye make the
+ trumpet sound throughout all your land. And ye shall hallow
+ the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout all the
+ land unto all the inhabitants thereof: it shall be a Jubile
+ unto you; and ye shall return every man unto his possession,
+ and ye shall return every man unto his family."
+
+In this year of Jubilee all land, and village houses, and the houses of
+the Levites were to revert to their original owners. These, in other
+words, could be leased only, and not bought outright, the price of the
+lease depending upon the number of years until the next Jubilee. A
+foreigner might not buy a Hebrew outright as a bondslave; he could but
+contract with him as a servant hired for a term; this contract might be
+abolished by the payment of a sum dependent on the number of years until
+the next year of Jubilee, and in any case the Hebrew servant and his
+family must go out free at the year of Jubilee. In the last chapter of
+the Book of Numbers we get a reference again to the year of Jubilee, and
+indirect allusions to it are made by Isaiah, in "the acceptable year of
+the Lord" when liberty should be proclaimed, and in "the year of the
+redeemed." In his prophecy of the restoration of Israel, Ezekiel
+definitely refers to "the year of liberty," when the inheritance that
+has been granted to a servant shall return again to the prince.
+
+The interpretation of the sabbatic year and the year of Jubilee has
+greatly exercised commentators. At what season did the sabbatic year
+begin? was it coterminous with the ecclesiastical year; or did it differ
+from it by six months? Was the year of Jubilee held once in every
+forty-nine years or once in every fifty? did it begin at the same season
+as the sabbatic year? did it interrupt the reckoning of the sabbatic
+year, so that a new cycle commenced immediately after the year of
+Jubilee; or was the sabbatic year every seventh, irrespective of the
+year of Jubilee? did the year of Jubilee always follow immediately on a
+sabbatic year, or did this only happen occasionally?
+
+The problem will be much simpler if it is borne in mind that the Law, as
+originally proclaimed, was eminently practical and for practical men.
+The period of pedantry, of hair-splitting, of slavery to mere
+technicalities, came very late in Jewish history.
+
+It is clear from what has been already said in the chapter on the year,
+that the only calendar year in the Old Testament was the sacred one,
+beginning with the month Abib or Nisan, in the spring. At the same time
+the Jews, like ourselves, would occasionally refer vaguely to the
+beginning, or the end, or the course of the year, without meaning to set
+up any hard and fast connection with the authorized calendar.
+
+Now it is perfectly clear that the sabbatic year cannot have begun with
+the first day of the month Abib, because the first fruits were offered
+on the fifteenth of that month. That being so, the ploughing and the
+sowing must have taken place very considerably earlier. It is not
+possible to suppose that the Hebrew farmer would plough and sow his land
+in the last months of the previous year, knowing that he could not reap
+during the sabbatic year.
+
+Similarly, it seems hardly likely that it was considered as beginning
+with the first of Tishri, inasmuch as the harvest festival, the Feast of
+the Ingathering, or Tabernacles, took place in the middle of that month.
+The plain and practical explanation is that, after the Feast of
+Tabernacles of the sixth year, the farmer would not again plough, sow,
+or reap his land until after the Feast of Tabernacles in the sabbatic
+year. The sabbatic year, in other words, was a simple agricultural year,
+and it did not correspond exactly with the ecclesiastical or with any
+calendar year.
+
+For practical purposes the sabbatic year therefore ended with the close
+of the Feast of Tabernacles, when the Law was read before the whole
+people according to the command of Moses; and it practically began a
+year earlier.
+
+The year of Jubilee appears in the directions of Lev. xxv. to have been
+most distinctly linked to the sabbatic year.
+
+ "The space of the seven sabbaths of years shall be unto thee
+ forty and nine years, . . . and ye shall hallow the fiftieth
+ year, and proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all
+ the inhabitants thereof: it shall be a Jubile unto you."
+
+It would seem, therefore, that just as the week of days ran on
+continuously, uninterrupted by any feasts or fasts, so the week of years
+ran on continuously. And as the Feast of Pentecost was the 49th day from
+the offering of the first-fruits on the morrow of the Passover, so the
+Jubilee was the 49th year from the "morrow" of a sabbatic year; it
+followed immediately after a sabbatic year. The Jubilee was thus the
+49th year from the previous Jubilee; it was the 50th from the particular
+sabbatic year from which the original reckoning was made.
+
+Actually the year of Jubilee began before the sabbatic year was
+completed, because the trumpet of the Jubilee was to be blown upon the
+Day of Atonement, the 10th day of the seventh month--that is to say,
+whilst the sabbatic year was yet in progress. Indeed, literally
+speaking, this trumpet, "loud of sound," blown on the 10th day of the
+seventh month, _was_ the Jubilee, that is to say, the sound of
+rejoicing, the joyful sound. A difficulty comes in here. The Israelites
+were commanded--
+
+ "Ye shall not sow, neither reap that which groweth of itself
+ in it, nor gather the grapes in it of thy vine undressed. For
+ it is the Jubile; it shall be holy unto you: ye shall eat the
+ increase thereof out of the field."
+
+This would appear to mean that the Jubilee extended over a whole year
+following a sabbatic year, so that the land lay fallow for two
+consecutive years. But this seems negatived by two considerations. It is
+expressly laid down in the same chapter (Lev. xxv. 22) that the
+Israelites were to sow in the eighth year--that is to say, in the year
+after a sabbatic year, and the year of Jubilee would be always a year of
+this character. Further, if the next sabbatic year was the seventh after
+the one preceding the Jubilee, then the land would be tilled for only
+five consecutive years, not for six, though this is expressly commanded
+in Lev. xxv. 3. If, on the contrary, it was tilled for six years, then
+the run of the sabbatic years would be interrupted.
+
+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 seasons. The land in that
+year was to return to its original owners. The freehold of the land was
+never sold; the land was inalienable, and in the year of Jubilee it
+reverted. "In the year of this Jubile ye shall return every man unto his
+possession."
+
+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 place, or as to when
+such Hebrews as had fallen through poverty into slavery should be
+liberated. If the time were made optional, grasping men would put it off
+till the end of the year, and sooner or later that would be the general
+rule. There can be no doubt that the blowing of the trumpet on the 10th
+day of the seventh month was the proclamation of liberty throughout all
+the land and to all the inhabitants thereof; and that the transfer of
+the land must have taken place at the same time. The slave would return
+to the possession of his ancestors in time to keep, as a freeman, the
+Feast of Tabernacles on his own land. The four days between the great
+day of Atonement and the Feast of Tabernacles were sufficient for this
+change to be carried out.
+
+The term "Year of Jubilee" is therefore not to be taken as signifying
+that the events of the Jubilee were spread over twelve months, but
+simply, that it was the year in which the restoration of the Jubilee was
+accomplished. We speak of the king's "coronation year," though his
+coronation took place on but a single day, and the meaning that we
+should attach to the phrase would depend upon the particular sense in
+which we were using the word "year." Whilst, therefore, the Jubilee
+itself was strictly defined by the blowing of trumpets on the 10th day
+of the seventh month, it would be perfectly correct to give the title,
+"year of Jubilee," to any year, no matter in what season it commenced,
+that contained the day of that proclamation of liberty. It is also
+correct to say that it was the fiftieth year because it was placed at
+the very end of the forty-ninth year.
+
+The difficulty still remains as to the meaning of the prohibition to sow
+or reap in the year of Jubilee. The command certainly reads as if the
+land was to lie fallow for two consecutive years; 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
+elapsed, and hence that he should be forbidden to reap until nearly two
+full years had run their course. It also, as already stated, seems
+directly contrary to the command to sow in the eighth year, which would
+also be the fiftieth. It may therefore be meant simply to emphasize the
+prohibition to sow and reap in the sabbatic year immediately preceding
+the Jubilee. The temptation would be great to a grasping man to get the
+most he could out of the land before parting with it for ever.
+
+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 it, there
+can be no doubt but that they followed each other at the same interval
+as every seventh sabbatic year; in other words, that they were held
+every 49 years. This is confirmed by an astronomical consideration.
+Forty-nine years make a convenient luni-solar cycle, reconciling the
+lunar month and the tropical solar year. Though not so good as the
+Metonic cycle of 19 years, it is quite a practical one, as the following
+table will show:--
+
+ 3 years = 1095.73 days : 37 months = 1092.63 days
+ 8 " = 2921.94 " : 99 " = 2923.53 "
+ 11 " = 4017.66 " : 136 " = 4016.16 "
+ 19 " = 6939.60 " : 235 " = 6939.69 "
+ 49 " = 17896.87 " : 606 " = 17895.54 "
+ 60 " = 21914.53 " : 742 " = 21911.70 "
+
+The cycle of 49 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 moon,
+and this was all that could be needed so long as the nation of Israel
+remained in its own land.
+
+The cycle of 8 years is added above, since it has been stated that the
+Jews of Alexandria adopted this at one time from the Greeks. This was
+not so good as the cycle of 11 years would have been, and not to be
+compared with the combination of the two cycles in that of 19 years
+ascribed to Meton. The latter cycle was adopted by the Babylonian Jews,
+and forms the basis of the Jewish calendar in use to-day.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+THE CYCLES OF DANIEL
+
+
+The cycle of 49 years, marked out by the return of the Jubilee, was a
+useful and practical one. It supplied, in fact, all that the Hebrews, in
+that age, required for the purposes of their calendar. The Babylonian
+basic number, 60, 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 year.
+
+There is another way of looking at the regulations for the Jubilee,
+which brings out a further significant relation. On the 10th day of the
+first month of any year, the lamb was selected for the Passover. On the
+10th day of the seventh month of any year was the great Day of
+Atonement. From the 10th 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
+Atonement, was 600 months, that is 50 complete lunar years. And the same
+interval necessarily held good between the Passover of that first year
+and the Feast of Tabernacles of the forty-ninth year. The Passover
+recalled the deliverance of Israel from the bondage of Egypt; and in
+like manner, the release to be given to the Hebrew slave at the year of
+Jubilee was expressly connected with the memory of that national
+deliverance.
+
+ "For they are My servants, which I brought forth out of the
+ land of Egypt: they shall not be sold as bondmen."
+
+The day of Jubilee fell in the middle of the ecclesiastical year. From
+the close of the year of Jubilee--that is to say, of the ecclesiastical
+year in which the freeing, both of the bondmen and of the land, took
+place--to the next day of Jubilee was 48-1/2 solar years, or--as seen
+above--600 lunations, or 50 lunar years, so that there can be no doubt
+that the period was expressly designed to exhibit this cycle, a cycle
+which shows incidentally a very correct knowledge of the true lengths of
+the lunation and solar year.
+
+This cycle was possessed by no other nation of antiquity; therefore the
+Hebrews borrowed it from none; and since they did not borrow the cycle,
+neither could they have borrowed the ritual with which that cycle was
+interwoven.
+
+That the Hebrews possessed this knowledge throws some light upon an
+incident in the early life of the prophet Daniel.
+
+ "In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah
+ came Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon unto Jerusalem, and
+ besieged it. . . . And the king spake unto Ashpenaz the master
+ of his eunuchs, that he should bring certain of the children
+ of Israel, and of the king's seed, and of the princes;
+ children in whom was no blemish, but well favoured, and
+ skilful in all wisdom, and cunning in knowledge, and
+ understanding science, and such as had ability in them to
+ stand in the king's palace, and whom they might teach the
+ learning and the tongue of the Chaldeans. . . . Now among
+ these were of the children of Judah, Daniel, Hananiah,
+ Mishael, and Azariah: unto whom the prince of the eunuchs gave
+ names: for he gave unto Daniel the name of Belteshazzar; and
+ to Hananiah, of Shadrach; and to Mishael, of Meshach; and to
+ Azariah, of Abed-nego. . . . As for these four children, God
+ gave them knowledge and skill in all learning and wisdom; and
+ Daniel had understanding in all visions and dreams. Now at the
+ end of the days that the king had said he should bring them
+ in, then the prince of the eunuchs brought them in before
+ Nebuchadnezzar. And the king communed with them; and among
+ them all was found none like Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and
+ Azariah: therefore stood they before the king. And in all
+ matters of wisdom and understanding, that the king inquired of
+ them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians
+ and astrologers that were in all his realm."
+
+The Hebrew children that king Nebuchadnezzar desired to be brought were
+to be already possessed of knowledge; they were to be further instructed
+in the learning and tongue of the Chaldeans. But when the four Hebrew
+children were brought before the king, and he communed with them, he
+found them wiser than his own wise men.
+
+No account is given of the questions asked by the king, or of the
+answers made by the four young Hebrews; so it is merely a conjecture
+that possibly some question bearing on the calendar may have come up.
+But if it did, then certainly the information within the grasp of the
+Hebrews could not have failed to impress the king.
+
+We know how highly the Greeks esteemed the discovery by Meton, in the
+86th Olympiad, of that relation between the movements of the sun and
+moon, which gives the cycle of nineteen years, and similar knowledge
+would certainly have given king Nebuchadnezzar a high opinion of the
+young captives.
+
+But there is evidence, from certain numbers in the book which bears his
+name, that Daniel was acquainted with luni-solar cycles which quite
+transcended that of the Jubilees in preciseness, and indicate a
+knowledge such as was certainly not to be found in any other ancient
+nation. The numbers themselves are used in a prophetic context, so that
+the meaning of the whole is veiled, but astronomical knowledge
+underlying the use of these numbers is unmistakably there.
+
+One of these numbers is found in the eighth chapter.
+
+ "How long shall be the vision concerning the daily sacrifice,
+ and the transgression of desolation, to give both the
+ sanctuary and the host to be trodden under foot? And he said
+ unto me, Unto two thousand and three hundred days; then shall
+ the sanctuary be cleansed."
+
+The twelfth chapter gives the other number, but in a more veiled form:--
+
+ "And I heard the man clothed in linen, which was upon the
+ waters of the river, when he held up his right hand and his
+ left hand unto heaven, and sware by Him that liveth for ever
+ that it shall be for a time, times, and an half; and when he
+ shall have accomplished to scatter the power of the holy
+ people, all these things shall be finished."
+
+The numerical significance of the "time, times and an half," or, as it
+is expressed in the seventh chapter of Daniel, "until a time, and times,
+and the dividing of time," is plainly shown by the corresponding
+expressions in the Apocalypse, where "a time and times and half a time"
+would appear to be given elsewhere both as "forty and two months" and
+"a thousand, two hundred and three-score days." Forty-two conventional
+months--that is of 30 days each--make up 1260 days, whilst 3-1/2
+conventional years of 360 days--that is twelve months of 30 days
+each--make up the same period. The word "times" is expressly used as
+equivalent to years in the eleventh chapter of Daniel, where it is said
+that the king of the north "shall come on at the end of the times, even
+of years, with a great army and with much substance." Then, again in the
+vision which Nebuchadnezzar had previous to his madness, he heard the
+watcher and the holy one cry concerning him:--
+
+ "Let his heart be changed from man's, and let a beast's heart
+ be given unto him; and let seven times pass over him."
+
+It has been generally understood that the "seven times" in this latter
+case meant "seven years." The "time, times and an half" are obviously
+meant as the half of "seven times."
+
+The two numbers, 2,300 and 1,260, whatever be their significance in
+their particular context in these prophecies, have an unmistakable
+astronomical bearing, as the following table will show:--
+
+ 2,300 solar years = 840,057 days, 1 hour.
+ 28,447 lunar months = 840,056 " 16 hours.
+ difference = 9 "
+ 1,260 solar years = 460,205 " 4 "
+ 15,584 lunar months = 460,204 " 17 "
+ difference = " 11 "
+
+If the one number 1,260 stood alone, the fact that it was so close a
+lunar cycle might easily be ascribed to a mere coincidence. Seven is a
+sacred number, and the days in the year may be conventionally
+represented as 360. Half the product of the two might, perhaps, seem to
+be a natural number to adopt for symbolic purposes. But the number 2,300
+stands in quite a different category. It is not suggested by any
+combination of sacred numbers, and is not veiled under any mystic
+expression; the number is given as it stands--2,300. But 2,300 solar
+years is an exact number, not only of lunations, but also of
+"anomalistic" months. The "anomalistic month" is the time occupied by
+the moon in travelling from its perigee, that is its point of nearest
+approach to the earth, round to its perigee again. For the moon's orbit
+round the earth is not circular, but decidedly elliptical; the moon
+being 31,000 miles nearer to us at perigee than it is at apogee, its
+point of greatest distance. But it moves more rapidly when near perigee
+than when near apogee, so that its motion differs considerably from
+perfect uniformity.
+
+But the period in which the moon travels from her perigee round to
+perigee again is 27 days, 13 hours, 18 minutes, 37 seconds, and there
+are in 2,300 solar years almost exactly 30,487 such periods or
+anomalistic months, which amount to 840,057 days, 2 hours.
+
+If we take the mean of these three periods, that is to say 840,057 days,
+as being the cycle, it brings into harmony the day, the anomalistic
+month, the ordinary month, and the solar year. It is from this point of
+view the most perfect cycle known.
+
+Dr. H. Grattan Guinness[343:1] has shown what a beautifully simple and
+accurate calendar could have been constructed on the basis of this
+period of 2,300 years; thus:--
+
+ 2,300 solar years contain 28,447 synodic months, of which 847
+ are intercalary, or epact months. 2,300 years are 840,057
+ days:
+
+ Days.
+ 27,600 {13,800 non-intercalary mths. of 29 d. each = 400,200
+ {13,800 " " " " 30 " = 414,000
+ 847 {423 intercalary months of 30 days each = 12,690
+ {424 " " " 31 " " = 13,144
+ 23 days additional for the 23 centuries = 23
+ -------
+ 840,057
+
+The Jewish calendar on this system would have consisted of ordinary
+months, alternately 29 and 30 days in length. The intercalary months
+would have contained alternately 30 or 31 days, and once in every
+century one of the ordinary months would have had an additional day. Or,
+what would come to very much the same thing, this extra day might have
+been added at every alternate Jubilee.
+
+By combining these two numbers of Daniel some cycles of extreme
+astronomical interest have been derived by De Cheseaux, a Swiss
+astronomer of the eighteenth century, and by Dr. H. Grattan Guinness,
+and Dr. W. Bell Dawson in our own times. Thus, the difference between
+2,300 and 1,260 is 1,040, and 1,040 years give an extremely exact
+correspondence between the solar year and the month, whilst the mean of
+the two numbers gives us 1,780, and 1,780 lunar years is 1,727 solar
+years with extreme precision. But since these are not given directly in
+the Book of Daniel, and are only inferential from his numbers, there
+seems no need to comment upon them here.
+
+It is fair, however, to conclude that Daniel was aware of the Metonic
+cycle. The 2300-year cycle gives evidence of a more accurate knowledge
+of the respective lengths of month and year than is involved in the
+cycle of 19 years. And the latter is a cycle which a Jew would be
+naturally led to detect, as the number of intercalary months contained
+in it is seven, the Hebrew sacred number.
+
+The Book of Daniel, therefore, itself proves to us that king
+Nebuchadnezzar was perfectly justified in the high estimate which he
+formed of the attainments of the four Hebrew children. Certainly one of
+them, Daniel, was a better instructed mathematician and astronomer than
+any Chaldean who had ever been brought into his presence.
+
+We have the right to make this assertion, for now we have an immense
+number of Babylonian records at our command; and can form a fairly
+accurate estimate as to the state there of astronomical and mathematical
+science at different epochs. 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 centuries, if not of several millenniums earlier; and the times of
+Sargon of Agade, whose reputed date is 3800 B.C., have seemed to be
+credited with the astronomical work done in Babylon in the first and
+second centuries before our era. 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 day.
+
+The earlier astronomical achievements at Babylon were not, in any real
+sense, astronomical at all. They were simply the compilation of lists of
+crude astrological omens, of the most foolish and unreasoning kind. Late
+in Babylonian history there were observations of a high scientific
+order; real observations of the positions of moon and planets, made with
+great system and regularity. But these were made after Greek astronomy
+had attained a high level, and Babylon had come under Greek rule.
+
+Whether this development of genuine astronomical observation was of
+native origin, or was derived from their Greek masters, is not clear. If
+it was native, then certainly the Babylonians were not able to use and
+interpret the observations which they made nearly so well as were Greek
+astronomers, such as Eudoxus, Thales, Pythagoras, Hipparchus and many
+others.
+
+But it must not be supposed that, though their astronomical achievements
+have been grossly, even ludicrously, exaggerated by some popular
+writers, the Babylonians contributed nothing of value to the progress of
+the science. We may infer from such a tablet as that already quoted on
+page 320, when the equinox was observed on the 6th day of Nisan, since
+there were 6 _kasbu_ of day and 6 _kasbu_ of night, that some mechanical
+time-measurer was in use. Indeed, the record on one tablet has been
+interpreted as noting that the astronomer's clock or clepsydra had
+stopped. If this be so, then we owe to Babylon the invention of clocks
+of some description, and from an astronomical point of view, this is of
+the greatest importance.
+
+Tradition also points to the Chaldeans as the discoverers of the
+_Saros_, the cycle of 18 years, 10 or 11 days, after which eclipses of
+the sun or moon recur. The fact that very careful watch was kept every
+month at the times of the new and of the full moon, at many different
+stations, to note whether an eclipse would take place, would naturally
+bring about the discovery of the period, sooner or later.
+
+The achievements of a nation will be in accordance with its temperament
+and opportunities, and it is evident from the records which they have
+left us that the Babylonians, though very superstitious, were a
+methodical, practical, prosaic people, and a people of that order, if
+they are numerous, and under strong rule, will go far and do much. The
+discovery of the _Saros_ was such as was within their power, and was
+certainly no small achievement. But it is to the Greeks, not to the
+Babylonians, that we trace the beginnings of mathematics and planetary
+theory.
+
+We look in vain amongst such Babylonian poetry as we possess for the
+traces of a Homer, a Pindar, a Sophocles, or even of a poet fit to enter
+into competition with those of the second rank in the literature of
+Greece; 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 inspiration.
+
+There were two great hindrances under which the Babylonian man of
+science laboured: he was an idolater, and he was an astrologer. It is
+not possible for us in our freedom to fully realize how oppressive was
+the slavery of mind, as well as spirit, which was consequent upon this
+twofold superstition. The Greek was freer, insomuch that he did not
+worship the planets, and did not become a planetary astrologer until
+after he had learnt that superstition from Chaldea; in learning it he
+put an end to his scientific progress.
+
+But the Hebrew, if he was faithful to the Law that had been given to
+him, was free in mind as well as in spirit. He could fearlessly inquire
+into any and all the objects of nature, for these were but things--the
+work of God's Hands, whereas he, made in the image of God, having the
+right of intercourse with God, was the superior, the ruler of everything
+he could see.
+
+His religious attitude therefore gave him a great superiority for
+scientific advancement. Yet there was one phase of that attitude which,
+whilst it preserved him from erroneous conceptions, tended to check that
+spirit of curiosity which has led to so much of the scientific progress
+of modern times. "What?" "How?" and "Why?" are the three questions which
+man is always asking of nature, and to the Hebrew the answer to the
+second and third was obvious:--It is the power of God: It is the will of
+God. He did not need to invent for himself the crass absurdities of the
+cosmogonies of the heathen; but neither was he induced to go behind the
+appearances of things; the sufficient cause and explanation of all was
+God.
+
+But of the appearances he was very observant, as I trust has become
+clear in the course of this imperfect review of the traces of one
+particular science as noticed in Holy Scripture.
+
+If he was faithful to the Law which had been given him, the Hebrew was
+free in character as well as in mind. His spirit was not that of a
+bondman, and Nebuchadnezzar certainly never met anything more noble,
+anything more free, than the spirit of the men who answered him in the
+very view of the burning fiery furnace:--
+
+ "O Nebuchadnezzar, we are not careful to answer thee in this
+ matter. If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver
+ us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us out
+ of thine hand, O king. BUT IF NOT, be it known unto thee, O
+ king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden
+ image which thou hast set up."
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[343:1] _Creation centred in Christ_, p. 344.
+
+
+[Illustration: "SUN, STAND THOU STILL UPON GIBEON, AND THOU MOON IN THE
+VALLEY OF AJALON."]
+
+
+
+
+BOOK IV
+
+THREE ASTRONOMICAL MARVELS
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+JOSHUA'S "LONG DAY"[351:1]
+
+
+1.--METHOD OF STUDYING THE RECORD
+
+There are three incidents recorded in Holy Scripture which may fairly,
+if with no great exactness, be termed astronomical miracles;--the "long
+day" on the occasion of Joshua's victory at Beth-horon; the turning back
+of the shadow on the dial of Ahaz, as a sign of king Hezekiah's recovery
+from sickness; and the star which guided the wise men from the east to
+the birthplace of the Holy Child at Bethlehem.
+
+As astronomy has some bearing on each of these three remarkable events,
+it will be of some interest to examine each of them from the point of
+view of our present astronomical knowledge. It does not follow that this
+will throw any new light upon the narratives, for we must always bear in
+mind that the Scriptures were not intended to teach us the physical
+sciences; consequently we may find that the very details have been
+omitted which an astronomer, if he were writing an account of an
+astronomical observation, would be careful to preserve. And we must
+further remember that we have not the slightest reason to suppose that
+the sacred historians received any supernatural instruction in
+scientific matters. Their knowledge of astronomy therefore was that
+which they had themselves acquired from education and research, and
+nothing more. In other words, the astronomy of the narrative must be
+read strictly in the terms of the scientific advancement of the writers.
+
+But there is another thing that has also to be remembered. The narrative
+which we have before us, being the only one that we have, must be
+accepted exactly as it stands. That is the foundation of our inquiry; we
+have no right to first cut it about at our will, to omit this, to alter
+that, to find traces of two, three, or more original documents, and so
+to split up the narrative as it stands into a number of imperfect
+fragments, which by their very imperfection may seem to be more or less
+in conflict.
+
+The scientific attitude with regard to the record of an observation
+cannot be too clearly defined. If that record be the only one, then we
+may accept it, we may reject it, we may be obliged to say, "We do not
+understand it," or "It is imperfect, and we can make no use of it," but
+we must not alter it. A moment's reflection will show that a man who
+would permit himself to tamper with the sole evidence upon which he
+purports to work, no matter how profoundly convinced he may be that his
+proposed corrections are sound, is one who does not understand the
+spirit of science, and is not going the way to arrive at scientific
+truth.
+
+There is no need then to inquire as to whether the tenth chapter of the
+Book of Joshua comes from two or more sources; we take the narrative as
+it stands. And it is one which has, for the astronomer, an interest
+quite irrespective of any interpretation which he may place upon the
+account of the miracle which forms its central incident. For Joshua's
+exclamation:--
+
+ "Sun, stand thou still upon Gibeon;
+ And thou, Moon, in the valley of Ajalon,"
+
+implies that, at the moment of his speaking, the two heavenly bodies
+appeared to him to be, the one upon or over Gibeon, the other over the
+valley of Ajalon. We have therefore, in effect, a definite astronomical
+observation; interesting in itself, as being one of the oldest that has
+been preserved to us; doubly interesting in the conclusions that we are
+able to deduce from it.
+
+The idea which has been most generally formed of the meaning of Joshua's
+command, is, that he saw Gibeon in the distance on the horizon in one
+direction with the sun low down in the sky immediately above it, and the
+valley of Ajalon in the distance, on the horizon in another direction,
+with the moon low down in the sky above it.
+
+It would be quite natural to associate the sun and moon with distant
+objects if they were only some five or six degrees high; it would be
+rather straining the point to do so if they were more than ten degrees
+high; and if they were fifteen or more degrees high, it would be quite
+impossible.
+
+They could not be both in the same quarter of the sky; both rising or
+both setting. For this would mean that the moon was not only very near
+the sun in the sky, but was very near to conjunction--in other words, to
+new moon. She could, therefore, have only shown a slender thread of
+light, and it is perfectly certain that Joshua, facing the sun in such a
+country as southern Palestine could not possibly have perceived the thin
+pale arch of light, which would have been all that the moon could then
+have presented to him. Therefore the one must have been rising and the
+other setting, and Joshua must have been standing between Gibeon and the
+valley of Ajalon, so that the two places were nearly in opposite
+directions from him. The moon must have been in the west and the sun in
+the east, for the valley of Ajalon is west of Gibeon. That is to say, it
+cannot have been more than an hour after sunrise, and it cannot have
+been more than an hour before moonset. Adopting therefore the usual
+explanation of Joshua's words, we see at once that the common idea of
+the reason for Joshua's command to the sun, namely, that the day was
+nearly over, and that he desired the daylight to be prolonged, is quite
+mistaken. If the sun was low down in the sky, he would have had
+practically the whole of the day still before him.
+
+
+2.--BEFORE THE BATTLE
+
+Before attempting to examine further into the nature of the miracle, it
+will be well to summarize once again the familiar history of the early
+days of the Hebrew invasion of Canaan. We are told that the passage of
+the Jordan took place on the tenth day of the first month; and that the
+Feast of the Passover was held on the fourteenth day of that month.
+These are the only two positive dates given us. The week of the Pascal
+celebrations would have occupied the time until the moon's last quarter.
+Then preparations were made for the siege of Jericho, and another week
+passed in the daily processions round the city before the moment came
+for its destruction, which must have been very nearly at the beginning
+of the second month of the year. Jericho having been destroyed, Joshua
+next ordered a reconnaissance of Ai, a small fortified town, some twenty
+miles distant, and some 3400 feet above the Israelite camp at Gilgal,
+and commanding the upper end of the valley of Achor, the chief ravine
+leading up from the valley of the Jordan. The reconnaissance was
+followed by an attack on the town, which resulted in defeat. 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 disobeyed. A searching investigation was held; it
+was found that Achan, one of the Israelite soldiers, had seized for
+himself a royal robe and an ingot of gold; he was tried, condemned and
+executed, and the army of Israel was absolved from his guilt. A second
+attack was made upon Ai; the town was taken; and the road was made
+clear for Israel to march into the heart of the country, in order to
+hold the great religious ceremony of the reading of the law upon the
+mountains of Ebal and Gerizim, which had been commanded them long
+before. No note is given of the date when this ceremony took place, but
+bearing in mind that the second month of the year must have begun at the
+time of the first reconnaissance of Ai, and that the original giving of
+the Law upon Mount Sinai had taken place upon the third day of the third
+month, 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 manner. If this were so, it would account for the
+circumstance, which would otherwise have seemed so strange, that Joshua
+should have attacked two cities only, Jericho and Ai, and then for a
+time have held his hand. It was the necessity of keeping the great
+national anniversary on the proper day which compelled him to desist
+from his military operations after Ai was taken.
+
+We are not told how long the religious celebrations at Shechem lasted,
+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 full. But after
+their return, events must have succeeded each other with great rapidity.
+The Amorites must have regarded the pilgrimage of Israel to Shechem as
+an unhoped-for respite, and they took advantage of it to organize a
+great confederacy. Whilst this confederacy was being formed, 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 events. They had
+indeed reason to be. Ai, the last conquest of Israel, was less than four
+miles, as the crow flies, from Bireh, which is usually identified with
+Beeroth, one of the four cities of the Hivite State; and the Beerothites
+had, without doubt, watched the cloud of smoke go up from the burning
+town when it was sacked; and the mound which now covered what had been
+so recently their neighbour city, was visible almost from their gates.
+That was an object-lesson which required no enforcement. The Hivites,
+sure that otherwise their turn would come next, resolved to make peace
+with Israel before they were attacked.
+
+[Illustration: MAP OF SOUTHERN PALESTINE.
+
+Amorite Cities, _thus_: HEBRON. Hivite Cities: _BEEROTH_.
+
+Places taken by the Israelites: _Jericho_.
+
+Conjectural line of march of Joshua: ...................]
+
+To do this they had to deceive the Israelites into believing that they
+were inhabitants of some land far from Canaan, and this they must do,
+not only before Joshua actually attacked them, but before he sent out
+another scouting party. For Beeroth would inevitably have been the very
+first town which it would have approached, and once Joshua's spies had
+surveyed it, all chance of the Hivites successfully imposing upon him
+would have vanished.
+
+But they were exposed to another danger, if possible more urgent still.
+The headquarters of the newly formed Amorite league was at Jerusalem, on
+the same plateau as Gibeon, the Hivite capital, and distant from it less
+than six miles. A single spy, a single traitor, during the anxious time
+that their defection was being planned, and Adoni-zedec, the king of
+Jerusalem, would have heard of it in less than a couple of hours; and
+the Gibeonites would have been overwhelmed before Joshua had any inkling
+that they were anxious to treat with him. Whoever was dilatory, whoever
+was slow, the Gibeonites dared not be. It can, therefore, have been, at
+most, only a matter of hours after Joshua's return to Gilgal, before
+their wily embassy set forth.
+
+But their defection had an instant result. Adoni-zedec recognized in a
+moment the urgency of the situation. With Joshua in possession of Gibeon
+and its dependencies, the Israelites would be firmly established on the
+plateau at his very gates, and the states of southern Palestine would be
+cut off from their brethren in the north.
+
+Adoni-zedec lost no time; he sought and obtained the aid of four
+neighbouring kings and marched upon Gibeon. The Gibeonites sent at once
+the most urgent message to acquaint Joshua with their danger, and Joshua
+as promptly replied. He made a forced march with picked troops all that
+night up from Gilgal, and next day he was at their gates.
+
+Counterblow had followed blow, swift as the clash of rapiers in a duel
+of fencers. All three of the parties concerned--Hivite, Amorite and
+Israelite--had moved with the utmost rapidity. And no wonder; the stake
+for which they were playing was very existence, and the forfeit, which
+would be exacted on failure, was extinction.
+
+
+3.--DAY, HOUR, 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 place, and from an
+astronomical point of view this is very important. The Israelites had
+entered the land of Canaan on the 10th day of the first month, that is
+to say, very shortly after the spring equinox--March 21 of our present
+calendar. Seven weeks after that equinox--May 11--the sun attains a
+declination of 18 deg. north. From this time its declination increases day
+by day until the summer solstice, when, in Joshua's time, it was nearly
+24 deg. north. After that it slowly diminishes, and on August 4 it is 18 deg.
+again. For twelve weeks, therefore--very nearly a quarter of the entire
+year--the sun's northern declination is never less than 18 deg.. The date of
+the battle must have fallen somewhere within this period. It cannot have
+fallen earlier; the events recorded could not possibly have all been
+included in the seven weeks following the equinox. Nor, in view of the
+promptitude with which all the contending parties acted, and were bound
+to act, can we postpone the battle to a later date than the end of this
+midsummer period.
+
+We thus know, roughly speaking, what was the declination of the
+sun--that is to say, its distance from the equator of the heavens--at
+the time of the battle; it was not less than 18 deg. north of the equator,
+it could not have been more than 24 deg..
+
+But, if we adopt the idea most generally formed of the meaning of
+Joshua's command, namely, that he saw the sun low down over Gibeon in
+one direction, and the moon low down over the valley of Ajalon in
+another, we can judge of the apparent bearing of those two heavenly
+bodies from an examination of the map. And since, if we may judge from
+the map of the Palestine Exploration Fund, the valley of Ajalon lies
+about 17 deg. north of west from Gibeon, and runs nearly in that direction
+from it, the moon must, to Joshua, have seemed about 17 deg. north of west,
+and the sun 17 deg. south of east.
+
+But for any date within the three summer months, the sun in the
+latitude of Gibeon, when it bears 17 deg. south of east, must be at least
+56 deg. high. At this height it would seem overhead, and would not give the
+slightest idea of association with any distant terrestrial object. Not
+until some weeks after the autumnal equinox could the sun be seen low
+down on the horizon in the direction 17 deg. south of east, and at the same
+time the moon be as much as 17 deg. north of the west point. And, as this
+would mean that the different combatants had remained so close to each
+other, some four or five months without moving, it is clearly
+inadmissible. 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 seen, at one and the name moment; the sun low
+down in the sky over Gibeon, and the moon over the valley of Ajalon_.
+
+Is the narrative in error, then? Or have we been reading into it our own
+erroneous impression? Is there any other sense in which a man would
+naturally speak of a celestial body as being "over" some locality on the
+earth, except when both were together on his horizon?
+
+Most certainly. There is another position which the sun can hold in
+which it may naturally be said to be "over," or "upon" a given place;
+far more naturally and accurately than when it chances to lie in the
+same direction as some object on the horizon. We have no experience of
+that position in these northern latitudes, and hence perhaps our
+commentators have, as a rule, not taken it into account. But those who,
+in tropical or sub-tropical countries, have been in the open at high
+noon, when a man's foot can almost cover his shadow, will recognize how
+definite, how significant such a position is. In southern Palestine,
+during the three summer months, 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
+"overhead."
+
+And the prose narrative expressly tells us that this was the case. It is
+intimated that when Joshua spoke it was noon, by the expression that the
+sun "hasted not to go down about a whole day," implying that the change
+in the rate in its apparent motion occurred only in the afternoon, and
+that it had reached its culmination. Further, as not a few commentators
+have pointed out, the expression,--"the sun stood still in the midst of
+heaven,"--is literally "in the bisection of heaven"; a phrase applicable
+indeed to any position on the meridian, but especially appropriate to
+the meridian close to the zenith.
+
+This, then, is what Joshua meant by his command to the sun. 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
+head. It stood over him--it stood over the place where he was--Gibeon.
+
+We have, therefore, been able to find that the narrative gives us, by
+implication, two very important particulars, the place where Joshua was,
+and the time of the day. He was at Gibeon, and it was high noon.
+
+The expression, "Thou, Moon, in the valley of Ajalon," has now a very
+definite signification. As we have already seen, the valley of Ajalon
+bears 17 deg. north of west from Gibeon, according to the map of the
+Palestine Exploration Fund, so that this is the azimuth which the moon
+had at the given moment. In other words, it was almost exactly midway
+between the two "points of the compass," W.b.N. and W.N.W. It was also
+in its "last quarter" or nearly so; that is, it was half-full, and
+waning. With the sun on the meridian it could not have been much more
+than half-full, for in that case it would have already set; nor much
+less than half-full, or it would have been too faint to be seen in full
+daylight. It was therefore almost exactly half-full, and the day was
+probably the 21st day of the month in the Jewish reckoning.
+
+[Illustration: BEARINGS OF THE RISING AND SETTING POINTS OF THE SUN FROM
+GIBEON.]
+
+But the moon cannot be as far as 17 deg. north of west in latitude 31 deg. 51'
+N. on the 21st day of the month earlier than the fourth month of the
+Jewish year, or later than the eighth month. Now the 21st day of the
+fourth month is about seven weeks after the 3rd day of the third month;
+the 21st day of the fifth month is eleven weeks. Remembering how close
+Gilgal, Gibeon and Jerusalem were to each other, and how important was
+the need for promptitude to Israelite and Amorite alike, it can scarcely
+be disputed that eleven weeks is an inadmissible length of time to
+interpose between the reading of the Law and the battle; and that seven
+weeks is the utmost that can be allowed.
+
+The battle took place, then, on or about the 21st day of the fourth
+month. But it could only have done so if that particular year began
+late. If the year had begun earlier than April 1st of our present
+calendar, the moon could not have been so far north on the day named.
+For the Jewish calendar is a natural one and regulated both by the sun
+and the moon. It begins with the new moon, and it also begins as nearly
+as possible with the spring equinox. But as twelve natural months fall
+short of a solar year by eleven days, a thirteenth month has to be
+intercalated from time to time; in every nineteen years, seven are years
+having an extra month. Now the 21st day of the fourth month must have
+fallen on or about July 22 according to our present reckoning, in order
+that the moon might have sufficient northing, and that involves a year
+beginning after April 1; so that the year of the battle of Beth-horon
+must have been an ordinary year, one of twelve months, but must have
+followed a year of thirteen months.
+
+Summarizing all the conclusions at which we have now arrived, Joshua's
+observation was made at Gibeon itself, almost precisely at the moment of
+noon, on or about the 21st day of the fourth month, which day fell late
+in July according to our present reckoning; probably on or about the
+22nd. The sun's declination must have been about 20 deg. north; probably, if
+anything, a little more. The sun rose therefore almost exactly at five
+in the morning, and set almost exactly at seven in the evening, the day
+being just fourteen hours long. The moon had not yet passed her third
+quarter, but was very near it; that is to say, she was about half full.
+Her declination did not differ greatly from 16 deg. north; she was probably
+about 5 deg. above the horizon, and was due to set in about half an hour.
+She had risen soon after eleven o'clock the previous evening, and had
+lighted the Israelites during more than half of their night march up
+from Gilgal.
+
+
+4.--JOSHUA'S STRATEGY
+
+These conclusions, as to the place and time of day, entirely sweep away
+the impression, so often formed, that Joshua's victory was practically
+in the nature of a night surprise. Had it been so, and had the Amorites
+been put to flight at daybreak, there would have seemed no conceivable
+reason why, with fourteen hours of daylight before him, Joshua should
+have been filled with anxiety for the day to have been prolonged. Nor is
+it possible to conceive that he would still have been at Gibeon at noon,
+seven hours after he had made his victorious attack upon his enemy.
+
+The fact is that, in all probability, Joshua had no wish to make a
+night surprise. His attitude was like that of Nelson before the battle
+of Trafalgar; he had not the slightest doubt but that he would gain the
+victory, but he was most anxious that it should be a complete one. The
+great difficulty in the campaign which lay before him was the number of
+fortified places in the hands of the enemy, and the costliness, both in
+time and lives, of all siege operations at that epoch. His enemies
+having taken the field gave him the prospect of overcoming this
+difficulty, if, now that they were in the open, he could succeed in
+annihilating them there; to have simply scattered them would have
+brought him but little advantage. That this was the point to which he
+gave chief attention is apparent from one most significant circumstance
+in the history; the Amorites fled by the road to Beth-horon.
+
+There have been several battles of Beth-horon since the days of Joshua,
+and the defeated army has, on more than one occasion, fled by the route
+now taken by the Amorites. Two of these are recorded by Josephus; the
+one in which Judas Maccabaeus defeated and slew Nicanor, and the other
+when Cestius Gallus retreated from Jerusalem. It is probable that
+Beth-horon was also the scene of one, if not two, battles with the
+Philistines, at the commencement of David's reign. In all these cases
+the defeated foe fled by this road because it had been their line of
+advance, and was their shortest way back to safety.
+
+But the conditions were entirely reversed in the case of Joshua's
+battle. The Amorites fled _away from_ their cities. Jerusalem, the
+capital of Adoni-zedec and the chief city of the confederation, lay in
+precisely the opposite direction. The other cities of their league lay
+beyond Jerusalem, further still to the south.
+
+A reference to the map shows that Gilgal, the headquarters of the army
+of Israel, was on the plain of Jericho, close to the banks of the
+Jordan, at the bottom of that extraordinary ravine through which the
+river runs. Due west, at a distance of about sixteen or seventeen miles
+as the crow flies, but three thousand four hundred feet above the level
+of the Jordan, rises the Ridge of the Watershed, the backbone of the
+structure of Palestine. On this ridge are the cities of Jerusalem and
+Gibeon, and on it, leading down to the Maritime Plain, runs in a
+north-westerly direction, the road through the two Beth-horons.
+
+The two Beth-horons are one and a half miles apart, with a descent of
+700 feet from the Upper to the Lower.
+
+The flight of the Amorites towards Beth-horon proves, beyond a doubt,
+that Joshua had possessed himself of the road from Gibeon to Jerusalem.
+It is equally clear that this could not have been done by accident, but
+that it must have been the deliberate purpose of his generalship.
+Jerusalem was a city so strong that it was not until the reign of David
+that the Israelites obtained possession of the whole of it, and to take
+it was evidently a matter beyond Joshua's ability. But to have defeated
+the Amorites at Gibeon, and to have left open to them the way to
+Jerusalem--less than six miles distant--would have been a perfectly
+futile proceeding. We may be sure, therefore, that from the moment when
+he learned that Adoni-zedek was besieging Gibeon, Joshua's first aim was
+to cut off the Amorite king from his capital.
+
+The fact that the Amorites fled, not towards their cities but away from
+them, shows clearly that Joshua had specially manoeuvred so as to cut
+them off from Jerusalem. How he did it, we are not told, and any
+explanation offered must necessarily be merely of the nature of surmise.
+Yet a considerable amount of probability may attach to it. The
+geographical conditions are perfectly well known, and we can, to some
+degree, infer the course which the battle must have taken from these,
+just as we could infer the main lines of the strategy employed by the
+Germans in their war with the French in 1870, simply by noting the
+places where the successive battles occurred. The positions of the
+battlefields of Mars-la-Tour, Gravelotte, and Sedan would show clearly
+that the object of the Germans had been, first, to shut Bazaine up in
+Metz, and then to hinder MacMahon from coming to his relief. So in the
+present case, the fact that the Amorites fled by the way of the two
+Beth-horons, shows, first, that Joshua had completely cut them off from
+the road to Jerusalem, and next, that somehow or other when they took
+flight they were a long way to the north of him. Had they not been so,
+they could not have had any long start in their flight, and the
+hailstorm which occasioned them such heavy loss would have injured the
+Israelites almost as much.
+
+How can these two circumstances be accounted for? 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 Ai. On that occasion, as
+on this, he had felt his inability to deal with an enemy behind
+fortifications. His tactics therefore had consisted in making a feigned
+attack, followed by a feigned retreat, by which he drew his enemies
+completely away from their base, which he then seized by means of a
+detachment which he had previously placed in ambush near. Then, when the
+men of Ai were hopelessly cut off from their city, he brought all his
+forces together, surrounded his enemies in the open, and destroyed them.
+
+It was a far more difficult task which lay before him at Gibeon, but we
+may suppose that he still acted on the same general principles. There
+were two points on the ridge of the watershed which, for very different
+reasons, it was important that he should seize. The one was Beeroth, one
+of the cities of the Hivites, his allies, close to his latest victory of
+Ai, and commanding the highest point on the ridge of the watershed. It
+is distant from Jerusalem some ten miles--a day's journey. Tradition
+therefore gives it as the place where the Virgin Mary and St. Joseph
+turned back sorrowing, seeking Jesus. For "they, supposing Him to have
+been in the company, went a day's journey," and Beeroth still forms the
+first halting-place for pilgrims from the north on their return journey.
+
+Beeroth also was the city of the two sons of Rimmon who murdered
+Ishbosheth, the son of Saul. When it is remembered how Saul had
+attempted to extirpate the Gibeonites, and how bitter a blood feud the
+latter entertained against his house in consequence, it becomes very
+significant that the murderers of his son were men of this Gibeonite
+town.
+
+Beeroth also commanded the exit from the principal ravine by which
+Joshua could march upwards to the ridge--the valley of Achor. The
+Israelites marching by this route would have the great advantage that
+Beeroth, in the possession of their allies, the Gibeonites, would act as
+a cover to them whilst in the ravines, and give them security whilst
+taking up a position on the plateau.
+
+But Beeroth had one fatal disadvantage as a sole line of advance. From
+Beeroth Joshua would come down to Gibeon from the north, and the
+Amorites, if defeated, would have a line of retreat, clear and easy, to
+Jerusalem. It was absolutely essential that somewhere or other he should
+cut the Jerusalem road.
+
+This would be a matter of great difficulty and danger, as, if his
+advance were detected whilst he was still in the ravines, he would have
+been taken at almost hopeless disadvantage. The fearful losses which the
+Israelites sustained in the intertribal war with Benjamin near this very
+place, show what Joshua might reasonably have expected had he tried to
+make his sole advance on the ridge near Jerusalem.
+
+Is it not probable that he would have endeavoured, under these
+circumstances, to entice the Amorites as far away to the north as
+possible before he ventured to bring his main force out on the ridge? If
+so, we may imagine that he first sent a strong force by the valley of
+Achor to Beeroth; that they were instructed there to take up a strong
+position, and when firmly established, to challenge the Amorites to
+attack them. Then, 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 themselves, together
+with the greater part of their army, were thus drawn away--he would
+signal to Joshua that the time had come for his advance. Just as Joshua
+himself had signalled with his spear at the taking of Ai, so the firing
+of a beacon placed on the summit of the ridge would suffice for the
+purpose. Joshua would then lead up the main body, seize the Jerusalem
+road, and press on to Gibeon at the utmost speed. If this were so, the
+small detachment of Amorites left to continue the blockade was speedily
+crushed, but perhaps was aware of Joshua's approach soon enough to send
+swift runners urging the five kings to return. The news would brook no
+delay; the kings would turn south immediately; but for all their haste
+they never reached Gibeon. They probably had but advanced as far as the
+ridge leading to Beth-horon, when they perceived that not only had
+Joshua relieved Gibeon and destroyed the force which they had left
+before it, but that his line, stretched out far to the right and left,
+already cut them off, not merely from the road to Jerusalem and Hebron,
+but also from the valley of Ajalon, a shorter road to the Maritime Plain
+than the one they actually took. East there was no escape; north was the
+Israelite army from Beeroth; south and west was the army of Joshua.
+Out-manoeuvred and out-generalled, they were in the most imminent danger
+of being caught between the two Israelite armies, and of being ground,
+like wheat, between the upper and nether millstones. They had no heart
+for further fight; the promise made to Joshua,--"there shall not a man
+of them stand before thee,"--was fulfilled; they broke and fled by the
+one way open to them, the way of the two Beth-horons.
+
+Whilst this conjectural strategy attributes to Joshua a ready grasp of
+the essential features of the military position and skill in dealing
+with them, it certainly does not attribute to him any greater skill than
+it is reasonable to suppose he possessed. The Hebrews have repeatedly
+proved, not merely their valour in battle, but their mastery of the art
+of war, and, as Marcel Dieulafoy has recently shown,[372:1] the earliest
+general of whom we have record as introducing turning tactics in the
+field, is David in the battle of the valley of Rephaim, recorded in 2
+Sam. v. 22-25 and 1 Chron. xiv. 13-17.
+
+ "The several evolutions of a complicated and hazardous nature
+ which decided the fate of the battle would betoken, even at
+ the present day, when successfully conducted, a consummate
+ general, experienced lieutenants, troops well accustomed to
+ manoeuvres, mobile, and, above all, disciplined almost into
+ unconsciousness, so contrary is it to our instincts not
+ to meet peril face to face. . . . In point of fact, the
+ Israelites had just effected in the face of the Philistines a
+ turning and enveloping movement--that is to say, an operation
+ of war considered to be one of the boldest, most skilful, and
+ difficult attempted by forces similar in number to those of
+ the Hebrews, but, at the same time, very efficacious and
+ brilliant when successful. It was the favourite manoeuvre of
+ Frederick II, and the one on which his military reputation
+ rests."
+
+But though the Amorites had been discomfited by Joshua, they had not
+been completely surrounded; one way of escape was left open. More than
+this, it appears that they obtained a very ample start in the race along
+the north-western road. We infer this from the incident of the
+hailstorm which fell upon them whilst rushing down the precipitous road
+between the Beth-horons; a storm so sudden and so violent that more of
+the Amorites died by the hailstones than had fallen in the contest at
+Gibeon. It does not appear that the Israelites suffered from the storm;
+they must consequently have, at the time, been much in the rear of their
+foes. Probably they were still "in the way that goeth up to Beth-horon";
+that is to say, in the ascent some two miles long from Gibeon till the
+summit of the road is reached. There would be a special appropriateness
+in this case in the phrasing of the record that "the Lord discomfited
+the Amorites before Israel, and slew them with a great slaughter at
+Gibeon, and _chased_ them along the way that goeth up to Beth-horon, and
+smote them to Azekah and unto Makkedah." There was no slaughter on the
+road between Gibeon and Beth-horon. It was a simple _chase_; a pursuit
+with the enemy far in advance.
+
+The Israelites, general and soldiers alike, had done their best. The
+forced march all night up the steep ravines, the plan of the battle, and
+the way in which it had been carried out were alike admirable. Yet when
+the Israelites had done their best, and the heat and their long
+exertions had nearly overpowered them, Joshua was compelled to recognize
+that he had been but partly successful. He had relieved Gibeon; the
+Amorites were in headlong flight; he had cut them off from the direct
+road to safety, but he had failed in one most important point. He had
+not succeeded in surrounding them, and the greater portion of their
+force was escaping.
+
+
+5.--THE MIRACLE.
+
+It was at this moment, when his scouts announced to him the frustration
+of his hopes, that Joshua in the anxiety lest the full fruits of his
+victory should be denied him, and in the supremest faith that the Lord
+God, in Whose hand are all the powers of the universe, was with him,
+exclaimed:
+
+ "Sun, stand thou still upon Gibeon,
+ And thou, Moon, in the valley of Ajalon!"
+
+So his exclamation stands in our Authorized Version, but, as the
+marginal reading shows, the word translated "stand still" is more
+literally "be silent." There can be no doubt that this expression, so
+unusual in this connection, must have been employed with intention. What
+was it that Joshua is likely to have had in his mind when he thus spoke?
+
+The common idea is that he simply wished for more time; for the day to
+be prolonged. But as we have seen, it was midday when he spoke, and he
+had full seven hours of daylight before him. There was a need which he
+must have felt more pressing. His men had now been seventeen hours on
+the march, for they had started at sunset--7 p.m.--on the previous
+evening, and it was now noon, the noon of a sub-tropical midsummer. They
+had marched at least twenty miles in the time, possibly considerably
+more according to the route which they had followed, and the march had
+been along the roughest of roads, and had included an ascent of 3400
+feet--about the height of the summit of Snowdon above the sea-level.
+They must have been weary, and have felt sorely the heat of the sun,
+now blazing right overhead. Surely it requires no words to labour this
+point. Joshua's one pressing need at that moment was something to temper
+the fierce oppression of the sun, and to refresh his men. This was what
+he prayed for; this was what was granted him. For the moment the sun
+seemed fighting on the side of his enemies, and he bade it "Be silent."
+Instantly, in answer to his command, a mighty rush of dark storm-clouds
+came sweeping up from the sea.
+
+Refreshed by the sudden coolness, the Israelites set out at once in the
+pursuit of their enemies. It is probable that for the first six miles
+they saw no trace of them, but when they reached Beth-horon the Upper,
+and stood at the top of its steep descent, they saw the Amorites again.
+As it had been with their fathers at the Red Sea, when the pillar of
+cloud had been a defence to them but the means of discomfiture to the
+Egyptians, so now the storm-clouds which had so revived them and
+restored their their strength, had brought death and destruction to
+their enemies. All down the rocky descent lay the wounded, the dying,
+the dead. For "the Lord cast down great stones from heaven upon them,
+unto Azekah, and they died: they were more which died with hailstones
+than they whom the children of Israel slew with the sword."
+
+ "The might of the Gentile, unsmote by the sword,
+ Had melted like snow in the glance of the Lord."
+
+Far below them the panic-stricken remnants of the Amorite host were
+fleeing for safety to the cities of the Maritime Plain. The battle
+proper was over; the one duty left to the army of Israel was to overtake
+and destroy those remnants before they could gain shelter.
+
+But the narrative continues. "The sun stayed in the midst of heaven, and
+hasted not to go down about a whole day." This statement evidently
+implies much more than the mere darkening of the sun by storm-clouds.
+For its interpretation we must return to the remaining incidents of the
+day.
+
+These are soon told. Joshua pursued the Amorites to Makkedah,
+twenty-seven miles from Gibeon by the route taken. There the five kings
+had hidden themselves in a cave. A guard was placed to watch the cave;
+the Israelites continued the pursuit for an undefined distance farther;
+returned to Makkedah and took it by assault; brought the kings out of
+their cave, and hanged them.
+
+ "And it came to pass at the time of the going down of the sun,
+ that Joshua commanded, and they took them down off the trees,
+ and cast them into the cave wherein they had hidden
+ themselves, and laid great stones on the mouth of the cave,
+ unto this very day."
+
+All these events--the pursuit for twenty-seven miles and more, the
+taking of Makkedah and the hanging of the kings--took place between noon
+and the going down of the sun, an interval whose normal length, for that
+latitude and at that time of the year, was about seven hours.
+
+This is an abnormal feat. It is true that a single trained pedestrian
+might traverse the twenty-seven and odd miles, and still have time to
+take part in an assault on a town and to watch an execution. But it is
+an altogether different thing when we come to a large army. It is well
+known that the speed with which a body of men can move diminishes with
+the number. A company can march faster than a regiment; a regiment than
+a brigade; a brigade than an army corps. But for a large force thirty
+miles in the entire day is heavy work. "Thus Sir Archibald Hunter's
+division, in its march through Bechuanaland to the relief of Mafeking,
+starting at four in the morning, went on till seven or eight at night,
+covering as many as thirty miles a day at times." Joshua's achievement
+was a march fully as long as any of General Hunter's, but it was
+accomplished in less than seven hours instead of from fifteen to
+sixteen, and it followed straight on from a march seventeen hours in
+length which had ended in a battle. In all, between one sunset and the
+next he had marched between fifty and sixty miles besides fighting a
+battle and taking a town.
+
+If we turn to the records of other battles fought in this neighbourhood,
+we find that they agree as closely as we could expect, not with Joshua's
+achievement, but with General Hunter's. In the case of the great victory
+secured by Jonathan, the gallant son of Saul, the Israelites smote the
+Philistines from Michmash to Ajalon;--not quite twenty miles. In the
+defeat of Cestius Gallus, the Jews followed him from Beth-horon to
+Antipatris, a little over twenty miles, the pursuit beginning at
+daybreak, and being evidently continued nearly till sundown. The pursuit
+of the Syrians under Nicanor by Judas Maccabaeus seems also to have
+covered about the same distance, for Nicanor was killed at the first
+onslaught and his troops took to flight.
+
+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 bard. The latter, so it is urged, simply
+meaning to add a figure of dignity and importance to his song
+commemorating a great national victory, had written:--
+
+ "And the sun stood still, and the moon stayed,
+ Until the nation had avenged themselves of their enemies,"
+
+but with no more expectation that the stay of the moon would be accepted
+literally, than the singers, who welcomed David after the slaying of
+Goliath, imagined that any one would seriously suppose that Saul had
+actually with his own hand killed two thousand Philistines, and David
+twenty thousand. But, say they, the later prose chronicler, quoting from
+the ballad, and accepting a piece of poetic hyperbole as actual fact,
+reproduced the statement in his own words, and added, "the sun stayed in
+the midst of heaven, and hasted not to go down about a whole day."
+
+Not so. The poem and the prose chronicle make one coherent whole.
+Working from the poem alone, treating the expressions in the first two
+lines merely as astronomical indications of time and place, and without
+the slightest reference to any miraculous interpretation, they lead to
+the inevitable conclusion that the time was noonday. This result
+certainly does not lie on the surface of the poem, and it was wholly
+beyond the power of the prose chronicler to have computed it, yet it is
+just in the supposed stupid gloss of the prose chronicler, and nowhere
+else, that we find this fact definitely stated: whilst the "miracle"
+recorded both by poem and prose narrative completely accords with the
+extraordinary distance traversed between noon and sunset.
+
+Any man, however ignorant of science, if he be but careful and
+conscientious, can truthfully record an observation without any
+difficulty. But to successfully invent even the simplest astronomical
+observation requires very full knowledge, and is difficult even then.
+Every astronomer knows that there is hardly a single novelist, no matter
+how learned or painstaking, who can at this present day introduce a
+simple astronomical relation into his story, without falling into
+egregious error.
+
+We are therefore quite sure that Joshua did use the words attributed to
+him; 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 form. Nor was the prose narrative the result of an editor
+combining two or three narratives all written much after the date. The
+original records must have been made at the time.
+
+All astronomers know well how absolutely essential it is to commit an
+observation to writing on the spot. Illustrations of this necessity
+could be made to any extent. One may suffice. In vol. ii. of the _Life
+of Sir Richard Burton_, by his wife, p. 244, Lady Burton says:--
+
+ "On the 6th December, 1882 . . . we were walking on the Karso
+ (Opcona) alone; the sky was clear, and all of a sudden my
+ niece said to me, 'Oh, look up, there is a star walking into
+ the moon!' 'Glorious!' I answered. 'We are looking at the
+ Transit of Venus, which crowds of scientists have gone to the
+ end of the world to see.'"
+
+The Transit of Venus did take place on December 6, 1882; and though
+Venus could have been seen without telescopic aid as a black spot on the
+sun's disc, nothing can be more unlike Venus in transit than "a star
+walking into the moon." The moon was not visible on that evening, and
+Venus was only visible when on the sun's disc, and appeared then, not as
+a star, but as a black dot.
+
+No doubt Lady Burton's niece did make the exclamation attributed to her,
+but it must have been, not on December 6, 1882, but on some other
+occasion. Lady Burton may indeed have told her niece that this was the
+Transit of Venus, but that was simply because she did not know what a
+transit was, nor that it occurred in the daytime, not at night. Lady
+Burton's narrative was therefore not written at the time. So if the
+facts of the tenth chapter of Joshua, as we have it, had not been
+written at the time of the battle, some gross astronomical discordance
+would inevitably have crept in.
+
+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 day. What effect would have resulted that the
+Israelites could have perceived? This, and this only, that they would
+have marched twice as far between noon and sunset as they could have
+done in any ordinary afternoon. And this as we have seen, is exactly
+what they are recorded to have done.
+
+The only measure of time, available to the Israelites, independent of
+the apparent motion of the sun, was the number of miles marched. Indeed,
+with the Babylonians, the same word (_kasbu_) was used to indicate three
+distinct, but related measures. It was a measure of time--the double
+hour; of celestial arc--the twelfth part of a great circle, thirty
+degrees, that is to say the space traversed by the sun in two hours; and
+it was a measure of distance on the surface of the earth--six or seven
+miles, or a two hours' march.
+
+If, for the sake of illustration, we may suppose that the sun were to
+stand still for us, we should recognize it neither by sundial nor by
+shadow, but we should see that whereas our clocks had indicated that the
+sun had risen (we will say) at six in the morning, and had southed at
+twelve of noon; it had not set until twelve of the night. The register
+of work done, shown by all our clocks and watches, would be double for
+the afternoon what it had been for the morning. 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
+noon, we should be justified in recording, as the writer of the book of
+Joshua has recorded, "The sun stood still in the midst of heaven, and
+hasted not to go down about a whole day."
+
+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 Israelites. The Israelites had no time-measurers, could have had
+no time-measurers. A sundial, if any such were in existence, would only
+indicate the position of the sun, and therefore could give no evidence
+in the matter. Beside, a sundial is not a portable instrument, and
+Joshua and his men had something more pressing to do than to loiter
+round it. Clepsydrae or clocks are of later date, and no more than a
+sundial are they portable. Many comments, one might almost say most
+comments on the narrative, read as if the writers supposed that Joshua
+and his men carried stop-watches, and that their chief interest in the
+whole campaign was to see how fast the sun was moving. Since they had no
+such methods of measuring time, since it is not possible to suppose that
+over and above any material miracle that was wrought, the mental miracle
+was added of acquainting the Israelites for this occasion only with the
+Copernican system of astronomy, all that the words of the narrative can
+possibly mean is, that--
+
+ "the sun stood still in the midst of heaven, and hasted not to
+ go down about a whole day,"
+
+according to the only means which the Israelites had for testing the
+matter. In short, it simply states in other words, what, it is clear
+from other parts of the narrative, was actually the case, that the
+length of the march made between noon and sunset was equal to an
+ordinary march taking the whole of a day.
+
+If we suppose--as has been generally done, and as it is quite legitimate
+to do, for all things are possible to God--that the miracle consisted in
+the slackening of the rotation of the earth, what effect would have
+been perceived by the Hebrews? This, and only this, that they would have
+accomplished a full day's march in the course of the afternoon. And what
+would have been the effects produced on all the neighbouring nations?
+Simply that they had managed to do more work than usual in the course of
+that afternoon, and that they felt more than usually tired and hungry in
+the evening.
+
+But would it have helped the Israelites for the day to have been thus
+actually lengthened? Scarcely so, unless they had been, at the same
+time, endowed with supernatural, or at all events, with unusual
+strength. The Israelites had already been 31 hours without sleep or
+rest, they had made a remarkable march, their enemies had several miles
+start of them; would not a longer day have simply given the latter a
+better chance to make good their flight, unless the Israelites were
+enabled to pursue them with unusual speed? And if the Israelites were so
+enabled, then no further miracle is required; for them the sun would
+have "hasted not to go down about a whole day."
+
+Leaving the question as to whether the sun appeared to stand still
+through the temporary arrest of the earth's rotation, or through some
+exaltation of the physical powers of the Israelites, it seems clear,
+from the foregoing analysis of the narrative, that both the prose
+account and the poem were written by eye-witnesses, who recorded what
+they had themselves seen and heard whilst every detail was fresh in
+their memory. Simple as the astronomical references are, they are very
+stringent, and can only have been supplied by those who were actually
+present.
+
+Nothing can be more unlike poetic hyperbole than the sum of actual
+miles marched to the men who trod them; and these very concrete miles
+were the gauge of the lapse of time. For just as "nail," and "span," and
+"foot," and "cubit," and "pace" were the early measures of small
+distance, so the average day's march was the early measure of long
+distance. The human frame, in its proportions and in its abilities, is
+sufficiently uniform to have furnished the primitive standards of
+length. But the relation established between time and distance as in the
+case of a day's march, works either way, and is employed in either
+direction, even at the present day. When the Israelites at the end of
+their campaign returned from Makkedah to Gibeon, and found the march,
+though wholly unobstructed, was still a heavy performance for the whole
+of a long day, what could they think, how could they express themselves,
+concerning that same march made between noon and sundown? Whatever
+construction we put upon the incident, whatever explanation we may offer
+for it, to all the men of Israel, judging the events of the afternoon by
+the only standard within their reach, the eminently practical standard
+of the miles they had marched, 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 day. And there was no day like that before
+ it or after it, that the Lord hearkened unto the voice of a
+ man: for the Lord fought for Israel."
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[351:1] Revised and reprinted from the _Sunday at Home_ for February and
+March, 1904.
+
+[372:1] Marcel Dieulafoy, _David the King: an Historical Enquiry_, pp.
+155-175.
+
+
+
+
+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 Ahaz, at the time of
+Hezekiah's recovery, from his dangerous illness.
+
+It was shortly after the deliverance of the kingdom of Judah from the
+danger threatened it by Sennacherib king of Assyria, that Hezekiah fell
+"sick unto death." But in answer to his prayer, Isaiah was sent to tell
+him--
+
+ "Thus saith the Lord, the God of David thy father, I have
+ heard thy prayer, I have seen thy tears: behold, I will heal
+ thee: on the third day thou shalt go up unto the house of the
+ Lord. And I will add unto thy days fifteen years; and I will
+ deliver thee and this city out of the hand of the king of
+ Assyria; and I will defend this city for Mine own sake, and
+ for My servant David's sake. And Isaiah said, Take a lump of
+ figs. And they took and laid it on the boil, and he recovered.
+ And Hezekiah said unto Isaiah, What shall be the sign that the
+ Lord will heal me, and that I shall go up into the house of
+ the Lord the third day? And Isaiah said, This sign shalt thou
+ have of the Lord, that the Lord will do the thing that He hath
+ spoken: shall the shadow go forward ten degrees, or go back
+ ten degrees? And Hezekiah answered, It is a light thing for
+ the shadow to go down ten degrees: nay, but let the shadow
+ return backward ten degrees. And Isaiah the prophet cried unto
+ the Lord: and He brought the shadow ten degrees backward, by
+ which it had gone down in the dial of Ahaz."
+
+The narrative in the Book of Isaiah gives the concluding words in the
+form--
+
+ "So the sun returned ten degrees, by which degrees it was gone
+ down."
+
+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 recover;
+complete for all the ordinary purposes of a narrative, and for readers
+in general. But for any purpose of astronomical analysis the narrative
+is deficient, and it must be frankly confessed that it does not lie
+within the power of astronomy to make any use of it.
+
+It has been generally assumed that it was an actual sundial upon which
+this sign was seen. We do not know how far back the art of dialling
+goes. The simplest form of dial is an obelisk on a flat pavement, but it
+has the very important drawback that the graduation is different for
+different times of the year. In a properly constructed dial the edge of
+the style casting the shadow should be made parallel to the axis of the
+earth. Consequently a dial for one latitude is not available without
+alteration when transferred to another latitude. Some fine types of
+dials on a large scale exist in the observatories built by Jai Singh.
+The first of these--that at Delhi--was probably completed about 1710
+A.D. They are, therefore, quite modern, 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 astronomy. The principal
+of these buildings, the Samrat Yantra, is a long staircase in the
+meridian leading up to nothing, the shadow falling on to a great
+semicircular arc which it crosses. The slope of the staircase is, of
+course, parallel to the earth's axis.
+
+It has been suggested that if such a dial were erected at Jerusalem, and
+the style were that for a tropical latitude, at certain times of the
+year the shadow would appear to go backward for a short time. Others,
+again, have suggested that if a small portable dial were tilted the same
+phenomenon would show itself. It is, of course, evident that no such
+suggestion at all accords with the narrative. Hezekiah was now in the
+fourteenth year of his reign, the dial--if dial it was--was made by his
+father, and the "miracle" would have been reproduced day by day for a
+considerable part of each year, and after the event it would have been
+apparent to every one that the "miracle" continued to be reproduced. If
+this had been the case, 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
+dial.
+
+Others have hazarded the extreme hypothesis, that there might have been
+an earthquake at the time which dipped the dial in the proper direction,
+and then restored it to its proper place; presumably, of course, without
+doing harm to Jerusalem, or any of its buildings, and passing unnoticed
+by both king and people.
+
+A much more ingenious theory than any of those was communicated by the
+late J. W. Bosanquet to the Royal Asiatic Society in 1854. An eclipse of
+the sun took place on January 11, 689 B.C. It was an annular eclipse
+in Asia Minor, and a very large partial eclipse at Jerusalem, the
+greatest phase taking place nearly at local noon. Mr. Bosanquet
+considers that the effect of the partial eclipse would be to practically
+shift the centre of the bright body casting the shadow. At the beginning
+of the annular phase, the part of the sun uncovered would be a crescent
+in a nearly vertical position; at mid eclipse the crescent would be in a
+horizontal position; at the end of the annular phase the crescent would
+again be in a vertical position; so that the exposed part of the sun
+would appear to move down and up in the sky over a very small distance.
+It is extremely doubtful whether any perceptible effect could be so
+produced on the shadow, and one wholly fails to understand why the
+eclipse itself should not have been given as the sign, and why neither
+the king nor the people seem to have noticed that it was in progress. It
+is, however, sufficient to say that modern chronology shows that
+Hezekiah died ten years before the eclipse in question, so that it fell
+a quarter of a century too late for the purpose, and no other eclipse is
+available to take its place during the lifetime of Hezekiah.
+
+But there is no reason to think that the word rendered in our Authorized
+Version as "dial" was a sundial at all. The word translated "dial" is
+the same which is also rendered "degrees" in the A.V. and "steps" in the
+R.V., as is shown in the margin of the latter. It occurs in the prophecy
+of Amos, where it is rendered "stories" or "ascensions." It means an
+"ascent," a "going up," a "step." Thus king Solomon's throne had six
+_steps_, and there are fifteen Psalms (cxx.-cxxxiv.)--that are called
+"songs of degrees," that is "songs of steps."
+
+We do not know how the staircase of Ahaz faced, but we can form some
+rough idea from the known positions of the Temple and of the city of
+David, and one or two little hints given us in the narrative itself. It
+will be noted that Hezekiah uses the movement of the shadow downward, as
+equivalent to its going forward. The going forward of course meant its
+ordinary direction of motion at that time of day; so the return of the
+shadow backward meant that the shadow went up ten steps, for in the Book
+of Isaiah it speaks of the sun returning "ten degrees by which degrees
+it was gone down." It was therefore in the afternoon, and the sun was
+declining, when the sign took place. It is clear, therefore, that the
+staircase was so placed that the shadow went down the stairs as the sun
+declined in the sky. The staircase, therefore, probably faced east or
+north-east, as it would naturally do if it led from the palace towards
+the Temple. No doubt there was a causeway at the foot of this staircase,
+and a corresponding ascent up the Temple hill on the opposite side of
+the valley.
+
+We can now conjecturally reproduce the circumstances. It was afternoon,
+and the palace had already cast the upper steps of the staircase into
+shadow. The sick king, looking longingly towards the Temple, could see
+the lower steps still gleaming in the bright Judean sunshine. It was
+natural therefore for him to say, when the prophet Isaiah offered him
+his choice of a sign, "Shall the shadow go forward ten steps, or back
+ten steps?" that it was "a light thing for the shadow to go down ten
+steps: nay, but let the shadow return backward ten steps." It would be
+quite obvious to him that a small cloud, suitably placed, might throw
+ten additional steps into shadow.
+
+It will be seen that we are left with several details undetermined. For
+the staircase, wherever constructed, was probably not meant to act as a
+sundial, and was only so used because it chanced to have some rough
+suitability for the purpose. In this case the shadow will probably have
+been thrown, not by a properly constructed gnomon, but by some building
+in the neighbourhood. And as we have no record of the direction of the
+staircase, its angle of inclination, its height, and the position of the
+buildings which might have cast a shadow upon it, we are without any
+indication to guide us.
+
+When the queen of Sheba came to visit king Solomon, and saw all his
+magnificence, one of the things which specially impressed her was "his
+ascent by which he went up unto the house of the Lord." This was "the
+causeway of the going up," as it is called in the First Book of
+Chronicles. We are told of a number of alterations, made in the Temple
+furniture and buildings by king Ahaz, and it is said that "the covered
+way for the sabbath that they had built in the house, and the king's
+entry without, turned he unto (_margin_, round) the house of the Lord,
+because of the king of Assyria." That is to say, Ahaz considered that
+Solomon's staircase was too much exposed in the case of a siege, being
+without the Temple enclosure. This probably necessitated the
+construction of a new staircase, which would naturally be called the
+staircase of Ahaz. That there was, in later times, 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
+Nehemiah:--
+
+ "At the fountain gate, which was over against them, they went
+ up by the stairs of the City of David, at the going up of the
+ wall, above the house of David, even unto the water gate
+ eastward."
+
+In this case there would be a special appropriateness in the sign that
+was offered to Hezekiah. The sign that he would be so restored, as once
+again to go up to the house of the Lord, was to be given him on the very
+staircase by which he would go. He was now thirty-eight years old, and
+had doubtless watched the shadow of the palace descend the staircase in
+the afternoon, hundreds of times; quite possibly he had actually seen a
+cloud make the shadow race forward. But the reverse he had never seen.
+Once a step had passed into the shadow of the palace, it did not again
+emerge until the next morning dawned.
+
+The sign then was this: It was afternoon, probably approaching the time
+of the evening prayer, and the court officials and palace attendants
+were moving down the staircase in the shadow, when, as the sick king
+watched them from above, the shadow of the palace was rolled back up the
+staircase, and a flood of light poured down on ten of the broad steps
+upon which the sun had already set. How this lighting of the ten steps
+was brought about we are not told, nor is any clue given us on which we
+can base a conjecture. But this return of light was a figure of what was
+actually happening in the life of the king himself. He had already, as
+it were, passed into the shadow that only deepens into night. As he sang
+himself after his recovery--
+
+ "I said, In the noontide of my days I shall go into the gates of
+ the grave:
+ I am deprived of the residue of my years.
+ I said, I shall not see the Lord, even the Lord in the land of
+ the living:
+ I shall behold man no more with the inhabitants of the world."
+
+But now the light had been brought back to him, and he could say--
+
+ "The living, the living, he shall praise Thee, as I do this day:
+ The father to the children shall make known Thy truth.
+ The Lord is ready to save me:
+ Therefore we will sing my songs to the stringed instruments
+ All the days of our life in the house of the Lord."
+
+
+
+
+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
+Jews. It was towards the end of the reign of Herod the Great that they
+arrived at Jerusalem, and threw Herod the king and all the city into
+great excitement by their question--
+
+ "Where is He that is born King of the Jews? For we have seen
+ His star in the east, and are come to worship Him."
+
+Herod at once gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people
+together, and demanded of them where the Messiah should be born. Their
+reply was distinct and unhesitating--
+
+ "In Bethlehem of Judaea: for thus it is written by the Prophet,
+ And thou Bethlehem, in the land of Juda, art not the least
+ among the princes of Juda: for out of thee shall come a
+ Governor, that shall rule My people Israel. Then Herod, when
+ he had privily called the wise men, inquired of them
+ diligently what time the star appeared. And he sent them to
+ Bethlehem, and said, Go and search diligently for the young
+ Child; and when ye have found Him, bring me word again, that
+ I may come and worship Him also. When they had heard the king,
+ they departed; and, lo, the star, which they saw in the east,
+ went before them, till it came and stood over where the young
+ Child was. When they saw the star, they rejoiced with
+ exceeding great joy."
+
+So much, and no more are we told of the star of Bethlehem, and the story
+is as significant in its omissions as in that which it tells us.
+
+What sort of a star it was that led the wise men; how they learnt from
+it that the King of the Jews was born; how it went before them; how it
+stood over where the young Child was, we do not know. Nor is it of the
+least importance that we should know. One verse more, and that a short
+one, would have answered these inquiries; it would have told us whether
+it was some conjunction of the planets; whether perchance it was a
+comet, or a "new" or "temporary" star; or whether it was a supernatural
+light, like the pillar of fire that guided the children of Israel in the
+wilderness. But that verse has not been given. The twelve or twenty
+additional words, which could have cleared up the matter, have been
+withheld, and there can be no doubt as to the reason. The "star,"
+whatever its physical nature, was of no importance, except as a guide to
+the birthplace of the infant Jesus. Information about it would have
+drawn attention from the object of the narrative; it would have given to
+a mere sign-post the importance which belonged only to "the Word made
+flesh."
+
+We are often told that the Bible should be studied precisely as any
+other book is studied. Yet before we can criticize any book, we must
+first ascertain what was the purpose that the author had in writing it.
+The history of England, for instance, has been written by many persons
+and from many points of view. One man has traced the succession of the
+dynasties, the relationships of the successive royal families, and the
+effect of the administrations of the various kings. Another has chiefly
+considered the development of representative government and of
+parliamentary institutions. A third has concerned himself more with the
+different races that, by their fusion, have formed the nation as it is
+to-day. A fourth has dealt with the social condition of the people, the
+increase of comfort and luxury. To a fifth the true history of England
+is the story of its expansion, the foundation and growth of its colonial
+empire. While to a sixth, its religious history is the one that claims
+most attention, and the struggles with Rome, the rise and decay of
+Puritanism, and the development of modern thought will fill his pages.
+Each of these six will select just those facts, and those facts only,
+that are relevant to his subject. The introduction of irrelevant facts
+would be felt to mark the ignorant or unskilful workman. The master of
+his craft will keep in the background the details that have no bearing
+on his main purpose, and to those which have but a slight bearing he
+will give only such notice as their importance in this connection
+warrants.
+
+The purpose of the Bible is to reveal God to us, and to teach us of our
+relationship to Him. It was not intended to gratify that natural and
+laudable curiosity which has been the foundation of the physical
+sciences. Our own efforts, our own intelligence can help us here, and
+the Scriptures have not been given us in order to save us the trouble of
+exerting them.
+
+There is no reason for surprise, then, that the information given us
+concerning the star is, astronomically, so imperfect. We are, indeed,
+told but two facts concerning it. First that its appearance, in some way
+or other, informed the wise men, not of the birth of _a_ king of the
+Jews, but of _the_ King of the Jews, for Whose coming not Israel only,
+but more or less consciously the whole civilized world, was waiting.
+Next, having come to Judaea in consequence of this information, the
+"star" pointed out to them the actual spot where the new-born King was
+to be found. "It went before them till it came and stood over where the
+young Child was." It may also be inferred from Matt. ii. 10 that in some
+way or other the wise men had for a time lost sight of the star, so that
+the two facts mentioned of it relate to two separate appearances. The
+first appearance induced them to leave the East, and set out for Judaea;
+the second pointed out to them the place at Bethlehem where the object
+of their search was to be found. Nothing is told us respecting the star
+except its work as a guide.
+
+Some three centuries ago the ingenious and devout Kepler supposed that
+he could identify the Star with a conjunction of the planets Jupiter and
+Saturn, in the constellation Pisces. This conjunction took place in the
+month of May, B.C. 7, not very long before the birth of our Lord is
+supposed to have taken place.
+
+But the late Prof. C. Pritchard has shown, first, that a similar and
+closer conjunction occurred 59 years earlier, and should therefore have
+brought a Magian deputation to Judaea then. Next, that the two planets
+never approached each other nearer than twice the apparent diameter of
+the moon, so that they would have appeared, not as one star, but as two.
+And thirdly, if the planets had seemed to stand over Bethlehem as the
+wise men left Jerusalem, they most assuredly would not have appeared to
+do so when they arrived at the little city. Ingenious as the suggestion
+was, it may be dismissed as unworthy of serious consideration.
+
+Another suggestion shows upon what slight foundations a well-rounded
+legend may be built. In the year 1572 a wonderful "new star" appeared in
+the constellation Cassiopeia. At its brightest it outshone Venus, and,
+though it gradually declined in splendour, it remained visible for some
+sixteen months. There have been other instances of outbursts of bright
+short-lived stars; and brief notices, in the annals of the years 1265
+and 952 may have referred to such objects, but more probably these were
+comets. The guess was hazarded that these objects might be one and the
+same; that the star in Cassiopeia might be a "variable" star, bursting
+into brilliancy about every 315 or 316 years; that it was the star that
+announced the birth of our Lord, and that it would reappear towards the
+end of the nineteenth century to announce His second coming.
+
+One thing more was lacking to make the legend complete, and this was
+supplied by the planet Venus, which shines with extraordinary
+brilliance when in particular parts of her orbit. On one of these
+occasions, when she was seen as a morning star in the east, 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
+return.
+
+There is no reason to suppose that the star of 1572 had ever appeared
+before that date, or will ever appear again. But in any case we are
+perfectly sure that it could not have been the star of Bethlehem. For
+Cassiopeia is a northern constellation, and the wise men, when they set
+out from Jerusalem to Bethlehem must have had Cassiopeia and all her
+stars behind them.
+
+The fact that the "star" went before them and stood over where the young
+Child lay, gives the impression that it was some light, like the
+Shekinah glory resting on the Ark in the tabernacle, or the pillar of
+fire which led the children of Israel through the wilderness. 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 East, and how they came to call
+it a star, when they must have recognized how very unstarlike it was.
+Whilst, if what they saw when in the East was really a star, 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 lay.
+
+I have somewhere come across a legend which may possibly afford the
+clue, but I have not been able to find that the legend rests upon any
+authority. It is that the star had been lost in the daylight by the time
+that the wise men reached Jerusalem. It was therefore an evening star
+during their journey thither. But it is said that when they reached
+Bethlehem, apparently nearly at midday, one of them went to the well of
+the inn, in order to draw water. Looking down into the well, he saw the
+star, reflected from the surface of the water. This would of course be
+an intimation to them that the star was directly overhead, and its
+re-observation, under such unusual circumstances, would be a sufficient
+assurance that they had reached the right spot. Inquiry in the inn would
+lead to a knowledge of the visit of the shepherds, and of the angelic
+message which had told them where to find the Babe born in the city of
+David, "a Saviour, Which is Christ the Lord."
+
+If this story be true, the "Star of Bethlehem" was probably a "new
+star," like that of 1572. Its first appearance would then have caused
+the Magi to set out on their journey, though it does not appear how they
+knew what it signified, unless we suppose that they were informed of it
+in a dream, just as they were afterwards warned of God not to return to
+Herod. Whilst they were travelling the course of the year would bring
+the star, which shone straight before them in the west after sunset
+every evening, nearer and nearer to the sun. We may suppose that, like
+other new stars, it gradually faded, so that by the time the wise men
+had reached Jerusalem they had lost sight of it altogether. Having thus
+lost it, they would probably not think of looking for it by daylight,
+for it is no easy thing to detect by daylight even Venus at her greatest
+brilliancy, unless one knows exactly where to look. The difficulty does
+not lie in any want of brightness, but in picking up and holding
+steadily so minute a point of light in the broad expanse of the gleaming
+sky. This difficulty would be overcome for them, according to this
+story, by the well, which acted like a tube to direct them exactly to
+the star, and like a telescope, to lessen the sky glare. It would be
+also necessary to suppose that the star was flashing out again with
+renewed brilliancy. Such a brief recovery of light has not been unknown
+in the case of some of our "new" or "temporary" stars.
+
+I give the above story for what it is worth, but I attach no importance
+to it myself. Some, however, may feel that it removes what they had felt
+as a difficulty in the narrative,--namely, to understand how the star
+could "stand over where the young Child lay." It would also explain,
+what seems to be implied in the narrative, how it happened that the Magi
+alone, and not the Jews in general, perceived the star at its second
+appearance.
+
+For myself, the narrative appears to me astronomically too incomplete
+for any astronomical conclusions to be drawn from it. The reticence of
+the narrative on all points, except those directly relating to our Lord
+Himself, is an illustration of the truth that the Scriptures were not
+written to instruct us in astronomy, or in any of the physical sciences,
+but that we might have eternal life.
+
+ "AND THIS IS LIFE ETERNAL, THAT THEY MIGHT KNOW THEE THE ONLY
+ TRUE GOD, AND JESUS CHRIST, WHOM THOU HAST SENT."
+
+
+
+
+ A TABLE OF SCRIPTURAL REFERENCES
+
+
+ +-------+---------------+-----------------------+
+ | Page. | Book. | Chap. and Verse. |
+ +-------+---------------+-----------------------+
+ | 9 | I. Kings | v. 29-34 |
+ | 10 | Wisdom | vii. 17-22 (R.V.) |
+ | 11 | Psalm | viii. 3, 4 |
+ | 15 | Eccl. | i. 9 |
+ | 17 | Gen. | i. 1 |
+ | " | I. Chron. | xvi. 26 |
+ | " | Deut. | vi. 4 |
+ | " | Mark | xii. 29 |
+ | " | Neh. | ix. 6 |
+ | 19 | Heb. | xi. 23 |
+ | 20 | II. Pet. | iii. 8 |
+ | 22 | Psalm | cxi. 2-4 (R.V.) |
+ | " | Gen. | ii. 3 |
+ | 23 | Exod. | xx. 10, 11 |
+ | " | " | xxxi. 16, 17 |
+ | " | Gen. | i. 14 |
+ | 25 | " | i. 1 |
+ | 32 | Exod. | xv. 4, 5 |
+ | 35 | Gen. | i. 6-8 |
+ | " | " | i. 14 |
+ | 36 | " | i. 20 |
+ | " | Job | xxxvii. 18 (R.V.) |
+ | " | Num. | xvii. 39 |
+ | " | Isaiah | xl. 19 |
+ | 37 | Jer. | x. 9 |
+ | " | Psalm | cxxxvi. 6 |
+ | 38 | Heb. | i. 3 |
+ | 39 | II. Sam. | xxii. 8 |
+ | " | Job | xxvi. 11 |
+ | " | " | xxvi. 7 |
+ | " | I. Sam. | ii. 8 |
+ | 40 | Psalm | lxxv. 3 |
+ | " | " | civ. 2 |
+ | " | Isaiah | xl. 22 |
+ | " | Amos | ix. 6 |
+ | " | Num. | xxxiv. 4 |
+ | " | II. Sam. | xv. 30 |
+ | 41 | Psalm | cxlviii. 4 |
+ | " | Song of Three | |
+ | | Children | 38 |
+ | " | Amos | v. 8 |
+ | " | " | ix. 6 |
+ | " | Eccl. | i. 7 |
+ | " | Isaiah | lv. 10 (R.V.) |
+ | 42 | " | lv. 11 |
+ | " | Job | xxxvi. 26-28 |
+ | | | (R.V.) |
+ | " | Judges | v. 4 |
+ | " | Psalm | lxxvii. 17 |
+ | " | " | cxlvii. 8 |
+ | " | Prov. | xvi. 15 |
+ | " | Eccl. | xii. 2 |
+ | " | Isaiah | v. 6 |
+ | " | Jude | 12 |
+ | " | Nahum | i. 3 |
+ | " | Isaiah | xviii. 4 |
+ | 43 | Eccl. | xi. 3 |
+ | " | Job | xxvi. 8 |
+ | " | " | xxxviii. 34-37 |
+ | 44 | " | xxxviii. 19-29 |
+ | | | (R.V.) |
+ | " | Psalm | xviii. 6-17 (R.V.) |
+ | 45 | Jer. | x. 13 (R.V.) |
+ | " | Psalm | cxxxv. 7 |
+ | 46 | Job | xxxvii. 16 |
+ | 49 | " | xxxvi. 29 |
+ | " | Gen. | vii. 11 |
+ | 50 | II. Kings | vii. 1, 2 |
+ | " | Mal. | iii. 10 |
+ | " | Hos. | vi. 4 |
+ | " | Dan. | viii. 8 |
+ | " | Ezek. | xxxvii. 9 |
+ | 51 | Jer. | xlix. 36 |
+ | " | Eccl. | i. 6 |
+ | " | Isaiah | xi. 12 |
+ | " | " | xl. 22 |
+ | " | Prov. | viii. 27 |
+ | 52 | Job | xxii. 14 (R.V. |
+ | | | margin) |
+ | " | " | xxvi. 10 (R.V.) |
+ | " | Gen. | i. 9 |
+ | " | Psalm | xxiv. 2 |
+ | " | " | cxxxvi. 6 |
+ | 53 | Ezek. | xxxi. 4 |
+ | " | Gen. | vii. 11 |
+ | " | " | viii. 2 |
+ | " | Job | xxxviii. 16 |
+ | " | Prov. | iii. 20 |
+ | " | Jer. | v. 22 |
+ | 54 | Job | xxxviii. 8 |
+ | " | Prov. | viii. 27, 29 |
+ | 55 | Josh. | x. 13 |
+ | " | Psalm | xix. 1-6 (R.V.) |
+ | 56 | I. Kings | xxii. 19 |
+ | 57 | Jer. | xxxiii. 22 |
+ | " | Deut. | iv. 15, 19 |
+ | 58 | Job | xxxviii. 7 |
+ | " | Judges | v. 20 |
+ | " | II. Kings | vi. 14-17 |
+ | 60 | Job | xxxviii. 52 (R.V.) |
+ | " | Psalm | cxi. 2 |
+ | " | Rev. | ii. 26, 28 |
+ | 61 | Isaiah | xiv. 12-14 |
+ | " | Rev. | xxii. 16 |
+ | 62 | Jer. | xxxi. 36 |
+ | " | Isaiah | xl. 26-31 (R.V.) |
+ | 63 | Gen. | i. 14-19 |
+ | 64 | Deut. | xxxiii. 14 (R.V.) |
+ | " | I. John | i. 5 |
+ | " | Psalm | xxvii. 1 |
+ | " | Isaiah | lx. 19 |
+ | " | John | i. 9 |
+ | " | Psalm | lxxxiv. 11 |
+ | " | Mal. | iv. 2 |
+ | 65 | James | i. 17 |
+ | " | Psalm | cxxxix. 12 |
+ | " | Deut. | iv. 19 |
+ | " | " | xvii. 2, 3 |
+ | 66 | II. Kings | xxiii. 11 |
+ | " | Ezek. | viii. 11 |
+ | " | " | viii. 16 |
+ | " | Job | xxxi. 26 |
+ | " | Cant. | vi. 10 |
+ | 67 | Judges | viii. 13 |
+ | 67 | Judges | xiv. 18 |
+ | " | Jer. | xliii. 13 |
+ | 68 | Isaiah | xix. 18 |
+ | " | Cant. | vi. 10 |
+ | 69 | Psalm | lxxii. 5 |
+ | " | " | lxxii. 17 |
+ | 70 | " | lxxxix. 36 |
+ | " | " | l. 1 |
+ | " | " | cxiii. 3 |
+ | " | " | xix. 6 |
+ | " | Eccl. | i. 3 |
+ | 71 | Job | xxxviii. 12-14 |
+ | " | " | xxxviii. 14 (R.V.) |
+ | " | Eccl. | i. 5 |
+ | 72 | Job | xxvi. 7 |
+ | " | Psalm | xix. 6 |
+ | " | II. Kings | iv. 19 |
+ | " | Psalm | cxxi. 6 |
+ | " | Isaiah | xlix. 10 |
+ | " | Rev. | vii. 16 |
+ | " | Deut. | xxxiii. 14 |
+ | 73 | James | i. 17 |
+ | " | Job | xxxviii. 33 |
+ | " | Wisdom | vii. 18 |
+ | 78 | Rom. | i. 20-23 |
+ | 79 | John | ix. 4 |
+ | 80 | Psalm | lxxxi. 3 |
+ | " | Prov. | vii. 20 |
+ | 82 | Isaiah | lx. 20 |
+ | 83 | Num. | x. 10 |
+ | " | Psalm | lxxxi. 3 |
+ | " | Isaiah | iii. 18 |
+ | 84 | Gen. | xxxvii. 9 |
+ | " | Jer. | viii. 2 |
+ | " | Psalm | civ. 19 |
+ | " | " | lxxxix. 36, 37 |
+ | " | " | cxxxvi. 9 |
+ | " | Jer. | xxxi. 35 |
+ | " | Eccl. | xii. 2 |
+ | " | Isaiah | xiii. 10 |
+ | " | Ezek. | xxxii. 7 |
+ | " | Joel | ii. 10, 31 |
+ | " | " | iii. 15 |
+ | " | Hab. | iii. 11 |
+ | " | Exod. | ii. 2 |
+ | 85 | Deut. | xxxiii. 13, 14 |
+ | " | II. Kings | xv. 13 |
+ | " | Dan. | iv. 29 |
+ | " | Ezra | vi. 15 |
+ | " | Neh. | i. 1 |
+ | " | I. Kings | vi. 1, 37, 38 |
+ | " | " | viii. 2 |
+ | " | Cant. | vi. 10 |
+ | " | Isaiah | lxxiv. 23 |
+ | 86 | " | xxx. 26 |
+ | " | Rev. | xix. 6-8 |
+ | " | Gen. | xxxvii. 9 |
+ | 87 | " | xxxvii. 10 |
+ | " | Job | xxxi. 26-28 (R.V.) |
+ | 88 | Deut. | iv. 12, 15, 16, 19 |
+ | " | Judges | viii. 21 |
+ | " | Isaiah | iii. 18 |
+ | " | II. Kings | xxiii. 13 |
+ | 89 | Gen. | xiv. 5 |
+ | " | I. Sam. | xxxi. 10 |
+ | " | II. Kings | xxiii. 13 |
+ | 89 | Jer. | vii. 18 |
+ | 90 | " | xliv. 17, 18 |
+ | 91 | Isaiah | xxx. 26 |
+ | " | " | lx. 20 |
+ | 92 | Psalm | cxxi. 6 |
+ | " | " | civ. 19-24 (R.V.) |
+ | 96 | Gen. | xv. 5 |
+ | 97 | Psalm | cxlvii. 4 |
+ | " | Isaiah | xl. 22 |
+ | 98 | I. Cor. | xv. 41 |
+ | 99 | Prov. | xxv. 3 |
+ | " | Job | xi. 7, 8 |
+ | " | " | xxii. 12 |
+ | " | Jer. | xxxi. 37 |
+ | 100 | Psalm | ciii. 11, 12 |
+ | 107 | Joel | ii. 30 |
+ | " | Gen. | iii. 24 |
+ | " | Heb. | i. 7 |
+ | " | I. Chron. | xxi. 16 |
+ | 108 | Jude | 13 |
+ | 113 | Acts | xix. 35 (R.V.) |
+ | 116 | Rev. | vi. 13 |
+ | " | Isaiah | xxxiv. 4 |
+ | " | Rev. | viii. 10 |
+ | " | Jude | 13 |
+ | 117 | Job | iii. 9 (margin) |
+ | " | " | xli. 18 |
+ | " | " | xxxvii. 22 (R.V.) |
+ | 119 | Jer. | x. 2 |
+ | 122 | Wisdom | vii. 18 |
+ | 123 | Amos | i. 1 |
+ | " | Zech. | xiv. 5 |
+ | " | Gen. | i. 14 |
+ | 124 | Joel | ii. 10 |
+ | " | " | ii. 30, 31 |
+ | " | Acts | ii. 19, 20 |
+ | " | Rev. | vi. 12 |
+ | " | Amos | viii. 9 |
+ | 125 | Micah | iii. 6 |
+ | " | Isaiah | xiii. 10 |
+ | " | Jer. | xv. 9 |
+ | " | Ezek. | xxxii. 7, 8 |
+ | 129 | Mal. | iv. 2 |
+ | " | James | i. 17 (R.V.) |
+ | 131 | Gen. | xiv. 5 |
+ | " | Isaiah | xlvi. 1 |
+ | 132 | " | xiv. 12 |
+ | " | II. Peter | i. 19 |
+ | " | Isaiah | lxv. 11 |
+ | " | Dan. | v. 26 (R.V.) |
+ | 133 | Amos | v. 25, 26 |
+ | " | Acts | vii. 43 |
+ | 143 | Isaiah | viii. 19 |
+ | 144 | Ezek. | xxi. 21 (R.V.) |
+ | " | Isaiah | xlvii. 12, 13 |
+ | " | Jer. | x. 2 |
+ | 150 | Acts | xvii. 24-28 |
+ | 163 | Gen. | ix. 13 |
+ | 164 | " | iii. 15 |
+ | 166 | " | iii. 24 |
+ | " | Ezek. | i. 5 |
+ | " | Rev. | iv. 7 (R.V.) |
+ | " | Ezek. | x. 20 |
+ | " | I. Kings | vi. 29, 32 |
+ | 167 | Gen. | x. 9 |
+ | 169 | Psalm | lxxx. 1 |
+ | 173 | Gen. | vi. 19 |
+ | " | " | vii. 2 |
+ | 184 | Psalm | l. 5 |
+ | 186 | Gen. | xxxvii. 9 |
+ | 189 | " | xlix. 9 |
+ | " | Rev. | v. 5 |
+ | 190 | Deut. | xxxiii. 17 (R.V.) |
+ | " | Gen. | xlix. 6 (R.V.) |
+ | " | " | xlix. 4, 17 |
+ | 191 | Num. | xxiii. 7, 24 (R.V.) |
+ | " | " | xxiv. 9 (R.V.) |
+ | " | " | xxiv. 8 (R.V.) |
+ | " | " | xxiv. 7 (R.V.) |
+ | 193 | Exod. | xxxii. 1 |
+ | " | Acts | vii. 41, 42 |
+ | " | Exod. | xx. 3 |
+ | " | " | xx. 4, 5 |
+ | 194 | Deut. | iv. 15 |
+ | " | Psalm | cvi. 20 |
+ | " | Acts | vii. 42 |
+ | " | I. Kings | xii. 28 |
+ | 195 | Rev. | v. 5 |
+ | 203 | Job | iii. 8, 9 (R.V.) |
+ | " | " | xli. |
+ | " | Psalm | civ. 25 |
+ | " | Isaiah | xxvii. 1 |
+ | 204 | Job | xxvi. 12, 13 |
+ | 205 | Isaiah | xxx. 7 (R.V.) |
+ | " | " | li. 9, 10 (R.V.) |
+ | " | Psalm | lxxxix. 9, 10 |
+ | 206 | Ezek. | xxxii. 2 (R.V.) |
+ | " | Rev. | xx. 2 |
+ | " | Ezek. | xxxii. 4 (R.V.) |
+ | " | " | xxix. 3, 5 |
+ | 207 | Rev. | xii. 6 (R.V.) |
+ | 208 | " | xii. 15, 16 (R.V.) |
+ | 209 | Job | iii. 9 (R.V.) |
+ | " | " | xli. 18 (R.V.) |
+ | 210 | Psalm | xix. 5 |
+ | 211 | I. Kings | xviii. 27 |
+ | " | Isaiah | xxx. 31 |
+ | 212 | Psalm | lxxiv. 12-17 |
+ | 215 | Job | ix. 9 |
+ | " | " | xxxviii. 31 |
+ | " | Amos | v. 8 |
+ | 217 | Isaiah | lxv. 11 |
+ | 218 | II. Kings | xvii. 30 |
+ | " | Gen. | xlix. 22 |
+ | 220 | Rev. | i. 12, 13, 15 |
+ | " | " | i. 20 |
+ | 223 | I. Peter | iii. 20 |
+ | " | Amos | v. 8 |
+ | " | Job | xxxviii. 31 |
+ | 224 | Cant. | ii. 11-13 (R.V.) |
+ | 225 | Job | xxxviii. 4 |
+ | " | " | xxxviii. 31 (R.V.) |
+ | 231 | " | ix. 9 |
+ | " | " | xxxviii. 31 |
+ | " | Amos | v. 8 |
+ | " | Isaiah | xiii. 10 |
+ | " | Prov. | i. 22 |
+ | 234 | Gen. | x. 8 |
+ | 235 | " | x. 10 |
+ | 238 | Isaiah | xiv. 13, 14 |
+ | 239 | " | xiii. 9-11 |
+ | " | Amos | v. 8 |
+ | 241 | Job | xxxviii. 36 |
+ | 242 | " | xxvi. 13 |
+ | " | Isaiah | xlv. 7 |
+ | 243 | Job | xxxviii. 32 |
+ | 251 | " | xxxviii. 32 |
+ | " | II. Kings | xxiii. 5 |
+ | " | Deut. | iv. 19 |
+ | " | Job | ix. 9 |
+ | " | " | xxxviii. 31, 32 |
+ | " | " | xxxvii. 9 |
+ | 252 | Exod. | xxxii. |
+ | " | I. Kings | xii. |
+ | 253 | II. Kings | xxiii. 5 |
+ | " | Job | ix., xxxviii. |
+ | 257 | " | xxxviii. 33 |
+ | " | Luke | xi. 2 |
+ | 258 | Job | ix. 9 |
+ | " | " | xxxviii. 31-33 |
+ | 259 | " | xxxvii. 9 |
+ | 260 | Isaiah | l. 9 |
+ | 262 | Job | xxxvii. 9 |
+ | 271 | Gen. | i. 14 |
+ | " | Deut. | iv. 19 |
+ | 273 | Exod. | xii. 18, 19 |
+ | " | Lev. | xxiii. 32 |
+ | 275 | Psalm | lv. 17 |
+ | " | Job | iii. 9 (margin) |
+ | " | Cant. | ii. 17 |
+ | " | Gen. | xxxii. 24, 26 |
+ | " | Josh. | vi. 15 |
+ | " | Judges | xix. 25 |
+ | " | II. Sam. | ii. 32 |
+ | 276 | Gen. | xxxii. 31 |
+ " | Exod. | xvi. 21 |
+ | " | I. Sam. | xi. 9 |
+ | " | II. Sam. | iv. 5 |
+ | " | I. Kings | xviii. 26 |
+ | " | Judges | xix. 8, 9 |
+ | " | Job | vii. 2 |
+ | " | Jer. | vi. 4 |
+ | " | Prov. | vii. 9 |
+ | 277 | Exod. | xii. 6 |
+ | " | " | xvi. 12 |
+ | " | " | xxx. 8 |
+ | " | Levit. | xxiii. 5 |
+ | " | Num. | ix. 3 |
+ | " | " | xxviii. 4 |
+ | 278 | Deut. | xvi. 6 |
+ | 279 | Exod. | xxx. 8 |
+ | 280 | I. Cor. | xv. 52 |
+ | " | Psalm | lxiii. 6 |
+ | " | " | cxix. 148 |
+ | " | Lam. | ii. 19 |
+ | 281 | Judges | vii. 19 |
+ | " | Exod. | xiv. 24 |
+ | " | I. Sam. | xi. 11 |
+ | " | Matt. | xiv. 25 |
+ | " | Mark | vi. 48 |
+ | " | Dan. | iii. 6, 15 |
+ | " | " | iv. 19, 33 |
+ | " | " | v. 5 |
+ | " | Job | xxxviii. 12 |
+ | 282 | Acts | i. 12 |
+ | " | Matt. | xx. |
+ | " | John | xi. 9, 10 |
+ | 291 | Exod. | xx. 11 |
+ | " | Psalm | cxviii. 24 |
+ | 293 | II. Kings | iv. 23 |
+ | " | Isaiah | i. 13, 14 |
+ | 294 | Isaiah | lxvi. 23 |
+ | " | Amos | viii. 5 |
+ | " | Col. | ii. 16 |
+ | " | Num. | xxviii. |
+ | " | I. Chron. | xxiii. |
+ | " | II. Chron. | ii. |
+ | " | " | xxix. |
+ | " | Ezek. | xlv. |
+ | " | Ezra | iii. |
+ | " | Neh. | x. |
+ | 295 | Num. | xxix. 1 |
+ | " | " | xxix. 7 |
+ | " | " | xxix. 12 |
+ | 299 | Deut. | xvi. 1 |
+ | " | I. Kings | vi. 1, 37 |
+ | " | " | vi. 38 |
+ | " | " | viii. 2 |
+ | 300 | Esther | ii. 16 |
+ | " | " | iii. 7, 13 |
+ | " | " | viii. 9, 12 |
+ | " | " | ix. 1, 17, 19, 21 |
+ | " | Ezra | vi. 15 |
+ | " | Neh. | i. 1 |
+ | " | " | ii. 1 |
+ | " | Zech. | vii. 1 |
+ | " | Deut. | xxi. 13 (yerach) |
+ | " | II. Kings | xv. 13 " |
+ | " | Gen. | xxix. 14 (chodesh) |
+ | 301 | Num. | xi. 18-20, 31 " |
+ | " | Psalm | lxxviii. 27 |
+ | 302 | Gen. | vii. 11 |
+ | " | " | viii. 3, 4 |
+ | 304 | Ecclus. | xliii. 6, 7 |
+ | " | Psalm | civ. 19 |
+ | 308 | Exod. | xii. 2 |
+ | 309 | I. Chron. | xii. 15 |
+ | " | Jer. | xxxvi. 22, 23 |
+ | " | Ezra | x. 9 |
+ | 310 | Neh. | i. 1, 2 |
+ | " | " | ii. 1 |
+ | " | " | viii. 14 |
+ | 311 | Exod. | xxiii. 16 |
+ | " | " | xxxiv. 22 |
+ | " | II. Chron. | xxiv. 23 |
+ | 312 | II. Sam. | xi. 1 |
+ | " | I. Chron. | xx. 1 |
+ | " | I. Kings | xx. 26 |
+ | " | II. Chron. | xxxvi. 10 |
+ | 313 | Exod. | xii. 2 |
+ | " | " | xxiii. 16 |
+ | " | " | xxxiv. 22 |
+ | 321 | Gen. | i. 5 |
+ | 322 | " | vii. 11 |
+ | " | " | viii. 13, 14 |
+ | 325 | " | viii. 22 |
+ | " | Psalm | lxv. 9-11 (R.V.) |
+ | 326 | Exod. | xxi. 2 |
+ | " | " | xxiii. 10, 11 |
+ | 327 | Lev. | xxv. 20-22 |
+ | " | Lev. | xxvi. 2, 21 |
+ | " | " | xxvi. 33-35 |
+ | " | Deut. | xv. 1 |
+ | 328 | " | xxxi. 10, 11 |
+ | " | Jer. | xxxiv. |
+ | " | Lev. | xxvi. 32-35 |
+ | " | II. Chron. | xxxvi. 21 |
+ | 329 | Neh. | x. 31 |
+ | " | Lev. | xxv. 8-10 |
+ | 330 | Num. | xxxvi. 4 |
+ | " | Isaiah | lxi. 2 |
+ | " | Ezek. | xlvi. 17 |
+ | 332 | Lev. | xxv. 8, 10 |
+ | " | " | xxv. 11, 12 |
+ | 333 | " | xxv. 22 |
+ | " | " | xxv. 3 |
+ | " | " | xxv. 10 |
+ | 338 | " | xxv. 42 |
+ | " | Dan. | i. 1, 3, 4, 6, 7, |
+ | | | 17-20 |
+ | 340 | " | viii. 13, 14 |
+ | " | " | xii. 7 |
+ | " | " | vii. 25 |
+ | " | Rev. | xii. 14 |
+ | 341 | " | xiii. 5 |
+ | " | " | xi. 2, 3 |
+ | " | " | xii. 6 |
+ | | Dan. | xi. 13 (margin) |
+ | " | " | iv. 16 |
+ | 348 | " | iii. 16-18 |
+ | 353 | Josh. | x. 12 |
+ | 355 | " | iv. 19 |
+ | " | " | v. 10 |
+ | " | " | vii. 2-5 |
+ | " | " | vii. 1, 21 |
+ | " | " | viii. |
+ | 356 | " | viii. 30-35 |
+ | " | Exod. | xix. 1, 11 |
+ | 362 | Josh. | x. 13 |
+ | 369 | Luke | ii. 44 |
+ | 371 | Josh. | x. 8 |
+ | 373 | " | x. 10 |
+ | 374 | " | x. 12 |
+ | 375 | " | x. 11 |
+ | 376 | " | x. 27 (R.V.) |
+ | 378 | " | x. 13 |
+ | 382 | " | x. 13 |
+ | 384 | " | x. 13, 14 |
+ | 385 | II. Kings | xx. 5-11 |
+ | 386 | Isaiah | xxxviii. 8 |
+ | 387 | II. Chron. | xxxii. 31 |
+ | 389 | Isaiah | xxxviii. 8 |
+ | 390 | II. Kings | xx. 9 (R.V.) |
+ | " | I. Kings | x. 5 |
+ | " | I. Chron. | xxvi. 16 |
+ | " | II. Kings | xvi. 18 (R.V.) |
+ | 391 | Neh. | xii. 37 |
+ | 392 | Isaiah | xxxviii. 10, 11 |
+ | " | " | xxxviii. 19, 20 |
+ | 393 | Matt. | ii. 2, 5-10 |
+ | 396 | " | ii. 10 |
+ | 399 | Luke | ii. 11 |
+ | 400 | John | xvii. 3 |
+ +-------+---------------+-----------------------+
+
+
+
+
+INDEX
+
+
+ PAGE
+ Aben Ezra, Rabbi, 260, 278, 305
+
+ Abib (month of green ears), 299
+
+ Acronical rising, 223, 246, 261
+
+ Adar, month, 85, 300, 304
+
+ Aerolites, 111, 112, 113
+
+ Ahaz, Dial of, 385-392
+
+ Alexandria, Museum of, 5, 6, 138, 139, 290
+
+ Algebar, star-name, 233, 234
+
+ Allen, R. H., 221, 222
+
+ "Alroy", 278
+
+ Aratus, 149, 150, 152, 154, 162, 163, 186, 208, 218, 222, 224
+
+ Arcturus (_see_ `Ash), 258-266
+
+ Aristotle, 76, 105
+
+ `Ash, 214, 215, 216, 243, 251, 258, 259, 260, 261, 264-266
+
+ Asherah ("groves"), 67, 88
+
+ Ashtoreth, 67, 88, 89, 90, 131
+
+ Astrology, 5, 77, 78, 130-145, 248
+
+ Astruc, Jean, 171, 172
+
+ Atmospheric circulation, 41-45
+
+ Aurora Borealis, 117
+
+ `Ayish, _see_ `Ash
+
+
+ Baal, or Bel, 67, 89, 131, 176, 178, 210, 253
+
+ Bear, the (_see_ Arcturus), 152
+
+ Benetna`sh, 260
+
+ Bethlehem, Star of, 393-400
+
+ Bosanquet, J. W., 388
+
+ Bosanquet, R. H. M., 315
+
+ "Boundary-stones", 153, 154, 198, 318, 320
+
+ Bow-star, the, 240
+
+ Bradley, third Astronomer Royal, 96
+
+ Bul, month, 85, 299
+
+ Burton, Lady, 379
+
+
+ "Canterbury Tales", 277
+
+ Cardinal points, 50, 51
+
+ Carrington, R., 220
+
+ Causality, Law of, 15, 16, 18, 78
+
+ "Chaldean Account of Genesis", 27
+
+ Cherubim, 166, 169, 188, 190
+
+ Cheyne, Dr., 238, 240, 254, 255, 256
+
+ Chisleu, month, 85, 238, 300, 304, 310
+
+ Chiun, 133, 134, 144
+
+ Clouds, 42, 43, 44, 46, 54
+ the balancings of the, 46
+ the spreadings of, 49
+
+ Colures, the, 159
+
+ Comets, 103-108
+ Donati's, 105, 107
+ Halley's, 103, 104
+
+ Conder, Col. C. R., 238
+
+ Constellations, list of, 151-152
+ origin of, 149-161
+
+ Copernicus, 76
+
+ Cowell, P. H., 303
+
+ Creation, 12-24
+ story of, Babylonian, 26, 170, 178, 240, 242, 246, 252
+ Hebrew, 25
+ Scandinavian, 29
+
+ Cycles, Astronomical, of Daniel, 337-348
+
+ Cylinder seal, 71, 217
+
+
+ Damascius, 26, 27
+
+ Daniel, Cycles of, 337-348
+
+ Dawson, Dr. W. Bell, 343
+
+ Day and its divisions, 269-282
+
+ Days, different kinds of, 271, 272
+
+ "Dayspring", 71, 281
+
+ Decans, 142, 244, 245, 248
+
+ De Cheseaux, 343
+
+ Deep (_teh[=o]m_), 25-34, 53, 201, 210, 211, 234
+ fountains of, 52-54
+
+ Delitzsch, Prof. Fr., 31, 157, 170, 171, 285
+
+ Deluge, 49, 53, 83, 161, 165, 168, 170-185, 254
+
+ Denning, W. F., 220
+
+ Dial of Ahaz, 385-392
+
+ Diana of the Ephesians, 112
+
+ Dieulafoy, Marcel, 372
+
+ Disraeli, 278
+
+ Drach, 221
+
+ Draconic period, 122
+
+ Dragon's Head and Tail, 198, 199
+
+ Driver, Dr., 172, 209
+
+
+ Earth (_eretz_), 39
+ corners of, 51
+ foundations of, 39, 58
+ pillars of, 39, 40
+
+ East (_kedem_, front), 51
+ (_mizrach_, rising), 51
+
+ Eclipses, 118-129
+
+ Edda, prose, 29
+
+ Ellicott, Andrew, 114
+
+ Epicureans, 71
+
+ Epping, Dr., 274
+
+ Equuleus, 152
+
+ Eratosthenes, 218
+
+ Ethanim, month, 85, 299
+
+ Eudoxus, 5, 6, 37, 152, 345
+
+ Euripides, 218
+
+ Eusebius, 88
+
+ Evenings, between the two, 277-279
+
+ "Eyelids of the Morning", 117, 209, 210
+
+
+ "False Dawn", 117
+
+ Firmament (_raqia`_), 35-38
+ (_stereoma_), 37
+
+ Flamsteed, first Astronomer Royal, 96
+
+ Flood, _see_ Deluge
+
+
+ _Gad_, 132, 217
+
+ Galileo, 3, 4, 76
+
+ Gamaliel, Rabbon, 297
+
+ Genesis and the Constellations, 162-169
+
+ Gesenius, 134
+
+ Gilgamesh, Epic of, 167, 170, 177, 180
+
+ Gosse, P. H., 209
+
+ Groves, _see_ Asherah
+
+ Guinness, Dr. H. Grattan, 343
+
+
+ Heaven (_shamayim_), 35, 36, 38
+ "bisection of", 55, 362
+ foundations of, 39
+ host of, 56, 57, 65
+ pillars of, 39
+ stories of, 40
+ windows of, 49, 50, 53
+
+ Heliacal rising, 59, 222, 224, 261
+
+ Herschel, Sir W., 75, 76
+
+ Hershon, P. I., 311
+
+ Hesiod, 136, 152, 154, 216, 218, 237, 284
+
+ Hesperus, 137, 232, 258
+
+ Hipparchus, 5, 96, 250, 345
+
+ Hoeffler, Dr., 266
+
+ Hommel, Dr., 240
+
+ Homer, 136, 153, 154
+
+ Horace, 287, 288
+
+ Hour (_sha`ah_), 281
+ double- (_kasbu_), 282, 320, 345, 381
+
+ Humboldt, 114
+
+ Hyades, 133, 217
+
+
+ Ibrahim ben Ahmed, 114
+
+ Iliad, 80
+
+ Istar, 90, 131, 253, 323, 324
+
+
+ Jehuda, Rabbi, 261
+
+ Jensen, 240
+
+ Josephus, 68, 187, 222, 279, 288, 289
+
+ Joshua's Long Day, 351-384
+
+ Jubilee, the, 326-336
+
+ Jupiter, 104, 131, 132, 137, 247, 396
+ (_Nibir_), 243, 247
+
+ Juvenal, 288
+
+
+ Karaite Jews, 278
+
+ Kepler, 4, 96, 396
+
+ _K[)e]s[=i]l_, 214-216, 231-232, 237-243, 251, 261, 262
+
+ _Ketu_, 201
+
+ _Kimah_, 214-216, 223, 231-232, 237, 241, 243, 251, 261, 262
+
+ King, Dr. L. W., 240, 241, 303
+
+ Kouyunjik mound, 27, 33
+
+
+ Lance-star, 240
+
+ Leonid meteors, 114, 116
+
+ Leviathan, 196-212
+
+ Longfellow, 233, 236
+
+ Lucifer, 132
+
+
+ Maedler, 220
+
+ Maestlin, 219
+
+ Mazzaroth (or Mazzaloth), 130, 214, 243-257, 270, 280
+
+ _Meni_, 132, 217
+
+ Mercury, 131, 137
+
+ Merodach, 28, 29, 33, 131, 167, 178, 210, 234-242, 247, 252
+
+ Meteors, 111-117
+
+ Metonic Cycle, 306, 335, 336, 339, 344
+
+ Milton, 107
+
+ Mishna, the, 297, 311
+
+ Mithraic cult, 160
+
+ Month, 293-304 anomalistic, 342
+
+ Months, Hebrew names for, 304
+
+ Moon, 79-92
+ blindness, 92
+ -god (Sin), 87, 253, 323, 324
+ harvest, 81
+ new, 123
+ phases of, 80, 91
+
+ Mueller, Otfried, 262
+
+
+ Newton, 4
+
+ Nisan, month, 300, 304, 310, 311, 315, 320
+
+ Node, 121, 122
+
+ North (_mezarim_), 262, 263
+ (_tsaphon_), 51
+
+
+ Onias, 68
+
+ Orion, 231-242
+
+ Ovid, 288
+
+
+ Palestine Exploration Fund, map, 360, 362
+
+ Panyasis 152
+
+ Parallax, 73, 98, 265
+
+ Persius, 288
+
+ Peschitta, 259, 261
+
+ Philo, 289
+
+ Phosphorus, 132, 137
+
+ Pinches, T. G., 27, 28, 30, 31, 90, 176, 235
+
+ Pleiades, 133, 152, 213-230
+
+ Precession, 158
+
+ Pritchard, Prof. C., 397
+
+ Proctor, R. A., 107, 108, 135, 141
+
+ Procyon, 152, 240
+
+ Ptolemy, Claudius, 5, 76, 96, 149-154
+
+ Ptolemy Philometer, 68
+
+ Pythagoras, 137, 345
+
+
+ _Rahab_ (the proud one), 204-206, 211
+
+ _Rahu_, 201
+
+ Rain, 42-45, 49
+
+ "Records of the Past", 26, 28
+
+ _Remphan_, 133, 134
+
+ Ring with wings, 88, 126, 129
+
+ Ruskin, 46
+
+
+ Sabbath, 22-24, 283-292
+
+ Sabbatic Year and the Jubilee, 326-336
+
+ Samaritans, 278
+
+ Samas (sun-god), _see_ Sun
+
+ Sanchoniathon, 88
+
+ _Sanhedrim_, 296
+
+ Saros, the, 122, 123, 346
+
+ Saturn and Astrology, 130-145
+
+ Sayce, A. H., 33, 315
+
+ Schiaparelli, G. V., 7, 41, 43, 139, 145, 198, 253, 254, 261-263, 269,
+ 279, 285, 286, 290
+
+ Septuagint Version, 37, 133, 134, 161, 215, 231, 241, 258, 259
+
+ Sin (moon-god), _see_ Moon
+
+ Sirius, 98, 240
+
+ Sivan, month, 303, 320
+
+ Smith, George, 27, 30
+
+ South (_darom_, bright), 51
+ (_negeb_, desert), 51
+
+ Star of Bethlehem, 393-400
+
+ Stars, 75, 95-100
+ morning, 59-61
+ royal, 160
+ shooting, 113
+ Triad of, 253, 320
+
+ Statius, 222
+
+ Stern, Prof., 261, 262
+
+ Strassmaier, 274, 285
+
+ Sun, 55, 63-78
+ -god (Samas), 67, 131, 174, 253, 323, 324
+ -stroke, 72
+
+
+ Talmud, 222, 279, 297, 311
+
+ Tammuz, 66
+
+ Targum, the Jerusalem, 190
+
+ Tavthe, _see_ Tiamat
+
+ _Teh[=o]m_, _see_ Deep
+
+ Tennyson, 36, 79, 80
+
+ Thales, 345
+
+ Thiele, Prof., 15, 16
+
+ Tiamat, or Tiamtu, 27-29, 32, 34, 201, 210, 234-235, 240-242
+
+ Tibullus, 288
+
+ Tides, 41, 53, 92
+
+ Tribes of Israel and the Zodiac, 186-195
+
+ Tycho Brahe, 96
+
+
+ Venus, 90, 131, 132, 136, 137
+
+ Virgil, 160
+
+ Vulgate, 258, 259
+
+
+ Week and the Sabbath, 283-292
+
+ West (_meb[=o] hasshemesh_, going down of the sun), 51
+ (_yam_, the sea), 51
+
+ Winckler, Prof. H., 235
+
+ Winds, 50, 51
+
+ Wormwood, the star, 116
+
+
+ Xenophanes, 71
+
+
+ Year, 305-325
+ (_shanah_), 305
+
+ Yehoshua, Rabbi, 297
+
+
+ Zeuchros, 142, 249
+
+ Zif, month, 85, 299
+
+ Zodiac, constellations of, 141, 151, 152
+ sections of (_mizrata_), 243, 251
+ signs of, 141, 245, 249
+
+ Zodiacal Light, 117
+
+
+ RICHARD CLAY & SONS, LIMITED,
+ BREAD STREET HILL, E.C., AND
+ BUNGAY, SUFFOLK.
+
+
+
+
+Transcriber's Notes:
+
+
+Ellipses match the original except in poetry quotations where a row of
+asterisks represent an ellipses.
+
+The following corrections have been made to the text:
+
+ Page 27: shows the god An[vs]ar[original has An[)s]ar]
+
+ Page 29: not a Creation myth at all.[period missing in
+ original]
+
+ Page 89: representing the sun[original has son] and moon
+
+ Page 140: place of an actual star into a horoscope;[semi-colon
+ missing in original]
+
+ Page 176: gods and the spirits of heaven.[period missing in
+ original]
+
+ Page 176: '[quotation mark missing in original]What, has a
+ soul escaped?
+
+ Page 176: '[original has double quote]Thou sage of the gods,
+ warrior
+
+ Page 206: "[quotation mark missing in original]I have given
+ thee for meat
+
+ Page 260: "tail" of the Great Bear[original has extraneous
+ quotation mark]
+
+ Page 374: and it was now noon,[comma missing in original] the
+ noon
+
+ Page 389: fifteen Psalms (cxx.-cxxxiv.)[original has
+ (cxx.-cxxxiv).]
+
+ Page 405: Allen, R. H. 221,[comma missing in original] 222
+
+ Page 405: "Alroy" 278[original has 221]
+
+ Page 407: Hommel[original has Hoemmel], Dr. 240
+
+ Page 410: Tavthe[original has Tavthe], _see_ Tiamat
+
+The following words use an oe ligature in the original:
+
+ Celoeno
+ manoeuvre/manoeuvres/manoeuvred/Out-manoeuvred
+ Phoenician
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's The Astronomy of the Bible, by E. Walter Maunder
+
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