{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_28536/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_28536","id":"gutenberg_28536","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/28536","summary":null,"tags":["Astronomy","Astronomy in the Bible","Category: Religion/Spirituality","Category: Science - Physics","Constellations"],"text":"Produced by Curtis Weyant, Jeannie Howse, Lisa Reigel, and\nthe Online Distributed Proofreading Team at\nhttps://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images\ngenerously made available by Case Western Reserve University\nPreservation Department Digital Library)\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTranscriber's Notes: Variations in spelling and hyphenation have been\nleft as in the original. Words italicized in the original are surrounded\nby _underscores_. Characters superscripted in the original are enclosed\nin {braces}. In this text, in words translated from Hebrew, ` represents\nan aleph, and ' represents an ayin. Some typographical and punctuation\nerrors have been corrected. A complete list follows the text.\n\nThere are diacritic accents in the original. In this text, they are\nrepresented as follows:\n\n     [=a] = \"a\" with a macron       [)e] = \"e\" with a breve\n     [=e] = \"e\" with a macron       [vs] = \"s\" with a caron\n     [=i] = \"i\" with a macron       [vS] = \"S\" with a caron\n     [=o] = \"o\" with a macron       [H.] = \"H\" with an underdot\n     [=u] = \"u\" with a macron       [h.] = \"h\" with an underdot\n\n\n\n\nTHE ASTRONOMY\nOF THE BIBLE\n\n\n[Illustration: _From the Painting by Sir Edward Burne-Jones in the\nBirmingham Art Gallery._\n\nTHE STAR OF BETHLEHEM.\n\n\"We have seen His star in the east, and are come to worship Him.\"\n\n[_Frontispiece._]\n\n\n\n\nTHE ASTRONOMY\nOF THE BIBLE\n\nAN ELEMENTARY COMMENTARY ON THE\nASTRONOMICAL REFERENCES\nOF HOLY SCRIPTURE\n\n\nBY\nE. WALTER MAUNDER, F.R.A.S.\n\nAUTHOR OF\n'THE ROYAL OBSERVATORY, GREENWICH: ITS HISTORY AND WORK,'\nAND 'ASTRONOMY WITHOUT A TELESCOPE'\n\n\n_WITH THIRTY-FOUR ILLUSTRATIONS_\n\n\nNEW YORK\nMITCHELL KENNERLEY\n\n\nRICHARD CLAY & SONS, LIMITED,\nBREAD STREET HILL, E.C., AND\nBUNGAY, SUFFOLK.\n\n\nTo\n\nMY WIFE\n\nMy helper in this Book\nand in all things.\n\n\n\n\nPREFACE\n\n\nWhy should an astronomer write a commentary on the Bible?\n\nBecause commentators as a rule are not astronomers, and therefore either\npass over the astronomical allusions of Scripture in silence, or else\nannotate them in a way which, from a scientific point of view, leaves\nmuch to be desired.\n\nAstronomical allusions in the Bible, direct and indirect, are not few in\nnumber, and, in order to bring out their full significance, need to be\ntreated astronomically. Astronomy further gives us the power of placing\nourselves to some degree in the position of the patriarchs and prophets\nof old. We know that the same sun and moon, stars and planets, shine\nupon us as shone upon Abraham and Moses, David and Isaiah. We can, if we\nwill, see the unchanging heavens with their eyes, and understand their\nattitude towards them.\n\nIt is worth while for us so to do. For the immense advances in science,\nmade since the Canon of Holy Scripture was closed, and especially during\nthe last three hundred years, may enable us to realize the significance\nof a most remarkable fact. Even in those early ages, when to all the\nnations surrounding Israel the heavenly bodies were objects for\ndivination or idolatry, the attitude of the sacred writers toward them\nwas perfect in its sanity and truth.\n\nAstronomy has a yet further part to play in Biblical study. The dating\nof the several books of the Bible, and the relation of certain heathen\nmythologies to the Scripture narratives of the world's earliest ages,\nhave received much attention of late years. Literary analysis has thrown\nmuch light on these subjects, but hitherto any evidence that astronomy\ncould give has been almost wholly neglected; although, from the nature\nof the case, such evidence, so far as it is available, must be most\ndecisive and exact.\n\nI have endeavoured, in the present book, to make an astronomical\ncommentary on the Bible, in a manner that shall be both clear and\ninteresting to the general reader, dispensing as far as possible with\nastronomical technicalities, since the principles concerned are, for the\nmost part, quite simple. I trust, also, that I have taken the first step\nin a new inquiry which promises to give results of no small importance.\n\n                                               E. WALTER MAUNDER.\n\n     _St. John's, London, S.E._\n         _January 1908._\n\n\n\n\nCONTENTS\n\n\nBOOK I\n\nTHE HEAVENLY BODIES\n\nCHAPTER I. THE HEBREW AND ASTRONOMY\n\n  Modern Astronomy--Astronomy in the Classical Age--The Canon of\n  Holy Scripture closed before the Classical Age--Character of the\n  Scriptural References to the Heavenly Bodies--Tradition of\n  Solomon's Eminence in Science--Attitude towards Nature of the\n  Sacred Writers--Plan of the Book                                   3\n\nCHAPTER II. THE CREATION\n\n  Indian Eclipse of 1898--Contrast between the Heathen and\n  Scientific Attitudes--The Law of Causality--Inconsistent with\n  Polytheism--Faith in One God the Source to the Hebrews of\n  Intellectual Freedom--The First Words of Genesis the Charter of\n  the Physical Sciences--The Limitations of Science--\"Explanations\"\n  of the First Chapter of Genesis--Its Real Purposes--The Sabbath   12\n\nCHAPTER III. THE DEEP\n\n  Babylonian Creation Myth--Tiamat, the Dragon of Chaos--Overcome\n  by Merodach--Similarity to the Scandinavian Myth--No Resemblance\n  to the Narrative in Genesis--Meanings of the Hebrew Word\n  _tehom_--Date of the Babylonian Creation Story                    25\n\nCHAPTER IV. THE FIRMAMENT\n\n  Twofold Application of the Hebrew Word _raqia`_--Its Etymological\n  Meaning--The Idea of Solidity introduced by the \"Seventy\"--Not\n  the Hebrew Idea--The \"Foundations\" of Heaven and Earth--The\n  \"Canopy\" of Heaven--The \"Stories\" of Heaven--Clouds and Rain--The\n  Atmospheric Circulation--Hebrew Appreciation even of the Terrible\n  in Nature--The \"Balancings\" and \"Spreadings\" of the Clouds--The\n  \"Windows of Heaven\"--Not Literal Sluice-gates--The Four\n  Winds--The Four Quarters--The Circle of the Earth--The Waters\n  under the Earth--The \"Depths\"                                     35\n\nCHAPTER V. THE ORDINANCES OF THE HEAVENS\n\n  The Order of the Heavenly Movements--Daily Movement of the\n  Sun--Nightly Movements of the Stars--The \"Host of Heaven\"--\n  Symbolic of the Angelic Host--Morning Stars--The Scripture View\n  of the Heavenly Order                                             55\n\nCHAPTER VI. THE SUN\n\n  The Double Purpose of the Two Great Heavenly Bodies--Symbolic Use\n  of the Sun as Light-giver--No Deification of the Sun or of\n  Light--Solar Idolatry in Israel--_Shemesh_ and _[H.]eres_--\n  Sun-spots--Light before the Sun--\"Under the Sun\"--The Circuit of\n  the Sun--Sunstroke--\"Variableness\"--Our present Knowledge of the\n  Sun--Sir William Herschel's Theory--Conflict between the Old\n  Science and the New--Galileo--A Question of Evidence--A Question\n  of Principle                                                      63\n\nCHAPTER VII. THE MOON\n\n  Importance of the Moon in Olden Times--Especially to the\n  Shepherd--Jewish Feasts at the Full Moon--The Harvest Moon--The\n  Hebrew Month a Natural one--Different Hebrew Words for Moon--\n  Moon-worship forbidden--\"Similitudes\" of the Moon--Worship of\n  Ashtoreth--No mention of Lunar Phases--The Moon \"for Seasons\"     79\n\nCHAPTER VIII. THE STARS\n\n  Number of the Stars--\"Magnitudes\" of the Stars--Distances of the\n  Stars                                                             95\n\nCHAPTER IX. COMETS\n\n  Great Comets unexpected Visitors--Description of Comets--\n  Formation of the Tail--Possible References in Scripture to\n  Comets                                                           103\n\nCHAPTER X. METEORS\n\n  Aerolites--Diana of the Ephesians--Star-showers--The Leonid\n  Meteors--References in Scripture--The Aurora Borealis            111\n\nCHAPTER XI. ECLIPSES OF THE SUN AND MOON\n\n  Vivid Impression produced by a Total Solar Eclipse--Eclipses not\n  Omens to the Hebrews--Eclipses visible in Ancient Palestine--\n  Explanation of Eclipses--The Saros--Scripture References to\n  Eclipses--The Corona--The Egyptian \"Winged Disc\"--The Babylonian\n  \"Ring with Wings\"--The Corona at Minimum                         118\n\nCHAPTER XII. SATURN AND ASTROLOGY\n\n  The \"Seven Planets\"--Possible Scripture References to Venus and\n  Jupiter--\"Your God Remphan\" probably Saturn--The Sabbath and\n  Saturn's Day--R. A. Proctor on the Names of the Days of the\n  Week--Order of the Planets--Alexandrian Origin of the Weekday\n  Names--The Relation of Astrology to Astronomy--Early Babylonian\n  Astrology--Hebrew Contempt for Divination                        130\n\n\nBOOK II\n\nTHE CONSTELLATIONS\n\nCHAPTER I. THE ORIGIN OF THE CONSTELLATIONS\n\n  The \"Greek Sphere\"--Aratus--St Paul's Sermon at Athens--The\n  Constellations of Ptolemy's Catalogue--References to the\n  Constellations in Hesiod and Homer--The Constellation Figures on\n  Greek Coins--And on Babylonian \"Boundary-stones\"--The Unmapped\n  Space in the South--Its Explanation--Precession--Date and Place\n  of the Origin of the Constellations--Significant Positions of the\n  Serpent Forms in the Constellations--The Four \"Royal Stars\"--The\n  Constellations earlier than the Old Testament                    149\n\nCHAPTER II. GENESIS AND THE CONSTELLATIONS\n\n  The Bow set in the Cloud--The Conflict with the Serpent--The Seed\n  of the Woman--The Cherubim--The \"Mighty Hunter\"                  162\n\nCHAPTER III. THE STORY OF THE DELUGE\n\n  Resemblance between the Babylonian and Genesis Deluge\n  Stories--The Deluge Stories in Genesis--Their Special\n  Features--The Babylonian Deluge Story--Question as to its\n  Date--Its Correspondence with both the Genesis Narratives--The\n  Constellation Deluge Picture--Its Correspondence with both the\n  Genesis Narratives--The Genesis Deluge Story independent of Star\n  Myth and Babylonian Legend                                       170\n\nCHAPTER IV. THE TRIBES OF ISRAEL AND THE ZODIAC\n\n  Joseph's Dream--Alleged Association of the Zodiacal Figures with\n  the Tribes of Israel--The Standards of the Four Camps of\n  Israel--The Blessings of Jacob and Moses--The Prophecies of\n  Balaam--The Golden Calf--The Lion of Judah                       186\n\nCHAPTER V. LEVIATHAN\n\n  The Four Serpent-like Forms in the Constellations--Their\n  Significant Positions--The Dragon's Head and Tail--The\n  Symbols for the Nodes--The Dragon of Eclipse--Hindu Myth\n  of Eclipses--Leviathan--References to the Stellar Serpents\n  in Scripture--Rahab--Andromeda--\"The Eyelids of the\n  Morning\"--Poetry, Science, and Myth                              196\n\nCHAPTER VI. THE PLEIADES\n\n  Difficulty of Identification--The most Attractive\n  Constellations--_Kimah_--Not a Babylonian Star Name--A Pre-exilic\n  Hebrew Term--The Pleiades traditionally Seven--M\u00e4dler's\n  Suggestion--Pleiades associated in Tradition with the Rainy\n  Season--And with the Deluge--Their \"Sweet Influences\"--The Return\n  of Spring--The Pleiades in recent Photographs--Great Size and\n  Distance of the Cluster                                          213\n\nCHAPTER VII. ORION\n\n  _Kesil_--Probably Orion--Appearance of the Constellation--\n  Identified in Jewish Tradition with Nimrod, who was probably\n  Merodach--Altitude of Orion in the Sky--_Kesilim_--The \"Bands\" of\n  Orion--The Bow-star and Lance-star, Orion's Dogs--Identification\n  of Tiamat with Cetus                                             231\n\nCHAPTER VIII. MAZZAROTH\n\n  Probably the \"Signs of the Zodiac\"--Babylonian Creation\n  Story--Significance of its Astronomical References--Difference\n  between the \"Signs\" and the \"Constellations\" of the Zodiac--Date\n  of the Change--And of the Babylonian Creation Epic--Stages of\n  Astrology--Astrology Younger than Astronomy by 2000 Years--\n  _Mazzaroth_ and the \"Chambers of the South\"--_Mazzaloth_--The\n  Solar and Lunar Zodiacs--_Mazzaroth_ in his Season               243\n\nCHAPTER IX. ARCTURUS\n\n  _`Ash_ and _`Ayish_--Uncertainty as to their Identification--\n  Probably the Great Bear--_Mezarim_--Probably another Name for the\n  Bears--\"Canst thou guide the Bear?\"--Proper Motions of the\n  Plough-stars--Estimated Distance                                 258\n\n\nBOOK III\n\nTIMES AND SEASONS\n\nCHAPTER I. THE DAY AND ITS DIVISIONS\n\n  Rotation Period of Venus--Difficulty of the Time Problem on\n  Venus--The Sun and Stars as Time Measurers--The apparent Solar\n  Day the First in Use--It began at Sunset--Subdivisions of the Day\n  Interval--Between the Two Evenings--The Watches of the Night--The\n  12-hour Day and the 24-hour Day                                  269\n\nCHAPTER II. THE SABBATH AND THE WEEK\n\n  The Week not an Astronomical Period--Different Weeks employed\n  by the Ancients--Four Origins assigned for the Week--The\n  Quarter-month--The Babylonian System--The Babylonian Sabbath not\n  a Rest Day--The Jewish Sabbath amongst the Romans--Alleged\n  Astrological Origin of the Week--Origin of the Week given in the\n  Bible                                                            283\n\nCHAPTER III. THE MONTH\n\n  The New Moon a Holy Day with the Hebrews--The Full Moons at the\n  Two Equinoxes also Holy Days--The Beginnings of the Months\n  determined from actual Observation--Rule for finding Easter--Names\n  of the Jewish Months--Phoenician and Babylonian Month Names--\n  Number of Days in the Month--Babylonian Dead Reckoning--Present\n  Jewish Calendar                                                  293\n\nCHAPTER IV. THE YEAR\n\n  The Jewish Year a Luni-solar one--Need for an Intercalary\n  Month--The Metonic Cycle--The Sidereal and Tropical Years--The\n  Hebrew a Tropical Year--Beginning near the Spring Equinox--Meaning\n  of \"the End of the Year\"--Early Babylonian Method of determining\n  the First Month--Capella as the Indicator Star--The Triad of\n  Stars--The Tropical Year in the Deluge Story                     305\n\nCHAPTER V. THE SABBATIC YEAR AND THE JUBILEE\n\n  Law of the Sabbatic Year--A Year of Rest and Release--The\n  Jubilee--Difficulties connected with the Sabbatic Year and the\n  Jubilee--The Sabbatic Year, an Agricultural one--Interval between\n  the Jubilees, Forty-nine Years, not Fifty--Forty-nine Years an\n  Astronomical Cycle                                               326\n\nCHAPTER VI. THE CYCLES OF DANIEL\n\n  The Jubilee Cycle possessed only by the Hebrews--High Estimation\n  of Daniel and his Companions entertained by Nebuchadnezzar--Due\n  possibly to Daniel's Knowledge of Luni-solar Cycles--Cycles in\n  Daniel's Prophecy--2300 Years and 1260 Years as Astronomical\n  Cycles--Early Astronomical Progress of the Babylonians much\n  overrated--Yet their Real Achievements not Small--Limitations of\n  the Babylonian--Freedom of the Hebrew                            337\n\n\nBOOK IV\n\nTHREE ASTRONOMICAL MARVELS\n\nCHAPTER I. JOSHUA'S LONG DAY\n\n  METHOD OF STUDYING THE RECORD--To be discussed as it stands--An\n  early Astronomical Observation. BEFORE THE BATTLE--Movements of\n  the Israelites--Reasons for the Gibeonites' Action--Rapid\n  Movements of all the Parties. DAY, HOUR, AND PLACE OF THE\n  MIRACLE--Indication of the Sun's Declination--Joshua was at\n  Gibeon--And at High Noon--On the 21st Day of the Fourth Month.\n  JOSHUA'S STRATEGY--Key to it in the Flight of the Amorites by the\n  Beth-horon Route--The Amorites defeated but not surrounded--King\n  David as a Strategist. THE MIRACLE--The Noon-day Heat, the great\n  Hindrance to the Israelites--Joshua desired the Heat to be\n  tempered--The Sun made to \"be silent\"--The Hailstorm--The March\n  to Makkedah--A Full Day's March in the Afternoon--\"The Miracle\"\n  not a Poetic Hyperbole--Exact Accord of the Poem and the Prose\n  Chronicle--The Record made at the Time--Their March, the\n  Israelites' Measure of Time                                      351\n\nCHAPTER II. THE DIAL OF AHAZ\n\n  The Narrative--Suggested Explanations--The \"Dial of Ahaz,\"\n  probably a Staircase--Probable History and Position of the\n  Staircase--Significance of the Sign                              385\n\nCHAPTER III. THE STAR OF BETHLEHEM\n\n  The Narrative--No Astronomical Details given--Purpose of the\n  Scripture Narrative--Kepler's suggested Identification of the\n  Star--The New Star of 1572--Legend of the Well of Bethlehem--True\n  Significance of the Reticence of the Gospel Narrative            393\n\n  A TABLE OF SCRIPTURAL REFERENCE                                  401\n\n  INDEX                                                            405\n\n\n\n\nILLUSTRATIONS\n\n\n                                                             PAGE\n     THE STAR OF BETHLEHEM (_Burne-Jones_)         _Frontispiece_\n\n     THE RAINBOW (_Rubens_)                                     2\n\n     MERODACH AND TIAMAT                                       25\n\n     CIRRUS AND CUMULI                                         47\n\n     A CORNER OF THE MILKY WAY                                 94\n\n     THE GREAT COMET OF 1843                                  102\n\n     FALL OF AN AEROLITE                                      110\n\n     METEORIC SHOWER OF 1799                                  115\n\n     THE ASSYRIAN 'RING WITH WINGS'                           126\n\n     CORONA OF MINIMUM TYPE                                   127\n\n     ST. PAUL PREACHING AT ATHENS (_Raphael_)                 148\n\n     THE ANCIENT CONSTELLATIONS SOUTH OF THE ECLIPTIC         155\n\n     THE CELESTIAL SPHERE                                     156\n\n     THE MIDNIGHT CONSTELLATIONS OF SPRING, B.C. 2700         164\n\n     THE MIDNIGHT CONSTELLATIONS OF WINTER, B.C. 2700         165\n\n     OPHIUCHUS AND THE NEIGHBOURING CONSTELLATIONS            189\n\n     AQUARIUS AND THE NEIGHBOURING CONSTELLATIONS             192\n\n     HERCULES AND DRACO                                       197\n\n     HYDRA AND THE NEIGHBOURING CONSTELLATIONS                200\n\n     ANDROMEDA AND CETUS                                      207\n\n     STARS OF THE PLEIADES                                    219\n\n     INNER NEBULOSITIES OF THE PLEIADES                       227\n\n     STARS OF ORION                                           232\n\n     ORION AND THE NEIGHBOURING CONSTELLATIONS                236\n\n     POSITION OF SPRING EQUINOX, B.C. 2700                    246\n\n     POSITION OF SPRING EQUINOX, A.D. 1900                    247\n\n     STARS OF THE PLOUGH, AS THE WINNOWING FAN                263\n\n     'BLOW UP THE TRUMPET IN THE NEW MOON'                    268\n\n     POSITION OF THE NEW MOON AT THE EQUINOXES                316\n\n     BOUNDARY-STONE IN THE LOUVRE                             318\n\n     WORSHIP OF THE SUN-GOD AT SIPPARA                        322\n\n     'SUN, STAND THOU STILL UPON GIBEON, AND THOU MOON IN\n         THE VALLEY OF AJALON'                                350\n\n     MAP OF SOUTHERN PALESTINE                                357\n\n     BEARINGS OF THE RISING AND SETTING POINTS OF THE SUN\n         FROM GIBEON                                          363\n\n\n[Illustration: _By permission of the Autotype Co. 74, New Oxford\nStreet, London W.C._\n\nTHE RAINBOW (_by Rubens_).\n\n\"The bow that is in the cloud on the day of rain.\"]\n\n\n\n\nTHE ASTRONOMY OF THE BIBLE\n\n\n\n\nBOOK I\n\nTHE HEAVENLY BODIES\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER I\n\nTHE HEBREW AND ASTRONOMY\n\n\nModern astronomy began a little more than three centuries ago with the\ninvention of the telescope and Galileo's application of it to the study\nof the heavenly bodies. This new instrument at once revealed to him the\nmountains on the moon, the satellites of Jupiter, and the spots on the\nsun, and brought the celestial bodies under observation in a way that no\none had dreamed of before. In our view to-day, the planets of the solar\nsystem are worlds; we can examine their surfaces and judge wherein they\nresemble or differ from our earth. To the ancients they were but points\nof light; to us they are vast bodies that we have been able to measure\nand to weigh. The telescope has enabled us also to penetrate deep into\nouter space; we have learnt of other systems besides that of our own sun\nand its dependents, many of them far more complex; clusters and clouds\nof stars have been revealed to us, and mysterious nebul\u00e6, which suggest\nby their forms that they are systems of suns in the making. More lately\nthe invention of the spectroscope has informed us of the very elements\nwhich go to the composition of these numberless stars, and we can\ndistinguish those which are in a similar condition to our sun from those\ndiffering from him. And photography has recorded for us objects too\nfaint for mere sight to detect, even when aided by the most powerful\ntelescope; too detailed and intricate for the most skilful hand to\ndepict.\n\nGalileo's friend and contemporary, Kepler, laid the foundations of\nanother department of modern astronomy at about the same time. He\nstudied the apparent movements of the planets until they yielded him\ntheir secret so far that he was able to express them in three simple\nlaws, laws which, two generations later, Sir Isaac Newton demonstrated\nto be the outcome of one grand and simple law of universal range, the\nlaw of gravitation. Upon this law the marvellous mathematical conquests\nof astronomy have been based.\n\nAll these wonderful results have been attained by the free exercise of\nmen's mental abilities, and it cannot be imagined that God would have\nintervened to hamper their growth in intellectual power by revealing to\nmen facts and methods which it was within their own ability to discover\nfor themselves. Men's mental powers have developed by their exercise;\nthey would have been stunted had men been led to look to revelation\nrather than to diligent effort for the satisfaction of their curiosity.\nWe therefore do not find any reference in the Bible to that which\nmodern astronomy has taught us. Yet it may be noted that some\nexpressions, appropriate at any time, have become much more appropriate,\nmuch more forcible, in the light of our present-day knowledge.\n\nThe age of astronomy which preceded the Modern, and may be called the\nClassical age, was almost as sharply defined in its beginning as its\nsuccessor. It lasted about two thousand years, and began with the\ninvestigations into the movements of the planets made by some of the\nearly Greek mathematicians. Classical, like Modern astronomy, had its\ntwo sides,--the instrumental and the mathematical. On the instrumental\nside was the invention of graduated instruments for the determination of\nthe positions of the heavenly bodies; on the mathematical, the\ndevelopment of geometry and trigonometry for the interpretation of those\npositions when thus determined. Amongst the great names of this period\nare those of Eudoxus of Knidus (B.C. 408-355), and Hipparchus of\nBithynia, who lived rather more than two centuries later. Under its\nfirst leaders astronomy in the Classical age began to advance rapidly,\nbut it soon experienced a deadly blight. Men were not content to observe\nthe heavenly bodies for what they were; they endeavoured to make\nthem the sources of divination. The great school of Alexandria (founded\nabout 300 B.C.), the headquarters of astronomy, became invaded by\nthe spirit of astrology, the bastard science which has always\ntried--parasite-like--to suck its life from astronomy. Thus from the\ndays of Claudius Ptolemy to the end of the Middle Ages the growth of\nastronomy was arrested, and it bore but little fruit.\n\nIt will be noticed that the Classical age did not commence until about\nthe time of the completion of the last books of the Old Testament; so we\ndo not find any reference in Holy Scripture to the astronomical\nachievements of that period, amongst which the first attempts to explain\nthe apparent motions of sun, moon, stars, and planets were the most\nconsiderable.\n\nWe have a complete history of astronomy in the Modern and Classical\nperiods, but there was an earlier astronomy, not inconsiderable in\namount, of which no history is preserved. For when Eudoxus commenced his\nlabours, the length of the year had already been determined, the\nequinoxes and solstices had been recognized, the ecliptic, the celestial\nequator, and the poles of both great circles were known, and the five\nprincipal planets were familiar objects. This Early astronomy must have\nhad its history, its stages of development, but we can only with\ndifficulty trace them out. It cannot have sprung into existence\nfull-grown any more than the other sciences; it must have started from\nzero, and men must have slowly fought their way from one observation to\nanother, with gradually widening conceptions, before they could bring it\neven to that stage of development in which it was when the observers of\nthe Museum of Alexandria began their work.\n\nThe books of the Old Testament were written at different times during\nthe progress of this Early age of astronomy. We should therefore\nnaturally expect to find the astronomical allusions written from the\nstandpoint of such scientific knowledge as had then been acquired. We\ncannot for a moment expect that any supernatural revelation of purely\nmaterial facts would be imparted to the writers of sacred books, two or\nthree thousand years before the progress of science had brought those\nfacts to light, and we ought not to be surprised if expressions are\noccasionally used which we should not ourselves use to-day, if we were\nwriting about the phenomena of nature from a technical point of view. It\nmust further be borne in mind that the astronomical references are not\nnumerous, that they occur mostly in poetic imagery, and that Holy\nScripture was not intended to give an account of the scientific\nachievements, if any, of the Hebrews of old. Its purpose was wholly\ndifferent: it was religious, not scientific; it was meant to give\nspiritual, not intellectual enlightenment.\n\nAn exceedingly valuable and interesting work has recently been brought\nout by the most eminent of living Italian astronomers, Prof. G. V.\nSchiaparelli, on this subject of \"Astronomy in the Old Testament,\" to\nwhich work I should like here to acknowledge my indebtedness. Yet I feel\nthat the avowed object of his book,[7:1]--to \"discover what ideas the\nancient Jewish sages held regarding the structure of the universe, what\nobservations they made of the stars, and how far they made use of them\nfor the measurement and division of time\"--is open to this\ncriticism,--that sufficient material for carrying it out is not within\nour reach. If we were to accept implicitly the argument from the silence\nof Scripture, we should conclude that the Hebrews--though their calendar\nwas essentially a lunar one, based upon the actual observation of the\nnew moon--had never noticed that the moon changed its apparent form as\nthe month wore on, for there is no mention in the Bible of the lunar\nphases.\n\nThe references to the heavenly bodies in Scripture are not numerous, and\ndeal with them either as time-measurers or as subjects for devout\nallusion, poetic simile, or symbolic use. But there is one\ncharacteristic of all these references to the phenomena of Nature, that\nmay not be ignored. None of the ancients ever approached the great\nHebrew writers in spiritual elevation; none equalled them in poetic\nsublimity; and few, if any, surpassed them in keenness of observation,\nor in quick sympathy with every work of the Creator.\n\nThese characteristics imply a natural fitness of the Hebrews for\nsuccessful scientific work, and we should have a right to believe that\nunder propitious circumstances they would have shown a pre-eminence in\nthe field of physical research as striking as is the superiority of\ntheir religious conceptions over those of the surrounding nations. We\ncannot, of course, conceive of the average Jew as an Isaiah, any more\nthan we can conceive of the average Englishman as a Shakespeare, yet the\none man, like the other, is an index of the advancement and capacity of\nhis race; nor could Isaiah's writings have been preserved, more than\nthose of Shakespeare, without a true appreciation of them on the part of\nmany of his countrymen.\n\nBut the necessary conditions for any great scientific development were\nlacking to Israel. A small nation, planted between powerful and\naggressive empires, their history was for the most part the record of a\nstruggle for bare existence; and after three or four centuries of the\nunequal conflict, first the one and then the other of the two sister\nkingdoms was overwhelmed. There was but little opportunity during these\nyears of storm and stress for men to indulge in any curious searchings\ninto the secrets of nature.\n\nOnce only was there a long interval of prosperity and peace; viz. from\nthe time that David had consolidated the kingdom to the time when it\nsuffered disruption under his grandson, Rehoboam; and it is significant\nthat tradition has ascribed to Solomon and to his times just such a\nscientific activity as the ability and temperament of the Hebrew race\nwould lead us to expect it to display when the conditions should be\nfavourable for it.\n\nThus, in the fourth chapter of the First Book of Kings, not only are the\nattainments of Solomon himself described, but other men, contemporaries\neither of his father David or himself, are referred to, as distinguished\nin the same direction, though to a less degree.\n\n     \"And God gave Solomon wisdom and understanding exceeding much,\n     and largeness of heart, even as the sand that is on the\n     seashore. And Solomon's wisdom excelled the wisdom of all the\n     children of the east country, and all the wisdom of Egypt. For\n     he was wiser than all men; than Ethan the Ezrahite, and Heman,\n     and Chalcol, and Darda, the sons of Mahol: and his fame was in\n     all nations round about. And he spake three thousand proverbs:\n     and his songs were a thousand and five. And he spake of trees,\n     from the cedar-tree that is in Lebanon even unto the hyssop\n     that springeth out of the wall: he spake also of beasts, and\n     of fowl, and of creeping things, and of fishes. And there came\n     of all people to hear the wisdom of Solomon, from all kings of\n     the earth, which had heard of his wisdom.\"\n\nThe tradition of his great eminence in scientific research is also\npreserved in the words put into his mouth in the Book of the Wisdom of\nSolomon, now included in the Apocrypha.\n\n     \"For\" (God) \"Himself gave me an unerring knowledge of the\n     things that are, to know the constitution of the world, and\n     the operation of the elements; the beginning and end and\n     middle of times, the alternations of the solstices and the\n     changes of seasons, the circuits of years and the positions\"\n     (_margin_, constellations) \"of stars; the natures of living\n     creatures and the ragings of wild beasts, the violences of\n     winds and the thoughts of men, the diversities of plants and\n     the virtues of roots: all things that are either secret or\n     manifest I learned, for she that is the artificer of all\n     things taught me, even Wisdom.\"\n\nTwo great names have impressed themselves upon every part of the\nEast:--the one, that of Solomon the son of David, as the master of every\nsecret source of knowledge; and the other that of Alexander the Great,\nas the mightiest of conquerors. It is not unreasonable to believe that\nthe traditions respecting the first have been founded upon as real a\nbasis of actual achievement as those respecting the second.\n\nBut to such scientific achievements we have no express allusion in\nScripture, other than is afforded us by the two quotations just made.\nNatural objects, natural phenomena are not referred to for their own\nsake. Every thought leads up to God or to man's relation to Him.\nNature, as a whole and in its every aspect and detail, is the handiwork\nof Jehovah: that is the truth which the heavens are always\ndeclaring;--and it is His power, His wisdom, and His goodness to man\nwhich it is sought to illustrate, when the beauty or wonder of natural\nobjects is described.\n\n     \"When I consider Thy heavens, the work of Thy fingers,\n      The moon and the stars, which Thou hast ordained;\n      What is man, that Thou art mindful of him?\n      And the son of man, that Thou visitest him?\"\n\nThe first purpose, therefore, of the following study of the astronomy of\nthe Bible is,--not to reconstruct the astronomy of the Hebrews, a task\nfor which the material is manifestly incomplete,--but to examine such\nastronomical allusions as occur with respect to their appropriateness to\nthe lesson which the writer desired to teach. Following this, it will be\nof interest to examine what connection can be traced between the Old\nTestament Scriptures and the Constellations; the arrangement of the\nstars into constellations having been the chief astronomical work\neffected during the centuries when those Scriptures were severally\ncomposed. The use made of the heavenly bodies as time-measurers amongst\nthe Hebrews will form a third division of the subject; whilst there are\ntwo or three incidents in the history of Israel which appear to call for\nexamination from an astronomical point of view, and may suitably be\ntreated in a fourth and concluding section.\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[7:1] _Astronomy in the Old Testament_, p. 12.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER II\n\nTHE CREATION\n\n\nA few years ago a great eclipse of the sun, seen as total along a broad\nbelt of country right across India, drew thither astronomers from the\nvery ends of the earth. Not only did many English observers travel\nthither, but the United States of America in the far west, and Japan in\nthe far east sent their contingents, and the entire length of country\ncovered by the path of the shadow was dotted with the temporary\nobservatories set up by the men of science.\n\nIt was a wonderful sight that was vouchsafed to these travellers in\npursuit of knowledge. In a sky of unbroken purity, undimmed even for a\nmoment by haze or cloud, there shone down the fierce Indian sun.\nGradually a dark mysterious circle invaded its lower edge, and covered\nits brightness; coolness replaced the burning heat; slowly the dark\ncovering crept on; slowly the sunlight diminished until at length the\nwhole of the sun's disc was hidden. Then in a moment a wonderful\nstarlike form flashed out, a noble form of glowing silver light on the\ndeep purple-coloured sky.\n\nThere was, however, no time for the astronomers to devote to admiration\nof the beauty of the scene, or indulgence in rhapsodies. Two short\nminutes alone were allotted them to note all that was happening, to take\nall their photographs, to ask all the questions, and obtain all the\nanswers for which this strange veiling of the sun, and still stranger\nunveiling of his halo-like surroundings, gave opportunity. It was two\nminutes of intensest strain, of hurried though orderly work; and then a\nsudden rush of sunlight put an end to all. The mysterious vision had\nwithdrawn itself; the colour rushed back to the landscape, so\ncorpse-like whilst in the shadow; the black veil slid rapidly from off\nthe sun; the heat returned to the air; the eclipse was over.\n\nBut the astronomers from distant lands were not the only people engaged\nin watching the eclipse. At their work, they could hear the sound of a\ngreat multitude, a sound of weeping and wailing, a people dismayed at\nthe distress of their god.\n\nIt was so at every point along the shadow track, but especially where\nthat track met the course of the sacred river. Along a hundred roads the\npilgrims had poured in unceasing streams towards Holy Mother Gunga;\ntowards Benares, the sacred city; towards Buxar, where the eclipse was\ncentral at the river bank. It is always meritorious--so the Hindoo\nholds--to bathe in that sacred river, but such a time as this, when the\nsun is in eclipse, is the most propitious moment of all for such\nlustration.\n\nCould there be a greater contrast than that offered between the millions\ntrembling and dismayed at the signs of heaven, and the little companies\nwho had come for thousands of miles over land and sea, rejoicing in the\nbrief chance that was given them for learning a little more of the\nsecrets of the wonders of Nature?\n\nThe contrast between the heathen and the scientists was in both their\nspiritual and their intellectual standpoint, and, as we shall see later,\nthe intellectual contrast is a result of the spiritual. The heathen idea\nis that the orbs of heaven are divine, or at least that each expresses a\ndivinity. This does not in itself seem an unnatural idea when we\nconsider the great benefits that come to us through the instrumentality\nof the sun and moon. It is the sun that morning by morning rolls back\nthe darkness, and brings light and warmth and returning life to men; it\nis the sun that rouses the earth after her winter sleep and quickens\nvegetation. It is the moon that has power over the great world of\nwaters, whose pulse beats in some kind of mysterious obedience to her\nwill.\n\nNatural, then, has it been for men to go further, and to suppose that\nnot only is power lodged in these, and in the other members of the\nheavenly host, but that it is living, intelligent, personal power; that\nthese shining orbs are beings, or the manifestations of beings; exalted,\nmighty, immortal;--that they are gods.\n\nBut if these are gods, then it is sacrilegious, it is profane, to treat\nthem as mere \"things\"; to observe them minutely in the microscope or\ntelescope; to dissect them, as it were, in the spectroscope; to identify\ntheir elements in the laboratory; to be curious about their properties,\ninfluences, relations, and actions on each other.\n\nAnd if these are gods, there are many gods, not One God. And if there\nare many gods, there are many laws, not one law. Thus scientific\nobservations cannot be reconciled with polytheism, for scientific\nobservations demand the assumption of one universal law. The wise king\nexpressed this law thus:--\n\n\"The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be.\" The actual\nlanguage of science, as expressed by Professor Thiele, a leading\nContinental astronomer, states that--\n\n     \"Everything that exists, and everything that happens, exists\n     or happens as a necessary consequence of a previous state of\n     things. If a state of things is repeated in every detail, it\n     must lead to exactly the same consequences. Any difference\n     between the results of causes that are in part the same, must\n     be explainable by some difference in the other part of the\n     causes.\"[15:1]\n\n     The law stated in the above words has been called the Law of\n     Causality. It \"cannot be proved, but must be believed; in the\n     same way as we believe the fundamental assumptions of\n     religion, with which it is closely and intimately connected.\n     The law of causality forces itself upon our belief. It may be\n     denied in theory, but not in practice. Any person who denies\n     it, will, if he is watchful enough, catch himself constantly\n     asking himself, if no one else, why _this_ has happened, and\n     not _that_. But in that very question he bears witness to the\n     law of causality. If we are consistently to deny the law of\n     causality, we must repudiate all observation, and particularly\n     all prediction based on past experience, as useless and\n     misleading.\n\n     \"If we could imagine for an instant that the same complete\n     combination of causes could have a definite number of\n     different consequences, however small that number might be,\n     and that among these the occurrence of the actual consequence\n     was, in the old sense of the word, accidental, no observation\n     would ever be of any particular value.\"[16:1]\n\nSo long as men hold, as a practical faith, that the results which attend\ntheir efforts depend upon whether Jupiter is awake and active, or\nNeptune is taking an unfair advantage of his brother's sleep; upon\nwhether Diana is bending her silver bow for the battle, or flying\nweeping and discomfited because Juno has boxed her ears--so long is it\nuseless for them to make or consult observations.\n\nBut, as Professor Thiele goes on to say--\n\n     \"If the law of causality is acknowledged to be an assumption\n     which always holds good, then every observation gives us a\n     revelation which, when correctly appraised and compared with\n     others, teaches us the laws by which God rules the world.\"\n\nBy what means have the modern scientists arrived at a position so\ndifferent from that of the heathen? It cannot have been by any process\nof natural evolution that the intellectual standpoint which has made\nscientific observation possible should be derived from the spiritual\nstandpoint of polytheism which rendered all scientific observation not\nonly profane but useless.\n\nIn the old days the heathen in general regarded the heavenly host and\nthe heavenly bodies as the heathen do to-day. But by one nation, the\nHebrews, the truth that--\n\n     \"In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth\"\n\nwas preserved in the first words of their Sacred Book. That nation\ndeclared--\n\n     \"All the gods of the people are idols: but the Lord made the\n     heavens.\"\n\nFor that same nation the watchword was--\n\n     \"Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God is one Lord.\"\n\nFrom these words the Hebrews not only learned a great spiritual truth,\nbut derived intellectual freedom. For by these words they were taught\nthat all the host of heaven and of earth were created things--merely\n\"things,\" not divinities--and not only that, but that the Creator was\nOne God, not many gods; that there was but one law-giver; and that\ntherefore there could be no conflict of laws. These first words of\nGenesis, then, may be called the charter of all the physical sciences,\nfor by them is conferred freedom from all the bonds of unscientific\nsuperstition, and by them also do men know that consistent law holds\nthroughout the whole universe. It is the intellectual freedom of the\nHebrew that the scientist of to-day inherits. He may not indeed be able\nto rise to the spiritual standpoint of the Hebrew, and consciously\nacknowledge that--\n\n     \"Thou, even Thou, art Lord alone; Thou hast made heaven, the\n     heaven of heavens, with all their host, the earth, and all\n     things that are therein, the seas, and all that is therein,\n     and Thou preservest them all; and the host of heaven\n     worshippeth Thee.\"\n\nBut he must at least unconsciously assent to it, for it is on the first\ngreat fundamental assumption of religion as stated in the first words of\nGenesis, that the fundamental assumption of all his scientific reasoning\ndepends.\n\nScientific reasoning and scientific observation can only hold good so\nlong and in so far as the Law of Causality holds good. We must assume a\npre-existing state of affairs which has given rise to the observed\neffect; we must assume that this observed effect is itself antecedent to\na subsequent state of affairs. Science therefore cannot go back to the\nabsolute beginnings of things, or forward to the absolute ends of\nthings. It cannot reason about the way matter and energy came into\nexistence, or how they might cease to exist; it cannot reason about time\nor space, as such, but only in the relations of these to phenomena that\ncan be observed. It does not deal with things themselves, but only with\nthe relations between things. Science indeed can only consider the\nuniverse as a great machine which is in \"going order,\" and it concerns\nitself with the relations which some parts of the machine bear to other\nparts, and with the laws and manner of the \"going\" of the machine in\nthose parts. The relations of the various parts, one to the other, and\nthe way in which they work together, may afford some idea of the design\nand purpose of the machine, but it can give no information as to how the\nmaterial of which it is composed came into existence, nor as to the\nmethod by which it was originally constructed. Once started, the\nmachine comes under the scrutiny of science, but the actual starting\nlies outside its scope.\n\nMen therefore cannot find out for themselves how the worlds were\noriginally made, how the worlds were first moved, or how the spirit of\nman was first formed within him; and this, not merely because these\nbeginnings of things were of necessity outside his experience, but also\nbecause beginnings, as such, must lie outside the law by which he\nreasons.\n\nBy no process of research, therefore, could man find out for himself the\nfacts that are stated in the first chapter of Genesis. They must have\nbeen revealed. Science cannot inquire into them for the purpose of\nchecking their accuracy; it must accept them, as it accepts the\nfundamental law that governs its own working, without the possibility of\nproof.\n\nAnd this is what has been revealed to man:--that the heaven and the\nearth were not self-existent from all eternity, but were in their first\nbeginning created by God. As the writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews\nexpresses it: \"Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed\nby the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of\nthings which do appear.\" And a further fact was revealed that man could\nnot have found out for himself; viz. that this creation was made and\nfinished in six Divine actings, comprised in what the narrative\ndenominates \"days.\" It has not been revealed whether the duration of\nthese \"days\" can be expressed in any astronomical units of time.\n\nSince under these conditions science can afford no information, it is\nnot to be wondered at that the hypotheses that have been framed from\ntime to time to \"explain\" the first chapter of Genesis, or to express it\nin scientific terms, are not wholly satisfactory. At one time the\nchapter was interpreted to mean that the entire universe was called into\nexistence about 6,000 years ago, in six days of twenty-four hours each.\nLater it was recognized that both geology and astronomy seemed to\nindicate the existence of matter for untold millions of years instead of\nsome six thousand. It was then pointed out that, so far as the narrative\nwas concerned, there might have been a period of almost unlimited\nduration between its first verse and its fourth; and it was suggested\nthat the six days of creation were six days of twenty-four hours each,\nin which, after some great cataclysm, 6,000 years ago, the face of the\nearth was renewed and replenished for the habitation of man, the\npreceding geological ages being left entirely unnoticed. Some writers\nhave confined the cataclysm and renewal to a small portion of the\nearth's surface--to \"Eden,\" and its neighbourhood. Other commentators\nhave laid stress on the truth revealed in Scripture that \"one day is\nwith the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day,\" and\nhave urged the argument that the six days of creation were really vast\nperiods of time, during which the earth's geological changes and the\nevolution of its varied forms of life were running their course. Others,\nagain, have urged that the six days of creation were six literal days,\nbut instead of being consecutive were separated by long ages. And yet\nagain, as no man was present during the creation period, it has been\nsuggested that the Divine revelation of it was given to Moses or some\nother inspired prophet in six successive visions or dreams, which\nconstituted the \"six days\" in which the chief facts of creation were set\nforth.\n\nAll such hypotheses are based on the assumption that the opening\nchapters of Genesis are intended to reveal to man certain physical\ndetails in the material history of this planet; to be in fact a little\ncompendium of the geological and zoological history of the world, and so\na suitable introduction to the history of the early days of mankind\nwhich followed it.\n\nIt is surely more reasonable to conclude that there was no purpose\nwhatever of teaching us anything about the physical relationships of\nland and sea, of tree and plant, of bird and fish; it seems, indeed,\nscarcely conceivable that it should have been the Divine intention so to\nsupply the ages with a condensed manual of the physical sciences. What\nuseful purpose could it have served? What man would have been the wiser\nor better for it? Who could have understood it until the time when men,\nby their own intellectual strivings, had attained sufficient knowledge\nof their physical surroundings to do without such a revelation at all?\n\nBut although the opening chapters of Genesis were not designed to teach\nthe Hebrew certain physical facts of nature, they gave him the knowledge\nthat he might lawfully study nature. For he learnt from them that nature\nhas no power nor vitality of its own; that sun, and sea, and cloud, and\nwind are not separate deities, nor the expression of deities that they\nare but \"things,\" however glorious and admirable; that they are the\nhandiwork of God; and--\n\n     \"The works of the Lord are great,\n        Sought out of all them that have pleasure therein.\n      His work is honour and majesty;\n        And His righteousness endureth for ever.\n      He hath made His wonderful works to be remembered.\"\n\nWhat, then, is the significance of the detailed account given us of the\nworks effected on the successive days of creation? Why are we told that\nlight was made on the first day, the firmament on the second, dry land\non the third, and so on? Probably for two reasons. First, that the\nrehearsal, as in a catalogue, of the leading classes of natural objects,\nmight give definiteness and precision to the teaching that each and all\nwere creatures, things made by the word of God. The bald statement that\nthe heaven and the earth were made by God might still have left room for\nthe imagination that the powers of nature were co-eternal with God, or\nwere at least subordinate divinities; or that other powers than God had\nworked up into the present order the materials He had created. The\ndetailed account makes it clear that not only was the universe in\ngeneral created by God, but that there was no part of it that was not\nfashioned by Him.\n\nThe next purpose was to set a seal of sanctity upon the Sabbath. In the\nsecond chapter of Genesis we read--\n\n     \"On the seventh day God ended His work which He had made; and\n     He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had\n     made. And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it:\n     because that in it He had rested from all His work which God\n     created and made.\"\n\nIn this we get the institution of the _week_, the first ordinance\nimposed by God upon man. For in the fourth of the ten commandments which\nGod gave through Moses, it is said--\n\n     \"The seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it\n     thou shalt not do any work. . . . For in six days the Lord\n     made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and\n     rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath\n     day, and hallowed it.\"\n\nAnd again, when the tabernacle was being builded, it was commanded--\n\n     \"The children of Israel shall keep the sabbath, to observe the\n     sabbath throughout their generations, for a perpetual\n     covenant. It is a sign between Me and the children of Israel\n     for ever: for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and\n     on the seventh day He rested, and was refreshed.\"\n\nGod made the sun, moon, and stars, and appointed them \"for signs, and\nfor seasons, and for days, and years.\" The sun marks out the days; the\nmoon by her changes makes the months; the sun and the stars mark out the\nseasons and the years. These were divisions of time which man would\nnaturally adopt. But there is not an exact number of days in the month,\nnor an exact number of days or months in the year. Still less does the\nperiod of seven days fit precisely into month or season or year; the\nweek is marked out by no phase of the moon, by no fixed relation between\nthe sun, the moon, or the stars. It is not a division of time that man\nwould naturally adopt for himself; it runs across all the natural\ndivisions of time.\n\nWhat are the six days of creative work, and the seventh day--the\nSabbath--of creative rest? They are not days of man, they are days of\nGod; and our days of work and rest, our week with its Sabbath, can only\nbe the figure and shadow of that week of God; something by which we may\ngain some faint apprehension of its realities, not that by which we can\ncomprehend and measure it.\n\nOur week, therefore, is God's own direct appointment to us; and His\nrevelation that He fulfilled the work of creation in six acts or stages,\ndignifies and exalts the toil of the labouring man, with his six days of\neffort and one of rest, into an emblem of the creative work of God.\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[15:1] T. N. Thiele, Director of the Copenhagen Observatory, _Theory of\nObservations_, p. 1.\n\n[16:1] T. N. Thiele, Director of the Copenhagen Observatory, _Theory of\nObservations_, p. 1.\n\n\n[Illustration: MERODACH AND TIAMAT.\n\n[_To face p. 25._\n\nSculpture from the Palace of Assur-nazir-pel, King of Assyria. Now in\nthe British Museum. Damaged by fire. Supposed to represent the defeat of\nTiamat by Merodach.]\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER III\n\nTHE DEEP\n\n\nThe second verse of Genesis states, \"And the earth was without form and\nvoid [_i. e._ waste and empty] and darkness was upon the face of the\ndeep.\" The word _teh[=o]m_, here translated _deep_, has been used to\nsupport the theory that the Hebrews derived their Creation story from\none which, when exiles in Babylon, they heard from their conquerors. If\nthis theory were substantiated, it would have such an important bearing\nupon the subject of the attitude of the inspired writers towards the\nobjects of nature, that a little space must be spared for its\nexamination.\n\nThe purpose of the first chapter of Genesis is to tell us that--\n\n     \"In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.\"\n\nFrom it we learn that the universe and all the parts that make it\nup--all the different forms of energy, all the different forms of\nmatter--are neither deities themselves, nor their embodiments and\nexpressions, nor the work of conflicting deities. From it we learn that\nthe universe is not self-existent, nor even (as the pantheist thinks of\nit) the expression of one vague, impersonal and unconscious, but\nall-pervading influence. It was not self-made; it did not exist from all\neternity. It is not God, for God made it.\n\nBut the problem of its origin has exercised the minds of many nations\nbeside the Hebrews, and an especial interest attaches to the solution\narrived at by those nations who were near neighbours of the Hebrews and\ncame of the same great Semitic stock.\n\nFrom the nature of the case, accounts of the origin of the world cannot\nproceed from experience, or be the result of scientific experiment. They\ncannot form items of history, or arise from tradition. There are only\ntwo possible sources for them; one, Divine revelation; the other, the\ninvention of men.\n\nThe account current amongst the Babylonians has been preserved to us by\nthe Syrian writer Damascius, who gives it as follows:--\n\n     \"But the Babylonians, like the rest of the Barbarians, pass\n     over in silence the one principle of the Universe, and they\n     constitute two, Tavth\u00ea and Apas\u00f4n, making Apas\u00f4n the husband\n     of Tavth\u00ea, and denominating her \"the mother of the gods.\" And\n     from these proceeds an only-begotten son, Mumis, which, I\n     conceive, is no other than the intelligible world proceeding\n     from the two principles. From them also another progeny is\n     derived, Lakh\u00ea and Lakhos; and again a third, Kissar\u00ea and\n     Ass\u00f4ros, from which last three others proceed, Anos and\n     Illinos and Aos. And of Aos and Dakh\u00ea is born a son called\n     B\u00ealos, who, they say, is the fabricator of the world.\"[26:1]\n\nThe actual story, thus summarized by Damascius, was discovered by Mr.\nGeorge Smith, in the form of a long epic poem, on a series of tablets,\nbrought from the royal library of Kouyunjik, or Nineveh, and he\npublished them in 1875, in his book on _The Chaldean Account of\nGenesis_. None of the tablets were perfect; and of some only very small\nportions remain. But portions of other copies of the poem have been\ndiscovered in other localities, and it has been found possible to piece\ntogether satisfactorily a considerable section, so that a fair idea of\nthe general scope of the poem has been given to us.\n\nIt opens with the introduction of a being, Tiamtu--the Tavth\u00ea of the\naccount of Damascius,--who is regarded as the primeval mother of all\nthings.\n\n     \"When on high the heavens were unnamed,\n      Beneath the earth bore not a name:\n      The primeval ocean was their producer;\n      Mummu Tiamtu was she who begot the whole of them.\n      Their waters in one united themselves, and\n      The plains were not outlined, marshes were not to be seen.\n      When none of the gods had come forth,\n      They bore no name, the fates (had not been determined)\n      There were produced the gods (all of them).\"[27:1]\n\nThe genealogy of the gods follows, and after a gap in the story, Tiamat,\nor Tiamtu, is represented as preparing for battle, \"She who created\neverything . . . produced giant serpents.\" She chose one of the gods,\nKingu, to be her husband and the general of her forces, and delivered to\nhim the tablets of fate.\n\nThe second tablet shows the god An[vs]ar, angered at the threatening\nattitude of Tiamat, and sending his son Anu to speak soothingly to her\nand calm her rage. But first Anu and then another god turned back\nbaffled, and finally Merodach, the son of Ea, was asked to become the\nchampion of the gods. Merodach gladly consented, but made good terms for\nhimself. The gods were to assist him in every possible way by entrusting\nall their powers to him, and were to acknowledge him as first and chief\nof all. The gods in their extremity were nothing loth. They feasted\nMerodach and, when swollen with wine, endued him with all magical\npowers, and hailed him--\n\n     \"Merodach, thou art he who is our avenger,\n      (Over) the whole universe have we given thee the kingdom.\"[28:1]\n\nAt first the sight of his terrible enemy caused even Merodach to falter,\nbut plucking up courage he advanced to meet her, caught her in his net,\nand, forcing an evil wind into her open mouth--\n\n     \"He made the evil wind enter so that she could not close her lips.\n      The violence of the winds tortured her stomach, and\n      her heart was prostrated and her mouth was twisted.\n      He swung the club, he shattered her stomach;\n      he cut out her entrails; he over-mastered (her) heart;\n      he bound her and ended her life.\n      He threw down her corpse; he stood upon it.\"[28:2]\n\nThe battle over and the enemy slain, Merodach considered how to dispose\nof the corpse.\n\n     \"He strengthens his mind, he forms a clever plan,\n      And he stripped her of her skin like a fish, according to his\n          plan.\"[28:3]\n\nOf one half of the corpse of Tiamat he formed the earth, and of the\nother half, the heavens. He then proceded to furnish the heavens and the\nearth with their respective equipments; the details of this work\noccupying apparently the fifth, sixth, and seventh tablets of the\nseries.\n\nUnder ordinary circumstances such a legend as the foregoing would not\nhave attracted much attention. It is as barbarous and unintelligent as\nany myth of Zulu or Fijian. Strictly speaking, it is not a Creation myth\nat all. Tiamat and her serpent-brood and the gods are all existent\nbefore Merodach commences his work, and all that the god effects is a\nreconstruction of the world. The method of this reconstruction possesses\nno features superior to those of the Creation myths of other barbarous\nnations. Our own Scandinavian ancestors had a similar one, the setting\nof which was certainly not inferior to the grotesque battle of Merodach\nwith Tiamat. The prose Edda tells us that the first man, Bur, was the\nfather of B\u00f6r, who was in turn the father of Odin and his two brothers\nVili and Ve. These sons of B\u00f6r slew Ymir, the old frost giant.\n\n     \"They dragged the body of Ymir into the middle of Ginnungagap,\n     and of it formed the earth. From Ymir's blood they made the\n     sea and waters; from his flesh, the land; from his bones, the\n     mountains; and his teeth and jaws, together with some bits of\n     broken bones, served them to make the stones and pebbles.\"\n\nIt will be seen that there is a remarkable likeness between the\nBabylonian and Scandinavian myths in the central and essential feature\nof each, viz. the way in which the world is supposed to have been built\nup by the gods from the fragments of the anatomy of a huge prim\u00e6val\nmonster. Yet it is not urged that there is any direct genetic connection\nbetween the two; that the Babylonians either taught their legend to the\nScandinavians or learnt it from them.\n\nUnder ordinary circumstances it would hardly have occurred to any one to\ntry to derive the monotheistic narrative of Gen. i. from either of these\npagan myths, crowded as they are with uncouth and barbarous details. But\nit happened that Mr. George Smith, who brought to light the Assyrian\nCreation tablets, brought also to light a Babylonian account of the\nFlood, which had a large number of features in common with the narrative\nof Gen. vi.-ix. The actual resemblance between the two Deluge narratives\nhas caused a resemblance to be imagined between the two Creation\nnarratives. It has been well brought out in some of the later comments\nof Assyriologists that, so far from there being any resemblance in the\nBabylonian legend to the narrative in Genesis, the two accounts differ\n_in toto_. Mr. T. G. Pinches, for example, points out that in the\nBabylonian account there is--\n\n     \"No direct statement of the creation of the heavens and the\n     earth;\n\n     \"No systematic division of the things created into groups and\n     classes, such as is found in Genesis;\n\n     \"No reference to the Days of Creation;\n\n     \"No appearance of the Deity as the first and only cause of the\n     existence of things.\"[30:1]\n\nIndeed, in the Babylonian account, \"the heavens and the earth are\nrepresented as existing, though in a chaotic form, from the first.\"\n\nYet on this purely imaginary resemblance between the Biblical and\nBabylonian Creation narratives the legend has been founded \"that the\nintroductory chapters of the Book of Genesis present to us the Hebrew\nversion of a mythology common to many of the Semitic peoples.\" And the\nlegend has been yet further developed, until writers of the standing of\nProf. Friedrich Delitzsch have claimed that the Genesis narrative was\n_borrowed_ from the Babylonian, though \"the priestly scholar who\ncomposed Genesis, chapter i. endeavoured of course to remove all\npossible mythological features of this Creation story.\"[31:1]\n\nIf the Hebrew priest did borrow from the Babylonian myth, what was it\nthat he borrowed? Not the existence of sea and land, of sun and moon, of\nplants and animals, of birds and beasts and fishes. For surely the\nHebrew may be credited with knowing this much of himself, without any\nneed for a transportation to Babylon to learn it. \"In writing an account\nof the Creation, statements as to what are the things created must of\nnecessity be inserted,\"[31:2] whenever, wherever, and by whomsoever that\naccount is written.\n\nWhat else, then, is there common to the two accounts? _Tiamat_ is the\nname given to the Babylonian mother of the universe, the dragon of the\ndeep; and in Genesis it is written that \"darkness was upon the face of\nthe _deep_ (_teh[=o]m_).\"\n\nHere, and here only, is a point of possible connection; but if it be\nevidence of a connection, what kind of a connection does it imply? It\nimplies that the Babylonian based his barbarous myth upon the Hebrew\nnarrative. There is no other possible way of interpreting the\nconnection,--if connection there be.\n\nThe Hebrew word would seem to mean, etymologically, \"_surges_,\"\n\"_storm-tossed waters_,\"--\"Deep calleth unto deep at the noise of Thy\nwaterspouts.\" Our word \"_deep_\" is apt to give us the idea of\nstillness--we have the proverb, \"Still waters run deep,\"--whereas in\nsome instances _teh[=o]m_ is used in Scripture of waters which were\ncertainly shallow, as, for instance, those passed through by Israel at\nthe Red Sea:--\n\n     \"Pharaoh's chariots and his host hath He cast into the sea:\n     his chosen captains also are drowned in the Red Sea. The\n     _depths_ have covered them.\"\n\nIn other passages the words used in our Authorized Version, \"_deep_\" or\n\"_depths_,\" give the correct signification.\n\nBut deep waters, or waters in commotion, are in either case natural\nobjects. We get the word _teh[=o]m_ used continually in Scripture in a\nperfectly matter-of-fact way, where there is no possibility of\npersonification or myth being intended. Tiamat, on the contrary, the\nBabylonian dragon of the waters, is a mythological personification. Now\nthe natural object must come first. It never yet has been the case that\na nation has gained its knowledge of a perfectly common natural object\nby de-mythologizing one of the mythological personifications of another\nnation. The Israelites did not learn about _teh[=o]m_, the surging water\nof the Red Sea, that rolled over the Egyptians in their sight, from any\nBabylonian fable of a dragon of the waters, read by their descendants\nhundreds of years later.\n\nYet further, the Babylonian account of Creation is comparatively late;\nthe Hebrew account, as certainly, comparatively early. It is not merely\nthat the actual cuneiform tablets are of date about 700 B.C., coming as\nthey do from the Kouyunjik mound, the ruins of the palace of Sennacherib\nand Assurbanipal, built about that date. The poem itself, as Prof. Sayce\nhas pointed out, indicates, by the peculiar pre-eminence given in it to\nMerodach, that it is of late composition. It was late in the history of\nBabylon that Merodach was adopted as the supreme deity. The astronomical\nreferences in the poem are more conclusive still, for, as will be shown\nlater on, they point to a development of astronomy that cannot be dated\nearlier than 700 B.C.\n\nOn the other hand, the first chapter of Genesis was composed very early.\nThe references to the heavenly bodies in verse 16 bear the marks of the\nmost primitive condition possible of astronomy. The heavenly bodies are\nsimply the greater light, the lesser light, and the stars--the last\nbeing introduced quite parenthetically. It is the simplest reference to\nthe heavenly bodies that is made in Scripture, or that, indeed, could be\nmade.\n\nThere may well have been Babylonians who held higher conceptions of God\nand nature than those given in the Tiamat myth. It is certain that very\nmany Hebrews fell short of the teaching conveyed in the first chapter of\nGenesis. But the fact remains that the one nation preserved the Tiamat\nmyth, the other the narrative of Genesis, and each counted its own\nCreation story sacred. We can only rightly judge the two nations by what\nthey valued. Thus judged, the Hebrew nation stands as high above the\nBabylonian in intelligence, as well as in faith, as the first chapter of\nGenesis is above the Tiamat myth.\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[26:1] _Records of the Past_, vol. i. p. 124.\n\n[27:1] _The Old Testament in the Light of the Historical Records of\nAssyria and Babylonia_, by T. G. Pinches, p. 16.\n\n[28:1] _The Old Testament in the Light of the Historical Records of\nAssyria and Babylonia_, by T. G. Pinches, p. 16.\n\n[28:2] _Records of the Past_, vol. i. p. 140.\n\n[28:3] _Ibid._ p. 142.\n\n[30:1] _The Old Testament in the Light of the Historical Records of\nAssyria and Babylonia_, by T. G. Pinches, p. 49.\n\n[31:1] _Babel and Bible_, Johns' translation, pp. 36 and 37.\n\n[31:2] _The Old Testament in the Light of the Historical Records of\nAssyria and Babylonia_, by T. G. Pinches, p. 48.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER IV\n\nTHE FIRMAMENT\n\n\nThe sixth verse of the first chapter of Genesis presents a difficulty as\nto the precise meaning of the principal word, viz. that translated\n_firmament_.\n\n     \"And God said, Let there be a _r[=a]qi[=a]`_ in the midst of\n     the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters. And\n     God made the _r[=a]qi[=a]`_, and divided the waters which were\n     under the _r[=a]qi[=a]`_ from the waters which were above the\n     _r[=a]qi[=a]`_: and it was so. And God called the\n     _r[=a]qi[=a]`_ _Shamayim_. And the evening and the morning\n     were the second day.\"\n\nIt is, of course, perfectly clear that by the word _r[=a]qi[=a]`_ in the\npreceding passage it is the atmosphere that is alluded to. But later on\nin the chapter the word is used in a slightly different connection. \"God\nsaid, Let there be lights in the firmament of heaven.\"\n\nAs we look upward from the earth, we look through a twofold medium. Near\nthe earth we have our atmosphere; above that there is inter-stellar\nspace, void of anything, so far as we know, except the Ether. We are not\nable to detect any line of demarcation where our atmosphere ends, and\nthe outer void begins. Both therefore are equally spoken of as \"the\nfirmament\"; and yet there is a difference between the two. The lower\nsupports the clouds; in the upper are set the two great lights and the\nstars. The upper, therefore, is emphatically _reqi[=a]` hasshamayim_,\n\"the firmament of heaven,\" of the \"uplifted.\" It is \"in the face\nof\"--that is, \"before,\" or \"under the eyes of,\" \"beneath,\"--this higher\nexpanse that the fowls of the air fly to and fro.\n\nThe firmament, then, is that which Tennyson sings of as \"the central\nblue,\" the seeming vault of the sky, which we can consider as at any\nheight above us that we please. The clouds are above it in one sense;\nyet in another, sun, moon and stars, which are clearly far higher than\nthe clouds, are set in it.\n\nThere is no question therefore as to what is referred to by the word\n\"firmament\"; but there is a question as to the etymological meaning of\nthe word, and associated with that, a question as to how the Hebrews\nthemselves conceived of the celestial vault.\n\nThe word _r[=a]qi[=a]`_, translated \"firmament,\" properly signifies \"an\nexpanse,\" or \"extension,\" something stretched or beaten out. The verb\nfrom which this noun is derived is often used in Scripture, both as\nreferring to the heavens and in other connections. Thus in Job xxxvii.\n18, the question is asked, \"Canst thou with Him _spread out_ the sky,\nwhich is strong as a molten mirror?\" Eleazar, the priest, after the\nrebellion of Korah, Dathan and Abiram took the brazen censers of the\nrebels, and they were \"_made broad_ plates for a covering of the altar.\"\nThe goldsmith described by Isaiah as making an idol, \"_spreadeth it\nover_ with gold\"; whilst Jeremiah says, \"silver _spread_ into plates is\nbrought from Tarshish.\" Again, in Psalm cxxxvi., in the account of\ncreation we have the same word used with reference to the earth, \"To him\nthat _stretched out_ the earth above the waters.\" In this and in many\nother passages the idea of extension is clearly that which the word is\nintended to convey. But the Seventy, in making the Greek Version of the\nOld Testament, were naturally influenced by the views of astronomical\nscience then held in Alexandria, the centre of Greek astronomy. Here,\nand at this time, the doctrine of the crystalline spheres--a\nmisunderstanding of the mathematical researches of Eudoxus and\nothers--held currency. These spheres were supposed to be a succession of\nperfectly transparent and invisible solid shells, in which the sun,\nmoon, and planets were severally placed. The Seventy no doubt considered\nthat in rendering _r[=a]qi[=a]`_, by _stere[=o]ma_, i. e. firmament,\nthus conveying the idea of a solid structure, they were speaking the\nlast word of up-to-date science.\n\nThere should be no reluctance in ascribing to the Hebrews an erroneous\nscientific conception if there is any evidence that they held it. We\ncannot too clearly realize that the writers of the Scriptures were not\nsupernaturally inspired to give correct technical scientific\ndescriptions; and supposing they had been so inspired, we must bear in\nmind that we should often consider those descriptions wrong just in\nproportion to their correctness, for the very sufficient reason that not\neven our own science of to-day has yet reached finality in all things.\n\nThere should be no reluctance in ascribing to the Hebrews an erroneous\nscientific conception if there is any evidence that they held it. In\nthis case, there is no such evidence; indeed, there is strong evidence\nto the contrary.\n\nThe Hebrew word _r[=a]qi[=a]`_, as already shown, really signifies\n\"extension,\" just as the word for heaven, _shamayim_ means the\n\"uplifted.\" In these two words, therefore, significant respectively of a\nsurface and of height, there is a recognition of the \"three\ndimensions,\"--in other words, of Space.\n\nWhen we wish to refer to super-terrestrial space, we have two\nexpressions in modern English by which to describe it: we can speak of\n\"the vault of heaven,\" or of \"the canopy of heaven.\" \"The vault of\nheaven\" is most used, it has indeed been recently adopted as the title\nof a scientific work by a well-known astronomer. But the word _vault_\ncertainly gives the suggestion of a solid structure; whilst the word\n_canopy_ calls up the idea of a slighter covering, probably of some\ntextile fabric.\n\nThe reasons for thinking that the Hebrews did not consider the\n\"firmament\" a solid structure are, first, that the word does not\nnecessarily convey that meaning; next, that the attitude of the Hebrew\nmind towards nature was not such as to require this idea. The question,\n\"What holds up the waters above the firmament?\" would not have troubled\nthem. It would have been sufficient for them, as for the writer to the\nHebrews, to consider that God was \"upholding all things by the word of\nHis power,\" and they would not have troubled about the machinery. But\nbesides this, there are many passages in Scripture, some occurring in\nthe earliest books, which expressly speak of the clouds as carrying the\nwater; so that the expressions placing waters \"above the firmament,\" or\n\"above the heavens,\" can mean no more than \"in the clouds.\" Indeed, as\nwe shall see, quite a clear account is given of the atmospheric\ncirculation, such as could hardly be mended by a modern poet.\n\nIt is true that David sang that \"the _foundations_ of heaven moved and\nshook, because He was wroth,\" and Job says that \"the _pillars_ of heaven\ntremble and are astonished at His reproof.\" But not only are the\nreferences to foundations and pillars evidently intended merely as\npoetic imagery, but they are also used much more frequently of the\nearth, and yet at the same time Job expressly points out that God\n\"stretcheth out the north over the empty place, and hangeth the earth\nupon nothing.\" The Hebrew formed no ideas like those of the Hindus, who\nthought the earth supported by elephants, the elephants by a tortoise,\nthe tortoise by a snake.\n\nIn Scripture, in most cases the word \"earth\" (_eretz_) does not mean the\nsolid mass of this our planet, but only its surface; the \"dry land\" as\nopposed to the \"seas\"; the countries, the dwelling place of man and\nbeast. The \"pillars\" or \"foundations\" of the earth in this sense are the\ngreat systems of the rocks, and these were conceived of as directly\nsupported by the power of God, without any need of intermediary\nstructures. The Hebrew clearly recognized that it is the will of God\nalone that keeps the whole secure.\n\nThus Hannah sang--\n\n     \"The pillars of the earth are the Lord's,\n        And He hath set the world upon them.\"\n\nAnd Asaph represents the Lord as saying:--\n\n     \"The earth and all the inhabitants thereof are dissolved:\n        I bear up the pillars of it.\"\n\nYet again, just as we speak of \"the celestial canopy,\" so Psalm civ.\ndescribes the Lord as He \"who stretchest out the heavens like a\ncurtain,\" and Isaiah gives the image in a fuller form,--\"that stretcheth\nout the heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell\nin.\" The same expression of \"stretching out the heavens\" is repeatedly\nused in Isaiah; it is indeed one of his typical phrases. Here, beyond\nquestion, extension, spreading out, is the idea sought to be conveyed,\nnot that of solidity.\n\nThe prophet Amos uses yet another parallel. \"It is He that buildeth His\nstories in the heaven.\" While Isaiah speaks of the entire stellar\nuniverse as the tent or pavilion of Jehovah, Amos likens the height of\nthe heavens as the steps up to His throne; the \"stories\" are the\n\"ascent,\" as Moses speaks of the \"ascent of Akrabbim,\" and David makes\n\"the ascent\" of the Mount of Olives. The Hebrews cannot have regarded\nthe heavens as, literally, both staircase and reservoir.\n\nThe firmament, _i. e._ the atmosphere, is spoken of as dividing between\nthe waters that are under the firmament, _i. e._ oceans, seas, rivers,\netc., from the waters that are above the firmament, _i. e._ the masses\nof water vapour carried by the atmosphere, seen in the clouds, and\ncondensing from them as rain. We get the very same expression as this of\nthe \"waters which were above\" in the Psalm of Praise:--\n\n     \"Praise Him, ye heavens of heavens,\n     And ye waters that be above the heavens;\"\n\nand again in the Song of the Three Children:--\n\n     \"O all ye waters that be above the heaven, bless ye the Lord.\"\n\nIn the later books of the Bible the subject of the circulation of water\nthrough the atmosphere is referred to much more fully. Twice over the\nprophet Amos describes Jehovah as \"He that calleth for the waters of the\nsea, and poureth them out upon the face of the earth.\" This is not\nmerely a reference to the tides, for the Preacher in the book of\nEcclesiastes expressly points out that \"all the rivers run into the sea,\nyet the sea is not full; unto the place from whence the rivers come,\nthither they return again\"; and Isaiah seems to employ something of the\nsame thought:\n\n     \"For as the rain cometh down and the snow from heaven, and\n     returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it\n     bring forth and bud, and giveth seed to the sower and bread to\n     the eater.\"\n\nSchiaparelli indeed argues that this very passage from Isaiah \"expressly\nexcludes any idea of an atmospheric circulation of waters\"[41:1] on the\nground that the water so falling is thought to be transmuted into seeds\nand fruits. But surely the image is as true as it is beautiful! The rain\nis absorbed by vegetation, and is transmuted into seeds and fruit, and\nit would go hard to say that the same particles of rain are again\nevaporated and taken up afresh into the clouds. Besides, if we complete\nthe quotation we find that what is stated is that the rain does not\nreturn _until_ it has accomplished its purpose:--\n\n     \"So shall My word be that goeth forth out of My mouth: it\n     shall not return unto Me void, but it shall accomplish that\n     which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I\n     sent it.\"\n\nElihu describes the process of evaporation precisely:--\n\n     \"Behold, God is great, and we know Him not;\n      The number of His years is unsearchable.\n      For He draweth up the drops of water,\n      Which distil in rain from His vapour:\n      Which the skies pour down\n      And drop upon man abundantly.\"\n\nThroughout the books of Holy Scripture, the connection between the\nclouds and the rain is clearly borne in mind. Deborah says in her song\n\"the clouds dropped water.\" In the Psalms there are many references. In\nlxxvii. 17, \"The clouds poured out water;\" in cxlvii. 8, \"Who covereth\nthe heaven with clouds, Who prepareth rain for the earth.\" Proverbs xvi.\n15, \"His favour is as a cloud of the latter rain.\" The Preacher says\nthat \"clouds return after the rain\"; and Isaiah, \"I will also command\nthe clouds that they rain no rain upon it\"; and Jude, \"Clouds they are\nwithout water, carried about of winds.\"\n\nThe clouds, too, were not conceived as being heavy. Nahum says that \"the\nclouds are the dust of His feet,\" and Isaiah speaks of \"a cloud of dew\nin the heat of harvest.\" The Preacher clearly understood that \"the\nwaters above\" were not pent in by solid barriers; that they were\ncarried by the clouds; for \"if the clouds be full of rain, they empty\nthemselves upon the earth.\" And Job says of Jehovah, \"He bindeth up the\nwaters in His thick clouds, and the cloud is not rent under them;\" and,\nlater, Jehovah Himself asks:--\n\n     \"Canst thou lift up thy voice to the clouds,\n      That abundance of waters may cover thee?\n\n            *       *       *       *       *\n\n      Who can number the clouds by wisdom,\n      Or who can pour out the bottles of heaven?\"\n\nThe Hebrews, therefore, were quite aware that the waters of the sea were\ndrawn up into the atmosphere by evaporation, and were carried by it in\nthe form of clouds. No doubt their knowledge in this respect, as in\nothers, was the growth of time. But there is no need to suppose that,\neven in the earlier stages of their development, the Hebrews thought of\nthe \"waters that be above the heavens\" as contained in a literal cistern\noverhead. Still less is there reason to adopt Prof. Schiaparelli's\nstrange deduction: \"Considering the spherical and convex shape of the\nfirmament, the upper waters could not remain above without a second wall\nto hold them in at the sides and the top. So a second vault above the\nvault of the firmament closes in, together with the firmament, a space\nwhere are the storehouses of rain, hail, and snow.\"[43:1] There seems to\nbe nowhere in Scripture the slightest hint or suggestion of any such\nsecond vault; certainly not in the beautiful passage to which Prof.\nSchiaparelli is here referring.\n\n     \"Where is the way to the dwelling of light,\n      And as for darkness, where is the place thereof;\n      That thou shouldest take it to the bound thereof,\n      And that thou shouldst discern the paths to the house thereof.\n\n            *       *       *       *       *\n\n      Hast thou entered the treasuries of the snow,\n      Or hast thou seen the treasuries of the hail,\n      Which I have reserved against the time of trouble,\n      Against the day of battle and war?\n      By what way is the light parted,\n      Or the east wind scattered upon the earth?\n      Who hath cleft a channel for the water-flood,\n      Or a way for the lightning of the thunder;\n\n           *       *       *       *       *\n\n                Hath the rain a father?\n      Or who hath begotten the drops of dew?\n      Out of whose womb came the ice?\n      And the hoary frost of heaven, who hath gendered it?\"\n\nThe Song of David, Psalm xviii., clearly shows that its writer held no\nfantasy of a solidly built cistern of waters in the sky, but thought of\nthe \"dark waters\" in the heavens, as identical with the \"thick clouds.\"\nThe passage is worth quoting at some length, not merely as supplying a\nmagnificent word picture of a storm, but as showing the free and\ncourageous spirit of the Hebrew poet, a spirit more emancipated than can\nbe found in any other nation of antiquity. It was not only the gentler\naspect of nature that attracted him; even for its most terrible, he had\na sympathy, rising, under the influence of his strong faith in God, into\npositive exultation in it.\n\n     \"In my distress I called upon the Lord,\n      And cried unto my God:\n      He heard my voice out of His temple,\n      And my cry before Him came into His ears.\n      Then the earth shook and trembled,\n      The foundations also of the mountains moved\n      And were shaken, because He was wroth.\n      There went up a smoke out of His nostrils,\n      And fire out of His mouth devoured:\n      Coals were kindled by it.\n      He bowed the heavens also, and came down;\n      And thick darkness was under His feet.\n      And He rode upon a cherub, and did fly:\n      Yea, He flew swiftly upon the wings of the wind.\n      He made darkness His hiding place,\n      His pavilion round about Him;\n      Darkness of waters, thick clouds of the skies.\n      At the brightness before Him His thick clouds passed,\n      Hailstones and coals of fire.\n      The Lord also thundered in the heavens,\n      And the Most High uttered His voice;\n      Hailstones and coals of fire.\n      And He sent out His arrows, and scattered them;\n      Yea lightnings manifold, and discomfited them.\n      Then the channels of waters appeared,\n      And the foundations of the world were laid bare,\n      At Thy rebuke, O Lord,\n      At the blast of the breath of Thy nostrils.\n      He sent from on high, He took me;\n      He drew me out of many waters.\n      He delivered me from my strong enemy,\n      And from them that hated me, for they were too mighty for me.\"\n\nTwo other passages point to the circulation of water vapour upward from\nthe earth before its descent as rain; one in the prophecy of Jeremiah,\nthe other, almost identical with it, in Psalm cxxxv. 7: \"When He\nuttereth His voice, there is a tumult of waters in the heavens, and He\ncauseth the vapours to ascend from the ends of the earth; He maketh\nlightnings for the rain, and bringeth forth the wind out of His\ntreasuries.\" Here we get a hint of a close observing of nature among\nthe Hebrews. For by the foreshortening that clouds undergo in the\ndistance, they inevitably appear to form chiefly on the horizon, \"at the\nends of the earth,\" whence they move upwards towards the zenith.\n\nA further reference to clouds reveals not observation only but acute\nreflection, though it leaves the mystery without solution. \"Dost thou\nknow the balancings of the clouds, the wondrous works of Him Which is\nperfect in knowledge?\" There is a deep mystery here, which science is\nfar from having completely solved, how it is that the clouds float, each\nin its own place, at its own level; each perfectly \"balanced\" in the\nthin air.\n\n     \"That mist which lies in the morning so softly in the valley,\n     level and white, through which the tops of the trees rise as\n     if through an inundation--why is _it_ so heavy? and why does\n     it lie so low, being yet so thin and frail that it will melt\n     away utterly into splendour of morning, when the sun has shone\n     on it but a few moments more? Those colossal pyramids, huge\n     and firm, with outlines as of rocks, and strength to bear the\n     beating of the high sun full on their fiery flanks--why are\n     _they_ so light--their bases high over our heads, high over\n     the heads of Alps? why will these melt away, not as the sun\n     rises, but as he descends, and leave the stars of twilight\n     clear, while the valley vapour gains again upon the earth like\n     a shroud?\"[46:1]\n\nThe fact of the \"balancing\" has been brought home to us during the past\nhundred years very vividly by the progress of a\u00ebrial navigation.\nBalloons are objects too familiar even to our children to cause them any\nsurprise, and every one knows how instantly a balloon, when in the\nair, rises up higher if a few pounds of ballast are thrown out, or sinks\nif a little of the gas is allowed to escape. We know of no balancing\nmore delicate than this, of a body floating in the air.\n\n[Illustration: CIRRUS FROM SOUTH KENSINGTON, 1906, MAY 29.]\n\n[Illustration: CUMULI FROM TUNBRIDGE WELLS, 1906, MAY 20.\n\n(Photographs of clouds, taken by Dr. W. J. S. Lockyer.)\n\n\"Dost thou know the balancing of the clouds?\"]\n\n\"The spreadings of the clouds,\" mentioned by Elihu are of the same\nnature as their \"balancings,\" but the expression is less remarkable. The\n\"spreading\" is a thing manifest to all, but it required the mind both of\na poet and a man of science to appreciate that such spreading involved a\ndelicate poising of each cloud in its place.\n\nThe heavy rain which fell at the time of the Deluge is indeed spoken of\nas if it were water let out of a reservoir by its floodgates,--\"the\nwindows of heaven were opened;\" but it seems to show some dulness on the\npart of an objector to argue that this expression involves the idea of a\nliteral stone built reservoir with its sluices. Those who have actually\nseen tropical rain in full violence will find the Scriptural phrase not\nmerely appropriate but almost inevitable. The rain does indeed fall like\nhitherto pent-up waters rushing forth at the opening of a sluice, and it\nseems unreasonable to try to place too literal an interpretation upon so\nsuitable a simile.\n\nThere is the less reason to insist upon this very matter-of-fact\nrendering of the \"windows of heaven,\" that in two out of the three\nconnections in which it occurs, the expression is certainly used\nmetaphorically. On the occasion of the famine in the city of Samaria,\nElisha prophesied that--\n\n     \"To-morrow about this time shall a measure of fine flour be\n     sold for a shekel, and two measures of barley for a shekel, in\n     the gate of Samaria. Then a lord on whose hand the king leaned\n     answered the man of God, and said, Behold, if the Lord would\n     make windows in heaven, might this thing be?\"\n\nSo again Malachi exhorted the Jews after the Return from Babylon:--\n\n     \"Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may\n     be meat in Mine house, and prove Me now herewith, saith the\n     Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven,\n     and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room\n     enough to receive it.\"\n\nIn neither case can the \"windows of heaven\" have been meant by the\nspeaker to convey the idea of the sluice-gates of an actual,\nsolidly-built reservoir in the sky.\n\nOne other cloud fact--their dissipation as the sun rises high in the\nheavens--is noticed in one of the most tender and pathetic passages in\nall the prophetic Scriptures. The Lord, by the mouth of Hosea, is\nmourning over the instability of His people. \"O Ephraim, what shall I do\nunto thee? O Judah, what shall I do unto thee? For your goodness is as a\nmorning cloud, and as the early dew it goeth away.\"\n\nThe winds of heaven were considered as four in number, corresponding to\nour own four \"cardinal points.\" Thus the great horn of Daniel's he-goat\nwas broken and succeeded by four notable horns toward the four winds of\nheaven; as the empire of Alexander the Great was divided amongst his\nfour generals. In Ezekiel's vision of the dry bones the prophet prays,\n\"Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain;\" and\nJeremiah foretells that \"the four winds from the four quarters of\nheaven\" shall be brought upon Elam, and scatter its outcasts into every\nnation.\n\nThe circulation of the winds is clearly set forth by the Preacher in the\nBook of Ecclesiastes.\n\n     \"The wind goeth toward the south, and turneth about unto the\n     north; it whirleth about continually, and the wind returneth\n     again according to his circuits.\"\n\nOf the four quarters, the Hebrews reckoned the east as first. It was to\nthe east that they supposed themselves always looking. The chief word\nfor east, therefore, _kedem_, means \"that which is before,\" \"the front\";\nand the word next in use is, naturally, _mizrach_, the rising of the\nsun. The west is, as naturally, _meb[=o] hasshemesh_, the going down of\nthe sun; but as the Mediterranean Sea lay to the westward of Palestine\n\"the sea\" (_yam_) is frequently put instead of that point of the\ncompass. With the east in front, the south becomes the right, and the\nnorth the left. The south also was _negeb_, the desert, since the desert\nshut in Palestine to the south, as the sea to the west. In opposition to\n_tsaphon_, the dark or hidden north, the south is _darom_, the bright\nand sunny region.\n\nThe phrase \"four corners of the earth\" does not imply that the Hebrews\nthought of the earth as square. Several expressions on the contrary show\nthat they thought of it as circular. The Lord \"sitteth upon the circle\nof the earth,\" and in another passage the same form is applied to the\nocean. \"He set a compass (_margin_ circle) upon the face of the depth.\"\nThis circle is no doubt the circle of the visible horizon, within which\nearth and sea are spread out apparently as a plain; above it \"the vault\nof heaven\" (Job xxii. 14; R.V. _margin_) is arched. There does not\nappear to be allusion, anywhere in Scripture, to the spherical form of\nthe earth.\n\nThe Hebrew knowledge of the extent of the terrestrial plain was of\ncourse very limited, but it would seem that, like many other nations of\nantiquity, they supposed that the ocean occupied the outer part of the\ncircle surrounding the land which was in the centre. This may be\ninferred from Job's statement--\n\n     \"He hath described a boundary upon the face of the waters,\n      Unto the confines of light and darkness.\"\n\nThe boundary of the world is represented as being \"described,\" or more\nproperly \"circumscribed,\" drawn as a circle, upon the ocean. This ocean\nis considered as essentially one, exactly as by actual exploration we\nnow know it to be;--\"Let the waters under the heaven be gathered\ntogether unto one place;\"--all the oceans and seas communicate.\n\nBeneath the earth there are the waters. The Lord hath founded the world\n\"upon the seas, and established it upon the floods,\" and (Psalm cxxxvi.\n6) \"stretched out the earth above the waters.\" This for the most part\nmeans simply that the water surface lies lower than the land surface.\nBut there are waters,--other than those of the ocean,--which are, in a\nstrict sense, beneath the earth; the subterranean waters, which though\nin the very substance of the earth, and existing there in an altogether\ndifferent way from the great masses of water we see upon the surface,\nform a water system, which may legitimately be termed a kind of ocean\nunderground. From these subterranean waters our springs issue forth, and\nit is these waters we tap in our wells. Of the cedar in Lebanon Ezekiel\nspoke: \"The waters made him great, the deep set him up on high with her\nrivers running round about his plants, and sent out her little rivers\n(_margin_, conduits) unto all the trees of the field.\" The \"deep,\"\n_teh[=o]m_, applies therefore, not merely to the restless waters of the\nocean, but to these unseen waters as well; and means, not merely\n\"surging waters,\" but depths of any kind. When in the great Deluge the\nfloodgates of heaven were opened, these \"fountains of the great deep\nwere broken up\" as well. And later both fountains and windows were\n\"stopped.\" So the Lord asks Job, \"Hast thou entered into the springs of\nthe sea? or hast thou walked in the search of the depth?\" and in\nProverbs it is said of the Lord, \"By His knowledge the depths are broken\nup, and the clouds drop down the dew.\"\n\nThe tides upon the sea-coast of Palestine are very slight, but some have\nseen a reference to them in Jer. v. 22 where the Lord says, I \"have\nplaced the sand for the bound of the sea by a perpetual decree, that it\ncannot pass it: and though the waves thereof toss themselves, yet can\nthey not prevail; though they roar, yet can they not pass over it.\" More\nprobably the idea to be conveyed is merely that of the restraint of the\nsea to its proper basin, as in the passage where the Lord asks Job, \"Who\nshut up the sea with doors when it brake forth, as if it had issued out\nof the womb?\" And the writer of Proverbs sums all up:--\n\n     \"When He prepared the heavens I [Wisdom] was there: when He\n     set a compass upon the face of the depth: when He established\n     the clouds above: when He strengthened the fountains of the\n     deep: when He gave to the sea His decree, that the waters\n     should not pass His commandment: when He appointed the\n     foundations of the earth.\"\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[41:1] _Astronomy in the Old Testament_, p. 33 note.\n\n[43:1] _Astronomy in the Old Testament_, p. 32.\n\n[46:1] Ruskin, _Modern Painters_, part vii. chap. i.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER V\n\nTHE ORDINANCES OF THE HEAVENS\n\n\nAs has been already pointed out, the astronomical references in\nScripture are not numerous, and probably give but an inadequate idea of\nthe actual degree of progress attained by the Hebrews in astronomical\nscience. Yet it is clear, even from the record which we have, that there\nwas one great astronomical fact which they had observed, and that it had\nmade a deep impression upon them.\n\nThat fact was the sublime Order of the heavenly movements. First amongst\nthese was the order of the daily progress of the sun; rising in the east\nand moving slowly, majestically, and resistlessly upward to the\nmeridian,--the \"midst\" or \"bisection\" of heaven, of Josh. x. 13,--and\nthen passing downwards as smoothly and unfalteringly to his setting in\nthe west.\n\nThis motion of the sun inspires the simile employed by the Psalmist in\nthe astronomical psalm, the nineteenth. He sings--\n\n     \"The heavens declare the glory of God.\n\n           *       *       *       *       *\n\n      In them hath He set a tabernacle for the sun,\n      Which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber,\n      And rejoiceth as a strong man to run his course.\n      His going forth is from the end of the heaven,\n      And his circuit unto the ends of it:\n      And there is nothing hid from the heat thereof.\"\n\nThe night revealed another Order, in its way more majestic still. As the\ntwilight faded away the bright and silent watchers of the heavens\nmustered each in his place. And each, like the sun during the day, was\nmoving, slowly, majestically, resistlessly, \"without haste, without\nrest.\" Each had its appointed place, its appointed path. Some moved in\nsmall circles in the north; some rose in the east, and swept in long\ncurves over towards their setting in the west, some scarcely lifted\nthemselves above the southern horizon. But each one kept its own place.\nNone jostled another, or hurried in advance, or lagged behind. It is no\nwonder that as the multitude of the stars was observed, and the unbroken\norder of their going, that the simile suggested itself of an army on the\nmarch--\"the host of heaven.\" And the sight of the unbroken order of\nthese bright celestial orbs suggested a comparison with the unseen army\nof exalted beings, the angels; the army or host of heaven in another\nsense, marshalled, like the stars, in perfect obedience to the Divine\nwill. So in the vision of Micaiah, the son of Imlah, the \"host of\nheaven\" are the thousands of attendant spirits waiting around the throne\nof God to fulfil His bidding.\n\n     \"I saw the Lord sitting on His throne, and all the host of\n     heaven standing by him on His right hand and on His left.\"\n\nBut more frequently it is the starry, not the angelic, army to which\nreference is made.\n\nSo Jeremiah prophesies--\n\n     \"As the host of heaven cannot be numbered,\n      Neither the sand of the sea measured:\n      So will I multiply the seed of David My servant,\n      And the Levites that minister unto Me.\"\n\nThe prophets of Israel recognized clearly, that the starry host of\nheaven and the angelic host were distinct; that the first, in their\nbrightness, order, and obedience formed fitting comparison for the\nsecond; but that both were created beings; neither were divinities.\n\nThe heathen nations around recognized also the hosts both of the stars\nand of spiritual beings, but the first they took as the manifestations\nof the second, whom they counted as divinities. There was often a great\nconfusion between the two, and the observance or worship of the first\ncould not be kept distinguished from the recognition or worship of the\nother; the very ideogram for a god was an 8-rayed star.\n\nThe Hebrews were warned again and again lest, confusing in their minds\nthese two great hosts of stars and angels, they should deem the one the\ndivine manifestation of the other, the divinity, not accounting them\nboth fellow-servants, the handiwork of God.\n\nThus, in the wilderness, the Lord commands them through Moses--\n\n     \"Take ye therefore good heed unto yourselves, . . . lest thou\n     lift up thine eyes unto heaven, and when thou seest the sun,\n     and the moon, and the stars, even all the host of heaven,\n     shouldest be driven to worship them, and serve them, which the\n     Lord thy God hath divided [distributed] unto all nations under\n     the whole heaven.\"\n\nBut the one celestial army continually suggests the other, and the two\nare placed in the closest parallelism when reference is made to the time\nwhen the foundations of the earth were fastened, and the corner stone\nthereof was laid,\n\n     \"When the morning stars sang together,\n      And all the sons of God shouted for joy.\"\n\nSo when Deborah sings of the deliverance which the Lord gave to Israel\nat the battle of the Kishon, she puts the stars for the angelic legions\nthat she feels assured were engaged in warring in their support.\n\n                 \"They fought from heaven;\n     The stars in their courses fought against Sisera.\"\n\nThe \"courses\" of the stars are the paths which they appear to follow as\nthey move round the pole of the heavens as the night proceeds, whilst\nthe stars themselves stand for the heavenly helpers who, unseen, had\nmingled in the battle and discomforted the squadrons of Sisera's\nwar-chariots. It almost reads as if to Deborah had been vouchsafed such\na vision as Elisha prayed might be given to his servant:--\n\n     \"Therefore sent the King of Syria thither horses, and\n     chariots, and a great host: and they came by night, and\n     compassed the city about.\n\n     \"And when the servant of the man of God was risen early, and\n     gone forth, behold, an host compassed the city both with\n     horses and chariots. And his servant said unto him, Alas, my\n     master! how shall we do?\n\n     \"And he answered, Fear not: for they that be with us are more\n     than they that be with them.\n\n     \"And Elisha prayed, and said, Lord, I pray Thee, open his\n     eyes that he may see. And the Lord opened the eyes of the\n     young man; and he saw: and, behold, the mountain was full of\n     horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha.\"\n\nThe solemn procession of the starry host through the long night--the\nrising in the east, the southing, and the setting in the west--is not\nthe only ordered movement of the stars of heaven that may be recognized.\nAs night by night brightens to its dawn, if we watch the eastern horizon\nand note what stars are the last to rise above it before the growing\ndaylight overpowers the feeble stellar rays, then we see that some\nbright star, invisible on the preceding mornings, shines out for a few\nmoments low down in the glimmer of the dawn. As morning succeeds morning\nit rises earlier, until at last it mounts when it is yet dark, and some\nother star takes its place as the herald of the rising sun. We recognize\nto-day this \"heliacal rising\" of the stars. Though we do not make use of\nit in our system of time-measuring, it played an important part in the\ncalendar-making of the ancients. Such heralds of the rising sun were\ncalled \"morning stars\" by the Hebrews, and they used them \"for seasons\"\nand \"for years.\" One star or constellation of stars would herald by its\n\"heliacal rising\" the beginning of spring, another the coming of winter;\nthe time to plough, the time to sow, the time of the rains, would all be\nindicated by the successive \"morning stars\" as they appeared. And after\nan interval of three hundred and sixty-five or three hundred and\nsixty-six days the same star would again show itself as a morning star\nfor a second time, marking out the year, whilst the other morning stars\nwould follow, each in its due season. So we read in Job, that God led\n\"forth the Mazzaroth in their season.\"\n\nThis wonderful procession of the midnight sky is not known and admired\nby those who live in walled cities and ceiled houses, as it is by those\nwho live in the open, in the wilderness. It is not therefore to be\nwondered at, that we find praise of these \"works of the Lord . . .\nsought out of all them that have pleasure therein,\" mostly amongst the\nshepherds, the herdsmen, the wanderers in the open--in the words and\nprophecies of Job, of Jacob, Moses, David and Amos.\n\nThe thought that each new day, beginning with a new outburst of light,\nwas, in its degree, a kind of new creation, an emblem of the original\nact by which the world was brought into being, renders appropriate and\nbeautiful the ascription of the term \"morning stars\" to those \"sons of\nGod,\" the angels. As the stars in the eastern sky are poetically thought\nof as \"singing together\" to herald the creation of each new day, so in\nthe verses already quoted from the Book of Job, the angels of God are\nrepresented as shouting for joy when the foundations of the earth were\nlaid.\n\nThe \"morning star\" again stands as the type and earnest of that new\ncreation which God has promised to His servants. The epistle to Thyatira\nconcludes with the promise--\"He that overcometh, and keepeth my works\nunto the end, . . . I will give him the morning star.\"\n\nThe brightest of these heralds of the sun is the planet Venus, and such\na \"morning star\" for power, glory, and magnificence, the king of\nBabylon had once been; like one of the angels of God. But as addressed\nin Isaiah's prophecy, he has been brought down to Sheol:--\n\n     \"How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the\n     morning!. . . For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend\n     into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God\n     . . . I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be\n     like the most High.\"\n\nBut the \"morning star\" is taken as a higher type, even of our Lord\nHimself, and of His future coming in glory. St. Peter bids the\ndisciples, to whom he writes, take heed unto the word of prophecy as\nunto a lamp shining in a dark place \"until the day dawn, and the Day\nstar arise in your hearts.\" In almost the last words of the Bible, the\nLord uses the same image Himself:--\n\n     \"I, Jesus, have sent Mine angel to testify unto you these\n     things in the Churches. I am the root and the offspring of\n     David, the bright and morning star.\"\n\nIn the sublime and ordered movements of the various heavenly bodies, the\nHebrews recognized the ordinances of God. The point of view always taken\nin Scripture is the theo-centric one; the relation sought to be brought\nout is not the relation of thing to thing--which is the objective of\nphysical science--but the relation of creature to Creator. We have no\nmeans of knowing whether they made attempt to find any mechanical\nexplanation of the movements; such inquiry would lie entirely outside\nthe scope of the books of Holy Scripture, and other ancient Hebrew\nliterature has not been transmitted to us.\n\nThe lesson which the Psalmists and the Prophets desired to teach was\nnot the daily rotation of the earth upon its axis, nor its yearly\nrevolution round the sun, but that--\n\n     \"If those ordinances depart from before Me, saith the Lord,\n     then the seed of Israel also shall cease from being a nation\n     before Me for ever.\"\n\nIn the Bible all intermediate steps are omitted, and the result is\nlinked immediately to the first Cause. God Himself is the theme, and\ntrust in Him the lesson.\n\n     \"Lift up your eyes on high, and see Who hath created these,\n     That bringeth out their host by number: He calleth them all by\n     name; by the greatness of His might, and for that He is strong\n     in power, not one is lacking.\n\n     \"Why sayest thou, O Jacob, and speakest, O Israel, My way is\n     hid from the Lord, and my judgment is passed away from my God.\n     Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard? the everlasting God,\n     the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not,\n     neither is weary; there is no searching of His understanding.\n     He giveth power to the faint; and to him that hath no might He\n     increaseth strength. Even the youths shall faint and be weary,\n     and the young men shall utterly fall: but they that wait upon\n     the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with\n     wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; they shall\n     walk, and not faint.\"\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VI\n\nTHE SUN\n\n     \"And God said Let there be lights in the firmament of the\n     heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for\n     signs, and for seasons and for days, and years: and let them\n     be for lights in the firmament of the heaven, to give light\n     upon the earth: and it was so. And God made two great lights;\n     the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to\n     rule the night: He made the stars also. And God set them in\n     the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth, and\n     to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the\n     light from the darkness: and God saw that it was good. And the\n     evening and the morning were the fourth day.\"\n\n\nA double purpose for the two great heavenly bodies is indicated\nhere,--first, the obvious one of giving light; next, that of time\nmeasurement. These, from the human and practical point of view, are the\ntwo main services which the sun and moon render to us, and naturally\nsufficed for the object that the writer had before him. There is no\nevidence that he had any idea that the moon simply shone by reflecting\nthe light of the sun; still less that the sun was a light for worlds\nother than our own; but if he had known these facts we can hardly\nsuppose that he would have mentioned them; there would have been no\npurpose to be served by so doing.\n\nBut it is remarkable that no reference is made either to the\nincalculable benefits conferred by the action of the sun in ripening the\nfruits of the earth, or to the services of the moon as a time-measurer,\nin dividing off the months. Both these actions are clearly indicated\nlater on in the Scriptures, where Moses, in the blessing which he\npronounced upon the tribe of Joseph, prayed that his land might be\nblessed \"for the precious things of the fruits of the sun,\" so that we\nmay take their omission here, together with the omission of all mention\nof the planets, and the slight parenthetical reference to the stars, as\nindicating that this chapter was composed at an exceedingly early date.\n\nThe chief purpose of the sun is to give light; it \"rules\" or regulates\nthe day and \"divides the light from the darkness.\" As such it is the\nappropriate emblem of God Himself, Who \"is Light, and in Him is no\ndarkness at all.\" These images are frequently repeated in the\nScriptures, and it is only possible to give a few instances. David\nsings, \"The Lord is my light and my salvation.\" \"The Lord shall be unto\nthee an everlasting light,\" is the promise made to Zion. St. John\nexpressly uses the term of the Son of God, our Lord: \"That was the true\nLight which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.\" Whilst the\nmore concrete emblem is used as often. In the eighty-fourth psalm, the\npsalm of pilgrimage, we read, \"The Lord God is a sun and shield;\"\nMalachi predicts that \"the Sun of Righteousness shall arise with\nhealing in His wings,\" and St James, with the same thought of the sun in\nhis mind, speaks of God as \"the Father of lights.\"\n\nBut in none of these or the other parallel passages is there the\nremotest approach to any deification of the sun, or even of that most\nethereal of influences, light itself. Both are creatures, both are made\nby God; they are things and things only, and are not even the shrines of\na deity. They may be used as emblems of God in some of His attributes;\nthey do not even furnish any indication of His special presence, for He\nis equally present where sun and light are not. \"The darkness hideth not\nfrom Thee; but the night shineth as the day: the darkness and the light\nare both alike to Thee.\"\n\nThe worship of the sun and of other heavenly bodies is one of the sins\nmost unsparingly denounced in Scripture. It was one of the first\nwarnings of the Book of Deuteronomy that Israel as a people were to take\nheed \"lest thou lift up thine eyes unto heaven, and when thou seest the\nsun, and the moon, and the stars, even all the host of heaven, shouldest\nbe driven to worship them and serve them,\" and the utter overthrow of\nthe nation was foretold should they break this law. And as for the\nnation, so for the individual, any \"man or woman that hath wrought\nwickedness in the sight of the Lord thy God, in transgressing His\ncovenant and hath gone and served other gods, and worshipped them,\neither the sun, or moon, or any of the host of heaven\" was when\nconvicted of working \"such abomination\" unsparingly to be put to death.\n\nYet with all this, sun-worship prevailed in Israel again and again. Two\nof the reforming kings of Judah, Asa and Josiah, found it necessary to\ntake away \"the sun-images;\" indeed, the latter king found that the\nhorses and chariots which his predecessors, Manasseh and Amon, had\ndedicated to sun worship were kept at the very entrance to the temple.\nIn spite of his reformation, however, the evil spread until the final\ncorruption of Jerusalem was shown in vision to Ezekiel, \"Seventy men of\nthe ancients\"--that is the complete Sanhedrim--offered incense to\ncreeping things and abominable beasts; the women wept for Tammuz,\nprobably the sun-god in his decline to winter death; and deepest\napostasy of all, five and twenty men, the high-priest, and the chief\npriests of the twenty-four courses, \"with their backs toward the temple\nof the Lord, and their faces toward the east; and they worshipped the\nsun toward the east.\" The entire nation, as represented in its chief\nmembers in State, Society, and Church, was apostate, and its ruin\nfollowed. Five years more and the temple was burned and Jerusalem\ndestroyed, and in captivity and exile the nation learned to abhor the\nidolatry that had brought about its overthrow.\n\nFour words are translated \"sun\" in our Authorized Version. Of these one,\nused Job xxxi. 26, should really be \"light,\" as in the margin--\"If I\nbeheld the light when it shined,\"--though the sun is obviously meant.\nThe second word is one used in poetry chiefly in conjunction with a\npoetical word for the moon, and refers to the sun's warmth, as the other\ndoes to the whiteness of the moon. Thus the Bride in the Song of Solomon\nis described as \"fair as the moon, clear as the sun.\" The third word\nhas given use to some ambiguity. In the eighth chapter of Judges in the\nAuthorized Version, it is stated that \"Gideon, the son of Joash,\nreturned from the battle before the sun was up,\" but in the Revised\nVersion that he \"returned from the battle from the ascent of Heres.\"\nThere was a mount [H.]eres, a mount of the sun, in the portion of the\nDanites held by the Amorites, but that cannot have been the [H.]eres of\nGideon. Still the probability is that a mount sacred to the sun is meant\nhere as well as in the reference to the Danites; though _[h.]eres_ as\nmeaning the sun itself occurs in the story of Samson's riddle, for the\nmen of the city gave him the answer to it which they had extorted from\nhis wife, \"before the sun (_[h.]eres_) went down.\" _Shemesh_, the\n_Samas_ of the Babylonians, is the usual word for the sun; and we find\nit in Beth-shemesh, the \"house of the sun,\" a Levitical city within the\ntribe of Judah, the scene of the return of the ark after its captivity\namongst the Philistines. There was another Beth-shemesh in Naphtali on\nthe borders of Issachar, and Jeremiah prophesies that Nebuchadnezzar\n\"shall break also the images of Beth-shemesh, that is in the land of\nEgypt,\" probably the obelisks of the sun in On, or Heliopolis. It was\nfrom this city that Joseph, when vizier of Egypt, took his wife, the\ndaughter of the high priest there. The images of the sun, and of Baal as\nthe sun-god, seem to have been obelisks or pillars of stone, and hence\nhad to be \"broken down\"; whilst the Asherah, the \"groves\" of the\nAuthorized Version, the images of Ashtoreth as the moon-goddess, were\nwooden pillars, to be \"cut\" or \"hewn down.\"\n\nAnother \"city of the sun\" in the land of Egypt is also mentioned by\nIsaiah, in his prophecy of the conversion and restoration of the\nEgyptians. \"Five cities in the land of Egypt shall speak the language of\nCanaan, and swear to the Lord of hosts; one shall be called The city of\ndestruction;\" lit. of _[H.]eres_, or of the sun. It was upon the\nstrength of this text that Onias, the son of Onias the high priest,\nappealed to Ptolemy Philometer to be allowed to build a temple to\nJehovah in the prefecture of Heliopolis (the city of the sun), and\nobtained his permission to do so, B.C. 149.[68:1]\n\nThe epithet applied to the sun in Cant. vi. already quoted, \"Clear as\nthe sun,\" may be taken as equivalent to \"spotless.\" That is its ordinary\nappearance to the naked eye, though from time to time--far more\nfrequently than most persons have any idea--there are spots upon the sun\nsufficiently large to be seen without any optical assistance. Thus in\nthe twenty years from 1882 to 1901 inclusive, such a phenomenon occurred\non the average once in each week. No reference to the existence of\nsun-spots occurs in Scripture. Nor is this surprising, for it would not\nhave fallen within the purpose of Scripture to record such a fact. But\nit is surprising that whilst the Chinese detected their occasional\nappearance, there is no distinct account of such an observation given\neither on Babylonian tablets or by classical or medi\u00e6val writers.\n\nThe achievement of the Chinese in this direction is very notable, for\nthe difficulty of looking directly at the sun, under ordinary\ncircumstances is so great, and the very largest sunspots are so small as\ncompared with the entire disc, that it argues great perseverance in\nwatching such appearances on the part of the Chinese, for them to have\nassured themselves that they were not due to very small distant clouds\nin our own atmosphere.\n\nIt has often been the subject of comment that light is mentioned in Gen.\ni. as having been created on the first day, but the sun not until the\nfourth. The order is entirely appropriate from an astronomical point of\nview, for we know that our sun is not the only source of light, since it\nis but one out of millions of stars, many of which greatly exceed it in\nsplendour. Further, most astronomers consider that our solar system\nexisted as a luminous nebula long ages before the sun was formed as a\ncentral condensation.\n\nBut the true explanation of the creation of light being put first is\nprobably this--that there might be no imagining that, though gross solid\nbodies, like earth and sea, sun and moon might require a Creator, yet\nsomething so ethereal and all-pervading as light was self-existent, and\nby its own nature, eternal. This was a truth that needed to be stated\nfirst. God is light, but light is not God.\n\nThe other references to the sun in Scripture do not call for much\ncomment. Its apparent unchangeableness qualifies it for use as an\nexpression for eternal duration, as in the seventy-second, the Royal,\nPsalm, \"They shall fear Thee as long as the sun and moon endure;\" and\nagain, \"His name shall endure for ever: His name shall be continued as\nlong as the sun.\" And again, in the eighty-ninth Psalm, it is said of\nDavid: \"His seed shall endure for ever, and his throne as the sun before\nMe.\"\n\nThe daily course of the sun from beyond the eastern horizon to beyond\nthe western gives the widest expression for the compass of the whole\nearth. \"The mighty God, even the Lord, hath spoken, and called the\nearth, from the rising of the sun unto the going down thereof.\" \"From\nthe rising of the sun, unto the going down of the same, the Lord's name\nis to be praised.\" The sun's rays penetrate everywhere. \"His going forth\nis from the end of the heaven, and his circuit unto the ends of it: and\nthere is nothing hid from the heat thereof.\" Whilst in the Book of\nEcclesiastes, the melancholy words of the Preacher revert over and over\nagain to that which is done \"under the sun.\" \"What profit hath a man of\nall his labour which he taketh under the sun?\"\n\nIt should be noted that this same Book of Ecclesiastes shows a much\nclearer idea of the sun's daily apparent motion than was held by many of\nthe writers of antiquity. There is, of course, nowhere in Scripture any\nmention of the rotation of the earth on its axis as the mechanical\nexplanation of the sun's daily apparent motion; any more than we should\nrefer to it ourselves to-day except when writing from a purely technical\npoint of view. As said already, the Hebrews had probably not discovered\nthis explanation, and would certainly have not gone out of their way to\nmention it in any of their Scriptures if they had.\n\nOne passage of great beauty has sometimes been quoted as if it contained\na reference to the earth's rotation, but when carefully examined it is\nseen to be dealing simply with the apparent motion of the sun in the\ncourse of the year and of the day.\n\n     \"Hast thou commanded the morning since thy days;\n      And caused the dayspring to know his place;\n      That it might take hold of the ends of the earth,\n      That the wicked might be shaken out of it?\n      It is turned as clay to the seal;\n      And they stand as a garment.\"\n\nThe earth appears to be spoken of as being \"turned\" to the sun, the\ndayspring; and this, we know, takes place, morning by morning, in\nconsequence of the diurnal rotation. But the last two lines are better\nrendered in the Revised Version--\n\n     \"It is changed as clay under the seal;\n      And _all things_ stand forth as a garment.\"\n\nThe ancient seals were cylinders, rolled over the clay, which, formless\nbefore, took upon it the desired relief as the seal passed over it. So a\ngarment, laid aside and folded up during the night, is shapeless, but\nonce again takes form when the wearer puts it on. And the earth,\nformless in the darkness, gains shape and colour and relief with the\nimpress upon it of the morning light.\n\nIt is quite clear that the Hebrews did not suppose that it was a new sun\nthat came up from the east each morning, as did Xenophanes and the\nEpicureans amongst the Greeks. It was the same sun throughout. Nor is\nthere any idea of his hiding himself behind a mysterious mountain during\nthe night. \"The sun,\" the Preacher tells us, \"ariseth and the sun goeth\ndown, and hasteth to his place where he arose.\" The Hebrew was quite\naware that the earth was unsupported in space, for he knew that the Lord\n\"stretcheth out the north over the empty place, and hangeth the earth\nupon nothing.\" There was therefore nothing to hinder the sun passing\nfreely under the earth from west to east, and thus making his path, not\na mere march onward ending in his dissolution at sunset, but a complete\n\"circuit,\" as noted by the writer of the nineteenth Psalm.\n\nThe fierceness of the sun's heat in Palestine rendered sun-stroke a\nserious danger. The little son of the Shunammite was probably so smitten\nas he watched his father at work with the reapers. So the promise is\ngiven to God's people more than once: \"The sun shall not smite thee by\nday.\" \"They shall not hunger nor thirst; neither shall the heat nor sun\nsmite them.\" The martyrs who pass through the great tribulation \"shall\nhunger no more, neither thirst any more; neither shall the sun light on\nthem, nor any heat.\"\n\nThere are fewer references in Scripture to the vivifying effects of\nsunlight upon vegetation than we might have expected. The explanation is\npossibly to be found in the terrible perversion men had made of the\nbenefits which came to them by means of this action of sunlight, by\nusing them as an excuse for plunging into all kinds of nature-worship.\nYet there are one or two allusions not without interest. As already\nmentioned, \"the precious fruits brought forth by the sun\" were promised\nto the tribe of Joseph, whilst the great modern discovery that nearly\nevery form of terrestrial energy is derived ultimately from the energy\nof the sun's rays gives a most striking appropriateness to the imagery\nmade use of by St. James.\n\n     \"Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and\n     cometh down from the Father of Lights, with Whom is no\n     variableness, neither shadow of turning.\"\n\nGod, that is to say, is the true Sun, the true Origin of all Lights, the\ntrue bestower of every good and perfect gift. The word rendered\n\"variableness,\" is a technical word, used by ourselves in modern English\nas \"parallax,\" and employed in the Septuagint Version to denote the\nrevolutions of the heavenly bodies, described in the thirty-eighth\nchapter of the book of Job, as \"the ordinances of the heavens.\" With the\nnatural sun, therefore, there is \"variableness,\" that is to say, real or\napparent change of place; there is none with God. Neither is there with\nHim any darkness of eclipse; any \"shadow\" caused as in the case of the\nmaterial sun, by the \"turning\" of earth and moon in their orbits. The\nknowledge of \"the alternations of the turning of the sun,\" described in\nthe Book of Wisdom as a feature of the learning of Solomon, was a\nknowledge of the laws of this \"variableness\" and \"turning\"; especially\nof the \"turning\" of its rising and setting points at the two solstices;\nand St. James may well have had that passage in his mind when he wrote.\nFor Science deals with the knowledge of things that change, as they\nchange, and of their changes, but Faith with the knowledge of Him that\nabideth for ever, and it is to this higher knowledge that St. James\nwished to point his readers.\n\nScience deals with the knowledge of things that change, as they change\nand of their changes. The physical facts that we have learned in the\nlast years about that changeful body the sun are briefly these:--\n\nIts core or inner nucleus is not accessible to observation, its nature\nand constitution being a mere matter of inference. The \"photosphere\" is\na shell of incandescent cloud surrounding the nucleus, but the depth, or\nthickness of this shell is quite unknown. The outer surface--which we\nsee--of the photosphere is certainly pretty sharply defined, though very\nirregular, rising at points into whiter aggregations, called \"facul\u00e6,\"\nand perhaps depressed at other places in the dark \"spots.\" Immediately\nabove the photosphere lies the \"reversing layer\" in which are found the\nsubstances which give rise to the gaps in the sun's spectrum--the\nFraunhofer lines. Above the \"reversing layer\" lies the scarlet\n\"chromosphere\" with \"prominences\" of various forms and dimensions rising\nhigh above the solar surface; and over, and embracing all, is the\n\"corona,\" with its mysterious petal-like forms and rod-like rays.\n\nThe great body of the sun is gaseous, though it is impossible for us to\nconceive of the condition of the gaseous core, subjected, as it is, at\nonce to temperature and pressure both enormously great. Probably it is a\ngas so viscous that it would resist motion as pitch or putty does. Nor\ndo we know much of the nature of either the sun-spots or the solar\ncorona. Both seem to be produced by causes which lie within the sun;\nboth undergo changes that are periodical and connected with each other.\nThey exercise some influence upon the earth's magnetism, but whether\nthis influence extends to terrestrial weather, to rainfall and storms,\nis still a matter of controversy.\n\nThe sun itself is distant from the earth in the mean, about 92,885,000\nmiles, but this distance varies between January and June by 3,100,000\nmiles. The diameter of the sun is 866,400 miles, but perhaps this is\nvariable to the extent of some hundreds of miles. It would contain\n1,305,000 times the bulk of the earth, but its mean density is but\none-quarter that of the earth. The force of gravity at its surface is\n27-1/2 times that at the surface of the earth, and it rotates on its\naxis in about 25 days. But the sun's surface does not appear to rotate\nas a whole, so this time of rotating varies by as much as two days if we\nconsider a region on the sun's equator or at a distance from it of 45\u00b0.\nThe intensity of sunlight at the surface of the sun is about 190,000\ntimes that of a candle-flame, and the effective temperature of the solar\nsurface is eight or ten thousand degrees centigrade.\n\nSuch are some of the facts about the sun that are received, or, as it\nwould be technically expressed, \"adopted\" to-day. Doubtless a very few\nyears will find them altered and rendered more accurate as observations\naccumulate. In a few hundred years, knowledge of the constitution of the\nsun may have so increased that these data and suggestions may seem so\nerroneous as to be absurd. It is little more than a century since one of\nthe greatest of astronomers, Sir William Herschel, contended that the\ncentral globe of the sun might be a habitable world, sheltered from the\nblazing photosphere by a layer of cool non-luminous clouds. Such an\nhypothesis was not incompatible with what was then known of the\nconstitution of the heavenly bodies, though it is incompatible with what\nwe know now. It was simply a matter on which more evidence was to be\naccumulated, and the holding of such a view does not, and did not,\ndetract from the scientific status of Sir William Herschel.\n\nThe hypotheses of science require continual restatement in the light of\nnew evidence, and, as to the weight and interpretation to be given to\nsuch evidence, there is continual conflict--if it may so be\ncalled--between the old and the new science, between the science that is\nestablished and the science that is being established. It is by this\nconflict that knowledge is rendered sure.\n\nSuch a conflict took place rather more than 300 years ago at the opening\nof the Modern Era of astronomy. It was a conflict between two schools of\nscience--between the disciples of Aristotle and Claudius Ptolemy on the\none hand and the disciples of Copernicus on the other. It has often been\nrepresented as a conflict between religion and science, whereas that\nwhich happened was that the representatives of the older school of\nscience made use of the powers of the Church to persecute the newer\nschool as represented by Galileo. That persecution was no doubt a\nflagrant abuse of authority, but it should be impossible at the present\nday for any one to claim a theological standing for either theory,\nwhether Copernican or Ptolemaic.\n\nSo long as evidence sufficient to demonstrate the Copernican hypothesis\nwas not forthcoming, it was possible for a man to hold the Ptolemaic,\nwithout detracting from his scientific position, just as it is thought\nno discredit to Sir William Herschel that he held his curious idea of a\ncool sun under the conditions of knowledge of a hundred years ago. Even\nat the present day, we habitually use the Ptolemaic phraseology. Not\nonly do we speak of \"sunrise\" and \"sunset,\" but astronomers in strictly\ntechnical papers use the expression, \"acceleration of the sun's motion\"\nwhen \"acceleration of the earth's motion\" is meant.\n\nThe question as to whether the earth goes round the sun or the sun goes\nround the earth has been decided by the accumulation of evidence. It was\na question for evidence to decide. It was an open question so long as\nthe evidence available was not sufficient to decide it. It was perfectly\npossible at one time for a scientific or a religious man to hold either\nview. Neither view interfered with his fundamental standing or with his\nmental attitude towards either sun or earth. In this respect--important\nas the question is in itself--it might be said to be a mere detail,\nalmost a matter of indifference.\n\nBut it is not a mere detail, a matter of indifference to either\nscientist or religious man, as to what the sun and earth _are_--whether\nhe can treat them as things that can be weighed, measured, compared,\nanalyzed, as, a few pages back, we have shown has been done, or whether,\nas one of the chief astrologers of to-day puts it, he--\n\n     \"Believes that the sun is the body of the Logos of this solar\n     system, 'in Him we live and move and have our being.' The\n     planets are his angels, being modifications in the\n     consciousness of the Logos,\"\n\nand that the sun\n\n     \"Stands as Power, having Love and Will united.\"\n\nThe difference between these two points of view is fundamental, and one\nof root principle. The foundation, the common foundation on which both\nthe believer and the scientist build, is threatened by this false\nscience and false religion. The calling, the very existence of both is\nassailed, and they must stand or fall together. The believer in one God\ncannot acknowledge a Sun-god, a Solar Logos, these planetary angels; the\nastronomer cannot admit the intrusion of planetary influences that obey\nno known laws, and the supposed effects of which are in no way\nproportional to the supposed causes. The Law of Causality does not run\nwithin the borders of astrology.\n\nIt is the old antithesis restated of the Hebrew and the heathen. The\nbeliever in one God and the scientist alike derive their heritage from\nthe Hebrew, whilst the modern astrologer claims that the astrology of\nto-day is once more a revelation of the Chaldean and Assyrian religions.\nBut polytheism--whether in its gross form of many gods, of planetary\nangels, or in the more subtle form of pantheism,--is the very negation\nof sane religion; and astrology is the negation of sane astronomy.\n\n     \"For the invisible things of Him from the creation of the\n     world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that\n     are made, even His eternal power and Godhead; so that they are\n     without excuse: because that, when they knew God, they\n     glorified Him not as God, neither were thankful; but became\n     vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was\n     darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools,\n     and changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image\n     made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted\n     beasts, and creeping things.\"\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[68:1] Josephus, _Antiquities_, XIII. iii. 1.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VII\n\nTHE MOON\n\n     \"The balmy moon of blessed Israel\n        Floods all the deep-blue gloom with beams divine:\n      All night the splintered crags that wall the dell\n        With spires of silver shine.\"\n\n\nSo, in Tennyson's words, sang Jephthah's daughter, as she recalled the\ndays of her mourning before she accomplished her self-sacrifice.\n\nIt is hard for modern dwellers in towns to realize the immense\nimportance of the moon to the people of old. \"The night cometh when no\nman can work\" fitly describes their condition when she was absent. In\nsub-tropical countries like Palestine, twilight is short, and, the sun\nonce set, deep darkness soon covers everything. Such artificial lights\nas men then had would now be deemed very inefficient. There was little\nopportunity, when once darkness had fallen, for either work or\nenjoyment.\n\nBut, when the moon was up, how very different was the case. Then men\nmight say--\n\n     \"This night, methinks, is but the daylight sick;\n        It looks a little paler: 'tis a day,\n      Such as the day is when the sun is hid.\"\n\nIn the long moonlit nights, travelling was easy and safe; the labours\nof the field and house could still be carried on; the friendly feast\nneed not be interrupted. But of all men, the shepherd would most rejoice\nat this season; all his toils, all his dangers were immeasurably\nlightened during the nights near the full. As in the beautiful rendering\nwhich Tennyson has given us of one of the finest passages in the\n_Iliad_--\n\n           \"In heaven the stars about the moon\n     Look beautiful, when all the winds are laid,\n     And every height comes out, and jutting peak\n     And valley, and the immeasurable heavens\n     Break open to their highest, and all the stars\n     Shine, and the Shepherd gladdens in his heart.\"\n\nA large proportion of the people of Israel, long after their settlement\nin Palestine, maintained the habits of their forefathers, and led the\nshepherd's life. To them, therefore, the full of the moon must have been\nof special importance; yet there is no single reference in Scripture to\nthis phase as such; nor indeed to any change of the moon's apparent\nfigure. In two cases in our Revised Version we do indeed find the\nexpression \"at the full moon,\" but if we compare these passages with the\nAuthorized Version, we find them there rendered \"in the time appointed,\"\nor \"at the day appointed.\" This latter appears to be the literal\nmeaning, though there can be no question, as is seen by a comparison\nwith the Syriac, that the period of the full moon is referred to. No\ndoubt it was because travelling was so much more safe and easy than in\nthe moonless nights, that the two great spring and autumn festivals of\nthe Jews were held at the full moon. Indeed, the latter feast, when the\nIsraelites \"camped out\" for a week \"in booths,\" was held at the time of\nthe \"harvest moon.\" The phenomenon of the \"harvest moon\" may be briefly\nexplained as follows. At the autumnal equinox, when the sun is crossing\nfrom the north side of the equator to the south, the full moon is\ncrossing from the south side of the equator to the north. It is thus\nhigher in the sky, when it souths, on each succeeding night, and is\ntherefore up for a greater length of time. This counterbalances to a\nconsiderable extent its movement eastward amongst the stars, so that,\nfor several nights in succession, it rises almost at sundown. These\nnights of the Feast of Tabernacles, when all Israel was rejoicing over\nthe ingathered fruits, each family in its tent or arbour of green\nboughs, were therefore the fullest of moonlight in the year.[81:1]\n\nModern civilization has almost shut us off from the heavens, at least in\nour great towns and cities. These offer many conveniences, but they\nremove us from not a few of the beauties which nature has to offer. And\nso it comes that, taking the population as a whole, there is perhaps\nless practically known of astronomy in England to-day than there was\nunder the Plantagenets. A very few are astronomers, professional and\namateur, and know immeasurably more than our forefathers did of the\nscience. Then there is a large, more or less cultured, public that know\nsomething of the science at secondhand through books. But the great\nmajority know nothing of the heavenly bodies except of the sun; they\nneed to \"look in the almanack\" to \"find out moonshine.\" But to simpler\npeoples the difference between the \"light half\" of the month, from the\nfirst quarter to the last quarter through the full of the moon, and the\n\"dark half,\" from the last quarter to the first quarter, through new, is\nvery great. Indian astronomers so divide the month to this day.\n\nIn one passage of Holy Scripture, the description which Isaiah gives of\nthe \"City of the Lord, the Zion of the Holy One of Israel,\" there is a\nreference to the dark part of the month.\n\n     \"Thy sun shall no more go down; neither shall thy moon\n     (literally \"month\") withdraw itself: for the Lord shall be\n     thine everlasting light, and the days of thy mourning shall be\n     ended.\"\n\nThe parallelism expressed in the verse lies between the darkness of\nnight whilst the sun is below the horizon, and the special darkness of\nthose nights when the moon, being near conjunction with the sun, is\nabsent from the sky during the greater part or whole of the night hours,\nand has but a small portion of her disc illuminated. Just as half the\nday is dark because the sun has withdrawn itself, so half the nights of\nthe month are dark because the moon has withdrawn itself.\n\nThe Hebrew month was a natural one, determined by actual observation of\nthe new moon. They used three words in their references to the moon, the\nfirst of which, _chodesh_, derived from a root meaning \"to be new,\"\nindicates the fact that the new moon, as actually observed, governed\ntheir calendar. The word therefore signifies the new moon--the day of\nthe new moon: and thus a month; that is, a lunar month beginning at the\nnew moon. This is the Hebrew word used in the Deluge story in the\nseventh chapter of Genesis; and in all references to feasts depending on\na day in the month. As when the Lord spake to Moses, saying, \"Also in\nthe day of your gladness, and in your solemn days, and in the beginnings\nof your months, ye shall blow with your trumpets over your burnt\nofferings, and over the sacrifices of your peace offerings.\" And again\nin the Psalm of Asaph to the chief musician upon Gittith: \"Blow up the\ntrumpet in the new moon, in the time appointed, on our solemn feast\nday.\" This is the word also that Isaiah uses in describing the bravery\nof the daughters of Zion, \"the tinkling ornaments about their feet, and\ntheir cauls, and their round tires like the moon, the chains, and the\nbracelets.\" \"The round tires\" were not discs, like the full moon, but\nwere round like the crescent.\n\nGenerally speaking, _chodesh_ is employed where either reference is made\nto the shape or newness of the crescent moon, or where \"month\" is used\nin any precise way. This is the word for \"month\" employed throughout by\nthe prophet Ezekiel, who is so precise in the dating of his prophecies.\n\nWhen the moon is mentioned as the lesser light of heaven, without\nparticular reference to its form, or when a month is mentioned as a\nsomewhat indefinite period of time, then the Hebrew word _yar[=e]ach_,\nis used. Here the word has the root meaning of \"paleness\"; it is the\n\"silver moon.\"\n\n_Yar[=e]ach_ is the word always used where the moon is classed among the\nheavenly bodies; as when Joseph dreamed of the sun, the moon, and the\neleven constellations; or in Jer. viii. 2, where the Lord says that they\nshall bring out the bones of the kings, princes, priests, prophets, and\ninhabitants of Jerusalem, \"and they shall spread them before the sun,\nand the moon, and all the host of heaven, whom they have loved, and whom\nthey have served, and after whom they have walked, and whom they have\nsought, and whom they have worshipped.\"\n\nThe same word is used for the moon in its character of \"making\nordinances.\" Thus we have it several times in the Psalms: \"He (the Lord)\nappointed the moon for seasons.\" \"His seed shall endure for ever, and\nhis throne as the sun before Me. It shall be established for ever as the\nmoon, and as a faithful witness in heaven.\" And again: \"The moon and\nstars rule by night;\" whilst Jeremiah says, \"Thus saith the Lord, Which\ngiveth the sun for a light by day, and the ordinances of the moon and of\nthe stars for a light by night.\"\n\nIn all passages where reference seems to be made to the darkening or\nwithdrawing of the moon's light (Eccl. xii. 2; Isa. xiii. 10; Ezek.\nxxxii. 7; Joel ii. 10, 31, and iii. 15; and Hab. iii. 11) the word\n_yar[=e]ach_ is employed. A slight variant of the same word indicates\nthe month when viewed as a period of time not quite defined, and not in\nthe strict sense of a lunar month. This is the term used in Exod. ii. 2,\nfor the three months that the mother of Moses hid him when she saw that\nhe was a goodly child; by Moses, in his prophecy for Joseph, of \"Blessed\nof the Lord be his land . . . for the precious fruits brought forth by\nthe sun, and for the precious things put forth by the months.\" Such a\n\"full month of days\" did Shallum the son of Jabesh reign in Samaria in\nthe nine and thirtieth year of Uzziah, king of Judah. Such also were the\ntwelve months of warning given to Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon,\nbefore his madness fell upon him. The same word is once used for a true\nlunar month, viz. in Ezra vi. 15, when the building of the \"house was\nfinished on the third day of the month Adar, which was in the sixth year\nof the reign of Darius the king.\" In all other references to the months\nderived from the Babylonians, such as the \"month Chisleu\" in Neh. i. 1,\nthe term _chodesh_ is used, since these, like the Hebrew months, were\ndefined by the observation of the new moon; but for the Tyrian months,\nZif, Bul, Ethanim, we find the term _yerach_ in three out of the four\ninstances.\n\nIn three instances a third word is used poetically to express the moon.\nThis is _lebanah_, which has the meaning of whiteness. In Song of Sol.\nvi. 10, it is asked--\n\n     \"Who is she that looketh forth as the morning, fair as the\n     moon, clear as the sun, and terrible as an army with banners?\"\n\nIsaiah also says--\n\n     \"Then the moon shall be confounded, and the sun ashamed, when\n     the Lord of Hosts shall reign in Mount Zion, and in Jerusalem,\n     and before His ancients gloriously.\"\n\nAnd yet again--\n\n     \"Moreover the light of the moon shall be as the light of the\n     sun, and the light of the sun shall be sevenfold, as the light\n     of seven days, in the day that the Lord bindeth up the breach\n     of His people, and healeth the stroke of their wound.\"\n\nIt may not be without significance that each of these three passages,\nwherein the moon is denominated by its name of whiteness or purity,\nlooks forward prophetically to the same great event, pictured yet more\nclearly in the Revelation--\n\n     \"And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as\n     the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty\n     thunderings, saying, Alleluia: for the Lord God omnipotent\n     reigneth.\n\n     \"Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to Him: for the\n     marriage of the Lamb is come, and His wife hath made herself\n     ready.\n\n     \"And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine\n     linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the\n     righteousness of saints.\"\n\n_Chodesh_ and _yar[=e]ach_ are masculine words; _lebanah_ is feminine.\nBut nowhere throughout the Old Testament is the moon personified, and in\nonly one instance is it used figuratively to represent a person. This is\nin the case of Jacob's reading of Joseph's dream, already referred to,\nwhere he said--\n\n     \"Behold I have dreamed a dream more; and, behold, the sun and\n     the moon and the eleven stars made obeisance to me.\"\n\nAnd his father quickly rebuked him, saying--\n\n     \"What is this dream that thou hast dreamed? Shall I and thy\n     mother and thy brethren indeed come to bow down ourselves to\n     thee to the earth?\"\n\nHere Jacob understands that the moon (_yar[=e]ach_) stands for a woman,\nhis wife. But in Mesopotamia, whence his grandfather Abraham had come\nout, Sin, the moon-god, was held to be a male god, high indeed among the\ndeities at that time, and superior even to Samas, the sun-god. Terah,\nthe father of Abraham, was held by Jewish tradition to have been an\nespecial worshipper of the moon-god, whose great temple was in Haran,\nwhere he dwelt.\n\nWherever the land of Uz may have been, at whatever period Job may have\nlived, there and then it was an iniquity to worship the moon or the\nmoon-god. In his final defence to his friends, when the \"three men\nceased to answer Job, because he was righteous in his own eyes,\" Job,\njustifying his life, said--\n\n     \"If I beheld the sun when it shined,\n      Or the moon walking in brightness;\n      And my heart hath been secretly enticed,\n      And my mouth hath kissed my hand:\n      This also were an iniquity to be punished by the judges:\n      For I should have lied to God that is above.\"\n\nThe Hebrews, too, were forbidden to worship the sun, the moon, or the\nstars, the host of heaven, and disobeyed the commandment both early and\nlate in their history. When Moses spake unto all Israel on this side\nJordan in the wilderness in the plain over against the Red Sea, he said\nto them--\n\n     \"The Lord spake unto you out of the midst of the fire: ye\n     heard the voice of the words, but saw no similitude; only\n     ye heard a voice. . . . Take ye therefore good heed unto\n     yourselves; for ye saw no manner of similitude on the day that\n     the Lord spake unto you in Horeb out of the midst of the fire:\n\n     \"Lest ye corrupt yourselves, and make you a graven image, the\n     similitude of any figure, the likeness of male or female. . . .\n     And lest thou lift up thine eyes unto heaven, and when thou\n     seest the sun, and the moon, and the stars, even all the host\n     of heaven, shouldst be driven to worship them, and serve them,\n     which the Lord thy God hath divided unto all nations under the\n     whole heaven.\"\n\nWe know what the \"similitude\" of the sun and the moon were like among\nthe surrounding nations. We see their \"hieroglyphs\" on numberless seals\nand images from the ruins of Nineveh or Babylon. That of the sun was\nfirst a rayed star or disc, later a figure, rayed and winged. That of\nthe moon was a crescent, one lying on its back, like a bowl or cup, the\nactual attitude of the new moon at the beginning of the new year. Just\nsuch moon similitudes did the soldiers of Gideon take from off the\ncamels of Zebah and Zalmunna; just such were the \"round tires like the\nmoon\" that Isaiah condemns among the bravery of the daughters of Zion.\n\nThe similitude or token of Ashtoreth, the paramount goddess of the\nZidonians, was the _ashera_, the \"grove\" of the Authorized Version,\nprobably in most cases merely a wooden pillar. This goddess, \"the\nabomination of the Zidonians,\" was a moon-goddess, concerning whom\nEusebius preserves a statement by the Phoenician historian,\nSanchoniathon, that her images had the head of an ox. In the wars in\nthe days of Abraham we find Chedorlaomer, and the kings that were with\nhim, smiting the Rephaim in Ashteroth Karnaim, that is, in the\nAshtoreths \"of the horns.\" It is impossible to decide at this date\nwhether the horns which gave the distinctive title to this shrine of\nAshtoreth owed their origin to the horns of the animal merged in the\ngoddess, or to the horns of the crescent moon, with which she was to\nsome extent identified. Possibly there was always a confusion between\nthe two in the minds of her worshippers. The cult of Ashtoreth was\nspread not only among the Hebrews, but throughout the whole plain of\nMesopotamia. In the times of the Judges, and in the days of Samuel, we\nfind continually the statement that the people \"served Baalim and\nAshtaroth\"--the plurals of Baal and Ashtoreth--these representing the\nsun and moon, and reigning as king and queen in heaven. When the\nPhilistines fought with Saul at Mount Gilboa, and he was slain, they\nstripped off his armour and put it \"in the house of Ashtaroth.\" Yet\nlater we find that Solomon loved strange women of the Zidonians, who\nturned his heart after Ashtoreth, the goddess of the Zidonians, and he\nbuilt a high place for her on the right hand of the Mount of Olives,\nwhich remained for some three and a half centuries, until Josiah, the\nking, defiled it. Nevertheless, the worship of Ashtoreth continued, and\nthe prophet Jeremiah describes her cult:--\n\n     \"The children gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire,\n     and the women knead their dough, to make cakes to the queen of\n     heaven.\"\n\nThis was done in the cities of Judah and streets of Jerusalem, but the\nJews carried the cult with them even when they fled into Egypt, and\nwhilst there they answered Jeremiah--\n\n     \"We will certainly do whatsoever thing goeth forth out of our\n     own mouth, to burn incense unto the queen of heaven, and to\n     pour out drink offerings unto her, as we have done, we, and\n     our fathers, our kings, and our princes, in the cities of\n     Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem: for then had we plenty\n     of victuals, and were well, and saw no evil. But since we left\n     off to burn incense to the queen of heaven, and to pour out\n     drink offerings unto her, we have wanted all things, and have\n     been consumed by the sword and by the famine.\"\n\n_Ashtoreth_, according to Pinches[90:1] is evidently a lengthening of\nthe name of the Assyrio-Babylonian goddess I[vs]tar, and the Babylonian\nlegend of the Descent of I[vs]tar may well have been a myth founded on\nthe varying phases of the moon. But it must be remembered that, though\nAshtoreth or I[vs]tar might be the queen of heaven, the moon was not\nnecessarily the only aspect in which her worshippers recognized her. In\nothers, the planet Venus may have been chosen as her representative; in\nothers the constellation Taurus, at one time the leader of the Zodiac;\nin others, yet again, the actual form of a material bull or cow.\n\nThe Hebrews recognized the great superiority in brightness of the sun\nover the moon, as testified in their names of the \"greater\" and \"lesser\"\nlights, and in such passages as that already quoted from Isaiah (xxx.\n26). The word here used for moon is the poetic one, _lebanah_. Of course\nno argument can be founded on the parallelism employed so as to lead to\nthe conclusion that the Hebrews considered that the solar light exceeded\nthe lunar by only seven times, instead of the 600,000 times indicated by\nmodern photometric measurement.\n\nIn only one instance in Scripture--that already quoted of the moon\nwithdrawing itself--is there even an allusion to the changing phases of\nthe moon, other than that implied in the frequent references to the new\nmoons. The appointment of certain feasts to be held on the fifteenth day\nof the month is a confirmation of the supposition that their months were\ntruly lunar, for then the moon is fully lighted, and rides the sky the\nwhole night long from sunset to sunrise. It is clear, therefore, that\nthe Hebrews, not only noticed the phases of the moon, but made regular\nuse of them. Yet, if we adopted the argument from silence, we should\nsuppose that they had never observed its changes of shape, for there is\nno direct allusion to them in Scripture. We cannot, therefore, argue\nfrom silence as to whether or no they had divined the cause of those\nchanges, namely that the moon shines by reflecting the light of the sun.\n\nNor are there any references to the markings on the moon. It is quite\nobvious to the naked eye that there are grey stains upon her silver\nsurface, that these grey stains are always there, most of them forming a\nchain which curves through the upper hemisphere. Of the bright parts of\nthe moon, some shine out with greater lustre than others, particularly\none spot in the lower left-hand quadrant, not far from the edge of the\nfull disc. The edges of the moon gleam more brightly as a rule than the\ncentral parts. All this was apparent to the Hebrews of old, as it is to\nour unassisted sight to-day.\n\nThe moon's influence in raising the tides is naturally not mentioned.\nThe Hebrews were not a seafaring race, nor are the tides on the coast of\nPalestine pronounced enough to draw much attention. One influence is\nascribed to the moon; an influence still obscure, or even disputed. For\nthe promise that--\n\n     \"The sun shall not smite thee by day,\n        Nor the moon by night,\"\n\nquite obvious in its application to the sun, with the moon seems to\nrefer to its supposed influence on certain diseases and in causing\n\"moon-blindness.\"\n\nThe chief function of the moon, as indicated in Scripture, is to\nregulate the calendar, and mark out the times for the days of solemnity.\nIn the words of the 104th Psalm:--\n\n     \"He (God) appointed the moon for seasons:\n      The sun knoweth his going down.\n      Thou makest darkness, and it is night;\n      Wherein all the beasts of the forest do creep forth.\n      The young lions roar after their prey,\n      And seek their meat from God.\n      The sun ariseth, they get them away,\n      And lay them down in their dens.\n      Man goeth forth unto his work\n      And to his labour until the evening.\n      O Lord, how manifold are Thy works!\n      In wisdom hast Thou made them all:\n      The earth is full of Thy riches.\"\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[81:1] How the little children must have revelled in that yearly\nholiday!\n\n[90:1] T. G. Pinches, _The Old Testament in the Light of the Historical\nRecords of Assyria and Babylonia_, p. 278.\n\n\n[Illustration: A CORNER OF THE MILKY WAY.\n\nThe \"America Nebula\": photographed by Dr. Max Wolf, at Heidelberg.]\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VIII\n\nTHE STARS\n\n\nThe stars and the heaven, whose host they are, were used by the Hebrew\nwriters to express the superlatives of number, of height, and of\nexpanse. To an observer, watching the heavens at any particular time and\nplace, not more than some two thousand stars are separately visible to\nthe unassisted sight. But it was evident to the Hebrew, as it is to any\none to-day, that the stars separately visible do not by any means make\nup their whole number. On clear nights the whole vault of heaven seems\ncovered with a tapestry or curtain the pattern of which is formed of\npatches of various intensities of light, and sprinkled upon this\npatterned curtain are the brighter stars that may be separately seen.\nThe most striking feature in the pattern is the Milky Way, and it may be\neasily discerned that its texture is made up of innumerable minute\npoints of light, a granulation, of which some of the grains are set more\nclosely together, forming the more brilliant patches, and some more\nloosely, giving the darker shades. The mind easily conceives that the\nminute points of light whose aggregations make up the varying pattern of\nthe Milky Way, though too small to be individually seen, are also\nstars, differing perhaps from the stars of the Pleiades or the Bears\nonly in their greater distance or smaller size. It was of all these that\nthe Lord said to Abram--\n\n     \"Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able\n     to number them: and He said unto him, So shall thy seed be.\"\n\nThe first catalogue of the stars of which we have record was that of\nHipparchus in 129 B.C. It contained 1,025 stars, and Ptolemy brought\nthis catalogue up to date in the Almagest of 137 A.D. Tycho Brah\u00e9 in\n1602 made a catalogue of 777 stars, and Kepler republished this in 1627,\nand increased the number to 1,005. These were before the invention of\nthe telescope, and consequently contained only naked-eye stars. Since\nastronomers have been able to sound the heavens more deeply, catalogues\nhave increased in size and number. Flamsteed, the first Astronomer\nRoyal, made one of 3,310 stars; from the observations of Bradley, the\nthird, a yet more famous catalogue has been compiled. In our own day\nmore than three hundred thousand stars have been catalogued in the Bonn\nDurchmusterung; and the great International Photographic Chart of the\nHeavens will probably show not less than fifty millions of stars, and in\nthis it has limited itself to stars exceeding the fourteenth magnitude\nin brightness, thus leaving out of its pages many millions of stars that\nare visible through our more powerful telescopes.\n\nSo when Abraham, Moses, Job or Jeremiah speaks of the host of heaven\nthat cannot be numbered, it does not mean simply that these men had but\nsmall powers of numeration. To us,--who can count beyond that which we\ncan conceive,--as to the Psalmist, it is a sign of infinite power,\nwisdom and knowledge that \"He telleth the number of the stars; He\ncalleth them all by their names.\"\n\nIsaiah describes the Lord as \"He that sitteth upon the circle of the\nearth, . . . that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth\nthem out as a tent to dwell in.\" And many others of the prophets use the\nsame simile of a curtain which we have seen to be so appropriate to the\nappearance of the starry sky. Nowhere, however, have we any indication\nwhether or not they considered the stars were all set _on_ this curtain,\nthat is to say were all at the same distance from us. We now know that\nthey are not equidistant from us, but this we largely base on the fact\nthat the stars are of very different orders of brightness, and we judge\nthat, on an average, the fainter a star appears, the further is it\ndistant from us. To the Hebrews, as to us, it was evident that the stars\ndiffer in magnitude, and the writer of the Epistle to the Corinthians\nexpressed this when he wrote--\n\n     \"There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon,\n     and another glory of the stars: for one star differeth from\n     another star in glory.\"\n\nThe ancient Greek astronomers divided the stars according to their\nbrightness into six classes, or six \"magnitudes,\" to use the modern\ntechnical term. The average star of any particular magnitude gives about\ntwo and a half times as much light as the average star of the next\nmagnitude. More exactly, the average first magnitude star gives one\nhundred times the light of the average star of the sixth magnitude.\n\nIn a few instances we have been able to measure, in the very roughest\ndegree, the distances of stars; not a hundred stars have their\nparallaxes known, and these have all been measured in the course of the\nlast century. And so far away are these stars, even the nearest of them,\nthat we do not express their distance from us in millions of miles; we\nexpress it in the time that their light takes in travelling from them to\nus. Now it takes light only one second to traverse 186,300 miles, and\nyet it requires four and a third years for the light from the nearest\nstar to reach us. This is a star of the first magnitude, Alpha in the\nconstellation of the Centaur. The next nearest star is a faint one of\nbetween the seventh and eighth magnitudes, and its light takes seven\nyears to come. From a sixth magnitude star in the constellation of the\nSwan, the light requires eight years; and from Sirius, the brightest\nstar in the heavens, light requires eight and a half years. These four\nstars are the nearest to us; from no other star, that we know of, does\nlight take less than ten years to travel; from the majority of those\nwhose distance we have succeeded in measuring, the light takes at least\ntwenty years.\n\nTo get some conception of what a \"light-year\" means, let us remember\nthat light could travel right round the earth at its equator seven times\nin the space of a single second, and that there are 31,556,925 seconds\nin a year. Light then could girdle the earth a thousand million times\nwhilst it comes from Alpha Centauri. Or we may put it another way. The\ndistance from Alpha Centauri exceeds the equator of the earth by as much\nas this exceeds an inch and a half; or by as much as the distance from\nLondon to Manchester exceeds the hundredth of an inch.\n\nOf all the rest of the innumerable stars, as far as actual measurement\nis concerned, for us, as for the Hebrews, they might all actually lie on\nthe texture of a curtain, at practically the same distance from us.\n\nWe have measured the distances of but a very few stars; the rest--as\nevery one of them was for the Hebrew--are at a greater distance than any\neffort of ours can reach, be our telescopes ever so great and powerful,\nour measuring instruments ever so precise and delicate. For them, as for\nus, the heaven of stars is \"for height,\" for a height which is beyond\nmeasure and therefore the only fitting image for the immensity of God.\n\nSo Zophar the Naamathite said--\n\n     \"Canst thou find out the Almighty unto perfection?\n      It is as high as heaven; what canst thou do?\"\n\nand Eliphaz the Temanite reiterated still more strongly--\n\n     \"Is not God in the height of heaven?\n      And behold the height of the stars, how high they are.\"\n\nGod Himself is represented as using the expanse of heaven as a measure\nof the greatness of his fidelity and mercy. The prophet Jeremiah\nwrites--\n\n     \"Thus saith the Lord; if Heaven above can be measured, and the\n     foundations of the earth searched out beneath, I will also\n     cast off all the seed of Israel for all that they have done,\n     saith the Lord.\"\n\nAs if he were using the figure of a great cross, whose height was that\nof the heavens, whose arms stretched from east to west, David testifies\nof the same mercy and forgiveness:--\n\n     \"For as the heaven is high above the earth,\n      So great is His mercy toward them that fear Him.\n      As far as the east is from the west,\n      So far hath He removed our transgressions from us.\"\n\n\n[Illustration: THE GREAT COMET OF 1843.\n\n\"Running like a road through the constellations\" (_see_ p. 105).]\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER IX\n\nCOMETS\n\n\nGreat comets are almost always unexpected visitors. There is only one\ngreat comet that we know has been seen more than once, and expect with\nreasonable certainty to see again. This is Halley's comet, which has\nbeen returning to a near approach to the sun at somewhat irregular\nintervals of seventy-five to seventy-eight years during the last\ncenturies: indeed, it is possible that it was this comet that was\ncoincident with the invasion of England by William the Conqueror.\n\nThere are other small comets that are also regular inhabitants of the\nsolar system; but, as with Halley's comet, so with these, two\ncircumstances are to be borne in mind. First, that each successive\nrevolution round the sun involves an increasing degradation of their\nbrightness, since there is a manifest waste of their material at each\nnear approach to the sun; until at length the comet is seen no more, not\nbecause it has left the warm precincts of the sun for the outer\ndarkness, but because it has spent its substance. Halley's comet was not\nas brilliant or as impressive in 1835 as it was in 1759: in 1910 it may\nhave become degraded to an appearance of quite the second order.\n\nNext, we have no knowledge, no evidence, that any of these comets have\nalways been members of the solar family. Some of them, indeed, we know\nwere adopted into it by the influence of one or other of the greater\nplanets: Uranus we know is responsible for the introduction of one,\nJupiter of a considerable number. The vast majority of comets, great or\nsmall, seem to blunder into the solar system anyhow, anywhere, from any\ndirection: they come within the attractive influence of the sun; obey\nhis laws whilst within that influence; make one close approach to him,\npassing rapidly across our sky; and then depart in an orbit which will\nnever bring them to his neighbourhood again. Some chance of direction,\nsome compelling influence of a planet that it may have approached, so\nmodified the path of Halley's comet when it first entered the solar\nsystem, that it has remained a member ever since, and may so remain\nuntil it has ceased to be a comet at all.\n\nIt follows, therefore, that, as to the number of great comets that may\nbe seen in any age, we can scarcely even apply the laws of probability.\nDuring the last couple of thousand years, since chronicles have been\nabundant, we know that many great comets have been seen. We may suppose,\ntherefore, that during the preceding age, that in which the Scriptures\nwere written, there were also many great comets seen, but we do not\nknow. And most emphatically we are not able to say, from our knowledge\nof comets themselves and of their motions, that in the days of this or\nthat writer a comet was flaming in the sky.\n\nIf a comet had been observed in those ages we might not recognize the\ndescription of it. Thus in the fourth year of the 101st Olympiad, the\nGreeks were startled by a celestial portent. They did not draw fine\ndistinctions, and posterity might have remained ignorant that the\nterrifying object was possibly a comet, had not Aristotle, who saw it as\na boy at Stagira, left a rather more scientifically worded description\nof it. It flared up from the sunset sky with a narrow definite tail\nrunning \"like a road through the constellations.\" In recent times the\ngreat comet of 1843 may be mentioned as having exactly such an\nappearance.\n\nSo we cannot expect to find in the Scriptures definite and precise\ndescriptions that we can recognize as those of comets. At the most we\nmay find some expressions, some descriptions, that to us may seem\nappropriate to the forms and appearances of these objects, and we may\ntherefore infer that the appearance of a comet may have suggested these\ndescriptions or expressions.\n\nThe head of a great comet is brilliant, sometimes starlike. But its tail\noften takes on the most impressive appearance. Donati's comet, in 1858,\nassumed the most varied shapes--sometimes its tail was broad, with one\nbright and curving edge, the other fainter and finer, the whole making\nup a stupendous semi-circular blade-like object. Later, the tail was\nshaped like a scimitar, and later again, it assumed a duplex form.\n\nThough the bulk of comets is huge, they contain extraordinarily little\nsubstance. Their heads must contain some solid matter, but it is\nprobably in the form of a loose aggregation of stones enveloped in\nvaporous material. There is some reason to suppose that comets are apt\nto shed some of these stones as they travel along their paths, for the\norbits of the meteors that cause some of our greatest \"star showers\" are\ncoincident with the paths of comets that have been observed.\n\nBut it is not only by shedding its loose stones that a comet diminishes\nits bulk; it loses also through its tail. As the comet gets close to the\nsun its head becomes heated, and throws off concentric envelopes, much\nof which consists of matter in an extremely fine state of division. Now\nit has been shown that the radiations of the sun have the power of\nrepelling matter, whilst the sun itself attracts by its gravitational\nforce. But there is a difference in the action of the two forces. The\nlight-pressure varies with the surface of the particle upon which it is\nexercised; the gravitational attraction varies with the mass or volume.\nIf we consider the behaviour of very small particles, it follows that\nthe attraction due to gravitation (depending on the volume of the\nparticle) will diminish more rapidly than the repulsion due to\nlight-pressure (depending on the surface of the particle), as we\ndecrease continually the size of the particle, since its volume\ndiminishes more rapidly than its surface. A limit therefore will be\nreached below which the repulsion will become greater than the\nattraction. Thus for particles less than the 1/25000 part of an inch in\ndiameter the repulsion of the sun is greater than its attraction.\nParticles in the outer envelope of the comet below this size will be\ndriven away in a continuous stream, and will form that thin, luminous\nfog which we see as the comet's tail.\n\nWe cannot tell whether such objects as these were present to the mind of\nJoel when he spoke of \"blood and fire and pillars of smoke\"; possibly\nthese metaphors are better explained by a sand- or thunder-storm,\nespecially when we consider that the Hebrew expression for the \"pillars\nof smoke\" indicates a resemblance to a palm-tree, as in the spreading\nout of the head of a sand- or thunder-cloud in the sky. The suggestion\nhas been made,--following the closing lines of _Paradise Lost_ (for\nMilton is responsible for many of our interpretations of Scripture)\n\n                     \"High in front advanced,\n     The brandished sword of God before them blazed,\n     Fierce as a comet,\"\n\n--that a comet was indeed the \"flaming sword which turned every way, to\nkeep the way of the tree of life.\" There is less improbability in the\nsuggestion made by several writers that, when the pestilence wasted\nJerusalem, and David offered up the sacrifice of intercession in the\nthreshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite, the king may have seen, in the\nscimitar-like tail of a comet such as Donati's, God's \"minister,\"--\"a\nflame of fire,\"--\"the angel of the Lord stand between the earth and the\nheaven, having a drawn sword in his hand stretched out over Jerusalem.\"\n\nThe late R. A. Proctor describes the wanderings of a comet thus:--\n\n     \"A comet is seen in the far distant depths of space as a\n     faint and scarcely discernible speck. It draws nearer and\n     nearer with continually increasing velocity, growing\n     continually larger and brighter. Faster and faster it rushes\n     on until it makes its nearest approach to our sun, and then,\n     sweeping round him, it begins its long return voyage into\n     infinite space. As it recedes it grows fainter and fainter,\n     until at length it passes beyond the range of the most\n     powerful telescopes made by man, and is seen no more. It has\n     been seen for the first and last time by the generation of men\n     to whom it has displayed its glories. It has been seen for the\n     first and last time by the race of man itself.\"[108:1]\n\n     \"These are . . . wandering stars, to whom is reserved the\n     blackness of darkness for ever.\"\n\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[108:1] R. A. Proctor, _The Expanse of Heaven_, p. 134.\n\n\n[Illustration: FALL OF AN AEROLITE.\n\n\"There fell a great star from heaven, burning as it were a lamp.\" (_see_\np. 116).]\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER X\n\nMETEORS\n\n\nGreat meteorites--\"aerolites\" as they are called--are like great comets,\nchance visitors to our world. Now and then they come, but we cannot\nforetell their coming. Such an aerolite exploded some fifteen miles\nabove Madrid at about 9{h} 29{m}, on the morning of February 10, 1896:--\n\n     \"A vivid glare of blinding light was followed in 1-1/2 minutes\n     by a loud report, the concussion being such as not merely to\n     create a panic, but to break many windows, and in some cases\n     to shake down partitions. The sky was clear, and the sun\n     shining brightly, when a white cloud, bordered with red, was\n     seen rushing from south-west to north-east, leaving behind it\n     a train of fine white dust. A red-tinted cloud was long\n     visible in the east.\"\n\nMany fragments were picked up, and analyzed, and, like other aerolites,\nwere found to consist of materials already known on the earth. The outer\ncrust showed the signs of fire,--the meteoric stone had been fused and\nignited by its very rapid rush through the air--but the interior was\nentirely unaffected by the heat. The manner in which the elements were\ncombined is somewhat peculiar to aerolites; the nearest terrestrial\naffinity of the minerals aggregated in them, is to be found in the\nvolcanic products from great depths. Thus aerolites seem to be broken-up\nfragments from the interior parts of globes like our own. They do not\ncome from our own volcanoes, for the velocities with which they entered\nour atmosphere prove their cosmical origin. Had our atmosphere not\nentangled them, many, circuiting the sun in a parabolic or hyperbolic\ncurve, would have escaped for ever from our system. The swift motions,\nwhich they had on entering our atmosphere, are considerably greater on\nthe average than those of comets, and probably their true home is not in\nour solar system, but in interstellar space.\n\nThe aerolites that reach the surface are not always exploded into very\nsmall fragments, but every now and then quite large masses remain\nintact. Most of these are stony; some have bits of iron scattered\nthrough them; others are almost pure iron, or with a little nickel\nalloy, or have pockets in them laden with stone. There are hundreds of\naccounts of the falls of aerolites during the past 2,500 years. The\nGreeks and Romans considered them as celestial omens, and kept some of\nthem in temples. One at Mecca is revered by the faithful Mohammedans,\nand Jehangir, the great Mogul, is said to have had a sword forged from\nan iron aerolite which fell in 1620 in the Panjab. Diana of Ephesus\nstood on a shapeless block which, tradition says, was a meteoric stone,\nand reference may perhaps be found to this in the speech of the\ntown-clerk of the city to appease the riot stirred up against St. Paul\nby Demetrius the silversmith and his companions:--\n\n     \"Ye men of Ephesus, what man is there who knoweth not how\n     that the city of the Ephesians is temple-keeper of the great\n     Diana, and of the image which fell down from Jupiter?\"\n\nAerolites come singly and unexpectedly, falling actually to earth on\nland or sea. \"Shooting stars\" come usually in battalions. They travel\ntogether in swarms, and the earth may meet the same swarm again and\nagain. They are smaller than aerolites, probably mere particles of dust,\nand for the most part are entirely consumed in our upper atmosphere, so\nthat they do not actually reach the earth. The swarms travel along paths\nthat resemble cometary orbits; they are very elongated ellipses,\ninclined at all angles to the plane of the ecliptic. Indeed, several of\nthe orbits are actually those of known comets, and it is generally held\nthat these meteorites or \"shooting stars\" are the _d\u00e9bris_ that a comet\nsheds on its journey.\n\nWe can never see the same \"shooting star\" twice; its visibility implies\nits dissolution, for it is only as it is entrapped and burnt up in our\natmosphere that we see it, or can see it. Its companions in a great\nmeteoric swarm, are, however, as the sand on the sea-shore, and we\nrecognize them as members of the same swarm by their agreement in\ndirection and date. The swarms move in a closed orbit, and it is where\nthis orbit intersects that of the earth that we get a great \"star\nshower,\" if both earth and swarm are present together at the\nintersection. If the swarm is drawn out, so that many meteorites are\nscattered throughout the whole circuit of its orbit, then we get a\n\"shower\" every year. If the meteor swarm is more condensed, so as to\nform a cluster, then the \"shower\" only comes when the \"gem of the ring,\"\nas it is termed, is at the intersection of the orbits, and the earth is\nthere too.\n\nSuch a conjunction may present the most impressive spectacle that the\nheavens can afford. The Leonid meteor shower is, perhaps, the most\nfamous. It has been seen at intervals of about thirty-three years, since\nearly in the tenth century. When Ibrahim ben Ahmed lay dying, in the\nyear 902 A.D., it was recorded that \"an infinite number of stars were\nseen during the night, scattering themselves like rain to the right and\nleft, and that year was known as the year of stars.\" When the earth\nencountered the same system in 1202 A.D. the Mohammedan record runs that\n\"on the night of Saturday, on the last day of Muharram, stars shot\nhither and thither in the heavens, eastward and westward, and flew\nagainst one another, like a scattering swarm of locusts, to the right\nand left.\" There are not records of all the returns of this meteoric\nswarm between the thirteenth century and the eighteenth, but when the\nearth encountered it in 1799, Humboldt reported that \"from the beginning\nof the phenomenon there was not a space in the firmament equal in extent\nto three diameters of the moon that was not filled every instant with\nbolides and falling stars;\" and Mr. Andrew Ellicott, an agent of the\nUnited States, cruising off the coast of Florida, watched this same\nmeteoric display, and made the drawing reproduced on the opposite page.\nIn 1833 a planter in South Carolina wrote of a return of this same\nsystem, \"Never did rain fall much thicker than the meteors fell towards\nthe earth; east, west, north, south, it was the same.\" In 1866 the\nshower was again heavy and brilliant, but at the end of the nineteenth\ncentury, when the swarm should have returned, the display was meagre and\nineffective.\n\n[Illustration: METEORIC SHOWER OF 1799, NOVEMBER 12.\n\nSeen off Cape Florida, by Mr. Andrew Ellicott.]\n\nThe Leonid system of meteorites did not always move in a closed orbit\nround our sun. Tracing back their records and history, we find that in\nA.D. 126 the swarm passed close to Uranus, and probably at that time the\nplanet captured them for the sun. But we cannot doubt that some such\nsimilar sight as they have afforded us suggested the imagery employed by\nthe Apostle St. John when he wrote, \"The stars of heaven fell unto the\nearth, even as a fig-tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken\nof a mighty wind. And the heavens departed as a scroll when it is rolled\ntogether.\"\n\nAnd the prophet Isaiah used a very similar figure--\n\n     \"All the host of heaven shall be dissolved, and the heavens\n     shall be rolled together as a scroll: and all their host shall\n     fall down, as the leaf falleth off from the vine, and as a\n     falling fig from the fig-tree.\"\n\nWhilst the simile of a great aerolite is that employed by St. John in\nhis description of the star \"Wormwood\"--\n\n     \"The third angel sounded, and there fell a great star from\n     heaven, burning as it were a lamp, and it fell upon the third\n     part of the rivers, and upon the fountains of waters.\"\n\nSt. Jude's simile of the \"wandering stars, to whom is reserved the\nblackness of darkness for ever,\" may have been drawn from meteors rather\nthan from comets. But, as has been seen, the two classes of objects are\nclosely connected.\n\nThe word \"meteor\" is sometimes used for any unusual light seen in the\nsky. The Zodiacal Light, the pale conical beam seen after sunset in the\nwest in the spring, and before sunrise in the east in the autumn, and\nknown to the Arabs as the \"False Dawn,\" does not appear to be mentioned\nin Scripture. Some commentators wrongly consider that the expression,\n\"the eyelids of the morning,\" occurring twice in the Book of Job, is\nintended to describe it, but the metaphor does not in the least apply.\n\nThe Aurora Borealis, on the other hand, seldom though it is seen on an\nimpressive scale in Palestine, seems clearly indicated in one passage.\n\"Out of the north cometh golden splendour\" would well fit the gleaming\nof the \"Northern Lights,\" seen, as they often are, \"as sheaves of golden\nrays.\"\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XI\n\nECLIPSES OF THE SUN AND MOON\n\n\nWe do not know what great comets, or aerolites, or \"star-showers\" were\nseen in Palestine during the centuries in which the books of the Bible\nwere composed. But we do know that eclipses, both of the sun and moon,\nmust have been seen, for these are not the results of chance\nconjunctions. We know more, that not only partial eclipses of the sun,\nbut total eclipses, fell within the period so covered.\n\nThere is no phenomenon of nature which is so truly impressive as a total\neclipse of the sun. The beautiful pageants of the evening and the\nmorning are too often witnessed to produce the same effect upon us,\nwhilst the storm and the earthquake and the volcano in eruption, by the\nconfusion and fear for personal safety they produce, render men unfit to\nwatch their developments. But the eclipse awes and subdues by what might\nalmost be called moral means alone: no noise, no danger accompanies it;\nthe body is not tortured, nor the mind confused by the rush of the\nblast, the crash of the thunder-peal, the rocking of the earthquake, or\nthe fires of the volcano. The only sense appealed to is that of sight;\nthe movements of the orbs of heaven go on without noise or confusion,\nand with a majestic smoothness in which there is neither hurry nor\ndelay.\n\nThis impression is felt by every one, no matter how perfectly\nacquainted, not only with the cause of the phenomenon, but also with the\nappearances to be expected, and scientific men have found themselves\nawestruck and even overwhelmed.\n\nBut if such are the feelings called forth by an eclipse now-a-days, in\nthose who are expecting it, who are prepared for it, knowing perfectly\nwhat will happen and what brings it about, how can we gauge aright the\nunspeakable terror such an event must have caused in ages long ago, when\nit came utterly unforeseen, and it was impossible to understand what was\nreally taking place?\n\nAnd so, in olden time, an eclipse of the sun came as an omen of terrible\ndisaster, nay as being itself one of the worst of disasters. It came so\nto all nations but one. But to that nation the word of the prophet had\ncome--\n\n     \"Learn not the way of the heathen, and be not dismayed at the\n     signs of heaven; for the heathen are dismayed at them.\"\n\nGod did not reveal the physical explanation of the eclipse to the\nHebrews: that, in process of time, they could learn by the exercise of\ntheir own mental powers. But He set them free from the slavish fear of\nthe heathen; they could look at all these terror-striking signs without\nfear; they could look with calmness, with confidence, because they\nlooked in faith.\n\nIt is not easy to exaggerate the advantage which this must have given\nthe Hebrews over the neighbouring nations, from a scientific point of\nview. The word of God gave them intellectual freedom, and so far as they\nwere faithful to it, there was no hindrance to their fully working out\nthe scientific problems which came before them. They neither worshipped\nthe heavenly bodies nor were dismayed at their signs. We have no record\nas to how far the Hebrews made use of this freedom, for, as already\npointed out, the Holy Scriptures were not written to chronicle their\nscientific achievements. But there can be no doubt that, given the\nleisure of peace, it is _a priori_ more likely that they should have\ntaught astronomy to their neighbours, than have learnt it even from the\nmost advanced.\n\nThere must have been numberless eclipses of the moon seen in the ages\nduring which the Canon of Holy Scripture was written. Of eclipses of the\nsun, total or very nearly total over the regions of Palestine or\nMesopotamia, in the times of the Old Testament, we know of four that\nwere actually seen, whose record is preserved in contemporaneous\nhistory, and a fifth that was nearly total in Jud\u00e6a about midday.\n\nThe first of the four is recorded on a tablet from Babylon, lately\ndeciphered, in which it states that on \"the 26th day of Sivan, day was\nturned into night, and fire appeared in the midst of heaven.\" This has\nbeen identified with the eclipse of July 31, 1063 B.C., and we do not\nfind any reference to it in Scripture.\n\nThe second is that of Aug. 15, 831 B.C. No specific record of this\neclipse has been found as yet, but it took place during the lifetime of\nthe prophets Joel and Amos, and may have been seen by them, and their\nrecollection of it may have influenced the wording of their prophecies.\n\nThe third eclipse is recorded on a tablet from Nineveh, stating the\ncoincidence of an eclipse in Sivan with a revolt in the city of Assur.\nThis has been identified with the eclipse of June 15, 763 B.C.\n\nThe fourth is that known as the eclipse of Larissa on May 18, 603 B.C.,\nwhich was coincident with the final overthrow of the Assyrian Empire,\nand the fifth is that of Thales on May 28, 585 B.C.\n\nThe earth goes round the sun once in a year, the moon goes round the\nearth once in a month, and sometimes the three bodies are in one\nstraight line. In this case the intermediate body--earth or\nmoon--deprives the other, wholly or partially of the light from the sun,\nthus causing an eclipse. If the orbits of the earth and moon were in the\nsame plane, an eclipse would happen every time the moon was new or full;\nthat is to say, at every conjunction and every opposition, or about\ntwenty-five times a year. But the plane of the moon's orbit is inclined\nto the plane of the earth's orbit at an angle of about 5\u00b0, and so an\neclipse only occurs when the moon is in conjunction or opposition and is\nat the same time at or very near one of the nodes--that is, one of the\ntwo points where the plane of the earth's orbit intersects the moon's\norbit. If the moon is in opposition, or \"full,\" then, under these\nconditions, an eclipse of the moon takes place, and this is visible at\nall places where the moon is above the horizon at the time. If,\nhowever, the moon is in conjunction, or \"new,\" it is the sun that is\neclipsed, and as the shadow cast by the moon is but small, only a\nportion of the earth's surface will experience the solar eclipse. The\nnodes of the moon's orbit are not stationary, but have a daily\nretrograde motion of 3\u00b4 10\u00b764\u00b4\u00b4. It takes the moon therefore 27{d} 5{h}\n5{m} 36{s} (27\u00b721222{d}) to perform a journey in its orbit from one node\nback to that node again; this is called a Draconic period. But it takes\nthe moon 29{d} 12{h} 44{m} 2\u00b787{s} (29\u00b753059{d}) to pass from new to\nnew, or from full to full, _i. e._ to complete a lunation. Now 242\nDraconic periods very nearly equal 223 lunations, being about 18 years\n10-1/3 days, and both are very nearly equal to 19 returns of the sun to\nthe moon's node; so that if the moon is new or full when at a node, in\n18 years and 10 or 11 days it will be at that node again, and again new\nor full, and the sun will be also present in very nearly its former\nposition. If, therefore, an eclipse occurred on the former occasion, it\nwill probably occur on the latter. This recurrence of eclipses after\nintervals of 18\u00b703 years is called the Saros, and was known to the\nChaldeans. We do not know whether it was known to the Hebrews prior to\ntheir captivity in Babylon, but possibly the statement of the wise king,\nalready quoted from the Apocryphal \"Wisdom of Solomon,\" may refer to\nsome such knowledge.\n\nOur calendar to-day is a purely solar one; our months are twelve in\nnumber, but of purely arbitrary length, divorced from all connection\nwith the moon; and to us, the Saros cycle does not readily leap to the\neye, for eclipses of sun or moon seem to fall haphazard on any day of\nthe month or year.\n\nBut with the Hebrews, Assyrians, and Babylonians it was not so. Their\ncalendar was a luni-solar one--their year was on the average a solar\nyear, their months were true lunations; the first day of their new month\nbegan on the evening when the first thin crescent of the moon appeared\nafter its conjunction with the sun. This observation is what is meant in\nthe Bible by the \"new moon.\" Astronomers now by \"new moon\" mean the time\nwhen it is actually in conjunction with the sun, and is therefore not\nvisible. Nations whose calendar was of this description were certain to\ndiscover the Saros much sooner than those whose months were not true\nlunations, like the Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans.\n\nThere are no direct references to eclipses in Scripture. They might have\nbeen used in the historical portions for the purpose of dating events,\nas was the great earthquake in the days of King Uzziah, but they were\nnot so used. But we find not a few allusions to their characteristic\nappearances and phenomena in the books of the prophets. God in the\nbeginning set the two great lights in the firmament for signs as well as\nfor seasons; and the prophets throughout use the relations of the sun\nand moon as types of spiritual relations. The Messiah was the Sun of\nRighteousness; the chosen people, the Church, was as the moon, which\nderives her light from Him. The \"signs of heaven\" were _symbols_ of\ngreat spiritual events, not _omens_ of mundane disasters.\n\nThe prophets Joel and Amos are clear and vivid in their descriptions;\nprobably because the eclipse of 831 B.C. was within their recollection.\nJoel says first, \"The sun and the moon shall be dark;\" and again, more\nplainly,--\n\n     \"I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood,\n     and fire, and pillars of smoke. The sun shall be turned into\n     darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the\n     terrible day of the Lord come.\"\n\nThis prophecy was quoted by St. Peter on the day of Pentecost. And in\nthe Apocalypse, St. John says that when the sixth seal was opened, \"the\nsun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood.\"\n\nIn these references, the two kinds of eclipses are referred to--the sun\nbecomes black when the moon is \"new\" and hides it; the moon becomes as\nblood when it is \"full\" and the earth's shadow falls upon it; its deep\ncopper colour, like that of dried blood, being due to the fact that the\nlight, falling upon it, has passed through a great depth of the earth's\natmosphere. These two eclipses cannot therefore be coincident, but they\nmay occur only a fortnight apart--a total eclipse of the sun may be\naccompanied by a partial eclipse of the moon, a fortnight earlier or a\nfortnight later; a total eclipse of the moon may be accompanied by\npartial eclipses of the sun, both at the preceding and following \"new\nmoons.\"\n\nWriting at about the same period, the prophet Amos says--\n\n     \"Saith the Lord God, I will cause the sun to go down at noon,\n     and I will darken the earth in the clear day,\"\n\nand seems to refer to the fact that the eclipse of 831 B.C. occurred\nabout midday in Jud\u00e6a.\n\nLater Micah writes--\n\n     \"The sun shall go down over the prophets, and the day shall be\n     dark over them.\"\n\nIsaiah says that the \"sun shall be darkened in his going forth,\" and\nJeremiah that \"her sun is gone down while it was yet day.\" Whilst\nEzekiel says--\n\n     \"I will cover the sun with a cloud, and the moon shall not\n     give her light. All the bright lights of heaven will I make\n     dark over thee, and set darkness upon thy land, saith the Lord\n     God.\"\n\nBut a total eclipse is not all darkness and terror; it has a beauty and\na glory all its own. Scarcely has the dark moon hidden the last thread\nof sunlight from view, than spurs of rosy light are seen around the\nblack disc that now fills the place so lately occupied by the glorious\nking of day. And these rosy spurs of light shine on a background of\npearly glory, as impressive in its beauty as the swift march of the\nawful shadow, and the seeming descent of the darkened heavens, were in\nterror. There it shines, pure, lovely, serene, radiant with a light like\nmolten silver, wreathing the darkened sun with a halo like that round a\nsaintly head in some noble altar-piece; so that while in some cases the\ndreadful shadow has awed a laughing and frivolous crowd into silence, in\nothers the radiance of that halo has brought spectators to their knees\nwith an involuntary exclamation, \"The Glory!\" as if God Himself had made\nknown His presence in the moment of the sun's eclipse.\n\nAnd this, indeed, seems to have been the thought of both the\nBabylonians and Egyptians of old. Both nations had a specially sacred\nsymbol to set forth the Divine Presence--the Egyptians, a disc with long\noutstretched wings; the Babylonians, a ring with wings. The latter\nsymbol on Assyrian monuments is always shown as floating over the head\nof the king, and is designed to indicate the presence and protection of\nthe Deity.\n\n[Illustration: THE ASSYRIAN \"RING WITH WINGS.\"]\n\nWe may take it for granted that the Egyptians and Chaldeans of old, as\nmodern astronomers to-day, had at one time or another presented to them\nevery type of coronal form. But there would, no doubt, be a difficulty\nin grasping or remembering the irregular details of the corona as seen\nin most eclipses. Sometimes, however, the corona shows itself in a\nstriking and simple form--when sun-spots are few in number, it spreads\nitself out in two great equatorial streamers. At the eclipse of Algiers\nin 1900, already referred to, one observer who watched the eclipse from\nthe sea, said--\n\n     \"The sky was blue all round the sun, and the effect of the\n     silvery corona projected on it was beyond any one to describe.\n     I can only say it seemed to me what angels' wings will be\n     like.\"[129:1]\n\n[Illustration: CORONA OF MINIMUM TYPE.\n\nDrawing made by W. H. Wesley, from photographs of the 1900 Eclipse.]\n\nIt seems exceedingly probable that the symbol of the ring with wings\nowed its origin not to any supposed analogy between the ring and the\nwings and the divine attributes of eternity and power, but to the\nrevelations of a total eclipse with a corona of minimum type. Moreover\nthe Assyrians, when they insert a figure of their deity within the ring,\ngive him a kilt-like dress, and this kilted or feathered characteristic\nis often retained where the figure is omitted. This gives the symbol a\nyet closer likeness to the corona, whose \"polar rays\" are remarkably\nlike the tail feathers of a bird.\n\nPerhaps the prophet Malachi makes a reference to this characteristic of\nthe eclipsed sun, with its corona like \"angels' wings,\" when he\npredicts--\n\n     \"But unto you that fear My name shall the Sun of Righteousness\n     arise with healing in His wings.\"\n\nBut, if this be so, it must be borne in mind that the prophet uses the\ncorona as a simile only. No more than the sun itself, is it the Deity,\nor the manifestation of the Deity.\n\nIn the New Testament we may find perhaps a reference to what causes an\neclipse--to the shadow cast by a heavenly body in its revolution--its\n\"turning.\"\n\n     \"Every good gift and every perfect boon is from above, coming\n     down from the Father of Lights, with Whom can be no variation,\n     neither shadow that is cast by turning.\"\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[129:1] _The Total Solar Eclipse of May, 1900_, p. 22.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XII\n\nSATURN AND ASTROLOGY\n\n\nThe planets, as such, are nowhere mentioned in the Bible. In the one\ninstance in which the word appears in our versions, it is given as a\ntranslation of _Mazzaloth_, better rendered in the margin as the \"twelve\nsigns or constellations.\" The evidence is not fully conclusive that\nallusion is made to any planet, even in its capacity of a god worshipped\nby the surrounding nations.\n\nOf planets, besides the earth, modern astronomy knows Mercury, Venus,\nMars, many planetoids, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. And of\nsatellites revolving round planets there are at present known, the moon\nwhich owns our earth as primary, two satellites to Mars, seven\nsatellites to Jupiter, ten to Saturn, four to Uranus, and one to\nNeptune.\n\nThe ancients counted the planets as seven, numbering the moon and the\nsun amongst them. The rest were Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and\nSaturn. They recognized no satellites to any planet. We have no evidence\nthat the ancient Semitic nations considered that the moon was more\nintimately connected with the earth than any of the other six.\n\nBut though the planets were sometimes regarded as \"seven\" in number,\nthe ancients perfectly recognized that the sun and moon stood in a\ndifferent category altogether from the other five. And though the\nheathen recognized them as deities, confusion resulted as to the\nidentity of the deity of which each was a manifestation. Samas was the\nsun-god and Baal was the sun-god, but Samas and Baal, or Bel, were not\nidentical, and both were something more than merely the sun personified.\nAgain, Merodach, or Marduk, is sometimes expressly identified with Bel\nas sun-god, sometimes with the divinity of the planet Jupiter. Similarly\nAshtoreth, or I[vs]tar, is sometimes identified with the goddess of the\nmoon, sometimes with the planet Venus. It would not be safe, therefore,\nto assume that reference is intended to any particular heavenly body,\nbecause a deity is mentioned that has been on occasions identified with\nthat heavenly body. Still less safe would it be to assume astronomical\nallusions in the description of the qualities or characteristics of that\ndeity. Though Ashtoreth, or I[vs]tar, may have been often identified\nwith the planet Venus, it is ridiculous to argue, as some have done,\nfrom the expression \"Ashteroth-Karnaim,\" Ashteroth of \"the horns,\" that\nthe ancients had sight or instruments sufficiently powerful to enable\nthem to observe that Venus, like the moon, had her phases, her \"horns.\"\nThough Nebo has been identified with the planet Mercury, we must not see\nany astronomical allusion to its being the nearest planet to the sun in\nIsaiah's coupling the two together, where he says, \"Bel boweth down,\nNebo stoopeth.\"\n\nIsaiah speaks of the King of Babylon--\n\n     \"How art thou fallen from Heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning!\"\n\nThe word here translated Lucifer, \"light-bearer,\" is the word _h[=e]lel_\nfrom the root _halal_, and means _spreading brightness_. In the\nAssyrio-Babylonian, the planet Venus is sometimes termed _Must[=e]lel_,\nfrom the root _[=e]lil_, and she is the most lustrous of all the\n\"morning stars,\" of the stars that herald the dawn. But except that her\ngreater brilliancy marks her as especially appropriate to the\nexpression, Sirius or any other in its capacity of morning star would be\nsuitable as an explanation of the term.\n\nSt. Peter uses the equivalent Greek expression _Ph[=o]sphorus_ in his\nsecond epistle: \"A light that shineth in a dark place, until the day\ndawn and the day-star\" (light-bringer) \"arise in your hearts.\"\n\nIsaiah again says--\n\n     \"Ye are they that forsake the Lord, that forget My holy\n     mountain, that prepare a table for that Troop, and that\n     furnish the drink offering unto that Number.\"\n\n\"Gad\" and \"Meni,\" here literally translated as \"Troop\" and \"Number,\" are\nin the Revised Version rendered as \"Fortune\" and \"Destiny.\" A reference\nto this god \"Meni\" has been suggested in the mysterious inscription\nwhich the King of Babylon saw written by a hand upon the wall, which\nDaniel interpreted as \"God hath numbered thy kingdom, and brought it to\nan end.\" By some commentators Meni is understood to be the planet Venus,\nand Gad to be Jupiter, for these are associated in Arabian astrology\nwith Fortune or Fate in the sense of good luck. Or, from the similarity\nof Meni with the Greek _m[=e]n[=e]_, moon, \"that Number\" might be\nidentified with the moon, and \"that Troop,\" by analogy, with the sun.\n\nIt is more probable, if any astrological deities are intended, that the\ntwo little star clusters--the Pleiades and the Hyades--situated on the\nback and head of the Bull, may have been accounted the manifestations of\nthe divinities which are by their names so intimately associated with\nthe idea of multitude. The number seven has been held a sacred number,\nand has been traditionally associated with both the little star groups.\n\nIn one instance alone does there seem to be any strong evidence that\nreference is intended to one of the five planets known to the ancients,\nwhen worshipped as a god; and even that is not conclusive. The prophet\nAmos, charging the Israelites with idolatry even in the wilderness,\nasks--\n\n     \"Have ye offered unto Me sacrifices and offerings in the\n     wilderness forty years, O house of Israel? But ye have borne\n     the tabernacle of your Moloch and Chiun your images, the star\n     of your god, which ye made to yourselves.\"\n\nBut the Septuagint Version makes the accusation run thus:--\n\n     \"Ye took up the tabernacle of Moloch and the star of your god\n     Remphan, figures which ye made to worship them.\"\n\nThis was the version which St. Stephen quoted in his defence before the\nHigh Priest. It is quite clear that it was star worship to which he was\nreferring, for he prefaces his quotation by saying, \"God turned and gave\nthem up to serve the host of heaven, as it is written in the book of the\nprophets.\"\n\nThe difference between the names \"Chiun\" and \"Remphan\" is explained by a\nprobable misreading on the part of the Septuagint translators into the\nGreek, who seemed to have transcribed the initial of the word as \"resh,\"\nwhere it should have been \"caph\"--\"R\" instead of \"K,\"--thus the real\nword should be transliterated \"_Kaivan_,\" which was the name of the\nplanet Saturn both amongst the ancient Arabs and Syrians, and also\namongst the Assyrians, whilst \"_Kevan_\" is the name of that planet in\nthe sacred books of the Parsees. On the other hand, there seems to be\nsome difficulty in supposing that a deity is intended of which there is\nno other mention in Scripture, seeing that the reference, both by Amos\nand St. Stephen, would imply that the particular object of idolatry\ndenounced was one exceedingly familiar to them. Gesenius, therefore,\nafter having previously accepted the view that we have here a reference\nto the worship of Saturn, finally adopted the rendering of the Latin\nVulgate, that the word \"Chiun\" should be translated \"statue\" or \"image.\"\nThe passage would then become--\n\n     \"Ye have borne the booth of your Moloch and the image of your\n     idols, the star of your god which ye made for yourselves.\"\n\nIf we accept the view that the worship of the planet Saturn is indeed\nreferred to, it does not necessarily follow that the prophet Amos was\nstating that the Israelites in the wilderness actually observed and\nworshipped him as such. The prophet may mean no more than that the\nIsraelites, whilst outwardly conforming to the worship of Jehovah, were\nin their secret desires hankering after Sab\u00e6ism--the worship of the\nheavenly host. And it may well be that he chooses Moloch and Saturn as\nrepresenting the cruellest and most debased forms of heathenism.\n\nThe planet Saturn gives its name to the seventh day of our week,\n\"Saturn's day,\" the sabbath of the week of the Jews, and the coincidence\nof the two has called forth not a few ingenious theories. Why do the\ndays of our week bear their present names, and what is the explanation\nof their order?\n\nThe late well-known astronomer, R. A. Proctor, gives the explanation as\nfollows:--\n\n     \"The twenty-four hours of each day were devoted to those\n     planets in the order of their supposed distance from the\n     earth,--Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, the Sun, Venus, Mercury, and\n     the Moon. The outermost planet, Saturn, which also travels in\n     the longest period, was regarded in this arrangement as of\n     chief dignity, as encompassing in his movement all the rest,\n     Jupiter was of higher dignity than Mars, and so forth.\n     Moreover to the outermost planet, partly because of Saturn's\n     gloomy aspect, partly because among half-savage races the\n     powers of evil are always more respected than the powers that\n     work for good, a maleficent influence was attributed. Now, if\n     we assign to the successive hours of a day the planets as\n     above-named, beginning with Saturn on the day assigned to that\n     powerful deity, it will be found that the last hour of that\n     day will be assigned to Mars--'the lesser infortune,' as\n     Saturn was 'the greater infortune,' of the old system of\n     astrology--and the first hour of the next day to the next\n     planet, the Sun; the day following Saturday would thus be\n     Sunday. The last hour of Sunday would fall to Mercury, and the\n     first of the next to the Moon; so Monday, the Moon's day,\n     follows Sunday. The next day would be the day of Mars, who, in\n     the Scandinavian theology, is represented by Tuisco; so\n     Tuisco's day, or Tuesday (Mardi), follows Monday. Then, by\n     following the same system, we come to Mercury's day\n     (Mercredi), Woden's day, or Wednesday; next to Jupiter's day,\n     Jove's day (Jeudi), Thor's day, or Thursday; to Venus's day,\n     Vendredi (Veneris dies), Freya's day, or Friday, and so to\n     Saturday again. That the day devoted to the most evil and most\n     powerful of all the deities of the Sabdans (_sic_) should be\n     set apart--first as one on which it was unlucky to work, and\n     afterwards as one on which it was held to be sinful to\n     work--was but the natural outcome of the superstitious belief\n     that the planets were gods ruling the fates of men and\n     nations.\"[136:1]\n\nThis theory appears at first sight so simple, so plausible, that many\nare tempted to say, \"It must be true,\" and it has accordingly gained a\nwide acceptance. Yet a moment's thought shows that it makes many\nassumptions, some of which rest without any proof, and others are known\nto be false.\n\nWhen were the planets discovered? Not certainly at the dawn of\nastronomy. The fixed stars must have become familiar, and have been\nrecognized in their various groupings before it could have been known\nthat there were others that were not fixed,--were \"planets,\" _i. e._\nwanderers. Thus, amongst the Greeks, no planet is alluded to by Hesiod,\nand Homer mentions no planet other than Venus, and apparently regarded\nher as two distinct objects, according as she was seen as a morning and\nas an evening star. Pythagoras is reputed to have been the first of the\nGreek philosophers to realize the identity of Phosphorus and Hesperus,\nthat is Venus at her two elongations, so that the Greeks did not know\nthis until the sixth century before our era. We are yet without certain\nknowledge as to when the Babylonians began to notice the different\nplanets, but the order of discovery can hardly have been different from\nwhat it seems to have been amongst the Greeks--that is to say, first\nVenus as two separate objects, then Jupiter and Mars, and, probably much\nlater, Saturn and Mercury. This last, again, would originally be\nconsidered a pair of planets, just as Venus had been. Later these\nplanets as morning stars would be identified with their appearances as\nevening stars. After this obscurity had been cleared up, there was a\nstill further advance to be made before the astrologers could have\nadopted their strange grouping of the sun and moon as planets equally\nwith the other five. This certainly is no primitive conception; for the\nsun and moon have such appreciable dimensions and are of such great\nbrightness that they seem to be marked off (as in the first chapter of\nGenesis) as of an entirely different order from all the other heavenly\nbodies. The point in common with the other five planets, namely their\napparent periodical movements, could only have been brought out by very\ncareful and prolonged observation. The recognition, therefore, of the\nplanets as being \"seven,\" two of the seven being the sun and moon, must\nhave been quite late in the history of the world. The connection of the\n\"seven planets\" with the seven days of the week was something much later\nstill. It implies, as we have seen, the adoption of a particular order\nfor the planets, and this order further implies that a knowledge had\nbeen obtained of their relative distances, and involves a particular\ntheory of the solar system, that which we now know as the Ptolemaic. It\nis not the order of the Babylonians, for they arranged them, Moon, Sun,\nMercury, Venus, Saturn, Jupiter, Mars.\n\nThere are further considerations which show that the Babylonians could\nnot have given these planetary names to the days of the week. The order\nof the names implies that a twenty-four hour day was used, but the\nBabylonian hours were twice the length of those which we use; hence\nthere were only twelve of them. Further, the Babylonian week was not a\ntrue week running on continuously; it was tied to the month, and hence\ndid not lend itself to such a notation.\n\nBut the order adopted for the planets is that current amongst the Greek\nastronomers of Alexandria, who did use a twenty-four hour day. Hence it\nwas certainly later than 300 B.C. But the Greeks and Egyptians alike\nused a week of ten days, not of seven. How then did the planetary names\ncome to be assigned to the seven-day week?\n\nIt was a consequence of the power which the Jews possessed of impressing\ntheir religious ideas, and particularly their observance of the sabbath\nday, upon their conquerors. They did so with the Romans. We find such\nwriters as Cicero, Horace, Juvenal and others remarking upon the\nsabbath, and, indeed, in the early days of the Empire there was a\nconsiderable observance of it. Much more, then, must the Alexandrian\nGreeks have been aware of the Jewish sabbath,--which involved the Jewish\nweek,--at a time when the Jews of that city were both numerous and\npowerful, having equal rights with the Greek inhabitants, and when the\nPtolemies were sanctioning the erection of a Jewish temple in their\ndominions, and the translation of the Jewish Scriptures into Greek. It\nwas after the Alexandrian Greeks had thus learned of the Jewish week\nthat they assigned the planets to the seven days of that week, since it\nsuited their astrological purposes better than the Egyptian week of ten\ndays. That allotment could not possibly have brought either week or\nsabbath into existence. Both had been recognized many centuries earlier.\nIt was foisted upon that which had already a venerable antiquity. As\nProfessor Schiaparelli well remarks, \"we are indebted for these names to\nmathematical astrology, the false science which came to be formed after\nthe time of Alexander the Great from the strange intermarriage between\nChaldean and Egyptian superstitions and the mathematical astronomy of\nthe Greeks.\"[139:1]\n\nThere is a widespread notion that early astronomy, whether amongst the\nHebrews or elsewhere, took the form of astrology; that the\nfortune-telling came first, and the legitimate science grew out of it.\nIndeed, a claim is not infrequently made that no small honour is due to\nthe early astrologers, since from their efforts, the most majestic of\nall the sciences is said to have arisen.\n\nThese ideas are the exact contrary of the truth. Mathematical, or\nperhaps as we might better call it, planetary astrology, as we have it\nto-day, concerns itself with the apparent movements of the planets in\nthe sense that it uses them as its material; just as a child playing in\na library might use the books as building blocks, piling, it may be, a\nbook of sermons on a history, and a novel on a mathematical treatise.\nAstrology does not contribute, has not contributed a single observation,\na single demonstration to astronomy. It owes to astronomy all that it\nknows of mathematical processes and planetary positions. In astronomical\nlanguage, the calculation of a horoscope is simply the calculation of\nthe \"azimuths\" of the different planets, and of certain imaginary points\non the ecliptic for a given time. This is an astronomical process,\ncarried out according to certain simple formul\u00e6. The calculation of a\nhoroscope is therefore a straightforward business, but, as astrologers\nall admit, its interpretation is where the skill is required, and no\nreal rules can be given for that.\n\nHere is the explanation why the sun and moon are classed together with\nsuch relatively insignificant bodies as the other five planets, and are\nnot even ranked as their chief. The ancient astrologer, like the modern,\ncared nothing for the actual luminary in the heavens; all he cared for\nwas its written symbol on his tablets, and there Sun and Saturn could be\nlooked upon as equal, or Saturn as the greater. It is a rare thing for a\nmodern astrologer to introduce the place of an actual star into a\nhoroscope; the calculations all refer to the positions of the _Signs_\nof the Zodiac, which are purely imaginary divisions of the heavens; not\nto the _Constellations_ of the Zodiac, which are the actual star-groups.\n\nUntil astronomers had determined the apparent orbits of the planets, and\ndrawn up tables by which their apparent places could be predicted for\nsome time in advance, it was impossible for astrologers to cast\nhoroscopes of the present kind. All they could do was to divide up time\namongst the deities supposed to preside over the various planets. To\nhave simply given a planet to each day would have allowed the astrologer\na very small scope in which to work for his prophecies; the ingenious\nidea of giving a planet to each hour as well, gave a wider range of\npossible combinations. There seems to have been deliberate spitefulness\nin the assignment of the most evil of the planetary divinities to the\nsacred day of the Jews--their sabbath. It should be noticed at the same\ntime that, whilst the Jewish sabbath coincides with the astrological\n\"Saturn's Day,\" that particular day is the seventh day of the Jewish\nweek, but the first of the astrological. For the very nature of the\nreckoning by which the astrologers allotted the planets to the days of\nthe week, implies, as shown in the extract quoted from Proctor, that\nthey began with Saturn and worked downwards from the \"highest\nplanet\"--as they called it--to the \"lowest.\" This detail of itself\nshould have sufficed to have demonstrated to Proctor, or any other\nastronomer, that the astrological week had been foisted upon the already\nexisting week of the Jews.\n\nBefore astrology took its present mathematical form, astrologers used\nas their material for prediction the stars or constellations which\nhappened to be rising or setting at the time selected, or were upon the\nsame meridian, or had the same longitude, as such constellations. One of\nthe earliest of these astrological writers was Zeuchros of Babylon, who\nlived about the time of the Christian era, some of whose writings have\nbeen preserved to us. From these it is clear that the astrologers found\ntwelve signs of the zodiac did not give them enough play. They therefore\nintroduced the \"decans,\" that is to say the idea of thirty-six\ndivinities--three to each month--borrowed from the Egyptian division of\nthe year into thirty-six weeks (of ten days), each under the rule of a\nseparate god. Of course this Egyptian year bore no fixed relation to the\nactual lunar months or solar year, nor therefore to the Jewish year,\nwhich was related to both. But even with this increase of material, the\nastrologers found the astronomical data insufficient for their\nfortune-telling purposes. Additional figures quite unrepresented in the\nheavens, were devised, and were drawn upon, as needed, to supplement the\ngenuine constellations, and as it was impossible to recognize these\nadditions in the sky, the predictions were made, not from observation of\nthe heavens, but from observations on globes, often very inaccurate.\n\nEarlier still we have astrological tablets from Assyria and Babylon,\nmany of which show that they had nothing to do with any actual\nobservation, and were simply invented to give completeness to the tables\nof omens. Thus an Assyrian tablet has been found upon which are given\nthe significations of eclipses falling upon each day of the month\nTammuz, right up to the middle of the month. It is amusing to read the\nna\u00efve comment of a distinguished Assyriologist, that tablets such as\nthese prove how careful, and how long continued had been the\nobservations upon which they were based. It was not recognized that no\neclipses either of sun or moon could possibly occur on most of the dates\ngiven, and that they could never occur \"in the north,\" which is one of\nthe quarters indicated. They were no more founded on actual observation\nthan the portent mentioned on another tablet, of a woman giving birth to\na lion, which, after all, is not more impossible than that an eclipse\nshould occur in the north on the second day of Tammuz. In all ages it\nhas been the same; the astrologer has had nothing to do with science as\nsuch, even in its most primitive form; he has cared nothing for the\nactual appearance of the heavens upon which he pretended to base his\npredictions; an imaginary planet, an imaginary eclipse, an imaginary\nconstellation were just as good for his fortune-telling as real ones.\nSuch fortune-telling was forbidden to the Hebrews; necessarily\nforbidden, for astrology had no excuse unless the stars and planets were\ngods, or the vehicles and engines of gods. Further, all attempts to\nextort from spirits or from inanimate things a glimpse into the future\nwas likewise forbidden them. They were to look to God, and to His\nrevealed will alone for all such light.\n\n     \"When they shall say unto you, Seek unto them that have\n     familiar spirits, and unto wizards that peep, and that mutter:\n     should not a people seek unto their God?\"\n\nThe Hebrews were few in number, their kingdoms very small compared with\nthe great empires of Egypt, Assyria, or Babylon, but here, in this\nquestion of divination or fortune-telling, they stand on a plane far\nabove any of the surrounding nations. There is just contempt in the\npicture drawn by Ezekiel of the king of Babylon, great though his\nmilitary power might be--\n\n     \"The king of Babylon stood at the parting of the way, at the\n     head of the two ways, to use divination: he shook the arrows\n     to and fro, he consulted the teraphim, he looked in the\n     liver.\"\n\nAnd Isaiah calls upon the city of Babylon--\n\n     \"Stand now with thine enchantments, and with the multitude of\n     thy sorceries, wherein thou hast laboured from thy youth; if\n     so thou shalt be able to profit, if so be thou mayest prevail.\n     Thou art wearied in the multitude of thy counsels: let now the\n     astrologers, the stargazers, the monthly prognosticators stand\n     up, and save thee from these things that shall come upon\n     thee.\"\n\nIsaiah knew the Lord to be He that \"frustrateth the tokens of the liars\nand maketh diviners mad.\" And the word of the Lord to Israel through\nJeremiah was--\n\n     \"Thus saith the Lord. Learn not the way of the heathen, and be\n     not dismayed at the signs of heaven; for the heathen are\n     dismayed at them.\"\n\nIt is to our shame that even to-day, in spite of all our enlightenment\nand scientific advances, astrology still has a hold upon multitudes.\nAstrological almanacs and treatises are sold by the tens of thousands,\nand astrological superstitions are still current. \"The star of the god\nChiun\" is not indeed openly worshipped; but Saturn is still looked upon\nas the planet bringing such diseases as \"toothache, agues, and all that\nproceeds from cold, consumption, the spleen particularly, and the bones,\nrheumatic gouts, jaundice, dropsy, and all complaints arising from fear,\napoplexies, etc.\"; and charms made of Saturn's metal, lead, are still\nworn upon Saturn's finger, in the belief that these will ward off the\nthreatened evil; a tradition of the time when by so doing the wearers\nwould have proclaimed themselves votaries of the god, and therefore\nunder his protection.\n\nAstrology is inevitably linked with heathenism, and both shut up spirit\nand mind against the knowledge of God Himself, which is religion; and\nagainst the knowledge of His works, which is science. And though a man\nmay be religious without being scientific, or scientific without being\nreligious, religion and science alike both rest on one and the same\nbasis--the belief in \"One God, Maker of heaven and earth.\"\n\nThat belief was the reason why Israel of old, so far as it was faithful\nto it, was free from the superstitions of astrology.\n\n     \"It is no small honour for this nation to have been wise\n     enough to see the inanity of this and all other forms of\n     divination. . . . Of what other ancient civilized nation could\n     as much be said?\"[145:1]\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[136:1] R. A. Proctor, _The Great Pyramid_, pp. 274-276.\n\n[139:1] G. V. Schiaparelli, _Astronomy in the Old Testament_, p. 137.\n\n[145:1] G. V. Schiaparelli, _Astronomy in the Old Testament_, p. 52.\n\n\n[Illustration: _By permission of the Autotype Co._\n\n_74, New Oxford Street, London, W.C._\n\nST. PAUL PREACHING AT ATHENS (_by Raphael_).\n\n\"As certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also His\noffspring.\"]\n\n\n\n\nBOOK II\n\nTHE CONSTELLATIONS\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER I\n\nTHE ORIGIN OF THE CONSTELLATIONS\n\n\nThe age of Classical astronomy began with the labours of Eudoxus and\nothers, about four centuries before the Christian Era, but there was an\nEarlier astronomy whose chief feature was the arrangement of the stars\ninto constellations.\n\nThe best known of all such arrangements is that sometimes called the\n\"Greek Sphere,\" because those constellations have been preserved to us\nby Greek astronomers and poets. The earliest complete catalogue of the\nstars, as thus arranged, that has come down to us was compiled by\nClaudius Ptolemy, the astronomer of Alexandria, and completed 137 A.D.\nIn this catalogue, each star is described by its place in the supposed\nfigure of the constellation, whilst its celestial latitude and longitude\nare added, so that we can see with considerable exactness how the\nastronomers of that time imagined the star figures. The earliest\ncomplete description of the constellations, apart from the places of the\nindividual stars, is given in the poem of Aratus of Soli--_The\nPhenomena_, published about 270 B.C.\n\nWere these constellations known to the Hebrews of old? We can answer\nthis question without hesitation in the case of St. Paul. For in his\nsermon to the Athenians on Mars' Hill, he quotes from the opening verses\nof this constellation poem of Aratus:--\n\n     \"God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that\n     He is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made\n     with hands; neither is worshipped with men's hands, as though\n     He needed anything, seeing He giveth to all life, and breath,\n     and all things; and hath made of one blood all nations of men\n     for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined\n     the times before appointed, and the bounds of their\n     habitation; that they should seek the Lord, if haply they\n     might feel after Him, and find Him, though He be not far from\n     every one of us: for in Him we live, and move, and have our\n     being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are\n     also His offspring.\"\n\nThe poem of Aratus begins thus:--\n\n     \"To God above we dedicate our song;\n      To leave Him unadored, we never dare;\n      For He is present in each busy throng,\n      In every solemn gathering He is there.\n      The sea is His; and His each crowded port;\n      In every place our need of Him we feel;\n      FOR WE HIS OFFSPRING ARE.\"\n\nAratus, like St. Paul himself, was a native of Cilicia, and had been\neducated at Athens. His poem on the constellations came, in the opinion\nof the Greeks, next in honour to the poems of Homer, so that St. Paul's\nquotation from it appealed to his hearers with special force.\n\nThe constellations of Ptolemy's catalogue are forty-eight in number.\nThose of Aratus correspond to them in almost every particular, but one\nor two minor differences may be marked. According to Ptolemy, the\nconstellations are divided into three sets:--twenty-one northern, twelve\nin the zodiac, and fifteen southern.\n\nThe northern constellations are--to use the names by which they are now\nfamiliar to us--1, _Ursa Minor_, the Little Bear; 2, _Ursa Major_, the\nGreat Bear; 3, _Draco_, the Dragon; 4, _Cepheus_, the King; 5, _Bo\u00f6tes_,\nthe Herdsman; 6, _Corona Borealis_, the Northern Crown; 7, _Hercules_,\nthe Kneeler; 8, _Lyra_, the Lyre or Swooping Eagle; 9, _Cygnus_, the\nBird; 10, _Cassiopeia_, the Throned Queen, or the Lady in the Chair; 11,\n_Perseus_; 12, _Auriga_, the Holder of the Reins; 13, _Ophiuchus_, the\nSerpent-holder; 14, _Serpens_, the Serpent; 15, _Sagitta_, the Arrow;\n16, _Aquila_, the Soaring Eagle; 17, _Delphinus_, the Dolphin; 18,\n_Equuleus_, the Horse's Head; 19, _Pegasus_, the Winged Horse; 20,\n_Andromeda_, the Chained Woman; 21, _Triangulum_, the Triangle.\n\nThe zodiacal constellations are: 1, _Aries_, the Ram; 2, _Taurus_, the\nBull; 3, _Gemini_, the Twins; 4, _Cancer_, the Crab; 5, _Leo_, the Lion;\n6, _Virgo_, the Virgin; 7, _Libra_, the Scales,--also called the Claws,\nthat is of the Scorpion; 8, _Scorpio_, the Scorpion; 9, _Sagittarius_,\nthe Archer; 10, _Capricornus_, the Sea-goat, _i. e._ Goat-fish; 11,\n_Aquarius_, the Water-pourer; 12, _Pisces_, the Fishes.\n\nThe southern constellations are: 1, _Cetus_, the Sea-Monster; 2,\n_Orion_, the Giant; 3, _Eridanus_, the River; 4, _Lepus_, the Hare; 5,\n_Canis Major_, the Great Dog; 6, _Canis Minor_, the Little Dog; 7,\n_Argo_, the Ship and Rock; 8, _Hydra_, the Water-snake; 9, _Crater_, the\nCup; 10, _Corvus_, the Raven; 11, _Centaurus_, the Centaur; 12,\n_Lupus_, the Beast; 13, _Ara_, the Altar; 14, _Corona Australis_, the\nSouthern Crown; 15, _Piscis Australis_, the Southern Fish.\n\nAratus, living four hundred years earlier than Ptolemy, differs only\nfrom him in that he reckons the cluster of the Pleiades--counted by\nPtolemy in Taurus--as a separate constellation, but he has no\nconstellation of _Equuleus_. The total number of constellations was thus\nstill forty-eight. Aratus further describes the Southern Crown, but\ngives it no name; and in the constellation of the Little Dog he only\nmentions one star, _Procyon_, the Dog's Forerunner. He also mentions\nthat the two Bears were also known as two Wagons or Chariots.\n\nWere these constellations, so familiar to us to-day, known before the\ntime of Aratus, and if so, by whom were they devised, and when and\nwhere?\n\nThey were certainly known before the time of Aratus, for his poem was\nconfessedly a versification of an account of them written by Eudoxus\nmore than a hundred years previous. At a yet earlier date, Panyasis,\nuncle to the great historian Herodotus, incidentally discusses the name\nof one of the constellations, which must therefore have been known to\nhim. Earlier still, Hesiod, in the second book of his _Works and Days_,\nrefers to several:--\n\n     \"Orion and the Dog, each other nigh,\n      Together mounted to the midnight sky,\n      When in the rosy morn Arcturus shines,\n      Then pluck the clusters from the parent vines.\n\n           *       *       *       *       *\n\n      Next in the round do not to plough forget\n      When the Seven Virgins and Orion set.\"\n\nMuch the same constellations are referred to by Homer. Thus, in the\nfifth book of the _Odyssey_,--\n\n     \"And now, rejoicing in the prosperous gales,\n      With beating heart Ulysses spreads his sails:\n      Placed at the helm he sate, and marked the skies,\n      Nor closed in sleep his ever-watchful eyes.\n      There view'd the Pleiads and the Northern Team,\n      And great Orion's more refulgent beam,\n      To which around the axle of the sky\n      The Bear, revolving, points his golden eye.\"\n\nThus it is clear that several of the constellations were perfectly\nfamiliar to the Greeks a thousand years before the Christian era; that\nis to say, about the time of Solomon.\n\nWe have other evidence that the constellations were known in early\ntimes. We often find on Greek coins, a bull, a ram, or a lion\nrepresented; these may well be references to some of the signs of the\nzodiac, but offer no conclusive evidence. But several of the\nconstellation figures are very unusual in form; thus the Sea-goat has\nthe head and fore-legs of a goat, but the hinder part of a fish; and the\nArcher has the head and shoulders of a man, but the body and legs of a\nhorse. Pegasus, the horse with wings, not only shows this unnatural\ncombination, but the constellation figure only gives part of the\nanimal--the head, neck, wings, breast, and fore-legs. Now some of these\ncharacteristic figures are found on quite early Greek coins, and yet\nearlier on what are known as \"boundary stones\" from Babylonia. These are\nlittle square pillars, covered with inscriptions and sculptures, and\nrecord for the most part the gift, transfer, or sale of land. They are\ndated according to the year of the reigning king, so that a clear idea\ncan be formed as to their age. A great many symbols, which appear to be\nastronomical, occur upon them; amongst these such very distinguishing\nshapes as the Archer, Sea-goat, and Scorpion (_see_ p. 318). So that,\njust as we know from Homer and Hesiod that the principal constellations\nwere known of old by the same names as those by which we know them\nto-day, we learn from Babylonian boundary stones that they were then\nknown as having the same forms as we now ascribe to them. The date of\nthe earliest boundary stones of the kind in our possession would show\nthat the Babylonians knew of our constellations as far back as the\ntwelfth century B.C., that is to say, whilst Israel was under the\nJudges.\n\nWe have direct evidence thus far back as to the existence of the\nconstellations. But they are older than this, so much older that\ntradition as well as direct historical evidence fails us. The only\nearlier evidence open to us is that of the constellations themselves.\n\nA modern celestial globe is covered over with figures from pole to pole,\nbut the majority of these are of quite recent origin and belong to the\nModern period of astronomy. They have been framed since the invention of\nthe telescope, and since the progress of geographical discovery brought\nmen to know the southern skies. If these modern constellations are\ncleared off, and only those of Aratus and Ptolemy suffered to remain, it\nbecomes at once evident that the ancient astronomers were not acquainted\nwith the entire heavens. For there is a large space in the south, left\nfree from all the old constellations, and no explanation, why it should\nhave been so left free, is so simple and satisfactory as the obvious\none, that the ancient astronomers did not map out the stars in that\nregion because they never saw them; those stars never rose above their\nhorizon.\n\n[Illustration: THE ANCIENT CONSTELLATIONS SOUTH OF THE ECLIPTIC.]\n\nThus at the present time the heavens for an observer in England are\nnaturally divided into three parts, as shown in the accompanying\ndiagram. In the north, round the pole-star are a number of\nconstellations that never set; they wheel unceasingly around the pole.\nOn every fine night we can see the Great Bear, the Little Bear, the\nDragon, Cepheus and Cassiopeia. But the stars in the larger portion of\nthe sky have their risings and settings, and the seasons in which they\nare visible or are withdrawn from sight. Thus we see Orion and the\nPleiades and Sirius in the winter, not in the summer, but the Scorpion\nand Sagittarius in the summer. Similarly there is a third portion of the\nheavens which never comes within our range. We never see the Southern\nCross, and hardly any star in the great constellation of the Ship,\nthough these are very familiar to New Zealanders.\n\n[Illustration: THE CELESTIAL SPHERE.\n\n\n                              Zenith\n                                * *\n\n                                * *       North Pole\n                               *\n                               *    Stars  /\n            .                   *     Always\n              .                        Visible\n                .                       /\n                  . Visible            /\n                    .   Hemisphere    /\n                      .              /\n                        .           /\n                          .        /\n                            .     /\n              (Earth surface) .  /  (Earth surface)\n     South --------------------------------------- North\n                               /  .    Celestial\n                              /     . / Equator\n                       Invisible      .\n                            /           .\n                           / Hemisphere   .\n                          /                 .\n                  Stars  /                    .\n                     Never                      .\n                       / Visible\n                      /\n                South\n                  Pole\n\n                        THE CELESTIAL SPHERE.]\n\nThe outline of this unmapped region must therefore correspond roughly to\nthe horizon of the place where the constellations were originally\ndesigned, or at least be roughly parallel to it, since we may well\nsuppose that stars which only rose two or three degrees above that\nhorizon might have been neglected.\n\nFrom this we learn that the constellations were designed by people\nliving not very far from the 40th parallel of north latitude, not\nfurther south than the 37th or 36th. This is important, as it shows that\nthey did not originate in ancient Egypt or India, nor even in the city\nof Babylon, which is in latitude 32-1/2\u00b0.[157:1]\n\nBut this vacant space reveals another fact of even more importance. It\ngives us a hint as to the date when the constellations were designed.\n\nAn observer in north latitude 40\u00b0 at the present time would be very far\nfrom seeing all the stars included in the forty-eight constellations. He\nwould see nothing at all of the constellation of the Altar, and a good\ndeal of that of the Centaur would be hidden from him.\n\nOn the other hand, there are some bright constellations, such as the\nPhoenix and the Crane, unknown to the ancients, which would come within\nhis range of vision. This is due to what is known as \"precession;\" a\nslow movement of the axis upon which the earth rotates. In consequence\nof this, the pole of the heavens seems to trace out a circle amongst the\nstars which it takes 25,800 years to complete. It is therefore a matter\nof very simple calculation to find the position of the south pole of the\nheavens at any given date, past or future, and we find that the centre\nof the unmapped space was the south pole of the heavens something like\n4,600 years ago, that is to say about 2,700 B.C.\n\nIt is, of course, not possible to fix either time or latitude very\nclosely, since the limits of the unmapped space are a a little vague.\nBut it is significant that if we take a celestial globe, arranged so as\nto represent the heavens for the time 2,700 B.C., and for north latitude\n40\u00b0, we find several striking relations. First of all, the Great Dragon\nthen linked together the north pole of the celestial equator, and the\nnorth pole of the ecliptic; it was as nearly as possible symmetrical\nwith regard to the two; it occupied the very crown of the heavens. With\nthe single exception of the Little Bear, which it nearly surrounds, the\nDragon was the only constellation that never set. Next, the Water-snake\n(see diagram, p. 200) lay at this time right along the equator,\nextending over 105\u00b0 of Right Ascension; or, to put it less technically,\nit took seven hours out of the twenty-four to cross the meridian. It\ncovered nearly one-third of the equatorial belt. Thirdly, the\nintersection of the equator with one of the principal meridians of the\nsky was marked by the Serpent, which is carried by the Serpent-holder\nin a very peculiar manner. The meridian at midnight at the time of the\nspring equinox is called a \"colure,\"--the \"autumnal colure,\" because the\nsun crosses it in autumn. Now the Serpent was so arranged as to be shown\nwrithing itself for some distance along the equator, and then struggling\nupwards, along the autumnal colure, marking the zenith with its head.\nThe lower part of the autumnal colure was marked by the Scorpion, and\nthe foot of the Serpent-holder pressed down the creature's head, just\nwhere the colure, the equator, and the ecliptic intersected (_see_\ndiagram, p. 164).\n\nIt is scarcely conceivable that this fourfold arrangement, not suggested\nby any natural grouping of the stars, should have come about by\naccident; it must have been intentional. For some reason, the equator,\nthe colure, the zenith and the poles were all marked out by these\nserpentine or draconic forms. The unmapped space gives us a clue only to\nthe date and latitude of the designing of the most southerly\nconstellations. We now see that a number of the northern hold positions\nwhich were specially significant under the same conditions, indicating\nthat they were designed at about the same date. There is therefore\nlittle room for doubt that some time in the earlier half of the third\nmillennium before our era, and somewhere between the 36th and 40th\nparallels of north latitude, the constellations were designed,\nsubstantially as we have them now, the serpent forms being intentionally\nplaced in these positions of great astronomical importance.\n\nIt will have been noticed that Ptolemy makes the Ram the first\nconstellation of the zodiac. It was so in his days, but it was the Bull\nthat was the original leader, as we know from a variety of traditions;\nthe sun at the spring equinox being in the centre of that constellation\nabout 3000 B.C. At the time when the constellations were designed, the\nsun at the spring equinox was near Aldebaran, the brightest star of the\nBull; at the summer solstice it was near Regulus, the brightest star of\nthe Lion; at the autumnal equinox it was near Antares, the brightest\nstar of the Scorpion; at the winter solstice it was near Fomalhaut, the\nbrightest star in the neighbourhood of the Waterpourer. These four stars\nhave come down to us with the name of the \"Royal Stars,\" probably\nbecause they were so near to the four most important points in the\napparent path of the sun amongst the stars. There is also a celebrated\npassage in the first of Virgil's _Georgics_ which speaks of the white\nbull with golden horns that opens the year. So when the Mithraic\nreligion adopted several of the constellation figures amongst its\nsymbols, the Bull as standing for the spring equinox, the Lion for the\nsummer solstice, were the two to which most prominence was given, and\nthey are found thus used in Mithraic monuments as late as the second or\nthird century A.D., long after the Ram had been recognized as the\nleading sign.\n\nIt is not possible to push back the origin of the constellations to an\nindefinite antiquity. They cannot at the very outside be more than 5000\nyears old; they must be considerably more than 4000. But during the\nwhole of this millennium the sun at the spring equinox was in the\nconstellation of the Bull. There is therefore no possible doubt that\nthe Bull--and not the Twins nor the Ram--was the original leader of the\nzodiac.\n\nThe constellations, therefore, were designed long before the nation of\nIsrael had its origin, indeed before Abraham left Ur of the Chaldees.\nThe most probable date--2700 B.C.--would take us to a point a little\nbefore the Flood, if we accept the Hebrew chronology, a few centuries\nafter the Flood, if we accept the Septuagint chronology. Just as the\nnext great age of astronomical activity, which I have termed the\nClassical, began after the close of the canon of the Old Testament\nscriptures, so the constellation age began before the first books of\nthose scriptures were compiled. Broadly speaking, it may be said that\nthe knowledge of the constellation figures was the chief asset of\nastronomy in the centuries when the Old Testament was being written.\n\nSeeing that the knowledge of these figures was preserved in Mesopotamia,\nthe country from which Abraham came out, and that they were in existence\nlong before his day, it is not unreasonable to suppose that both he and\nhis descendants were acquainted with them, and that when he and they\nlooked upward to the glories of the silent stars, and recalled the\npromise, \"So shall thy seed be,\" they pictured round those glittering\npoints of light much the same forms that we connect with them to-day.\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[157:1] Delitzsch is, therefore, in error when he asserts that \"when we\ndivide the zodiac into twelve signs and style them the Ram, Bull, Twins,\netc. . . . the Sumerian-Babylonian culture is still living and operating\neven at the present day\" (_Babel and Bible_, p. 67). The constellations\nmay have been originally designed by the _Akkadians_, but if so it was\nbefore they came down from their native highlands into the Mesopotamian\nvalley.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER II\n\nGENESIS AND THE CONSTELLATIONS\n\n\nAs we have just shown, the constellations evidently were designed long\nbefore the earliest books of the Old Testament received their present\nform. But the first nine chapters of Genesis give the history of the\nworld before any date that we can assign to the constellations, and are\nclearly derived from very early documents or traditions.\n\nWhen the constellations are compared with those nine chapters, several\ncorrespondences appear between the two; remarkable, when it is borne in\nmind how few are the events that can be plainly set forth in a group of\nforty-eight figures on the one hand, and how condensed are the\nnarratives of those nine chapters on the other.\n\nLook at the six southern constellations (_see_ pp. 164, 165) which were\nseen during the nights of spring in that distant time. The largest of\nthese six is a great Ship resting on the southern horizon. Just above, a\nRaven is perched on the stretched-out body of a reptile. A figure of a\nCentaur appears to have just left the Ship, and is represented as\noffering up an animal on an Altar. The animal is now shown as a Wolf,\nbut Aratus, our earliest authority, states that he did not know what\nkind of animal it was that was being thus offered up. The cloud of\nsmoke from the Altar is represented by the bright coiling wreaths of the\nMilky Way, and here in the midst of that cloud is set the Bow--the bow\nof Sagittarius, the Archer. Is it possible that this can be mere\ncoincidence, or was it indeed intended as a memorial of the covenant\nwhich God made with Noah, and with his children for ever?--\"I do set My\nbow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between Me\nand the earth.\"\n\nClose by this group was another, made up of five constellations. Towards\nthe south, near midnight in spring, the observer in those ancient times\nsaw the Scorpion. The figure of a man was standing upon that venomous\nbeast, with his left foot pressed firmly down upon its head; but the\nscorpion's tail was curled up to sting him in the right heel. Ophiuchus,\nthe Serpent-holder, the man treading on the Scorpion, derives his name\nfrom the Serpent which he holds in his hands and strangles; the Serpent\nthat, as we have seen in the preceding chapter, marked the autumnal\ncolure. The head of Ophiuchus reached nearly to the zenith, and there\nclose to it was the head of another hero, so close that to complete the\nform of the two heads the same stars must be used to some extent twice\nover. Facing north, this second hero, now known to us as Hercules, but\nto Aratus simply as the \"Kneeler,\" was seen kneeling with his foot on\nthe head of the great northern Dragon. This great conflict between the\nman and the serpent, therefore, was presented in a twofold form. Looking\nsouth there was the picture of Ophiuchus trampling on the scorpion and\nstrangling the snake, yet wounded in the heel by the scorpion's sting;\nlooking north, the corresponding picture of the kneeling figure of\nHercules treading down the dragon's head. Here there seems an evident\nreference to the word spoken by God to the serpent in the garden in\nEden: \"I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy\nseed and her Seed; It shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise His\nheel.\"\n\n[Illustration: THE MIDNIGHT CONSTELLATIONS OF SPRING, B.C. 2700.]\n\nThese two groups of star-figures seem therefore to point to the two\ngreat promises made to mankind and recorded in the early chapters of\nGenesis; the Promise of the Deliverer, Who, \"Seed of the woman,\" should\nbruise the serpent's head, and the promise of the \"Bow set in the\ncloud,\" the pledge that the world should not again be destroyed by a\nflood.\n\n[Illustration: THE MIDNIGHT CONSTELLATIONS OF WINTER, B.C. 2700.]\n\nOne or two other constellations appear, less distinctly, to refer to the\nfirst of these two promises. The Virgin, the woman of the zodiac,\ncarries in her hand a bright star, the ear of corn, the seed; whilst,\nimmediately under her, the great Water-snake, Hydra, is drawn out at\nenormous length, \"going on its belly;\" not writhing upwards like the\nSerpent, nor twined round the crown of the sky like the Dragon.\n\nYet again, the narrative in Genesis tells us that God \"drove out the\nman\" (_i. e._ Adam), \"and He placed at the east of the garden of Eden\nthe cherubim, and the flame of a sword which turned every way, to keep\nthe way of the tree of life.\" No description is given of the form of the\ncherubim in that passage, but they are fully described by Ezekiel, who\nsaw them in vision when he was by the river Chebar, as \"the likeness of\nfour living creatures.\" The same beings were also seen in vision by St.\nJohn, and are described by him in the Apocalypse as \"four living\ncreatures\" (_Z[=o]a_). \"The first creature was like a lion, and the\nsecond creature like a calf, and the third creature had a face as of a\nman, and the fourth creature was like a flying eagle.\" Ezekiel gives a\nfuller and more complex description, but agreeing in its essential\nelements with that given by the Apostle, and, at the close of one of\nthese descriptions, he adds, \"This is the living creature that I saw\nunder the God of Israel by the river of Chebar; and I knew that they\nwere cherubim\"--no doubt because as a priest he had been familiar with\nthe cherubic forms as they were embroidered upon the curtains of the\nTemple, and carved upon its walls and doors.\n\nThe same four forms were seen amongst the constellation figures; not\nplaced at random amongst them, but as far as possible in the four most\nimportant positions in the sky. For the constellations were originally\nso designed that the sun at the time of the summer solstice was in the\nmiddle of the constellation _Leo_, the Lion; at the time of the spring\nequinox in the middle of _Taurus_, the Bull; and at the time of the\nwinter solstice, in the middle of _Aquarius_, the Man bearing the\nwaterpot. The fourth point, that held by the sun at the autumnal\nequinox, would appear to have been already assigned to the foot of the\nSerpent-holder as he crushes down the Scorpion's head; but a flying\neagle, _Aquila_, is placed as near the equinoctial point as seems to\nhave been consistent with the ample space that it was desired to give to\nthe emblems of the great conflict between the Deliverer and the Serpent.\nThus, as in the vision of Ezekiel, so in the constellation figures, the\nLion, the Ox, the Man, and the Eagle, stood as the upholders of the\nfirmament, as \"the pillars of heaven.\" They looked down like watchers\nupon all creation; they seemed to guard the four quarters of the sky.\n\nIf we accept an old Jewish tradition, the constellations may likewise\ngive us some hint of an event recorded in the tenth chapter of Genesis.\nFor it has been supposed that the great stellar giant Orion is none\nother than \"Nimrod, the mighty hunter before the Lord,\" and the founder\nof the Babylonian kingdom; identified by some Assyriologists with\nMerodach, the tutelary deity of Babylon: and by others with Gilgamesh,\nthe tyrant of Erech, whose exploits have been preserved to us in the\ngreat epic now known by his name. Possibly both identifications may\nprove to be correct.\n\nMore than one third of the constellation figures thus appear to have a\nclose connection with some of the chief incidents recorded in the first\nten chapters of Genesis as having taken place in the earliest ages of\nthe world's history. If we include the Hare and the two Dogs as adjuncts\nof Orion, and the Cup as well as the Raven with Hydra, then no fewer\nthan twenty-two out of the forty-eight are directly or indirectly so\nconnected. But the constellation figures only deal with a very few\nisolated incidents, and these are necessarily such as lend themselves to\ngraphic representation. The points in common with the Genesis narrative\nare indeed striking, but the points of independence are no less\nstriking. The majority of the constellation figures do not appear to\nrefer to any incidents in Genesis; the majority of the incidents in the\nGenesis narrative find no record in the sky. Even in the treatment of\nincidents common to both there are differences, which make it impossible\nto suppose that either was directly derived from the other.\n\nBut it is clear that when the constellations were devised,--that is to\nsay, roughly speaking, about 2,700 B.C.,--the promise of the Deliverer,\nthe \"Seed of the woman\" who should bruise the serpent's head, was well\nknown and highly valued; so highly valued that a large part of the sky\nwas devoted to its commemoration and to that of the curse on the\nserpent. The story of the Flood was also known, and especially the\ncovenant made with those who were saved in the ark, that the world\nshould not again be destroyed by water, the token of which covenant was\nthe \"Bow set in the cloud.\" The fourfold cherubic forms were known, the\nkeepers of the way of the tree of life, the symbols of the presence of\nGod; and they were set in the four parts of the heaven, marking it out\nas the tabernacle which He spreadeth abroad, for He dwelleth between the\ncherubim.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER III\n\nTHE STORY OF THE DELUGE\n\n\nBeside the narrative of the Flood given to us in Genesis, and the\npictorial representation of it preserved in the star figures, we have\nDeluge stories from many parts of the world. But in particular we have a\nvery striking one from Babylonia. In the _Epic of Gilgamesh_, already\nalluded to, the eleventh tablet is devoted to an interview between the\nhero and Pir-napistim, the Babylonian Noah, who recounts to him how he\nand his family were saved at the time of the great flood.\n\nThis Babylonian story of the Deluge stands in quite a different relation\nfrom the Babylonian story of Creation in its bearing on the account\ngiven in Genesis. As we have already seen, the stories of Creation have\npractically nothing in common; the stories of the Deluge have many most\nstriking points of resemblance, and may reasonably be supposed to have\nhad a common origin.\n\nProf. Friedrich Delitzsch, in his celebrated lectures _Babel and Bible_,\nrefers to this Babylonian Deluge story in the following terms:--\n\n     \"The Babylonians divided their history into two great periods:\n     the one before, the other after the Flood. Babylon was in\n     quite a peculiar sense the land of deluges. The alluvial\n     lowlands along the course of all great rivers discharging into\n     the sea are, of course, exposed to terrible floods of a\n     special kind--cyclones and tornadoes accompanied by\n     earthquakes and tremendous downpours of rain.\"\n\nAfter referring to the great cyclone and tidal wave which wrecked the\nSunderbunds at the mouths of the Ganges in 1876, when 215,000 persons\nmet their death by drowning, Prof. Delitzsch goes on--\n\n     \"It is the merit of the celebrated Viennese geologist, Eduard\n     Suess, to have shown that there is an accurate description of\n     such a cyclone, line for line, in the Babylonian Deluge\n     story. . . . The whole story, precisely as it was written\n     down, travelled to Canaan. But, owing to the new and entirely\n     different local conditions, it was forgotten that the sea was\n     the chief factor, and so we find in the Bible two accounts of\n     the Deluge, which are not only scientifically impossible, but,\n     furthermore, mutually contradictory--the one assigning to it a\n     duration of 365 days, the other of [40 + (3 x 7)] = 61 days.\n     Science is indebted to Jean Astruc, that strictly orthodox\n     Catholic physician of Louis XIV., for recognizing that two\n     fundamentally different accounts of a deluge have been worked\n     up into a single story in the Bible.\"[171:1]\n\nThe importance of the Babylonian Deluge story does not rest in anything\nintrinsic to itself, for there are many deluge stories preserved by\nother nations quite as interesting and as well told. It derives its\nimportance from its points of resemblance to the Genesis story, and from\nthe deduction that some have drawn from these that it was the original\nof that story--or rather of the two stories--that we find imperfectly\nrecombined in Genesis.\n\nThe suggestion of Jean Astruc that \"two fundamentally different\naccounts of a deluge have been worked up into a single story in the\nBible\" has been generally accepted by those who have followed him in the\nminute analysis of the literary structure of Holy Scripture; and the\nnames of the \"Priestly Narrative\" and of the \"Jehovistic Narrative\"\nhave, for the sake of distinctness, been applied to them. The former is\nso called because the chapters in Exodus and the two following books,\nwhich treat with particular minuteness of the various ceremonial\ninstitutions of Israel, are considered to be by the same writer. The\nlatter has received its name from the preference shown by the writer for\nthe use, as the Divine name, of the word _Jehovah_,--so spelt when given\nin our English versions, but generally translated \"the LORD.\"\n\nThere is a very close accord between different authorities as to the way\nin which Genesis, chapters vi.-ix., should be allotted to these two\nsources. The following is Dr. Driver's arrangement:--\n\n           PRIESTLY NARRATIVE.  | JEHOVISTIC NARRATIVE.\n                                |\n          Chap.     Verse.      |        Chap.   Verse.\n  Genesis vi.       9-22.       |Genesis vii.    1-5.\n          vii.      6.          |                7-10.\n                    11.         |                12.\n                    13-16a.     |                16b.\n                    17a.        |                17b.\n                    18-21.      |                22-23.\n                    24.         |        viii.   2b-3a.\n          viii.     1-2a.       |                6-12.\n                    3b-5.       |                13b.\n                    13a.        |                20-22.\n                    14-19.      |\n          ix.       1-17.       |\n\nThe Priestly narrative therefore tells us the cause of the Flood--that\nis to say, the corruption of mankind; describes the dimensions of the\nark, and instructs Noah to bring \"of every living thing of all flesh,\ntwo of every sort shalt thou bring into the ark, to keep them alive with\nthee; they shall be male and female.\" It further supplies the dates of\nthe chief occurrences during the Flood, states that the waters prevailed\nabove the tops of the mountains, that when the Flood diminished the ark\nrested upon the mountains of Ararat; and gives the account of Noah and\nhis family going forth from the ark, and of the covenant which God made\nwith them, of which the token was to be the bow seen in the cloud.\n\nThe most striking notes of the Jehovistic narrative are,--the incident\nof the sending out of the raven and the dove; the account of Noah's\nsacrifice; and the distinction made between clean beasts and beasts that\nare not clean--the command to Noah being, \"Of every clean beast thou\nshalt take to thee by sevens, the male and his female: and of beasts\nthat are not clean by two, the male and his female.\" The significant\npoints of distinction between the two accounts are that the Priestly\nwriter gives the description of the ark, the Flood prevailing above the\nmountains, the grounding on Mount Ararat, and the bow in the cloud; the\nJehovistic gives the sending out of the raven and the dove, and the\naccount of Noah's sacrifice, which involves the recognition of the\ndistinction between the clean and unclean beasts and the more abundant\nprovision of the former. He also lays emphasis on the Lord's \"smelling a\nsweet savour\" and promising never again to smite everything living,\n\"for the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth.\"\n\nThe chief features of the Babylonian story of the Deluge are as\nfollows:--The God Ae spoke to Pir-napistim, the Babylonian Noah--\n\n     \"'Destroy the house, build a ship,\n      Leave what thou hast, see to thy life.\n      Destroy the hostile and save life.\n      Take up the seed of life, all of it, into the midst of the ship.\n      The ship which thou shalt make, even thou.\n      Let its size be measured;\n      Let it agree as to its height and its length.'\"\n\nThe description of the building of the ship seems to have been very\nminute, but the record is mutilated, and what remains is difficult to\ntranslate. As in the Priestly narrative, it is expressly mentioned that\nit was \"pitched within and without.\"\n\nThe narrative proceeds in the words of Pir-napistim:--\n\n     \"All I possessed, I collected it,\n      All I possessed I collected it, of silver;\n      All I possessed I collected it, of gold;\n      All I possessed I collected it, the seed of life, the whole.\n      I caused to go up into the midst of the ship,\n      All my family and relatives,\n      The beasts of the field, the animals of the field, the sons of the\n          artificers--all of them I sent up.\n      The God [vS]ama[vs] appointed the time--\n      Muir Kukki--'In the night I will cause the heavens to rain\n          destruction,\n      Enter into the midst of the ship, and shut thy door.'\n      That time approached--\n      Muir Kukki--In the night the heavens rained destruction\n      I saw the appearance of the day:\n      I was afraid to look upon the day--\n      I entered into the midst of the ship, and shut my door\n\n           *       *       *       *       *\n\n      At the appearance of dawn in the morning,\n      There arose from the foundation of heaven a dark cloud:\n\n           *       *       *       *       *\n\n      The first day, the storm? . . . .\n      Swiftly it swept, and . . . .\n      Like a battle against the people it sought.\n      Brother saw not brother.\n      The people were not to be recognized. In heaven\n      The gods feared the flood, and\n      They fled, they ascended to the heaven of Anu.\n      The gods kenneled like dogs, crouched down in the enclosures.\n\n           *       *       *       *       *\n\n      The gods had crouched down, seated in lamentation,\n      Covered were their lips in the assemblies,\n      Six days and nights\n      The wind blew, the deluge and flood overwhelmed the land.\n      The seventh day, when it came, the storm ceased, the raging flood,\n      Which had contended like a whirlwind,\n      Quieted, the sea shrank back, and the evil wind and deluge ended.\n      I noticed the sea making a noise,\n      And all mankind had turned to corruption.\n\n           *       *       *       *       *\n\n      I noted the regions, the shore of the sea,\n      For twelve measures the region arose.\n      The ship had stopped at the land of Nisir.\n      The mountain of Nisir seized the ship, and would not let it pass.\n      The first day and the second day the mountains of Nisir seized the\n          ship, and would not let it pass.\n\n           *       *       *       *       *\n\n      The seventh day, when it came\n      I sent forth a dove, and it left;\n      The dove went, it turned about,\n      But there was no resting-place, and it returned.\n      I sent forth a swallow, and it left,\n      The swallow went, it turned about,\n      But there was no resting-place, and it returned.\n      I sent forth a raven, and it left,\n      The raven went, the rushing of the waters it saw,\n      It ate, it waded, it croaked, it did not return.\n      I sent forth (the animals) to the four winds, I poured out a\n          libation,\n      I made an offering on the peak of the mountain,\n      Seven and seven I set incense-vases there,\n      In their depths I poured cane, cedar, and rosewood (?).\n      The gods smelled a savour;\n      The gods smelled a sweet savour.\n      The gods gathered like flies over the sacrificer.\n      Then the goddess S\u00eertu, when she came,\n      Raised the great signets that Anu had made at her wish:\n      'These gods--by the lapis-stone of my neck--let me not forget;\n      These days let me remember, nor forget them for ever!\n      Let the gods come to the sacrifice,\n      But let not B\u00eal come to the sacrifice,\n      For he did not take counsel, and made a flood,\n      And consigned my people to destruction.'\n      Then B\u00eal, when he came,\n      Saw the ship. And B\u00eal stood still,\n      Filled with anger on account of the gods and the spirits of\n          heaven.\n      'What, has a soul escaped?\n      Let not a man be saved from the destruction.'\n      Ninip opened his mouth and spake.\n      He said to the warrior B\u00eal:\n      'Who but Ae has done the thing?\n      And Ae knows every event.'\n      Ae opened his mouth and spake,\n      He said to the warrior B\u00eal:\n      'Thou sage of the gods, warrior,\n      Verily thou hast not taken counsel, and hast made a flood.\n      The sinner has committed his sin,\n      The evil-doer has committed his misdeed,\n      Be merciful--let him not be cut off--yield, let not perish.\n      Why hast thou made a flood?\n      Let the lion come, and let men diminish.\n      Why hast thou made a flood?\n      Let the hyena come, and let men diminish.\n      Why hast thou made a flood?\n      Let a famine happen, and let the land be (?)\n      Why hast thou made a flood?\n      Let Ura (pestilence) come, and let the land be (?)'\"[176:1]\n\nOf the four records before us, we can only date one approximately. The\nconstellations, as we have already seen, were mapped out some time in\nthe third millennium before our era, probably not very far from 2700\nB.C.\n\nWhen was the Babylonian story written? Does it, itself, afford any\nevidence of date? It occurs in the eleventh tablet of the _Epic of\nGilgamesh_, and the theory has been started that as Aquarius, a watery\nconstellation, is now the eleventh sign of the zodiac, therefore we have\nin this epic of twelve tablets a series of solar myths founded upon the\ntwelve signs of the zodiac, the eleventh giving us a legend of a flood\nto correspond to the stream of water which the man in Aquarius pours\nfrom his pitcher.\n\nIf this theory be accepted we can date the _Epic of Gilgamesh_ with much\ncertainty: it must be later, probably much later, than 700 B.C. For it\ncannot have been till about that time that the present arrangement of\nthe zodiacal signs--that is to say with Aries as the first and Aquarius\nas the eleventh--can have been adopted. We have then to allow for the\ngrowth of a mythology with the twelve signs as its _motif_. Had this\nsupposed series of zodiacal myths originated before 700 B.C., before\nAries was adopted as the leading sign, then the Bull, Taurus, would have\ngiven rise to the myth of the first tablet and Aquarius to the tenth,\nnot to the eleventh where we find the story of the flood.\n\nAssyriologists do not assign so late a date to this poem, and it must be\nnoted that the theory supposes, not merely that the tablet itself, but\nthat the poem and the series of myths upon which it was based, were all\nlater in conception than 700 B.C. One conclusive indication of its early\ndate is given by the position in the pantheon of Ae and B\u00eal. Ae has not\nreceded into comparative insignificance, nor has B\u00eal attained to that\nfull supremacy which, as Merodach, he possesses in the Babylonian\nCreation story. We may therefore put on one side as an unsupported and\nunfortunate guess the suggestion that the _Epic of Gilgamesh_ is the\nsetting forth of a series of zodiacal myths.\n\nAny legends, any mythology, any pantheon based upon the zodiac must\nnecessarily be more recent than the zodiac; any system involving Aries\nas the first sign of the zodiac must be later than the adoption of Aries\nas the first sign, that is to say, later than 700 B.C. Systems arising\nbefore that date would inevitably be based upon Taurus as first\nconstellation.\n\nWe cannot then, from astronomical relationships, fix the date of the\nBabylonian story of the Flood. Is it possible, however, to form any\nestimate of the comparative ages of the Babylonian legend and of the two\nnarratives given in Genesis, or of either of these two? Does the\nBabylonian story connect itself with one of the Genesis narratives\nrather than the other?\n\nThe significant points in the Babylonian story are these:--the command\nto Pir-napistim to build a ship, with detailed directions; the great\nrise of the flood so that even the gods in the heaven of Anu feared it;\nthe detailed dating of the duration of the flood; the stranding of the\nship on the mountain of Nisir; the sending forth of the dove, the\nswallow, and their return; the sending forth of the raven, and its\nnon-return; the sacrifice; the gods smelling its sweet savour; the vow\nof remembrance of the goddess by the lapis-stone necklace; the\ndetermination of the gods not to send a flood again upon the earth,\nsince sin is inevitable from the sinner. To all these points we find\nparallels in the account as given in Genesis.\n\nBut it is in the Priestly narrative that we find the directions for the\nbuilding of the ship; the great prevalence of the flood even to the\nheight of the mountains; the stranding of the ship on a mountain; and\nthe bow in the clouds as a covenant of remembrance--this last being\nperhaps paralleled in the Babylonian story by the mottled\n(blue-and-white) lapis necklace of the goddess which she swore by as a\nremembrancer. There is therefore manifest connection with the narrative\ntold by the Priestly writer.\n\nBut it is in the Jehovistic narrative, on the other hand, that we find\nthe sending forth of the raven, and its non-return; the sending forth of\nthe dove, and its return; the sacrifice, and the sweet savour that was\nsmelled of the Lord; and the determination of the Lord not to curse the\nearth any more for man's sake, nor smite any more every living thing,\n\"for the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth.\" There is,\ntherefore, no less manifest connection with the narrative told by the\nJehovistic writer.\n\nBut the narrative told by the writer of the Babylonian story is one\nsingle account; even if it were a combination of two separate\ntraditions, they have been so completely fused that they cannot now be\nbroken up so as to form two distinct narratives, each complete in\nitself.\n\n\"The whole story precisely as it was written down travelled to\nCanaan,\"--so we are told. And there,--we are asked to believe,--two\nHebrew writers of very different temperaments and schools of thought,\neach independently worked up a complete story of the Deluge from this\nGilgamesh legend. They chose out different incidents, one selecting what\nthe other rejected, and _vice versa_, so that their two accounts were\n\"mutually contradictory.\" They agreed, however, in cleansing it from its\npolytheistic setting, and giving it a strictly monotheistic tone. Later,\nan \"editor\" put the two narratives together, with all their\ninconsistencies and contradictions, and interlocked them into one, which\npresents all the main features of the original Gilgamesh story except\nits polytheism. In other words, two Hebrew scribes each told in his own\nway a part of the account of the Deluge which he had derived from\nBabylon, and a third unwittingly so recombined them as to make them\nrepresent the Babylonian original!\n\nThe two accounts of the Deluge, supposed to be present in Genesis,\ntherefore cannot be derived from the Gilgamesh epic, nor be later than\nit, seeing that what is still plainly separable in Genesis is\ninseparably fused in the epic.\n\nOn the other hand, can the Babylonian narrative be later than, and\nderived from, the Genesis account? Since so many of the same\ncircumstances are represented in both, this is a more reasonable\nproposition, if we assume that the Babylonian narrator had the Genesis\naccount as it now stands, and did not have to combine two separate\nstatements. For surely if he had the separate Priestly and Jehovistic\nnarratives we should now be able to decompose the Babylonian narrative\njust as easily as we do the one in Genesis. The Babylonian adapter of\nthe Genesis story must have either been less astute than ourselves, and\ndid not perceive that he had really two distinct (and \"contradictory\")\nnarratives to deal with, or he did not consider this circumstance of the\nslightest importance, and had no objection to merging them inextricably\ninto one continuous account.\n\nIt is therefore possible that the Babylonian account was derived from\nthat in Genesis; but it is not probable. The main circumstances are the\nsame in both, but the details, the presentment, the attitude of mind are\nvery different. We can better explain the agreement in the general\ncircumstances, and even in many of the details, by presuming that both\nare accounts--genuine traditions--of the same actual occurrence. The\ndifferences in detail, presentment, and attitude, are fully and\nsufficiently explained by supposing that we have traditions from two, if\nnot three, witnesses of the event.\n\nWe have also the pictorial representation of the Flood given us in the\nconstellations. What evidence do they supply?\n\nHere the significant points are: the ship grounded upon a high rock; the\nraven above it, eating the flesh of a stretched-out reptile; a sacrifice\noffered up by a person, who has issued forth from the ship, upon an\naltar, whose smoke goes up in a cloud, in which a bow is set.\n\nIn this grouping of pictures we have two characteristic features of the\nPriestly narrative, in the ship grounded on a rock, and in the bow set\nin the cloud; we have also two characteristic features of the Jehovistic\nnarrative, in the smoking altar of sacrifice, and in the carrion bird.\nThere is therefore manifest connection between the constellation\ngrouping and _both_ the narratives given in Genesis.\n\nBut the constellational picture story is the only one of all these\nnarratives that we can date. It must have been designed--as we have\nseen--about 2700 B.C.\n\nThe question again comes up for answer. Were the Genesis and Babylonian\nnarratives, any or all of them, derived from the pictured story in the\nconstellations; or, on the other hand, was this derived from any or all\nof them?\n\nThe constellations were mapped out near the north latitude of 40\u00b0, far\nto the north of Babylonia, so the pictured story cannot have come from\nthence. We do not know where the Genesis narratives were written, but if\nthe Flood of the constellations was pictured from them, then they must\nhave been already united into the account that is now presented to us in\nGenesis, very early in the third millennium before Christ.\n\nCould the account in Genesis have been derived from the constellations?\nIf it is a double account, most decidedly not; since the pictured story\nin the constellations is one, and presents impartially the\ncharacteristic features of _both_ the narratives.\n\nAnd (as in comparing the Genesis and the Babylonian narratives) we see\nthat though the main circumstances are the same--in so far as they lend\nthemselves to pictorial representations--the details, the presentment,\nthe attitude are different. In the Genesis narrative, the bow set in the\ncloud is a rainbow in a cloud of rain; in the constellation picture, the\nbow set in the cloud is the bow of an archer, and the cloud is the\npillar of smoke from off the altar of sacrifice. In the narratives of\nGenesis and Babylonia, Noah and Pir-napistim are men: no hint is given\nanywhere that by their physical form or constitution they were marked\noff from other men; in the storied picture, he who issues from the ship\nis a centaur: his upper part is the head and body of a man, his lower\npart is the body of a horse.\n\nAs before, there is no doubt that we can best explain the agreement in\ncircumstance of all the narratives by presuming that they are\nindependent accounts of the same historical occurrence. We can, at the\nsame time, explain the differences in style and detail between the\nnarratives by presuming that the originals were by men of different\nqualities of mind who each wrote as the occurrence most appealed to him.\nThe Babylonian narrator laid hold of the promise that, though beast, or\nfamine, or pestilence might diminish men, a flood should not again sweep\naway every living thing, and connected the promise with the signets--the\nlapis necklace of the goddess S\u00eertu that she touched as a remembrancer.\nThe picturer of the constellations saw the pledge in the smoke of the\nsacrifice, in the spirit of the words of the Lord as given by Asaph,\n\"Gather My saints together unto me; those that have made a covenant with\nMe by sacrifice.\" The writer in Genesis saw the promise in the\nrain-cloud, for the rainbow can only appear with the shining of the sun.\nThe writer in Genesis saw in Noah a righteous man, worthy to escape the\nflood of desolation that swept away the wickedness around; there is no\nexplanation apparent, at least on the surface, as to why the designer of\nthe constellations made him, who issued from the ship and offered the\nsacrifice, a centaur--one who partook of two natures.\n\nThe comparison of the Deluge narratives from Genesis, from the\nconstellations, and from Babylonia, presents a clear issue. If all the\naccounts are independent, and if there are two accounts intermingled\ninto one in Genesis, then the chief facts presented in both parts of\nthat dual narrative must have been so intermingled at an earlier date\nthan 2700 B.C. The editor who first united the two stories into one must\nhave done his work before that date.\n\nBut if the accounts are not independent histories, and the narrative as\nwe have it in Genesis is derived either in whole or in part from\nBabylonia or from the constellations--if, in short, the Genesis story\ncame from a Babylonian or a stellar myth--then we cannot escape from\nthis conclusion: that the narrative in Genesis is not, and never has\nbeen, two separable portions; that the scholars who have so divided it\nhave been entirely in error. But we cannot so lightly put on one side\nthe whole of the results which the learning and research of so many\nscholars have given us in the last century-and-a-half. We must therefore\nunhesitatingly reject the theory that the Genesis Deluge story owes\nanything either to star myth or to Babylonian mythology. And if the\nGenesis Deluge story is not so derived, certainly no other portion of\nHoly Scripture.\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[171:1] _Babel and Bible_, Johns' translation, pp. 42-46.\n\n[176:1] T. G. Pinches, _The Old Testament in the Light of the Historical\nRecords of Assyria and Babylonia_, pp. 102-107.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER IV\n\nTHE TRIBES OF ISRAEL AND THE ZODIAC\n\n\nThe earliest reference in Scripture to the constellations of the zodiac\noccurs in the course of the history of Joseph. In relating his second\ndream to his brethren he said--\n\n     \"Behold, I have dreamed a dream more; and, behold, the sun and\n     the moon, and the eleven stars made obeisance to me.\"\n\nThe word \"_Kochab_\" in the Hebrew means both \"star\" and \"constellation.\"\nThe significance, therefore, of the reference to the \"eleven stars\" is\nclear. Just as Joseph's eleven brethren were eleven out of the twelve\nsons of Jacob, so Joseph saw eleven constellations out of the twelve\ncome and bow down to him. And the twelve constellations can only mean\nthe twelve of the zodiac.\n\nThere can be no reasonable doubt that the zodiac in question was\npractically the same as we have now, the one transmitted to us through\nAratus and Ptolemy. It had been designed quite a thousand years earlier\nthan the days of Joseph; it was known in Mesopotamia from whence his\nancestors had come; it was known in Egypt; that is to say it was known\non both sides of Canaan. There have been other zodiacs: thus the\nChinese have one of their own: but we have no evidence of any zodiac,\nexcept the one transmitted to us by the Greeks, as having been at any\ntime adopted in Canaan or the neighbouring countries.\n\nThere is no need to suppose that each of the brethren had a zodiacal\nfigure already assigned to him as a kind of armorial bearing or device.\nThe dream was appropriate, and perfectly intelligible to Jacob, to\nJoseph, and his brethren, without supposing that any such arrangement\nhad then been made. It is quite true that there are Jewish traditions\nassigning a constellation to each of the tribes of Israel, but it does\nnot appear that any such traditions can be distinctly traced to a great\nantiquity, and they are mostly somewhat indefinite. Josephus, for\ninstance, makes a vague assertion about the twelve precious stones of\nthe High Priest's breast-plate, each of which bore the name of one of\nthe tribes, connecting them with the signs of the zodiac:--\n\n     \"Now the names of all those sons of Jacob were engraven in\n     these stones, whom we esteem the heads of our tribes, each\n     stone having the honour of a name, in the order according to\n     which they were born. . . . And for the twelve stones whether\n     we understand by them the months, or whether we understand the\n     like number of the signs of that circle which the Greeks call\n     the Zodiac, we shall not be mistaken in their meaning.\"[187:1]\n\nBut whilst there is no sufficient evidence that each of the sons of\nJacob had a zodiacal figure for his coat-of-arms, nor even that the\ntribes deriving their names from them were so furnished, there is\nstrong and harmonious tradition as to the character of the devices borne\non the standards carried by the four divisions of the host in the march\nthrough the wilderness. The four divisions, or camps, each contained\nthree tribes, and were known by the name of the principal tribe in each.\nThe camp of Judah was on the east, and the division of Judah led on the\nmarch. The camp of Reuben was on the south. The camp of Ephraim was on\nthe west. The camp of Dan was on the north, and the division of Dan\nbrought up the rear. And the traditional devices shown on the four\nstandards were these:--For Judah, a lion; for Reuben, a man and a river;\nfor Ephraim, a bull; for Dan, an eagle and a serpent.\n\nIn these four standards we cannot fail to see again the four cherubic\nforms of lion, man, ox and eagle; but in two cases an addition was made\nto the cherubic form, an addition recalling the constellation figure.\nFor just as the crest of Reuben was not a man only, but a man and a\nriver, so Aquarius is not a man only, but a man pouring out a stream of\nwater. And as the crest of Dan was not an eagle only, but an eagle and a\nserpent, so the great group of constellations, clustering round the\nautumnal equinox, included not only the Eagle, but also the Scorpion and\nthe Serpent (_see_ diagram, p. 189).\n\nThere appears to be an obvious connection between these devices and the\nblessings pronounced by Jacob upon his sons, and by Moses upon the\ntribes; indeed, it would seem probable that it was the former that\nlargely determined the choice of the devices adopted by the four great\ndivisions of the host in the wilderness.\n\nThe blessing pronounced by Jacob on Judah runs, \"Judah is a lion's\nwhelp: from the prey, my son, thou art gone up: he stooped down, he\ncouched as a lion, and as an old lion; who shall rouse him up?\" \"The\nLion of the tribe of Judah\" is the title given to our Lord Himself in\nthe Apocalypse of St. John.\n\n[Illustration: OPHIUCHUS AND THE NEIGHBOURING CONSTELLATIONS.]\n\nThe blessing pronounced upon Joseph by Moses bears as emphatic a\nreference to the bull. \"The firstling of his bullock, majesty is his;\nand his horns are the horns of the wild-ox.\"\n\nJacob's blessing upon Joseph does not show any reference to the ox or\nbull in our Authorized Version. But in our Revised Version Jacob says of\nSimeon and Levi--\n\n     \"In their anger they slew a man,\n      And in their self-will they houghed an ox.\"\n\nThe first line appears to refer to the massacre of the Shechemites; the\nsecond is interpreted by the Jerusalem Targum, \"In their wilfulness they\nsold Joseph their brother, who is likened to an ox.\" And in the blessing\nof Joseph it is said that his \"branches (_margin_, daughters), run over\nthe wall.\" Some translators have rendered this, \"The daughters walk upon\nthe bull,\" \"wall\" and \"bull\" being only distinguishable in the original\nby a slight difference in the pointing.\n\nOf Reuben, his father said, \"Unstable as water, thou shalt not excel;\"\nand of Dan, \"Dan shall be a serpent by the way, an adder in the path,\nthat biteth the horse heels, so that his rider shall fall backward.\"\n\nThese two last prophecies supply the \"water\" and the \"serpent,\" which,\nadded to the \"man\" and \"eagle\" of the cherubic forms, are needed to\ncomplete the traditional standards, and are needed also to make them\nconform more closely to the constellation figures.\n\nNo such correspondence can be traced between the eight remaining tribes\nand the eight remaining constellations. Different writers combine them\nin different ways, and the allusions to constellation figures in the\nblessings of those tribes are in most cases very doubtful and obscure,\neven if it can be supposed that any such allusions are present at all.\nThe connection cannot be pushed safely beyond the four chief tribes, and\nthe four cherubic forms as represented in the constellations of the four\nquarters of the sky.\n\nThese four standards, or rather, three of them, meet us again in a very\ninteresting connection. When Israel reached the borders of Moab, Balak,\nthe king of Moab, sent for a seer of great reputation, Balaam, the son\nof Beor, to \"Come, curse me Jacob, and come, defy Israel.\" Balaam came,\nbut instead of cursing Jacob, blessed the people in four prophecies,\nwherein he made, what would appear to be, distinct references to the\nstandards of Judah, Joseph and Reuben.\n\n     \"Behold the people riseth up as a lioness,\n      And as a lion doth he lift himself up.\"\n\nThen again--\n\n     \"He couched, he lay down as a lion,\n      And as a lioness; who shall rouse him up?\"\n\nAnd in two passages--\n\n     \"God bringeth him forth out of Egypt;\n      He hath as it were the strength of the wild ox.\"\n\nThe wild ox and lion are obvious similes to use concerning a powerful\nand warlike people. These two similes are, therefore, not sufficient by\nthemselves to prove that the tribal standards are being referred to. But\nthe otherwise enigmatical verse--\n\n     \"Water shall flow from his buckets,\"\n\nappears more expressly as an allusion to the standard of Reuben, the\n\"man with the river,\" Aquarius pouring water from his pitcher; and if\none be a reference to a standard, the others may also well be.\n\n[Illustration: AQUARIUS AND THE NEIGHBOURING CONSTELLATIONS.]\n\nIt is surely something more than coincidence that Joseph, who by his\nfather's favour and his own merit was made the leader of the twelve\nbrethren, should be associated with the bull or wild ox, seeing that\nTaurus was the leader of the zodiac in those ages. It may also well be\nmore than coincidence, that when Moses was in the mount and \"the people\ngathered themselves unto Aaron, and said unto him, Up, make us gods,\nwhich shall go before us; for as for this Moses, the man that brought us\nup out of the land of Egypt, we wot not what is become of him,\" Aaron\nfashioned the golden earrings given him into the form of a molten calf;\ninto the similitude, that is to say, of Taurus, then Prince of the\nZodiac. If we turn to St. Stephen's reference to this occurrence, we\nfind that he says--\n\n     \"And they made a calf in those days, and offered sacrifice\n     unto the idol, and rejoiced in the works of their own hands.\n     Then God turned, and gave them up to worship the host of\n     heaven.\"\n\nIn other words, their worship of the golden calf was star worship.\n\nIt has been often pointed out that this sin of the Israelites, deep as\nit was, was not in itself a breach of the first commandment--\n\n     \"Thou shalt have no other gods before me.\"\n\nIt was a breach of the second--\n\n     \"Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any\n     likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in\n     the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth:\n     thou shalt not bow down thyself to them nor serve them.\"\n\nThe Israelites did not conceive that they were abandoning the worship of\nJehovah; they still considered themselves as worshipping the one true\nGod. They were monotheists still, not polytheists. But they had taken\nthe first false step that inevitably leads to polytheism; they had\nforgotten that they had seen \"no manner of similitude on the day that\nthe Lord spake unto\" them \"in Horeb out of the midst of the fire,\" and\nthey had worshipped this golden calf as the similitude of God; they had\n\"changed their glory into the similitude of an ox that eateth grass.\"\nAnd that was treason against Him; therefore St. Stephen said, \"God\nturned, and gave them up to worship the host of heaven;\" the one sin\ninevitably led to the other, indeed, involved it. In a later day, when\nJeroboam, who had been appointed by Solomon ruler over all the charge of\nthe house of Joseph, led the rebellion of the ten tribes against\nRehoboam, king of Judah, he set up golden calves at Dan and Bethel, and\nsaid unto his people, \"It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem:\nbehold thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of\nEgypt.\" There can be little doubt that, in this case, Jeroboam was not\nso much recalling the transgression in the wilderness--it was not an\nencouraging precedent--as he was adopting the well-known cognizance of\nthe tribe of Joseph, that is to say, of the two tribes of Ephraim and\nManasseh, which together made up the more important part of his kingdom,\nas the symbol of the presence of Jehovah.\n\nThe southern kingdom would naturally adopt the device of its predominant\ntribe, Judah, and it was as the undoubted cognizance of the kingdom of\nJudah that our Richard I., the Crusader, placed the Lion on his shield.\n\nMore definitely still, we find this one of the cherubic forms applied\nto set forth Christ Himself, as \"The Root of David,\" Prince of the house\nof Judah--\n\n     \"Behold, the Lion of the tribe of Juda, the Root of David,\n     hath prevailed to open the book, and to loose the seven seals\n     thereof.\"\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[187:1] Josephus, _Antiquities of the Jews_, III. vii. 5-7.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER V\n\nLEVIATHAN\n\n\nThere are amongst the constellations four great draconic or serpent-like\nforms. Chief of these is the great dragon coiled round the pole of the\necliptic and the pole of the equator as the latter was observed some\n4600 years ago. This is the dragon with which the Kneeler, _Hercules_,\nis fighting, and whose head he presses down with his foot. The second is\nthe great watersnake, _Hydra_, which 4600 years ago stretched for 105\u00b0\nalong the celestial equator of that day. Its head was directed towards\nthe ascending node, that is to say the point where the ecliptic, the\nsun's apparent path, crosses the equator at the spring equinox; and its\ntail stretched nearly to the descending node, the point where the\necliptic again meets the equator at the autumn equinox. The third was\nthe Serpent, the one held in the grip of the Serpent-holder. Its head\nerected itself just above the autumn equinox, and reached up as far as\nthe zenith; its tail lay along the equator. The fourth of these draconic\nforms was the great Sea-monster, stretched out along the horizon, with a\ndouble river--_Eridanus_--proceeding from it, just below the spring\nequinox.\n\n[Illustration: HERCULES AND DRACO.]\n\nNone of these four figures was suggested by the natural grouping of the\nstars. Very few of the constellation-figures were so suggested, and\nthese four in particular, as so high an authority as Prof. Schiaparelli\nexpressly points out, were not amongst that few. Their positions show\nthat they were designed some 4600 years ago, and that they have not been\nmaterially altered down to the present time. Though no forms or\nsemblances of forms are there in the heavens, yet we still seem to see,\nas we look upwards, not merely the stars themselves, but the same snakes\nand dragons, first imagined so many ages ago as coiling amongst them.\n\nThe tradition of these serpentine forms and of their peculiar placing in\nthe heavens was current among the Babylonians quite 1500 years after the\nconstellations were devised. For the little \"boundary stones\" often\ndisplay, amongst many other astronomical symbols, the coiled dragon\nround the top of the stone, the extended snake at its base (_see_ p.\n318), and at one or other corner the serpent bent into a right angle\nlike that borne by the Serpent-holder--that is to say, the three out of\nthe four serpentine forms that hold astronomically important positions\nin the sky.\n\nThe positions held by these three serpents or dragons have given rise to\na significant set of astronomical terms. The Dragon marked the poles of\nboth ecliptic and equator; the Watersnake marked the equator almost from\nnode to node; the Serpent marked the equator at one of the nodes. The\n\"Dragon's Head\" and the \"Dragon's Tail\" therefore have been taken as\nastronomical symbols of the ascending and descending nodes of the sun's\napparent path--the points where he seems to ascend above the equator in\nthe spring, and to descend below it again in the autumn.\n\nThe moon's orbit likewise intersects the apparent path of the sun in two\npoints, its two nodes; and the interval of time between its passage\nthrough one of these nodes and its return to that same node again is\ncalled a Draconic month, a month of the Dragon. The same symbols are\napplied by analogy to the moon's nodes.\n\nIndeed the \"Dragon's Head,\" [symbol], is the general sign for the\nascending node of any orbit, whether of moon, planet or comet, and the\n\"Dragon's Tail,\" [symbol], for the descending node. We not only use\nthese signs in astronomical works to-day, but the latter sign frequently\noccurs, figured exactly as we figure it now, on Babylonian boundary\nstones 3000 years old.\n\nBut an eclipse either of the sun or of the moon can only take place when\nthe latter is near one of its two nodes--is in the \"Dragon's Head\" or in\nthe \"Dragon's Tail.\" This relation might be briefly expressed by saying\nthat the Dragon--that is of the nodes--causes the eclipse. Hence the\nnumerous myths, found in so many nations, which relate how \"a dragon\ndevours the sun (or moon)\" at the time of an eclipse.\n\n[Illustration: HYDRA AND THE NEIGHBOURING CONSTELLATIONS.]\n\nThe dragon of eclipse finds its way into Hindoo mythology in a form\nwhich shows clearly that the myth arose from a misunderstanding of the\nconstellations. The equatorial Water-snake, stretching from one node\nnearly to the other, has resting upon it, _Crater_, the Cup. Combining\nthis with the expression for the two nodes, the Hindu myth has taken\nthe following form. The gods churned the surface of the sea to make the\nAmrita Cup, the cup of the water of life. \"And while the gods were\ndrinking that nectar after which they had so much hankered, a Danava,\nnamed Rahu, was drinking it in the guise of a god. And when the nectar\nhad only reached Rahu's throat, the sun and the moon discovered him, and\ncommunicated the fact to the gods.\" Rahu's head was at once cut off,\nbut, as the nectar had reached thus far, it was immortal, and rose to\nthe sky. \"From that time hath arisen a long-standing quarrel between\nRahu's head and the sun and moon,\" and the head swallows them from time\nto time, causing eclipses. Rahu's head marks the ascending, Ketu, the\ntail, the descending node.\n\nThis myth is very instructive. Before it could have arisen, not only\nmust the constellations have been mapped out, and the equator and\necliptic both recognized, but the inclination of the moon's orbit to\nthat of the sun must also have been recognized, together with the fact\nthat it was only when the moon was near its node that the eclipses,\neither of the sun or moon, could take place. In other words, the cause\nof eclipses must have been at one time understood, but that knowledge\nmust have been afterwards lost. We have seen already, in the chapter on\n\"The Deep,\" that the Hebrew idea of _teh[=o]m_ could not possibly have\nbeen derived from the Babylonian myth of _Tiamat_, since the knowledge\nof the natural object must precede the myth founded upon it. If,\ntherefore, Gen. i. and the Babylonian story of Creation be connected,\nthe one as original, the other as derived from that original, it is the\nBabylonian story that has been borrowed from the Hebrew, and it has\nbeen degraded in the borrowing.\n\nSo in this case, the myth of the Dragon, whose head and tail cause\neclipses, must have been derived from a corruption and misunderstanding\nof a very early astronomical achievement. The myth is evidence of\nknowledge lost, of science on the down-grade.\n\nSome may object that the myth may have brought about the conception of\nthe draconic constellations. A very little reflection will show that\nsuch a thing was impossible. If the superstition that an eclipse is\ncaused by an invisible dragon swallowing the sun or moon had really been\nthe origin of the constellational dragons, they would certainly have all\nbeen put in the zodiac, the only region of the sky where sun or moon can\nbe found; not outside it, where neither can ever come, and in\nconsequence where no eclipse can take place. Nor could such a\nsuperstition have led on to the discoveries above-mentioned: that the\nmoon caused eclipses of the sun, the earth those of the moon; that the\nmoon's orbit was inclined to the ecliptic, and that eclipses took place\nonly near the nodes. The idea of an unseen spiritual agent being at work\nwould prevent any search for a physical explanation, since polytheism is\nnecessarily opposed to science.\n\nThere is a word used in Scripture to denote a reptilian monster, which\nappears in one instance at least to refer to this dragon of eclipse, and\nso to be used in an astronomical sense. Job, in his first outburst of\ngrief cursed the day in which he was born, and cried--\n\n     \"Let them curse it that curse the day,\n      Who are ready (_margin_, skilful) to rouse up Leviathan.\n      Let the stars of the twilight thereof be dark\n      Let it look for light, but have none;\n      Neither let it behold the eyelids of the morning.\"\n\n\"_Leviathan_\" denotes an animal wreathed, gathering itself in coils:\nhence a serpent, or some great reptile. The description in Job xli. is\nevidently that of a mighty crocodile, though in Psalm civ. leviathan is\nsaid to play in \"the great and wide sea,\" which has raised a difficulty\nas to its identification in the minds of some commentators. In the\npresent passage it is supposed to mean one of the stellar dragons, and\nhence the mythical dragon of eclipse. Job desired that the day of his\nbirth should have been cursed by the magicians, so that it had been a\nday of complete and entire eclipse, not even the stars that preceded its\ndawn being allowed to shine.\n\nThe astronomical use of the word _leviathan_ here renders it possible\nthat there may be in Isa. xxvii. an allusion--quite secondary and\nindirect however--to the chief stellar dragons.\n\n     \"In that day the Lord with His sore and great and strong sword\n     shall punish leviathan the piercing serpent, even leviathan\n     that crooked serpent; and He shall slay the dragon that is in\n     the sea.\"\n\nThe marginal reading gives us instead of \"piercing,\" \"crossing like a\nbar\"; a most descriptive epithet for the long-drawn-out constellation of\n_Hydra_, the Water-snake, which stretched itself for one hundred and\nfive degrees along the primitive equator, and \"crossed\" the meridian\n\"like a bar\" for seven hours out of every twenty-four. \"The crooked\nserpent\" would denote the dragon coiled around the poles, whilst \"the\ndragon which is in the sea\" would naturally refer to _Cetus_, the\nSea-monster. The prophecy would mean then, that \"in that day\" the Lord\nwill destroy all the powers of evil which have, as it were, laid hold of\nthe chief places, even in the heavens.\n\nIn one passage \"the crooked serpent,\" here used as a synonym of\n_leviathan_, distinctly points to the dragon of the constellations. In\nJob's last answer to Bildad the Shuhite, he says--\n\n     \"He divideth the sea with His power,\n      And by His understanding He smiteth through the proud. (R.V.\n          _Rahab_.)\n      By His spirit He hath garnished the heavens;\n      His hand hath formed the crooked serpent.\"\n\nThe passage gives a good example of the parallelism of Hebrew poetry;\nthe repetition of the several terms of a statement, term by term, in a\nslightly modified sense; a rhyme, if the expression may be used, not of\nsound, but of signification.\n\nThus in the four verses just quoted, we have three terms in each--agent,\naction, object;--each appears in the first statement, each appears\nlikewise in the second. The third statement, in like manner, has its\nthree terms repeated in a varied form in the fourth.\n\nThus--\n\n     His power  = His understanding.\n     Divideth   = Smiteth through.\n     The sea    = _Rahab_ (the proud).\n\nAnd--\n\n     His spirit      = His hand.\n     Hath garnished  = Hath formed.\n     The heavens     = The crooked serpent.\n\nThere can be no doubt as to the significance of the two parallels. In\nthe first, dividing the sea, _i. e._ the Red Sea, is the correlative of\nsmiting through _Rahab_, \"the proud one,\" the name often applied to\nEgypt, as in Isa. xxx. 7: \"For Egypt helpeth in vain, and to no purpose:\ntherefore have I called her Rahab that sitteth still.\" In the second,\n\"adorning the heavens\" is the correlative of \"forming the crooked\nserpent.\" The great constellation of the writhing dragon, emphatically a\n\"crooked serpent,\" placed at the very crown of the heavens, is set for\nall the constellations of the sky.\n\nThere are several references to _Rahab_, as \"the dragon which is in the\nsea,\" all clearly referring to the kingdom of Egypt, personified as one\nof her own crocodiles lying-in-wait in her own river, the Nile, or\ntransferred, by a figure of speech, to the Red Sea, which formed her\neastern border. Thus in chapter li. Isaiah apostrophizes \"the arm of the\nLord.\"\n\n     \"Art Thou not It that cut Rahab in pieces,\n        That pierced the dragon?\n      Art Thou not It that dried up the sea,\n        The waters of the great deep;\n      That made the depths of the sea a way for the redeemed to pass\n          over?\"\n\nAnd in Psalm lxxxix. we have--\n\n     \"Thou rulest the raging of the sea;\n        When the waves thereof arise Thou stillest them.\n      Thou hast broken Rahab in pieces as one that is slain,\n        Thou hast scattered Thine enemies with Thy strong arm.\"\n\nSo the prophet Ezekiel is directed--\n\n     \"Son of man, take up a lamentation for Pharaoh, king of Egypt,\n     and say unto him, thou wast likened unto a young lion of the\n     nations: yet art thou as a dragon in the seas.\"\n\nIn all these passages it is only in an indirect and secondary sense that\nwe can see any constellational references in the various descriptions of\n\"the dragon that is in the sea.\" It is the crocodile of Egypt that is\nintended; Egypt the great oppressor of Israel, and one of the great\npowers of evil, standing as a representative of them all. The serpent or\ndragon forms in the constellations also represented the powers of evil;\nespecially the great enemy of God and man, \"the dragon, that old\nserpent, which is the Devil, and Satan.\" So there is some amount of\nappropriateness to the watery dragons of the sky--_Hydra_ and\n_Cetus_--in these descriptions of _Rahab_, the dragon of Egypt, without\nthere being any direct reference. Thus it is said of the Egyptian\n\"dragon in the seas,\" \"I have given thee for meat to the beasts of the\nearth, and to the fowls of the heaven;\" and again, \"I will cause all the\nfowls of the heaven to settle upon thee,\" just as _Corvus_, the Raven,\nis shown as having settled upon _Hydra_, the Water-snake, and is\ndevouring its flesh. Again, Pharaoh, the Egyptian dragon, says, \"My\nriver is mine own, and I have made it for myself;\" just as _Cetus_, the\nSea-monster, is represented as pouring forth _Eridanus_, the river, from\nits mouth.\n\n[Illustration: ANDROMEDA AND CETUS.]\n\nBut a clear and direct allusion to this last grouping of the\nconstellations occurs in the Apocalypse. In the twelfth chapter, the\nproud oppressor dragon from the sea is shown us again with much fulness\nof detail. There the Apostle describes his vision of a woman, who\nevidently represents the people of God, being persecuted by a dragon.\nThere is still a reminiscence of the deliverance of Israel in the Exodus\nfrom Egypt, for \"the woman _fled into the wilderness_, where she hath a\nplace prepared of God, that there they may nourish her a thousand two\nhundred and threescore days.\" And the vision goes on:--\n\n     \"And the serpent cast out of his mouth, after the woman water\n     as a river, that he might cause her to be carried away by the\n     stream. And the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened\n     her mouth, and swallowed up the river which the dragon cast\n     out of his mouth.\"\n\nThis appears to be precisely the action which is presented to us in the\nthree constellations of _Andromeda_, _Cetus_, and _Eridanus_. Andromeda\nis always shown as a woman in distress, and the Sea-monster, though\nplaced far from her in the sky, has always been understood to be her\npersecutor. Thus Aratus writes--\n\n     \"Andromeda, though far away she flies,\n      Dreads the Sea-monster, low in southern skies.\"\n\nThe latter, baffled in his pursuit of his victim, has cast the river,\n_Eridanus_, out of his mouth, which, flowing down below the southern\nhorizon, is apparently swallowed up by the earth.\n\nIt need occasion no surprise that we should find imagery used by St.\nJohn in his prophecy already set forth in the constellations nearly\n3,000 years before he wrote. Just as, in this same book, St. John\nrepeated Daniel's vision of the fourth beast, and Ezekiel's vision of\nthe living creatures, as he used the well-known details of the Jewish\nTemple, the candlesticks, the laver, the altar of incense, so he used a\ngroup of stellar figures perfectly well known at the time when he wrote.\nIn so doing the beloved disciple only followed the example which his\nMaster had already set him. For the imagery in the parables of our Lord\nis always drawn from scenes and objects known and familiar to all men.\n\nIn two instances in which _leviathan_ is mentioned, a further expression\nis used which has a distinct astronomical bearing. In the passage\nalready quoted, where Job curses the day of his birth, he desires that\nit may not \"behold the eyelids of the morning.\" And in the grand\ndescription of _leviathan_, the crocodile, in chapter xli., we have--\n\n     \"His neesings flash forth light,\n      And his eyes are like the eyelids of the morning.\"\n\nCanon Driver considers this as an \"allusion, probably to the reddish\neyes of the crocodile, which are said to appear gleaming through the\nwater before the head comes to the surface.\" This is because of the\nposition of the eyes on the animal's head, not because they have any\npeculiar brilliancy.\n\n     \"It is an idea exclusively Egyptian, and is another link in\n     the chain of evidence which connects the author of the poem\n     with Egypt. The crocodile's head is so formed that its highest\n     points are the eyes; and when it rises obliquely to the\n     surface the eyes are the first part of the whole animal to\n     emerge. The Egyptians observing this, compared it to the sun\n     rising out of the sea, and made it the hieroglyphic\n     representative of the idea of sunrise. Thus Horus Apollo says:\n     When the Egyptians represent the sunrise, they paint the eye\n     of the crocodile, because it is first seen as that animal\n     emerges from the water.\"[209:1]\n\nIn this likening of the eyes of the crocodile to the eyelids of the\nmorning, we have the comparison of one natural object with another. Such\ncomparison, when used in one way and for one purpose, is the essence of\npoetry; when used in another way and for another purpose, is the essence\nof science. Both poetry and science are opposed to myth, which is the\nconfusion of natural with imaginary objects, the mistaking the one for\nthe other.\n\nThus it is poetry when the Psalmist speaks of the sun \"as a bridegroom\ncoming out of his chamber\"; for there is no confusion in his thought\nbetween the two natural objects. The sun is like the bridegroom in the\nglory of his appearance. The Psalmist does not ascribe to him a bride\nand children.\n\nIt is science when the astronomer compares the spectrum of the sun with\nthe spectra of various metals in the laboratory. He is comparing natural\nobject with natural object, and is enabled to draw conclusions as to the\nelements composing the sun, and the condition in which they there exist.\n\nBut it is myth when the Babylonian represents Bel or Merodach as the\nsolar deity, destroying Tiamat, the dragon of darkness, for there is\nconfusion in the thought. The imaginary god is sometimes given solar,\nsometimes human, sometimes superhuman characteristics. There is no\nactuality in much of what is asserted as to the sun or as to the wholly\nimaginary being associated with it. The mocking words of Elijah to the\npriests of Baal were justified by the intellectual confusion of their\nideas, as well as by the spiritual degradation of their idolatry.\n\n     \"Cry aloud: for he is a god; either he is talking, or he is\n     pursuing, or he is in a journey, or peradventure he sleepeth,\n     and must be awakened.\"\n\nSuch nature-myths are not indications of the healthy mental development\nof a primitive people; they are the clear signs of a pathological\ncondition, the symptoms of intellectual disease.\n\nIt is well to bear in mind this distinction, this opposition between\npoetry and myth, for ignoring it has led to not a little misconception\nas to the occurrence of myth in Scripture, especially in connection with\nthe names associated with the crocodile. Thus it has been broadly\nasserted that \"the original mythical signification of the monsters\n_teh\u00f4m_, _livy[=a]th[=a]n_, _tannim_, _rah\u00e2b_, is unmistakably evident.\"\n\nOf these names the first signifies the world of waters; the second and\nthird real aquatic animals; and the last, \"the proud one,\" is simply an\nepithet of Egypt, applied to the crocodile as the representation of the\nkingdom. There is no more myth in setting forth Egypt by the crocodile\nor leviathan than in setting forth Great Britain by the lion, or Russia\nby the bear.\n\nThe Hebrews in setting forth their enemies by crocodile and other\nferocious reptiles were not describing any imaginary monsters of the\nprim\u00e6val chaos, but real oppressors. The Egyptian, with his \"house of\nbondage,\" the Assyrian, \"which smote with a rod,\" the Chaldean who made\nhavoc of Israel altogether, were not dreams. And in beseeching God to\ndeliver them from their latest oppressor the Hebrews naturally recalled,\nnot some idle tale of the fabulous achievements of Babylonian deities,\nbut the actual deliverance God had wrought for them at the Red Sea.\nThere the Egyptian crocodile had been made \"meat to the people\ninhabiting the wilderness\" when the corpses of Pharaoh's bodyguard, cast\nup on the shore, supplied the children of Israel with the weapons and\narmour of which they stood in need. So in the day of their utter\ndistress they could still cry in faith and hope--\n\n     \"Yet God is my King of old,\n      Working salvation in the midst of the earth.\n      Thou didst divide the sea by Thy strength:\n      Thou brakest the heads of the dragons in the waters.\n      Thou brakest the heads of leviathan in pieces,\n      And gavest him to be meat to the people inhabiting the wilderness.\n      Thou didst cleave the fountain and the flood:\n      Thou driedst up mighty rivers.\n      The day is Thine, the night also is Thine:\n      Thou hast prepared the light and the sun.\n      Thou hast set all the borders of the earth:\n      Thou hast made summer and winter.\"\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[209:1] P. H. Gosse, in the _Imperial Bible-Dictionary_.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VI\n\nTHE PLEIADES\n\n\nThe translators of the Bible, from time to time, find themselves in a\ndifficulty as to the correct rendering of certain words in the original.\nThis is especially the case with the names of plants and animals. Some\nsort of clue may be given by the context, as, for instance, if the\nregion is mentioned in which a certain plant is found, or the use that\nis made of it; or, in the case of an animal, whether it is \"clean\" or\n\"unclean,\" what are its habits, and with what other animals it is\nassociated. But in the case of the few Scripture references to special\ngroups of stars, we have no such help. We are in the position in which\nMacaulay's New Zealander might be, if, long after the English nation had\nbeen dispersed, and its language had ceased to be spoken amongst men, he\nwere to find a book in which the rivers \"Thames,\" \"Trent,\" \"Tyne,\" and\n\"Tweed\" were mentioned by name, but without the slightest indication of\ntheir locality. His attempt to fit these names to particular rivers\nwould be little more than a guess--a guess the accuracy of which he\nwould have no means for testing.\n\nThis is somewhat our position with regard to the four Hebrew names,\n_K[=i]mah_, _K[)e]s[=i]l_, _`Ayish_, and _Mazzaroth_; yet in each case\nthere are some slight indications which have given a clue to the\ncompilers of our Revised Version, and have, in all probability, guided\nthem correctly.\n\nThe constellations are not all equally attractive. A few have drawn the\nattention of all men, however otherwise inattentive. North-American\nIndians and Australian savages have equally noted the flashing\nbrilliancy of Orion, and the compact little swarm of the Pleiades. All\nnorthern nations recognize the seven bright stars of the Great Bear, and\nthey are known by a score of familiar names. They are the \"Plough,\" or\n\"Charles's Wain\" of Northern Europe; the \"Seven Plough Oxen\" of ancient\nRome; the \"Bier and Mourners\" of the Arabs; the \"Chariot,\" or \"Waggon,\"\nof the old Chaldeans; the \"Big Dipper\" of the prosaic New England\nfarmer. These three groups are just the three which we find mentioned in\nthe earliest poetry of Greece. So Homer writes, in the Fifth Book of the\n_Odyssey_, that Ulysses--\n\n     \"There view'd the Pleiads, and the Northern Team,\n      And Great Orion's more refulgent beam,\n      To which, around the axle of the sky,\n      The Bear, revolving, points his golden eye.\"\n\nIt seems natural to conclude that these constellations, the most\nstriking, or at all events the most universally recognized, would be\nthose mentioned in the Bible.\n\nThe passages in which the Hebrew word _K[=i]mah_, is used are the\nfollowing--\n\n     (God) \"maketh Arcturus, Orion, and Pleiades (_K[=i]mah_), and\n     the chambers of the south\" (Job ix. 9).\n\n     \"Canst thou bind the sweet influences of Pleiades\n     (_K[=i]mah_), or loose the bands of Orion?\" (Job xxxviii. 31).\n\n     \"Seek Him that maketh the seven stars (_K[=i]mah_) and Orion\"\n     (Amos v. 8).\n\nIn our Revised Version, _K[=i]mah_ is rendered \"Pleiades\" in all three\ninstances, and of course the translators of the Authorized Version meant\nthe same group by the \"seven stars\" in their free rendering of the\npassage from Amos. The word _k[=i]mah_ signifies \"a heap,\" or \"a\ncluster,\" and would seem to be related to the Assyrian word _kimtu_,\n\"family,\" from a root meaning to \"tie,\" or \"bind\"; a family being a\nnumber of persons bound together by the very closest tie of\nrelationship. If this be so we can have no doubt that our translators\nhave rightly rendered the word. There is one cluster in the sky, and one\nalone, which appeals to the unaided sight as being distinctly and\nunmistakably a family of stars--the Pleiades.\n\nThe names _`Ash_, or _`Ayish_, _K[)e]s[=i]l_, and _K[=i]mah_ are\npeculiar to the Hebrews, and are not, so far as we have any evidence at\npresent, allied to names in use for any constellation amongst the\nBabylonians and Assyrians; they have, as yet, not been found on any\ncuneiform inscription. Amos, the herdsman of Tekoa, living in the eighth\ncentury B.C., two centuries before the Jews were carried into exile to\nBabylon, evidently knew well what the terms signified, and the writer of\nthe Book of Job was no less aware of their signification. But the\n\"Seventy,\" who translated the Hebrew Scriptures into Greek, were not at\nall clear as to the identification of these names of constellations;\nthough they made their translation only two or three centuries after the\nJews returned to Jerusalem under Ezra and Nehemiah, when oral tradition\nshould have still supplied the meaning of such astronomical terms. Had\nthese names been then known in Babylon, they could not have been unknown\nto the learned men of Alexandria in the second century before our era,\nsince at that time there was a very direct scientific influence of the\none city upon the other. This Hebrew astronomy was so far from being due\nto Babylonian influence and teaching, that, though known centuries\nbefore the exile, after the exile we find the knowledge of its technical\nterms was lost. On the other hand, _k[=i]ma_ was the term used in all\nSyriac literature to denominate the Pleiades, and we accordingly find in\nthe Peschitta, the ancient Syriac version of the Bible, made about the\nsecond century A.D., the term _k[=i]ma_ retained throughout, but _kesil_\nand _`ayish_ were reduced to their supposed Syriac equivalents.\n\nWhatever uncertainty was felt as to the meaning of _k[=i]mah_ by the\nearly translators, it is not now seriously disputed that the Pleiades is\nthe group of stars in question.\n\nThe word _k[=i]mah_ means, as we have seen, \"cluster\" or \"heap,\" so also\nthe word _Pleiades_, which we use to-day, is probably derived from the\nGreek _Pleiones_, \"many.\" Several Greek poets--Athen\u00e6us, Hesiod, Pindar,\nand Simonides--wrote the word _Peleiades_, i. e. \"rock pigeons,\"\nconsidered as flying from the Hunter Orion; others made them the seven\ndoves who carried ambrosia to the infant Zeus. D'Arcy Thompson says,\n\"The Pleiad is in many languages associated with bird-names, . . . and I\nam inclined to take the bird on the bull's back in coins of Eretria,\nDic\u00e6a, and Thurii for the associated constellation of the\nPleiad\"[217:1]--the Pleiades being situated on the shoulder of Taurus\nthe Bull.\n\nThe Hyades were situated on the head of the Bull, and in the Euphrates\nregion these two little groups of stars were termed together,\n_Mas-tab-ba-gal-gal-la_, the Great Twins of the ecliptic, as Castor and\nPollux were the Twins of the zodiac. In one tablet _'\u00cemina bi_, \"the\nsevenfold one,\" and _Gut-d\u00fba_, \"the Bull-in-front,\" are mentioned side\nby side, thus agreeing well with their interpretation of \"Pleiades and\nHyades.\" The Semitic name for the Pleiades was also _T\u00eamennu_; and these\ngroups of stars, worshipped as gods by the Babylonians, may possibly\nhave been the _Gad_ and _Meni_, \"that troop,\" and \"that number,\"\nreferred to by the prophet Isaiah (lxv. 11).\n\nOn many Babylonian cylinder seals there are engraved seven small discs,\nin addition to other astronomical symbols. These seven small stellar\ndiscs are almost invariably arranged in the form :::' or:::\u00b7 much as we\nshould now-a-days plot the cluster of the Pleiades when mapping on a\nsmall scale the constellations round the Bull. It is evident that these\nseven little stellar discs do not mean the \"seven planets,\" for in many\ncases the astronomical symbols which accompany them include both those\nof the sun and moon. It is most probable that they signify the Pleiades,\nor perhaps alternatively the Hyades.\n\nPossibly, reference is made to the worship of the Pleiades when the\nking of Assyria, in the seventh century B.C., brought men from Babylon\nand other regions to inhabit the depopulated cities of Samaria, \"and the\nmen of Babylon made Succoth-benoth.\" The Rabbis are said to have\nrendered this by the \"booths of the Maidens,\" or the \"tents of the\nDaughters,\"--the Pleiades being the maidens in question.\n\nGenerally they are the Seven Sisters. Hesiod calls them the Seven\nVirgins, and the Virgin Stars. The names given to the individual stars\nare those of the seven daughters of Atlas and Pleione; thus Milton terms\nthem the Seven Atlantic Sisters.\n\nAs we have seen (p. 189), the device associated expressly with Joseph is\nthe Bull, and Jacob's blessing to his son has been sometimes rendered--\n\n     \"Joseph is a fruitful bough, even a fruitful bough by a well;\n     _the daughters walk upon the bull_.\"\n\nThat is, \"the Seven Sisters,\" the Pleiades, are on the shoulder of\nTaurus.\n\nAratus wrote of the number of the Pleiades--\n\n     \"Seven paths aloft men say they take,\n      Yet six alone are viewed by mortal eyes.\n      From Zeus' abode no star unknown is lost,\n      Since first from birth we heard, but thus the tale is told.\"\n\n[Illustration: STARS OF THE PLEIADES.]\n\nEuripides speaks of these \"seven paths,\" and Eratosthenes calls them\n\"the seven-starred Pleiad,\" although he describes one as\n\"All-Invisible.\" There is a surprisingly universal tradition that they\n\"were seven who now are six.\" We find it not only in ancient Greece and\nItaly, but also among the black fellows of Australia, the Malays of\nBorneo, and the negroes of the Gold Coast. There must be some reason to\naccount for this widespread tradition. Some of the stars are known to be\nslightly variable, and one of the fainter stars in the cluster may have\nshone more brightly in olden time;--the gaseous spectrum of Pleione\nrenders it credible that this star may once have had great brilliancy.\nAlcyone, now the brightest star in the cluster, was not mentioned by\nPtolemy among the four brightest Pleiads of his day. The six now visible\nto ordinary sight are Alcyone, Electra, Atlas, Maia, Merope and Taygeta.\nCeloeno is the next in brightness, and the present candidate for the\nseventh place. By good sight, several more may be made out: thus\nMaestlin, the tutor of Kepler, mapped eleven before the invention of the\ntelescope, and in our own day Carrington and Denning have counted\nfourteen with the naked eye.\n\nIn clear mountain atmosphere more than seven would be seen by any\nkeen-sighted observer. Usually six stars may be made out with the naked\neye in both the Pleiades and the Hyades, or, if more than six, then\nseveral more; though with both groups the number of \"seven\" has always\nbeen associated.\n\nIn the New Testament we find the \"Seven Stars\" also mentioned. In the\nfirst chapter of the Revelation, the Apostle St. John says that he \"saw\nseven golden candlesticks; and in the midst of the seven candlesticks\none like unto the Son of Man, . . . and He had in His right hand seven\nstars.\" Later in the same chapter it is explained that \"the seven stars\nare the angels of the seven churches; and the seven candlesticks which\nthou sawest are the seven churches.\" The seven stars in a single compact\ncluster thus stand for the Church in its many diversities and its\nessential unity.\n\nThis beautiful little constellation has become associated with a foolish\nfable. When it was first found that not only did the planets move round\nthe sun in orbits, but that the sun itself also was travelling rapidly\nthrough space, a German astronomer, M\u00e4dler, hazarded the suggestion that\nthe centre of the sun's motion lay in the Pleiades. It was soon evident\nthat there was no sufficient ground for this suggestion, and that many\nclearly established facts were inconsistent with it. Nevertheless the\nidea caught hold of the popular mind, and it has acquired an amazing\nvogue. Non-astronomical writers have asserted that Alcyone, the\nbrightest Pleiad, is the centre of the entire universe; some have even\nbeen sufficiently irreverent to declare that it is the seat of heaven,\nthe throne of God. A popular London divine, having noticed a bright ring\nround Alcyone on a photograph of the group, took that halo, which every\nphotographer would at once recognize as a mere photographic defect, as a\nconfirmation of this baseless fancy. Foolishness of this kind has\nnothing to support it in science or religion; it is an offence against\nboth. We have no reason to regard the Pleiades as the centre of the\nuniverse, or as containing the attracting mass which draws our sun\nforward in its vast mysterious orbit.\n\nR. H. Allen, in his survey of the literature of the Pleiades, mentions\nthat \"Drach surmised that their midnight culmination in the time of\nMoses, ten days after the autumnal equinox, may have fixed the Day of\nAtonement on the 10th of Tishri.\"[221:1] This is worth quoting as a\nsample of the unhappy astronomical guesses of commentators. Drach\noverlooked that his suggestion necessitated the assumption that in the\ntime of Moses astronomers had already learned, first, to determine the\nactual equinox; next, to observe the culmination of stars on the\nmeridian rather than their risings and settings; and, third and more\nimportant, to determine midnight by some artificial measurement of time.\nNone of these can have been primitive operations; we have no knowledge\nthat any of the three were in use in the time of Moses; certainly they\nwere not suitable for a people on the march, like the Israelites in the\nwilderness. Above all, Drach ignored in this suggestion the fact that\nthe Jewish calendar was a lunar-solar one, and hence that the tenth day\nof the seventh month could not bear any fixed relation either to the\nautumnal equinox, or to the midnight culmination of the Pleiades; any\nmore than our Easter Sunday is fixed to the spring equinox on March 22.\n\nThe Pleiades were often associated with the late autumn, as Aratus\nwrites--\n\n     \"Men mark them rising with Sol's setting light,\n      Forerunners of the winter's gloomy night.\"\n\nThis is what is technically known as the \"acronical rising\" of the\nPleiades, their rising at sunset; in contrast to their \"heliacal\nrising,\" their rising just before daybreak, which ushered in the spring\ntime. This acronical rising has led to the association of the group with\nthe rainy season, and with floods. Thus Statius called the cluster\n\"Pliadum nivosum sidus,\" and Valerius Flaccus distinctly used the word\n\"Pliada\" for the showers. Josephus says that during the siege of\nJerusalem by Antiochus Epiphanes in 170 B.C., the besieged wanted for\nwater until relieved \"by a large shower of rain which fell at the\nsetting of the Pleiades.\" R. H. Allen, in his _Star-Names and their\nMeanings_, states that the Pleiades \"are intimately connected with\ntraditions of the flood found among so many and widely separated\nnations, and especially in the Deluge-myth of Chald\u00e6a,\" but he does not\ncite authorities or instances.\n\nThe Talmud gives a curious legend connecting the Pleiades with the\nFlood:--\n\n     \"When the Holy One, blessed be He! wished to bring the Deluge\n     upon the world, He took two stars out of Pleiades, and thus\n     let the Deluge loose. And when He wished to arrest it, He took\n     two stars out of Arcturus and stopped it.\"[223:1]\n\nIt would seem from this that the Rabbis connected the number of visible\nstars with the number of the family in the Ark--with the \"few, that\nis, eight souls . . . saved by water,\" of whom St. Peter speaks. Six\nPleiades only are usually seen by the naked eye; traditionally seven\nwere seen; but the Rabbis assumed that two, not one, were lost.\n\nPerhaps we may trace a reference to this supposed association of\n_K[=i]mah_ with the Flood in the passage from Amos already quoted:--\n\n     \"Seek Him that maketh the seven stars and Orion, . . . that\n     calleth for the waters of the sea, and poureth them out upon\n     the face of the earth: the Lord is His name.\"\n\nMany ancient nations have set apart days in the late autumn in honour of\nthe dead, no doubt because the year was then considered as dead. This\nseason being marked by the acronical rising of the Pleiades, that group\nhas become associated with such observances. There is, however, no\nreference to any custom of this kind in Scripture.\n\nWhat is the meaning of the inquiry addressed to Job by the Almighty?\n\n     \"Canst thou bind the sweet influences of Pleiades?\"\n\nWhat was the meaning which it possessed in the thought of the writer of\nthe book? What was the meaning which we should now put on such an\ninquiry, looking at the constellations from the standpoint which the\nresearches of modern astronomy have given us?\n\nThe first meaning of the text would appear to be connected with the\napparent movement of the sun amongst the stars in the course of the\nyear. We cannot see the stars by daylight, or see directly where the sun\nis situated with respect to them; but, in very early times, men learnt\nto associate the seasons of the year with the stars which were last seen\nin the morning, above the place where the sun was about to rise; in the\ntechnical term once in use, with the heliacal risings of stars. When the\nconstellations were first designed, the Pleiades rose heliacally at the\nbeginning of April, and were the sign of the return of spring. Thus\nAratus, in his constellation poem writes--\n\n     \"Men mark them (_i. e._ the Pleiades) rising with the solar ray,\n        The harbinger of summer's brighter day.\"\n\nThey heralded, therefore, the revival of nature from her winter sleep,\nthe time of which the kingly poet sang so alluringly--\n\n     \"For, lo, the winter is past,\n        The rain is over and gone;\n      The flowers appear on the earth;\n        The time of the singing of birds is come,\n      And the voice of the turtle is heard in our land;\n        The fig-tree ripeneth her green figs,\n      And the vines are in blossom,\n        They give forth their fragrance.\"\n\nThe constellation which thus heralded the return of this genial season\nwas poetically taken as representing the power and influence of spring.\nTheir \"sweet influences\" were those that had rolled away the gravestone\nof snow and ice which had lain upon the winter tomb of nature. Theirs\nwas the power that brought the flowers up from under the turf; earth's\nconstellations of a million varied stars to shine upwards in answer to\nthe constellations of heaven above. Their influences filled copse and\nwood with the songs of happy birds. Theirs stirred anew the sap in the\nveins of the trees, and drew forth their reawakened strength in bud and\nblossom. Theirs was the bleating of the new-born lambs; theirs the\nmurmur of the reviving bees.\n\nUpon this view, then, the question to Job was, in effect, \"What control\nhast thou over the powers of nature? Canst thou hold back the sun from\nshining in spring-time--from quickening flower, and herb, and tree with\nits gracious warmth? This is God's work, year by year over a thousand\nlands, on a million hills, in a million valleys. What canst thou do to\nhinder it?\"\n\nThe question was a striking one; one which must have appealed to the\npatriarch, evidently a keen observer and lover of nature; and it was\nentirely in line with the other inquiries addressed to him in the same\nchapter.\n\n     \"Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth?\"\n\nThe Revised Version renders the question--\n\n     \"Canst thou bind the _cluster_ of the Pleiades?\"\n\nreading the Hebrew word _Ma`anaddoth_, instead of _Ma'adannoth_,\nfollowing in this all the most ancient versions. On this view, Job is,\nin effect, asked, \"Canst thou gather together the stars in the family of\nthe Pleiades and keep them in their places?\"\n\nThe expression of a chain or band is one suggested by the appearance of\nthe group to the eye, but it is no less appropriate in the knowledge\nwhich photography and great telescopes have given us. To quote from Miss\nClerke's description of the nebula discovered round the brighter stars\nof the Pleiades--Alcyone, Asterope, Celoeno, Electra, Maia, Merope and\nTaygeta:--\n\n     \"Besides the Maia vortex, the Paris photographs depicted a\n     series of nebulous bars on either side of Merope, and a\n     curious streak extending like a finger-post from Electra\n     towards Alcyone . . . Streamers and fleecy masses of cosmical\n     fog seem almost to fill the spaces between the stars, as\n     clouds choke a mountain valley. The chief points of its\n     concentration are the four stars Alcyone, Merope, Maia, and\n     Electra; but it includes as well Celoeno and Taygeta, and is\n     traceable southward from Asterope over an arc of 1\u00b0 10\u00b4. . . .\n     The greater part of the constellation is shown as veiled in\n     nebulous matter of most unequal densities. In some places it\n     lies in heavy folds and wreaths, in others it barely qualifies\n     the darkness of the sky-ground. The details of its\n     distribution come out with remarkable clearness, and are\n     evidently to a large extent prescribed by the relative\n     situations of the stars. Their lines of junction are\n     frequently marked by nebulous rays, establishing between them,\n     no doubt, relations of great physical importance; and masses\n     of nebula, in numerous instances, seem as if _pulled out of\n     shape_ and drawn into festoons by the attractions of\n     neighbouring stars. But the strangest exemplification of\n     this filamentous tendency is in a fine, thread-like process,\n     3\u00b4\u00b4 or 4\u00b4\u00b4 wide, but 35\u00b4 to 40\u00b4 long, issuing in an easterly\n     direction from the edge of the nebula about Maia, and\n     stringing together seven stars, met in its advance, like beads\n     on a rosary. The largest of these is apparently the occasion\n     of a slight deviation from its otherwise rectilinear course. A\n     second similar but shorter streak runs, likewise east and\n     west, through the midst of the formation.\"[229:1]\n\n[Illustration: NEBULOSITIES OF THE PLEIADES.\n\nPhotographed by Dr. Max Wolf, Heidelberg.]\n\nLater photographs have shown that not only are the several stars of the\nPleiades linked together by nebulous filaments, but the whole cluster is\nembedded in a nebulous net that spreads its meshes far out into space.\nNot only is the group thus tied or bound together by nebulous clouds, it\nhas other tokens of forming but a single family. The movements of the\nseveral stars have been carefully measured, and for the most part the\nentire cluster is drifting in the same direction; a few stars do not\nshare in the common motion, and are probably apparent members, seen in\nperspective projected on the group, but in reality much nearer to us.\nThe members of the group also show a family likeness in constitution.\nWhen the spectroscope is turned upon it, the chief stars are seen to\nclosely resemble each other; the principal lines in their spectra being\nthose of hydrogen, and these are seen as broad and diffused bands, so\nthat the spectrum we see resembles that of the brightest star of the\nheavens, Sirius.\n\nThere can be little doubt but that the leaders of the group are actually\ngreater, brighter suns than Sirius itself. We do not know the exact\ndistance of the Pleiades, they are so far off that we can scarcely do\nmore than make a guess at it; but it is probable that they are so far\ndistant that our sun at like distance would prove much too faint to be\nseen at all by the naked eye. The Pleiades then would seem to be a most\nglorious star-system, not yet come to its full growth. From the\nstandpoint of modern science we may interpret the \"chain\" or \"the sweet\ninfluences\" of the Pleiades as consisting in the enfolding wisps of\nnebulosity which still, as it were, knit together those vast young suns;\nor, and in all probability more truly, as that mysterious force of\ngravitation which holds the mighty system together, and in obedience to\nwhich the group has taken its present shape. The question, if asked us\nto-day, would be, in effect, \"Canst thou bind together by nebulous\nchains scores of suns, far more glorious than thine own, and scattered\nover many millions of millions of miles of space; or canst thou loosen\nthe attraction which those suns exercise upon each other, and move them\nhither and thither at thy will?\"\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[217:1] _Glossary of Greek Birds_, pp. 28, 29.\n\n[221:1] R. H. Allen, _Star Names and their Meanings_, p. 401.\n\n[223:1] _Berachoth_, fol. 59, col. 1.\n\n[229:1] _The System of the Stars_, 1st edit., pp. 230-232.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VII\n\nORION\n\n\n_K[)e]s[=i]l_, the word rendered by our translators \"Orion,\" occurs in\nan astronomical sense four times in the Scriptures; twice in the Book of\nJob, once in the prophecy of Amos, and once, in the plural, in the\nprophecy of Isaiah. In the three first cases the word is used in\nconjunction with _K[=i]mah_, \"the Pleiades,\" as shown in the preceding\nchapter. The fourth instance is rendered in the Authorized Version--\n\n     \"For the stars of heaven and the constellations\n     (_K[)e]s[=i]lim_) thereof shall not give their light.\"\n\nThe Hebrew word _K[)e]s[=i]l_ signifies \"a fool,\" and that in the\ngeneral sense of the term as used in Scripture; not merely a silly,\nuntaught, feckless person, but a godless and an impious one. Thus, in\nthe Book of Proverbs, Divine Wisdom is represented as appealing--\n\n     \"How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity? the\n     scorners delight in their scorning, and _fools_ hate\n     knowledge?\"\n\n[Illustration: THE STARS OF ORION.]\n\nWhat constellation was known to the ancient Hebrews as \"the fool\"? The\nSeventy who rendered the Old Testament into Greek confess themselves at\nfault. Once, in Amos, both _K[=i]mah_ and _K[)e]s[=i]l_ are left\nuntranslated. Instead of \"Him that maketh the seven stars and Orion,\" we\nhave the paraphrase, \"That maketh and transformeth all things.\" Once, in\nJob, it is rendered \"Hesperus,\" the evening star; and in the other two\ninstances it is given as \"Orion.\" The tradition of the real meaning of\nthe word as an astronomical term had been lost, or at least much\nconfused before the Septuagint Version was undertaken. The Jews had\nnot, so far as there is any present evidence, learned the term in\nBabylon, for the word has not yet been found as a star-name on any\ncuneiform inscription. It was well known before the Exile, for Amos and\nIsaiah both use it, and the fact that the author of Job also uses it,\nindicates that he did not gain his knowledge of the constellation during\nthe Babylonian captivity.\n\nThe majority of translators and commentators have, however, agreed in\nbelieving that the brightest and most splendid constellation in the sky\nis intended--the one which we know as Orion. This constellation is one\nof the very few in which the natural grouping of the stars seems to\nsuggest the figure that has been connected with it. Four bright stars,\nin a great trapezium, are taken to mark the two shoulders and the two\nlegs of a gigantic warrior; a row of three bright stars, midway between\nthe four first named, suggest his gemmed belt; another row of stars\nstraight down from the centre star of the belt, presents his sword; a\ncompact cluster of three stars marks his head. A gigantic warrior, armed\nfor the battle, seems thus to be outlined in the heavens. As Longfellow\ndescribes him--\n\n     \"Begirt with many a blazing star,\n      Stood the great giant, Algebar,\n      Orion, hunter of the beast!\n      His sword hung gleaming by his side,\n      And, on his arm, the lion's hide\n      Scattered across the midnight air\n      The golden radiance of its hair.\"\n\nIn accord with the form naturally suggested by the grouping of the\nstars, the Syrians have called the constellation _Gabb[=a]r[=a]_; and\nthe Arabs, _Al Jabb[=a]r_; and the Jews, _Gibb[=o]r_. The brightest star\nof the constellation, the one in the left knee, now generally known as\n_Rigel_, is still occasionally called _Algebar_, a corruption of _Al\nJabb[=a]r_, though one of the fainter stars near it now bears that name.\nThe meaning in each case is \"the giant,\" \"the mighty one,\" \"the great\nwarrior,\" and no doubt from the first formation of the constellations,\nthis, the most brilliant of all, was understood to set forth a warrior\narmed for the battle. There were _gibb[=o]rim_ before the Flood; we are\ntold that after \"the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and\nthey bare children to them, the same became mighty men (_gibb[=o]rim_)\nwhich were of old, men of renown.\"\n\nBut according to Jewish tradition, this constellation was appropriated\nto himself by a particular mighty man. We are told in Gen. x. that--\n\n     \"Cush begat Nimrod: he began to be a mighty one (_gibb[=o]r_)\n     in the earth.\"\n\nand it is alleged that he, or his courtiers, in order to flatter him,\ngave his name to this constellation, just as thousands of years later\nthe University of Leipzic proposed to call the belt stars of Orion,\n_Stell\u00e6 Napoleonis_, \"the Constellation of Napoleon.\"[234:1]\n\nThere was at one time surprise felt, that, deeply as the name of Nimrod\nhad impressed itself upon Eastern tradition, his name, as such, was\n\"nowhere found in the extensive literature which has come down to us\"\nfrom Babylon. It is now considered that the word, Nimrod, is simply a\nHebrew variant of Merodach, \"the well-known head of the Babylonian\npantheon.\" He was probably \"the first king of Babylonia or the first\nreally great ruler of the country.\" It is significant, as Mr. T. G.\nPinches points out, in his _Old Testament in the Light of the Records\nfrom Assyria and Babylonia_, that just as in Genesis it is stated that\n\"the beginning of his (Nimrod's) kingdom was Babel, and Erech, and\nAccad, and Calneh,\" so Merodach is stated, in the cuneiform records, to\nhave built Babel and Erech and Niffer, which last is probably Calneh.\nThe Hebrew scribes would seem to have altered the name of Merodach in\ntwo particulars: they dropped the last syllable, thus suggesting that\nthe name was derived from _Marad_, \"the rebellious one\"; and they\nprefixed the syllable \"Ni,\" just as \"Nisroch\" was written for \"Assur.\"\n\"From a linguistic point of view, therefore, the identification of\nNimrod as a changed form of Merodach is fully justified.\"\n\n[Illustration: ORION AND THE NEIGHBOURING CONSTELLATIONS.]\n\nThe attitude of Orion in the sky is a striking one. The warrior is\nrepresented as holding a club in the right hand, and a skin or shield in\nthe left. His left foot is raised high as if he were climbing a steep\nascent, he seems to be endeavouring to force his way up into the zodiac,\nand--as Longfellow expresses it--to be beating the forehead of the\nBull. His right leg is not shown below the knee, for immediately\nbeneath him is the little constellation of the Hare, by the early Arabs\nsometimes called, _Al Kursiyy al Jabb[=a]r_, \"the Chair of the Giant,\"\nfrom its position. Behind Orion are the two Dogs, each constellation\ndistinguished by a very brilliant star; the Greater Dog, by _Sirius_,\nthe brightest star in the heavens; the Lesser Dog, by _Procyon_, i.e.\nthe \"Dog's Forerunner.\" Not far above Orion, on the shoulder of the\nBull, is the little cluster of the Pleiades.\n\nThere are--as we have seen--only three passages where _K[=i]mah_,\nliterally \"the cluster\" or \"company,\"--the group we know as the\nPleiades,--is mentioned in Scripture; and in each case it is associated\nwith _K[)e]s[=i]l_, \"the fool,\"--Orion. Several Greek poets give us the\nsame association, likening the stars to \"rock-pigeons, flying from the\nHunter Orion.\" And Hesiod in his _Works and Days_ writes--\n\n                \"Do not to plough forget,\n     When the Seven Virgins, and Orion, set:\n     Thus an advantage always shall appear,\n     In ev'ry labour of the various year.\n     If o'er your mind prevails the love of gain,\n     And tempts you to the dangers of the main,\n     Yet in her harbour safe the vessel keep,\n     When strong Orion chases to the deep\n     The Virgin stars.\"\n\nThere is a suggestion of intense irony in this position of Orion amongst\nthe other constellations. He is trampling on the Hare--most timid of\ncreatures; he is climbing up into the zodiac to chase the little company\nof the Pleiades--be they seven doves or seven maidens--and he is\nthwarted even in this unheroic attempt by the determined attitude of the\nguardian Bull.\n\nA similar irony is seen in the Hebrew name for the constellation. The\n\"mighty Hunter,\" the great hero whom the Babylonians had deified and\nmade their supreme god, the Hebrews regarded as the \"fool,\" the \"impious\nrebel.\" Since Orion is Nimrod, that is Merodach, there is small wonder\nthat _K[)e]s[=i]l_ was not recognized as his name in Babylonia.[238:1]\n\nThe attitude of Orion--attempting to force his way upward into the\nzodiac--and the identification of Merodach with him, gives emphasis to\nIsaiah's reproach, many centuries later, against the king of Babylon,\nthe successor of Merodach--\n\n     \"Thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I\n     will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also\n     upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north:\n     I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like\n     the Most High.\"\n\nIn the sight of the Hebrew prophets and poets, Merodach, in taking to\nhimself this group of stars, published his shame and folly. He had\nascended into heaven, but his glittering belt was only his fetter; he\nwas bound and gibbeted in the sky like a captive, a rebel, and who could\nloose his bands?\n\nIn the thirteenth chapter of Isaiah we have the plural of\n_k[)e]s[=i]l_--_k[)e]s[=i]lim_. It is usually understood that we have\nhere Orion, as the most splendid constellation in the sky, put for the\nconstellations in general. But if we remember that _k[)e]s[=i]l_ stands\nfor \"Nimrod\" or \"Merodach,\" the first proud tyrant mentioned by name in\nScripture, the particular significance of the allusion becomes evident--\n\n     \"Behold, the day of the Lord cometh, cruel both with wrath and\n     fierce anger, to lay the land desolate: and he shall destroy\n     the sinners thereof out of it. For the stars of heavens and\n     the constellations\"--(that is the _k[)e]s[=i]lim_, the Nimrods\n     or Merodachs of the sky)--\"thereof shall not give their light:\n     the sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon\n     shall not cause her light to shine. And I will punish the\n     world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; and I\n     will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease, and will lay\n     low the haughtiness of the terrible.\"\n\nThe strictly astronomical relations of Orion and the Pleiades seem to be\nhinted at in Amos and in Job--\n\n     \"Seek Him that maketh the seven stars and Orion, and turneth\n     the shadow of death into the morning, and maketh the day dark\n     with night.\"\n\nIn this passage the parallelism seems to be between the seven stars, the\nPleiades, with sunrise, and Orion with sunset. Now at the time and place\nwhen the constellations were mapped out, the Pleiades were the immediate\nheralds of sunrise, shortly after the spring equinox, at the season\nwhich would correspond to the early part of April in our present\ncalendar. The rising of Orion at sunset--his acronical rising--was early\nin December, about the time when the coldest season of the year begins.\nThe astronomical meaning of the \"bands of Orion\" would therefore be the\nrigour in which the earth is held during the cold of winter.\n\nIt is possible that the two great stars which follow Orion, _Sirius_ and\n_Procyon_, known to the ancients generally and to us to-day as \"the\nDogs,\" were by the Babylonians known as \"the Bow-star\" and \"the\nLance-star\"; the weapons, that is to say, of Orion or Merodach. Jensen\nidentifies Sirius with the Bow-star, but considers that the Lance-star\nwas Antares; Hommel, however, identifies the Lance-star with Procyon. In\nthe fifth tablet of the Babylonian Creation epic as translated by Dr. L.\nW. King, there is an interesting account of the placing of the Bow-star\nin the heavens. After Merodach had killed Tiamat--\n\n     75. \"The gods (his fathers) beheld the net which he had made,\n     76. They beheld the bow and how (its work) was accomplished.\n     77. They praised the work which he had done [ . . . ]\n     78. Then Anu raised [the . . .] in the assembly of the gods.\n     79. He kissed the bow, (saying), 'It is [ . . . ]'!\n     80. And thus he named the names of the bow, (saying),\n     81. '_Long-wood_ shall be one name, and the second name [shall\n             be . . . ],\n     82. And its third name shall be the _Bow-star_, in heaven [shall\n             it . . . ]!'\n     83. Then he fixed a station for it.\"\n\nDr. Cheyne even considers that he has found a reference to these two\nstars in Job xxxviii. 36--\n\n     \"Who hath put wisdom in the inward parts (Lance-star),\n      Or who hath given understanding to the heart (Bow-star).\"\n\nBut this interpretation does not appear to have been generally accepted.\nThe same high authority suggests that the astronomical allusions in Amos\nmay have been inserted by a post-exilic editor, thus accounting for the\noccurrence of the same astronomical terms as are found in Job, which he\nassigns to the exilic or post-exilic period. This seems a dangerous\nexpedient, as it might with equal reason be used in many other\ndirections. Further, it entirely fails to explain the real difficulty\nthat _k[=i]mah_ and _k[)e]s[=i]l_ have not been found as Babylonian\nconstellation names, and that their astronomical signification had been\nlost by the time that the \"Seventy\" undertook their labours.\n\nQuite apart from the fact that the Babylonians could not give the name\nof \"Fool\" to the representation in the sky of their supreme deity, the\nHebrews and the Babylonians regarded the constellation in different\nways. Several Assyriologists consider that the constellations, _Orion_\nand _Cetus_, represent the struggle between Merodach and Tiamat, and\nthis conjecture is probably correct, so far as Babylonian ideas of the\nconstellations are concerned, for Tiamat is expressly identified on a\nBabylonian tablet with a constellation near the ecliptic.[241:1] But\nthis means that the myth originated in the star figures, and was the\nBabylonian interpretation of them. In this case, Cetus--that is\nTiamat--must have been considered as a goddess, and as directly and\nimmediately the ancestress of all the gods. Orion--Merodach--must have\nbeen likewise a god, the great-great-grandson of Tiamat, whom he\ndestroys.\n\nThe Hebrew conception was altogether different. Neither Merodach, nor\nTiamat, nor the constellations of Orion and Cetus, nor the actual stars\nof which they are composed, are anything but creatures. Jehovah has made\nOrion, as well as the \"Seven Stars,\" as \"His hand hath formed the\ncrooked serpent.\" By the mouth of Isaiah He says, \"I form the light, and\ncreate darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the Lord, do all these\nthings.\" The Babylonian view was of two divinities pitted against each\nother, and the evil divinity was the original and the originator of the\ngood. In the Hebrew view, even the powers of evil are created things;\nthey are not self-existent.\n\nAnd the Hebrews took a different view from the Babylonians of the story\ntold by these constellations. The Hebrews always coupled Orion with the\nPleiades; the Babylonians coupled Orion with Cetus--that is, Merodach\nwith Tiamat.\n\nThe view that has come down to us through the Greeks agrees much better\nwith the association of the constellations as held amongst the Hebrews,\nrather than amongst the Babylonians. The Hunter Orion, according to the\nGreeks, chased the Pleiades--the little company of Seven Virgins, or\nSeven Doves--and he was confronted by the Bull. In their view, too, the\nSea-monster was not warring against Orion, but against the chained\nwoman, Andromeda.\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[234:1] But the fact that Napoleon's name was thus coupled with this\nconstellation does not warrant us in asserting that Napoleon had no\nhistorical existence, and that his long contest with the great sea-power\n(England), with its capital on the river Thames (? _tehom_), was only a\nstellar myth, arising from the nearness of Orion to the Sea-monster in\nthe sky--a variant, in fact, of the great Babylonian myth of Marduk and\nTiamat, the dragon of the deep.\n\nIt seems necessary to make this remark, since the process of\nastrologizing history, whether derived from the Bible or from secular\nwriters, has been carried very far. Thus Dr. H. Winckler writes down the\naccount of the first three Persian kings, given us by Herodotus, as\nmyths of Aries, Taurus, and Gemini; David and Goliath, too, are but\nMarduk and Tiamat, or Orion and Cetus, but David has become the Giant,\nand Goliath the Dragon, for \"Goliath\" is claimed as a word-play on the\nBabylonian _galittu_, \"ocean.\" Examining an Arabic globe of date 1279\nA.D.--that is to say some 4,000 years after the constellations were\ndevised,--Dr. Winckler found that Orion was represented as left-handed.\nHe therefore used this left-handed Orion as the link of identification\nbetween Ehud, the left-handed judge of Israel, and Tyr, the left-handed\nMars of the Scandinavian pantheon. Dr. Winckler seems to have been\nunaware of the elementary fact that a celestial globe necessarily shows\nits figures \"inside out.\" We look up to the sky, to see the actual\nconstellations from within the sphere; we look down upon a celestial\nglobe from without, and hence see the designs upon it as in the\nlooking-glass.\n\n[238:1] Dr. Cheyne says, in a note on p. 52 of _Job and Solomon_, \"Heb.\n_K's[=i]l_, the name of the foolhardy giant who strove with Jehovah. The\nChaldeo-Assyrian astrology gave the name _Kisiluv_ to the ninth month,\nconnecting it with the zodiacal sign Sagittarius. But there are valid\nreasons for attaching the Hebrew popular myth to Orion.\" So Col. Conder,\nin p. 179 of _The Hittites and their Language_, translates the name of\nthe Assyrian ninth month, _Cisleu_, as \"giant.\" Now Sagittarius is in\nthe heavens just opposite to Orion, so when in the ninth month the sun\nwas in conjunction with Sagittarius, Orion was in opposition. In\n_Cisleu_, therefore, the giant, Orion, was riding the heavens all night,\noccupying the chamber of the south at midnight, so that the ninth month\nmight well be called the month of the giant.\n\n[241:1] Dr. L. W. King, _Tablets of Creation_, appendix iii. p. 208.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VIII\n\nMAZZAROTH\n\n\nWe have no assistance from any cuneiform inscriptions as to the\nastronomical significance of _`Ayish_, _K[=i]mah_, and _K[)e]s[=i]l_,\nbut the case is different when we come to _Mazzaroth_. In the fifth\ntablet of the Babylonian Creation epic we read--\n\n     \"1. He (Marduk) made the stations for the great gods;\n      2. The stars, their images, as the stars of the zodiac, he fixed.\n      3. He ordained the year, and into sections (_mizr[=a]ta_) he\n             divided it;\n      4. For the twelve months he fixed three stars.\n      5. After he had [. . .] the days of the year [. . .] images\n      6. He founded the station of Nibir to determine their bounds;\n      7. That none might err or go astray.\n      8. He set the station of B[=e]l and Ea along with him.\"\n\nIn the third line _mizr[=a]ta_, cognate with the Hebrew\n_Mazz[=a]r[=o]th_, means the sections or divisions of the year,\ncorresponding to the signs of the zodiac mentioned in the second line.\nThere can therefore be little doubt that the translators who gave us our\nEnglish versions are practically correct in the rendering of Job\nxxxviii. 32 which they give in the margin, \"Canst thou bring forth\nMazzaroth (or the twelve signs) in his season?\"\n\nThe foregoing extract from the fifth tablet of Creation has no small\nastronomical interest. Merodach is represented as setting in order the\nheavenly bodies. First of all he allots their stations to the great\ngods, dividing to them the constellations of the zodiac, and the months\nof the year; so that the arrangement by which every month had its\ntutelary deity or deities, is here said to be his work. Next, he divides\nup the constellations of the zodiac; not merely arranging the actual\nstars, but appropriating to each constellation its special design or\n\"image.\" Third, he divides up the year to correspond with the zodiac,\nmaking twelve months with three \"stars\" or constellations to each. In\nother words, he carries the division of the zodiac a step further, and\ndivides each sign into three equal parts, the \"decans\" of the\nastrologers, each containing 10\u00b0 (_deka_) of the ecliptic.\n\nThe statement made in line 4 refers to an important development of\nastronomy. The _constellations_ of the zodiac, that is, the groups made\nup of the actual stars, are very unequal in size and irregular in shape.\nThe numerous theories, ancient or modern, in which the constellations\nare supposed to owe their origin to the distinctive weather of the\nsuccessive months, each constellation figure being a sort of hieroglyph\nfor its particular month, are therefore all manifestly erroneous, for\nthere never could have been any real fixed or steady correlation between\nthe constellations and the months. Similarly, the theories which claim\nthat the ancient names for the months were derived from the\nconstellations are equally untenable. Some writers have even held both\nclasses of theory, overlooking the fact that they mutually contradict\neach other.\n\nBut there came a time when the inconvenience of the unequal division of\nthe zodiac by the constellations was felt to be an evil, and it was\nremedied by dividing the ecliptic into twelve equal parts, each part\nbeing called after the constellation with which it corresponded most\nnearly at the time such division was made. These equal divisions have\nbeen called the _Signs_ of the zodiac. It must be clearly understood\nthat they have always and at all times been imaginary divisions of the\nheavens, that they were never associated with real stars. They were\nsimply a picturesque mode of expressing celestial longitude; the\ndistance of a star from the place of the sun at the spring equinox, as\nmeasured along the ecliptic,--the sun's apparent path during the year.\n\nThe Signs once arranged, the next step was an easy one. Each sign was\nequivalent to 30 degrees of longitude. A third of a sign, a \"decan,\" was\n10 degrees of longitude, corresponding to the \"week\" of ten days used in\nEgypt and in Greece.\n\nThis change from the constellations to the Signs cannot have taken place\nvery early. The place of the spring equinox travels backwards amongst\nthe stars at the rate of very little more than a degree in 72 years.\nWhen the change was made the spring equinox was somewhere in the\nconstellation _Aries_, the Ram, and therefore Aries was then adopted as\nthe first Sign, and must always remain such, since the Signs move\namongst the stars with the equinox.\n\n[Illustration: POSITION OF SPRING EQUINOX, B.C. 2700.]\n\nWe cannot fix when this change was made within a few years, but it\ncannot have been _before_ the time when the sun at the spring equinox\nwas situated just below _Hamal_, the brightest star of the Ram. This was\nabout 700 B.C. The equal division of the zodiac must have taken place\nnot earlier than this, and with it, the Bull must have been deposed from\nthe position it had always held up to that time, of leader of the\nzodiac. It is probable that some direct method of determining the\nequinox itself was introduced much about the same time. This new system\ninvolved nothing short of a revolution in astronomy, but the Babylonian\nCreation story implies that this revolution had already taken place\nwhen it was composed, and that the equal division of the zodiac was\nalready in force. It is possible that the sixth and seventh lines of the\npoem indicate that the Babylonians had already noticed a peculiar fact,\nviz. that just as the moon passes through all the signs in a month,\nwhilst the sun passes through only one sign in that time; so the sun\npasses through all the signs in a year, whilst Jupiter passes through\nbut one sign. _Nibir_ was the special Babylonian name of the planet\nJupiter when on the meridian; and Merodach, as the deity of that planet,\nis thus represented as pacing out the bounds of the zodiacal Signs by\nhis movement in the course of the year. The planet also marks out the\nthird part of a sign, _i. e._ ten degrees; for during one-third of each\nyear it appears to retrograde, moving from east to west amongst the\nstars instead of from west to east. During this retrogression it covers\nthe breadth of one \"decan\" = ten degrees.\n\n[Illustration: POSITION OF SPRING EQUINOX, A.D. 1900.]\n\nThe Babylonian Creation epic is therefore quite late, for it introduces\nastronomical ideas not current earlier than 700 B.C. in Babylonia or\nanywhere else. This new development of astronomy enables us also to\nroughly date the origin of the different orders of systematic astrology.\n\nAstrology, like astronomy, has passed through successive stages. It\nbegan at zero. An unexpected event in the heavens was accounted\nportentous, because it was unexpected, and it was interpreted in a good\nor bad sense according to the state of mind of the beholder. There can\nhave been at first no system, no order, no linking up of one specific\nkind of prediction with one kind of astronomical event. It can have been\noriginally nothing but a crude jumble of omens, just on a level with the\nsuperstitions of some of our peasantry as to seeing hares, or cats, or\nmagpies; and the earliest astrological tablets from Mesopotamia are\nprecisely of this character.\n\nBut the official fortune-tellers at the courts of the kings of Nineveh\nor Babylon must speedily have learned the necessity of arranging some\nsystems of prediction for their own protection--systems definite enough\nto give the astrologer a groundwork for a prediction which he could\nclaim was dependent simply upon the heavenly bodies, and hence for which\nthe astrologer could not be held personally responsible, and at the same\ntime elastic enough to enable him to shape his prediction to fit in with\nhis patron's wishes. The astrology of to-day shows the same essential\nfeatures.\n\nThis necessity explains the early Babylonian tablets with catalogues of\neclipses on all days of the month, and in all quarters of the sky. The\ngreat majority of the eclipses could never happen, but they could be,\nnone-the-less, made use of by a court magician. If an eclipse of the sun\ntook place on the 29th day and in the south, he could always point out\nhow exceedingly unpleasant things might have been for the king and the\ncountry if he, the magician, had not by his diligence, prevented its\nhappening, say, on the 20th, and in the north. A Zulu witch-doctor is\nquite equal to analogous subterfuges to-day, and no doubt his Babylonian\ncongeners were not less ingenious 3,000 years ago. Such subterfuges were\nnot always successful when a Chaka or a Nebuchadnezzar had to be dealt\nwith, but with kings of a more ordinary type either in Zululand or\nMesopotamia they would answer well enough.\n\nComing down to times when astronomy had so far advanced that a catalogue\nof the stars had been drawn up, with their positions determined by\nactual measurement, it became possible for astrologers to draw up\nsomething like a definite system of prediction, based upon the\nconstellations or parts of a constellation that happened to be rising at\nany given moment, and this was the system employed when Zeuchros of\nBabylon wrote in the first century of our era. His system must have been\nstarted later than 700 B.C., for in it Aries is considered as the leader\nof the zodiac; the constellations are already disestablished in favour\nof the Signs; and the Signs are each divided into three. A practical\ndrawback to this particular astrological system was that the aspect\npresented by the heavens on one evening was precisely the same as that\npresented on the next evening four minutes earlier. The field for\nprediction therefore was very limited and repeated itself too much for\nthe purpose of fortune-tellers.\n\nThe introduction of the planets into astrology gave a greater diversity\nto the material used by the fortune-tellers. An early phase of planetary\nastrology consisted in the allotment of a planet to each hour of the day\nand also to each day of the week. It has been already shown in the\nchapter on \"Saturn and Astrology,\" that this system arose from the\nPtolemaic idea of the solar system grafted on the Egyptian division of\nthe day into twenty-four hours, and applied to the week of seven days.\nIt probably originated in Alexandria, and arose not earlier than the\nthird century before our era. Mathematical astrology--the complex system\nnow in vogue--involves a considerable knowledge of the apparent\nmovements of the planets and a development of mathematics such as did\nnot exist until the days of Hipparchus. It also employs the purely\nimaginary signs of the zodiac, not the constellations; and reckons the\nfirst point of Aries as at the spring equinox. So far as we can\nascertain, the spring equinox marked the first point of the\nconstellation Aries about B.C. 110.\n\nAll these varied forms of astrology are therefore comparatively recent.\nBefore that it was of course reckoned ominous if an eclipse took place,\nor a comet was seen, or a bright planet came near the moon, just as\nspilling salt or crossing knives may be reckoned ominous to-day. The\nomens had as little to do with observation, or with anything that could\nbe called scientific, in the one case as in the other.\n\nIt is important to realize that astrology, as anything more than the\ncrude observance of omens, is younger than astronomy by at least 2,000\nyears.\n\n_Mazz[=a]r[=o]th_ occurs only once in the Bible, viz. in Job xxxviii.\n32, already so often quoted, but a similar word _Mazz[=a]l[=o]th_ occurs\nin 2 Kings xxiii. 5, where it is said that Josiah put down the\nidolatrous priests, \"them also that burned incense unto Baal, to the\nsun, and to the moon, and to the planets (_Mazz[=a]l[=o]th_), and to all\nthe host of heaven.\" The context itself, as well as the parallel passage\nin Deuteronomy--\"When thou seest the sun, and the moon, and the stars,\neven all the host of heaven, shouldst be driven to worship them,\"--shows\nclearly that celestial luminaries of some kind are intended, probably\ncertain groups of stars, distinguished from the general \"host of\nheaven.\"\n\nComparing Job ix. 9, with Job xxxviii. 31, 32, we find _`Ash_, or\n_`Ayish_, _K[=i]mah_ and _K[)e]sil_ common to the two passages; if we\ntake _`Ash_ and _`Ayish_ as identical, this leaves the \"chambers of the\nsouth\" as the equivalent of _Mazzaroth_. The same expression occurs in\nthe singular in Job xxxvii. 9--\"Out of the south (_marg._ chamber)\ncometh the whirlwind.\" There need be but little question as to the\nsignificance of these various passages. The correspondence of the word\n_Mazz[=a]r[=o]th_ with the Babylonian _mizr[=a]t[=a]_, the \"divisions\"\nof the year, answering to the twelve signs of the zodiac, points in\nexactly the same direction as the correspondence in idea which is\nevident between the \"chambers of the south\" and the Arabic _Al\nman[=a]zil_, \"the mansions\" or \"resting-places\" of the moon in the lunar\nzodiac.\n\nMazzaroth are therefore the \"divisions\" of the zodiac, the \"chambers\"\nthrough which the sun successively passes in the course of the year, his\n\"resting-place\" for a month. They are \"the chambers of the south,\" since\nthat is their distinctive position. In Palestine, the sun, even at\nrising or setting at midsummer, passes but little to the north of east\nor west. Roughly speaking, the \"south\" is the sun's quarter, and\ntherefore it is necessarily the quarter of the constellation in which\nthe sun is placed.\n\nIt has been made an objection to this identification that the Israelites\nare said to have worshipped _Mazz[=a]l[=o]th_, and we have no direct\nevidence that the signs or constellations of the zodiac were worshipped\nas such. But this is to make a distinction that is hardly warranted. The\nCreation tablets, as we have seen, distinctly record the allocation of\nthe great gods to the various signs, Merodach himself being one of the\nthree deities associated with the month Adar, just as in Egypt a god\npresided over each one of the thirty-six decades of the year.\n\nAgain, it is probable that the \"golden calf,\" worshipped by the\nIsraelites in the wilderness, and, after the disruption, at Bethel and\nat Dan, was none other than an attempt to worship Jehovah under the\nsymbol of Taurus, the leader of the zodiac and cognizance of the tribe\nof Joseph; regarded as a type of Him Who had been the Leader of the\npeople out of Egypt, and the Giver of the blessings associated with the\nreturn of the sun to Taurus, the revival of nature in spring-time. It\nwas intended as a worship of Jehovah; it was in reality dire rebellion\nagainst Him, and a beginning of the worship of \"_Mazz[=a]l[=o]th_ and\nthe heavenly host;\" an idolatry that was bound to bring other idolatries\nin its train.\n\nA three-fold symbol found continually on Babylonian monuments, \"the\ntriad of stars,\" undoubtedly at one time set forth Sin, the moon-god,\nSamas, the sun-god, and I[vs]tar, in this connection possibly the planet\nVenus. It has therefore been suggested by Prof. Schiaparelli that\n_Mazz[=a]l[=o]th_ is the planet Venus; and, since the word is plural in\nform, Venus in her double capacity;--sometimes an evening, sometimes a\nmorning star. The sun and the moon and _Mazz[=a]l[=o]th_ would then set\nforth the three brightest luminaries, whilst the general congress of\nstars would be represented by the \"host of heaven.\" But though Venus is\nsometimes the brightest of the planets, she is essentially of the same\norder as Jupiter or Mars, and is not of the same order as the sun and\nmoon, with whom, on this supposition, she is singled out to be ranked.\nMoreover, if I[vs]tar or Ashtoreth were intended in this passage, it\ndoes not appear why she should not be expressly named as such;\nespecially as Baal, so often coupled with her, is named. The \"triad of\nstars,\" too, had originally quite a different meaning, as will be seen\nlater.\n\nMoreover, the parallelism between Job ix. and Job xxxviii. is destroyed\nby this rendering, since the planet Venus could not be described as \"the\nchambers of the south.\" These are therefore referred by Professor\nSchiaparelli to the glorious mass of stars in the far south, shining in\nthe constellations that set forth the Deluge story,--the Ship, and the\nCentaur, much the most brilliant region of the whole sky.\n\nAnother interpretation of _Mazzaroth_ is given by Dr. Cheyne, on grounds\nthat refute Professor Schiaparelli's suggestion, but it is itself open\nto objection from an astronomical point of view. He writes--\n\n     \"_Mazzaroth_ is probably not to be identified with _Mazzaloth_\n     (2 Kings xxiii. 5) in spite of the authority of the Sept. and\n     the Targum. . . . _Mazzaroth_ = Ass. _Mazarati_; _Mazzaloth_\n     (i.e. the zodiacal signs) seems to be the plural of\n     _Mazz[=a]la_ = Ass. _Manzaltu_, station.\"[254:1]\n\nDr. Cheyne therefore renders the passage thus--\n\n     \"Dost thou bring forth the moon's watches at their season,\n      And the Bear and her offspring--dost thou guide them?\n      Knowest thou the laws of heaven?\n      Dost thou determine its influence upon the earth?\"\n\n_Mazzaloth_ are therefore \"the zodiacal signs,\" but _Mazzaroth_ \"the\nwatches or stations of the moon, which marked the progress of the\nmonth;\"[254:2] or, in other words, the lunar zodiac.\n\nBut the lunar and the solar zodiac are only different ways of dividing\nthe same belt of stars. Consequently when, as in the passage before us,\nreference is made to the actual belt of stars as a whole, there is no\ndifference between the two. So that we are obliged, as before, to\nconsider _Mazzaroth_ and _Mazzaloth_ as identical, and both as setting\nforth the stars of the zodiac.\n\nSo far as the two zodiacs differ, it is the solar and not the lunar\nzodiac that is intended. This is evident when we consider the different\nnatures of the apparent motions of the sun and the moon. The sun passes\nthrough a twelfth part of the zodiac each month, and month by month the\nsuccessive constellations of the zodiac are brought out, each in its own\nseason; each having a period during which it rises at sunset, is visible\nthe whole night, and sets at sunrise. The solar _Mazzaroth_ are\ntherefore emphatically brought out, each \"in its season.\" Not so the\nlunar _Mazzaroth_.\n\nThe expression, \"the watches or stations of the moon which marked the\nprogress of the month,\" is unsuitable when astronomically considered.\n\"Watches\" refer strictly to divisions of the day and night; the\n\"stations\" of the moon refer to the twenty-seven or twenty-eight\ndivisions of the lunar zodiac; the \"progress of the month\" refers to the\ncomplete sequence of the lunar phases. These are three entirely\ndifferent matters, and Dr. Cheyne has confused them. The progress of the\nmoon through its complete series of stations is accomplished in a\nsiderial month--that is, twenty-seven days eight hours, but from the\nnature of the case it cannot be said that these \"stations\" are brought\nout each in his season, in that time, as a month makes but a small\nchange in the aspect of the sky. The moon passes through the complete\nsuccession of its phases in the course of a synodical month, which is in\nthe mean twenty-nine days, thirteen hours--that is to say from new to\nnew, or full to full--but no particular star, or constellation, or\n\"station\" has any fixed relation to any one given phase of the moon. In\nthe course of some four or five years the moon will have been both new\nand full in every one of the \"lunar stations.\"\n\n     \"Knowest thou the ordinances of heaven?\n      Canst thou set the dominion thereof in the earth?\"\n\nHe, who has lived out under the stars, in contact with the actual\nworkings of nature, knows what it is to watch \"Mazzaroth\" brought \"out\nin his season;\" the silent return to the skies of the constellations,\nmonth by month, simultaneous with the changes on the face of the earth.\nOverhead, the glorious procession, so regular and unfaltering, of the\nsilent, unapproachable stars: below, in unfailing answer, the succession\nof spring and summer, autumn and winter, seedtime and harvest, cold and\nheat, rain and drought. If there be but eyes to see, this majestic\nOrder, so smooth in working, so magnificent in scale, will impress the\nmost stolid as the immediate acting of God; and the beholder will feel\nat the same a reverent awe, and an uplifting of the spirit as he sees\nthe action of \"the ordinances of heaven,\" and the evidence of \"the\ndominion thereof in the earth.\"\n\nDr. Cheyne, however, only sees in these beautiful and appropriate lines\nthe influence upon the sacred writer of \"the physical theology of\nBabylonia\";[256:1] in other words, its idolatrous astrology, \"the\ninfluence of the sky upon the earth.\"\n\nBut what would Job understand by the question, \"Canst thou bring forth\nMazz[=a]r[=o]th in his season?\" Just this: \"Canst thou so move the\ngreat celestial sphere that the varied constellations of the zodiac\nshall come into view, each in their turn, and with them the earth pass\nthrough its proper successive seasons?\" The question therefore embraced\nand was an extension of the two that preceded it. \"Canst thou bind the\nsweet influences of the Pleiades? Canst thou prevent the revival of all\nthe forces of nature in the springtime?\" and \"Canst thou loose the bands\nof Orion; canst thou free the ground from the numbing frosts of winter?\"\n\nThe question to us would not greatly differ in its meaning, except that\nwe should better understand the mechanism underlying the phenomena. The\nquestion would mean, \"Canst thou move this vast globe of the earth,\nweighing six thousand million times a million million tons, continually\nin its orbit, more than 580 millions of miles in circuit, with a speed\nof nearly nineteen miles in every second of time, thus bringing into\nview different constellations at different times of the year, and\npresenting the various zones of the earth in different aspects to the\nsun's light and heat?\" To us, as to Job, the question would come as:\n\n     \"Knowest thou the ordinances of heaven?\n      Canst thou set the dominion thereof in the earth?\"\n\nIt is going beyond astronomy, yet it may be permitted to an astronomer,\nto refer for comparison to a parallel thought, not couched in the form\nof a question, but in the form of a prayer:\n\n          \"Thy will be done,\n     As in heaven, so in earth.\"\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[254:1] Rev. T. K. Cheyne, M.A., _Job and Solomon_, p. 290.\n\n[254:2] _Ibid._, p. 52.\n\n[256:1] Rev. T. K. Cheyne, M.A., _Job and Solomon_, p. 52.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER IX\n\nARCTURUS\n\n\nIn two passages of the Book of Job a word, _`Ash_ or _`Ayish_, is used,\nby context evidently one of the constellations of the sky, but the\nidentification of which is doubtful. In our Authorized Version the first\npassage is rendered thus:--\n\n     (God) \"Which maketh Arcturus (_`Ash_), Orion, and Pleiades,\n     and the chambers of the south\";\n\nand the second:--\n\n     \"Canst thou bind the sweet influences of Pleiades,\n      Or loose the bands of Orion?\n      Canst thou bring forth Mazzaroth in his season?\n      Or canst thou guide Arcturus (_`Ayish_) with his sons?\n      Knowest thou the ordinances of heaven?\n      Canst thou set the dominion thereof in the earth?\"\n\nThe words (or word, for possibly _`Ayish_ is no more than a variant of\n_`Ash_) here translated \"Arcturus\" were rendered by the \"Seventy\" as\n\"Arktouros\" in the first passage; as \"Hesperos\" in the second passage;\nand their rendering was followed by the Vulgate. The rendering Hesper or\nVesper is absurd, as \"the sons\" of Hesper has no meaning. \"Arktouros\"\nis not improbably a misrendering of \"Arktos,\" \"the north,\" which would\ngive a free but not a literal translation of the meaning of the passage.\nIn another passage from Job (xxxvii. 9) where the south wind is\ncontrasted with the cold from another quarter of the sky, the\n\"Seventy\"--again followed by the Vulgate--rendered it as \"cold from\nArcturus.\" Now cold came to the Jews, as it does to us, from the north,\nand the star which we know as Arcturus could not be described as\ntypifying that direction either now or when the Septuagint or Vulgate\nversions were made. The Peschitta, the Syriac version of the Bible, made\nabout the second century after Christ, gives as the Syriac equivalent\nfor `Ash, or `Ayish, the word _`iy[=u]th[=a]_, but it also renders\n_K[)e]s[=i]l_ by the same word in Amos v. 8, so that the translators\nwere evidently quite at sea as to the identity of these constellations.\nWe are also in doubt as to what star or constellation the Syrians meant\nby _`Iy[=u]th[=a]_, and apparently they were in some doubt themselves,\nfor in the Talmud we are told that there was a disputation, held in the\npresence of the great teacher Rabbi Jehuda, about 150 years after\nChrist, whether _`Iy[=u]th[=a]_ was situated in the head of the Bull, or\nin the tail of the Ram. Oriental scholars now assign it either to\nAldebaran in the head of the Bull, the \"sons\" being in this case the\nother members of the Hyades group of which Aldebaran is the brightest\nstar; or else identifying it with the Arabic _el-`aiy[=u]q_, the name of\nthe star which the Greeks call _Aix_, and we call Capella, the \"sons\" on\nthis inference being the three small stars near, called by the Greeks\nand by ourselves the \"Kids.\" The word _`Ash_ is used several times in\nScripture, but without any astronomical signification, and is there\nrendered \"moth,\" as in Isaiah, where it says--\n\n     \"Lo, they all shall wax old as a garment; the moth (_`Ash_)\n     shall eat them up.\"\n\nThis literal significance of the word does not help, as we know of no\nconstellation figured as a \"moth\" or bearing any resemblance to one.\n\nBut the word _`ash_, or _`ayish_ does not differ importantly from the\nword _na`sh_, in Hebrew \"assembly,\" in Arabic \"bier,\" which has been the\nword used by the Arabs from remote antiquity to denote the four bright\nstars in the hind-quarters of the Great Bear; those which form the body\nof the Plough. Moreover, the three stars which form the \"tail\" of the\nGreat Bear, or the \"handle\" of the Plough have been called by the Arabs\n_ben[=a]t na`sh_, \"the daughters of na`sh.\" The Bear is the great\nnorthern constellation, which swings constantly round the pole, always\nvisible throughout the changing seasons of the year. There should be no\nhesitation then in accepting the opinion of the Rabbi, Aben Ezra, who\nsaw in _`Ash_, or _`Ayish_ the quadrilateral of the great Bear, whose\nfour points are marked by the bright stars, Alpha, Beta, Gamma and\nDelta, and in the \"sons\" of _`Ayish_, the three stars, Epsilon, Zeta,\nand Eta. Our Revised Version therefore renders the word as \"Bear.\"\n\nIn both passages of Job, then, we get the four quarters of the sky\nmarked out as being under the dominion of the Lord. In the ninth chapter\nthey are given in the order--\n\n     The Bear, which is in the North;\n\n     Orion, in its acronical rising, with the sun setting in the\n     West;\n\n     The Pleiades, in their heliacal rising, with the sun rising in\n     the East;\n\n     And the Chambers of the South.\n\nIn the later passage they are given with fuller illustration, and in the\norder--\n\n     The Pleiades, whose \"sweet influences\" are given by their\n     heliacal rising in spring time, with the sun rising in the\n     East;\n\n     Orion, whose \"bands\" are those of winter, heralded by his\n     acronical rising with the sun setting in the West;\n\n     Mazzaroth, the constellations of the zodiac corresponding to\n     the Chambers of the South, which the sun occupies each in its\n     \"season.\"\n\n     The Bear with its \"sons,\" who, always visible, are unceasingly\n     guided round the pole in the North.\n\nThe parallelism in the two passages in Job gives us the right to argue\nthat _`Ash_ and _`Ayish_ refer to the same constellation, and are\nvariants of the same name; possibly their vocalization was the same, and\nthey are but two divergent ways of writing the word. We must therefore\nreject Prof. Schiaparelli's suggestion made on the authority of the\nPeschitta version of the Scriptures and of Rabbi Jehuda, who lived in\nthe second century A.D., that _`Ash_ is _`Iy[=u]th[=a]_ which is\nAldebaran, but that _`Ayish_ and his \"sons\" may be Capella and her\n\"Kids.\"\n\nEqually we must reject Prof. Stern's argument that _K[=i]mah_ is Sirius,\n_K[)e]s[=i]l_ is Orion, _Mazz[=a]r[=o]th_ is the Hyades and _`Ayish_ is\nthe Pleiades. He bases his argument on the order in which these names\nare given in the second passage of Job, and on the contention of\nOtfried M\u00fcller that there are only four out of the remarkable groups of\nstars placed in the middle and southern regions of the sky which have\ngiven rise to important legends in the primitive mythology of the\nGreeks. These groups follow one after the other in a belt in the sky in\nthe order just given, and their risings and settings were important\nfactors in the old Greek meteorological and agricultural calendars.\nProf. Stern assumes that _k[)e]s[=i]l_ means Orion, and from this\nidentification deduces the others, neglecting all etymological or\ntraditional evidences to the contrary. He takes no notice of the\nemployment of the same names in passages of Scripture other than that in\nthe thirty-eighth chapter of Job. Here he would interpret the \"chain,\"\nor \"sweet influences\" of _K[=i]mah_ = \"Sirius the dog,\" by assuming that\nthe Jews considered that the dog was mad, and hence was kept chained up.\nMore important still, he fails to recognize that the Jews had a\ncontinental climate in a different latitude from the insular climate of\nGreece, and that both their agricultural and their weather conditions\nwere different, and would be associated with different astronomical\nindications.\n\nIn the 9th verse of the 37th chapter of Job we get an antithesis which\nhas already been referred to--\n\n     \"Out of the south cometh the whirlwind: and cold out of the\n     north.\"\n\nThe Hebrew word here translated \"north\" is _mezar[=i]m_, a plural word\nwhich is taken literally to mean \"the scatterings.\" For its\ninterpretation Prof. Schiaparelli makes a very plausible suggestion. He\nsays, \"We may first observe that the five Hebrew letters with which this\nname was written in the original unpointed text could equally well be\nread, with a somewhat different pointing, as _mizrim_, or also as\n_mizrayim_, of which the one is the plural, the other the dual, of\n_mizreh_. Now _mizreh_ means a winnowing-fan, the instrument with which\ngrain is scattered in the air to sift it; and it has its root, like\n_mezarim_, in the word _zarah_, . . . which, besides the sense\n_dispersit_, bears also the sense _expandit_, _ventilavit_.\"[263:1]\n\n[Illustration: STARS OF THE PLOUGH, AS THE WINNOWING FAN.]\n\nIf Prof. Schiaparelli is correct in his supposition, then the word\ntranslated \"north\" in our versions is literally the \"two winnowing\nfans,\" names which from the form suggested by the stars we may suppose\nthat the Jews gave to the two Bears in the sky, just as the Chinese\ncalled them the \"Ladles,\" and the Americans call them the \"Big Dipper\"\nand the \"Little Dipper.\" The sense is still that of the north, but we\nmay recognize in the word employed another Jewish name of the\nconstellation, alternative with _`Ash_ or _`Ayish_, or perhaps used in\norder to include in the region the Lesser as well as the Greater Bear.\nWe should not be surprised at finding an alternative name for this great\nnorthern constellation, for we ourselves call it by several different\nappellations, using them indiscriminately, perhaps even in the course of\na single paragraph.\n\nWhat to Job did the question mean which the Lord addressed to him:\n\"Canst thou guide the Bear and his sons?\" To Job it meant, \"Canst thou\nguide this great constellation of stars in the north, in their unceasing\nround, as a charioteer guides his horses in a wide circle, each keeping\nto his proper ring, none entangling himself with another, nor falling\nout of his place?\"\n\nWhat would the same question mean to us, if addressed to us to-day? In\nthe first place we might put it shortly as \"Canst thou turn the earth on\nits axis regularly and continuously, so as to produce this motion of the\nstars round the pole, and to make day and night?\" But modern astronomy\ncan ask the question in a deeper and a wider sense.\n\nIt was an ancient idea that the stars were fixed in a crystal sphere,\nand that they could not alter their relative positions; and indeed until\nthe last century or two, instruments were not delicate enough to measure\nthe small relative shift that stars make. It is within the last seventy\nyears that we have been able to measure the \"annual parallax\" of certain\nstars,--that is, the difference in the position of a star when viewed by\nthe earth from the opposite ends of a diameter of the earth's orbit\nround the sun. Besides their yearly shift due to \"annual parallax,\" most\nstars have a \"proper\" or \"peculiar motion\" of their own, which is in\nmost cases a very small amount indeed, but can be determined more easily\nthan \"annual parallax\" because its effect accumulates year after year.\nIf, therefore, we are able to observe a star over a period of fifty, or\na hundred or more years, it may seem to have moved quite an appreciable\namount when examined by the powerful and delicate instruments that we\nhave now at our disposal. Observations of the exact positions of stars\nhave been made ever since the founding of Greenwich Observatory, so that\nnow we have catalogues giving the \"proper motions\" of several hundreds\nof stars. When these are examined it is seen that some groups of stars\nmove in fellowship together through space, having the same direction,\nand moving at the same rate, and of these companies the most striking\nare the stars of the Plough, that is _`Ayish_ and his sons. Not all the\nstars move together; out of the seven, the first and the last have a\ndifferent direction, but the other five show a striking similarity in\ntheir paths. And not only are their directions of movement, and the\namounts of it, the same for the five stars, but spectroscopic\nobservations of their motion in the line of sight show that they are all\napproaching us with a speed of about eighteen miles a second, that is to\nsay with much the same speed as the earth moves in her orbit round the\nsun. Another indication of their \"family likeness\" is that all their\nspectra are similar. A German astronomer, Dr. H\u00f6ffler, has found for\nthis system a distance from us so great that it would take light 192\nyears to travel from them to us. Yet so vast is this company of five\nstars that it would take light seventy years, travelling at the rate of\n186,000 miles in every second of time to go from the leading star,\n_Merak_--Beta of the Bear--to _Mizar_--Zeta of the Bear--the final\nbrilliant of the five. So bright and great are these suns that they\nshine to us as gems of the second magnitude, and yet if our sun were\nplaced amongst them at their distance from us he would be invisible to\nthe keenest sight.\n\nDr. H\u00f6ffler's estimate may be an exaggerated one, but it still remains\ntrue that whilst the cluster of the Pleiades forms a great and wonderful\nfamily group, it is dwarfed into insignificance by the vast distances\nbetween these five stars of the Great Bear. Yet these also form one\nfamily, though they are united by no nebulous bands, and are at\ndistances so great from each other that the bonds of gravitation must\ncease to show their influence; yet all are alike, all are marshalled\ntogether in their march under some mysterious law. We cannot answer the\nquestion, \"By what means are _`Ayish_ and his sons guided?\" much more\nare we speechless when we are asked, \"Canst thou guide them?\"\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[263:1] _Astronomy in the Old Testament_, p. 69.\n\n\n[Illustration: \"BLOW UP THE TRUMPET IN THE NEW MOON.\"]\n\n\n\n\nBOOK III\n\nTIMES AND SEASONS\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER I\n\nTHE DAY AND ITS DIVISIONS\n\n\nThere is a difference of opinion at the present day amongst astronomers\nas to the time in which the planet Venus rotates upon her axis. This\ndifference arises through the difficulty of perceiving or identifying\nany markings on her brilliantly lighted surface. She is probably\ncontinually cloud-covered, and the movements of the very faint shadings\nthat are sometimes seen upon her have been differently interpreted. The\nolder observers concurred in giving her a rotation period of 23{h}\n21{m}, which is not very different from that of the earth. Many\nastronomers, amongst them Schiaparelli, assign a rotation period of 225\ndays, that is to say the same period as that in which she goes round the\nsun in her orbit. The axis on which she rotates is almost certainly at\nright angles to the plane in which she moves round the sun, and she has\nno moon.\n\nWe do not know if the planet is inhabited by intelligent beings, but\nassuming the existence of such, it will be instructive to inquire as to\nthe conditions under which they must live if this view be correct, and\nthe rotation period of Venus, and her revolution period be the same.\n\nVenus would then always turn the same face to the sun, just as our moon\nalways turns the same face to us and so never appears to turn round.\nVenus would therefore have no \"days,\" for on her one hemisphere there\nwould be eternal light, and on the other eternal darkness. Since she has\nno moon, she has no \"month.\" Since she moves round the sun in a circle,\nand the axis through her north and south poles lies at right angles to\nher ecliptic, she has no \"seasons,\" she can have no \"year.\" On her\ndaylight side, the sun remains fixed in one spot in the sky, so long as\nthe observer does not leave his locality; it hangs overhead, or near\nsome horizon, north, south, east, or west, continually. There are no\n\"hours,\" therefore no divisions of time, it might be almost said no\n\"time\" itself. There are no points of the compass even, no north, south,\neast or west, no directions except towards the place where the sun is\noverhead or away from it. There could be no history in the sense we know\nit, for there would be no natural means of dating. \"Time\" must there be\nartificial, uncertain and arbitrary.\n\nOn the night side of Venus, if her men can see the stars at all for\ncloud, they would perceive the slow procession of stars coming out, for\nVenus turns continually to the heavens--though not to the sun.\n_Mazzaroth_ would still be brought out in his season, but there would be\nno answering change on Venus. Her men might still know the ordinances of\nheaven, but they could not know the dominion thereof set upon their\nearth.\n\nThis imaginary picture of the state of our sister planet may illustrate\nthe fourteenth verse of the first chapter of Genesis:--\n\n     \"And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the\n     heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for\n     signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years.\"\n\nThe making of the calendar is in all nations an astronomical problem: it\nis the movements of the various heavenly bodies that give to us our most\nnatural divisions of time. We are told in Deuteronomy:--\n\n     \"The sun, and the moon, and the stars, even all the host of\n     heaven, . . . the Lord thy God hath divided unto all nations\n     under the whole heaven.\"\n\nThis is the legitimate use of the heavenly bodies, just as the worship\nof them is their abuse, for the division of time--in other words, the\nformation of a calendar--is a necessity. But as there are many heavenly\nbodies and several natural divisions of time, the calendars in use by\ndifferent peoples differ considerably. One division, however, is common\nto all calendars--the day.\n\nThe \"day\" is the first and shortest natural division of time. At present\nwe recognize three kinds of \"days\"--_the sidereal day_, which is the\ninterval of time between successive passages of a fixed star over a\ngiven meridian; _the apparent solar day_, which is the interval between\ntwo passages of the sun's centre over a given meridian, or the interval\nbetween two successive noons on a sundial; and _the mean solar day_,\nwhich is the interval between the successive passages of a fictitious\nsun moving uniformly eastward in the celestial equator, and completing\nits annual course in exactly the same time as that in which the actual\nsun makes the circuit of the ecliptic. The mean solar days are all\nexactly the same length; they are equal to the length of the average\napparent solar day; and they are each four minutes longer than a\nsidereal day. We divide our days into 24 hours; each hour into 60\nminutes; each minute into 60 seconds. This subdivision of the day\nrequires some mechanical means of continually registering time, and for\nthis purpose we use clocks and watches.\n\nThe sidereal day and the mean solar day necessitate some means of\nregistering time, such as clocks; therefore the original day in use must\nhave been the apparent solar day. It must then have been reckoned either\nfrom sunset to sunset, or from sunrise to sunrise. Later it might have\nbeen possible to reckon it from noon to noon, when some method of fixing\nthe moment of noon had been invented; some method, that is to say, of\nfixing the true north and south, and of noting that the sun was due\nsouth, or the shadow due north. Our own reckoning from midnight to\nmidnight is a late method. Midnight is not marked by the peculiar\nposition of any visible heavenly body; it has, in general, to be\nregistered by some mechanical time-measurer.\n\nIn the Old Testament Scriptures the ecclesiastical reckoning was always\nfrom one setting of the sun to the next. In the first chapter of Genesis\nthe expressions for the days run, \"The evening and the morning,\" as if\nthe evening took precedence of the morning. When the Passover was\ninstituted as a memorial feast, the command ran--\n\n     \"In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at\n     even, ye shall eat unleavened bread, until the one and\n     twentieth day of the month at even. Seven days shall there be\n     no leaven.\"\n\nAnd again, for the sabbath of rest in the seventh month--\n\n     \"In the ninth day of the month at even, from even unto even,\n     shall ye celebrate your sabbath.\"\n\nThe ecclesiastical \"day\" of the Jews, therefore, began in the evening,\nwith sunset. It does not by any means follow that their civil day began\nat this time. It would be more natural for such business contracts as\nthe hiring of servants or labourers to date from morning to morning\nrather than from evening to evening. Naturally any allusion in the\nScriptures to the civil calendar as apart from the ecclesiastical would\nbe indirect, but that common custom was not entirely in agreement with\nthe ecclesiastical formula we may perhaps gather from the fact that in\nthe Old Testament there are twenty-six cases in which the phrases \"day\nand night,\" \"day or night\" are employed, and only three where \"night\"\ncomes before \"day.\" We have a similar divergence of usage in the case of\nour civil and astronomical days; the first beginning at midnight, and\nthe second at the following noon, since the daylight is the time for\nwork in ordinary business life, but the night for the astronomers. The\nBabylonians, at least at a late date in their history, had also a\ntwofold way of determining when the day began. Epping and Strassmaier\nhave translated and elucidated a series of Babylonian lunar calendars of\ndates between the first and second centuries before our era. In one\ncolumn of these was given the interval of time which elapsed between the\ntrue new moon and the first visible crescent.\n\n     \"Curious to relate, at first all Father Epping's calculations\n     to establish this result were out by a mean interval of six\n     hours. The solution was found in the fact that the Babylonian\n     astronomers were not content with such a variable instant of\n     time as sunset for their calculations, as indeed they ought\n     not to have been, but used as the origin of the astronomical\n     day at Babylon the midnight which followed the setting of the\n     sun, marking the beginning of the civil day.\"\n\nIt may be mentioned that the days as reckoned from sunset to sunset,\nsunrise to sunrise, and noon to noon, would give intervals of slightly\ndifferent lengths. This would, however, be imperceptible so long as\ntheir lengths were not measured by some accurate mechanical\ntime-measurer such as a clepsydra, sandglass, pendulum, or spring clock.\n\nThe first obvious and natural division of the whole day-interval is into\nthe light part and the dark part. As we have seen in Genesis, the\nevening and the morning are the day. Since Palestine is a sub-tropical\ncountry, these would never differ very greatly in length, even at\nmidsummer or midwinter.\n\nThe next subdivision, of the light part of the day, is into morning,\nnoon and evening. As David says in the fifty-fifth Psalm--\n\n     \"Evening, and morning, and at noon, will I pray.\"\n\nNone of these three subdivisions were marked out definitely in their\nbeginning or their ending, but each contained a definite epoch. Morning\ncontained the moment at which the sun rose; noon the moment at which he\nwas at his greatest height, and was at the same time due south; evening\ncontained the moment at which the sun set.\n\nIn the early Scriptures of the Old Testament, the further divisions of\nthe morning and the evening are still natural ones.\n\nFor the progress of the morning we have, first, the twilight, as in\nJob--\n\n     \"Let the stars of the twilight thereof be dark;\n      Let it look for light but have none;\n      Neither let it see the eyelids of the morning.\"\n\nThen, daybreak, as in the Song of Solomon--\n\n     \"Until the day break (literally, breathe) and the shadows flee\n          away,\"\n\nwhere the reference is to the cool breezes of twilight. So too in\nGenesis, in Joshua, in the Judges and in Samuel, we find references to\nthe \"break of day\" (literally, the rising of the morning, or when it\nbecame light to them) and \"the dawning of the day\" or \"about the spring\nof the day.\"\n\nThe progress of the morning is marked by the increasing heat; thus as\n\"the sun waxed hot,\" the manna melted; whilst Saul promised to let the\nmen of Jabesh-Gilead have help \"by that time the sun be hot,\" or, as we\nshould put it, about the middle of the morning.\n\nNoon is often mentioned. Ish-bosheth was murdered as he \"lay on a bed at\nnoon,\" and Jezebel's prophets \"called on the name of Baal from morning\neven unto noon.\"\n\nWe find the \"afternoon\" (lit. \"till the day declined\") mentioned in the\nnineteenth chapter of the Judges, and in the same chapter this period is\nfurther described in \"The day draweth toward evening (lit. is weak),\"\nand \"The day groweth to an end\" (lit. \"It is the pitching time of the\nday,\" that is to say, the time for pitching tents, in preparation for\nthe nightly halt).\n\nAs there was no dividing line between the morning and noontide, neither\nwas there any between the afternoon and evening. The shadows of the\nnight were spoken of as chased away by the cool breezes of the morning,\nso the lengthening shadows cast by the declining sun marked the progress\nof the evening. Job speaks of the servant who \"earnestly desireth the\nshadow;\" that is to say, the intimation, from the length of his own\nshadow, that his day's work was done; and Jeremiah says, \"The shadows of\nthe evening are stretched out.\" Then came sundown, and the remaining\npart of the evening is described in Proverbs: \"In the twilight, in the\nevening, in the black and dark night.\"\n\nIn a country like Palestine, near the tropics, with the days not\ndiffering extravagantly in length from one part of the year to another,\nand the sun generally bright and shining, and throwing intense shadows,\nit was easy, even for the uneducated, to learn to tell the time of day\nfrom the length of the shadow. Here, in our northern latitude, the\nproblem is a more complex one, yet we learn from the _Canterbury Tales_,\nthat Englishmen in the time of the Plantagenets could read the position\nof the sun with quite sufficient accuracy for ordinary purposes. Thus\nthe host of the Tabard inn, though not a learned man--\n\n           \"Saw wel, that the brighte sonne\n     The ark of his artificial day had ronne\n     The fourthe part, and half an houre and more;\n     And though he was not depe experte in lore,\n     He wiste it was the eighte and twenty day\n     Of April, that is messager to May;\n     And saw wel that the shadow of every tree\n     Was as in lengthe of the same quantitee\n     That was the body erect, that caused it;\n     And therfore by the shadow he toke his wit,\n     That Phebus, which that shone so clere and bright,\n     Degrees was five and fourty clombe on hight;\n     And for that day, as in that latitude,\n     It was ten of the clok, he gan conclude.\"[277:1]\n\nIn the latter part of the day there is an expression used several times\nin Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers \"between the two evenings\" which has\ngiven rise to much controversy. The lamb of the Passover was killed in\nthis period; so also was the lamb of the first year offered daily at the\nevening sacrifice; and day by day Aaron was then commanded to light the\nseven lamps and burn incense. It is also mentioned once, in no\nconnection with the evening sacrifice, when the Lord sent quails to the\nchildren of Israel saying, \"At even (between the two evenings) ye shall\neat flesh.\" In Deuteronomy, where a command is again given concerning\nthe Passover, it is explained that it is \"at even, at the going down of\nthe sun.\" The Samaritans, the Karaite Jews, and Aben Ezra held \"the two\nevenings\" to be the interval between the sun's setting and the entrance\nof total darkness; _i. e._ between about six o'clock and seven or\nhalf-past seven. A graphic description of the commencement of the\nsabbath is given in Disraeli's novel of _Alroy_, and may serve to\nillustrate this, the original, idea of \"between the two evenings.\"\n\n     \"The dead were plundered, and thrown into the river, the\n     encampment of the Hebrews completed. Alroy, with his principal\n     officers, visited the wounded, and praised the valiant. The\n     bustle which always succeeds a victory was increased in the\n     present instance by the anxiety of the army to observe with\n     grateful strictness the impending sabbath.\n\n     \"When the sun set the sabbath was to commence. The undulating\n     horizon rendered it difficult to ascertain the precise moment\n     of his fall. The crimson orb sunk below the purple mountains,\n     the sky was flushed with a rich and rosy glow. Then might be\n     perceived the zealots, proud in their Talmudical lore, holding\n     the skein of white silk in their hands, and announcing the\n     approach of the sabbath by their observation of its shifting\n     tints. While the skein was yet golden, the forge of the\n     armourers still sounded, the fire of the cook still blazed,\n     still the cavalry led their steeds to the river, and still the\n     busy footmen braced up their tents, and hammered at their\n     palisades. The skein of silk became rosy, the armourer worked\n     with renewed energy, the cook puffed with increased zeal, the\n     horsemen scampered from the river, the footmen cast an\n     anxious glance at the fading light.\n\n     \"The skein of silk became blue; a dim, dull, sepulchral,\n     leaden tinge fell over its purity. The hum of gnats arose, the\n     bat flew in circling whirls over the tents, horns sounded from\n     all quarters, the sun had set, the sabbath had commenced. The\n     forge was mute, the fire extinguished, the prance of horses\n     and the bustle of men in a moment ceased. A deep, a sudden, an\n     all-pervading stillness dropped over that mighty host. It was\n     night; the sacred lamps of the sabbath sparkled in every tent\n     of the camp, which vied in silence and in brilliancy with the\n     mute and glowing heavens.\"\n\nIn later times, on account of ritualistic necessities, a different\ninterpretation was held. So Josephus says: \"So these high-priests, upon\nthe coming of their feast which is called the Passover, . . . slay their\nsacrifices, from the ninth hour till the eleventh.\"[279:1] And the\nTalmud made the first evening to begin with the visible decline of the\nsun and the second with sunset, or \"the two evenings\" to last from three\ntill about six. Schiaparelli gives the first evening from sunset until\nthe time that the newly visible lunar crescent could be seen in the\ntwilight sky, or about half an hour after sunset, and the second evening\nfrom that until darkness set in, basing his argument on the directions\nto Aaron to light the lamps \"between the two evenings,\" since, he\nargues, these would not be made to burn in the daylight. Probably in the\ndays of Moses and Aaron the period could not be defined as accurately as\nthis would imply, as the opportunity of seeing the new moon could only\ncome once a month, and we have no evidence of any mechanical\ntime-measurer being then in use with them.\n\nFor shorter spaces of time we have the word \"moment\" or \"instant\" many\ntimes mentioned. The words may mean, the opening or winking of the eye,\n\"the twinkling of an eye,\" spoken of by St. Paul, in his Epistle to the\nCorinthians, and do not describe any actual duration of time, or\ndivision of the day.\n\nThe only time-measurer mentioned in the Bible is the dial of Ahaz, which\nwill form the subject of a later chapter. It need only be noted here\nthat, as it depended upon the fall of the shadow, it was of use only\nwhilst the sun was shining; not during cloudy weather, or at night.\n\nAs the day had three main divisions, so had also the night. There were\nthree \"watches,\" each, like the watches on ship-board, about four hours\nin length. So in the Psalms, \"the watches\" are twice put as an\nequivalent for the night.\n\nThe ancient Hebrews would have no difficulty in roughly dividing the\nnight into three equal parts, whenever the stars could be seen. Whether\nthey watched \"Arcturus and his sons,\"--the circumpolar constellations\nmoving round like a vast dial in the north--or the bringing forth of\nMazzaroth, the zodiacal constellations, in the south, they would soon\nlearn to interpret the signs of night with sufficient accuracy for their\npurpose.\n\nThe first watch of night is mentioned in the book of Lamentations.\n\n     \"Arise, cry out in the night: in the beginning of the watches\n     pour out thine heart like water before the face of the Lord.\"\n\nIt was \"in the beginning of the middle watch; and they had but newly\nset the watch,\" that Gideon and his gallant three hundred made their\nonslaught on the host of the Midianites.\n\nIt was in the third, the morning watch, that \"the Lord looked unto the\nhost of the Egyptians through the pillar of fire and of the cloud, and\ntroubled the host of the Egyptians\" as they pursued Israel into the\nmidst of the Red Sea. In this watch also, Saul surprised the Ammonites\nas they besieged Jabesh-Gilead, and scattered them, \"so that two of them\nwere not left together.\"\n\nIn the New Testament, the Roman method of dividing the night is adopted;\nviz. into four watches. When the disciples were crossing the Sea of\nGalilee in their little boat, and they had toiled all night in rowing\nbecause the wind was contrary, it was in \"the fourth watch of the night\"\nthat Jesus came unto them.\n\nThere is no mention of any mechanical time-measurer in the Old\nTestament, and in only one book is there mention in the English version\nof the word \"hour.\" Five times it is mentioned in the Book of Daniel as\nthe rendering of the Chaldean word _sha`ah_, which literally means \"the\ninstant of time.\"\n\nNo mention either is made of the differing lengths of the days or nights\nthroughout the year--at midsummer the day is 14-1/4 hours long, and the\nnight 9-3/4. Job speaks, however, of causing \"the day-spring to know its\nplace,\" which may well refer to the varying places along the eastern\nhorizon at which the sun rose during the course of the year. Thus in\nmid-winter the sun rose 28\u00b0 south of the east point, or half a point\nsouth of E.S.E. Similarly in midsummer it rose 28\u00b0 north of east, or\nhalf a point north of E.N.E.[282:1]\n\nThe Babylonians divided the whole day interval into twelve _kasbu_, or\n\"double hours.\" Those again were divided into sixty parts, each equal to\ntwo of our minutes; this being about the time that is required for the\ndisc of the sun to rise or set wholly. The Babylonian _kasbu_ was not\nonly a division of time, but a division of space, signifying the space\nthat might be marched in a _kasbu_ of time. Similarly we find, in the\nOld Testament, the expression \"a day's journey,\" or \"three days'\njourney,\" to express distance, and in the New Testament we find the same\nidea applied to a shorter distance in the \"sabbath-day's journey,\" which\nwas about two miles. But the Jews in New Testament times adopted, not\nthe Babylonian day of twelve hours, but the Egyptian of twenty-four. So\nwe find, in the parable of the Labourers in the Vineyard, mention made\nof hiring early in the morning, and at the third, sixth, ninth, and\neleventh hours; and since those hired latest worked for but one hour, it\nis evident that there were twelve hours in the daylight. Our Lord\nalludes to this expressly in the Gospel according to St. John, where he\nsays--\n\n     \"Are there not twelve hours in the day? If any man walk in the\n     day, he stumbleth not, because he seeth the light of this\n     world. But if a man walk in the night, he stumbleth, because\n     there is no light in him.\"\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[277:1] _The Man of Lawe's Prologue_, lines 4421-4434.\n\n[279:1] Josephus, _Wars_, VI. ix. 3.\n\n[282:1] See the diagram on p. 363.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER II\n\nTHE SABBATH AND THE WEEK\n\n\nThe present chapter has little, if anything, to do with astronomy, for\nthe week, as such, is not an astronomical period. But the sabbath and\nthe week of seven days are so intimately connected with the laws and\ncustoms of Israel that it is impossible to leave them out of\nconsideration in dealing with the \"times and seasons\" referred to in the\nBible.\n\nThe day, the month and the year are each defined by some specific\nrevolution of one of the great cosmical bodies; there is in each case a\nreturn of the earth, or of the earth and moon together, to the same\nposition, relative to the sun, as that held at the beginning of the\nperiod.\n\nThe week stands in a different category. It is not defined by any\nastronomical revolution; it is defined by the return of the sabbath, the\nconsecrated day.\n\nA need for the division of time into short periods, less than a month,\nhas been generally felt amongst civilized men. Business of state,\ncommercial arrangements, social intercourse, are all more easily carried\nout, when some such period is universally recognized. And so, what we\nmay loosely term a \"week,\" has been employed in many ancient nations.\nThe Aztecs, using a short month of 20 days, divided it into four\nquarters of 5 days each. The Egyptians, using a conventional month of 30\ndays, divided it into 3 decades; and decades were also used by the\nAthenians, whose months were alternately of 29 and of 30 days.\n\nHesiod tells us that the days regarded as sacred in his day were the\nfourth, fourteenth and twenty-fourth of each month.\n\n     \"The fourth and twenty-fourth, no grief should prey\n      Within thy breast, for holy either day.\n\n           *       *       *       *       *\n\n      Pierce on the fourth thy cask; the fourteenth prize\n      As holy; and, when morning paints the skies,\n      The twenty-fourth is best.\"\n\nThe Babylonians divided the month somewhat differently; the seventh,\nfourteenth, nineteenth, twenty-first and twenty-eighth days being\nregarded as \"sabbaths.\"[284:1]\n\nThe sabbath enjoined upon the Hebrews was every seventh day. The week as\ndefined by it was a \"free\" week; it was tied neither to month nor year,\nbut ran its course uninterruptedly, quite irrespective of the longer\ndivisions of time. It was, therefore, a different conception from that\nunderlying the usages of the Greeks or Babylonians, and, it may be\nadded, a more reasonable and practical one.\n\nFour origins have been assigned for the week. There are those who\nassert that it is simply the closest possible approximation to the\nquarter-month; the mean month being 29-1/2 days in length, a\nquarter-month would be 7-3/8 days, and since fractions of a day cannot\nbe recognized in any practical division of time for general use, the\nweek of seven days forms the nearest approach to the quarter-month that\ncould be adopted. This is undeniably true, but it is far more likely\nthat such an origin would give rise to the Babylonian system than to the\nJewish one, for the Babylonian system corrected the inequality of\nquarter-month and week every month, and so kept the two in harmony;\nwhilst the Hebrew disregarded the month altogether in the succession of\nhis weeks.\n\nNext, it is asserted that the Hebrew sabbath was derived from the\nBabylonian, and that \"it is scarcely possible for us to doubt that we\nowe the blessings decreed in the sabbath or Sunday day of rest in the\nlast resort to that ancient and civilized race on the Euphrates and\nTigris.\"[285:1]\n\nThere are two points to be considered here. Did the Babylonians observe\ntheir \"sabbaths\" as days of rest; and, were they or the Hebrews the more\nlikely to hand on their observances to another nation?\n\nWe can answer both these questions. As to the first, a large number of\nBabylonian documents on tablets, preserved in the British Museum, have\nbeen published by Father Strassmaier, and discussed by Prof.\nSchiaparelli. In all there were 2,764 dated documents available for\nexamination, nearly all of them commercial and civil deeds, and\ncovering practically the whole period from the accession of\nNebuchadnezzar to the twenty-third year of Darius Hystaspes. This number\nwould give an average of 94 deeds for each day of the month; the number\nactually found for the four \"sabbaths,\" _i. e._ for the 7th, 14th, 21st\nand 28th days, were 100, 98, 121 and 91 respectively. The Babylonians\nevidently did not keep these days as days of rest, or of abstinence from\nbusiness, as the Jews keep their sabbath, or Christian countries their\nSunday. They cannot even have regarded it as an unlucky day, since we\nfind the average of contracts is rather higher for a \"sabbath\" than for\na common day.\n\nThe case is a little different with the 19th day of the month. This, as\nthe 49th day from the beginning of the previous month, was a sabbath of\nsabbaths, at the end of a \"week of weeks.\" In this case only 89\ncontracts are found, which is slightly below the average, though twelve\ncommon days show a lower record still. But in most cases the date is\nwritten, not as 19, but as 20-1; as if there were a superstition about\nthe number 19. On the other hand, this method of indicating the number\nmay be nothing more than a mode of writing; just as in our Roman\nnumerals, XIX., one less than XX., is written for 19.\n\nThe Babylonians, therefore, did not observe these days as days of rest,\nthough they seem to have marked them in the ritual of temple and court.\nNor did they make every seventh or every fifth a rest-day, for Prof.\nSchiaparelli has specially examined these documents to see if they gave\nany evidence of abstention from business either on one day in seven or\non one day in five, and in both cases with a purely negative result.\n\nWhen we inquire which nation has been successful in impressing their\nparticular form of sabbath on the nations around the case is clear. We\nhave no evidence of the Babylonians securing the adoption of their\nsabbatic arrangements by the Persians, Greeks and Parthians who\nsuccessively overcame them. It was entirely different with the Jews. The\nJewish kingdom before the Captivity was a very small one compared with\nits enemies on either side--Assyria, Babylon and Egypt; it was but a\nshadow even of its former self after the Return. And imperial Rome was a\nmightier power than Assyria or Babylon at their greatest. If ever one\nstate was secure from influence by another on the score of its greater\nmagnitude and power, Rome was safe from any Jewish impress. Yet it is\nperfectly well known that the impression made upon the Romans by the\nJews in this very matter of sabbath-keeping was widespread and deep.\nJewish influence was felt and acknowledged almost from the time that\nSyria, of which Jud\u00e6a was but a petty division, became a Roman province,\nand a generation had not passed away before we find Horace making\njocular allusion to the spread of the recognition of the Jewish sabbath.\nIn his ninth satire he describes himself as being buttonholed by a bore,\nand, seeing a friend pass by, as begging the latter to pretend business\nwith him and so relieve him of his trouble. His friend mischievously\nexcuses himself from talking about business:--\n\n     \"To-day's the thirtieth sabbath. Can you mean\n        Thus to insult the circumcised Jews?\"\n\nPersius, in his fifth satire, speaks of those who--\n\n     \"Move their lips with silence, and with fear\n      The sabbath of the circumcised revere.\"\n\nJuvenal, in his fourteenth satire, describes how many Romans reverence\nthe sabbath; and their sons, bettering the example, turn Jews\nthemselves:--\n\n     \"Others there are, whose sire the sabbath heeds,\n      And so they worship naught but clouds and sky.\n      They deem swine's flesh, from which their father kept,\n      No different from a man's. And soon indeed\n      Are circumcised; affecting to despise\n      The laws of Rome, they study, keep and fear\n      The Jewish law, whate'er in mystic book\n      Moses has handed down,--to show the way\n      To none but he who the same rites observes,\n      And those athirst to lead unto the spring\n      Only if circumcised. Whereof the cause\n      Was he, their sire, to whom each seventh day\n      Was one of sloth, whereon he took in hand\n      No part in life.\"\n\nOvid, Tibullus, and others also speak of the Jewish sabbath, not merely\nas universally known, but as largely observed amongst the Romans, so\nthat it obtained almost a public recognition, whilst the success of\nJudaism in making proselytes, until Christianity came into rivalry with\nit, is known to every one.\n\nAs to the general influence of Judaism in securing the recognition of\nthe week with its seventh day of rest, the testimony of Josephus is\nemphatic.\n\n     \"The multitude of mankind itself have had a great inclination\n     of a long time to follow our religious observances; for there\n     is not any city of the Grecians, nor any of the barbarians,\n     nor any nation whatsoever, whither our custom of resting on\n     the seventh day hath not come, and by which our fasts and\n     lighting up lamps, and many of our prohibitions as to our\n     food, are not observed; they also endeavour to imitate our\n     mutual concord with one another, and the charitable\n     distribution of our goods, and our diligence in our trades,\n     and our fortitude in undergoing the distresses we are in, on\n     account of our laws; and, what is here matter of the greatest\n     admiration, our law hath no bait of pleasure to allure men to\n     it, but it prevails by its own force; and as God Himself\n     pervades all the world, so hath our law passed through all the\n     world also.\"[289:1]\n\nPhilo, the Jew, bears equally distinct testimony to the fact that\nwheresoever the Jews were carried in their dispersion, their laws and\nreligious customs, especially their observance of every seventh day,\nattracted attention, and even secured a certain amount of acceptance.\nThe Jews, therefore, even when, as a nation, they were ruined and\ncrushed, proved themselves possessed of such vital force, of such\ntenacity, as to impress their conquerors with interest in, and respect\nfor, their sabbatic customs. Of their tenacity and force in general, of\ntheir power to influence the nations amongst whom they have been\nscattered, the history of the last two thousand five hundred years is\neloquent. It is not reasonable, nor scientific, to suppose that this\nnation, steel since it returned from its captivity in Babylon, was wax\nbefore.\n\nBut the third suggestion as to the origin of the week of seven\ndays,--that it was derived from the influence of the planets,--makes the\nmatter clearer still. This suggestion has already been noticed in the\nchapter on \"Saturn and Astrology.\" It is sufficient to say here that it\npresupposes a state of astronomical advancement not attained until long\nafter the sabbath was fully known. The Babylonians did observe the seven\nplanets, but there is no trace of their connection with the Babylonian\nweek. But when the Greek astronomers had worked out that system of the\nplanetary motions which we call after Ptolemy, and the planets had been\nfitted by the Alexandrian observers to the days of the Jewish week and\nthe hours of the Egyptian day, then the Babylonian astrologers also\nadopted the mongrel combination. Thus indirectly Babylon received the\nfree week from the Jews, and did not give it.\n\n     \"The oldest use of the free and uniform week is found among\n     the Jews, who had only a most imperfect knowledge of the\n     planets. The identity of the number of the days in the week\n     with that of the planets is purely accidental, and it is not\n     permissible to assert that the former number is derived from\n     the latter.\"[290:1]\n\n     \"Carried by the Jews into their dispersion, adopted by the\n     Chald\u00e6an astrologers for use in their divinations, received by\n     Christianity and Islam, this cycle\" (the free week of seven\n     days), \"so convenient and so useful for chronology, has now\n     been adopted throughout the world. Its use can be traced back\n     for about 3,000 years, and there is every reason to believe\n     that it will last through the centuries to come, resisting the\n     madness of useless novelty and the assaults of present and\n     future iconoclasts.\"[290:2]\n\nThe fourth account of the origin of the week is that given us in the\nBible itself.\n\n     \"In six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all\n     that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the\n     Lord blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.\"\n\nThe institution of the sabbath day is the crown of the work of creation,\nthe key to its purpose. Other times and seasons are marked out by the\nrevolutions and conjunctions of the heavenly bodies. This day is set\napart directly by God Himself; it is His express handiwork,--\"the day\nwhich the Lord hath made.\"\n\nThe great truth taught in the first chapter of Genesis is that God is\nthe One Reality. All that we can see above or around was made by Him. He\nalone is God.\n\nAnd His creative work has a definite goal to which its several details\nall lead up--the creation of man, made in the image of God.\n\nAs such, man has a higher calling than that of the beasts that perish.\nThe chief object of their lives is to secure their food; their\naspirations extend no further. But he is different; he has higher wants,\nnobler aspirations. How can they be met?\n\nThe earth was created to form an abode suitable for man; the varied\nforms of organic life were brought into existence to prepare the way for\nand minister to him. For what was man himself made, and made in the\nimage of God, but that he might know God and have communion with Him?\nTo this the sabbath day gave the call, and for this it offered the\nopportunity.\n\n     \"For what are men better than sheep or goats,\n      That nourish a blind life within the brain,\n      If, knowing God, they lift not hands of prayer?\"\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[284:1] This is learnt from a single tablet of a Babylonian Calendar\n(preserved in the British Museum), which unfortunately contains one\nmonth only.\n\n[285:1] _Babel and Bible_, Dr. Fried. Delitzsch, Johns' Translation, pp.\n40, 41.\n\n[289:1] _Flavius Josephus against Apion_, book ii. 40.\n\n[290:1] Schiaparelli, _Astronomy in the Old Testament_, p. 135.\n\n[290:2] _Ibid._, p. 133.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER III\n\nTHE MONTH\n\n\nThe shortest natural division of time is the day. Next in length comes\nthe month.\n\nAs was pointed out in the chapter on the Moon, the Hebrews used two\nexpressions for month--_Chodesh_, from a root meaning \"to be new\"; and\n_Yerach_, from the root meaning \"to be pale.\"\n\n_Chodesh_ is the word most commonly employed, and this, in itself, is\nsufficient to show that the Hebrew calendar month was a lunar one. But\nthere are, besides, too many references to the actual new moons for\nthere to be any doubt on the question.\n\nEvery seventh day was commanded to be held as a sabbath of rest, and on\nit were sacrificed four lambs, instead of the two offered up, the one at\nthe morning and the other at the evening sacrifice of the six working\ndays. But the new moons are also mentioned as holy days, and are coupled\nwith the sabbaths. The husband of the Shunamite asked her why she wished\nto go to Elisha, as \"it is neither new moon, nor sabbath.\" Isaiah,\nspeaking in the name of the Lord, says--\n\n     \"The new moons and sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I\n     cannot away with; . . . your new moons and your appointed\n     feasts My soul hateth\"; and again, \"From one new moon to\n     another, and from one sabbath to another, shall all flesh come\n     to worship.\"\n\nAmos speaks of degenerate Israel, that they say--\n\n     \"When will the new moon be gone, that we may sell corn? and\n     the sabbath, that we may set forth wheat?\"\n\nAs late as Apostolic times, St. Paul refers to the feasts of the new\nmoons, saying, \"Let no man therefore judge you . . . in respect . . . of\nthe new moon.\"\n\nThe ordinances respecting the observance of the new moons--the\n\"beginnings of months\"--were explicit. Trumpets were blown over the\nburnt offerings and over the sacrifices of the peace offerings, and the\nnature of these offerings is given in detail in the twenty-eighth\nchapter of the Book of Numbers. The ordinances were reiterated and\nemphasized in the days of David, Solomon, Hezekiah, Ezekiel, Ezra and\nNehemiah. Amongst the Jews of the present day the trumpets are not blown\nat new moons; extra prayers are read, but the burnt and peace offerings\nare of necessity omitted.\n\nBeside the \"new moons\" and the sabbaths, the ancient Hebrews had three\ngreat festivals, all defined as to the time of their celebration by the\nnatural months.\n\nThe first was the Feast of the Passover, which lasted a week, and began\nwith the killing of a lamb \"between the two evenings\"; on the 14th day\nof the month Abib, the first month of the year--that is to say, on the\nevening that the first moon of the year became full. This feast\ncorresponded to our Easter. The second was that of Pentecost, and was\nbound to the Feast of the Passover by being appointed to occur seven\nweeks after the consecration of the harvest season by the offering of\nthe sheaf on the second day of the Passover. We still celebrate the\nFeast of Pentecost, or Whitsunday, keeping it in remembrance of the\nbirthday of the Christian Church. This feast lasted but a single day,\nand did not occur at either the new or the full of the moon, but nearly\nat first quarter.\n\nThe third festival was threefold in its character. It began with special\nsacrifices besides those usually offered at the new moon:--\n\n     \"In the seventh month, on the first day of the month, ye shall\n     have an holy convocation; ye shall do no servile work: it is a\n     day of blowing of trumpets unto you.\"\n\nThis then was especially dependent on the new moon, being on the first\nday of the month.\n\nOn the 10th day of the month was the Day of Atonement, when the people\nshould afflict their souls. On the 15th day of the month began the Feast\nof Tabernacles, which commenced on the night that the moon was full, and\nlasted for a week.\n\nWe have no special religious seasons in the Christian Church to\ncorrespond with these.\n\nWe thus see that with the Hebrews all the days of the new moons, and two\ndays of full moon (in the first and in the seventh months), were days\nfor which special ordinances were imposed. And there is no doubt that\nthe beginnings of the new months were obtained by direct observation of\nthe moon, when weather or other conditions permitted, not by any rule of\nthumb computation. The new moon observed was, necessarily, not the new\nmoon as understood in the technical language of astronomy; _i. e._ the\nmoment when the moon is in \"conjunction\" with the sun, having its dark\nside wholly turned towards the earth, and being in consequence\ncompletely invisible. \"The new moon\" as mentioned in the Scriptures, and\nas we ordinarily use the term, is not this conjunction, but the first\nvisible crescent of the moon when it has drawn away from the sun\nsufficiently to be seen after sunset for a short time, in the twilight,\nbefore it sets; for the moon when very slender cannot be seen in\ndaylight. It may, therefore, be first seen any time between about 18\nhours and 40 hours after its conjunction with the sun; in other words,\nit may be first seen on one of two evenings. But for the ecclesiastical\nrites it was necessary that there should be an authoritative declaration\nas to the time of the commencement of the month, and, moreover, the\ngreat feasts were fixed for certain days in the month, and so were\ndependent on its beginning.\n\nDuring the period of the Jewish restoration, up to the destruction of\nJerusalem by Titus, the Sanhedrim used to sit in the \"Hall of Polished\nStones\" to receive the testimony of credible witnesses that they had\nseen the new moon. If the new moon had appeared at the commencement of\nthe 30th day--corresponding to our evening of the 29th--the Sanhedrim\ndeclared the previous month \"imperfect,\" or consisting only of 29 days.\nIf credible witnesses had not appeared to testify to the appearance of\nthe new moon on the evening of the 29th, the next evening, _i. e._ that\nof the 30th--according to our mode of reckoning--was taken as the\ncommencement of the new month, and the previous month was then declared\nto be \"full,\" or of 30 days.\n\nEarly in the Christian era, it was enacted that no testimony should be\nreceived from unknown persons, because, says the Talmud, the Baithusites\nwished to impose on the Mishnic Rabbis, and hired two men to do so for\nfour hundred pieces of silver.\n\nIt is clear, therefore, that about the time of the Christian era the\nbeginnings of the months were determined astronomically from the actual\nobservation of the new moons, and we may safely conclude that it was the\nsame also from the earliest times. It was the actual new moon, not any\ntheoretical or fictitious new moon, that regulated the great festivals,\nand, as we have seen, there was often some considerable uncertainty\npossible in the fixing of the dates. The witnesses might give\nconflicting testimony, and the authoritative date might be proved to be\nin fault. We have an instance of such conflicting authority in the\ndifferent dating, on one occasion, of the Day of Atonement by the Rabbi\nYehoshua, and Rabbon Gamaliel, the president of the Sanhedrim, grandson\nof the Gamaliel at whose feet Paul sat.\n\nAccording to a statement in the Mishna, dating from the second century\nof our era, the appearance of the new moon at Jerusalem was signalled to\nBabylonia during the century preceding the destruction of the Holy City\nby Titus, and perhaps from earlier times. The dispersion of the Jews\nhad therefore presented them with an additional difficulty in fixing the\nbeginning of their months. The problem is much more intricate to-day,\nseeing that the Jews are dispersed over the whole world, and the new\nmoon, first visible on one evening at Jerusalem, might be seen the\nevening before, according to the reckoning of places west of Jerusalem,\nor might be invisible until the following evening, according to the\nreckoning of places east of it. We have the same problem to solve in\nfinding the date of Easter Sunday. The Prayer Book rule for finding it\nruns thus:--\n\n     \"Easter day is always the first Sunday after the full moon\n     which happens upon, or next after, the 21st day of March; and\n     if the full moon happens on a Sunday, Easter day is the Sunday\n     after.\"\n\nBut the \"moon\" we choose for the ecclesiastical calendar is an imaginary\nbody, which is so controlled by specially constructed tables as to be\n\"full\" on a day not differing by more than two or three days at most\nfrom the date on which the actual moon is full. This may seem, at first\nsight, a very clumsy arrangement, but it has the advantage of defining\nthe date of Easter precisely, without introducing any question as to the\nspecial meridian where the moon might be supposed to be observed. Thus,\nin 1905, the moon was full at 4{h} 56{m} Greenwich mean time on the\nmorning of March 21. But Easter Day was not fixed for March 26, the next\nSunday following that full moon, but a month later, for April 23. For\nthe calendar moon, the imaginary moon, was full on March 20; and it may\nbe added that the actual moon, though full on March 21 for European\ntime, was full on March 20 for American time. There would have been an\nambiguity, therefore, if the actual moon had been taken, according to\nthe country in which it was observed, an ambiguity which is got rid of\nby adopting a technical or imaginary moon.\n\nThe names given to the different months in Scripture have an interest of\ntheir own. For the most part the months are simply numbered; the month\nof the Passover is the first month, and the others follow, as the\nsecond, third, fourth, etc., throughout the year; examples of each\noccurring right up to the twelfth month. There is no mention of a\nthirteenth month.\n\nBut occasionally we find names as well as numbers given to the months.\nThe first of these is Abib, meaning the month of \"green ears.\" This was\nthe first month, the month of the Passover, and it received its name no\ndoubt from the first green ears of barley offered before the Lord during\nthe feast that followed the Passover.\n\nThe second month was called Zif, \"splendour\"; apparently referring to\nthe splendour of the flowers in full spring time. It is mentioned\ntogether with two other names, Ethanim, the seventh month, and Bul, the\neighth month, in the account of the building and dedication of Solomon's\nTemple. The last two are certainly Phoenician names, having been found\non Phoenician inscriptions; the first is possibly Phoenician also. Their\noccurrence in this special connection was no doubt a result of the very\nlarge part taken in the building of the Temple and the construction of\nits furniture by the workmen of Hiram, king of Tyre. The Phoenician\nnames of the months would naturally appear in the contracts and accounts\nfor the work, side by side with the Hebrew equivalents; just as an\nEnglish contractor to-day, in negotiating for a piece of work to be\ncarried out in Russia, would probably take care to use the dating both\nof the Russian old style calendar, and of the English new style. The\nword used for month in these cases is generally, not _chodesh_, the\nmonth as beginning with the new moon, but _yerach_, as if the chronicler\ndid not wish them to be understood as having been determined by Jewish\nauthorities or methods. In one case, however, _chodesh_ is used in\nconnection with the month Zif.\n\nThe other instances of names for the months are Nisan, Sivan, Elul,\nChisleu, Tebeth, Sebat, and Adar, derived from month names in use in\nBabylonia, and employed only in the books of Esther, Ezra, Nehemiah, and\nZechariah, all avowedly post-exilic writers. The month word used in\nconnection with them is _chodesh_--since the Babylonian months were also\nlunar--except in the single case where Ezra used a month name, terming\nit _yerach_. The other post-exilic writers or editors of the books of\nHoly Scripture would seem to have been at some pains to omit all\nBabylonian month names. These Babylonian month names continue to be used\nin the Jewish calendar of to-day.\n\nIn four places in Scripture mention is made of a month of days, the word\nfor month being in two cases _chodesh_, and in two, _yerach_. Jacob,\nwhen he came to Padan-aram, abode with Laban for \"the space of a\nmonth,\" before his crafty uncle broached the subject of his wages. This\nmay either merely mean full thirty days, or the term _chodesh_ may\npossibly have a special appropriateness, as Laban may have dated Jacob's\nservice so as to commence from the second new moon after his arrival.\nAgain, when the people lusted for flesh in the wilderness, saying, \"Who\nshall give us flesh to eat?\" the Lord promised to send them flesh--\n\n     \"And ye shall eat. Ye shall not eat one day, nor two days, nor\n     five days, neither ten days, nor twenty days, but even a whole\n     month. . . . And there went forth a wind from the Lord, and\n     brought quails from the sea.\"\n\n     \"He rained flesh also upon them as dust,\n      And feathered fowls like as the sand of the sea.\"\n\nThe \"whole month\" in this case was evidently a full period of thirty\ndays, irrespective of the particular phase of the moon when it began and\nended.\n\nAmongst the Babylonians the sign for the word month was xxx, expressing\nthe usual number of days that it contained, and without doubt amongst\nthe Hebrews that was the number of days originally assigned to the\nmonth, except when the interval between two actually observed new moons\nwas found to be twenty-nine. In later times it was learned that the\nlength for the lunation lay between twenty-nine and thirty days, and\nthat these lengths for the month must be alternate as a general rule.\nBut in early times, if a long spell of bad weather prevented direct\nobservation of the new moon, we cannot suppose that anything less than\nthirty days would be assigned to each month.\n\nSuch a long spell of bad observing weather did certainly occur on one\noccasion in the very early days of astronomy, and we accordingly find\nthat such was the number of days allotted to several consecutive months,\nthough the historian was evidently in the habit of observing the new\nmoon, for _chodesh_ is the word used to express these months of thirty\ndays.\n\nWe are told that--\n\n     \"In the six hundreth year of Noah's life, in the second month,\n     the seventeenth day of the month, the same day were all the\n     fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of\n     heaven were opened.\"\n\nAnd later that--\n\n     \"After the end of the hundred and fifty days the waters were\n     abated. And the ark rested in the seventh month, on the\n     seventeenth day of the month, upon the mountains of Ararat.\"\n\nThe five months during which the waters prevailed upon the earth were,\ntherefore, reckoned as of thirty days each. If all the new moons, or\neven that of the seventh month, had been actually observed, this event\nwould have been ascribed to the nineteenth day of the month, since 150\ndays is five months and two days; but in the absence of such\nobservations a sort of \"dead reckoning\" was applied, which would of\ncourse be corrected directly the return of clear weather gave an\nopportunity for observing the new moon once again.\n\nA similar practice was followed at a much later date in Babylon, where\nastronomy is supposed to have been highly developed from remote\nantiquity. Thus an inscription recently published by Dr. L. W. King\nrecords that--\n\n     \"On the 26th day of the month Sivan, in the seventh year, the\n     day was turned into night, and fire in the midst of heaven.\"\n\nThis has been identified by Mr. P. H. Cowell, F.R.S., Chief Assistant at\nthe Royal Observatory, Greenwich, as the eclipse of the sun that was\ntotal at Babylon on July 31, B.C. 1063. The Babylonians, when bad\nweather obliged them to resort to dead reckoning, were, therefore, still\nreckoning the month as precisely thirty days so late as the times of\nSamuel and Saul, and in this particular instance were two, if not three,\ndays out in their count. Had the new moon of Sivan been observed, or\ncorrectly calculated, the eclipse must have been reckoned as falling on\nthe 28th or 29th day of the month.\n\nThe Athenians in the days of Solon, five hundred years later than this,\nadopted months alternately twenty-nine and thirty days in length, which\ngives a result very nearly correct.\n\nThe Jews after the Dispersion adopted the system of thus alternating the\nlengths of their months, and with some slight modifications it holds\ngood to the present day. As will be shown in the following chapter, the\nordinary years are of twelve months, but seven years in every nineteen\nare \"embolismic,\" having an extra month. The names employed are those\nlearned during the Babylonian captivity, and the year begins with the\nmonth Tishri, corresponding to September-October of our calendar. The\nlengths of most of the months are fixed as given in the following\ntable, but any adjustment necessary can be effected either by adding one\nday to Heshvan, which has usually twenty-nine days, or taking away one\nday from Kislev, which has usually thirty--\n\n                    ORDINARY YEAR             EMBOLISMIC YEAR\n                         DAYS                       DAYS\n     Tishri               30                         30\n     Heshvan              29 +                       29 +\n     Kislev               30 -                       30 -\n     Tebeth               29                         29\n     Shebat               30                         30\n     Adar                 29                         30\n     Ve-adar             ...                         29\n     Nisan                30                         30\n     Yiar                 29                         29\n     Sivan                30                         30\n     Tamuz                29                         29\n     Ab                   30                         30\n     Elul                 29                         29\n\nThe Jewish month, therefore, continues to be essentially a true lunar\none, though the exact definition of each month is, to some extent,\nconventional, and the words of the Son of Sirach still apply to the\nHebrew calendar--\n\n     \"The moon also is in all things for her season,\n      For a declaration of times, and a sign of the world.\n      From the moon is the sign of the feast day;\n      A light that waneth when she is come to the full.\"\n\nFor so God--\n\n     \"Appointed the moon for seasons.\"\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER IV\n\nTHE YEAR\n\n\nThe third great natural division of time is the year, and, like the day\nand the month, it is defined by the relative apparent movements of the\nheavenly bodies.\n\nAs the Rabbi Aben Ezra pointed out, _shanah_, the ordinary Hebrew word\nused for year, expresses the idea of _annus_ or _annulus_, a closed\nring, and therefore implies that the year is a complete solar one. A\nyear, that is purely lunar, consists of twelve lunations, amounting to\n354 days. Such is the year that the Mohammedans use; and since it falls\nshort of a solar year of 365 days by 10 or 11 days, its beginning moves\nbackwards rather rapidly through the seasons.\n\nThe Jews used actual lunations for their months, but their year was one\ndepending on the position of the sun, and their calendar was therefore a\nluni-solar one. But lunations cannot be made to fit in exactly into a\nsolar year--12 lunations are some 11 days short of one year; 37\nlunations are 2 or 3 days too long for three years--but an approximation\ncan be made by giving an extra month to every third year; or more nearly\nstill by taking 7 years in every 19 as years of 13 months each. This\nthirteenth month is called an intercalary month, and in the present\nJewish calendar it is the month Adar which is reduplicated under the\nname of Ve-Adar. But, though from the necessity of the case, this\nintercalation, from time to time, of a thirteenth month must have been\nmade regularly from the first institution of the feast of unleavened\nbread, we find no allusion, direct or indirect, in the Hebrew Scriptures\nto any such custom.\n\nAmongst the Babylonians a year and a month were termed \"full\" when they\ncontained 13 months and 30 days respectively, and \"normal\" or\n\"incomplete\" when they contained but 12 months or 29 days. The\nsuccession of full and normal years recurred in the same order, at\nintervals of nineteen years. For 19 years contain 6939 days 14-1/2\nhours; and 235 months, 6939 days 16-1/2 hours; the two therefore\ndiffering only by about a couple of hours. The discovery of this cycle\nis attributed to Meton, about 433 B.C., and it is therefore known as the\nMetonic cycle. It supplies the \"Golden Numbers\" of the introduction to\nthe Book of Common Prayer.\n\nThere are two kinds of solar years, with which we may have to do in a\nluni-solar calendar--the tropical or equinoctial year, and the sidereal\nyear. The tropical year is the interval from one season till the return\nof that season again--spring to spring, summer to summer, autumn to\nautumn, or winter to winter. It is defined as the time included between\ntwo successive passages of the sun through the vernal equinox, hence it\nis also called the equinoctial year. Its length is found to be 365 days,\n5 hours, 49 minutes, and some ancient astronomers derived its length as\nclosely as 365 days, 6 hours, by observing the dates when the sun set at\nexactly the opposite part of the horizon to that where it rose.\n\nThe sidereal year is the time occupied by the sun in apparently\ncompleting the circuit of the heavens from a given star to the same star\nagain. The length of the sidereal year is 365 days, 6 hours, 9 minutes.\nIn some cases the ancients took the sidereal year from the \"heliacal\"\nrisings or settings of stars, that is from the interval between the time\nwhen a bright star was first seen in the morning just before the sun\nrose, until it was first so seen again; or last seen just after the sun\nset in the evening, until it was last so seen again.\n\nBut to connect the spring new moon with the day when the sun has\nreturned to the equinox is a more difficult and complicated matter. The\nearly Hebrews would seem to have solved the problem practically, by\nsimply watching the progress of the growing grain. If at one new moon in\nspring time it appeared clear that some of the barley would be ready in\na fortnight for the offering of the green ears at the feast of\nunleavened bread, then that was taken as beginning the new year. If it\nappeared doubtful if it would be ready, or certain that it would not be,\nthen the next new moon was waited for. This method was sufficient in\nprimitive times, and so long as the nation of Israel remained in its own\nland. In the long run, it gave an accurate value for the mean tropical\nyear, and avoided all the astronomical difficulties of the question. It\nshows the early Hebrews as practical men, for the solution adopted was\neasy, simple and efficient. This practical method of determining the\nbeginning of the year amongst the early Hebrews, does not appear to have\nbeen the one in use amongst the Babylonians either early or late in\ntheir history. The early Babylonians used a sidereal year, as will be\nshown shortly. The later Babylonians used a tropical year dependent on\nthe actual observation of the spring equinox.\n\nTo those who have no clocks, no telescopes, no sundials, no instruments\nof any kind, there are two natural epochs at which the day might begin;\nat sunrise, the beginning of daylight; and at sunset, the beginning of\ndarkness. Similarly, to all nations which use the tropical year, whether\ntheir calendar is dependent on the sun alone, or on both sun and moon,\nthere are two natural epochs at which the year may begin; at the spring\nequinox, the beginning of the bright half of the year, when the sun is\nhigh in the heavens, and all nature is reviving under its heat and\nlight; and at the autumn equinox, the beginning of the dark half of the\nyear, when the sun is low in the heavens, and all nature seems dying. As\na nation becomes more highly equipped, both in the means of observing,\nand in knowledge, it may not retain either of these epochs as the actual\nbeginning of its year, but the determination of the year still rests\ndirectly or indirectly upon the observation of the equinoxes.\n\nAt the exodus from Egypt, in the month Abib, the children of Israel were\ncommanded in these words--\n\n     \"This month shall be unto you the beginning of months: it\n     shall be the first month of the year to you.\"\n\nThis command may have abolished and reversed the previously existing\ncalendar, or it may have related solely to the ecclesiastical calendar,\nand the civil calendar may have been still retained with a different\nepoch of commencement.\n\nAn inquiry into the question as to whether there is evidence in\nScripture of the use of a double calendar, shows that in every case that\nthe Passover is mentioned it is as being kept in the first month, except\nwhen Hezekiah availed himself of the regulation which permitted its\nbeing kept in the second month. Since the Passover was a spring feast,\nthis links the beginning of the year to the spring time. Similarly the\nfeast of Tabernacles, which is an autumn festival, is always mentioned\nas being held in the seventh month.\n\nThese feasts would naturally be referred to the ecclesiastical calendar.\nBut the slight evidences given in the civil history point the same way.\nThus some men joined David at Ziklag during the time of his persecution\nby Saul, \"in the first month.\" This was spring time, for it is added\nthat Jordan had overflowed all its banks. Similarly, the ninth month\nfell in the winter: for it was as he \"sat in the winter-house in the\nninth month, and there was a fire on the hearth burning before him\" that\nking Jehoiakim took the prophecy of Jeremiah and \"cut it with the\npenknife, and cast it into the fire that was on the hearth.\" The same\nninth month is also mentioned in the Book of Ezra as a winter month, a\ntime of great rain.\n\nThe same result is given by the instances in which a Babylonian month\nname is interpreted by its corresponding Jewish month number. In each\ncase the Jewish year is reckoned as beginning with Nisan, the month of\nthe spring equinox.\n\nIn one case, however, two Babylonian month names do present a\ndifficulty.\n\nIn the Book of Nehemiah, in the first chapter, the writer says--\n\n     \"It came to pass in the month Chisleu, in the twentieth year,\n     as I was in Shushan the palace, that Hanani, one of my\n     brethren,  came\"--\n\nand told him concerning the sad state of Jerusalem. In consequence of\nthis he subsequently approached the king on the subject \"in the month\nNisan, in the twentieth year of Artaxerxes the king.\"\n\nIf the twentieth year of king Artaxerxes began in the spring, Nisan,\nwhich is a spring month, could not follow Chisleu, which is a month of\nlate autumn. But Artaxerxes may have dated his accession, and therefore\nhis regnal years, from some month between Nisan and Chisleu; or the\ncivil year may have been reckoned at the court of Shushan as beginning\nwith Tishri. It may be noted that Nehemiah does not define either of\nthese months in terms of the Jewish. Elsewhere, when referring to the\nJewish Feast of Tabernacles, he attributes it to the seventh month, in\naccord with its place in the Mosaic calendar. An alteration of the\nbeginning of the year from the spring to the autumn was brought about\namongst the Jews at a later date, and was systematized in the Religious\nCalendar by the Rabbis of about the fourth century A.D. Tishri begins\nthe Jewish year at the present day; the first day of Tishri being taken\nas the anniversary of the creation of the world.\n\nThe Mishna, \"The Law of the Lip,\" was first committed to writing in 191\nA.D., and the compilation of the Babylonian Talmud, based on the Mishna,\nwas completed about 500 A.D. In its commentary on the first chapter of\nGenesis, there is an allusion to the year as beginning in spring, for it\nsays that--\n\n     \"A king crowned on the twenty-ninth of Adar is considered as\n     having completed the first year of his reign on the first of\n     Nisan\" (_i. e._ the next day). \"Hence follows (observes some\n     one) that the first of Nisan is the new year's day of kings,\n     and that if one had reigned only one day in a year, it is\n     considered as a whole year.\"[311:1]\n\nIt is not indicated whether this rule held good for the kings of Persia,\nas well as for those of Israel. If so, and this tradition be correct,\nthen we cannot explain Nehemiah's reckoning by supposing that he was\ncounting from the month of the accession of Artaxerxes, and must assume\nthat a civil or court year beginning with Tishri, _i. e._ in the autumn,\nwas the one in question.\n\nA further, but, as it would seem, quite an imaginary difficulty, has\nbeen raised because the feast of ingathering, or Tabernacles, though\nheld in the seventh month, is twice spoken of as being \"in the end of\nthe year,\" or, as it is rendered in the margin in one case, \"in the\nrevolution of the year.\" This latter expression occurs again in 2 Chron.\nxxiv. 23, when it is said that, \"at the end of the year, the host of\nSyria came up\"; but in this case it probably means early spring, for it\nis only of late centuries that war has been waged in the winter months.\nDown to the Middle Ages, the armies always went into winter quarters,\nand in the spring the kings led them out again to battle. One Hebrew\nexpression used in Scripture means the return of the year, as applied to\nthe close of one and the opening of another year. This is the expression\nemployed in the Second Book of Samuel, and of the First Book of\nChronicles, where it is said \"after the year was expired, at the time\nwhen kings go forth to battle,\" implying that in the time of David the\nyear began in the spring. The same expression, no doubt in reference to\nthe same time of the year, is also used in connection with the warlike\nexpeditions of Benhadad, king of Syria, and of Nebuchadnezzar, king of\nBabylon.\n\nIt is admitted that the Feast of Tabernacles was held in the autumn, and\nin the seventh month. The difficulty lies in the question of how it\ncould be said to be \"in the end of the year,\" \"at the year's end,\"\nalthough it is clear from the cases just cited that these and similar\nexpressions are merely of a general character, as we ourselves might\nsay, \"when the year came round,\" and do not indicate any rigid\nconnection with a specific date of the calendar.\n\nWe ourselves use several years and calendars, without any confusion. The\ncivil year begins, at midnight, on January 1; the financial year on\nApril 1; the ecclesiastical year with Advent, about December 1; the\nscholastic year about the middle of September, and so on. As the word\n\"year\" expresses with ourselves many different usages, there is no\nreason to attribute to the Jews the extreme pedantry of invariably using\nnothing but precise definitions drawn from their ecclesiastical\ncalendar.\n\nThe services of the Tabernacle and the Temple were--with the exception\nof the slaying of the Paschal lambs--all comprised within the hours of\ndaylight; there was no offering before the morning sacrifice, none after\nthe evening sacrifice. So, too, the Mosaic law directed all the great\nfeasts to be held in the summer half of the year, the light half; none\nin the winter. The Paschal full moon was just after the spring equinox;\nthe harvest moon of the Feast of Tabernacles as near as possible to the\nautumn equinox. Until the introduction, after the Captivity, of the\nFeast of Purim in the twelfth month, the month Adar, the ecclesiastical\nyear might be said to end with those seven days of joyous \"camping-out\"\nin the booths built of the green boughs; just as all the great days of\nthe Christian year lie between Advent and the octave of Pentecost,\nwhilst the \"Sundays after Trinity\" stretch their length through six\nwhole months. There is, therefore, no contradiction between the command\nin Exod. xii., to make Abib, the month of the Passover, the first month,\nand the references elsewhere in Exodus to the Feast of Ingathering as\nbeing in \"the end of the year.\" It was at the end of the agricultural\nyear; it was also at the end of the period of feasts. So, if a workman\nis engaged for a day's work, he comes in the morning, and goes home in\nthe evening, and expects to be paid as he leaves; no one would ask him\nto complete the twenty-four hours before payment and dismissal. It is\nthe end of his day; though, like the men in the parable of the Labourers\nin the Vineyard, he has only worked twelve hours out of the twenty-four.\nIn the same way the Feast of Tabernacles, though in the seventh month,\nwas in \"the end of the year,\" both from the point of view of the farmer\nand of the ordinances of the sacred festivals.\n\nThe method employed in very early times in Assyria and Babylonia for\ndetermining the first month of the year was a simple and effective one,\nthe principle of which may be explained thus: If we watch for the\nappearance of the new moon in spring time, and, as we see it setting in\nthe west, notice some bright star near it, then 12 months later we\nshould see the two together again; but with this difference, that the\nmoon and star would be seen together, not on the first, but on the\nsecond evening of the month. For since 12 lunar months fall short of a\nsolar year by 11 days, the moon on the first evening would be about 11\ndegrees short of her former position. But as she moves about 13 degrees\nin 24 hours, the next evening she would practically be back in her old\nplace. In the second year, therefore, moon and star would set together\non the second evening of the first month; and in like manner they would\nset together on the third evening in the third year; and, roughly\nspeaking, on the fourth evening of the fourth year. But this last\nconjunction would mean that they would also set together on the first\nevening of the next month, which would thus be indicated as the true\nfirst month of the year. Thus when moon and star set together on the\nthird evening of a month, thirteen months later they would set together\non the first evening of a month. Thus the setting together of moon and\nstar would not only mark which was to be first month of the year, but if\nthey set together on the first evening it would show that the year then\nbeginning was to be an ordinary one of 12 months; if on the third\nevening, that the year ought to be a full one of 13 months.\n\nThis was precisely the method followed by the Akkadians some 4000 years\nago. For Prof. Sayce and Mr. Bosanquet translate an old tablet in\nAkkadian as follows:--\n\n     \"When on the first day of the month _Nisan_ the star of stars\n     (or _Dilgan_) and the moon are parallel, that year is normal.\n     When on the third day of the month _Nisan_ the star of stars\n     and the moon are parallel, that year is full.\"[315:1]\n\nThe \"star of stars\" of this inscription is no doubt the bright star\nCapella, and the year thus determined by the setting together of the\nmoon and Capella would begin on the average with the spring equinox\nabout 2000 B.C.\n\nWhen Capella thus marked the first month of the year, the \"twin stars,\"\nCastor and Pollux, marked the second month of the year in just the same\nway. A reminiscence of this circumstance is found in the signs for the\nfirst two months; that for the first month being a crescent moon \"lying\non its back;\" that for the second month a pair of stars.\n\nThe significance of the crescent being shown as lying on its back is\nseen at once when it is remembered that the new moon is differently\ninclined to the horizon according to the time of the year when it is\nseen. It is most nearly upright at the time of the autumn equinox; it is\nmost nearly horizontal, \"lying on its back,\" at the spring equinox. It\nis clear from this symbol, therefore, that the Babylonians began their\nyear in the spring.\n\n[Illustration: POSITION OF THE NEW MOON AT THE EQUINOXES.]\n\nThis method, by which the new moon was used as a kind of pointer for\ndetermining the return of the sun to the neighbourhood of a particular\nstar at the end of a solar year, is quite unlike anything that\ncommentators on the astronomical methods of the ancients have supposed\nthem to have used. But we know from the ancient inscription already\nquoted that it was actually used; it was eminently simple; it was bound\nto have suggested itself wherever a luni-solar year, starting from the\nobserved new moon, was used. Further, it required no instruments or\nstar-maps; it did not even require a knowledge of the constellations;\nonly of one or two conspicuous stars. Though rough, it was perfectly\nefficient, and would give the mean length of the year with all the\naccuracy that was then required.\n\n[Illustration: BOUNDARY-STONE IN THE LOUVRE; APPROXIMATE DATE, B.C.\n1200.\n\n(From a photograph by Messrs. W. A. Mansell.)]\n\nBut it had one drawback, which the ancients could not have been expected\nto foresee. The effect of \"precession,\" alluded to in the chapter on\n\"The Origin of the Constellations,\" p. 158, would be to throw the\nbeginning of the year, as thus determined, gradually later and later in\nthe seasons,--roughly speaking, by a day in every seventy years,--and\nthe time came, no doubt, when it was noticed that the terrestrial\nseasons no longer bore their traditional relation to the year. This\nprobably happened at some time in the seventh or eighth centuries before\nour era, and was connected with the astronomical revolution that has\nbeen alluded to before; when the ecliptic was divided into twelve equal\ndivisions, not associated with the actual stars, the Signs were\nsubstituted for the Constellations of the Zodiac, and the Ram was taken\nas the leader instead of the Bull. The equinox was then determined by\ndirect measurement of the length of the day and night; for a tablet of\nabout this period records--\n\n     \"On the sixth day of the month Nisan the day and night were\n     equal. The day was six double-hours (_kasbu_), and the night\n     was six double-hours.\"\n\nSo long as Capella was used as the indicator star, so long the year must\nhave begun with the sun in Taurus, the Bull; but when the re-adjustment\nwas made, and the solar tropical year connected with the equinox was\nsubstituted for the sidereal year connected with the return of the sun\nto a particular star, it would be seen that the association of the\nbeginning of the year with the sun's presence in any given constellation\ncould no longer be kept up. The necessity for an artificial division of\nthe zodiac would be felt, and that artificial division clearly was not\nmade until the sun at the spring equinox was unmistakably in Aries, the\nRam; or about 700 B.C.\n\nThe eclipse of 1063 B.C. incidentally proves that the old method of\nfixing Nisan by the conjunction of the moon and Capella was then still\nin use; for the eclipse took place on July 31, which is called in the\nrecord \"the 26th of Sivan.\" Sivan being the third month, its 26th day\ncould not have fallen so late, if the year had begun with the equinox;\nbut it would have so fallen if the Capella method were still in vogue.\n\nThere is a set of symbols repeated over and over again on Babylonian\nmonuments, and always given a position of eminence;--it is the so-called\n\"Triad of Stars,\" a crescent lying on its back and two stars near it.\nThey are seen very distinctly at the top of the photograph of the\nboundary-stone from the Louvre, given on p. 318, and also immediately\nabove the head of the Sun-god in the photograph of the tablet from\nSippar, on p. 322. Their significance is now clear. Four thousand years\nbefore the Christian era, the two Twin stars, Castor and Pollux, served\nas indicators of the first new moon of the year, just as Capella did two\nthousand years later. The \"triad of stars,\" then, is simply a picture of\nwhat men saw, year after year, in the sunset sky at the beginning of the\nfirst month, six thousand years ago. It is the earliest record of an\nastronomical observation that has come down to us.\n\n[Illustration: WORSHIP OF THE SUN-GOD AT SIPPARA.]\n\nHow simple and easy the observation was, and how distinctly the year was\nmarked off by it! The month was marked off by the first sight of the new\nthin crescent in the evening sky. The day was marked off by the return\nof darkness, the evening hour in which, month by month, the new moon was\nfirst observed; so that \"the evening and the morning were the first\nday.\" The year was marked off by the new moon being seen in the evening\nwith a bright pair of stars, the stars we still know as the \"Twins;\" and\nthe length of the year was shown by the evening of the month, when moon\nand stars came together. If on the first evening, it was a year of\ntwelve months; if on the third, one of thirteen. There was a time when\nthese three observations constituted the whole of primitive astronomy.\n\nIn later days the original meaning of the \"Triad of Stars\" would seem to\nhave been forgotten, and they were taken as representing Sin, Samas, and\nIstar;--the Moon, the Sun and the planet Venus. Yet now and again a hint\nof the part they once played in determining the length of the year is\npreserved. Thus, on the tablet now in the British Museum, and shown on\np. 322, sculptured with a scene representing the worship of the Sun-god\nin the temple of Sippar, these three symbols are shown with the\nexplanatory inscription:--\n\n     \"The Moon-god, the Sun-god, and Istar, dwellers in the abyss,\n      Announce to the years what they are to expect;\"\n\npossibly an astrological formula, but it may well mean--\"announce\nwhether the years should expect twelve or thirteen months.\"\n\nAs already pointed out, this method had one drawback; it gave a sidereal\nyear, not a tropical year, and this inconvenience must have been\ndiscovered, and Capella substituted for the Twin stars, long before the\ngiving of the Law to Israel. The method employed by the priests of\nwatching the progress of the ripening of the barley overcame this\ndifficulty, and gave a year to Israel which, on the average, was a\ncorrect tropical one.\n\nThere is a detail in the history of the flood in Gen. vii. and viii.\nwhich has been taken by some as meant to indicate the length of the\ntropical year.\n\n     \"In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second\n     month, the seventeenth day of the month, the same day were all\n     the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of\n     heaven were opened.\"\n\n     \"And it came to pass in the six hundredth and first year, . . .\n     in the second month, on the seven and twentieth day of the\n     month, was the earth dried.\"\n\nThe interval from the commencement of the deluge to its close was\ntherefore twelve lunar months and ten days; _i. e._ 364 or 365 days.\nThe beginning of the rain would, no doubt, be sharply marked; the end of\nthe drying would be gradual, and hence the selection of a day exactly\n(so far as we can tell) a full tropical year from the beginning of the\nflood would seem to be intentional. A complete year had been consumed by\nthe judgment.\n\nNo such total interruption of the kindly succession of the seasons shall\never occur again:--\n\n     \"While the earth remaineth, seed-time and harvest, and cold\n     and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not\n     cease.\"\n\nThe rain is no longer for judgment, but for blessing:--\n\n     \"Thou visitest the earth, and waterest it,\n      Thou greatly enrichest it;\n      The river of God is full of water:\n      Thou providest them corn, when Thou hast so prepared the earth.\n      Thou waterest her furrows abundantly;\n      Thou settlest the ridges thereof:\n      Thou makest it soft with showers;\n      Thou blessest the springing thereof.\n      Thou crownest the year with Thy goodness.\"\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[311:1] P. I. Hershon, _Genesis with a Talmudical Commentary_, p. 30.\n\n[315:1] _Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society_, vol. xxxix.\np. 455.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER V\n\nTHE SABBATIC YEAR AND THE JUBILEE\n\n\nThe principle of the week with its sabbath of rest was carried partially\ninto the month, and completely into the year. The seventh month of the\nyear was marked out pre-eminently by the threefold character of its\nservices, though every seventh month was not distinguished. But the\nweekly sabbath was expressed not only in days but in years, and was one\nboth of rest and of release.\n\nThe sabbath of years was first enjoined from Mount Sinai, in the third\nmonth after the departure from Egypt, certainly within a day or so, if\nnot on the actual day, of the second great feast of the year, variously\nknown to the Hebrews as the Feast of Firstfruits, or the Feast of Weeks,\nand to us as Pentecost, that is Whitsuntide. It is most shortly given in\nExod. xxi. 2, and xxiii. 10, 11:--\n\n     \"If thou buy an Hebrew servant, six years he shall serve: and\n     in the seventh he shall go out free for nothing.\"\n\n     \"Six years thou shalt sow thy land, and shalt gather in the\n     fruits thereof: but the seventh year thou shalt let it rest\n     and lie still; that the poor of thy people may eat: and what\n     they leave the beasts of the field shall eat. In like manner\n     thou shalt deal with thy vineyard, and with thy oliveyard.\"\n\nThese laws are given at greater length and with fuller explanation in\nthe twenty-fifth chapter of the Book of Leviticus. In addition there is\ngiven a promise of blessing for the fulfilment of the laws, and, in the\ntwenty-sixth chapter, a sign to follow on their breach.\n\n     \"If ye shall say, What shall we eat the seventh year? behold,\n     we shall not sow, nor gather in our increase: then I will\n     command My blessing upon you in the sixth year, and it shall\n     bring forth fruit for three years. And ye shall sow the eighth\n     year, and eat yet of old fruit until the ninth year: until her\n     fruits come in ye shall eat of the old store.\"\n\n     \"Ye shall keep My sabbaths . . . and if ye walk contrary unto\n     Me . . . I will scatter you among the heathen, and will draw\n     out a sword after you: and your land shall be desolate, and\n     your cities waste. Then shall the land enjoy her sabbaths, as\n     long as it lieth desolate, and ye be in your enemies' land;\n     even then shall the land rest, and enjoy her sabbaths. As long\n     as it lieth desolate it shall rest; because it did not rest in\n     your sabbaths, when ye dwelt upon it.\"\n\nIn the fifteenth chapter of the Book of Deuteronomy this sabbatic year\nis called a year of release. The specific injunctions here relate to\nloans made to a Hebrew and to a foreigner, and to the taking of a Hebrew\ninto bondage. The laws as to loans had direct reference to the sabbath\nof the land, for since only Hebrews might possess the Holy Land,\ninterest on a debt might not be exacted from a Hebrew in the sabbatic\nyear, as the land did not then yield him wherewith he might pay. But\nloans to foreigners would be necessarily for commercial, not\nagricultural, purposes, and since commerce was not interdicted in the\nsabbatic year, interest on loans to foreigners might be exacted.\nWarning was given that the loans to a poor Hebrew should not be withheld\nbecause the sabbatic year was close at hand. The rules with respect to\nthe Hebrew sold for debt into bondage are the same as those given in the\nBook of the Exodus.\n\nIn Deuteronomy it was also enjoined that--\n\n     \"at the end of every seven years, in the solemnity of the year\n     of release, in the Feast of Tabernacles\" (that is, in the\n     feast of the seventh month), \"when all Israel is come to\n     appear before the Lord thy God in the place which He shall\n     choose, thou shalt read this law before all Israel in their\n     hearing.\"\n\nWe find no more mention of the sabbatic year until the reign of\nZedekiah, the last king of Judah. He had made a covenant with all the\npeople which were at Jerusalem, to proclaim liberty unto them, that\nevery Hebrew bondservant should go free, but the princes and all the\npeople caused their Hebrew bondservants to return and be in subjection\nto them. Then Jeremiah the prophet was sent to remind them of the\ncovenant made with their fathers when they were brought out from the\nland of Egypt, from the house of bondmen; and in the Second Book of\nChronicles it is said that the sign of the breaking of this covenant,\nalready quoted from the Book of Leviticus, was being accomplished. The\nCaptivity was--\n\n     \"to fulfil the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah,\n     until the land had enjoyed her sabbaths: for as long as she\n     lay desolate she kept sabbath, to fulfil three-score and ten\n     years.\"\n\nAfter the exile, we find one reference to the sabbatic year in the\ncovenant sealed by the princes, Levites, and priests and people, in the\nBook of Nehemiah:--\n\n     \"That we would leave the seventh year, and the exaction of\n     every debt.\"\n\nJust as the Feast of Weeks was bound to the Feast of the Passover by\nnumbering seven sabbaths from the day of the wave-offering--\"even unto\nthe morrow after the seventh sabbath shall ye number fifty days:\"--so\nthe year of Jubilee was bound to the sabbatic year:--\n\n     \"Thou shalt number seven sabbaths of years unto thee, seven\n     times seven years; and the space of the seven sabbaths of\n     years shall be unto thee forty and nine years. Then shalt thou\n     cause the trumpet of the Jubile to sound on the tenth day of\n     the seventh month, in the day of atonement shall ye make the\n     trumpet sound throughout all your land. And ye shall hallow\n     the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout all the\n     land unto all the inhabitants thereof: it shall be a Jubile\n     unto you; and ye shall return every man unto his possession,\n     and ye shall return every man unto his family.\"\n\nIn this year of Jubilee all land, and village houses, and the houses of\nthe Levites were to revert to their original owners. These, in other\nwords, could be leased only, and not bought outright, the price of the\nlease depending upon the number of years until the next Jubilee. A\nforeigner might not buy a Hebrew outright as a bondslave; he could but\ncontract with him as a servant hired for a term; this contract might be\nabolished by the payment of a sum dependent on the number of years until\nthe next year of Jubilee, and in any case the Hebrew servant and his\nfamily must go out free at the year of Jubilee. In the last chapter of\nthe Book of Numbers we get a reference again to the year of Jubilee, and\nindirect allusions to it are made by Isaiah, in \"the acceptable year of\nthe Lord\" when liberty should be proclaimed, and in \"the year of the\nredeemed.\" In his prophecy of the restoration of Israel, Ezekiel\ndefinitely refers to \"the year of liberty,\" when the inheritance that\nhas been granted to a servant shall return again to the prince.\n\nThe interpretation of the sabbatic year and the year of Jubilee has\ngreatly exercised commentators. At what season did the sabbatic year\nbegin? was it coterminous with the ecclesiastical year; or did it differ\nfrom it by six months? Was the year of Jubilee held once in every\nforty-nine years or once in every fifty? did it begin at the same season\nas the sabbatic year? did it interrupt the reckoning of the sabbatic\nyear, so that a new cycle commenced immediately after the year of\nJubilee; or was the sabbatic year every seventh, irrespective of the\nyear of Jubilee? did the year of Jubilee always follow immediately on a\nsabbatic year, or did this only happen occasionally?\n\nThe problem will be much simpler if it is borne in mind that the Law, as\noriginally proclaimed, was eminently practical and for practical men.\nThe period of pedantry, of hair-splitting, of slavery to mere\ntechnicalities, came very late in Jewish history.\n\nIt is clear from what has been already said in the chapter on the year,\nthat the only calendar year in the Old Testament was the sacred one,\nbeginning with the month Abib or Nisan, in the spring. At the same time\nthe Jews, like ourselves, would occasionally refer vaguely to the\nbeginning, or the end, or the course of the year, without meaning to set\nup any hard and fast connection with the authorized calendar.\n\nNow it is perfectly clear that the sabbatic year cannot have begun with\nthe first day of the month Abib, because the first fruits were offered\non the fifteenth of that month. That being so, the ploughing and the\nsowing must have taken place very considerably earlier. It is not\npossible to suppose that the Hebrew farmer would plough and sow his land\nin the last months of the previous year, knowing that he could not reap\nduring the sabbatic year.\n\nSimilarly, it seems hardly likely that it was considered as beginning\nwith the first of Tishri, inasmuch as the harvest festival, the Feast of\nthe Ingathering, or Tabernacles, took place in the middle of that month.\nThe plain and practical explanation is that, after the Feast of\nTabernacles of the sixth year, the farmer would not again plough, sow,\nor reap his land until after the Feast of Tabernacles in the sabbatic\nyear. The sabbatic year, in other words, was a simple agricultural year,\nand it did not correspond exactly with the ecclesiastical or with any\ncalendar year.\n\nFor practical purposes the sabbatic year therefore ended with the close\nof the Feast of Tabernacles, when the Law was read before the whole\npeople according to the command of Moses; and it practically began a\nyear earlier.\n\nThe year of Jubilee appears in the directions of Lev. xxv. to have been\nmost distinctly linked to the sabbatic year.\n\n     \"The space of the seven sabbaths of years shall be unto thee\n     forty and nine years, . . . and ye shall hallow the fiftieth\n     year, and proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all\n     the inhabitants thereof: it shall be a Jubile unto you.\"\n\nIt would seem, therefore, that just as the week of days ran on\ncontinuously, uninterrupted by any feasts or fasts, so the week of years\nran on continuously. And as the Feast of Pentecost was the 49th day from\nthe offering of the first-fruits on the morrow of the Passover, so the\nJubilee was the 49th year from the \"morrow\" of a sabbatic year; it\nfollowed immediately after a sabbatic year. The Jubilee was thus the\n49th year from the previous Jubilee; it was the 50th from the particular\nsabbatic year from which the original reckoning was made.\n\nActually the year of Jubilee began before the sabbatic year was\ncompleted, because the trumpet of the Jubilee was to be blown upon the\nDay of Atonement, the 10th day of the seventh month--that is to say,\nwhilst the sabbatic year was yet in progress. Indeed, literally\nspeaking, this trumpet, \"loud of sound,\" blown on the 10th day of the\nseventh month, _was_ the Jubilee, that is to say, the sound of\nrejoicing, the joyful sound. A difficulty comes in here. The Israelites\nwere commanded--\n\n     \"Ye shall not sow, neither reap that which groweth of itself\n     in it, nor gather the grapes in it of thy vine undressed. For\n     it is the Jubile; it shall be holy unto you: ye shall eat the\n     increase thereof out of the field.\"\n\nThis would appear to mean that the Jubilee extended over a whole year\nfollowing a sabbatic year, so that the land lay fallow for two\nconsecutive years. But this seems negatived by two considerations. It is\nexpressly laid down in the same chapter (Lev. xxv. 22) that the\nIsraelites were to sow in the eighth year--that is to say, in the year\nafter a sabbatic year, and the year of Jubilee would be always a year of\nthis character. Further, if the next sabbatic year was the seventh after\nthe one preceding the Jubilee, then the land would be tilled for only\nfive consecutive years, not for six, though this is expressly commanded\nin Lev. xxv. 3. If, on the contrary, it was tilled for six years, then\nthe run of the sabbatic years would be interrupted.\n\nThe explanation of this difficulty may possibly be found in the fact\nthat that which distinguished the year of Jubilee was something which\ndid not run through the whole circuit of the seasons. The land in that\nyear was to return to its original owners. The freehold of the land was\nnever sold; the land was inalienable, and in the year of Jubilee it\nreverted. \"In the year of this Jubile ye shall return every man unto his\npossession.\"\n\nIt is quite clear that it could not have been left to the caprice of the\nowners of property as to when this transfer took place, or as to when\nsuch Hebrews as had fallen through poverty into slavery should be\nliberated. If the time were made optional, grasping men would put it off\ntill the end of the year, and sooner or later that would be the general\nrule. There can be no doubt that the blowing of the trumpet on the 10th\nday of the seventh month was the proclamation of liberty throughout all\nthe land and to all the inhabitants thereof; and that the transfer of\nthe land must have taken place at the same time. The slave would return\nto the possession of his ancestors in time to keep, as a freeman, the\nFeast of Tabernacles on his own land. The four days between the great\nday of Atonement and the Feast of Tabernacles were sufficient for this\nchange to be carried out.\n\nThe term \"Year of Jubilee\" is therefore not to be taken as signifying\nthat the events of the Jubilee were spread over twelve months, but\nsimply, that it was the year in which the restoration of the Jubilee was\naccomplished. We speak of the king's \"coronation year,\" though his\ncoronation took place on but a single day, and the meaning that we\nshould attach to the phrase would depend upon the particular sense in\nwhich we were using the word \"year.\" Whilst, therefore, the Jubilee\nitself was strictly defined by the blowing of trumpets on the 10th day\nof the seventh month, it would be perfectly correct to give the title,\n\"year of Jubilee,\" to any year, no matter in what season it commenced,\nthat contained the day of that proclamation of liberty. It is also\ncorrect to say that it was the fiftieth year because it was placed at\nthe very end of the forty-ninth year.\n\nThe difficulty still remains as to the meaning of the prohibition to sow\nor reap in the year of Jubilee. The command certainly reads as if the\nland was to lie fallow for two consecutive years; but it would seem an\nimpracticable arrangement that the poor man returning to his inheritance\nshould be forbidden to plough or sow until more than a twelvemonth had\nelapsed, and hence that he should be forbidden to reap until nearly two\nfull years had run their course. It also, as already stated, seems\ndirectly contrary to the command to sow in the eighth year, which would\nalso be the fiftieth. It may therefore be meant simply to emphasize the\nprohibition to sow and reap in the sabbatic year immediately preceding\nthe Jubilee. The temptation would be great to a grasping man to get the\nmost he could out of the land before parting with it for ever.\n\nIn spite of the strong array of commentators who claim that the Jubilees\nwere to be held every fifty years as we moderns should compute it, there\ncan be no doubt but that they followed each other at the same interval\nas every seventh sabbatic year; in other words, that they were held\nevery 49 years. This is confirmed by an astronomical consideration.\nForty-nine years make a convenient luni-solar cycle, reconciling the\nlunar month and the tropical solar year. Though not so good as the\nMetonic cycle of 19 years, it is quite a practical one, as the following\ntable will show:--\n\n      3 years =  1095\u00b773 days  :  37 months =  1092\u00b763 days\n      8   \"   =  2921\u00b794  \"    :  99   \"    =  2923\u00b753  \"\n     11   \"   =  4017\u00b766  \"    : 136   \"    =  4016\u00b716  \"\n     19   \"   =  6939\u00b760  \"    : 235   \"    =  6939\u00b769  \"\n     49   \"   = 17896\u00b787  \"    : 606   \"    = 17895\u00b754  \"\n     60   \"   = 21914\u00b753  \"    : 742   \"    = 21911\u00b770  \"\n\nThe cycle of 49 years would therefore be amply good enough to guide the\npriestly authorities in drawing up their calendar in cases where there\nwas some ambiguity due to the interruption of observations of the moon,\nand this was all that could be needed so long as the nation of Israel\nremained in its own land.\n\nThe cycle of 8 years is added above, since it has been stated that the\nJews of Alexandria adopted this at one time from the Greeks. This was\nnot so good as the cycle of 11 years would have been, and not to be\ncompared with the combination of the two cycles in that of 19 years\nascribed to Meton. The latter cycle was adopted by the Babylonian Jews,\nand forms the basis of the Jewish calendar in use to-day.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VI\n\nTHE CYCLES OF DANIEL\n\n\nThe cycle of 49 years, marked out by the return of the Jubilee, was a\nuseful and practical one. It supplied, in fact, all that the Hebrews, in\nthat age, required for the purposes of their calendar. The Babylonian\nbasic number, 60, would have given--as will be seen from the table in\nthe last chapter--a distinctly less accurate correspondence between the\nmonth and the tropical year.\n\nThere is another way of looking at the regulations for the Jubilee,\nwhich brings out a further significant relation. On the 10th day of the\nfirst month of any year, the lamb was selected for the Passover. On the\n10th day of the seventh month of any year was the great Day of\nAtonement. From the 10th day of the first month of the first year after\na Jubilee to the next blowing of the Jubilee trumpet on the great Day of\nAtonement, was 600 months, that is 50 complete lunar years. And the same\ninterval necessarily held good between the Passover of that first year\nand the Feast of Tabernacles of the forty-ninth year. The Passover\nrecalled the deliverance of Israel from the bondage of Egypt; and in\nlike manner, the release to be given to the Hebrew slave at the year of\nJubilee was expressly connected with the memory of that national\ndeliverance.\n\n     \"For they are My servants, which I brought forth out of the\n     land of Egypt: they shall not be sold as bondmen.\"\n\nThe day of Jubilee fell in the middle of the ecclesiastical year. From\nthe close of the year of Jubilee--that is to say, of the ecclesiastical\nyear in which the freeing, both of the bondmen and of the land, took\nplace--to the next day of Jubilee was 48-1/2 solar years, or--as seen\nabove--600 lunations, or 50 lunar years, so that there can be no doubt\nthat the period was expressly designed to exhibit this cycle, a cycle\nwhich shows incidentally a very correct knowledge of the true lengths of\nthe lunation and solar year.\n\nThis cycle was possessed by no other nation of antiquity; therefore the\nHebrews borrowed it from none; and since they did not borrow the cycle,\nneither could they have borrowed the ritual with which that cycle was\ninterwoven.\n\nThat the Hebrews possessed this knowledge throws some light upon an\nincident in the early life of the prophet Daniel.\n\n     \"In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah\n     came Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon unto Jerusalem, and\n     besieged it. . . . And the king spake unto Ashpenaz the master\n     of his eunuchs, that he should bring certain of the children\n     of Israel, and of the king's seed, and of the princes;\n     children in whom was no blemish, but well favoured, and\n     skilful in all wisdom, and cunning in knowledge, and\n     understanding science, and such as had ability in them to\n     stand in the king's palace, and whom they might teach the\n     learning and the tongue of the Chaldeans. . . . Now among\n     these were of the children of Judah, Daniel, Hananiah,\n     Mishael, and Azariah: unto whom the prince of the eunuchs gave\n     names: for he gave unto Daniel the name of Belteshazzar; and\n     to Hananiah, of Shadrach; and to Mishael, of Meshach; and to\n     Azariah, of Abed-nego. . . . As for these four children, God\n     gave them knowledge and skill in all learning and wisdom; and\n     Daniel had understanding in all visions and dreams. Now at the\n     end of the days that the king had said he should bring them\n     in, then the prince of the eunuchs brought them in before\n     Nebuchadnezzar. And the king communed with them; and among\n     them all was found none like Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and\n     Azariah: therefore stood they before the king. And in all\n     matters of wisdom and understanding, that the king inquired of\n     them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians\n     and astrologers that were in all his realm.\"\n\nThe Hebrew children that king Nebuchadnezzar desired to be brought were\nto be already possessed of knowledge; they were to be further instructed\nin the learning and tongue of the Chaldeans. But when the four Hebrew\nchildren were brought before the king, and he communed with them, he\nfound them wiser than his own wise men.\n\nNo account is given of the questions asked by the king, or of the\nanswers made by the four young Hebrews; so it is merely a conjecture\nthat possibly some question bearing on the calendar may have come up.\nBut if it did, then certainly the information within the grasp of the\nHebrews could not have failed to impress the king.\n\nWe know how highly the Greeks esteemed the discovery by Meton, in the\n86th Olympiad, of that relation between the movements of the sun and\nmoon, which gives the cycle of nineteen years, and similar knowledge\nwould certainly have given king Nebuchadnezzar a high opinion of the\nyoung captives.\n\nBut there is evidence, from certain numbers in the book which bears his\nname, that Daniel was acquainted with luni-solar cycles which quite\ntranscended that of the Jubilees in preciseness, and indicate a\nknowledge such as was certainly not to be found in any other ancient\nnation. The numbers themselves are used in a prophetic context, so that\nthe meaning of the whole is veiled, but astronomical knowledge\nunderlying the use of these numbers is unmistakably there.\n\nOne of these numbers is found in the eighth chapter.\n\n     \"How long shall be the vision concerning the daily sacrifice,\n     and the transgression of desolation, to give both the\n     sanctuary and the host to be trodden under foot? And he said\n     unto me, Unto two thousand and three hundred days; then shall\n     the sanctuary be cleansed.\"\n\nThe twelfth chapter gives the other number, but in a more veiled form:--\n\n     \"And I heard the man clothed in linen, which was upon the\n     waters of the river, when he held up his right hand and his\n     left hand unto heaven, and sware by Him that liveth for ever\n     that it shall be for a time, times, and an half; and when he\n     shall have accomplished to scatter the power of the holy\n     people, all these things shall be finished.\"\n\nThe numerical significance of the \"time, times and an half,\" or, as it\nis expressed in the seventh chapter of Daniel, \"until a time, and times,\nand the dividing of time,\" is plainly shown by the corresponding\nexpressions in the Apocalypse, where \"a time and times and half a time\"\nwould appear to be given elsewhere both as \"forty and two months\" and\n\"a thousand, two hundred and three-score days.\" Forty-two conventional\nmonths--that is of 30 days each--make up 1260 days, whilst 3-1/2\nconventional years of 360 days--that is twelve months of 30 days\neach--make up the same period. The word \"times\" is expressly used as\nequivalent to years in the eleventh chapter of Daniel, where it is said\nthat the king of the north \"shall come on at the end of the times, even\nof years, with a great army and with much substance.\" Then, again in the\nvision which Nebuchadnezzar had previous to his madness, he heard the\nwatcher and the holy one cry concerning him:--\n\n     \"Let his heart be changed from man's, and let a beast's heart\n     be given unto him; and let seven times pass over him.\"\n\nIt has been generally understood that the \"seven times\" in this latter\ncase meant \"seven years.\" The \"time, times and an half\" are obviously\nmeant as the half of \"seven times.\"\n\nThe two numbers, 2,300 and 1,260, whatever be their significance in\ntheir particular context in these prophecies, have an unmistakable\nastronomical bearing, as the following table will show:--\n\n      2,300 solar years  = 840,057 days, 1 hour.\n     28,447 lunar months = 840,056  \"   16 hours.\n              difference =               9  \"\n      1,260 solar years  = 460,205  \"    4  \"\n     15,584 lunar months = 460,204  \"   17  \"\n              difference =          \"   11  \"\n\nIf the one number 1,260 stood alone, the fact that it was so close a\nlunar cycle might easily be ascribed to a mere coincidence. Seven is a\nsacred number, and the days in the year may be conventionally\nrepresented as 360. Half the product of the two might, perhaps, seem to\nbe a natural number to adopt for symbolic purposes. But the number 2,300\nstands in quite a different category. It is not suggested by any\ncombination of sacred numbers, and is not veiled under any mystic\nexpression; the number is given as it stands--2,300. But 2,300 solar\nyears is an exact number, not only of lunations, but also of\n\"anomalistic\" months. The \"anomalistic month\" is the time occupied by\nthe moon in travelling from its perigee, that is its point of nearest\napproach to the earth, round to its perigee again. For the moon's orbit\nround the earth is not circular, but decidedly elliptical; the moon\nbeing 31,000 miles nearer to us at perigee than it is at apogee, its\npoint of greatest distance. But it moves more rapidly when near perigee\nthan when near apogee, so that its motion differs considerably from\nperfect uniformity.\n\nBut the period in which the moon travels from her perigee round to\nperigee again is 27 days, 13 hours, 18 minutes, 37 seconds, and there\nare in 2,300 solar years almost exactly 30,487 such periods or\nanomalistic months, which amount to 840,057 days, 2 hours.\n\nIf we take the mean of these three periods, that is to say 840,057 days,\nas being the cycle, it brings into harmony the day, the anomalistic\nmonth, the ordinary month, and the solar year. It is from this point of\nview the most perfect cycle known.\n\nDr. H. Grattan Guinness[343:1] has shown what a beautifully simple and\naccurate calendar could have been constructed on the basis of this\nperiod of 2,300 years; thus:--\n\n     2,300 solar years contain 28,447 synodic months, of which 847\n     are intercalary, or epact months. 2,300 years are 840,057\n     days:\n\n                                                             Days.\n     27,600 {13,800 non-intercalary mths. of 29 d. each  =  400,200\n            {13,800  \"    \"           \"   \"  30     \"    =  414,000\n           847 {423 intercalary months of 30 days each   =   12,690\n               {424   \"          \"     \"  31  \"     \"    =   13,144\n                 23 days additional for the 23 centuries =       23\n                                                            -------\n                                                            840,057\n\nThe Jewish calendar on this system would have consisted of ordinary\nmonths, alternately 29 and 30 days in length. The intercalary months\nwould have contained alternately 30 or 31 days, and once in every\ncentury one of the ordinary months would have had an additional day. Or,\nwhat would come to very much the same thing, this extra day might have\nbeen added at every alternate Jubilee.\n\nBy combining these two numbers of Daniel some cycles of extreme\nastronomical interest have been derived by De Cheseaux, a Swiss\nastronomer of the eighteenth century, and by Dr. H. Grattan Guinness,\nand Dr. W. Bell Dawson in our own times. Thus, the difference between\n2,300 and 1,260 is 1,040, and 1,040 years give an extremely exact\ncorrespondence between the solar year and the month, whilst the mean of\nthe two numbers gives us 1,780, and 1,780 lunar years is 1,727 solar\nyears with extreme precision. But since these are not given directly in\nthe Book of Daniel, and are only inferential from his numbers, there\nseems no need to comment upon them here.\n\nIt is fair, however, to conclude that Daniel was aware of the Metonic\ncycle. The 2300-year cycle gives evidence of a more accurate knowledge\nof the respective lengths of month and year than is involved in the\ncycle of 19 years. And the latter is a cycle which a Jew would be\nnaturally led to detect, as the number of intercalary months contained\nin it is seven, the Hebrew sacred number.\n\nThe Book of Daniel, therefore, itself proves to us that king\nNebuchadnezzar was perfectly justified in the high estimate which he\nformed of the attainments of the four Hebrew children. Certainly one of\nthem, Daniel, was a better instructed mathematician and astronomer than\nany Chaldean who had ever been brought into his presence.\n\nWe have the right to make this assertion, for now we have an immense\nnumber of Babylonian records at our command; and can form a fairly\naccurate estimate as to the state there of astronomical and mathematical\nscience at different epochs. A kind of \"quasi-patriotism\" has induced\nsome Assyriologists to confuse in their accounts of Babylonian\nattainments the work of times close to the Christian era with that of\nmany centuries, if not of several millenniums earlier; and the times of\nSargon of Agad\u00e9, whose reputed date is 3800 B.C., have seemed to be\ncredited with the astronomical work done in Babylon in the first and\nsecond centuries before our era. This is much as if we should credit\nour predecessors who lived in this island at the time of Abraham with\nthe scientific attainments of the present day.\n\nThe earlier astronomical achievements at Babylon were not, in any real\nsense, astronomical at all. They were simply the compilation of lists of\ncrude astrological omens, of the most foolish and unreasoning kind. Late\nin Babylonian history there were observations of a high scientific\norder; real observations of the positions of moon and planets, made with\ngreat system and regularity. But these were made after Greek astronomy\nhad attained a high level, and Babylon had come under Greek rule.\n\nWhether this development of genuine astronomical observation was of\nnative origin, or was derived from their Greek masters, is not clear. If\nit was native, then certainly the Babylonians were not able to use and\ninterpret the observations which they made nearly so well as were Greek\nastronomers, such as Eudoxus, Thales, Pythagoras, Hipparchus and many\nothers.\n\nBut it must not be supposed that, though their astronomical achievements\nhave been grossly, even ludicrously, exaggerated by some popular\nwriters, the Babylonians contributed nothing of value to the progress of\nthe science. We may infer from such a tablet as that already quoted on\npage 320, when the equinox was observed on the 6th day of Nisan, since\nthere were 6 _kasbu_ of day and 6 _kasbu_ of night, that some mechanical\ntime-measurer was in use. Indeed, the record on one tablet has been\ninterpreted as noting that the astronomer's clock or clepsydra had\nstopped. If this be so, then we owe to Babylon the invention of clocks\nof some description, and from an astronomical point of view, this is of\nthe greatest importance.\n\nTradition also points to the Chaldeans as the discoverers of the\n_Saros_, the cycle of 18 years, 10 or 11 days, after which eclipses of\nthe sun or moon recur. The fact that very careful watch was kept every\nmonth at the times of the new and of the full moon, at many different\nstations, to note whether an eclipse would take place, would naturally\nbring about the discovery of the period, sooner or later.\n\nThe achievements of a nation will be in accordance with its temperament\nand opportunities, and it is evident from the records which they have\nleft us that the Babylonians, though very superstitious, were a\nmethodical, practical, prosaic people, and a people of that order, if\nthey are numerous, and under strong rule, will go far and do much. The\ndiscovery of the _Saros_ was such as was within their power, and was\ncertainly no small achievement. But it is to the Greeks, not to the\nBabylonians, that we trace the beginnings of mathematics and planetary\ntheory.\n\nWe look in vain amongst such Babylonian poetry as we possess for the\ntraces of a Homer, a Pindar, a Sophocles, or even of a poet fit to enter\ninto competition with those of the second rank in the literature of\nGreece; while it must remain one of the literary mysteries of our time\nthat any one should deem the poetry of the books of Isaiah and Job\ndependent on Babylonian inspiration.\n\nThere were two great hindrances under which the Babylonian man of\nscience laboured: he was an idolater, and he was an astrologer. It is\nnot possible for us in our freedom to fully realize how oppressive was\nthe slavery of mind, as well as spirit, which was consequent upon this\ntwofold superstition. The Greek was freer, insomuch that he did not\nworship the planets, and did not become a planetary astrologer until\nafter he had learnt that superstition from Chaldea; in learning it he\nput an end to his scientific progress.\n\nBut the Hebrew, if he was faithful to the Law that had been given to\nhim, was free in mind as well as in spirit. He could fearlessly inquire\ninto any and all the objects of nature, for these were but things--the\nwork of God's Hands, whereas he, made in the image of God, having the\nright of intercourse with God, was the superior, the ruler of everything\nhe could see.\n\nHis religious attitude therefore gave him a great superiority for\nscientific advancement. Yet there was one phase of that attitude which,\nwhilst it preserved him from erroneous conceptions, tended to check that\nspirit of curiosity which has led to so much of the scientific progress\nof modern times. \"What?\" \"How?\" and \"Why?\" are the three questions which\nman is always asking of nature, and to the Hebrew the answer to the\nsecond and third was obvious:--It is the power of God: It is the will of\nGod. He did not need to invent for himself the crass absurdities of the\ncosmogonies of the heathen; but neither was he induced to go behind the\nappearances of things; the sufficient cause and explanation of all was\nGod.\n\nBut of the appearances he was very observant, as I trust has become\nclear in the course of this imperfect review of the traces of one\nparticular science as noticed in Holy Scripture.\n\nIf he was faithful to the Law which had been given him, the Hebrew was\nfree in character as well as in mind. His spirit was not that of a\nbondman, and Nebuchadnezzar certainly never met anything more noble,\nanything more free, than the spirit of the men who answered him in the\nvery view of the burning fiery furnace:--\n\n     \"O Nebuchadnezzar, we are not careful to answer thee in this\n     matter. If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver\n     us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us out\n     of thine hand, O king. BUT IF NOT, be it known unto thee, O\n     king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden\n     image which thou hast set up.\"\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[343:1] _Creation centred in Christ_, p. 344.\n\n\n[Illustration: \"SUN, STAND THOU STILL UPON GIBEON, AND THOU MOON IN THE\nVALLEY OF AJALON.\"]\n\n\n\n\nBOOK IV\n\nTHREE ASTRONOMICAL MARVELS\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER I\n\nJOSHUA'S \"LONG DAY\"[351:1]\n\n\n1.--METHOD OF STUDYING THE RECORD\n\nThere are three incidents recorded in Holy Scripture which may fairly,\nif with no great exactness, be termed astronomical miracles;--the \"long\nday\" on the occasion of Joshua's victory at Beth-horon; the turning back\nof the shadow on the dial of Ahaz, as a sign of king Hezekiah's recovery\nfrom sickness; and the star which guided the wise men from the east to\nthe birthplace of the Holy Child at Bethlehem.\n\nAs astronomy has some bearing on each of these three remarkable events,\nit will be of some interest to examine each of them from the point of\nview of our present astronomical knowledge. It does not follow that this\nwill throw any new light upon the narratives, for we must always bear in\nmind that the Scriptures were not intended to teach us the physical\nsciences; consequently we may find that the very details have been\nomitted which an astronomer, if he were writing an account of an\nastronomical observation, would be careful to preserve. And we must\nfurther remember that we have not the slightest reason to suppose that\nthe sacred historians received any supernatural instruction in\nscientific matters. Their knowledge of astronomy therefore was that\nwhich they had themselves acquired from education and research, and\nnothing more. In other words, the astronomy of the narrative must be\nread strictly in the terms of the scientific advancement of the writers.\n\nBut there is another thing that has also to be remembered. The narrative\nwhich we have before us, being the only one that we have, must be\naccepted exactly as it stands. That is the foundation of our inquiry; we\nhave no right to first cut it about at our will, to omit this, to alter\nthat, to find traces of two, three, or more original documents, and so\nto split up the narrative as it stands into a number of imperfect\nfragments, which by their very imperfection may seem to be more or less\nin conflict.\n\nThe scientific attitude with regard to the record of an observation\ncannot be too clearly defined. If that record be the only one, then we\nmay accept it, we may reject it, we may be obliged to say, \"We do not\nunderstand it,\" or \"It is imperfect, and we can make no use of it,\" but\nwe must not alter it. A moment's reflection will show that a man who\nwould permit himself to tamper with the sole evidence upon which he\npurports to work, no matter how profoundly convinced he may be that his\nproposed corrections are sound, is one who does not understand the\nspirit of science, and is not going the way to arrive at scientific\ntruth.\n\nThere is no need then to inquire as to whether the tenth chapter of the\nBook of Joshua comes from two or more sources; we take the narrative as\nit stands. And it is one which has, for the astronomer, an interest\nquite irrespective of any interpretation which he may place upon the\naccount of the miracle which forms its central incident. For Joshua's\nexclamation:--\n\n     \"Sun, stand thou still upon Gibeon;\n      And thou, Moon, in the valley of Ajalon,\"\n\nimplies that, at the moment of his speaking, the two heavenly bodies\nappeared to him to be, the one upon or over Gibeon, the other over the\nvalley of Ajalon. We have therefore, in effect, a definite astronomical\nobservation; interesting in itself, as being one of the oldest that has\nbeen preserved to us; doubly interesting in the conclusions that we are\nable to deduce from it.\n\nThe idea which has been most generally formed of the meaning of Joshua's\ncommand, is, that he saw Gibeon in the distance on the horizon in one\ndirection with the sun low down in the sky immediately above it, and the\nvalley of Ajalon in the distance, on the horizon in another direction,\nwith the moon low down in the sky above it.\n\nIt would be quite natural to associate the sun and moon with distant\nobjects if they were only some five or six degrees high; it would be\nrather straining the point to do so if they were more than ten degrees\nhigh; and if they were fifteen or more degrees high, it would be quite\nimpossible.\n\nThey could not be both in the same quarter of the sky; both rising or\nboth setting. For this would mean that the moon was not only very near\nthe sun in the sky, but was very near to conjunction--in other words, to\nnew moon. She could, therefore, have only shown a slender thread of\nlight, and it is perfectly certain that Joshua, facing the sun in such a\ncountry as southern Palestine could not possibly have perceived the thin\npale arch of light, which would have been all that the moon could then\nhave presented to him. Therefore the one must have been rising and the\nother setting, and Joshua must have been standing between Gibeon and the\nvalley of Ajalon, so that the two places were nearly in opposite\ndirections from him. The moon must have been in the west and the sun in\nthe east, for the valley of Ajalon is west of Gibeon. That is to say, it\ncannot have been more than an hour after sunrise, and it cannot have\nbeen more than an hour before moonset. Adopting therefore the usual\nexplanation of Joshua's words, we see at once that the common idea of\nthe reason for Joshua's command to the sun, namely, that the day was\nnearly over, and that he desired the daylight to be prolonged, is quite\nmistaken. If the sun was low down in the sky, he would have had\npractically the whole of the day still before him.\n\n\n2.--BEFORE THE BATTLE\n\nBefore attempting to examine further into the nature of the miracle, it\nwill be well to summarize once again the familiar history of the early\ndays of the Hebrew invasion of Canaan. We are told that the passage of\nthe Jordan took place on the tenth day of the first month; and that the\nFeast of the Passover was held on the fourteenth day of that month.\nThese are the only two positive dates given us. The week of the Pascal\ncelebrations would have occupied the time until the moon's last quarter.\nThen preparations were made for the siege of Jericho, and another week\npassed in the daily processions round the city before the moment came\nfor its destruction, which must have been very nearly at the beginning\nof the second month of the year. Jericho having been destroyed, Joshua\nnext ordered a reconnaissance of A\u00ef, a small fortified town, some twenty\nmiles distant, and some 3400 feet above the Israelite camp at Gilgal,\nand commanding the upper end of the valley of Achor, the chief ravine\nleading up from the valley of the Jordan. The reconnaissance was\nfollowed by an attack on the town, which resulted in defeat. From the\ndejection into which this reverse had thrown him Joshua was roused by\nthe information that the command to devote the spoil of Jericho to utter\ndestruction had been disobeyed. A searching investigation was held; it\nwas found that Achan, one of the Israelite soldiers, had seized for\nhimself a royal robe and an ingot of gold; he was tried, condemned and\nexecuted, and the army of Israel was absolved from his guilt. A second\nattack was made upon A\u00ef; the town was taken; and the road was made\nclear for Israel to march into the heart of the country, in order to\nhold the great religious ceremony of the reading of the law upon the\nmountains of Ebal and Gerizim, which had been commanded them long\nbefore. No note is given of the date when this ceremony took place, but\nbearing in mind that the second month of the year must have begun at the\ntime of the first reconnaissance of A\u00ef, and that the original giving of\nthe Law upon Mount Sinai had taken place upon the third day of the third\nmonth, it seems most likely that that anniversary would be chosen for a\nsolemnity which was intended to recall the original promulgation in the\nmost effective manner. If this were so, it would account for the\ncircumstance, which would otherwise have seemed so strange, that Joshua\nshould have attacked two cities only, Jericho and A\u00ef, and then for a\ntime have held his hand. It was the necessity of keeping the great\nnational anniversary on the proper day which compelled him to desist\nfrom his military operations after A\u00ef was taken.\n\nWe are not told how long the religious celebrations at Shechem lasted,\nbut in any case the Israelites can hardly have been back in their camp\nat Gilgal before the third moon of the year was at the full. But after\ntheir return, events must have succeeded each other with great rapidity.\nThe Amorites must have regarded the pilgrimage of Israel to Shechem as\nan unhoped-for respite, and they took advantage of it to organize a\ngreat confederacy. Whilst this confederacy was being formed, the rulers\nof a small state of \"Hivites\"--by which we must understand a community\ndiffering either in race or habits from the generality of their Amorite\nneighbours--had been much exercised by the course of events. They had\nindeed reason to be. A\u00ef, the last conquest of Israel, was less than four\nmiles, as the crow flies, from Bireh, which is usually identified with\nBeeroth, one of the four cities of the Hivite State; and the Beerothites\nhad, without doubt, watched the cloud of smoke go up from the burning\ntown when it was sacked; and the mound which now covered what had been\nso recently their neighbour city, was visible almost from their gates.\nThat was an object-lesson which required no enforcement. The Hivites,\nsure that otherwise their turn would come next, resolved to make peace\nwith Israel before they were attacked.\n\n[Illustration: MAP OF SOUTHERN PALESTINE.\n\nAmorite Cities, _thus_: HEBRON. Hivite Cities: _BEEROTH_.\n\nPlaces taken by the Israelites: _Jericho_.\n\nConjectural line of march of Joshua: ...................]\n\nTo do this they had to deceive the Israelites into believing that they\nwere inhabitants of some land far from Canaan, and this they must do,\nnot only before Joshua actually attacked them, but before he sent out\nanother scouting party. For Beeroth would inevitably have been the very\nfirst town which it would have approached, and once Joshua's spies had\nsurveyed it, all chance of the Hivites successfully imposing upon him\nwould have vanished.\n\nBut they were exposed to another danger, if possible more urgent still.\nThe headquarters of the newly formed Amorite league was at Jerusalem, on\nthe same plateau as Gibeon, the Hivite capital, and distant from it less\nthan six miles. A single spy, a single traitor, during the anxious time\nthat their defection was being planned, and Adoni-zedec, the king of\nJerusalem, would have heard of it in less than a couple of hours; and\nthe Gibeonites would have been overwhelmed before Joshua had any inkling\nthat they were anxious to treat with him. Whoever was dilatory, whoever\nwas slow, the Gibeonites dared not be. It can, therefore, have been, at\nmost, only a matter of hours after Joshua's return to Gilgal, before\ntheir wily embassy set forth.\n\nBut their defection had an instant result. Adoni-zedec recognized in a\nmoment the urgency of the situation. With Joshua in possession of Gibeon\nand its dependencies, the Israelites would be firmly established on the\nplateau at his very gates, and the states of southern Palestine would be\ncut off from their brethren in the north.\n\nAdoni-zedec lost no time; he sought and obtained the aid of four\nneighbouring kings and marched upon Gibeon. The Gibeonites sent at once\nthe most urgent message to acquaint Joshua with their danger, and Joshua\nas promptly replied. He made a forced march with picked troops all that\nnight up from Gilgal, and next day he was at their gates.\n\nCounterblow had followed blow, swift as the clash of rapiers in a duel\nof fencers. All three of the parties concerned--Hivite, Amorite and\nIsraelite--had moved with the utmost rapidity. And no wonder; the stake\nfor which they were playing was very existence, and the forfeit, which\nwould be exacted on failure, was extinction.\n\n\n3.--DAY, HOUR, AND PLACE OF THE MIRACLE\n\nThe foregoing considerations enable us somewhat to narrow down the time\nof the year at which Joshua's miracle can have taken place, and from an\nastronomical point of view this is very important. The Israelites had\nentered the land of Canaan on the 10th day of the first month, that is\nto say, very shortly after the spring equinox--March 21 of our present\ncalendar. Seven weeks after that equinox--May 11--the sun attains a\ndeclination of 18\u00b0 north. From this time its declination increases day\nby day until the summer solstice, when, in Joshua's time, it was nearly\n24\u00b0 north. After that it slowly diminishes, and on August 4 it is 18\u00b0\nagain. For twelve weeks, therefore--very nearly a quarter of the entire\nyear--the sun's northern declination is never less than 18\u00b0. The date of\nthe battle must have fallen somewhere within this period. It cannot have\nfallen earlier; the events recorded could not possibly have all been\nincluded in the seven weeks following the equinox. Nor, in view of the\npromptitude with which all the contending parties acted, and were bound\nto act, can we postpone the battle to a later date than the end of this\nmidsummer period.\n\nWe thus know, roughly speaking, what was the declination of the\nsun--that is to say, its distance from the equator of the heavens--at\nthe time of the battle; it was not less than 18\u00b0 north of the equator,\nit could not have been more than 24\u00b0.\n\nBut, if we adopt the idea most generally formed of the meaning of\nJoshua's command, namely, that he saw the sun low down over Gibeon in\none direction, and the moon low down over the valley of Ajalon in\nanother, we can judge of the apparent bearing of those two heavenly\nbodies from an examination of the map. And since, if we may judge from\nthe map of the Palestine Exploration Fund, the valley of Ajalon lies\nabout 17\u00b0 north of west from Gibeon, and runs nearly in that direction\nfrom it, the moon must, to Joshua, have seemed about 17\u00b0 north of west,\nand the sun 17\u00b0 south of east.\n\nBut for any date within the three summer months, the sun in the\nlatitude of Gibeon, when it bears 17\u00b0 south of east, must be at least\n56\u00b0 high. At this height it would seem overhead, and would not give the\nslightest idea of association with any distant terrestrial object. Not\nuntil some weeks after the autumnal equinox could the sun be seen low\ndown on the horizon in the direction 17\u00b0 south of east, and at the same\ntime the moon be as much as 17\u00b0 north of the west point. And, as this\nwould mean that the different combatants had remained so close to each\nother, some four or five months without moving, it is clearly\ninadmissible. We are forced therefore to the unexpected conclusion that\n_it is practically impossible that Joshua could have been in any place\nfrom whence he could have seen, at one and the name moment; the sun low\ndown in the sky over Gibeon, and the moon over the valley of Ajalon_.\n\nIs the narrative in error, then? Or have we been reading into it our own\nerroneous impression? Is there any other sense in which a man would\nnaturally speak of a celestial body as being \"over\" some locality on the\nearth, except when both were together on his horizon?\n\nMost certainly. There is another position which the sun can hold in\nwhich it may naturally be said to be \"over,\" or \"upon\" a given place;\nfar more naturally and accurately than when it chances to lie in the\nsame direction as some object on the horizon. We have no experience of\nthat position in these northern latitudes, and hence perhaps our\ncommentators have, as a rule, not taken it into account. But those who,\nin tropical or sub-tropical countries, have been in the open at high\nnoon, when a man's foot can almost cover his shadow, will recognize how\ndefinite, how significant such a position is. In southern Palestine,\nduring the three summer months, the sun is always so near the zenith at\nnoon that it could never occur to any one to speak of it as anything but\n\"overhead.\"\n\nAnd the prose narrative expressly tells us that this was the case. It is\nintimated that when Joshua spoke it was noon, by the expression that the\nsun \"hasted not to go down about a whole day,\" implying that the change\nin the rate in its apparent motion occurred only in the afternoon, and\nthat it had reached its culmination. Further, as not a few commentators\nhave pointed out, the expression,--\"the sun stood still in the midst of\nheaven,\"--is literally \"in the bisection of heaven\"; a phrase applicable\nindeed to any position on the meridian, but especially appropriate to\nthe meridian close to the zenith.\n\nThis, then, is what Joshua meant by his command to the sun. Its glowing\norb blazed almost in the centre of the whole celestial vault--\"in the\nmidst of heaven\"--and poured down its vertical rays straight on his\nhead. It stood over him--it stood over the place where he was--Gibeon.\n\nWe have, therefore, been able to find that the narrative gives us, by\nimplication, two very important particulars, the place where Joshua was,\nand the time of the day. He was at Gibeon, and it was high noon.\n\nThe expression, \"Thou, Moon, in the valley of Ajalon,\" has now a very\ndefinite signification. As we have already seen, the valley of Ajalon\nbears 17\u00b0 north of west from Gibeon, according to the map of the\nPalestine Exploration Fund, so that this is the azimuth which the moon\nhad at the given moment. In other words, it was almost exactly midway\nbetween the two \"points of the compass,\" W.b.N. and W.N.W. It was also\nin its \"last quarter\" or nearly so; that is, it was half-full, and\nwaning. With the sun on the meridian it could not have been much more\nthan half-full, for in that case it would have already set; nor much\nless than half-full, or it would have been too faint to be seen in full\ndaylight. It was therefore almost exactly half-full, and the day was\nprobably the 21st day of the month in the Jewish reckoning.\n\n[Illustration: BEARINGS OF THE RISING AND SETTING POINTS OF THE SUN FROM\nGIBEON.]\n\nBut the moon cannot be as far as 17\u00b0 north of west in latitude 31\u00b0 51\u00b4\nN. on the 21st day of the month earlier than the fourth month of the\nJewish year, or later than the eighth month. Now the 21st day of the\nfourth month is about seven weeks after the 3rd day of the third month;\nthe 21st day of the fifth month is eleven weeks. Remembering how close\nGilgal, Gibeon and Jerusalem were to each other, and how important was\nthe need for promptitude to Israelite and Amorite alike, it can scarcely\nbe disputed that eleven weeks is an inadmissible length of time to\ninterpose between the reading of the Law and the battle; and that seven\nweeks is the utmost that can be allowed.\n\nThe battle took place, then, on or about the 21st day of the fourth\nmonth. But it could only have done so if that particular year began\nlate. If the year had begun earlier than April 1st of our present\ncalendar, the moon could not have been so far north on the day named.\nFor the Jewish calendar is a natural one and regulated both by the sun\nand the moon. It begins with the new moon, and it also begins as nearly\nas possible with the spring equinox. But as twelve natural months fall\nshort of a solar year by eleven days, a thirteenth month has to be\nintercalated from time to time; in every nineteen years, seven are years\nhaving an extra month. Now the 21st day of the fourth month must have\nfallen on or about July 22 according to our present reckoning, in order\nthat the moon might have sufficient northing, and that involves a year\nbeginning after April 1; so that the year of the battle of Beth-horon\nmust have been an ordinary year, one of twelve months, but must have\nfollowed a year of thirteen months.\n\nSummarizing all the conclusions at which we have now arrived, Joshua's\nobservation was made at Gibeon itself, almost precisely at the moment of\nnoon, on or about the 21st day of the fourth month, which day fell late\nin July according to our present reckoning; probably on or about the\n22nd. The sun's declination must have been about 20\u00b0 north; probably, if\nanything, a little more. The sun rose therefore almost exactly at five\nin the morning, and set almost exactly at seven in the evening, the day\nbeing just fourteen hours long. The moon had not yet passed her third\nquarter, but was very near it; that is to say, she was about half full.\nHer declination did not differ greatly from 16\u00b0 north; she was probably\nabout 5\u00b0 above the horizon, and was due to set in about half an hour.\nShe had risen soon after eleven o'clock the previous evening, and had\nlighted the Israelites during more than half of their night march up\nfrom Gilgal.\n\n\n4.--JOSHUA'S STRATEGY\n\nThese conclusions, as to the place and time of day, entirely sweep away\nthe impression, so often formed, that Joshua's victory was practically\nin the nature of a night surprise. Had it been so, and had the Amorites\nbeen put to flight at daybreak, there would have seemed no conceivable\nreason why, with fourteen hours of daylight before him, Joshua should\nhave been filled with anxiety for the day to have been prolonged. Nor is\nit possible to conceive that he would still have been at Gibeon at noon,\nseven hours after he had made his victorious attack upon his enemy.\n\nThe fact is that, in all probability, Joshua had no wish to make a\nnight surprise. His attitude was like that of Nelson before the battle\nof Trafalgar; he had not the slightest doubt but that he would gain the\nvictory, but he was most anxious that it should be a complete one. The\ngreat difficulty in the campaign which lay before him was the number of\nfortified places in the hands of the enemy, and the costliness, both in\ntime and lives, of all siege operations at that epoch. His enemies\nhaving taken the field gave him the prospect of overcoming this\ndifficulty, if, now that they were in the open, he could succeed in\nannihilating them there; to have simply scattered them would have\nbrought him but little advantage. That this was the point to which he\ngave chief attention is apparent from one most significant circumstance\nin the history; the Amorites fled by the road to Beth-horon.\n\nThere have been several battles of Beth-horon since the days of Joshua,\nand the defeated army has, on more than one occasion, fled by the route\nnow taken by the Amorites. Two of these are recorded by Josephus; the\none in which Judas Maccab\u00e6us defeated and slew Nicanor, and the other\nwhen Cestius Gallus retreated from Jerusalem. It is probable that\nBeth-horon was also the scene of one, if not two, battles with the\nPhilistines, at the commencement of David's reign. In all these cases\nthe defeated foe fled by this road because it had been their line of\nadvance, and was their shortest way back to safety.\n\nBut the conditions were entirely reversed in the case of Joshua's\nbattle. The Amorites fled _away from_ their cities. Jerusalem, the\ncapital of Adoni-zedec and the chief city of the confederation, lay in\nprecisely the opposite direction. The other cities of their league lay\nbeyond Jerusalem, further still to the south.\n\nA reference to the map shows that Gilgal, the headquarters of the army\nof Israel, was on the plain of Jericho, close to the banks of the\nJordan, at the bottom of that extraordinary ravine through which the\nriver runs. Due west, at a distance of about sixteen or seventeen miles\nas the crow flies, but three thousand four hundred feet above the level\nof the Jordan, rises the Ridge of the Watershed, the backbone of the\nstructure of Palestine. On this ridge are the cities of Jerusalem and\nGibeon, and on it, leading down to the Maritime Plain, runs in a\nnorth-westerly direction, the road through the two Beth-horons.\n\nThe two Beth-horons are one and a half miles apart, with a descent of\n700 feet from the Upper to the Lower.\n\nThe flight of the Amorites towards Beth-horon proves, beyond a doubt,\nthat Joshua had possessed himself of the road from Gibeon to Jerusalem.\nIt is equally clear that this could not have been done by accident, but\nthat it must have been the deliberate purpose of his generalship.\nJerusalem was a city so strong that it was not until the reign of David\nthat the Israelites obtained possession of the whole of it, and to take\nit was evidently a matter beyond Joshua's ability. But to have defeated\nthe Amorites at Gibeon, and to have left open to them the way to\nJerusalem--less than six miles distant--would have been a perfectly\nfutile proceeding. We may be sure, therefore, that from the moment when\nhe learned that Adoni-zedek was besieging Gibeon, Joshua's first aim was\nto cut off the Amorite king from his capital.\n\nThe fact that the Amorites fled, not towards their cities but away from\nthem, shows clearly that Joshua had specially manoeuvred so as to cut\nthem off from Jerusalem. How he did it, we are not told, and any\nexplanation offered must necessarily be merely of the nature of surmise.\nYet a considerable amount of probability may attach to it. The\ngeographical conditions are perfectly well known, and we can, to some\ndegree, infer the course which the battle must have taken from these,\njust as we could infer the main lines of the strategy employed by the\nGermans in their war with the French in 1870, simply by noting the\nplaces where the successive battles occurred. The positions of the\nbattlefields of Mars-la-Tour, Gravelotte, and Sedan would show clearly\nthat the object of the Germans had been, first, to shut Bazaine up in\nMetz, and then to hinder MacMahon from coming to his relief. So in the\npresent case, the fact that the Amorites fled by the way of the two\nBeth-horons, shows, first, that Joshua had completely cut them off from\nthe road to Jerusalem, and next, that somehow or other when they took\nflight they were a long way to the north of him. Had they not been so,\nthey could not have had any long start in their flight, and the\nhailstorm which occasioned them such heavy loss would have injured the\nIsraelites almost as much.\n\nHow can these two circumstances be accounted for? I think we can make a\nvery plausible guess at the details of Joshua's strategy from noting\nwhat he is recorded to have done in the case of A\u00ef. On that occasion, as\non this, he had felt his inability to deal with an enemy behind\nfortifications. His tactics therefore had consisted in making a feigned\nattack, followed by a feigned retreat, by which he drew his enemies\ncompletely away from their base, which he then seized by means of a\ndetachment which he had previously placed in ambush near. Then, when the\nmen of A\u00ef were hopelessly cut off from their city, he brought all his\nforces together, surrounded his enemies in the open, and destroyed them.\n\nIt was a far more difficult task which lay before him at Gibeon, but we\nmay suppose that he still acted on the same general principles. There\nwere two points on the ridge of the watershed which, for very different\nreasons, it was important that he should seize. The one was Beeroth, one\nof the cities of the Hivites, his allies, close to his latest victory of\nA\u00ef, and commanding the highest point on the ridge of the watershed. It\nis distant from Jerusalem some ten miles--a day's journey. Tradition\ntherefore gives it as the place where the Virgin Mary and St. Joseph\nturned back sorrowing, seeking Jesus. For \"they, supposing Him to have\nbeen in the company, went a day's journey,\" and Beeroth still forms the\nfirst halting-place for pilgrims from the north on their return journey.\n\nBeeroth also was the city of the two sons of Rimmon who murdered\nIshbosheth, the son of Saul. When it is remembered how Saul had\nattempted to extirpate the Gibeonites, and how bitter a blood feud the\nlatter entertained against his house in consequence, it becomes very\nsignificant that the murderers of his son were men of this Gibeonite\ntown.\n\nBeeroth also commanded the exit from the principal ravine by which\nJoshua could march upwards to the ridge--the valley of Achor. The\nIsraelites marching by this route would have the great advantage that\nBeeroth, in the possession of their allies, the Gibeonites, would act as\na cover to them whilst in the ravines, and give them security whilst\ntaking up a position on the plateau.\n\nBut Beeroth had one fatal disadvantage as a sole line of advance. From\nBeeroth Joshua would come down to Gibeon from the north, and the\nAmorites, if defeated, would have a line of retreat, clear and easy, to\nJerusalem. It was absolutely essential that somewhere or other he should\ncut the Jerusalem road.\n\nThis would be a matter of great difficulty and danger, as, if his\nadvance were detected whilst he was still in the ravines, he would have\nbeen taken at almost hopeless disadvantage. The fearful losses which the\nIsraelites sustained in the intertribal war with Benjamin near this very\nplace, show what Joshua might reasonably have expected had he tried to\nmake his sole advance on the ridge near Jerusalem.\n\nIs it not probable that he would have endeavoured, under these\ncircumstances, to entice the Amorites as far away to the north as\npossible before he ventured to bring his main force out on the ridge? If\nso, we may imagine that he first sent a strong force by the valley of\nAchor to Beeroth; that they were instructed there to take up a strong\nposition, and when firmly established, to challenge the Amorites to\nattack them. Then, when the Israelite general in command at Beeroth\nperceived that he had before him practically the whole Amorite\nforce--for it would seem clear that the five kings themselves, together\nwith the greater part of their army, were thus drawn away--he would\nsignal to Joshua that the time had come for his advance. Just as Joshua\nhimself had signalled with his spear at the taking of A\u00ef, so the firing\nof a beacon placed on the summit of the ridge would suffice for the\npurpose. Joshua would then lead up the main body, seize the Jerusalem\nroad, and press on to Gibeon at the utmost speed. If this were so, the\nsmall detachment of Amorites left to continue the blockade was speedily\ncrushed, but perhaps was aware of Joshua's approach soon enough to send\nswift runners urging the five kings to return. The news would brook no\ndelay; the kings would turn south immediately; but for all their haste\nthey never reached Gibeon. They probably had but advanced as far as the\nridge leading to Beth-horon, when they perceived that not only had\nJoshua relieved Gibeon and destroyed the force which they had left\nbefore it, but that his line, stretched out far to the right and left,\nalready cut them off, not merely from the road to Jerusalem and Hebron,\nbut also from the valley of Ajalon, a shorter road to the Maritime Plain\nthan the one they actually took. East there was no escape; north was the\nIsraelite army from Beeroth; south and west was the army of Joshua.\nOut-manoeuvred and out-generalled, they were in the most imminent danger\nof being caught between the two Israelite armies, and of being ground,\nlike wheat, between the upper and nether millstones. They had no heart\nfor further fight; the promise made to Joshua,--\"there shall not a man\nof them stand before thee,\"--was fulfilled; they broke and fled by the\none way open to them, the way of the two Beth-horons.\n\nWhilst this conjectural strategy attributes to Joshua a ready grasp of\nthe essential features of the military position and skill in dealing\nwith them, it certainly does not attribute to him any greater skill than\nit is reasonable to suppose he possessed. The Hebrews have repeatedly\nproved, not merely their valour in battle, but their mastery of the art\nof war, and, as Marcel Dieulafoy has recently shown,[372:1] the earliest\ngeneral of whom we have record as introducing turning tactics in the\nfield, is David in the battle of the valley of Rephaim, recorded in 2\nSam. v. 22-25 and 1 Chron. xiv. 13-17.\n\n     \"The several evolutions of a complicated and hazardous nature\n     which decided the fate of the battle would betoken, even at\n     the present day, when successfully conducted, a consummate\n     general, experienced lieutenants, troops well accustomed to\n     manoeuvres, mobile, and, above all, disciplined almost into\n     unconsciousness, so contrary is it to our instincts not\n     to meet peril face to face. . . . In point of fact, the\n     Israelites had just effected in the face of the Philistines a\n     turning and enveloping movement--that is to say, an operation\n     of war considered to be one of the boldest, most skilful, and\n     difficult attempted by forces similar in number to those of\n     the Hebrews, but, at the same time, very efficacious and\n     brilliant when successful. It was the favourite manoeuvre of\n     Frederick II, and the one on which his military reputation\n     rests.\"\n\nBut though the Amorites had been discomfited by Joshua, they had not\nbeen completely surrounded; one way of escape was left open. More than\nthis, it appears that they obtained a very ample start in the race along\nthe north-western road. We infer this from the incident of the\nhailstorm which fell upon them whilst rushing down the precipitous road\nbetween the Beth-horons; a storm so sudden and so violent that more of\nthe Amorites died by the hailstones than had fallen in the contest at\nGibeon. It does not appear that the Israelites suffered from the storm;\nthey must consequently have, at the time, been much in the rear of their\nfoes. Probably they were still \"in the way that goeth up to Beth-horon\";\nthat is to say, in the ascent some two miles long from Gibeon till the\nsummit of the road is reached. There would be a special appropriateness\nin this case in the phrasing of the record that \"the Lord discomfited\nthe Amorites before Israel, and slew them with a great slaughter at\nGibeon, and _chased_ them along the way that goeth up to Beth-horon, and\nsmote them to Azekah and unto Makkedah.\" There was no slaughter on the\nroad between Gibeon and Beth-horon. It was a simple _chase_; a pursuit\nwith the enemy far in advance.\n\nThe Israelites, general and soldiers alike, had done their best. The\nforced march all night up the steep ravines, the plan of the battle, and\nthe way in which it had been carried out were alike admirable. Yet when\nthe Israelites had done their best, and the heat and their long\nexertions had nearly overpowered them, Joshua was compelled to recognize\nthat he had been but partly successful. He had relieved Gibeon; the\nAmorites were in headlong flight; he had cut them off from the direct\nroad to safety, but he had failed in one most important point. He had\nnot succeeded in surrounding them, and the greater portion of their\nforce was escaping.\n\n\n5.--THE MIRACLE.\n\nIt was at this moment, when his scouts announced to him the frustration\nof his hopes, that Joshua in the anxiety lest the full fruits of his\nvictory should be denied him, and in the supremest faith that the Lord\nGod, in Whose hand are all the powers of the universe, was with him,\nexclaimed:\n\n     \"Sun, stand thou still upon Gibeon,\n      And thou, Moon, in the valley of Ajalon!\"\n\nSo his exclamation stands in our Authorized Version, but, as the\nmarginal reading shows, the word translated \"stand still\" is more\nliterally \"be silent.\" There can be no doubt that this expression, so\nunusual in this connection, must have been employed with intention. What\nwas it that Joshua is likely to have had in his mind when he thus spoke?\n\nThe common idea is that he simply wished for more time; for the day to\nbe prolonged. But as we have seen, it was midday when he spoke, and he\nhad full seven hours of daylight before him. There was a need which he\nmust have felt more pressing. His men had now been seventeen hours on\nthe march, for they had started at sunset--7 p.m.--on the previous\nevening, and it was now noon, the noon of a sub-tropical midsummer. They\nhad marched at least twenty miles in the time, possibly considerably\nmore according to the route which they had followed, and the march had\nbeen along the roughest of roads, and had included an ascent of 3400\nfeet--about the height of the summit of Snowdon above the sea-level.\nThey must have been weary, and have felt sorely the heat of the sun,\nnow blazing right overhead. Surely it requires no words to labour this\npoint. Joshua's one pressing need at that moment was something to temper\nthe fierce oppression of the sun, and to refresh his men. This was what\nhe prayed for; this was what was granted him. For the moment the sun\nseemed fighting on the side of his enemies, and he bade it \"Be silent.\"\nInstantly, in answer to his command, a mighty rush of dark storm-clouds\ncame sweeping up from the sea.\n\nRefreshed by the sudden coolness, the Israelites set out at once in the\npursuit of their enemies. It is probable that for the first six miles\nthey saw no trace of them, but when they reached Beth-horon the Upper,\nand stood at the top of its steep descent, they saw the Amorites again.\nAs it had been with their fathers at the Red Sea, when the pillar of\ncloud had been a defence to them but the means of discomfiture to the\nEgyptians, so now the storm-clouds which had so revived them and\nrestored their their strength, had brought death and destruction to\ntheir enemies. All down the rocky descent lay the wounded, the dying,\nthe dead. For \"the Lord cast down great stones from heaven upon them,\nunto Azekah, and they died: they were more which died with hailstones\nthan they whom the children of Israel slew with the sword.\"\n\n     \"The might of the Gentile, unsmote by the sword,\n      Had melted like snow in the glance of the Lord.\"\n\nFar below them the panic-stricken remnants of the Amorite host were\nfleeing for safety to the cities of the Maritime Plain. The battle\nproper was over; the one duty left to the army of Israel was to overtake\nand destroy those remnants before they could gain shelter.\n\nBut the narrative continues. \"The sun stayed in the midst of heaven, and\nhasted not to go down about a whole day.\" This statement evidently\nimplies much more than the mere darkening of the sun by storm-clouds.\nFor its interpretation we must return to the remaining incidents of the\nday.\n\nThese are soon told. Joshua pursued the Amorites to Makkedah,\ntwenty-seven miles from Gibeon by the route taken. There the five kings\nhad hidden themselves in a cave. A guard was placed to watch the cave;\nthe Israelites continued the pursuit for an undefined distance farther;\nreturned to Makkedah and took it by assault; brought the kings out of\ntheir cave, and hanged them.\n\n     \"And it came to pass at the time of the going down of the sun,\n     that Joshua commanded, and they took them down off the trees,\n     and cast them into the cave wherein they had hidden\n     themselves, and laid great stones on the mouth of the cave,\n     unto this very day.\"\n\nAll these events--the pursuit for twenty-seven miles and more, the\ntaking of Makkedah and the hanging of the kings--took place between noon\nand the going down of the sun, an interval whose normal length, for that\nlatitude and at that time of the year, was about seven hours.\n\nThis is an abnormal feat. It is true that a single trained pedestrian\nmight traverse the twenty-seven and odd miles, and still have time to\ntake part in an assault on a town and to watch an execution. But it is\nan altogether different thing when we come to a large army. It is well\nknown that the speed with which a body of men can move diminishes with\nthe number. A company can march faster than a regiment; a regiment than\na brigade; a brigade than an army corps. But for a large force thirty\nmiles in the entire day is heavy work. \"Thus Sir Archibald Hunter's\ndivision, in its march through Bechuanaland to the relief of Mafeking,\nstarting at four in the morning, went on till seven or eight at night,\ncovering as many as thirty miles a day at times.\" Joshua's achievement\nwas a march fully as long as any of General Hunter's, but it was\naccomplished in less than seven hours instead of from fifteen to\nsixteen, and it followed straight on from a march seventeen hours in\nlength which had ended in a battle. In all, between one sunset and the\nnext he had marched between fifty and sixty miles besides fighting a\nbattle and taking a town.\n\nIf we turn to the records of other battles fought in this neighbourhood,\nwe find that they agree as closely as we could expect, not with Joshua's\nachievement, but with General Hunter's. In the case of the great victory\nsecured by Jonathan, the gallant son of Saul, the Israelites smote the\nPhilistines from Michmash to Ajalon;--not quite twenty miles. In the\ndefeat of Cestius Gallus, the Jews followed him from Beth-horon to\nAntipatris, a little over twenty miles, the pursuit beginning at\ndaybreak, and being evidently continued nearly till sundown. The pursuit\nof the Syrians under Nicanor by Judas Maccab\u00e6us seems also to have\ncovered about the same distance, for Nicanor was killed at the first\nonslaught and his troops took to flight.\n\nIt is not at all unusual to read in comments on the Book of Joshua that\nthe \"miracle\" is simply the result of the dulness of the prose\nchronicler in accepting as literal fact an expression that originated in\nthe poetic exuberance of an old bard. The latter, so it is urged, simply\nmeaning to add a figure of dignity and importance to his song\ncommemorating a great national victory, had written:--\n\n     \"And the sun stood still, and the moon stayed,\n      Until the nation had avenged themselves of their enemies,\"\n\nbut with no more expectation that the stay of the moon would be accepted\nliterally, than the singers, who welcomed David after the slaying of\nGoliath, imagined that any one would seriously suppose that Saul had\nactually with his own hand killed two thousand Philistines, and David\ntwenty thousand. But, say they, the later prose chronicler, quoting from\nthe ballad, and accepting a piece of poetic hyperbole as actual fact,\nreproduced the statement in his own words, and added, \"the sun stayed in\nthe midst of heaven, and hasted not to go down about a whole day.\"\n\nNot so. The poem and the prose chronicle make one coherent whole.\nWorking from the poem alone, treating the expressions in the first two\nlines merely as astronomical indications of time and place, and without\nthe slightest reference to any miraculous interpretation, they lead to\nthe inevitable conclusion that the time was noonday. This result\ncertainly does not lie on the surface of the poem, and it was wholly\nbeyond the power of the prose chronicler to have computed it, yet it is\njust in the supposed stupid gloss of the prose chronicler, and nowhere\nelse, that we find this fact definitely stated: whilst the \"miracle\"\nrecorded both by poem and prose narrative completely accords with the\nextraordinary distance traversed between noon and sunset.\n\nAny man, however ignorant of science, if he be but careful and\nconscientious, can truthfully record an observation without any\ndifficulty. But to successfully invent even the simplest astronomical\nobservation requires very full knowledge, and is difficult even then.\nEvery astronomer knows that there is hardly a single novelist, no matter\nhow learned or painstaking, who can at this present day introduce a\nsimple astronomical relation into his story, without falling into\negregious error.\n\nWe are therefore quite sure that Joshua did use the words attributed to\nhim; that the \"moon\" and \"the valley of Ajalon\" were not merely inserted\nin order to complete the parallelism by a bard putting a legend into\npoetic form. Nor was the prose narrative the result of an editor\ncombining two or three narratives all written much after the date. The\noriginal records must have been made at the time.\n\nAll astronomers know well how absolutely essential it is to commit an\nobservation to writing on the spot. Illustrations of this necessity\ncould be made to any extent. One may suffice. In vol. ii. of the _Life\nof Sir Richard Burton_, by his wife, p. 244, Lady Burton says:--\n\n     \"On the 6th December, 1882 . . . we were walking on the Karso\n     (Op\u00e7ona) alone; the sky was clear, and all of a sudden my\n     niece said to me, 'Oh, look up, there is a star walking into\n     the moon!' 'Glorious!' I answered. 'We are looking at the\n     Transit of Venus, which crowds of scientists have gone to the\n     end of the world to see.'\"\n\nThe Transit of Venus did take place on December 6, 1882; and though\nVenus could have been seen without telescopic aid as a black spot on the\nsun's disc, nothing can be more unlike Venus in transit than \"a star\nwalking into the moon.\" The moon was not visible on that evening, and\nVenus was only visible when on the sun's disc, and appeared then, not as\na star, but as a black dot.\n\nNo doubt Lady Burton's niece did make the exclamation attributed to her,\nbut it must have been, not on December 6, 1882, but on some other\noccasion. Lady Burton may indeed have told her niece that this was the\nTransit of Venus, but that was simply because she did not know what a\ntransit was, nor that it occurred in the daytime, not at night. Lady\nBurton's narrative was therefore not written at the time. So if the\nfacts of the tenth chapter of Joshua, as we have it, had not been\nwritten at the time of the battle, some gross astronomical discordance\nwould inevitably have crept in.\n\nLet us suppose that the sun and moon did actually stand still in the sky\nfor so long a time that between noon and sunset was equal to the full\nlength of an ordinary day. What effect would have resulted that the\nIsraelites could have perceived? This, and this only, that they would\nhave marched twice as far between noon and sunset as they could have\ndone in any ordinary afternoon. And this as we have seen, is exactly\nwhat they are recorded to have done.\n\nThe only measure of time, available to the Israelites, independent of\nthe apparent motion of the sun, was the number of miles marched. Indeed,\nwith the Babylonians, the same word (_kasbu_) was used to indicate three\ndistinct, but related measures. It was a measure of time--the double\nhour; of celestial arc--the twelfth part of a great circle, thirty\ndegrees, that is to say the space traversed by the sun in two hours; and\nit was a measure of distance on the surface of the earth--six or seven\nmiles, or a two hours' march.\n\nIf, for the sake of illustration, we may suppose that the sun were to\nstand still for us, we should recognize it neither by sundial nor by\nshadow, but we should see that whereas our clocks had indicated that the\nsun had risen (we will say) at six in the morning, and had southed at\ntwelve of noon; it had not set until twelve of the night. The register\nof work done, shown by all our clocks and watches, would be double for\nthe afternoon what it had been for the morning. And if all our clocks\nand watches did thus register upon some occasion twice the interval\nbetween noon and sunset that they had registered between sunrise and\nnoon, we should be justified in recording, as the writer of the book of\nJoshua has recorded, \"The sun stood still in the midst of heaven, and\nhasted not to go down about a whole day.\"\n\nThe real difficulty to the understanding of this narrative has lain in\nthe failure of commentators to put themselves back into the conditions\nof the Israelites. The Israelites had no time-measurers, could have had\nno time-measurers. A sundial, if any such were in existence, would only\nindicate the position of the sun, and therefore could give no evidence\nin the matter. Beside, a sundial is not a portable instrument, and\nJoshua and his men had something more pressing to do than to loiter\nround it. Clepsydr\u00e6 or clocks are of later date, and no more than a\nsundial are they portable. Many comments, one might almost say most\ncomments on the narrative, read as if the writers supposed that Joshua\nand his men carried stop-watches, and that their chief interest in the\nwhole campaign was to see how fast the sun was moving. Since they had no\nsuch methods of measuring time, since it is not possible to suppose that\nover and above any material miracle that was wrought, the mental miracle\nwas added of acquainting the Israelites for this occasion only with the\nCopernican system of astronomy, all that the words of the narrative can\npossibly mean is, that--\n\n     \"the sun stood still in the midst of heaven, and hasted not to\n     go down about a whole day,\"\n\naccording to the only means which the Israelites had for testing the\nmatter. In short, it simply states in other words, what, it is clear\nfrom other parts of the narrative, was actually the case, that the\nlength of the march made between noon and sunset was equal to an\nordinary march taking the whole of a day.\n\nIf we suppose--as has been generally done, and as it is quite legitimate\nto do, for all things are possible to God--that the miracle consisted in\nthe slackening of the rotation of the earth, what effect would have\nbeen perceived by the Hebrews? This, and only this, that they would have\naccomplished a full day's march in the course of the afternoon. And what\nwould have been the effects produced on all the neighbouring nations?\nSimply that they had managed to do more work than usual in the course of\nthat afternoon, and that they felt more than usually tired and hungry in\nthe evening.\n\nBut would it have helped the Israelites for the day to have been thus\nactually lengthened? Scarcely so, unless they had been, at the same\ntime, endowed with supernatural, or at all events, with unusual\nstrength. The Israelites had already been 31 hours without sleep or\nrest, they had made a remarkable march, their enemies had several miles\nstart of them; would not a longer day have simply given the latter a\nbetter chance to make good their flight, unless the Israelites were\nenabled to pursue them with unusual speed? And if the Israelites were so\nenabled, then no further miracle is required; for them the sun would\nhave \"hasted not to go down about a whole day.\"\n\nLeaving the question as to whether the sun appeared to stand still\nthrough the temporary arrest of the earth's rotation, or through some\nexaltation of the physical powers of the Israelites, it seems clear,\nfrom the foregoing analysis of the narrative, that both the prose\naccount and the poem were written by eye-witnesses, who recorded what\nthey had themselves seen and heard whilst every detail was fresh in\ntheir memory. Simple as the astronomical references are, they are very\nstringent, and can only have been supplied by those who were actually\npresent.\n\nNothing can be more unlike poetic hyperbole than the sum of actual\nmiles marched to the men who trod them; and these very concrete miles\nwere the gauge of the lapse of time. For just as \"nail,\" and \"span,\" and\n\"foot,\" and \"cubit,\" and \"pace\" were the early measures of small\ndistance, so the average day's march was the early measure of long\ndistance. The human frame, in its proportions and in its abilities, is\nsufficiently uniform to have furnished the primitive standards of\nlength. But the relation established between time and distance as in the\ncase of a day's march, works either way, and is employed in either\ndirection, even at the present day. When the Israelites at the end of\ntheir campaign returned from Makkedah to Gibeon, and found the march,\nthough wholly unobstructed, was still a heavy performance for the whole\nof a long day, what could they think, how could they express themselves,\nconcerning that same march made between noon and sundown? Whatever\nconstruction we put upon the incident, whatever explanation we may offer\nfor it, to all the men of Israel, judging the events of the afternoon by\nthe only standard within their reach, the eminently practical standard\nof the miles they had marched, the only conclusion at which they could\narrive was the one they so justly drew--\n\n     \"The sun stayed in the midst of heaven and hasted not to go\n     down about a whole day. And there was no day like that before\n     it or after it, that the Lord hearkened unto the voice of a\n     man: for the Lord fought for Israel.\"\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[351:1] Revised and reprinted from the _Sunday at Home_ for February and\nMarch, 1904.\n\n[372:1] Marcel Dieulafoy, _David the King: an Historical Enquiry_, pp.\n155-175.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER II\n\nTHE DIAL OF AHAZ\n\n\nThe second astronomical marvel recorded in the Scripture narrative is\nthe going back of the shadow on the dial of Ahaz, at the time of\nHezekiah's recovery, from his dangerous illness.\n\nIt was shortly after the deliverance of the kingdom of Judah from the\ndanger threatened it by Sennacherib king of Assyria, that Hezekiah fell\n\"sick unto death.\" But in answer to his prayer, Isaiah was sent to tell\nhim--\n\n     \"Thus saith the Lord, the God of David thy father, I have\n     heard thy prayer, I have seen thy tears: behold, I will heal\n     thee: on the third day thou shalt go up unto the house of the\n     Lord. And I will add unto thy days fifteen years; and I will\n     deliver thee and this city out of the hand of the king of\n     Assyria; and I will defend this city for Mine own sake, and\n     for My servant David's sake. And Isaiah said, Take a lump of\n     figs. And they took and laid it on the boil, and he recovered.\n     And Hezekiah said unto Isaiah, What shall be the sign that the\n     Lord will heal me, and that I shall go up into the house of\n     the Lord the third day? And Isaiah said, This sign shalt thou\n     have of the Lord, that the Lord will do the thing that He hath\n     spoken: shall the shadow go forward ten degrees, or go back\n     ten degrees? And Hezekiah answered, It is a light thing for\n     the shadow to go down ten degrees: nay, but let the shadow\n     return backward ten degrees. And Isaiah the prophet cried unto\n     the Lord: and He brought the shadow ten degrees backward, by\n     which it had gone down in the dial of Ahaz.\"\n\nThe narrative in the Book of Isaiah gives the concluding words in the\nform--\n\n     \"So the sun returned ten degrees, by which degrees it was gone\n     down.\"\n\nThe narrative is complete as a record of the healing of king Hezekiah\nand of the sign given to him to assure him that he should recover;\ncomplete for all the ordinary purposes of a narrative, and for readers\nin general. But for any purpose of astronomical analysis the narrative\nis deficient, and it must be frankly confessed that it does not lie\nwithin the power of astronomy to make any use of it.\n\nIt has been generally assumed that it was an actual sundial upon which\nthis sign was seen. We do not know how far back the art of dialling\ngoes. The simplest form of dial is an obelisk on a flat pavement, but it\nhas the very important drawback that the graduation is different for\ndifferent times of the year. In a properly constructed dial the edge of\nthe style casting the shadow should be made parallel to the axis of the\nearth. Consequently a dial for one latitude is not available without\nalteration when transferred to another latitude. Some fine types of\ndials on a large scale exist in the observatories built by Jai Singh.\nThe first of these--that at Delhi--was probably completed about 1710\nA.D. They are, therefore, quite modern, but afford good illustrations\nof the type of structure which we can readily conceive of as having been\nbuilt in what has been termed the Stone Age of astronomy. The principal\nof these buildings, the Samrat Yantra, is a long staircase in the\nmeridian leading up to nothing, the shadow falling on to a great\nsemicircular arc which it crosses. The slope of the staircase is, of\ncourse, parallel to the earth's axis.\n\nIt has been suggested that if such a dial were erected at Jerusalem, and\nthe style were that for a tropical latitude, at certain times of the\nyear the shadow would appear to go backward for a short time. Others,\nagain, have suggested that if a small portable dial were tilted the same\nphenomenon would show itself. It is, of course, evident that no such\nsuggestion at all accords with the narrative. Hezekiah was now in the\nfourteenth year of his reign, the dial--if dial it was--was made by his\nfather, and the \"miracle\" would have been reproduced day by day for a\nconsiderable part of each year, and after the event it would have been\napparent to every one that the \"miracle\" continued to be reproduced. If\nthis had been the case, it would say very little for the astronomical\nscience of the wise men of Merodach-Baladan that he should have sent all\nthe way from Babylon to Jerusalem \"to inquire of the wonder that was\ndone in the land\" if the wonder was nothing more than a wrongly mounted\ndial.\n\nOthers have hazarded the extreme hypothesis, that there might have been\nan earthquake at the time which dipped the dial in the proper direction,\nand then restored it to its proper place; presumably, of course, without\ndoing harm to Jerusalem, or any of its buildings, and passing unnoticed\nby both king and people.\n\nA much more ingenious theory than any of those was communicated by the\nlate J. W. Bosanquet to the Royal Asiatic Society in 1854. An eclipse of\nthe sun took place on January 11, 689 B.C. It was an annular eclipse\nin Asia Minor, and a very large partial eclipse at Jerusalem, the\ngreatest phase taking place nearly at local noon. Mr. Bosanquet\nconsiders that the effect of the partial eclipse would be to practically\nshift the centre of the bright body casting the shadow. At the beginning\nof the annular phase, the part of the sun uncovered would be a crescent\nin a nearly vertical position; at mid eclipse the crescent would be in a\nhorizontal position; at the end of the annular phase the crescent would\nagain be in a vertical position; so that the exposed part of the sun\nwould appear to move down and up in the sky over a very small distance.\nIt is extremely doubtful whether any perceptible effect could be so\nproduced on the shadow, and one wholly fails to understand why the\neclipse itself should not have been given as the sign, and why neither\nthe king nor the people seem to have noticed that it was in progress. It\nis, however, sufficient to say that modern chronology shows that\nHezekiah died ten years before the eclipse in question, so that it fell\na quarter of a century too late for the purpose, and no other eclipse is\navailable to take its place during the lifetime of Hezekiah.\n\nBut there is no reason to think that the word rendered in our Authorized\nVersion as \"dial\" was a sundial at all. The word translated \"dial\" is\nthe same which is also rendered \"degrees\" in the A.V. and \"steps\" in the\nR.V., as is shown in the margin of the latter. It occurs in the prophecy\nof Amos, where it is rendered \"stories\" or \"ascensions.\" It means an\n\"ascent,\" a \"going up,\" a \"step.\" Thus king Solomon's throne had six\n_steps_, and there are fifteen Psalms (cxx.-cxxxiv.)--that are called\n\"songs of degrees,\" that is \"songs of steps.\"\n\nWe do not know how the staircase of Ahaz faced, but we can form some\nrough idea from the known positions of the Temple and of the city of\nDavid, and one or two little hints given us in the narrative itself. It\nwill be noted that Hezekiah uses the movement of the shadow downward, as\nequivalent to its going forward. The going forward of course meant its\nordinary direction of motion at that time of day; so the return of the\nshadow backward meant that the shadow went up ten steps, for in the Book\nof Isaiah it speaks of the sun returning \"ten degrees by which degrees\nit was gone down.\" It was therefore in the afternoon, and the sun was\ndeclining, when the sign took place. It is clear, therefore, that the\nstaircase was so placed that the shadow went down the stairs as the sun\ndeclined in the sky. The staircase, therefore, probably faced east or\nnorth-east, as it would naturally do if it led from the palace towards\nthe Temple. No doubt there was a causeway at the foot of this staircase,\nand a corresponding ascent up the Temple hill on the opposite side of\nthe valley.\n\nWe can now conjecturally reproduce the circumstances. It was afternoon,\nand the palace had already cast the upper steps of the staircase into\nshadow. The sick king, looking longingly towards the Temple, could see\nthe lower steps still gleaming in the bright Judean sunshine. It was\nnatural therefore for him to say, when the prophet Isaiah offered him\nhis choice of a sign, \"Shall the shadow go forward ten steps, or back\nten steps?\" that it was \"a light thing for the shadow to go down ten\nsteps: nay, but let the shadow return backward ten steps.\" It would be\nquite obvious to him that a small cloud, suitably placed, might throw\nten additional steps into shadow.\n\nIt will be seen that we are left with several details undetermined. For\nthe staircase, wherever constructed, was probably not meant to act as a\nsundial, and was only so used because it chanced to have some rough\nsuitability for the purpose. In this case the shadow will probably have\nbeen thrown, not by a properly constructed gnomon, but by some building\nin the neighbourhood. And as we have no record of the direction of the\nstaircase, its angle of inclination, its height, and the position of the\nbuildings which might have cast a shadow upon it, we are without any\nindication to guide us.\n\nWhen the queen of Sheba came to visit king Solomon, and saw all his\nmagnificence, one of the things which specially impressed her was \"his\nascent by which he went up unto the house of the Lord.\" This was \"the\ncauseway of the going up,\" as it is called in the First Book of\nChronicles. We are told of a number of alterations, made in the Temple\nfurniture and buildings by king Ahaz, and it is said that \"the covered\nway for the sabbath that they had built in the house, and the king's\nentry without, turned he unto (_margin_, round) the house of the Lord,\nbecause of the king of Assyria.\" That is to say, Ahaz considered that\nSolomon's staircase was too much exposed in the case of a siege, being\nwithout the Temple enclosure. This probably necessitated the\nconstruction of a new staircase, which would naturally be called the\nstaircase of Ahaz. That there was, in later times, such a staircase at\nabout this place we know from the route taken by the triumphal\nprocession at the time of the dedication of the wall of Jerusalem under\nNehemiah:--\n\n     \"At the fountain gate, which was over against them, they went\n     up by the stairs of the City of David, at the going up of the\n     wall, above the house of David, even unto the water gate\n     eastward.\"\n\nIn this case there would be a special appropriateness in the sign that\nwas offered to Hezekiah. The sign that he would be so restored, as once\nagain to go up to the house of the Lord, was to be given him on the very\nstaircase by which he would go. He was now thirty-eight years old, and\nhad doubtless watched the shadow of the palace descend the staircase in\nthe afternoon, hundreds of times; quite possibly he had actually seen a\ncloud make the shadow race forward. But the reverse he had never seen.\nOnce a step had passed into the shadow of the palace, it did not again\nemerge until the next morning dawned.\n\nThe sign then was this: It was afternoon, probably approaching the time\nof the evening prayer, and the court officials and palace attendants\nwere moving down the staircase in the shadow, when, as the sick king\nwatched them from above, the shadow of the palace was rolled back up the\nstaircase, and a flood of light poured down on ten of the broad steps\nupon which the sun had already set. How this lighting of the ten steps\nwas brought about we are not told, nor is any clue given us on which we\ncan base a conjecture. But this return of light was a figure of what was\nactually happening in the life of the king himself. He had already, as\nit were, passed into the shadow that only deepens into night. As he sang\nhimself after his recovery--\n\n     \"I said, In the noontide of my days I shall go into the gates of\n          the grave:\n      I am deprived of the residue of my years.\n      I said, I shall not see the Lord, even the Lord in the land of\n          the living:\n      I shall behold man no more with the inhabitants of the world.\"\n\nBut now the light had been brought back to him, and he could say--\n\n     \"The living, the living, he shall praise Thee, as I do this day:\n      The father to the children shall make known Thy truth.\n      The Lord is ready to save me:\n      Therefore we will sing my songs to the stringed instruments\n      All the days of our life in the house of the Lord.\"\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER III\n\nTHE STAR OF BETHLEHEM\n\n\nNo narrative of Holy Scripture is more familiar to us than that of the\nvisit of the wise men from the East to see Him that was born King of the\nJews. It was towards the end of the reign of Herod the Great that they\narrived at Jerusalem, and threw Herod the king and all the city into\ngreat excitement by their question--\n\n     \"Where is He that is born King of the Jews? For we have seen\n     His star in the east, and are come to worship Him.\"\n\nHerod at once gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people\ntogether, and demanded of them where the Messiah should be born. Their\nreply was distinct and unhesitating--\n\n     \"In Bethlehem of Jud\u00e6a: for thus it is written by the Prophet,\n     And thou Bethlehem, in the land of Juda, art not the least\n     among the princes of Juda: for out of thee shall come a\n     Governor, that shall rule My people Israel. Then Herod, when\n     he had privily called the wise men, inquired of them\n     diligently what time the star appeared. And he sent them to\n     Bethlehem, and said, Go and search diligently for the young\n     Child; and when ye have found Him, bring me word again, that\n     I may come and worship Him also. When they had heard the king,\n     they departed; and, lo, the star, which they saw in the east,\n     went before them, till it came and stood over where the young\n     Child was. When they saw the star, they rejoiced with\n     exceeding great joy.\"\n\nSo much, and no more are we told of the star of Bethlehem, and the story\nis as significant in its omissions as in that which it tells us.\n\nWhat sort of a star it was that led the wise men; how they learnt from\nit that the King of the Jews was born; how it went before them; how it\nstood over where the young Child was, we do not know. Nor is it of the\nleast importance that we should know. One verse more, and that a short\none, would have answered these inquiries; it would have told us whether\nit was some conjunction of the planets; whether perchance it was a\ncomet, or a \"new\" or \"temporary\" star; or whether it was a supernatural\nlight, like the pillar of fire that guided the children of Israel in the\nwilderness. But that verse has not been given. The twelve or twenty\nadditional words, which could have cleared up the matter, have been\nwithheld, and there can be no doubt as to the reason. The \"star,\"\nwhatever its physical nature, was of no importance, except as a guide to\nthe birthplace of the infant Jesus. Information about it would have\ndrawn attention from the object of the narrative; it would have given to\na mere sign-post the importance which belonged only to \"the Word made\nflesh.\"\n\nWe are often told that the Bible should be studied precisely as any\nother book is studied. Yet before we can criticize any book, we must\nfirst ascertain what was the purpose that the author had in writing it.\nThe history of England, for instance, has been written by many persons\nand from many points of view. One man has traced the succession of the\ndynasties, the relationships of the successive royal families, and the\neffect of the administrations of the various kings. Another has chiefly\nconsidered the development of representative government and of\nparliamentary institutions. A third has concerned himself more with the\ndifferent races that, by their fusion, have formed the nation as it is\nto-day. A fourth has dealt with the social condition of the people, the\nincrease of comfort and luxury. To a fifth the true history of England\nis the story of its expansion, the foundation and growth of its colonial\nempire. While to a sixth, its religious history is the one that claims\nmost attention, and the struggles with Rome, the rise and decay of\nPuritanism, and the development of modern thought will fill his pages.\nEach of these six will select just those facts, and those facts only,\nthat are relevant to his subject. The introduction of irrelevant facts\nwould be felt to mark the ignorant or unskilful workman. The master of\nhis craft will keep in the background the details that have no bearing\non his main purpose, and to those which have but a slight bearing he\nwill give only such notice as their importance in this connection\nwarrants.\n\nThe purpose of the Bible is to reveal God to us, and to teach us of our\nrelationship to Him. It was not intended to gratify that natural and\nlaudable curiosity which has been the foundation of the physical\nsciences. Our own efforts, our own intelligence can help us here, and\nthe Scriptures have not been given us in order to save us the trouble of\nexerting them.\n\nThere is no reason for surprise, then, that the information given us\nconcerning the star is, astronomically, so imperfect. We are, indeed,\ntold but two facts concerning it. First that its appearance, in some way\nor other, informed the wise men, not of the birth of _a_ king of the\nJews, but of _the_ King of the Jews, for Whose coming not Israel only,\nbut more or less consciously the whole civilized world, was waiting.\nNext, having come to Jud\u00e6a in consequence of this information, the\n\"star\" pointed out to them the actual spot where the new-born King was\nto be found. \"It went before them till it came and stood over where the\nyoung Child was.\" It may also be inferred from Matt. ii. 10 that in some\nway or other the wise men had for a time lost sight of the star, so that\nthe two facts mentioned of it relate to two separate appearances. The\nfirst appearance induced them to leave the East, and set out for Jud\u00e6a;\nthe second pointed out to them the place at Bethlehem where the object\nof their search was to be found. Nothing is told us respecting the star\nexcept its work as a guide.\n\nSome three centuries ago the ingenious and devout Kepler supposed that\nhe could identify the Star with a conjunction of the planets Jupiter and\nSaturn, in the constellation Pisces. This conjunction took place in the\nmonth of May, B.C. 7, not very long before the birth of our Lord is\nsupposed to have taken place.\n\nBut the late Prof. C. Pritchard has shown, first, that a similar and\ncloser conjunction occurred 59 years earlier, and should therefore have\nbrought a Magian deputation to Jud\u00e6a then. Next, that the two planets\nnever approached each other nearer than twice the apparent diameter of\nthe moon, so that they would have appeared, not as one star, but as two.\nAnd thirdly, if the planets had seemed to stand over Bethlehem as the\nwise men left Jerusalem, they most assuredly would not have appeared to\ndo so when they arrived at the little city. Ingenious as the suggestion\nwas, it may be dismissed as unworthy of serious consideration.\n\nAnother suggestion shows upon what slight foundations a well-rounded\nlegend may be built. In the year 1572 a wonderful \"new star\" appeared in\nthe constellation Cassiopeia. At its brightest it outshone Venus, and,\nthough it gradually declined in splendour, it remained visible for some\nsixteen months. There have been other instances of outbursts of bright\nshort-lived stars; and brief notices, in the annals of the years 1265\nand 952 may have referred to such objects, but more probably these were\ncomets. The guess was hazarded that these objects might be one and the\nsame; that the star in Cassiopeia might be a \"variable\" star, bursting\ninto brilliancy about every 315 or 316 years; that it was the star that\nannounced the birth of our Lord, and that it would reappear towards the\nend of the nineteenth century to announce His second coming.\n\nOne thing more was lacking to make the legend complete, and this was\nsupplied by the planet Venus, which shines with extraordinary\nbrilliance when in particular parts of her orbit. On one of these\noccasions, when she was seen as a morning star in the east, some hazy\nrecollection of the legend just noticed caused a number of people to\nhail her as none other than the star of Bethlehem at its predicted\nreturn.\n\nThere is no reason to suppose that the star of 1572 had ever appeared\nbefore that date, or will ever appear again. But in any case we are\nperfectly sure that it could not have been the star of Bethlehem. For\nCassiopeia is a northern constellation, and the wise men, when they set\nout from Jerusalem to Bethlehem must have had Cassiopeia and all her\nstars behind them.\n\nThe fact that the \"star\" went before them and stood over where the young\nChild lay, gives the impression that it was some light, like the\nShekinah glory resting on the Ark in the tabernacle, or the pillar of\nfire which led the children of Israel through the wilderness. But this\nview raises the questions as to the form in which it first appeared to\nthe wise men when they were still in the East, and how they came to call\nit a star, when they must have recognized how very unstarlike it was.\nWhilst, if what they saw when in the East was really a star, it seems\nmost difficult to understand how it can have appeared to go before them\nand to stand over the place where the young Child lay.\n\nI have somewhere come across a legend which may possibly afford the\nclue, but I have not been able to find that the legend rests upon any\nauthority. It is that the star had been lost in the daylight by the time\nthat the wise men reached Jerusalem. It was therefore an evening star\nduring their journey thither. But it is said that when they reached\nBethlehem, apparently nearly at midday, one of them went to the well of\nthe inn, in order to draw water. Looking down into the well, he saw the\nstar, reflected from the surface of the water. This would of course be\nan intimation to them that the star was directly overhead, and its\nre-observation, under such unusual circumstances, would be a sufficient\nassurance that they had reached the right spot. Inquiry in the inn would\nlead to a knowledge of the visit of the shepherds, and of the angelic\nmessage which had told them where to find the Babe born in the city of\nDavid, \"a Saviour, Which is Christ the Lord.\"\n\nIf this story be true, the \"Star of Bethlehem\" was probably a \"new\nstar,\" like that of 1572. Its first appearance would then have caused\nthe Magi to set out on their journey, though it does not appear how they\nknew what it signified, unless we suppose that they were informed of it\nin a dream, just as they were afterwards warned of God not to return to\nHerod. Whilst they were travelling the course of the year would bring\nthe star, which shone straight before them in the west after sunset\nevery evening, nearer and nearer to the sun. We may suppose that, like\nother new stars, it gradually faded, so that by the time the wise men\nhad reached Jerusalem they had lost sight of it altogether. Having thus\nlost it, they would probably not think of looking for it by daylight,\nfor it is no easy thing to detect by daylight even Venus at her greatest\nbrilliancy, unless one knows exactly where to look. The difficulty does\nnot lie in any want of brightness, but in picking up and holding\nsteadily so minute a point of light in the broad expanse of the gleaming\nsky. This difficulty would be overcome for them, according to this\nstory, by the well, which acted like a tube to direct them exactly to\nthe star, and like a telescope, to lessen the sky glare. It would be\nalso necessary to suppose that the star was flashing out again with\nrenewed brilliancy. Such a brief recovery of light has not been unknown\nin the case of some of our \"new\" or \"temporary\" stars.\n\nI give the above story for what it is worth, but I attach no importance\nto it myself. Some, however, may feel that it removes what they had felt\nas a difficulty in the narrative,--namely, to understand how the star\ncould \"stand over where the young Child lay.\" It would also explain,\nwhat seems to be implied in the narrative, how it happened that the Magi\nalone, and not the Jews in general, perceived the star at its second\nappearance.\n\nFor myself, the narrative appears to me astronomically too incomplete\nfor any astronomical conclusions to be drawn from it. The reticence of\nthe narrative on all points, except those directly relating to our Lord\nHimself, is an illustration of the truth that the Scriptures were not\nwritten to instruct us in astronomy, or in any of the physical sciences,\nbut that we might have eternal life.\n\n     \"AND THIS IS LIFE ETERNAL, THAT THEY MIGHT KNOW THEE THE ONLY\n     TRUE GOD, AND JESUS CHRIST, WHOM THOU HAST SENT.\"\n\n\n\n\n     A TABLE OF SCRIPTURAL REFERENCES\n\n\n     +-------+---------------+-----------------------+\n     | Page. |   Book.       | Chap. and Verse.      |\n     +-------+---------------+-----------------------+\n     |  9    | I. Kings      | v. 29-34              |\n     | 10    | Wisdom        | vii. 17-22 (R.V.)     |\n     | 11    | Psalm         | viii. 3, 4            |\n     | 15    | Eccl.         | i. 9                  |\n     | 17    | Gen.          | i. 1                  |\n     |  \"    | I. Chron.     | xvi. 26               |\n     |  \"    | Deut.         | vi. 4                 |\n     |  \"    | Mark          | xii. 29               |\n     |  \"    | Neh.          | ix. 6                 |\n     | 19    | Heb.          | xi. 23                |\n     | 20    | II. Pet.      | iii. 8                |\n     | 22    | Psalm         | cxi. 2-4 (R.V.)       |\n     |  \"    | Gen.          | ii. 3                 |\n     | 23    | Exod.         | xx. 10, 11            |\n     |  \"    |  \"            | xxxi. 16, 17          |\n     |  \"    | Gen.          | i. 14                 |\n     | 25    |  \"            | i. 1                  |\n     | 32    | Exod.         | xv. 4, 5              |\n     | 35    | Gen.          | i. 6-8                |\n     |  \"    |  \"            | i. 14                 |\n     | 36    |  \"            | i. 20                 |\n     |  \"    | Job           | xxxvii. 18 (R.V.)     |\n     |  \"    | Num.          | xvii. 39              |\n     |  \"    | Isaiah        | xl. 19                |\n     | 37    | Jer.          | x. 9                  |\n     |  \"    | Psalm         | cxxxvi. 6             |\n     | 38    | Heb.          | i. 3                  |\n     | 39    | II. Sam.      | xxii. 8               |\n     |  \"    | Job           | xxvi. 11              |\n     |  \"    |  \"            | xxvi. 7               |\n     |  \"    | I. Sam.       | ii. 8                 |\n     | 40    | Psalm         | lxxv. 3               |\n     |  \"    |   \"           | civ. 2                |\n     |  \"    | Isaiah        | xl. 22                |\n     |  \"    | Amos          | ix. 6                 |\n     |  \"    | Num.          | xxxiv. 4              |\n     |  \"    | II. Sam.      | xv. 30                |\n     | 41    | Psalm         | cxlviii. 4            |\n     |  \"    | Song of Three |                       |\n     |       |   Children    | 38                    |\n     |  \"    | Amos          | v. 8                  |\n     |  \"    |  \"            | ix. 6                 |\n     |  \"    | Eccl.         | i. 7                  |\n     |  \"    | Isaiah        | lv. 10 (R.V.)         |\n     | 42    |   \"           | lv. 11                |\n     |  \"    | Job           | xxxvi. 26-28          |\n     |       |               |   (R.V.)              |\n     |  \"    | Judges        | v. 4                  |\n     |  \"    | Psalm         | lxxvii. 17            |\n     |  \"    |   \"           | cxlvii. 8             |\n     |  \"    | Prov.         | xvi. 15               |\n     |  \"    | Eccl.         | xii. 2                |\n     |  \"    | Isaiah        | v. 6                  |\n     |  \"    | Jude          | 12                    |\n     |  \"    | Nahum         | i. 3                  |\n     |  \"    | Isaiah        | xviii. 4              |\n     | 43    | Eccl.         | xi. 3                 |\n     |  \"    | Job           | xxvi. 8               |\n     |  \"    |  \"            | xxxviii. 34-37        |\n     | 44    |  \"            | xxxviii. 19-29        |\n     |       |               |   (R.V.)              |\n     |  \"    | Psalm         | xviii. 6-17 (R.V.)    |\n     | 45    | Jer.          | x. 13 (R.V.)          |\n     |  \"    | Psalm         | cxxxv. 7              |\n     | 46    | Job           | xxxvii. 16            |\n     | 49    |  \"            | xxxvi. 29             |\n     |  \"    | Gen.          | vii. 11               |\n     | 50    | II. Kings     | vii. 1, 2             |\n     |  \"    | Mal.          | iii. 10               |\n     |  \"    | Hos.          | vi. 4                 |\n     |  \"    | Dan.          | viii. 8               |\n     |  \"    | Ezek.         | xxxvii. 9             |\n     | 51    | Jer.          | xlix. 36              |\n     |  \"    | Eccl.         | i. 6                  |\n     |  \"    | Isaiah        | xi. 12                |\n     |  \"    |   \"           | xl. 22                |\n     |  \"    | Prov.         | viii. 27              |\n     | 52    | Job           | xxii. 14 (R.V.        |\n     |       |               |   margin)             |\n     |  \"    |  \"            | xxvi. 10 (R.V.)       |\n     |  \"    | Gen.          | i. 9                  |\n     |  \"    | Psalm         | xxiv. 2               |\n     |  \"    |   \"           | cxxxvi. 6             |\n     | 53    | Ezek.         | xxxi. 4               |\n     |  \"    | Gen.          | vii. 11               |\n     |  \"    |  \"            | viii. 2               |\n     |  \"    | Job           | xxxviii. 16           |\n     |  \"    | Prov.         | iii. 20               |\n     |  \"    | Jer.          | v. 22                 |\n     | 54    | Job           | xxxviii. 8            |\n     |  \"    | Prov.         | viii. 27, 29          |\n     | 55    | Josh.         | x. 13                 |\n     |  \"    | Psalm         | xix. 1-6 (R.V.)       |\n     | 56    | I. Kings      | xxii. 19              |\n     | 57    | Jer.          | xxxiii. 22            |\n     |  \"    | Deut.         | iv. 15, 19            |\n     | 58    | Job           | xxxviii. 7            |\n     |  \"    | Judges        | v. 20                 |\n     |  \"    | II. Kings     | vi. 14-17             |\n     | 60    | Job           | xxxviii. 52 (R.V.)    |\n     |  \"    | Psalm         | cxi. 2                |\n     |  \"    | Rev.          | ii. 26, 28            |\n     | 61    | Isaiah        | xiv. 12-14            |\n     |  \"    | Rev.          | xxii. 16              |\n     | 62    | Jer.          | xxxi. 36              |\n     |  \"    | Isaiah        | xl. 26-31 (R.V.)      |\n     | 63    | Gen.          | i. 14-19              |\n     | 64    | Deut.         | xxxiii. 14 (R.V.)     |\n     |  \"    | I. John       | i. 5                  |\n     |  \"    | Psalm         | xxvii. 1              |\n     |  \"    | Isaiah        | lx. 19                |\n     |  \"    | John          | i. 9                  |\n     |  \"    | Psalm         | lxxxiv. 11            |\n     |  \"    | Mal.          | iv. 2                 |\n     | 65    | James         | i. 17                 |\n     |  \"    | Psalm         | cxxxix. 12            |\n     |  \"    | Deut.         | iv. 19                |\n     |  \"    |  \"            | xvii. 2, 3            |\n     | 66    | II. Kings     | xxiii. 11             |\n     |  \"    | Ezek.         | viii. 11              |\n     |  \"    |  \"            | viii. 16              |\n     |  \"    | Job           | xxxi. 26              |\n     |  \"    | Cant.         | vi. 10                |\n     | 67    | Judges        | viii. 13              |\n     | 67    | Judges        | xiv. 18               |\n     |  \"    | Jer.          | xliii. 13             |\n     | 68    | Isaiah        | xix. 18               |\n     |  \"    | Cant.         | vi. 10                |\n     | 69    | Psalm         | lxxii. 5              |\n     |  \"    |   \"           | lxxii. 17             |\n     | 70    |   \"           | lxxxix. 36            |\n     |  \"    |   \"           | l. 1                  |\n     |  \"    |   \"           | cxiii. 3              |\n     |  \"    |   \"           | xix. 6                |\n     |  \"    | Eccl.         | i. 3                  |\n     | 71    | Job           | xxxviii. 12-14        |\n     |  \"    |   \"           | xxxviii. 14 (R.V.)    |\n     |  \"    | Eccl.         | i. 5                  |\n     | 72    | Job           | xxvi. 7               |\n     |  \"    | Psalm         | xix. 6                |\n     |  \"    | II. Kings     | iv. 19                |\n     |  \"    | Psalm         | cxxi. 6               |\n     |  \"    | Isaiah        | xlix. 10              |\n     |  \"    | Rev.          | vii. 16               |\n     |  \"    | Deut.         | xxxiii. 14            |\n     | 73    | James         | i. 17                 |\n     |  \"    | Job           | xxxviii. 33           |\n     |  \"    | Wisdom        | vii. 18               |\n     | 78    | Rom.          | i. 20-23              |\n     | 79    | John          | ix. 4                 |\n     | 80    | Psalm         | lxxxi. 3              |\n     |  \"    | Prov.         | vii. 20               |\n     | 82    | Isaiah        | lx. 20                |\n     | 83    | Num.          | x. 10                 |\n     |  \"    | Psalm         | lxxxi. 3              |\n     |  \"    | Isaiah        | iii. 18               |\n     | 84    | Gen.          | xxxvii. 9             |\n     |  \"    | Jer.          | viii. 2               |\n     |  \"    | Psalm         | civ. 19               |\n     |  \"    |   \"           | lxxxix. 36, 37        |\n     |  \"    |   \"           | cxxxvi. 9             |\n     |  \"    | Jer.          | xxxi. 35              |\n     |  \"    | Eccl.         | xii. 2                |\n     |  \"    | Isaiah        | xiii. 10              |\n     |  \"    | Ezek.         | xxxii. 7              |\n     |  \"    | Joel          | ii. 10, 31            |\n     |  \"    |  \"            | iii. 15               |\n     |  \"    | Hab.          | iii. 11               |\n     |  \"    | Exod.         | ii. 2                 |\n     | 85    | Deut.         | xxxiii. 13, 14        |\n     |  \"    | II. Kings     | xv. 13                |\n     |  \"    | Dan.          | iv. 29                |\n     |  \"    | Ezra          | vi. 15                |\n     |  \"    | Neh.          | i. 1                  |\n     |  \"    | I. Kings      | vi. 1, 37, 38         |\n     |  \"    |   \"           | viii. 2               |\n     |  \"    | Cant.         | vi. 10                |\n     |  \"    | Isaiah        | lxxiv. 23             |\n     | 86    |   \"           | xxx. 26               |\n     |  \"    | Rev.          | xix. 6-8              |\n     |  \"    | Gen.          | xxxvii. 9             |\n     | 87    |   \"           | xxxvii. 10            |\n     |  \"    | Job           | xxxi. 26-28 (R.V.)    |\n     | 88    | Deut.         | iv. 12, 15, 16, 19    |\n     |  \"    | Judges        | viii. 21              |\n     |  \"    | Isaiah        | iii. 18               |\n     |  \"    | II. Kings     | xxiii. 13             |\n     | 89    | Gen.          | xiv. 5                |\n     |  \"    | I. Sam.       | xxxi. 10              |\n     |  \"    | II. Kings     | xxiii. 13             |\n     | 89    | Jer.          | vii. 18               |\n     | 90    |   \"           | xliv. 17, 18          |\n     | 91    | Isaiah        | xxx. 26               |\n     |  \"    |   \"           | lx. 20                |\n     | 92    | Psalm         | cxxi. 6               |\n     |  \"    |   \"           | civ. 19-24 (R.V.)     |\n     | 96    | Gen.          | xv. 5                 |\n     | 97    | Psalm         | cxlvii. 4             |\n     |  \"    | Isaiah        | xl. 22                |\n     | 98    | I. Cor.       | xv. 41                |\n     | 99    | Prov.         | xxv. 3                |\n     |  \"    | Job           | xi. 7, 8              |\n     |  \"    |   \"           | xxii. 12              |\n     |  \"    | Jer.          | xxxi. 37              |\n     | 100   | Psalm         | ciii. 11, 12          |\n     | 107   | Joel          | ii. 30                |\n     |  \"    | Gen.          | iii. 24               |\n     |  \"    | Heb.          | i. 7                  |\n     |  \"    | I. Chron.     | xxi. 16               |\n     | 108   | Jude          | 13                    |\n     | 113   | Acts          | xix. 35 (R.V.)        |\n     | 116   | Rev.          | vi. 13                |\n     |  \"    | Isaiah        | xxxiv. 4              |\n     |  \"    | Rev.          | viii. 10              |\n     |  \"    | Jude          | 13                    |\n     | 117   | Job           | iii. 9 (margin)       |\n     |  \"    |   \"           | xli. 18               |\n     |  \"    |   \"           | xxxvii. 22 (R.V.)     |\n     | 119   | Jer.          | x. 2                  |\n     | 122   | Wisdom        | vii. 18               |\n     | 123   | Amos          | i. 1                  |\n     |  \"    | Zech.         | xiv. 5                |\n     |  \"    | Gen.          | i. 14                 |\n     | 124   | Joel          | ii. 10                |\n     |  \"    |    \"          | ii. 30, 31            |\n     |  \"    | Acts          | ii. 19, 20            |\n     |  \"    | Rev.          | vi. 12                |\n     |  \"    | Amos          | viii. 9               |\n     | 125   | Micah         | iii. 6                |\n     |  \"    | Isaiah        | xiii. 10              |\n     |  \"    | Jer.          | xv. 9                 |\n     |  \"    | Ezek.         | xxxii. 7, 8           |\n     | 129   | Mal.          | iv. 2                 |\n     |  \"    | James         | i. 17 (R.V.)          |\n     | 131   | Gen.          | xiv. 5                |\n     |  \"    | Isaiah        | xlvi. 1               |\n     | 132   |   \"           | xiv. 12               |\n     |  \"    | II. Peter     | i. 19                 |\n     |  \"    | Isaiah        | lxv. 11               |\n     |  \"    | Dan.          | v. 26 (R.V.)          |\n     | 133   | Amos          | v. 25, 26             |\n     |  \"    | Acts          | vii. 43               |\n     | 143   | Isaiah        | viii. 19              |\n     | 144   | Ezek.         | xxi. 21 (R.V.)        |\n     |  \"    | Isaiah        | xlvii. 12, 13         |\n     |  \"    | Jer.          | x. 2                  |\n     | 150   | Acts          | xvii. 24-28           |\n     | 163   | Gen.          | ix. 13                |\n     | 164   |   \"           | iii. 15               |\n     | 166   |   \"           | iii. 24               |\n     |  \"    | Ezek.         | i. 5                  |\n     |  \"    | Rev.          | iv. 7 (R.V.)          |\n     |  \"    | Ezek.         | x. 20                 |\n     |  \"    | I. Kings      | vi. 29, 32            |\n     | 167   | Gen.          | x. 9                  |\n     | 169   | Psalm         | lxxx. 1               |\n     | 173   | Gen.          | vi. 19                |\n     |  \"    |  \"            | vii. 2                |\n     | 184   | Psalm         | l. 5                  |\n     | 186   | Gen.          | xxxvii. 9             |\n     | 189   |  \"            | xlix. 9               |\n     |  \"    | Rev.          | v. 5                  |\n     | 190   | Deut.         | xxxiii. 17 (R.V.)     |\n     |  \"    | Gen.          | xlix. 6 (R.V.)        |\n     |  \"    |  \"            | xlix. 4, 17           |\n     | 191   | Num.          | xxiii. 7, 24 (R.V.)   |\n     |  \"    |  \"            | xxiv. 9 (R.V.)        |\n     |  \"    |  \"            | xxiv. 8 (R.V.)        |\n     |  \"    |  \"            | xxiv. 7 (R.V.)        |\n     | 193   | Exod.         | xxxii. 1              |\n     |  \"    | Acts          | vii. 41, 42           |\n     |  \"    | Exod.         | xx. 3                 |\n     |  \"    |  \"            | xx. 4, 5              |\n     | 194   | Deut.         | iv. 15                |\n     |  \"    | Psalm         | cvi. 20               |\n     |  \"    | Acts          | vii. 42               |\n     |  \"    | I. Kings      | xii. 28               |\n     | 195   | Rev.          | v. 5                  |\n     | 203   | Job           | iii. 8, 9 (R.V.)      |\n     |  \"    |  \"            | xli.                  |\n     |  \"    | Psalm         | civ. 25               |\n     |  \"    | Isaiah        | xxvii. 1              |\n     | 204   | Job           | xxvi. 12, 13          |\n     | 205   | Isaiah        | xxx. 7 (R.V.)         |\n     |  \"    |   \"           | li. 9, 10 (R.V.)      |\n     |  \"    | Psalm         | lxxxix. 9, 10         |\n     | 206   | Ezek.         | xxxii. 2 (R.V.)       |\n     |  \"    | Rev.          | xx. 2                 |\n     |  \"    | Ezek.         | xxxii. 4 (R.V.)       |\n     |  \"    |  \"            | xxix. 3, 5            |\n     | 207   | Rev.          | xii. 6 (R.V.)         |\n     | 208   |  \"            | xii. 15, 16 (R.V.)    |\n     | 209   | Job           | iii. 9 (R.V.)         |\n     |  \"    |  \"            | xli. 18 (R.V.)        |\n     | 210   | Psalm         | xix. 5                |\n     | 211   | I. Kings      | xviii. 27             |\n     |  \"    | Isaiah        | xxx. 31               |\n     | 212   | Psalm         | lxxiv. 12-17          |\n     | 215   | Job           | ix. 9                 |\n     |  \"    |  \"            | xxxviii. 31           |\n     |  \"    | Amos          | v. 8                  |\n     | 217   | Isaiah        | lxv. 11               |\n     | 218   | II. Kings     | xvii. 30              |\n     |  \"    | Gen.          | xlix. 22              |\n     | 220   | Rev.          | i. 12, 13, 15         |\n     |  \"    |  \"            | i. 20                 |\n     | 223   | I. Peter      | iii. 20               |\n     |  \"    | Amos          | v. 8                  |\n     |  \"    | Job           | xxxviii. 31           |\n     | 224   | Cant.         | ii. 11-13 (R.V.)      |\n     | 225   | Job           | xxxviii. 4            |\n     |  \"    |  \"            | xxxviii. 31 (R.V.)    |\n     | 231   |  \"            | ix. 9                 |\n     |  \"    |  \"            | xxxviii. 31           |\n     |  \"    | Amos          | v. 8                  |\n     |  \"    | Isaiah        | xiii. 10              |\n     |  \"    | Prov.         | i. 22                 |\n     | 234   | Gen.          | x. 8                  |\n     | 235   |  \"            | x. 10                 |\n     | 238   | Isaiah        | xiv. 13, 14           |\n     | 239   |   \"           | xiii. 9-11            |\n     |  \"    | Amos          | v. 8                  |\n     | 241   | Job           | xxxviii. 36           |\n     | 242   |  \"            | xxvi. 13              |\n     |  \"    | Isaiah        | xlv. 7                |\n     | 243   | Job           | xxxviii. 32           |\n     | 251   |  \"            | xxxviii. 32           |\n     |  \"    | II. Kings     | xxiii. 5              |\n     |  \"    | Deut.         | iv. 19                |\n     |  \"    | Job           | ix. 9                 |\n     |  \"    |  \"            | xxxviii. 31, 32       |\n     |  \"    |  \"            | xxxvii. 9             |\n     | 252   | Exod.         | xxxii.                |\n     |  \"    | I. Kings      | xii.                  |\n     | 253   | II. Kings     | xxiii. 5              |\n     |  \"    | Job           | ix., xxxviii.         |\n     | 257   |  \"            | xxxviii. 33           |\n     |  \"    | Luke          | xi. 2                 |\n     | 258   | Job           | ix. 9                 |\n     |  \"    |  \"            | xxxviii. 31-33        |\n     | 259   |  \"            | xxxvii. 9             |\n     | 260   | Isaiah        | l. 9                  |\n     | 262   | Job           | xxxvii. 9             |\n     | 271   | Gen.          | i. 14                 |\n     |  \"    | Deut.         | iv. 19                |\n     | 273   | Exod.         | xii. 18, 19           |\n     |  \"    | Lev.          | xxiii. 32             |\n     | 275   | Psalm         | lv. 17                |\n     |  \"    | Job           | iii. 9 (margin)       |\n     |  \"    | Cant.         | ii. 17                |\n     |  \"    | Gen.          | xxxii. 24, 26         |\n     |  \"    | Josh.         | vi. 15                |\n     |  \"    | Judges        | xix. 25               |\n     |  \"    | II. Sam.      | ii. 32                |\n     | 276   | Gen.          | xxxii. 31             |\n        \"    | Exod.         | xvi. 21               |\n     |  \"    | I. Sam.       | xi. 9                 |\n     |  \"    | II. Sam.      | iv. 5                 |\n     |  \"    | I. Kings      | xviii. 26             |\n     |  \"    | Judges        | xix. 8, 9             |\n     |  \"    | Job           | vii. 2                |\n     |  \"    | Jer.          | vi. 4                 |\n     |  \"    | Prov.         | vii. 9                |\n     | 277   | Exod.         | xii. 6                |\n     |  \"    |  \"            | xvi. 12               |\n     |  \"    |  \"            | xxx. 8                |\n     |  \"    | Levit.        | xxiii. 5              |\n     |  \"    | Num.          | ix. 3                 |\n     |  \"    |  \"            | xxviii. 4             |\n     | 278   | Deut.         | xvi. 6                |\n     | 279   | Exod.         | xxx. 8                |\n     | 280   | I. Cor.       | xv. 52                |\n     |  \"    | Psalm         | lxiii. 6              |\n     |  \"    |   \"           | cxix. 148             |\n     |  \"    | Lam.          | ii. 19                |\n     | 281   | Judges        | vii. 19               |\n     |  \"    | Exod.         | xiv. 24               |\n     |  \"    | I. Sam.       | xi. 11                |\n     |  \"    | Matt.         | xiv. 25               |\n     |  \"    | Mark          | vi. 48                |\n     |  \"    | Dan.          | iii. 6, 15            |\n     |  \"    |  \"            | iv. 19, 33            |\n     |  \"    |  \"            | v. 5                  |\n     |  \"    | Job           | xxxviii. 12           |\n     | 282   | Acts          | i. 12                 |\n     |  \"    | Matt.         | xx.                   |\n     |  \"    | John          | xi. 9, 10             |\n     | 291   | Exod.         | xx. 11                |\n     |  \"    | Psalm         | cxviii. 24            |\n     | 293   | II. Kings     | iv. 23                |\n     |  \"    | Isaiah        | i. 13, 14             |\n     | 294   | Isaiah        | lxvi. 23              |\n     |  \"    | Amos          | viii. 5               |\n     |  \"    | Col.          | ii. 16                |\n     |  \"    | Num.          | xxviii.               |\n     |  \"    | I. Chron.     | xxiii.                |\n     |  \"    | II. Chron.    | ii.                   |\n     |  \"    |  \"            | xxix.                 |\n     |  \"    | Ezek.         | xlv.                  |\n     |  \"    | Ezra          | iii.                  |\n     |  \"    | Neh.          | x.                    |\n     | 295   | Num.          | xxix. 1               |\n     |  \"    |  \"            | xxix. 7               |\n     |  \"    |  \"            | xxix. 12              |\n     | 299   | Deut.         | xvi. 1                |\n     |  \"    | I. Kings      | vi. 1, 37             |\n     |  \"    |    \"          | vi. 38                |\n     |  \"    |    \"          | viii. 2               |\n     | 300   | Esther        | ii. 16                |\n     |  \"    |   \"           | iii. 7, 13            |\n     |  \"    |   \"           | viii. 9, 12           |\n     |  \"    |   \"           | ix. 1, 17, 19, 21     |\n     |  \"    | Ezra          | vi. 15                |\n     |  \"    | Neh.          | i. 1                  |\n     |  \"    |  \"            | ii. 1                 |\n     |  \"    | Zech.         | vii. 1                |\n     |  \"    | Deut.         | xxi. 13 (yerach)      |\n     |  \"    | II. Kings     | xv. 13     \"          |\n     |  \"    | Gen.          | xxix. 14    (chodesh) |\n     | 301   | Num.          | xi. 18-20, 31   \"     |\n     |  \"    | Psalm         | lxxviii. 27           |\n     | 302   | Gen.          | vii. 11               |\n     |  \"    |  \"            | viii. 3, 4            |\n     | 304   | Ecclus.       | xliii. 6, 7           |\n     |  \"    | Psalm         | civ. 19               |\n     | 308   | Exod.         | xii. 2                |\n     | 309   | I. Chron.     | xii. 15               |\n     |  \"    | Jer.          | xxxvi. 22, 23         |\n     |  \"    | Ezra          | x. 9                  |\n     | 310   | Neh.          | i. 1, 2               |\n     |  \"    |  \"            | ii. 1                 |\n     |  \"    |  \"            | viii. 14              |\n     | 311   | Exod.         | xxiii. 16             |\n     |  \"    |  \"            | xxxiv. 22             |\n     |  \"    | II. Chron.    | xxiv. 23              |\n     | 312   | II. Sam.      | xi. 1                 |\n     |  \"    | I. Chron.     | xx. 1                 |\n     |  \"    | I. Kings      | xx. 26                |\n     |  \"    | II. Chron.    | xxxvi. 10             |\n     | 313   | Exod.         | xii. 2                |\n     |  \"    |  \"            | xxiii. 16             |\n     |  \"    |  \"            | xxxiv. 22             |\n     | 321   | Gen.          | i. 5                  |\n     | 322   |  \"            | vii. 11               |\n     |  \"    |  \"            | viii. 13, 14          |\n     | 325   |  \"            | viii. 22              |\n     |  \"    | Psalm         | lxv. 9-11 (R.V.)      |\n     | 326   | Exod.         | xxi. 2                |\n     |  \"    |  \"            | xxiii. 10, 11         |\n     | 327   | Lev.          | xxv. 20-22            |\n     |  \"    | Lev.          | xxvi. 2, 21           |\n     |  \"    |  \"            | xxvi. 33-35           |\n     |  \"    | Deut.         | xv. 1                 |\n     | 328   |  \"            | xxxi. 10, 11          |\n     |  \"    | Jer.          | xxxiv.                |\n     |  \"    | Lev.          | xxvi. 32-35           |\n     |  \"    | II. Chron.    | xxxvi. 21             |\n     | 329   | Neh.          | x. 31                 |\n     |  \"    | Lev.          | xxv. 8-10             |\n     | 330   | Num.          | xxxvi. 4              |\n     |  \"    | Isaiah        | lxi. 2                |\n     |  \"    | Ezek.         | xlvi. 17              |\n     | 332   | Lev.          | xxv. 8, 10            |\n     |  \"    |  \"            | xxv. 11, 12           |\n     | 333   |  \"            | xxv. 22               |\n     |  \"    |  \"            | xxv. 3                |\n     |  \"    |  \"            | xxv. 10               |\n     | 338   |  \"            | xxv. 42               |\n     |  \"    | Dan.          | i. 1, 3, 4, 6, 7,     |\n     |       |               |   17-20               |\n     | 340   |  \"            | viii. 13, 14          |\n     |  \"    |  \"            | xii. 7                |\n     |  \"    |  \"            | vii. 25               |\n     |  \"    | Rev.          | xii. 14               |\n     | 341   |  \"            | xiii. 5               |\n     |  \"    |  \"            | xi. 2, 3              |\n     |  \"    |  \"            | xii. 6                |\n     |       | Dan.          | xi. 13 (margin)       |\n     |  \"    |  \"            | iv. 16                |\n     | 348   |  \"            | iii. 16-18            |\n     | 353   | Josh.         | x. 12                 |\n     | 355   |  \"            | iv. 19                |\n     |  \"    |  \"            | v. 10                 |\n     |  \"    |  \"            | vii. 2-5              |\n     |  \"    |  \"            | vii. 1, 21            |\n     |  \"    |  \"            | viii.                 |\n     | 356   |  \"            | viii. 30-35           |\n     |  \"    | Exod.         | xix. 1, 11            |\n     | 362   | Josh.         | x. 13                 |\n     | 369   | Luke          | ii. 44                |\n     | 371   | Josh.         | x. 8                  |\n     | 373   |  \"            | x. 10                 |\n     | 374   |  \"            | x. 12                 |\n     | 375   |  \"            | x. 11                 |\n     | 376   |  \"            | x. 27 (R.V.)          |\n     | 378   |  \"            | x. 13                 |\n     | 382   |  \"            | x. 13                 |\n     | 384   |  \"            | x. 13, 14             |\n     | 385   | II. Kings     | xx. 5-11              |\n     | 386   | Isaiah        | xxxviii. 8            |\n     | 387   | II. Chron.    | xxxii. 31             |\n     | 389   | Isaiah        | xxxviii. 8            |\n     | 390   | II. Kings     | xx. 9 (R.V.)          |\n     |  \"    | I. Kings      | x. 5                  |\n     |  \"    | I. Chron.     | xxvi. 16              |\n     |  \"    | II. Kings     | xvi. 18 (R.V.)        |\n     | 391   | Neh.          | xii. 37               |\n     | 392   | Isaiah        | xxxviii. 10, 11       |\n     |  \"    |  \"            | xxxviii. 19, 20       |\n     | 393   | Matt.         | ii. 2, 5-10           |\n     | 396   |  \"            | ii. 10                |\n     | 399   | Luke          | ii. 11                |\n     | 400   | John          | xvii. 3               |\n     +-------+---------------+-----------------------+\n\n\n\n\nINDEX\n\n\n                           PAGE\n  Aben Ezra, Rabbi, 260, 278, 305\n\n  Abib (month of green ears), 299\n\n  Acronical rising, 223, 246, 261\n\n  Adar, month, 85, 300, 304\n\n  Aerolites, 111, 112, 113\n\n  Ahaz, Dial of, 385-392\n\n  Alexandria, Museum of, 5, 6, 138, 139, 290\n\n  Algebar, star-name, 233, 234\n\n  Allen, R. H., 221, 222\n\n  \"Alroy\", 278\n\n  Aratus, 149, 150, 152, 154, 162, 163, 186, 208, 218, 222, 224\n\n  Arcturus (_see_ `Ash), 258-266\n\n  Aristotle, 76, 105\n\n  `Ash, 214, 215, 216, 243, 251, 258, 259, 260, 261, 264-266\n\n  Asherah (\"groves\"), 67, 88\n\n  Ashtoreth, 67, 88, 89, 90, 131\n\n  Astrology, 5, 77, 78, 130-145, 248\n\n  Astruc, Jean, 171, 172\n\n  Atmospheric circulation, 41-45\n\n  Aurora Borealis, 117\n\n  `Ayish, _see_ `Ash\n\n\n  Baal, or Bel, 67, 89, 131, 176, 178, 210, 253\n\n  Bear, the (_see_ Arcturus), 152\n\n  Benetna`sh, 260\n\n  Bethlehem, Star of, 393-400\n\n  Bosanquet, J. W., 388\n\n  Bosanquet, R. H. M., 315\n\n  \"Boundary-stones\", 153, 154, 198, 318, 320\n\n  Bow-star, the, 240\n\n  Bradley, third Astronomer Royal, 96\n\n  Bul, month, 85, 299\n\n  Burton, Lady, 379\n\n\n  \"Canterbury Tales\", 277\n\n  Cardinal points, 50, 51\n\n  Carrington, R., 220\n\n  Causality, Law of, 15, 16, 18, 78\n\n  \"Chaldean Account of Genesis\", 27\n\n  Cherubim, 166, 169, 188, 190\n\n  Cheyne, Dr., 238, 240, 254, 255, 256\n\n  Chisleu, month, 85, 238, 300, 304, 310\n\n  Chiun, 133, 134, 144\n\n  Clouds, 42, 43, 44, 46, 54\n    the balancings of the, 46\n    the spreadings of, 49\n\n  Colures, the, 159\n\n  Comets, 103-108\n    Donati's, 105, 107\n    Halley's, 103, 104\n\n  Conder, Col. C. R., 238\n\n  Constellations, list of, 151-152\n    origin of, 149-161\n\n  Copernicus, 76\n\n  Cowell, P. H., 303\n\n  Creation, 12-24\n    story of, Babylonian, 26, 170, 178, 240, 242, 246, 252\n              Hebrew, 25\n              Scandinavian, 29\n\n  Cycles, Astronomical, of Daniel, 337-348\n\n  Cylinder seal, 71, 217\n\n\n  Damascius, 26, 27\n\n  Daniel, Cycles of, 337-348\n\n  Dawson, Dr. W. Bell, 343\n\n  Day and its divisions, 269-282\n\n  Days, different kinds of, 271, 272\n\n  \"Dayspring\", 71, 281\n\n  Decans, 142, 244, 245, 248\n\n  De Cheseaux, 343\n\n  Deep (_teh[=o]m_), 25-34, 53, 201, 210, 211, 234\n    fountains of, 52-54\n\n  Delitzsch, Prof. Fr., 31, 157, 170, 171, 285\n\n  Deluge, 49, 53, 83, 161, 165, 168, 170-185, 254\n\n  Denning, W. F., 220\n\n  Dial of Ahaz, 385-392\n\n  Diana of the Ephesians, 112\n\n  Dieulafoy, Marcel, 372\n\n  Disraeli, 278\n\n  Drach, 221\n\n  Draconic period, 122\n\n  Dragon's Head and Tail, 198, 199\n\n  Driver, Dr., 172, 209\n\n\n  Earth (_eretz_), 39\n    corners of, 51\n    foundations of, 39, 58\n    pillars of, 39, 40\n\n  East (_kedem_, front), 51\n    (_mizrach_, rising), 51\n\n  Eclipses, 118-129\n\n  Edda, prose, 29\n\n  Ellicott, Andrew, 114\n\n  Epicureans, 71\n\n  Epping, Dr., 274\n\n  Equuleus, 152\n\n  Eratosthenes, 218\n\n  Ethanim, month, 85, 299\n\n  Eudoxus, 5, 6, 37, 152, 345\n\n  Euripides, 218\n\n  Eusebius, 88\n\n  Evenings, between the two, 277-279\n\n  \"Eyelids of the Morning\", 117, 209, 210\n\n\n  \"False Dawn\", 117\n\n  Firmament (_raqia`_), 35-38\n    (_stereoma_), 37\n\n  Flamsteed, first Astronomer Royal, 96\n\n  Flood, _see_ Deluge\n\n\n  _Gad_, 132, 217\n\n  Galileo, 3, 4, 76\n\n  Gamaliel, Rabbon, 297\n\n  Genesis and the Constellations, 162-169\n\n  Gesenius, 134\n\n  Gilgamesh, Epic of, 167, 170, 177, 180\n\n  Gosse, P. H., 209\n\n  Groves, _see_ Asherah\n\n  Guinness, Dr. H. Grattan, 343\n\n\n  Heaven (_shamayim_), 35, 36, 38\n    \"bisection of\", 55, 362\n    foundations of, 39\n    host of, 56, 57, 65\n    pillars of, 39\n    stories of, 40\n    windows of, 49, 50, 53\n\n  Heliacal rising, 59, 222, 224, 261\n\n  Herschel, Sir W., 75, 76\n\n  Hershon, P. I., 311\n\n  Hesiod, 136, 152, 154, 216, 218, 237, 284\n\n  Hesperus, 137, 232, 258\n\n  Hipparchus, 5, 96, 250, 345\n\n  H\u00f6ffler, Dr., 266\n\n  Hommel, Dr., 240\n\n  Homer, 136, 153, 154\n\n  Horace, 287, 288\n\n  Hour (_sha`ah_), 281\n    double- (_kasbu_), 282, 320, 345, 381\n\n  Humboldt, 114\n\n  Hyades, 133, 217\n\n\n  Ibrahim ben Ahmed, 114\n\n  Iliad, 80\n\n  Istar, 90, 131, 253, 323, 324\n\n\n  Jehuda, Rabbi, 261\n\n  Jensen, 240\n\n  Josephus, 68, 187, 222, 279, 288, 289\n\n  Joshua's Long Day, 351-384\n\n  Jubilee, the, 326-336\n\n  Jupiter, 104, 131, 132, 137, 247, 396\n    (_Nibir_), 243, 247\n\n  Juvenal, 288\n\n\n  Karaite Jews, 278\n\n  Kepler, 4, 96, 396\n\n  _K[)e]s[=i]l_, 214-216, 231-232, 237-243, 251, 261, 262\n\n  _Ketu_, 201\n\n  _Kimah_, 214-216, 223, 231-232, 237, 241, 243, 251, 261, 262\n\n  King, Dr. L. W., 240, 241, 303\n\n  Kouyunjik mound, 27, 33\n\n\n  Lance-star, 240\n\n  Leonid meteors, 114, 116\n\n  Leviathan, 196-212\n\n  Longfellow, 233, 236\n\n  Lucifer, 132\n\n\n  M\u00e4dler, 220\n\n  Maestlin, 219\n\n  Mazzaroth (or Mazzaloth), 130, 214, 243-257, 270, 280\n\n  _Meni_, 132, 217\n\n  Mercury, 131, 137\n\n  Merodach, 28, 29, 33, 131, 167, 178, 210, 234-242, 247, 252\n\n  Meteors, 111-117\n\n  Metonic Cycle, 306, 335, 336, 339, 344\n\n  Milton, 107\n\n  Mishna, the, 297, 311\n\n  Mithraic cult, 160\n\n  Month, 293-304 anomalistic, 342\n\n  Months, Hebrew names for, 304\n\n  Moon, 79-92\n    blindness, 92\n    -god (Sin), 87, 253, 323, 324\n    harvest, 81\n    new, 123\n    phases of, 80, 91\n\n  M\u00fcller, Otfried, 262\n\n\n  Newton, 4\n\n  Nisan, month, 300, 304, 310, 311, 315, 320\n\n  Node, 121, 122\n\n  North (_mezarim_), 262, 263\n    (_tsaphon_), 51\n\n\n  Onias, 68\n\n  Orion, 231-242\n\n  Ovid, 288\n\n\n  Palestine Exploration Fund, map, 360, 362\n\n  Panyasis 152\n\n  Parallax, 73, 98, 265\n\n  Persius, 288\n\n  Peschitta, 259, 261\n\n  Philo, 289\n\n  Phosphorus, 132, 137\n\n  Pinches, T. G., 27, 28, 30, 31, 90, 176, 235\n\n  Pleiades, 133, 152, 213-230\n\n  Precession, 158\n\n  Pritchard, Prof. C., 397\n\n  Proctor, R. A., 107, 108, 135, 141\n\n  Procyon, 152, 240\n\n  Ptolemy, Claudius, 5, 76, 96, 149-154\n\n  Ptolemy Philometer, 68\n\n  Pythagoras, 137, 345\n\n\n  _Rahab_ (the proud one), 204-206, 211\n\n  _Rahu_, 201\n\n  Rain, 42-45, 49\n\n  \"Records of the Past\", 26, 28\n\n  _Remphan_, 133, 134\n\n  Ring with wings, 88, 126, 129\n\n  Ruskin, 46\n\n\n  Sabbath, 22-24, 283-292\n\n  Sabbatic Year and the Jubilee, 326-336\n\n  Samaritans, 278\n\n  Samas (sun-god), _see_ Sun\n\n  Sanchoniathon, 88\n\n  _Sanhedrim_, 296\n\n  Saros, the, 122, 123, 346\n\n  Saturn and Astrology, 130-145\n\n  Sayce, A. H., 33, 315\n\n  Schiaparelli, G. V., 7, 41, 43, 139, 145, 198, 253, 254, 261-263, 269,\n      279, 285, 286, 290\n\n  Septuagint Version, 37, 133, 134, 161, 215, 231, 241, 258, 259\n\n  Sin (moon-god), _see_ Moon\n\n  Sirius, 98, 240\n\n  Sivan, month, 303, 320\n\n  Smith, George, 27, 30\n\n  South (_darom_, bright), 51\n    (_negeb_, desert), 51\n\n  Star of Bethlehem, 393-400\n\n  Stars, 75, 95-100\n    morning, 59-61\n    royal, 160\n    shooting, 113\n    Triad of, 253, 320\n\n  Statius, 222\n\n  Stern, Prof., 261, 262\n\n  Strassmaier, 274, 285\n\n  Sun, 55, 63-78\n    -god (Samas), 67, 131, 174, 253, 323, 324\n    -stroke, 72\n\n\n  Talmud, 222, 279, 297, 311\n\n  Tammuz, 66\n\n  Targum, the Jerusalem, 190\n\n  Tavth\u00ea, _see_ Tiamat\n\n  _Teh[=o]m_, _see_ Deep\n\n  Tennyson, 36, 79, 80\n\n  Thales, 345\n\n  Thiele, Prof., 15, 16\n\n  Tiamat, or Tiamtu, 27-29, 32, 34, 201, 210, 234-235, 240-242\n\n  Tibullus, 288\n\n  Tides, 41, 53, 92\n\n  Tribes of Israel and the Zodiac, 186-195\n\n  Tycho Brah\u00e9, 96\n\n\n  Venus, 90, 131, 132, 136, 137\n\n  Virgil, 160\n\n  Vulgate, 258, 259\n\n\n  Week and the Sabbath, 283-292\n\n  West (_meb[=o] hasshemesh_, going down of the sun), 51\n    (_yam_, the sea), 51\n\n  Winckler, Prof. H., 235\n\n  Winds, 50, 51\n\n  Wormwood, the star, 116\n\n\n  Xenophanes, 71\n\n\n  Year, 305-325\n    (_shanah_), 305\n\n  Yehoshua, Rabbi, 297\n\n\n  Zeuchros, 142, 249\n\n  Zif, month, 85, 299\n\n  Zodiac, constellations of, 141, 151, 152\n    sections of (_mizrata_), 243, 251\n    signs of, 141, 245, 249\n\n  Zodiacal Light, 117\n\n\n     RICHARD CLAY & SONS, LIMITED,\n     BREAD STREET HILL, E.C., AND\n     BUNGAY, SUFFOLK.\n\n\n\n\nTranscriber's Notes:\n\n\nEllipses match the original except in poetry quotations where a row of\nasterisks represent an ellipses.\n\nThe following corrections have been made to the text:\n\n     Page 27: shows the god An[vs]ar[original has An[)s]ar]\n\n     Page 29: not a Creation myth at all.[period missing in\n     original]\n\n     Page 89: representing the sun[original has son] and moon\n\n     Page 140: place of an actual star into a horoscope;[semi-colon\n     missing in original]\n\n     Page 176: gods and the spirits of heaven.[period missing in\n     original]\n\n     Page 176: '[quotation mark missing in original]What, has a\n     soul escaped?\n\n     Page 176: '[original has double quote]Thou sage of the gods,\n     warrior\n\n     Page 206: \"[quotation mark missing in original]I have given\n     thee for meat\n\n     Page 260: \"tail\" of the Great Bear[original has extraneous\n     quotation mark]\n\n     Page 374: and it was now noon,[comma missing in original] the\n     noon\n\n     Page 389: fifteen Psalms (cxx.-cxxxiv.)[original has\n     (cxx.-cxxxiv).]\n\n     Page 405: Allen, R. H. 221,[comma missing in original] 222\n\n     Page 405: \"Alroy\" 278[original has 221]\n\n     Page 407: Hommel[original has H\u00f6mmel], Dr. 240\n\n     Page 410: Tavth\u00ea[original has Tavth\u00e9], _see_ Tiamat\n\nThe following words use an oe ligature in the original:\n\n     Celoeno\n     manoeuvre/manoeuvres/manoeuvred/Out-manoeuvred\n     Phoenician","title":"The Astronomy of the Bible: An Elementary Commentary on the Astronomical References of Holy Scripture","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":104215}