(/') Special Books on ttir History of Assyria. — George Rawlinson, The Five Great Monarchiesof the Ancient Eastern iro;-W,4vols. London, lsG2-tM ;4thed. Is7!U.Vssyria= the second monarchy); George Smith, Assyria/rout the Earliest Times to the Falt'of Kineveii, London, IST,"!; llommel, Geschichte Bab. n, Assyr., Berlin, 1S85-S9 (pp. 5S-I,S4 give a detailed account of the decipherment and excavations) ; C. P. Tiele. Bab.-Assyr. Gesch. 2 vols. Gotha, 18S6 and 18BS ; Wincklor, Gesch. Bab', u. Assyr., Letp. 1S92 ; Altar ient. Forschungen, Leip. 1893-95; Lincke. Assi/rien und 2v^ineveh in Geschichte und .'^age nach B.C. 607, Berlin, 1894. F. HOM.MEL.
AST&D (A 'ATT^ci, B 'kpyai, AV Sadas).— lo22 oi 3622 of his descendants are mentioned as returning with Zerubbabel (1 Es 5'^). He is called Azgad Cj^'^I) in the can. books ; and 1222 descendants are mentioned in the par,allel list in Kzr 2'- (B 'A(r7a^, A 'AS7a5), 2322 in Neh 1^' (B 'Air^as, n 'Ao-raS, A "A-yeraS). He appears as Astath ('Ao-rae), 1 Es 8^*, when a second detachment of 111 return under Ezra( = Ezr8i-, B 'Ao-raS, A 'Afytifl). A zg.ad appears among the leaders who sealed the covenant with Neh. (Neh IQi^ B 'Atryin, A "aCtoS).
H. St. J. Thackeray,
ASTATH.— See Astad.
ASTONIED, the past part, of the old verb cistoiiy, of which astonish is a later corruption,* is found only in OT, but there ten times, Ezr 9'- ^, Job 176 182)^ Is 52U t Jer 149, Ezk 4'", Dn ;!-* 4i9 i>'<. K V retains ' astonied ' (and even changes ' aston- ished ' into 'astonied' at Ezk S'^) ; but Amer. RV prefers 'astonished,' except Dn 5^ w'liere ]\V and Amer. RV give 'perplexed' (■•:'?'f, the only occurrence). See ASTONISHED. J. HASTINGS.
ASTONISHED.— This part, (the finite verb does not occur) had undoubtedly more force when AV was made than it has now. Perhaps the verb astound, which started off later from the orig. astonien or astunien, has carried away some of its strength. The orig. idea was to stun or stupefy as with a thunderbolt (Lat. exlonare 'to thunder'; cf. .Milton, Hist, of Britain, 'Astonished and struck with superstition as with a planet'; and the Argument to Par. Lost. Bk. i., ' Satan with his Angels lying on the burning lake, thunderstruck and astonished') ; then to shock mentally, bewilder. The earliest occurrence of the part, seems to be in Coverdale's Bible (1535) at .ler 2'-, which was re- tained in AV, ' Be a., O ye heavens, at this, and be horribly afraid.' It is u.sed 14 times in OT astr. of 3;¥', once (Job26") of "~J, In NT it is tr" of iKTtX-naaa 10 times (9 times in Gosp., and always in ref, to Christ's words, except Mk 7" of His works ; once in Ac 131''' ' being a. at the teaching of the Lord ') ; of i^laTr)nt 6 times, of Bafiffew and BifiBos
* 'The snflix i«A is, in most other words, only added where the derivation is from a French verb ending In -ir, and forming its pres. part, in -issant; so that the addition of it in the present case is unauthorized and incorrect. It was probably added merely to give the word a fuller sound, and from some dislike to the form astomi, whicli was the form into which the M.E. astonien had passed.'— Skeat. Elyniol. Diet.' s.r.
t In this great iiassage (Is :>•>") the edd. of .\ V subsequent to IftiS liave generally changed what Scrivener calls ' the pathetic aston ied ' into ' the more commonplace astonishtd.' The Camb. Bible restores it.
ASTROLOGIAN
ASTRONOMY AND ASTROLOGY 191
I
wepi4xfi- once each.* RV retains 'a.' throughout OT, but in NT changes it into 'amazed,' when the Gr. is other than ^kirX^effu. Astonishment is found only once in NT, Mk 5" 'they were a''' with a great a.' (RV 'amazed with a great amaze- ment,' Gr. (Kcrraffis) in ref. to the raising of Jairus' daughter. But RV aAda Mk 16' ' trembling and a. had come upon them ' (Gr. f/toroffit, AV ' they trembled and were amazed '). In OT a. is more frequent. In Ps eC ' thou hast made us to drink the wine of a.' (•ij'sn'?, RV 'stafjgering'), the obs.
)hysica] sense of stupefaction is conveyed. (Cf.
8 51" ' thou hast drunken the bowl of the cup of Btaggerinc [same Heb.], and drained it.') As tr" of ntp 'a. freq. means an object of a., and always in a strong sense; esp. in Jer., as 25" 'to make them a desolation, an a., an hissing, and a curse.'
J. Hastings. ASTROLOGIAN is the more accurate form, having the classical termin. -anus added to a class, root. But while the analogous form theologian held its ground, astrologer witli the Eng. term, -er drove this out. It is found in Dn 2", AV 1611, and Camb. Bible, but is replaced by astrologer in nearly all mod. editions. J. Hastings.
ASTRONOMY AND ASTROLOGY. — Heavenly
bodies, in Genesis, are called 'lights' or 'bodies giving light' (""x", pi. ninp ma'dr, mS'Oroth). Dill- mann (Genesis) remarks that in no other work (of creation) is the object of their creation so fully indicated, and asks whether a silent contrast to heathen superstition, which was attaclied to the stars, may not lie therein. The object of the heavenly oodles is stated to be ' to divide between the day and the night,' and ' for signs, for seasons, and for days and j-ears,' and it is for this purpose that they are lixed (lit. ' given,' ojik [O'l, ' and he [God^ gave them ') in the firmament. The whole account of the creation and placing of the heavenly bodies is, in fact, based on the old geocentric view of the ancient astronomers, which mainly prevailed until the birth of modern astronomy. The account as given in Gn, however, is correct for the time at which it was written, and suited the needs of the people to whom it was addressed. The heavenly bodies were among the great marvels of the creative power of God, and they are taken purely and simply from the point of view of what tliey are for us, and the ell'ect they have upon our minds, regardless of any preconceived or acquired scientific ideas and theories that we may possess.