Not less than tlie Hebrews did the Babylonians and Assyrians regard the lieavenly bodies as for signs and seasons, days and years ; and tliis view was associated with their usual heathen ideas that the heavenly bodies were divinities. The following translation of the portion of the Bab. creation story, corresponding with Gn 1, will form a basis of comparison with the two accounts : —
He (MerodAoh) formed the stations of the jrreat gods—
Stan were their likeness ; he caused the tuinaii t to be iet ;
he desi^iinted the year ; he outlined the forms (of the constella- tions?);
he caus4Mi three stare 1 to t>e asslf^ned to each of the 12 moDthB ;
from the day of the yearS he foniied the (l^fures ;
be can8o<l the station of Jupiter tl to be founded to make known their limits,
Uut an error might not be mode, that none might sin.
• lieeides i{,>Tniu (Jth 11" 13" 16", Sir 43'8, 1 Mac llF») and 0afi^)*« (Wis 17*, 1 Mac 6*), the Apocr. gives ' a.' as tr" of ratpafffM
iJth 140, "M (Jth 1611), i,^>,i,,„ (\vis 13'), and x^TatXr.rrt, 2 Mac 3W), thereby showing more clearly the force of the ling, wortl.
t The tumaii were seven in number, and seem to have been OOnstollationH, among them tN-ing Arciteitntt, 1 Or. iMwsibly, constellations. I A|,]»:irenlly = new yearV (l.iy.
I( Sti Jensen. The original word U Nibiru, regarded by Fried. DelltzBch in 1886 as beings Ueb. IyI^'? ma'ahhtir, 'place of poning,' %ere — ' codlac. '
He set with him the station of Bel and &i ;
he opened then great gates on both sides,
the bolt he made strong on the left and ttie right —
in its middle-point the zenith.
He cause<l Nanuaru (the moon) to shine, (and) he niled the
night, be designated him also as the thing of the night, to moke known
the time. Monthly, without failing, he enclosed (him) in a ring, at the begiiming of the month to shine in the evening, the horns proclaiming to make known the division (of time) — on the seventh day with a [half]-ring.*
At this point the text is mutilated ; but after the placing of tlie moon, the chief god of the Babylonians is represented as turain;; his attention to llie sun, and 'wlien the sun arrived on the horizon of heaven,' he seems to have addressed and directed him as to his course. Imperfect as the Bab. text here is, it is nevertheless easy to see that it is the account of a nation who Knew much more of astronomy, on the whole, than the Hebrews. This is, in fact, indicated by the large number of tablets from Babylonia and Assyria referring to astrology that have been found, as well as those referring to astronomy proper, in which the stars and planets are enumerated and classified, and their positions sometimes described. Catalogues of these works were made, and explanations how to use them were given. References, not only to stars, but also to comets, are found, but they are comparatively rare.
The Hebrews, in OT, do not seem to have looked on the stars from an astronomical or astrological point of view, but rather u5 signs placed in the heavens, one of their most important func- tions being to show the power of the Almighty. Thus we are told that He created them (On IW, Job 9», I's 8S etc.), counts them, names them (I's 147*), and has the whole of them in His power (Job 9-^. To the horrors of His juiigment-day it belongs that the stars lose their brightness (Is Kii", Ezk 32^, Lk 21**, Jn 3**, Rev Si*), fall from heaven like withered leaves (Is 34' — the stars are here called ' all the host of heaven *), — a simile in all proljability derived from the observation of falling or 'shooting' stars. Just as the reference, in Jude v.i^, to ' wandering stars ' possibly derived its origin from the comets which came to excite the wonder and terror of the world. In the expression 'courses' of the stars (Jg 5*^) it is the planets that are referred to. The distance of the stars from the earth seeinn to have struck the nations of the ancient world, hence the n>ention of the stars in Job 221*, cf. also Is U'*. The com- parisrm of their brightness is made in 1 Oo 1&41, and their gre,ftt number referred to in He 11^3.
The Stars are, as a rule, indicated by the nsnal
word 3;i3 kOkah, Arab, kawkab, Syr. kawkcbd, Eth. kawkab and kokah, Assyr. kakkabu. One of the poetic expressions for 'stars' is ipi ■jj'is 'stars of tlie morning,' an expres.sion applied apparently to the angels (Job 38') ; and the words ' morning star ' could also be applied to a man who was con- sidered to be great, like the high priest Simon (Sir 50') ; to a thing greatly to be desired, as ' salvation ' (2 P 1'*) and ' heavenly glory ' (Rev 2") ; and, finally, to Christ Himself (Rev '>2'«).
The ilate at which the stars were divided into constellations is very remote, and there is consider- able uncertainty as to the approximate period and the people witli wliom this division had its origin In all probability, however, it is due to the Chal- da'ans, who seem to have had it from the Ak- kadians, most of the names of the signs of the zodiac and constellations being written in the non- Sem. dialect of ancient Babylon. The Hebrews, in their turn, may have obtained their knowledge of the constellations from the Chaldouins, but we have no real evidence of the fact.