Produced by Curtis Weyant, Jeannie Howse, Lisa Reigel, and
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Transcriber's Notes: Variations in spelling and hyphenation have been
left as in the original. Words italicized in the original are surrounded
by _underscores_. Characters superscripted in the original are enclosed
in {braces}. In this text, in words translated from Hebrew, ` represents
an aleph, and ' represents an ayin. Some typographical and punctuation
errors have been corrected. A complete list follows the text.
There are diacritic accents in the original. In this text, they are
represented as follows:
[=a] = "a" with a macron [)e] = "e" with a breve
[=e] = "e" with a macron [vs] = "s" with a caron
[=i] = "i" with a macron [vS] = "S" with a caron
[=o] = "o" with a macron [H.] = "H" with an underdot
[=u] = "u" with a macron [h.] = "h" with an underdot
THE ASTRONOMY
OF THE BIBLE
[Illustration: _From the Painting by Sir Edward Burne-Jones in the
Birmingham Art Gallery._
THE STAR OF BETHLEHEM.
"We have seen His star in the east, and are come to worship Him."
[_Frontispiece._]
THE ASTRONOMY
OF THE BIBLE
AN ELEMENTARY COMMENTARY ON THE
ASTRONOMICAL REFERENCES
OF HOLY SCRIPTURE
BY
E. WALTER MAUNDER, F.R.A.S.
AUTHOR OF
'THE ROYAL OBSERVATORY, GREENWICH: ITS HISTORY AND WORK,'
AND 'ASTRONOMY WITHOUT A TELESCOPE'
_WITH THIRTY-FOUR ILLUSTRATIONS_
NEW YORK
MITCHELL KENNERLEY
RICHARD CLAY & SONS, LIMITED,
BREAD STREET HILL, E.C., AND
BUNGAY, SUFFOLK.
To
MY WIFE
My helper in this Book
and in all things.
PREFACE
Why should an astronomer write a commentary on the Bible?
Because commentators as a rule are not astronomers, and therefore either
pass over the astronomical allusions of Scripture in silence, or else
annotate them in a way which, from a scientific point of view, leaves
much to be desired.
Astronomical allusions in the Bible, direct and indirect, are not few in
number, and, in order to bring out their full significance, need to be
treated astronomically. Astronomy further gives us the power of placing
ourselves to some degree in the position of the patriarchs and prophets
of old. We know that the same sun and moon, stars and planets, shine
upon us as shone upon Abraham and Moses, David and Isaiah. We can, if we
will, see the unchanging heavens with their eyes, and understand their
attitude towards them.
It is worth while for us so to do. For the immense advances in science,
made since the Canon of Holy Scripture was closed, and especially during
the last three hundred years, may enable us to realize the significance
of a most remarkable fact. Even in those early ages, when to all the
nations surrounding Israel the heavenly bodies were objects for
divination or idolatry, the attitude of the sacred writers toward them
was perfect in its sanity and truth.
Astronomy has a yet further part to play in Biblical study. The dating
of the several books of the Bible, and the relation of certain heathen
mythologies to the Scripture narratives of the world's earliest ages,
have received much attention of late years. Literary analysis has thrown
much light on these subjects, but hitherto any evidence that astronomy
could give has been almost wholly neglected; although, from the nature
of the case, such evidence, so far as it is available, must be most
decisive and exact.
I have endeavoured, in the present book, to make an astronomical
commentary on the Bible, in a manner that shall be both clear and
interesting to the general reader, dispensing as far as possible with
astronomical technicalities, since the principles concerned are, for the
most part, quite simple. I trust, also, that I have taken the first step
in a new inquiry which promises to give results of no small importance.
E. WALTER MAUNDER.
_St. John's, London, S.E._
_January 1908._
CONTENTS
BOOK I
THE HEAVENLY BODIES
CHAPTER I. THE HEBREW AND ASTRONOMY
Modern Astronomy--Astronomy in the Classical Age--The Canon of
Holy Scripture closed before the Classical Age--Character of the
Scriptural References to the Heavenly Bodies--Tradition of
Solomon's Eminence in Science--Attitude towards Nature of the
Sacred Writers--Plan of the Book 3
CHAPTER II. THE CREATION
Indian Eclipse of 1898--Contrast between the Heathen and
Scientific Attitudes--The Law of Causality--Inconsistent with
Polytheism--Faith in One God the Source to the Hebrews of
Intellectual Freedom--The First Words of Genesis the Charter of
the Physical Sciences--The Limitations of Science--"Explanations"
of the First Chapter of Genesis--Its Real Purposes--The Sabbath 12
CHAPTER III. THE DEEP
Babylonian Creation Myth--Tiamat, the Dragon of Chaos--Overcome
by Merodach--Similarity to the Scandinavian Myth--No Resemblance
to the Narrative in Genesis--Meanings of the Hebrew Word
_tehom_--Date of the Babylonian Creation Story 25
CHAPTER IV. THE FIRMAMENT
Twofold Application of the Hebrew Word _raqia`_--Its Etymological
Meaning--The Idea of Solidity introduced by the "Seventy"--Not
the Hebrew Idea--The "Foundations" of Heaven and Earth--The
"Canopy" of Heaven--The "Stories" of Heaven--Clouds and Rain--The
Atmospheric Circulation--Hebrew Appreciation even of the Terrible
in Nature--The "Balancings" and "Spreadings" of the Clouds--The
"Windows of Heaven"--Not Literal Sluice-gates--The Four
Winds--The Four Quarters--The Circle of the Earth--The Waters
under the Earth--The "Depths" 35
CHAPTER V. THE ORDINANCES OF THE HEAVENS
The Order of the Heavenly Movements--Daily Movement of the
Sun--Nightly Movements of the Stars--The "Host of Heaven"--
Symbolic of the Angelic Host--Morning Stars--The Scripture View
of the Heavenly Order 55
CHAPTER VI. THE SUN
The Double Purpose of the Two Great Heavenly Bodies--Symbolic Use
of the Sun as Light-giver--No Deification of the Sun or of
Light--Solar Idolatry in Israel--_Shemesh_ and _[H.]eres_--
Sun-spots--Light before the Sun--"Under the Sun"--The Circuit of
the Sun--Sunstroke--"Variableness"--Our present Knowledge of the
Sun--Sir William Herschel's Theory--Conflict between the Old
Science and the New--Galileo--A Question of Evidence--A Question
of Principle 63
CHAPTER VII. THE MOON
Importance of the Moon in Olden Times--Especially to the
Shepherd--Jewish Feasts at the Full Moon--The Harvest Moon--The
Hebrew Month a Natural one--Different Hebrew Words for Moon--
Moon-worship forbidden--"Similitudes" of the Moon--Worship of
Ashtoreth--No mention of Lunar Phases--The Moon "for Seasons" 79
CHAPTER VIII. THE STARS
Number of the Stars--"Magnitudes" of the Stars--Distances of the
Stars 95
CHAPTER IX. COMETS
Great Comets unexpected Visitors--Description of Comets--
Formation of the Tail--Possible References in Scripture to
Comets 103
CHAPTER X. METEORS
Aerolites--Diana of the Ephesians--Star-showers--The Leonid
Meteors--References in Scripture--The Aurora Borealis 111
CHAPTER XI. ECLIPSES OF THE SUN AND MOON
Vivid Impression produced by a Total Solar Eclipse--Eclipses not
Omens to the Hebrews--Eclipses visible in Ancient Palestine--
Explanation of Eclipses--The Saros--Scripture References to
Eclipses--The Corona--The Egyptian "Winged Disc"--The Babylonian
"Ring with Wings"--The Corona at Minimum 118
CHAPTER XII. SATURN AND ASTROLOGY
The "Seven Planets"--Possible Scripture References to Venus and
Jupiter--"Your God Remphan" probably Saturn--The Sabbath and
Saturn's Day--R. A. Proctor on the Names of the Days of the
Week--Order of the Planets--Alexandrian Origin of the Weekday
Names--The Relation of Astrology to Astronomy--Early Babylonian
Astrology--Hebrew Contempt for Divination 130
BOOK II
THE CONSTELLATIONS
CHAPTER I. THE ORIGIN OF THE CONSTELLATIONS
The "Greek Sphere"--Aratus--St Paul's Sermon at Athens--The
Constellations of Ptolemy's Catalogue--References to the
Constellations in Hesiod and Homer--The Constellation Figures on
Greek Coins--And on Babylonian "Boundary-stones"--The Unmapped
Space in the South--Its Explanation--Precession--Date and Place
of the Origin of the Constellations--Significant Positions of the
Serpent Forms in the Constellations--The Four "Royal Stars"--The
Constellations earlier than the Old Testament 149
CHAPTER II. GENESIS AND THE CONSTELLATIONS
The Bow set in the Cloud--The Conflict with the Serpent--The Seed
of the Woman--The Cherubim--The "Mighty Hunter" 162
CHAPTER III. THE STORY OF THE DELUGE
Resemblance between the Babylonian and Genesis Deluge
Stories--The Deluge Stories in Genesis--Their Special
Features--The Babylonian Deluge Story--Question as to its
Date--Its Correspondence with both the Genesis Narratives--The
Constellation Deluge Picture--Its Correspondence with both the
Genesis Narratives--The Genesis Deluge Story independent of Star
Myth and Babylonian Legend 170
CHAPTER IV. THE TRIBES OF ISRAEL AND THE ZODIAC
Joseph's Dream--Alleged Association of the Zodiacal Figures with
the Tribes of Israel--The Standards of the Four Camps of
Israel--The Blessings of Jacob and Moses--The Prophecies of
Balaam--The Golden Calf--The Lion of Judah 186
CHAPTER V. LEVIATHAN
The Four Serpent-like Forms in the Constellations--Their
Significant Positions--The Dragon's Head and Tail--The
Symbols for the Nodes--The Dragon of Eclipse--Hindu Myth
of Eclipses--Leviathan--References to the Stellar Serpents
in Scripture--Rahab--Andromeda--"The Eyelids of the
Morning"--Poetry, Science, and Myth 196
CHAPTER VI. THE PLEIADES
Difficulty of Identification--The most Attractive
Constellations--_Kimah_--Not a Babylonian Star Name--A Pre-exilic
Hebrew Term--The Pleiades traditionally Seven--Mädler's
Suggestion--Pleiades associated in Tradition with the Rainy
Season--And with the Deluge--Their "Sweet Influences"--The Return
of Spring--The Pleiades in recent Photographs--Great Size and
Distance of the Cluster 213
CHAPTER VII. ORION
_Kesil_--Probably Orion--Appearance of the Constellation--
Identified in Jewish Tradition with Nimrod, who was probably
Merodach--Altitude of Orion in the Sky--_Kesilim_--The "Bands" of
Orion--The Bow-star and Lance-star, Orion's Dogs--Identification
of Tiamat with Cetus 231
CHAPTER VIII. MAZZAROTH
Probably the "Signs of the Zodiac"--Babylonian Creation
Story--Significance of its Astronomical References--Difference
between the "Signs" and the "Constellations" of the Zodiac--Date
of the Change--And of the Babylonian Creation Epic--Stages of
Astrology--Astrology Younger than Astronomy by 2000 Years--
_Mazzaroth_ and the "Chambers of the South"--_Mazzaloth_--The
Solar and Lunar Zodiacs--_Mazzaroth_ in his Season 243
CHAPTER IX. ARCTURUS
_`Ash_ and _`Ayish_--Uncertainty as to their Identification--
Probably the Great Bear--_Mezarim_--Probably another Name for the
Bears--"Canst thou guide the Bear?"--Proper Motions of the
Plough-stars--Estimated Distance 258
BOOK III
TIMES AND SEASONS
CHAPTER I. THE DAY AND ITS DIVISIONS
Rotation Period of Venus--Difficulty of the Time Problem on
Venus--The Sun and Stars as Time Measurers--The apparent Solar
Day the First in Use--It began at Sunset--Subdivisions of the Day
Interval--Between the Two Evenings--The Watches of the Night--The
12-hour Day and the 24-hour Day 269
CHAPTER II. THE SABBATH AND THE WEEK
The Week not an Astronomical Period--Different Weeks employed
by the Ancients--Four Origins assigned for the Week--The
Quarter-month--The Babylonian System--The Babylonian Sabbath not
a Rest Day--The Jewish Sabbath amongst the Romans--Alleged
Astrological Origin of the Week--Origin of the Week given in the
Bible 283
CHAPTER III. THE MONTH
The New Moon a Holy Day with the Hebrews--The Full Moons at the
Two Equinoxes also Holy Days--The Beginnings of the Months
determined from actual Observation--Rule for finding Easter--Names
of the Jewish Months--Phoenician and Babylonian Month Names--
Number of Days in the Month--Babylonian Dead Reckoning--Present
Jewish Calendar 293
CHAPTER IV. THE YEAR
The Jewish Year a Luni-solar one--Need for an Intercalary
Month--The Metonic Cycle--The Sidereal and Tropical Years--The
Hebrew a Tropical Year--Beginning near the Spring Equinox--Meaning
of "the End of the Year"--Early Babylonian Method of determining
the First Month--Capella as the Indicator Star--The Triad of
Stars--The Tropical Year in the Deluge Story 305
CHAPTER V. THE SABBATIC YEAR AND THE JUBILEE
Law of the Sabbatic Year--A Year of Rest and Release--The
Jubilee--Difficulties connected with the Sabbatic Year and the
Jubilee--The Sabbatic Year, an Agricultural one--Interval between
the Jubilees, Forty-nine Years, not Fifty--Forty-nine Years an
Astronomical Cycle 326
CHAPTER VI. THE CYCLES OF DANIEL
The Jubilee Cycle possessed only by the Hebrews--High Estimation
of Daniel and his Companions entertained by Nebuchadnezzar--Due
possibly to Daniel's Knowledge of Luni-solar Cycles--Cycles in
Daniel's Prophecy--2300 Years and 1260 Years as Astronomical
Cycles--Early Astronomical Progress of the Babylonians much
overrated--Yet their Real Achievements not Small--Limitations of
the Babylonian--Freedom of the Hebrew 337
BOOK IV
THREE ASTRONOMICAL MARVELS
CHAPTER I. JOSHUA'S LONG DAY
METHOD OF STUDYING THE RECORD--To be discussed as it stands--An
early Astronomical Observation. BEFORE THE BATTLE--Movements of
the Israelites--Reasons for the Gibeonites' Action--Rapid
Movements of all the Parties. DAY, HOUR, AND PLACE OF THE
MIRACLE--Indication of the Sun's Declination--Joshua was at
Gibeon--And at High Noon--On the 21st Day of the Fourth Month.
JOSHUA'S STRATEGY--Key to it in the Flight of the Amorites by the
Beth-horon Route--The Amorites defeated but not surrounded--King
David as a Strategist. THE MIRACLE--The Noon-day Heat, the great
Hindrance to the Israelites--Joshua desired the Heat to be
tempered--The Sun made to "be silent"--The Hailstorm--The March
to Makkedah--A Full Day's March in the Afternoon--"The Miracle"
not a Poetic Hyperbole--Exact Accord of the Poem and the Prose
Chronicle--The Record made at the Time--Their March, the
Israelites' Measure of Time 351
CHAPTER II. THE DIAL OF AHAZ
The Narrative--Suggested Explanations--The "Dial of Ahaz,"
probably a Staircase--Probable History and Position of the
Staircase--Significance of the Sign 385
CHAPTER III. THE STAR OF BETHLEHEM
The Narrative--No Astronomical Details given--Purpose of the
Scripture Narrative--Kepler's suggested Identification of the
Star--The New Star of 1572--Legend of the Well of Bethlehem--True
Significance of the Reticence of the Gospel Narrative 393
A TABLE OF SCRIPTURAL REFERENCE 401
INDEX 405
ILLUSTRATIONS
PAGE
THE STAR OF BETHLEHEM (_Burne-Jones_) _Frontispiece_
THE RAINBOW (_Rubens_) 2
MERODACH AND TIAMAT 25
CIRRUS AND CUMULI 47
A CORNER OF THE MILKY WAY 94
THE GREAT COMET OF 1843 102
FALL OF AN AEROLITE 110
METEORIC SHOWER OF 1799 115
THE ASSYRIAN 'RING WITH WINGS' 126
CORONA OF MINIMUM TYPE 127
ST. PAUL PREACHING AT ATHENS (_Raphael_) 148
THE ANCIENT CONSTELLATIONS SOUTH OF THE ECLIPTIC 155
THE CELESTIAL SPHERE 156
THE MIDNIGHT CONSTELLATIONS OF SPRING, B.C. 2700 164
THE MIDNIGHT CONSTELLATIONS OF WINTER, B.C. 2700 165
OPHIUCHUS AND THE NEIGHBOURING CONSTELLATIONS 189
AQUARIUS AND THE NEIGHBOURING CONSTELLATIONS 192
HERCULES AND DRACO 197
HYDRA AND THE NEIGHBOURING CONSTELLATIONS 200
ANDROMEDA AND CETUS 207
STARS OF THE PLEIADES 219
INNER NEBULOSITIES OF THE PLEIADES 227
STARS OF ORION 232
ORION AND THE NEIGHBOURING CONSTELLATIONS 236
POSITION OF SPRING EQUINOX, B.C. 2700 246
POSITION OF SPRING EQUINOX, A.D. 1900 247
STARS OF THE PLOUGH, AS THE WINNOWING FAN 263
'BLOW UP THE TRUMPET IN THE NEW MOON' 268
POSITION OF THE NEW MOON AT THE EQUINOXES 316
BOUNDARY-STONE IN THE LOUVRE 318
WORSHIP OF THE SUN-GOD AT SIPPARA 322
'SUN, STAND THOU STILL UPON GIBEON, AND THOU MOON IN
THE VALLEY OF AJALON' 350
MAP OF SOUTHERN PALESTINE 357
BEARINGS OF THE RISING AND SETTING POINTS OF THE SUN
FROM GIBEON 363
[Illustration: _By permission of the Autotype Co. 74, New Oxford
Street, London W.C._
THE RAINBOW (_by Rubens_).
"The bow that is in the cloud on the day of rain."]
THE ASTRONOMY OF THE BIBLE
BOOK I
THE HEAVENLY BODIES
CHAPTER I
THE HEBREW AND ASTRONOMY
Modern astronomy began a little more than three centuries ago with the
invention of the telescope and Galileo's application of it to the study
of the heavenly bodies. This new instrument at once revealed to him the
mountains on the moon, the satellites of Jupiter, and the spots on the
sun, and brought the celestial bodies under observation in a way that no
one had dreamed of before. In our view to-day, the planets of the solar
system are worlds; we can examine their surfaces and judge wherein they
resemble or differ from our earth. To the ancients they were but points
of light; to us they are vast bodies that we have been able to measure
and to weigh. The telescope has enabled us also to penetrate deep into
outer space; we have learnt of other systems besides that of our own sun
and its dependents, many of them far more complex; clusters and clouds
of stars have been revealed to us, and mysterious nebulæ, which suggest
by their forms that they are systems of suns in the making. More lately
the invention of the spectroscope has informed us of the very elements
which go to the composition of these numberless stars, and we can
distinguish those which are in a similar condition to our sun from those
differing from him. And photography has recorded for us objects too
faint for mere sight to detect, even when aided by the most powerful
telescope; too detailed and intricate for the most skilful hand to
depict.
Galileo's friend and contemporary, Kepler, laid the foundations of
another department of modern astronomy at about the same time. He
studied the apparent movements of the planets until they yielded him
their secret so far that he was able to express them in three simple
laws, laws which, two generations later, Sir Isaac Newton demonstrated
to be the outcome of one grand and simple law of universal range, the
law of gravitation. Upon this law the marvellous mathematical conquests
of astronomy have been based.
All these wonderful results have been attained by the free exercise of
men's mental abilities, and it cannot be imagined that God would have
intervened to hamper their growth in intellectual power by revealing to
men facts and methods which it was within their own ability to discover
for themselves. Men's mental powers have developed by their exercise;
they would have been stunted had men been led to look to revelation
rather than to diligent effort for the satisfaction of their curiosity.
We therefore do not find any reference in the Bible to that which
modern astronomy has taught us. Yet it may be noted that some
expressions, appropriate at any time, have become much more appropriate,
much more forcible, in the light of our present-day knowledge.
The age of astronomy which preceded the Modern, and may be called the
Classical age, was almost as sharply defined in its beginning as its
successor. It lasted about two thousand years, and began with the
investigations into the movements of the planets made by some of the
early Greek mathematicians. Classical, like Modern astronomy, had its
two sides,--the instrumental and the mathematical. On the instrumental
side was the invention of graduated instruments for the determination of
the positions of the heavenly bodies; on the mathematical, the
development of geometry and trigonometry for the interpretation of those
positions when thus determined. Amongst the great names of this period
are those of Eudoxus of Knidus (B.C. 408-355), and Hipparchus of
Bithynia, who lived rather more than two centuries later. Under its
first leaders astronomy in the Classical age began to advance rapidly,
but it soon experienced a deadly blight. Men were not content to observe
the heavenly bodies for what they were; they endeavoured to make
them the sources of divination. The great school of Alexandria (founded
about 300 B.C.), the headquarters of astronomy, became invaded by
the spirit of astrology, the bastard science which has always
tried--parasite-like--to suck its life from astronomy. Thus from the
days of Claudius Ptolemy to the end of the Middle Ages the growth of
astronomy was arrested, and it bore but little fruit.
It will be noticed that the Classical age did not commence until about
the time of the completion of the last books of the Old Testament; so we
do not find any reference in Holy Scripture to the astronomical
achievements of that period, amongst which the first attempts to explain
the apparent motions of sun, moon, stars, and planets were the most
considerable.
We have a complete history of astronomy in the Modern and Classical
periods, but there was an earlier astronomy, not inconsiderable in
amount, of which no history is preserved. For when Eudoxus commenced his
labours, the length of the year had already been determined, the
equinoxes and solstices had been recognized, the ecliptic, the celestial
equator, and the poles of both great circles were known, and the five
principal planets were familiar objects. This Early astronomy must have
had its history, its stages of development, but we can only with
difficulty trace them out. It cannot have sprung into existence
full-grown any more than the other sciences; it must have started from
zero, and men must have slowly fought their way from one observation to
another, with gradually widening conceptions, before they could bring it
even to that stage of development in which it was when the observers of
the Museum of Alexandria began their work.
The books of the Old Testament were written at different times during
the progress of this Early age of astronomy. We should therefore
naturally expect to find the astronomical allusions written from the
standpoint of such scientific knowledge as had then been acquired. We
cannot for a moment expect that any supernatural revelation of purely
material facts would be imparted to the writers of sacred books, two or
three thousand years before the progress of science had brought those
facts to light, and we ought not to be surprised if expressions are
occasionally used which we should not ourselves use to-day, if we were
writing about the phenomena of nature from a technical point of view. It
must further be borne in mind that the astronomical references are not
numerous, that they occur mostly in poetic imagery, and that Holy
Scripture was not intended to give an account of the scientific
achievements, if any, of the Hebrews of old. Its purpose was wholly
different: it was religious, not scientific; it was meant to give
spiritual, not intellectual enlightenment.
An exceedingly valuable and interesting work has recently been brought
out by the most eminent of living Italian astronomers, Prof. G. V.
Schiaparelli, on this subject of "Astronomy in the Old Testament," to
which work I should like here to acknowledge my indebtedness. Yet I feel
that the avowed object of his book,[7:1]--to "discover what ideas the
ancient Jewish sages held regarding the structure of the universe, what
observations they made of the stars, and how far they made use of them
for the measurement and division of time"--is open to this
criticism,--that sufficient material for carrying it out is not within
our reach. If we were to accept implicitly the argument from the silence
of Scripture, we should conclude that the Hebrews--though their calendar
was essentially a lunar one, based upon the actual observation of the
new moon--had never noticed that the moon changed its apparent form as
the month wore on, for there is no mention in the Bible of the lunar
phases.
The references to the heavenly bodies in Scripture are not numerous, and
deal with them either as time-measurers or as subjects for devout
allusion, poetic simile, or symbolic use. But there is one
characteristic of all these references to the phenomena of Nature, that
may not be ignored. None of the ancients ever approached the great
Hebrew writers in spiritual elevation; none equalled them in poetic
sublimity; and few, if any, surpassed them in keenness of observation,
or in quick sympathy with every work of the Creator.
These characteristics imply a natural fitness of the Hebrews for
successful scientific work, and we should have a right to believe that
under propitious circumstances they would have shown a pre-eminence in
the field of physical research as striking as is the superiority of
their religious conceptions over those of the surrounding nations. We
cannot, of course, conceive of the average Jew as an Isaiah, any more
than we can conceive of the average Englishman as a Shakespeare, yet the
one man, like the other, is an index of the advancement and capacity of
his race; nor could Isaiah's writings have been preserved, more than
those of Shakespeare, without a true appreciation of them on the part of
many of his countrymen.
But the necessary conditions for any great scientific development were
lacking to Israel. A small nation, planted between powerful and
aggressive empires, their history was for the most part the record of a
struggle for bare existence; and after three or four centuries of the
unequal conflict, first the one and then the other of the two sister
kingdoms was overwhelmed. There was but little opportunity during these
years of storm and stress for men to indulge in any curious searchings
into the secrets of nature.
Once only was there a long interval of prosperity and peace; viz. from
the time that David had consolidated the kingdom to the time when it
suffered disruption under his grandson, Rehoboam; and it is significant
that tradition has ascribed to Solomon and to his times just such a
scientific activity as the ability and temperament of the Hebrew race
would lead us to expect it to display when the conditions should be
favourable for it.
Thus, in the fourth chapter of the First Book of Kings, not only are the
attainments of Solomon himself described, but other men, contemporaries
either of his father David or himself, are referred to, as distinguished
in the same direction, though to a less degree.
"And God gave Solomon wisdom and understanding exceeding much,
and largeness of heart, even as the sand that is on the
seashore. And Solomon's wisdom excelled the wisdom of all the
children of the east country, and all the wisdom of Egypt. For
he was wiser than all men; than Ethan the Ezrahite, and Heman,
and Chalcol, and Darda, the sons of Mahol: and his fame was in
all nations round about. And he spake three thousand proverbs:
and his songs were a thousand and five. And he spake of trees,
from the cedar-tree that is in Lebanon even unto the hyssop
that springeth out of the wall: he spake also of beasts, and
of fowl, and of creeping things, and of fishes. And there came
of all people to hear the wisdom of Solomon, from all kings of
the earth, which had heard of his wisdom."
The tradition of his great eminence in scientific research is also
preserved in the words put into his mouth in the Book of the Wisdom of
Solomon, now included in the Apocrypha.
"For" (God) "Himself gave me an unerring knowledge of the
things that are, to know the constitution of the world, and
the operation of the elements; the beginning and end and
middle of times, the alternations of the solstices and the
changes of seasons, the circuits of years and the positions"
(_margin_, constellations) "of stars; the natures of living
creatures and the ragings of wild beasts, the violences of
winds and the thoughts of men, the diversities of plants and
the virtues of roots: all things that are either secret or
manifest I learned, for she that is the artificer of all
things taught me, even Wisdom."
Two great names have impressed themselves upon every part of the
East:--the one, that of Solomon the son of David, as the master of every
secret source of knowledge; and the other that of Alexander the Great,
as the mightiest of conquerors. It is not unreasonable to believe that
the traditions respecting the first have been founded upon as real a
basis of actual achievement as those respecting the second.
But to such scientific achievements we have no express allusion in
Scripture, other than is afforded us by the two quotations just made.
Natural objects, natural phenomena are not referred to for their own
sake. Every thought leads up to God or to man's relation to Him.
Nature, as a whole and in its every aspect and detail, is the handiwork
of Jehovah: that is the truth which the heavens are always
declaring;--and it is His power, His wisdom, and His goodness to man
which it is sought to illustrate, when the beauty or wonder of natural
objects is described.
"When I consider Thy heavens, the work of Thy fingers,
The moon and the stars, which Thou hast ordained;
What is man, that Thou art mindful of him?
And the son of man, that Thou visitest him?"
The first purpose, therefore, of the following study of the astronomy of
the Bible is,--not to reconstruct the astronomy of the Hebrews, a task
for which the material is manifestly incomplete,--but to examine such
astronomical allusions as occur with respect to their appropriateness to
the lesson which the writer desired to teach. Following this, it will be
of interest to examine what connection can be traced between the Old
Testament Scriptures and the Constellations; the arrangement of the
stars into constellations having been the chief astronomical work
effected during the centuries when those Scriptures were severally
composed. The use made of the heavenly bodies as time-measurers amongst
the Hebrews will form a third division of the subject; whilst there are
two or three incidents in the history of Israel which appear to call for
examination from an astronomical point of view, and may suitably be
treated in a fourth and concluding section.
FOOTNOTES:
[7:1] _Astronomy in the Old Testament_, p. 12.