that Joshua had possessed himself of the road from Gibeon to Jerusalem.
It is equally clear that this could not have been done by accident, but
that it must have been the deliberate purpose of his generalship.
Jerusalem was a city so strong that it was not until the reign of David
that the Israelites obtained possession of the whole of it, and to take
it was evidently a matter beyond Joshua's ability. But to have defeated
the Amorites at Gibeon, and to have left open to them the way to
Jerusalem--less than six miles distant--would have been a perfectly
futile proceeding. We may be sure, therefore, that from the moment when
he learned that Adoni-zedek was besieging Gibeon, Joshua's first aim was
to cut off the Amorite king from his capital.
The fact that the Amorites fled, not towards their cities but away from
them, shows clearly that Joshua had specially manoeuvred so as to cut
them off from Jerusalem. How he did it, we are not told, and any
explanation offered must necessarily be merely of the nature of surmise.
Yet a considerable amount of probability may attach to it. The
geographical conditions are perfectly well known, and we can, to some
degree, infer the course which the battle must have taken from these,
just as we could infer the main lines of the strategy employed by the
Germans in their war with the French in 1870, simply by noting the
places where the successive battles occurred. The positions of the
battlefields of Mars-la-Tour, Gravelotte, and Sedan would show clearly
that the object of the Germans had been, first, to shut Bazaine up in
Metz, and then to hinder MacMahon from coming to his relief. So in the
present case, the fact that the Amorites fled by the way of the two
Beth-horons, shows, first, that Joshua had completely cut them off from
the road to Jerusalem, and next, that somehow or other when they took
flight they were a long way to the north of him. Had they not been so,
they could not have had any long start in their flight, and the
hailstorm which occasioned them such heavy loss would have injured the
Israelites almost as much.
How can these two circumstances be accounted for? I think we can make a
very plausible guess at the details of Joshua's strategy from noting
what he is recorded to have done in the case of Aï. On that occasion, as
on this, he had felt his inability to deal with an enemy behind
fortifications. His tactics therefore had consisted in making a feigned
attack, followed by a feigned retreat, by which he drew his enemies
completely away from their base, which he then seized by means of a
detachment which he had previously placed in ambush near. Then, when the
men of Aï were hopelessly cut off from their city, he brought all his
forces together, surrounded his enemies in the open, and destroyed them.
It was a far more difficult task which lay before him at Gibeon, but we
may suppose that he still acted on the same general principles. There
were two points on the ridge of the watershed which, for very different
reasons, it was important that he should seize. The one was Beeroth, one
of the cities of the Hivites, his allies, close to his latest victory of
Aï, and commanding the highest point on the ridge of the watershed. It
is distant from Jerusalem some ten miles--a day's journey. Tradition
therefore gives it as the place where the Virgin Mary and St. Joseph
turned back sorrowing, seeking Jesus. For "they, supposing Him to have
been in the company, went a day's journey," and Beeroth still forms the
first halting-place for pilgrims from the north on their return journey.
Beeroth also was the city of the two sons of Rimmon who murdered
Ishbosheth, the son of Saul. When it is remembered how Saul had
attempted to extirpate the Gibeonites, and how bitter a blood feud the
latter entertained against his house in consequence, it becomes very
significant that the murderers of his son were men of this Gibeonite
town.
Beeroth also commanded the exit from the principal ravine by which
Joshua could march upwards to the ridge--the valley of Achor. The
Israelites marching by this route would have the great advantage that
Beeroth, in the possession of their allies, the Gibeonites, would act as
a cover to them whilst in the ravines, and give them security whilst
taking up a position on the plateau.
But Beeroth had one fatal disadvantage as a sole line of advance. From
Beeroth Joshua would come down to Gibeon from the north, and the
Amorites, if defeated, would have a line of retreat, clear and easy, to
Jerusalem. It was absolutely essential that somewhere or other he should
cut the Jerusalem road.
This would be a matter of great difficulty and danger, as, if his
advance were detected whilst he was still in the ravines, he would have
been taken at almost hopeless disadvantage. The fearful losses which the
Israelites sustained in the intertribal war with Benjamin near this very
place, show what Joshua might reasonably have expected had he tried to
make his sole advance on the ridge near Jerusalem.
Is it not probable that he would have endeavoured, under these
circumstances, to entice the Amorites as far away to the north as
possible before he ventured to bring his main force out on the ridge? If
so, we may imagine that he first sent a strong force by the valley of
Achor to Beeroth; that they were instructed there to take up a strong
position, and when firmly established, to challenge the Amorites to
attack them. Then, when the Israelite general in command at Beeroth
perceived that he had before him practically the whole Amorite
force--for it would seem clear that the five kings themselves, together
with the greater part of their army, were thus drawn away--he would
signal to Joshua that the time had come for his advance. Just as Joshua
himself had signalled with his spear at the taking of Aï, so the firing
of a beacon placed on the summit of the ridge would suffice for the
purpose. Joshua would then lead up the main body, seize the Jerusalem
road, and press on to Gibeon at the utmost speed. If this were so, the
small detachment of Amorites left to continue the blockade was speedily
crushed, but perhaps was aware of Joshua's approach soon enough to send
swift runners urging the five kings to return. The news would brook no
delay; the kings would turn south immediately; but for all their haste
they never reached Gibeon. They probably had but advanced as far as the
ridge leading to Beth-horon, when they perceived that not only had
Joshua relieved Gibeon and destroyed the force which they had left
before it, but that his line, stretched out far to the right and left,
already cut them off, not merely from the road to Jerusalem and Hebron,
but also from the valley of Ajalon, a shorter road to the Maritime Plain
than the one they actually took. East there was no escape; north was the
Israelite army from Beeroth; south and west was the army of Joshua.
Out-manoeuvred and out-generalled, they were in the most imminent danger
of being caught between the two Israelite armies, and of being ground,
like wheat, between the upper and nether millstones. They had no heart
for further fight; the promise made to Joshua,--"there shall not a man
of them stand before thee,"--was fulfilled; they broke and fled by the
one way open to them, the way of the two Beth-horons.
Whilst this conjectural strategy attributes to Joshua a ready grasp of
the essential features of the military position and skill in dealing
with them, it certainly does not attribute to him any greater skill than
it is reasonable to suppose he possessed. The Hebrews have repeatedly
proved, not merely their valour in battle, but their mastery of the art
of war, and, as Marcel Dieulafoy has recently shown,[372:1] the earliest
general of whom we have record as introducing turning tactics in the
field, is David in the battle of the valley of Rephaim, recorded in 2
Sam. v. 22-25 and 1 Chron. xiv. 13-17.
"The several evolutions of a complicated and hazardous nature
which decided the fate of the battle would betoken, even at
the present day, when successfully conducted, a consummate
general, experienced lieutenants, troops well accustomed to
manoeuvres, mobile, and, above all, disciplined almost into
unconsciousness, so contrary is it to our instincts not
to meet peril face to face. . . . In point of fact, the
Israelites had just effected in the face of the Philistines a
turning and enveloping movement--that is to say, an operation
of war considered to be one of the boldest, most skilful, and
difficult attempted by forces similar in number to those of
the Hebrews, but, at the same time, very efficacious and
brilliant when successful. It was the favourite manoeuvre of
Frederick II, and the one on which his military reputation
rests."
But though the Amorites had been discomfited by Joshua, they had not
been completely surrounded; one way of escape was left open. More than
this, it appears that they obtained a very ample start in the race along
the north-western road. We infer this from the incident of the
hailstorm which fell upon them whilst rushing down the precipitous road
between the Beth-horons; a storm so sudden and so violent that more of
the Amorites died by the hailstones than had fallen in the contest at
Gibeon. It does not appear that the Israelites suffered from the storm;
they must consequently have, at the time, been much in the rear of their
foes. Probably they were still "in the way that goeth up to Beth-horon";
that is to say, in the ascent some two miles long from Gibeon till the
summit of the road is reached. There would be a special appropriateness
in this case in the phrasing of the record that "the Lord discomfited
the Amorites before Israel, and slew them with a great slaughter at
Gibeon, and _chased_ them along the way that goeth up to Beth-horon, and
smote them to Azekah and unto Makkedah." There was no slaughter on the
road between Gibeon and Beth-horon. It was a simple _chase_; a pursuit
with the enemy far in advance.
The Israelites, general and soldiers alike, had done their best. The
forced march all night up the steep ravines, the plan of the battle, and
the way in which it had been carried out were alike admirable. Yet when
the Israelites had done their best, and the heat and their long
exertions had nearly overpowered them, Joshua was compelled to recognize
that he had been but partly successful. He had relieved Gibeon; the
Amorites were in headlong flight; he had cut them off from the direct
road to safety, but he had failed in one most important point. He had
not succeeded in surrounding them, and the greater portion of their
force was escaping.
5.--THE MIRACLE.
It was at this moment, when his scouts announced to him the frustration
of his hopes, that Joshua in the anxiety lest the full fruits of his
victory should be denied him, and in the supremest faith that the Lord
God, in Whose hand are all the powers of the universe, was with him,
exclaimed:
"Sun, stand thou still upon Gibeon,
And thou, Moon, in the valley of Ajalon!"
So his exclamation stands in our Authorized Version, but, as the
marginal reading shows, the word translated "stand still" is more
literally "be silent." There can be no doubt that this expression, so
unusual in this connection, must have been employed with intention. What
was it that Joshua is likely to have had in his mind when he thus spoke?
The common idea is that he simply wished for more time; for the day to
be prolonged. But as we have seen, it was midday when he spoke, and he
had full seven hours of daylight before him. There was a need which he
must have felt more pressing. His men had now been seventeen hours on
the march, for they had started at sunset--7 p.m.--on the previous
evening, and it was now noon, the noon of a sub-tropical midsummer. They
had marched at least twenty miles in the time, possibly considerably
more according to the route which they had followed, and the march had
been along the roughest of roads, and had included an ascent of 3400
feet--about the height of the summit of Snowdon above the sea-level.
They must have been weary, and have felt sorely the heat of the sun,
now blazing right overhead. Surely it requires no words to labour this
point. Joshua's one pressing need at that moment was something to temper
the fierce oppression of the sun, and to refresh his men. This was what
he prayed for; this was what was granted him. For the moment the sun
seemed fighting on the side of his enemies, and he bade it "Be silent."
Instantly, in answer to his command, a mighty rush of dark storm-clouds
came sweeping up from the sea.
Refreshed by the sudden coolness, the Israelites set out at once in the
pursuit of their enemies. It is probable that for the first six miles
they saw no trace of them, but when they reached Beth-horon the Upper,
and stood at the top of its steep descent, they saw the Amorites again.
As it had been with their fathers at the Red Sea, when the pillar of
cloud had been a defence to them but the means of discomfiture to the
Egyptians, so now the storm-clouds which had so revived them and
restored their their strength, had brought death and destruction to
their enemies. All down the rocky descent lay the wounded, the dying,
the dead. For "the Lord cast down great stones from heaven upon them,
unto Azekah, and they died: they were more which died with hailstones
than they whom the children of Israel slew with the sword."
"The might of the Gentile, unsmote by the sword,
Had melted like snow in the glance of the Lord."
Far below them the panic-stricken remnants of the Amorite host were
fleeing for safety to the cities of the Maritime Plain. The battle
proper was over; the one duty left to the army of Israel was to overtake
and destroy those remnants before they could gain shelter.
But the narrative continues. "The sun stayed in the midst of heaven, and
hasted not to go down about a whole day." This statement evidently
implies much more than the mere darkening of the sun by storm-clouds.
For its interpretation we must return to the remaining incidents of the
day.
These are soon told. Joshua pursued the Amorites to Makkedah,
twenty-seven miles from Gibeon by the route taken. There the five kings
had hidden themselves in a cave. A guard was placed to watch the cave;
the Israelites continued the pursuit for an undefined distance farther;
returned to Makkedah and took it by assault; brought the kings out of
their cave, and hanged them.
"And it came to pass at the time of the going down of the sun,
that Joshua commanded, and they took them down off the trees,
and cast them into the cave wherein they had hidden
themselves, and laid great stones on the mouth of the cave,
unto this very day."
All these events--the pursuit for twenty-seven miles and more, the
taking of Makkedah and the hanging of the kings--took place between noon
and the going down of the sun, an interval whose normal length, for that
latitude and at that time of the year, was about seven hours.
This is an abnormal feat. It is true that a single trained pedestrian
might traverse the twenty-seven and odd miles, and still have time to
take part in an assault on a town and to watch an execution. But it is
an altogether different thing when we come to a large army. It is well
known that the speed with which a body of men can move diminishes with
the number. A company can march faster than a regiment; a regiment than
a brigade; a brigade than an army corps. But for a large force thirty
miles in the entire day is heavy work. "Thus Sir Archibald Hunter's
division, in its march through Bechuanaland to the relief of Mafeking,
starting at four in the morning, went on till seven or eight at night,
covering as many as thirty miles a day at times." Joshua's achievement
was a march fully as long as any of General Hunter's, but it was
accomplished in less than seven hours instead of from fifteen to
sixteen, and it followed straight on from a march seventeen hours in
length which had ended in a battle. In all, between one sunset and the
next he had marched between fifty and sixty miles besides fighting a
battle and taking a town.
If we turn to the records of other battles fought in this neighbourhood,
we find that they agree as closely as we could expect, not with Joshua's
achievement, but with General Hunter's. In the case of the great victory
secured by Jonathan, the gallant son of Saul, the Israelites smote the
Philistines from Michmash to Ajalon;--not quite twenty miles. In the
defeat of Cestius Gallus, the Jews followed him from Beth-horon to
Antipatris, a little over twenty miles, the pursuit beginning at
daybreak, and being evidently continued nearly till sundown. The pursuit
of the Syrians under Nicanor by Judas Maccabæus seems also to have
covered about the same distance, for Nicanor was killed at the first
onslaught and his troops took to flight.
It is not at all unusual to read in comments on the Book of Joshua that
the "miracle" is simply the result of the dulness of the prose
chronicler in accepting as literal fact an expression that originated in
the poetic exuberance of an old bard. The latter, so it is urged, simply
meaning to add a figure of dignity and importance to his song
commemorating a great national victory, had written:--
"And the sun stood still, and the moon stayed,
Until the nation had avenged themselves of their enemies,"
but with no more expectation that the stay of the moon would be accepted
literally, than the singers, who welcomed David after the slaying of
Goliath, imagined that any one would seriously suppose that Saul had
actually with his own hand killed two thousand Philistines, and David
twenty thousand. But, say they, the later prose chronicler, quoting from
the ballad, and accepting a piece of poetic hyperbole as actual fact,
reproduced the statement in his own words, and added, "the sun stayed in
the midst of heaven, and hasted not to go down about a whole day."
Not so. The poem and the prose chronicle make one coherent whole.
Working from the poem alone, treating the expressions in the first two
lines merely as astronomical indications of time and place, and without
the slightest reference to any miraculous interpretation, they lead to
the inevitable conclusion that the time was noonday. This result
certainly does not lie on the surface of the poem, and it was wholly
beyond the power of the prose chronicler to have computed it, yet it is
just in the supposed stupid gloss of the prose chronicler, and nowhere
else, that we find this fact definitely stated: whilst the "miracle"
recorded both by poem and prose narrative completely accords with the
extraordinary distance traversed between noon and sunset.
Any man, however ignorant of science, if he be but careful and
conscientious, can truthfully record an observation without any
difficulty. But to successfully invent even the simplest astronomical
observation requires very full knowledge, and is difficult even then.
Every astronomer knows that there is hardly a single novelist, no matter
how learned or painstaking, who can at this present day introduce a
simple astronomical relation into his story, without falling into
egregious error.
We are therefore quite sure that Joshua did use the words attributed to
him; that the "moon" and "the valley of Ajalon" were not merely inserted
in order to complete the parallelism by a bard putting a legend into
poetic form. Nor was the prose narrative the result of an editor
combining two or three narratives all written much after the date. The
original records must have been made at the time.
All astronomers know well how absolutely essential it is to commit an
observation to writing on the spot. Illustrations of this necessity
could be made to any extent. One may suffice. In vol. ii. of the _Life
of Sir Richard Burton_, by his wife, p. 244, Lady Burton says:--
"On the 6th December, 1882 . . . we were walking on the Karso
(Opçona) alone; the sky was clear, and all of a sudden my
niece said to me, 'Oh, look up, there is a star walking into
the moon!' 'Glorious!' I answered. 'We are looking at the
Transit of Venus, which crowds of scientists have gone to the
end of the world to see.'"
The Transit of Venus did take place on December 6, 1882; and though
Venus could have been seen without telescopic aid as a black spot on the
sun's disc, nothing can be more unlike Venus in transit than "a star
walking into the moon." The moon was not visible on that evening, and
Venus was only visible when on the sun's disc, and appeared then, not as
a star, but as a black dot.
No doubt Lady Burton's niece did make the exclamation attributed to her,
but it must have been, not on December 6, 1882, but on some other
occasion. Lady Burton may indeed have told her niece that this was the
Transit of Venus, but that was simply because she did not know what a
transit was, nor that it occurred in the daytime, not at night. Lady
Burton's narrative was therefore not written at the time. So if the
facts of the tenth chapter of Joshua, as we have it, had not been
written at the time of the battle, some gross astronomical discordance
would inevitably have crept in.
Let us suppose that the sun and moon did actually stand still in the sky
for so long a time that between noon and sunset was equal to the full
length of an ordinary day. What effect would have resulted that the
Israelites could have perceived? This, and this only, that they would
have marched twice as far between noon and sunset as they could have
done in any ordinary afternoon. And this as we have seen, is exactly
what they are recorded to have done.
The only measure of time, available to the Israelites, independent of
the apparent motion of the sun, was the number of miles marched. Indeed,
with the Babylonians, the same word (_kasbu_) was used to indicate three
distinct, but related measures. It was a measure of time--the double
hour; of celestial arc--the twelfth part of a great circle, thirty
degrees, that is to say the space traversed by the sun in two hours; and
it was a measure of distance on the surface of the earth--six or seven
miles, or a two hours' march.
If, for the sake of illustration, we may suppose that the sun were to
stand still for us, we should recognize it neither by sundial nor by
shadow, but we should see that whereas our clocks had indicated that the
sun had risen (we will say) at six in the morning, and had southed at
twelve of noon; it had not set until twelve of the night. The register
of work done, shown by all our clocks and watches, would be double for
the afternoon what it had been for the morning. And if all our clocks
and watches did thus register upon some occasion twice the interval
between noon and sunset that they had registered between sunrise and
noon, we should be justified in recording, as the writer of the book of
Joshua has recorded, "The sun stood still in the midst of heaven, and
hasted not to go down about a whole day."
The real difficulty to the understanding of this narrative has lain in
the failure of commentators to put themselves back into the conditions
of the Israelites. The Israelites had no time-measurers, could have had
no time-measurers. A sundial, if any such were in existence, would only
indicate the position of the sun, and therefore could give no evidence
in the matter. Beside, a sundial is not a portable instrument, and
Joshua and his men had something more pressing to do than to loiter
round it. Clepsydræ or clocks are of later date, and no more than a
sundial are they portable. Many comments, one might almost say most
comments on the narrative, read as if the writers supposed that Joshua
and his men carried stop-watches, and that their chief interest in the
whole campaign was to see how fast the sun was moving. Since they had no
such methods of measuring time, since it is not possible to suppose that
over and above any material miracle that was wrought, the mental miracle
was added of acquainting the Israelites for this occasion only with the
Copernican system of astronomy, all that the words of the narrative can
possibly mean is, that--
"the sun stood still in the midst of heaven, and hasted not to
go down about a whole day,"
according to the only means which the Israelites had for testing the
matter. In short, it simply states in other words, what, it is clear
from other parts of the narrative, was actually the case, that the
length of the march made between noon and sunset was equal to an
ordinary march taking the whole of a day.
If we suppose--as has been generally done, and as it is quite legitimate
to do, for all things are possible to God--that the miracle consisted in
the slackening of the rotation of the earth, what effect would have
been perceived by the Hebrews? This, and only this, that they would have
accomplished a full day's march in the course of the afternoon. And what
would have been the effects produced on all the neighbouring nations?
Simply that they had managed to do more work than usual in the course of
that afternoon, and that they felt more than usually tired and hungry in
the evening.
But would it have helped the Israelites for the day to have been thus
actually lengthened? Scarcely so, unless they had been, at the same
time, endowed with supernatural, or at all events, with unusual
strength. The Israelites had already been 31 hours without sleep or
rest, they had made a remarkable march, their enemies had several miles
start of them; would not a longer day have simply given the latter a
better chance to make good their flight, unless the Israelites were
enabled to pursue them with unusual speed? And if the Israelites were so
enabled, then no further miracle is required; for them the sun would
have "hasted not to go down about a whole day."
Leaving the question as to whether the sun appeared to stand still
through the temporary arrest of the earth's rotation, or through some
exaltation of the physical powers of the Israelites, it seems clear,
from the foregoing analysis of the narrative, that both the prose
account and the poem were written by eye-witnesses, who recorded what
they had themselves seen and heard whilst every detail was fresh in
their memory. Simple as the astronomical references are, they are very
stringent, and can only have been supplied by those who were actually
present.
Nothing can be more unlike poetic hyperbole than the sum of actual
miles marched to the men who trod them; and these very concrete miles
were the gauge of the lapse of time. For just as "nail," and "span," and
"foot," and "cubit," and "pace" were the early measures of small
distance, so the average day's march was the early measure of long
distance. The human frame, in its proportions and in its abilities, is
sufficiently uniform to have furnished the primitive standards of
length. But the relation established between time and distance as in the
case of a day's march, works either way, and is employed in either
direction, even at the present day. When the Israelites at the end of
their campaign returned from Makkedah to Gibeon, and found the march,
though wholly unobstructed, was still a heavy performance for the whole
of a long day, what could they think, how could they express themselves,
concerning that same march made between noon and sundown? Whatever
construction we put upon the incident, whatever explanation we may offer
for it, to all the men of Israel, judging the events of the afternoon by
the only standard within their reach, the eminently practical standard
of the miles they had marched, the only conclusion at which they could
arrive was the one they so justly drew--
"The sun stayed in the midst of heaven and hasted not to go
down about a whole day. And there was no day like that before
it or after it, that the Lord hearkened unto the voice of a
man: for the Lord fought for Israel."
FOOTNOTES:
[351:1] Revised and reprinted from the _Sunday at Home_ for February and
March, 1904.
[372:1] Marcel Dieulafoy, _David the King: an Historical Enquiry_, pp.
155-175.
CHAPTER II
THE DIAL OF AHAZ
The second astronomical marvel recorded in the Scripture narrative is
the going back of the shadow on the dial of Ahaz, at the time of
Hezekiah's recovery, from his dangerous illness.
It was shortly after the deliverance of the kingdom of Judah from the
danger threatened it by Sennacherib king of Assyria, that Hezekiah fell
"sick unto death." But in answer to his prayer, Isaiah was sent to tell
him--
"Thus saith the Lord, the God of David thy father, I have
heard thy prayer, I have seen thy tears: behold, I will heal
thee: on the third day thou shalt go up unto the house of the
Lord. And I will add unto thy days fifteen years; and I will
deliver thee and this city out of the hand of the king of
Assyria; and I will defend this city for Mine own sake, and
for My servant David's sake. And Isaiah said, Take a lump of
figs. And they took and laid it on the boil, and he recovered.
And Hezekiah said unto Isaiah, What shall be the sign that the
Lord will heal me, and that I shall go up into the house of
the Lord the third day? And Isaiah said, This sign shalt thou
have of the Lord, that the Lord will do the thing that He hath
spoken: shall the shadow go forward ten degrees, or go back
ten degrees? And Hezekiah answered, It is a light thing for
the shadow to go down ten degrees: nay, but let the shadow
return backward ten degrees. And Isaiah the prophet cried unto
the Lord: and He brought the shadow ten degrees backward, by
which it had gone down in the dial of Ahaz."
The narrative in the Book of Isaiah gives the concluding words in the
form--
"So the sun returned ten degrees, by which degrees it was gone
down."
The narrative is complete as a record of the healing of king Hezekiah
and of the sign given to him to assure him that he should recover;
complete for all the ordinary purposes of a narrative, and for readers
in general. But for any purpose of astronomical analysis the narrative
is deficient, and it must be frankly confessed that it does not lie
within the power of astronomy to make any use of it.
It has been generally assumed that it was an actual sundial upon which
this sign was seen. We do not know how far back the art of dialling
goes. The simplest form of dial is an obelisk on a flat pavement, but it
has the very important drawback that the graduation is different for
different times of the year. In a properly constructed dial the edge of
the style casting the shadow should be made parallel to the axis of the
earth. Consequently a dial for one latitude is not available without
alteration when transferred to another latitude. Some fine types of
dials on a large scale exist in the observatories built by Jai Singh.
The first of these--that at Delhi--was probably completed about 1710
A.D. They are, therefore, quite modern, but afford good illustrations
of the type of structure which we can readily conceive of as having been
built in what has been termed the Stone Age of astronomy. The principal
of these buildings, the Samrat Yantra, is a long staircase in the
meridian leading up to nothing, the shadow falling on to a great
semicircular arc which it crosses. The slope of the staircase is, of
course, parallel to the earth's axis.
It has been suggested that if such a dial were erected at Jerusalem, and
the style were that for a tropical latitude, at certain times of the
year the shadow would appear to go backward for a short time. Others,
again, have suggested that if a small portable dial were tilted the same
phenomenon would show itself. It is, of course, evident that no such
suggestion at all accords with the narrative. Hezekiah was now in the
fourteenth year of his reign, the dial--if dial it was--was made by his
father, and the "miracle" would have been reproduced day by day for a
considerable part of each year, and after the event it would have been
apparent to every one that the "miracle" continued to be reproduced. If
this had been the case, it would say very little for the astronomical
science of the wise men of Merodach-Baladan that he should have sent all
the way from Babylon to Jerusalem "to inquire of the wonder that was
done in the land" if the wonder was nothing more than a wrongly mounted
dial.
Others have hazarded the extreme hypothesis, that there might have been
an earthquake at the time which dipped the dial in the proper direction,
and then restored it to its proper place; presumably, of course, without
doing harm to Jerusalem, or any of its buildings, and passing unnoticed
by both king and people.
A much more ingenious theory than any of those was communicated by the
late J. W. Bosanquet to the Royal Asiatic Society in 1854. An eclipse of
the sun took place on January 11, 689 B.C. It was an annular eclipse
in Asia Minor, and a very large partial eclipse at Jerusalem, the
greatest phase taking place nearly at local noon. Mr. Bosanquet
considers that the effect of the partial eclipse would be to practically
shift the centre of the bright body casting the shadow. At the beginning
of the annular phase, the part of the sun uncovered would be a crescent
in a nearly vertical position; at mid eclipse the crescent would be in a
horizontal position; at the end of the annular phase the crescent would
again be in a vertical position; so that the exposed part of the sun
would appear to move down and up in the sky over a very small distance.
It is extremely doubtful whether any perceptible effect could be so
produced on the shadow, and one wholly fails to understand why the
eclipse itself should not have been given as the sign, and why neither
the king nor the people seem to have noticed that it was in progress. It
is, however, sufficient to say that modern chronology shows that
Hezekiah died ten years before the eclipse in question, so that it fell
a quarter of a century too late for the purpose, and no other eclipse is
available to take its place during the lifetime of Hezekiah.
But there is no reason to think that the word rendered in our Authorized
Version as "dial" was a sundial at all. The word translated "dial" is
the same which is also rendered "degrees" in the A.V. and "steps" in the
R.V., as is shown in the margin of the latter. It occurs in the prophecy
of Amos, where it is rendered "stories" or "ascensions." It means an
"ascent," a "going up," a "step." Thus king Solomon's throne had six
_steps_, and there are fifteen Psalms (cxx.-cxxxiv.)--that are called
"songs of degrees," that is "songs of steps."
We do not know how the staircase of Ahaz faced, but we can form some
rough idea from the known positions of the Temple and of the city of
David, and one or two little hints given us in the narrative itself. It
will be noted that Hezekiah uses the movement of the shadow downward, as
equivalent to its going forward. The going forward of course meant its
ordinary direction of motion at that time of day; so the return of the
shadow backward meant that the shadow went up ten steps, for in the Book
of Isaiah it speaks of the sun returning "ten degrees by which degrees
it was gone down." It was therefore in the afternoon, and the sun was
declining, when the sign took place. It is clear, therefore, that the
staircase was so placed that the shadow went down the stairs as the sun
declined in the sky. The staircase, therefore, probably faced east or
north-east, as it would naturally do if it led from the palace towards
the Temple. No doubt there was a causeway at the foot of this staircase,
and a corresponding ascent up the Temple hill on the opposite side of
the valley.
We can now conjecturally reproduce the circumstances. It was afternoon,
and the palace had already cast the upper steps of the staircase into
shadow. The sick king, looking longingly towards the Temple, could see
the lower steps still gleaming in the bright Judean sunshine. It was
natural therefore for him to say, when the prophet Isaiah offered him
his choice of a sign, "Shall the shadow go forward ten steps, or back
ten steps?" that it was "a light thing for the shadow to go down ten
steps: nay, but let the shadow return backward ten steps." It would be
quite obvious to him that a small cloud, suitably placed, might throw
ten additional steps into shadow.
It will be seen that we are left with several details undetermined. For
the staircase, wherever constructed, was probably not meant to act as a
sundial, and was only so used because it chanced to have some rough
suitability for the purpose. In this case the shadow will probably have
been thrown, not by a properly constructed gnomon, but by some building
in the neighbourhood. And as we have no record of the direction of the
staircase, its angle of inclination, its height, and the position of the
buildings which might have cast a shadow upon it, we are without any
indication to guide us.
When the queen of Sheba came to visit king Solomon, and saw all his
magnificence, one of the things which specially impressed her was "his
ascent by which he went up unto the house of the Lord." This was "the
causeway of the going up," as it is called in the First Book of
Chronicles. We are told of a number of alterations, made in the Temple
furniture and buildings by king Ahaz, and it is said that "the covered
way for the sabbath that they had built in the house, and the king's
entry without, turned he unto (_margin_, round) the house of the Lord,
because of the king of Assyria." That is to say, Ahaz considered that
Solomon's staircase was too much exposed in the case of a siege, being
without the Temple enclosure. This probably necessitated the
construction of a new staircase, which would naturally be called the
staircase of Ahaz. That there was, in later times, such a staircase at
about this place we know from the route taken by the triumphal
procession at the time of the dedication of the wall of Jerusalem under
Nehemiah:--
"At the fountain gate, which was over against them, they went
up by the stairs of the City of David, at the going up of the
wall, above the house of David, even unto the water gate
eastward."
In this case there would be a special appropriateness in the sign that
was offered to Hezekiah. The sign that he would be so restored, as once
again to go up to the house of the Lord, was to be given him on the very
staircase by which he would go. He was now thirty-eight years old, and
had doubtless watched the shadow of the palace descend the staircase in
the afternoon, hundreds of times; quite possibly he had actually seen a
cloud make the shadow race forward. But the reverse he had never seen.
Once a step had passed into the shadow of the palace, it did not again
emerge until the next morning dawned.
The sign then was this: It was afternoon, probably approaching the time
of the evening prayer, and the court officials and palace attendants
were moving down the staircase in the shadow, when, as the sick king
watched them from above, the shadow of the palace was rolled back up the
staircase, and a flood of light poured down on ten of the broad steps
upon which the sun had already set. How this lighting of the ten steps
was brought about we are not told, nor is any clue given us on which we
can base a conjecture. But this return of light was a figure of what was
actually happening in the life of the king himself. He had already, as
it were, passed into the shadow that only deepens into night. As he sang
himself after his recovery--
"I said, In the noontide of my days I shall go into the gates of
the grave:
I am deprived of the residue of my years.
I said, I shall not see the Lord, even the Lord in the land of
the living:
I shall behold man no more with the inhabitants of the world."
But now the light had been brought back to him, and he could say--
"The living, the living, he shall praise Thee, as I do this day:
The father to the children shall make known Thy truth.
The Lord is ready to save me:
Therefore we will sing my songs to the stringed instruments
All the days of our life in the house of the Lord."
CHAPTER III
THE STAR OF BETHLEHEM
No narrative of Holy Scripture is more familiar to us than that of the
visit of the wise men from the East to see Him that was born King of the
Jews. It was towards the end of the reign of Herod the Great that they
arrived at Jerusalem, and threw Herod the king and all the city into
great excitement by their question--
"Where is He that is born King of the Jews? For we have seen
His star in the east, and are come to worship Him."
Herod at once gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people
together, and demanded of them where the Messiah should be born. Their
reply was distinct and unhesitating--
"In Bethlehem of Judæa: for thus it is written by the Prophet,
And thou Bethlehem, in the land of Juda, art not the least
among the princes of Juda: for out of thee shall come a
Governor, that shall rule My people Israel. Then Herod, when
he had privily called the wise men, inquired of them
diligently what time the star appeared. And he sent them to
Bethlehem, and said, Go and search diligently for the young
Child; and when ye have found Him, bring me word again, that
I may come and worship Him also. When they had heard the king,
they departed; and, lo, the star, which they saw in the east,
went before them, till it came and stood over where the young
Child was. When they saw the star, they rejoiced with
exceeding great joy."
So much, and no more are we told of the star of Bethlehem, and the story
is as significant in its omissions as in that which it tells us.
What sort of a star it was that led the wise men; how they learnt from
it that the King of the Jews was born; how it went before them; how it
stood over where the young Child was, we do not know. Nor is it of the
least importance that we should know. One verse more, and that a short
one, would have answered these inquiries; it would have told us whether
it was some conjunction of the planets; whether perchance it was a
comet, or a "new" or "temporary" star; or whether it was a supernatural
light, like the pillar of fire that guided the children of Israel in the
wilderness. But that verse has not been given. The twelve or twenty
additional words, which could have cleared up the matter, have been
withheld, and there can be no doubt as to the reason. The "star,"
whatever its physical nature, was of no importance, except as a guide to
the birthplace of the infant Jesus. Information about it would have
drawn attention from the object of the narrative; it would have given to
a mere sign-post the importance which belonged only to "the Word made
flesh."
We are often told that the Bible should be studied precisely as any
other book is studied. Yet before we can criticize any book, we must
first ascertain what was the purpose that the author had in writing it.
The history of England, for instance, has been written by many persons
and from many points of view. One man has traced the succession of the
dynasties, the relationships of the successive royal families, and the
effect of the administrations of the various kings. Another has chiefly
considered the development of representative government and of
parliamentary institutions. A third has concerned himself more with the
different races that, by their fusion, have formed the nation as it is
to-day. A fourth has dealt with the social condition of the people, the
increase of comfort and luxury. To a fifth the true history of England
is the story of its expansion, the foundation and growth of its colonial
empire. While to a sixth, its religious history is the one that claims
most attention, and the struggles with Rome, the rise and decay of
Puritanism, and the development of modern thought will fill his pages.
Each of these six will select just those facts, and those facts only,
that are relevant to his subject. The introduction of irrelevant facts
would be felt to mark the ignorant or unskilful workman. The master of
his craft will keep in the background the details that have no bearing
on his main purpose, and to those which have but a slight bearing he
will give only such notice as their importance in this connection
warrants.
The purpose of the Bible is to reveal God to us, and to teach us of our
relationship to Him. It was not intended to gratify that natural and
laudable curiosity which has been the foundation of the physical
sciences. Our own efforts, our own intelligence can help us here, and
the Scriptures have not been given us in order to save us the trouble of
exerting them.
There is no reason for surprise, then, that the information given us
concerning the star is, astronomically, so imperfect. We are, indeed,
told but two facts concerning it. First that its appearance, in some way
or other, informed the wise men, not of the birth of _a_ king of the
Jews, but of _the_ King of the Jews, for Whose coming not Israel only,
but more or less consciously the whole civilized world, was waiting.
Next, having come to Judæa in consequence of this information, the
"star" pointed out to them the actual spot where the new-born King was
to be found. "It went before them till it came and stood over where the
young Child was." It may also be inferred from Matt. ii. 10 that in some
way or other the wise men had for a time lost sight of the star, so that
the two facts mentioned of it relate to two separate appearances. The
first appearance induced them to leave the East, and set out for Judæa;
the second pointed out to them the place at Bethlehem where the object
of their search was to be found. Nothing is told us respecting the star
except its work as a guide.
Some three centuries ago the ingenious and devout Kepler supposed that
he could identify the Star with a conjunction of the planets Jupiter and
Saturn, in the constellation Pisces. This conjunction took place in the
month of May, B.C. 7, not very long before the birth of our Lord is
supposed to have taken place.
But the late Prof. C. Pritchard has shown, first, that a similar and
closer conjunction occurred 59 years earlier, and should therefore have
brought a Magian deputation to Judæa then. Next, that the two planets
never approached each other nearer than twice the apparent diameter of
the moon, so that they would have appeared, not as one star, but as two.
And thirdly, if the planets had seemed to stand over Bethlehem as the
wise men left Jerusalem, they most assuredly would not have appeared to
do so when they arrived at the little city. Ingenious as the suggestion
was, it may be dismissed as unworthy of serious consideration.
Another suggestion shows upon what slight foundations a well-rounded
legend may be built. In the year 1572 a wonderful "new star" appeared in
the constellation Cassiopeia. At its brightest it outshone Venus, and,
though it gradually declined in splendour, it remained visible for some
sixteen months. There have been other instances of outbursts of bright
short-lived stars; and brief notices, in the annals of the years 1265
and 952 may have referred to such objects, but more probably these were
comets. The guess was hazarded that these objects might be one and the
same; that the star in Cassiopeia might be a "variable" star, bursting
into brilliancy about every 315 or 316 years; that it was the star that
announced the birth of our Lord, and that it would reappear towards the
end of the nineteenth century to announce His second coming.
One thing more was lacking to make the legend complete, and this was
supplied by the planet Venus, which shines with extraordinary
brilliance when in particular parts of her orbit. On one of these
occasions, when she was seen as a morning star in the east, some hazy
recollection of the legend just noticed caused a number of people to
hail her as none other than the star of Bethlehem at its predicted
return.
There is no reason to suppose that the star of 1572 had ever appeared
before that date, or will ever appear again. But in any case we are
perfectly sure that it could not have been the star of Bethlehem. For
Cassiopeia is a northern constellation, and the wise men, when they set
out from Jerusalem to Bethlehem must have had Cassiopeia and all her
stars behind them.
The fact that the "star" went before them and stood over where the young
Child lay, gives the impression that it was some light, like the
Shekinah glory resting on the Ark in the tabernacle, or the pillar of
fire which led the children of Israel through the wilderness. But this
view raises the questions as to the form in which it first appeared to
the wise men when they were still in the East, and how they came to call
it a star, when they must have recognized how very unstarlike it was.
Whilst, if what they saw when in the East was really a star, it seems
most difficult to understand how it can have appeared to go before them
and to stand over the place where the young Child lay.
I have somewhere come across a legend which may possibly afford the
clue, but I have not been able to find that the legend rests upon any
authority. It is that the star had been lost in the daylight by the time
that the wise men reached Jerusalem. It was therefore an evening star
during their journey thither. But it is said that when they reached
Bethlehem, apparently nearly at midday, one of them went to the well of
the inn, in order to draw water. Looking down into the well, he saw the
star, reflected from the surface of the water. This would of course be
an intimation to them that the star was directly overhead, and its
re-observation, under such unusual circumstances, would be a sufficient
assurance that they had reached the right spot. Inquiry in the inn would
lead to a knowledge of the visit of the shepherds, and of the angelic
message which had told them where to find the Babe born in the city of
David, "a Saviour, Which is Christ the Lord."
If this story be true, the "Star of Bethlehem" was probably a "new
star," like that of 1572. Its first appearance would then have caused
the Magi to set out on their journey, though it does not appear how they
knew what it signified, unless we suppose that they were informed of it
in a dream, just as they were afterwards warned of God not to return to
Herod. Whilst they were travelling the course of the year would bring
the star, which shone straight before them in the west after sunset
every evening, nearer and nearer to the sun. We may suppose that, like
other new stars, it gradually faded, so that by the time the wise men
had reached Jerusalem they had lost sight of it altogether. Having thus
lost it, they would probably not think of looking for it by daylight,
for it is no easy thing to detect by daylight even Venus at her greatest
brilliancy, unless one knows exactly where to look. The difficulty does
not lie in any want of brightness, but in picking up and holding
steadily so minute a point of light in the broad expanse of the gleaming
sky. This difficulty would be overcome for them, according to this
story, by the well, which acted like a tube to direct them exactly to
the star, and like a telescope, to lessen the sky glare. It would be
also necessary to suppose that the star was flashing out again with
renewed brilliancy. Such a brief recovery of light has not been unknown
in the case of some of our "new" or "temporary" stars.
I give the above story for what it is worth, but I attach no importance
to it myself. Some, however, may feel that it removes what they had felt
as a difficulty in the narrative,--namely, to understand how the star
could "stand over where the young Child lay." It would also explain,
what seems to be implied in the narrative, how it happened that the Magi
alone, and not the Jews in general, perceived the star at its second
appearance.
For myself, the narrative appears to me astronomically too incomplete
for any astronomical conclusions to be drawn from it. The reticence of
the narrative on all points, except those directly relating to our Lord
Himself, is an illustration of the truth that the Scriptures were not
written to instruct us in astronomy, or in any of the physical sciences,
but that we might have eternal life.
"AND THIS IS LIFE ETERNAL, THAT THEY MIGHT KNOW THEE THE ONLY
TRUE GOD, AND JESUS CHRIST, WHOM THOU HAST SENT."
A TABLE OF SCRIPTURAL REFERENCES
+-------+---------------+-----------------------+
| Page. | Book. | Chap. and Verse. |
+-------+---------------+-----------------------+
| 9 | I. Kings | v. 29-34 |
| 10 | Wisdom | vii. 17-22 (R.V.) |
| 11 | Psalm | viii. 3, 4 |
| 15 | Eccl. | i. 9 |
| 17 | Gen. | i. 1 |
| " | I. Chron. | xvi. 26 |
| " | Deut. | vi. 4 |
| " | Mark | xii. 29 |
| " | Neh. | ix. 6 |
| 19 | Heb. | xi. 23 |
| 20 | II. Pet. | iii. 8 |
| 22 | Psalm | cxi. 2-4 (R.V.) |
| " | Gen. | ii. 3 |
| 23 | Exod. | xx. 10, 11 |
| " | " | xxxi. 16, 17 |
| " | Gen. | i. 14 |
| 25 | " | i. 1 |
| 32 | Exod. | xv. 4, 5 |
| 35 | Gen. | i. 6-8 |
| " | " | i. 14 |
| 36 | " | i. 20 |
| " | Job | xxxvii. 18 (R.V.) |
| " | Num. | xvii. 39 |
| " | Isaiah | xl. 19 |
| 37 | Jer. | x. 9 |
| " | Psalm | cxxxvi. 6 |
| 38 | Heb. | i. 3 |
| 39 | II. Sam. | xxii. 8 |
| " | Job | xxvi. 11 |
| " | " | xxvi. 7 |
| " | I. Sam. | ii. 8 |
| 40 | Psalm | lxxv. 3 |
| " | " | civ. 2 |
| " | Isaiah | xl. 22 |
| " | Amos | ix. 6 |
| " | Num. | xxxiv. 4 |
| " | II. Sam. | xv. 30 |
| 41 | Psalm | cxlviii. 4 |
| " | Song of Three | |
| | Children | 38 |
| " | Amos | v. 8 |
| " | " | ix. 6 |
| " | Eccl. | i. 7 |
| " | Isaiah | lv. 10 (R.V.) |
| 42 | " | lv. 11 |
| " | Job | xxxvi. 26-28 |
| | | (R.V.) |
| " | Judges | v. 4 |
| " | Psalm | lxxvii. 17 |
| " | " | cxlvii. 8 |
| " | Prov. | xvi. 15 |
| " | Eccl. | xii. 2 |
| " | Isaiah | v. 6 |
| " | Jude | 12 |
| " | Nahum | i. 3 |
| " | Isaiah | xviii. 4 |
| 43 | Eccl. | xi. 3 |
| " | Job | xxvi. 8 |
| " | " | xxxviii. 34-37 |
| 44 | " | xxxviii. 19-29 |
| | | (R.V.) |
| " | Psalm | xviii. 6-17 (R.V.) |
| 45 | Jer. | x. 13 (R.V.) |
| " | Psalm | cxxxv. 7 |
| 46 | Job | xxxvii. 16 |
| 49 | " | xxxvi. 29 |
| " | Gen. | vii. 11 |
| 50 | II. Kings | vii. 1, 2 |
| " | Mal. | iii. 10 |
| " | Hos. | vi. 4 |
| " | Dan. | viii. 8 |
| " | Ezek. | xxxvii. 9 |
| 51 | Jer. | xlix. 36 |
| " | Eccl. | i. 6 |
| " | Isaiah | xi. 12 |
| " | " | xl. 22 |
| " | Prov. | viii. 27 |
| 52 | Job | xxii. 14 (R.V. |
| | | margin) |
| " | " | xxvi. 10 (R.V.) |
| " | Gen. | i. 9 |
| " | Psalm | xxiv. 2 |
| " | " | cxxxvi. 6 |
| 53 | Ezek. | xxxi. 4 |
| " | Gen. | vii. 11 |
| " | " | viii. 2 |
| " | Job | xxxviii. 16 |
| " | Prov. | iii. 20 |
| " | Jer. | v. 22 |
| 54 | Job | xxxviii. 8 |
| " | Prov. | viii. 27, 29 |
| 55 | Josh. | x. 13 |
| " | Psalm | xix. 1-6 (R.V.) |
| 56 | I. Kings | xxii. 19 |
| 57 | Jer. | xxxiii. 22 |
| " | Deut. | iv. 15, 19 |
| 58 | Job | xxxviii. 7 |
| " | Judges | v. 20 |
| " | II. Kings | vi. 14-17 |
| 60 | Job | xxxviii. 52 (R.V.) |
| " | Psalm | cxi. 2 |
| " | Rev. | ii. 26, 28 |
| 61 | Isaiah | xiv. 12-14 |
| " | Rev. | xxii. 16 |
| 62 | Jer. | xxxi. 36 |
| " | Isaiah | xl. 26-31 (R.V.) |
| 63 | Gen. | i. 14-19 |
| 64 | Deut. | xxxiii. 14 (R.V.) |
| " | I. John | i. 5 |
| " | Psalm | xxvii. 1 |
| " | Isaiah | lx. 19 |
| " | John | i. 9 |
| " | Psalm | lxxxiv. 11 |
| " | Mal. | iv. 2 |
| 65 | James | i. 17 |
| " | Psalm | cxxxix. 12 |
| " | Deut. | iv. 19 |
| " | " | xvii. 2, 3 |
| 66 | II. Kings | xxiii. 11 |
| " | Ezek. | viii. 11 |
| " | " | viii. 16 |
| " | Job | xxxi. 26 |
| " | Cant. | vi. 10 |
| 67 | Judges | viii. 13 |
| 67 | Judges | xiv. 18 |
| " | Jer. | xliii. 13 |
| 68 | Isaiah | xix. 18 |
| " | Cant. | vi. 10 |
| 69 | Psalm | lxxii. 5 |
| " | " | lxxii. 17 |
| 70 | " | lxxxix. 36 |
| " | " | l. 1 |
| " | " | cxiii. 3 |
| " | " | xix. 6 |
| " | Eccl. | i. 3 |
| 71 | Job | xxxviii. 12-14 |
| " | " | xxxviii. 14 (R.V.) |
| " | Eccl. | i. 5 |
| 72 | Job | xxvi. 7 |
| " | Psalm | xix. 6 |
| " | II. Kings | iv. 19 |
| " | Psalm | cxxi. 6 |
| " | Isaiah | xlix. 10 |
| " | Rev. | vii. 16 |
| " | Deut. | xxxiii. 14 |
| 73 | James | i. 17 |
| " | Job | xxxviii. 33 |
| " | Wisdom | vii. 18 |
| 78 | Rom. | i. 20-23 |
| 79 | John | ix. 4 |
| 80 | Psalm | lxxxi. 3 |
| " | Prov. | vii. 20 |
| 82 | Isaiah | lx. 20 |
| 83 | Num. | x. 10 |
| " | Psalm | lxxxi. 3 |
| " | Isaiah | iii. 18 |
| 84 | Gen. | xxxvii. 9 |
| " | Jer. | viii. 2 |
| " | Psalm | civ. 19 |
| " | " | lxxxix. 36, 37 |
| " | " | cxxxvi. 9 |
| " | Jer. | xxxi. 35 |
| " | Eccl. | xii. 2 |
| " | Isaiah | xiii. 10 |
| " | Ezek. | xxxii. 7 |
| " | Joel | ii. 10, 31 |
| " | " | iii. 15 |
| " | Hab. | iii. 11 |
| " | Exod. | ii. 2 |
| 85 | Deut. | xxxiii. 13, 14 |
| " | II. Kings | xv. 13 |
| " | Dan. | iv. 29 |
| " | Ezra | vi. 15 |
| " | Neh. | i. 1 |
| " | I. Kings | vi. 1, 37, 38 |
| " | " | viii. 2 |
| " | Cant. | vi. 10 |
| " | Isaiah | lxxiv. 23 |
| 86 | " | xxx. 26 |
| " | Rev. | xix. 6-8 |
| " | Gen. | xxxvii. 9 |
| 87 | " | xxxvii. 10 |
| " | Job | xxxi. 26-28 (R.V.) |
| 88 | Deut. | iv. 12, 15, 16, 19 |
| " | Judges | viii. 21 |
| " | Isaiah | iii. 18 |
| " | II. Kings | xxiii. 13 |
| 89 | Gen. | xiv. 5 |
| " | I. Sam. | xxxi. 10 |
| " | II. Kings | xxiii. 13 |
| 89 | Jer. | vii. 18 |
| 90 | " | xliv. 17, 18 |
| 91 | Isaiah | xxx. 26 |
| " | " | lx. 20 |
| 92 | Psalm | cxxi. 6 |
| " | " | civ. 19-24 (R.V.) |
| 96 | Gen. | xv. 5 |
| 97 | Psalm | cxlvii. 4 |
| " | Isaiah | xl. 22 |
| 98 | I. Cor. | xv. 41 |
| 99 | Prov. | xxv. 3 |
| " | Job | xi. 7, 8 |
| " | " | xxii. 12 |
| " | Jer. | xxxi. 37 |
| 100 | Psalm | ciii. 11, 12 |
| 107 | Joel | ii. 30 |
| " | Gen. | iii. 24 |
| " | Heb. | i. 7 |
| " | I. Chron. | xxi. 16 |
| 108 | Jude | 13 |
| 113 | Acts | xix. 35 (R.V.) |
| 116 | Rev. | vi. 13 |
| " | Isaiah | xxxiv. 4 |
| " | Rev. | viii. 10 |
| " | Jude | 13 |
| 117 | Job | iii. 9 (margin) |
| " | " | xli. 18 |
| " | " | xxxvii. 22 (R.V.) |
| 119 | Jer. | x. 2 |
| 122 | Wisdom | vii. 18 |
| 123 | Amos | i. 1 |
| " | Zech. | xiv. 5 |
| " | Gen. | i. 14 |
| 124 | Joel | ii. 10 |
| " | " | ii. 30, 31 |
| " | Acts | ii. 19, 20 |
| " | Rev. | vi. 12 |
| " | Amos | viii. 9 |
| 125 | Micah | iii. 6 |
| " | Isaiah | xiii. 10 |
| " | Jer. | xv. 9 |
| " | Ezek. | xxxii. 7, 8 |
| 129 | Mal. | iv. 2 |
| " | James | i. 17 (R.V.) |
| 131 | Gen. | xiv. 5 |
| " | Isaiah | xlvi. 1 |
| 132 | " | xiv. 12 |
| " | II. Peter | i. 19 |
| " | Isaiah | lxv. 11 |
| " | Dan. | v. 26 (R.V.) |
| 133 | Amos | v. 25, 26 |
| " | Acts | vii. 43 |
| 143 | Isaiah | viii. 19 |
| 144 | Ezek. | xxi. 21 (R.V.) |
| " | Isaiah | xlvii. 12, 13 |
| " | Jer. | x. 2 |
| 150 | Acts | xvii. 24-28 |
| 163 | Gen. | ix. 13 |
| 164 | " | iii. 15 |
| 166 | " | iii. 24 |
| " | Ezek. | i. 5 |
| " | Rev. | iv. 7 (R.V.) |
| " | Ezek. | x. 20 |
| " | I. Kings | vi. 29, 32 |
| 167 | Gen. | x. 9 |
| 169 | Psalm | lxxx. 1 |
| 173 | Gen. | vi. 19 |
| " | " | vii. 2 |
| 184 | Psalm | l. 5 |
| 186 | Gen. | xxxvii. 9 |
| 189 | " | xlix. 9 |
| " | Rev. | v. 5 |
| 190 | Deut. | xxxiii. 17 (R.V.) |
| " | Gen. | xlix. 6 (R.V.) |
| " | " | xlix. 4, 17 |
| 191 | Num. | xxiii. 7, 24 (R.V.) |
| " | " | xxiv. 9 (R.V.) |
| " | " | xxiv. 8 (R.V.) |
| " | " | xxiv. 7 (R.V.) |
| 193 | Exod. | xxxii. 1 |
| " | Acts | vii. 41, 42 |
| " | Exod. | xx. 3 |
| " | " | xx. 4, 5 |
| 194 | Deut. | iv. 15 |
| " | Psalm | cvi. 20 |
| " | Acts | vii. 42 |
| " | I. Kings | xii. 28 |
| 195 | Rev. | v. 5 |
| 203 | Job | iii. 8, 9 (R.V.) |
| " | " | xli. |
| " | Psalm | civ. 25 |
| " | Isaiah | xxvii. 1 |
| 204 | Job | xxvi. 12, 13 |
| 205 | Isaiah | xxx. 7 (R.V.) |
| " | " | li. 9, 10 (R.V.) |
| " | Psalm | lxxxix. 9, 10 |
| 206 | Ezek. | xxxii. 2 (R.V.) |
| " | Rev. | xx. 2 |
| " | Ezek. | xxxii. 4 (R.V.) |
| " | " | xxix. 3, 5 |
| 207 | Rev. | xii. 6 (R.V.) |
| 208 | " | xii. 15, 16 (R.V.) |
| 209 | Job | iii. 9 (R.V.) |
| " | " | xli. 18 (R.V.) |
| 210 | Psalm | xix. 5 |
| 211 | I. Kings | xviii. 27 |
| " | Isaiah | xxx. 31 |
| 212 | Psalm | lxxiv. 12-17 |
| 215 | Job | ix. 9 |
| " | " | xxxviii. 31 |
| " | Amos | v. 8 |
| 217 | Isaiah | lxv. 11 |
| 218 | II. Kings | xvii. 30 |
| " | Gen. | xlix. 22 |
| 220 | Rev. | i. 12, 13, 15 |
| " | " | i. 20 |
| 223 | I. Peter | iii. 20 |
| " | Amos | v. 8 |
| " | Job | xxxviii. 31 |
| 224 | Cant. | ii. 11-13 (R.V.) |
| 225 | Job | xxxviii. 4 |
| " | " | xxxviii. 31 (R.V.) |
| 231 | " | ix. 9 |
| " | " | xxxviii. 31 |
| " | Amos | v. 8 |
| " | Isaiah | xiii. 10 |
| " | Prov. | i. 22 |
| 234 | Gen. | x. 8 |
| 235 | " | x. 10 |
| 238 | Isaiah | xiv. 13, 14 |
| 239 | " | xiii. 9-11 |
| " | Amos | v. 8 |
| 241 | Job | xxxviii. 36 |
| 242 | " | xxvi. 13 |
| " | Isaiah | xlv. 7 |
| 243 | Job | xxxviii. 32 |
| 251 | " | xxxviii. 32 |
| " | II. Kings | xxiii. 5 |
| " | Deut. | iv. 19 |
| " | Job | ix. 9 |
| " | " | xxxviii. 31, 32 |
| " | " | xxxvii. 9 |
| 252 | Exod. | xxxii. |
| " | I. Kings | xii. |
| 253 | II. Kings | xxiii. 5 |
| " | Job | ix., xxxviii. |
| 257 | " | xxxviii. 33 |
| " | Luke | xi. 2 |
| 258 | Job | ix. 9 |
| " | " | xxxviii. 31-33 |
| 259 | " | xxxvii. 9 |
| 260 | Isaiah | l. 9 |
| 262 | Job | xxxvii. 9 |
| 271 | Gen. | i. 14 |
| " | Deut. | iv. 19 |
| 273 | Exod. | xii. 18, 19 |
| " | Lev. | xxiii. 32 |
| 275 | Psalm | lv. 17 |
| " | Job | iii. 9 (margin) |
| " | Cant. | ii. 17 |
| " | Gen. | xxxii. 24, 26 |
| " | Josh. | vi. 15 |
| " | Judges | xix. 25 |
| " | II. Sam. | ii. 32 |
| 276 | Gen. | xxxii. 31 |
" | Exod. | xvi. 21 |
| " | I. Sam. | xi. 9 |
| " | II. Sam. | iv. 5 |
| " | I. Kings | xviii. 26 |
| " | Judges | xix. 8, 9 |
| " | Job | vii. 2 |
| " | Jer. | vi. 4 |
| " | Prov. | vii. 9 |
| 277 | Exod. | xii. 6 |
| " | " | xvi. 12 |
| " | " | xxx. 8 |
| " | Levit. | xxiii. 5 |
| " | Num. | ix. 3 |
| " | " | xxviii. 4 |
| 278 | Deut. | xvi. 6 |
| 279 | Exod. | xxx. 8 |
| 280 | I. Cor. | xv. 52 |
| " | Psalm | lxiii. 6 |
| " | " | cxix. 148 |
| " | Lam. | ii. 19 |
| 281 | Judges | vii. 19 |
| " | Exod. | xiv. 24 |
| " | I. Sam. | xi. 11 |
| " | Matt. | xiv. 25 |
| " | Mark | vi. 48 |
| " | Dan. | iii. 6, 15 |
| " | " | iv. 19, 33 |
| " | " | v. 5 |
| " | Job | xxxviii. 12 |
| 282 | Acts | i. 12 |
| " | Matt. | xx. |
| " | John | xi. 9, 10 |
| 291 | Exod. | xx. 11 |
| " | Psalm | cxviii. 24 |
| 293 | II. Kings | iv. 23 |
| " | Isaiah | i. 13, 14 |
| 294 | Isaiah | lxvi. 23 |
| " | Amos | viii. 5 |
| " | Col. | ii. 16 |
| " | Num. | xxviii. |
| " | I. Chron. | xxiii. |
| " | II. Chron. | ii. |
| " | " | xxix. |
| " | Ezek. | xlv. |
| " | Ezra | iii. |
| " | Neh. | x. |
| 295 | Num. | xxix. 1 |
| " | " | xxix. 7 |
| " | " | xxix. 12 |
| 299 | Deut. | xvi. 1 |
| " | I. Kings | vi. 1, 37 |
| " | " | vi. 38 |
| " | " | viii. 2 |
| 300 | Esther | ii. 16 |
| " | " | iii. 7, 13 |
| " | " | viii. 9, 12 |
| " | " | ix. 1, 17, 19, 21 |
| " | Ezra | vi. 15 |
| " | Neh. | i. 1 |
| " | " | ii. 1 |
| " | Zech. | vii. 1 |
| " | Deut. | xxi. 13 (yerach) |
| " | II. Kings | xv. 13 " |
| " | Gen. | xxix. 14 (chodesh) |
| 301 | Num. | xi. 18-20, 31 " |
| " | Psalm | lxxviii. 27 |
| 302 | Gen. | vii. 11 |
| " | " | viii. 3, 4 |
| 304 | Ecclus. | xliii. 6, 7 |
| " | Psalm | civ. 19 |
| 308 | Exod. | xii. 2 |
| 309 | I. Chron. | xii. 15 |
| " | Jer. | xxxvi. 22, 23 |
| " | Ezra | x. 9 |
| 310 | Neh. | i. 1, 2 |
| " | " | ii. 1 |
| " | " | viii. 14 |
| 311 | Exod. | xxiii. 16 |
| " | " | xxxiv. 22 |
| " | II. Chron. | xxiv. 23 |
| 312 | II. Sam. | xi. 1 |
| " | I. Chron. | xx. 1 |
| " | I. Kings | xx. 26 |
| " | II. Chron. | xxxvi. 10 |
| 313 | Exod. | xii. 2 |
| " | " | xxiii. 16 |
| " | " | xxxiv. 22 |
| 321 | Gen. | i. 5 |
| 322 | " | vii. 11 |
| " | " | viii. 13, 14 |
| 325 | " | viii. 22 |
| " | Psalm | lxv. 9-11 (R.V.) |
| 326 | Exod. | xxi. 2 |
| " | " | xxiii. 10, 11 |
| 327 | Lev. | xxv. 20-22 |
| " | Lev. | xxvi. 2, 21 |
| " | " | xxvi. 33-35 |
| " | Deut. | xv. 1 |
| 328 | " | xxxi. 10, 11 |
| " | Jer. | xxxiv. |
| " | Lev. | xxvi. 32-35 |
| " | II. Chron. | xxxvi. 21 |
| 329 | Neh. | x. 31 |
| " | Lev. | xxv. 8-10 |
| 330 | Num. | xxxvi. 4 |
| " | Isaiah | lxi. 2 |
| " | Ezek. | xlvi. 17 |
| 332 | Lev. | xxv. 8, 10 |
| " | " | xxv. 11, 12 |
| 333 | " | xxv. 22 |
| " | " | xxv. 3 |
| " | " | xxv. 10 |
| 338 | " | xxv. 42 |
| " | Dan. | i. 1, 3, 4, 6, 7, |
| | | 17-20 |
| 340 | " | viii. 13, 14 |
| " | " | xii. 7 |
| " | " | vii. 25 |
| " | Rev. | xii. 14 |
| 341 | " | xiii. 5 |
| " | " | xi. 2, 3 |
| " | " | xii. 6 |
| | Dan. | xi. 13 (margin) |
| " | " | iv. 16 |
| 348 | " | iii. 16-18 |
| 353 | Josh. | x. 12 |
| 355 | " | iv. 19 |
| " | " | v. 10 |
| " | " | vii. 2-5 |
| " | " | vii. 1, 21 |
| " | " | viii. |
| 356 | " | viii. 30-35 |
| " | Exod. | xix. 1, 11 |
| 362 | Josh. | x. 13 |
| 369 | Luke | ii. 44 |
| 371 | Josh. | x. 8 |
| 373 | " | x. 10 |
| 374 | " | x. 12 |
| 375 | " | x. 11 |
| 376 | " | x. 27 (R.V.) |
| 378 | " | x. 13 |
| 382 | " | x. 13 |
| 384 | " | x. 13, 14 |
| 385 | II. Kings | xx. 5-11 |
| 386 | Isaiah | xxxviii. 8 |
| 387 | II. Chron. | xxxii. 31 |
| 389 | Isaiah | xxxviii. 8 |
| 390 | II. Kings | xx. 9 (R.V.) |
| " | I. Kings | x. 5 |
| " | I. Chron. | xxvi. 16 |
| " | II. Kings | xvi. 18 (R.V.) |
| 391 | Neh. | xii. 37 |
| 392 | Isaiah | xxxviii. 10, 11 |
| " | " | xxxviii. 19, 20 |
| 393 | Matt. | ii. 2, 5-10 |
| 396 | " | ii. 10 |
| 399 | Luke | ii. 11 |
| 400 | John | xvii. 3 |
+-------+---------------+-----------------------+
INDEX
PAGE
Aben Ezra, Rabbi, 260, 278, 305
Abib (month of green ears), 299
Acronical rising, 223, 246, 261
Adar, month, 85, 300, 304
Aerolites, 111, 112, 113
Ahaz, Dial of, 385-392
Alexandria, Museum of, 5, 6, 138, 139, 290
Algebar, star-name, 233, 234
Allen, R. H., 221, 222
"Alroy", 278
Aratus, 149, 150, 152, 154, 162, 163, 186, 208, 218, 222, 224
Arcturus (_see_ `Ash), 258-266
Aristotle, 76, 105
`Ash, 214, 215, 216, 243, 251, 258, 259, 260, 261, 264-266
Asherah ("groves"), 67, 88
Ashtoreth, 67, 88, 89, 90, 131
Astrology, 5, 77, 78, 130-145, 248
Astruc, Jean, 171, 172
Atmospheric circulation, 41-45
Aurora Borealis, 117
`Ayish, _see_ `Ash
Baal, or Bel, 67, 89, 131, 176, 178, 210, 253
Bear, the (_see_ Arcturus), 152
Benetna`sh, 260
Bethlehem, Star of, 393-400
Bosanquet, J. W., 388
Bosanquet, R. H. M., 315
"Boundary-stones", 153, 154, 198, 318, 320
Bow-star, the, 240
Bradley, third Astronomer Royal, 96
Bul, month, 85, 299
Burton, Lady, 379
"Canterbury Tales", 277
Cardinal points, 50, 51
Carrington, R., 220
Causality, Law of, 15, 16, 18, 78
"Chaldean Account of Genesis", 27
Cherubim, 166, 169, 188, 190
Cheyne, Dr., 238, 240, 254, 255, 256
Chisleu, month, 85, 238, 300, 304, 310
Chiun, 133, 134, 144
Clouds, 42, 43, 44, 46, 54
the balancings of the, 46
the spreadings of, 49
Colures, the, 159
Comets, 103-108
Donati's, 105, 107
Halley's, 103, 104
Conder, Col. C. R., 238
Constellations, list of, 151-152
origin of, 149-161
Copernicus, 76
Cowell, P. H., 303
Creation, 12-24
story of, Babylonian, 26, 170, 178, 240, 242, 246, 252
Hebrew, 25
Scandinavian, 29
Cycles, Astronomical, of Daniel, 337-348
Cylinder seal, 71, 217
Damascius, 26, 27
Daniel, Cycles of, 337-348
Dawson, Dr. W. Bell, 343
Day and its divisions, 269-282
Days, different kinds of, 271, 272
"Dayspring", 71, 281
Decans, 142, 244, 245, 248
De Cheseaux, 343
Deep (_teh[=o]m_), 25-34, 53, 201, 210, 211, 234
fountains of, 52-54
Delitzsch, Prof. Fr., 31, 157, 170, 171, 285
Deluge, 49, 53, 83, 161, 165, 168, 170-185, 254
Denning, W. F., 220
Dial of Ahaz, 385-392
Diana of the Ephesians, 112
Dieulafoy, Marcel, 372
Disraeli, 278
Drach, 221
Draconic period, 122
Dragon's Head and Tail, 198, 199
Driver, Dr., 172, 209
Earth (_eretz_), 39
corners of, 51
foundations of, 39, 58
pillars of, 39, 40
East (_kedem_, front), 51
(_mizrach_, rising), 51
Eclipses, 118-129
Edda, prose, 29
Ellicott, Andrew, 114
Epicureans, 71
Epping, Dr., 274
Equuleus, 152
Eratosthenes, 218
Ethanim, month, 85, 299
Eudoxus, 5, 6, 37, 152, 345
Euripides, 218
Eusebius, 88
Evenings, between the two, 277-279
"Eyelids of the Morning", 117, 209, 210
"False Dawn", 117
Firmament (_raqia`_), 35-38
(_stereoma_), 37
Flamsteed, first Astronomer Royal, 96
Flood, _see_ Deluge
_Gad_, 132, 217
Galileo, 3, 4, 76
Gamaliel, Rabbon, 297
Genesis and the Constellations, 162-169
Gesenius, 134
Gilgamesh, Epic of, 167, 170, 177, 180
Gosse, P. H., 209
Groves, _see_ Asherah
Guinness, Dr. H. Grattan, 343
Heaven (_shamayim_), 35, 36, 38
"bisection of", 55, 362
foundations of, 39
host of, 56, 57, 65
pillars of, 39
stories of, 40
windows of, 49, 50, 53
Heliacal rising, 59, 222, 224, 261
Herschel, Sir W., 75, 76
Hershon, P. I., 311
Hesiod, 136, 152, 154, 216, 218, 237, 284
Hesperus, 137, 232, 258
Hipparchus, 5, 96, 250, 345
Höffler, Dr., 266
Hommel, Dr., 240
Homer, 136, 153, 154
Horace, 287, 288
Hour (_sha`ah_), 281
double- (_kasbu_), 282, 320, 345, 381
Humboldt, 114
Hyades, 133, 217
Ibrahim ben Ahmed, 114
Iliad, 80
Istar, 90, 131, 253, 323, 324
Jehuda, Rabbi, 261
Jensen, 240
Josephus, 68, 187, 222, 279, 288, 289
Joshua's Long Day, 351-384
Jubilee, the, 326-336
Jupiter, 104, 131, 132, 137, 247, 396
(_Nibir_), 243, 247
Juvenal, 288
Karaite Jews, 278
Kepler, 4, 96, 396
_K[)e]s[=i]l_, 214-216, 231-232, 237-243, 251, 261, 262
_Ketu_, 201
_Kimah_, 214-216, 223, 231-232, 237, 241, 243, 251, 261, 262
King, Dr. L. W., 240, 241, 303
Kouyunjik mound, 27, 33
Lance-star, 240
Leonid meteors, 114, 116
Leviathan, 196-212
Longfellow, 233, 236
Lucifer, 132
Mädler, 220
Maestlin, 219
Mazzaroth (or Mazzaloth), 130, 214, 243-257, 270, 280
_Meni_, 132, 217
Mercury, 131, 137
Merodach, 28, 29, 33, 131, 167, 178, 210, 234-242, 247, 252
Meteors, 111-117
Metonic Cycle, 306, 335, 336, 339, 344
Milton, 107
Mishna, the, 297, 311
Mithraic cult, 160
Month, 293-304 anomalistic, 342
Months, Hebrew names for, 304
Moon, 79-92
blindness, 92
-god (Sin), 87, 253, 323, 324
harvest, 81
new, 123
phases of, 80, 91
Müller, Otfried, 262
Newton, 4
Nisan, month, 300, 304, 310, 311, 315, 320
Node, 121, 122
North (_mezarim_), 262, 263
(_tsaphon_), 51
Onias, 68
Orion, 231-242
Ovid, 288
Palestine Exploration Fund, map, 360, 362
Panyasis 152
Parallax, 73, 98, 265
Persius, 288
Peschitta, 259, 261
Philo, 289
Phosphorus, 132, 137
Pinches, T. G., 27, 28, 30, 31, 90, 176, 235
Pleiades, 133, 152, 213-230
Precession, 158
Pritchard, Prof. C., 397
Proctor, R. A., 107, 108, 135, 141
Procyon, 152, 240
Ptolemy, Claudius, 5, 76, 96, 149-154
Ptolemy Philometer, 68
Pythagoras, 137, 345
_Rahab_ (the proud one), 204-206, 211
_Rahu_, 201
Rain, 42-45, 49
"Records of the Past", 26, 28
_Remphan_, 133, 134
Ring with wings, 88, 126, 129
Ruskin, 46
Sabbath, 22-24, 283-292
Sabbatic Year and the Jubilee, 326-336
Samaritans, 278
Samas (sun-god), _see_ Sun
Sanchoniathon, 88
_Sanhedrim_, 296
Saros, the, 122, 123, 346
Saturn and Astrology, 130-145
Sayce, A. H., 33, 315
Schiaparelli, G. V., 7, 41, 43, 139, 145, 198, 253, 254, 261-263, 269,
279, 285, 286, 290
Septuagint Version, 37, 133, 134, 161, 215, 231, 241, 258, 259
Sin (moon-god), _see_ Moon
Sirius, 98, 240
Sivan, month, 303, 320
Smith, George, 27, 30
South (_darom_, bright), 51
(_negeb_, desert), 51
Star of Bethlehem, 393-400
Stars, 75, 95-100
morning, 59-61
royal, 160
shooting, 113
Triad of, 253, 320
Statius, 222
Stern, Prof., 261, 262
Strassmaier, 274, 285
Sun, 55, 63-78
-god (Samas), 67, 131, 174, 253, 323, 324
-stroke, 72
Talmud, 222, 279, 297, 311
Tammuz, 66
Targum, the Jerusalem, 190
Tavthê, _see_ Tiamat
_Teh[=o]m_, _see_ Deep
Tennyson, 36, 79, 80
Thales, 345
Thiele, Prof., 15, 16
Tiamat, or Tiamtu, 27-29, 32, 34, 201, 210, 234-235, 240-242
Tibullus, 288
Tides, 41, 53, 92
Tribes of Israel and the Zodiac, 186-195
Tycho Brahé, 96
Venus, 90, 131, 132, 136, 137
Virgil, 160
Vulgate, 258, 259
Week and the Sabbath, 283-292
West (_meb[=o] hasshemesh_, going down of the sun), 51
(_yam_, the sea), 51
Winckler, Prof. H., 235
Winds, 50, 51
Wormwood, the star, 116
Xenophanes, 71
Year, 305-325
(_shanah_), 305
Yehoshua, Rabbi, 297
Zeuchros, 142, 249
Zif, month, 85, 299
Zodiac, constellations of, 141, 151, 152
sections of (_mizrata_), 243, 251
signs of, 141, 245, 249
Zodiacal Light, 117
RICHARD CLAY & SONS, LIMITED,
BREAD STREET HILL, E.C., AND
BUNGAY, SUFFOLK.
Transcriber's Notes:
Ellipses match the original except in poetry quotations where a row of
asterisks represent an ellipses.
The following corrections have been made to the text:
Page 27: shows the god An[vs]ar[original has An[)s]ar]
Page 29: not a Creation myth at all.[period missing in
original]
Page 89: representing the sun[original has son] and moon
Page 140: place of an actual star into a horoscope;[semi-colon
missing in original]
Page 176: gods and the spirits of heaven.[period missing in
original]
Page 176: '[quotation mark missing in original]What, has a
soul escaped?
Page 176: '[original has double quote]Thou sage of the gods,
warrior
Page 206: "[quotation mark missing in original]I have given
thee for meat
Page 260: "tail" of the Great Bear[original has extraneous
quotation mark]
Page 374: and it was now noon,[comma missing in original] the
noon
Page 389: fifteen Psalms (cxx.-cxxxiv.)[original has
(cxx.-cxxxiv).]
Page 405: Allen, R. H. 221,[comma missing in original] 222
Page 405: "Alroy" 278[original has 221]
Page 407: Hommel[original has Hömmel], Dr. 240
Page 410: Tavthê[original has Tavthé], _see_ Tiamat
The following words use an oe ligature in the original:
Celoeno
manoeuvre/manoeuvres/manoeuvred/Out-manoeuvred
Phoenician
End of Project Gutenberg's The Astronomy of the Bible, by E. Walter Maunder