[1] It might be suggested that the appearance of this blazing comet
among the stars drove the more superstitious of the Israelites at that
time to the worship of star-gods, as we read how, during the judgeship
of Jair, they "served Baalim, and Ashtaroth, and the gods of Syria, and
the gods of Moab, and the gods of the Philistines, and forsook the Lord
and served not Him." To a people like the Jews, who seem to have been in
continual danger of returning to the Sabaistic worship of their Chaldean
ancestors, the appearance of a blazing comet may have been a frequent
occasion of backsliding.
[Illustration]