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3919 כּוֺכָב
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כּוֺכָב> (k™k~b) nom. star (# 3919)
ANE Cognates to k™k~b meaning star are common in the Sem.
languages: e.g., Ugar. kbkb or kkb, Akk. kakkabu, Aram. k™kb~', Syr. kaukeb~,
Arab. kaukab. Etymologies have been proposed
from kbb, burn (Akk.,
Aram. and Arab.) and from kabba,
roll, revolve (Arab.). Unlike
modern Eng. usage but parallel to ancient G, the Sem. word probably includes
planets, comets, meteors, or any bright object in the night sky.
Three
features of stars were especially important in the ANE and relevant to OT
background: (1) the worship of
stars as gods; (2) divination by stars, or astrology; and (3) stars as
timekeepers.
1.
The worship of astronomical objects as gods is quite old and widespread. Babylonian worship of the sun god
Šamaš, the moon god Sin, Ištar as the planet Venus, and Marduk
as the planet Jupiter was influential throughout the ANE. This system was later borrowed by the
Greeks (and from them by the Romans), so that our modern planet names are those
of Roman deities.
2.
The belief that the heavenly bodies are divine would encourage the thought that
stellar phenomena might be messages for earth, particularly in a society
already disposed to divination.
The Sum. Gudea cylinders (c2100 BC) mention a goddess appearing in a
dream with a map of the heavens and telling the king that the time is right to
build a temple. Old Babylonian
texts (c1800 BC) list omens to be inferred from lunar eclipses and other
heavenly phenomena. These were
later compiled (by 1000 BC) into the 70-tablet reference work En‹ma
Anu Enlil, influential
throughout the ANE to Hellenistic times, connecting specific phenomena of
sun, moon, planets, stars and weather with events on earth. Unlike Hellenistic (and modern)
horoscopic astrology, such predictions involved public events, kings, and
nations rather than private individuals.
3.
The worship of stars and the belief they predict earthly events may have arisen
from the fact that the stars certainly predict the seasons and sunrise,
functioning as calendars and clocks.
As the earth makes its yearly orbit around the sun, the stars move
westward, rising four minutes earlier each night, thus providing a convenient
set of markers for the seasons.
Already by 3000 BC, the Egyptians had noticed that each year the star
Sothis (Sirius) rose just before sunrise at the time of the annual Nile
flooding. By the Middle Kingdom
(c2100-1800 BC) the Egyptians had developed a list of 36
"decans" (single stars or constellations) spanning the whole year,
with each successively rising with the sun at 10-day intervals. In Mesopotamia a similar system was
developed during the Old Babylonian period (c1800-1500 BC). The positions of such stars could also
be used to tell time at night (when sundials are useless) as tables had been
constructed to calibrate the hours of the night with the current day and month.
Babylonian
stars and constellations have been identified using the astronomical
text mulAPIN
(c700 BC; Van der Waerden, 1949, 13-16).
Sufficient detail is given that nearly all the major Babylonian
constellations have been identified with reasonable certainty. Many of these are the same as the
ancient G constellations we use today: e.g., our Gemini was also for the Babylonians a pair of
twins; Leo was a lion (possibly a dog); Corvus, a raven; Libra, a pair of
scales; Taurus, a bull; Scorpio, a scorpion; Capricorn, a goat-fish; and Orion,
the "true shepherd of the sky."
On the other hand, others are different: Ursa Major was a wagon (but cp. Eng. Charles' Wain); Cygnus
and part of Cepheus, a panther; Pisces and parts of Pegasus and Andromeda,
a large swallow; Canis Major, a bow and arrow; Lyra, a goat; Hercules, a dog;
and Aries, a hired laborer. These differences undermine the attractive theory
that a "gospel in the stars" comes down to us from patriarchal times,
as proposed by F. Rolleston and popularized by J. A. Seiss and E. W.
Bullinger.
OT 1. k™k~b is used 37x with two areas of meaning:
(1) commonly as our word "star" (e.g., Gen 1:16; Exod 32:13) and (2)
rarely (1-3x) as an alternative term for "angel" (Job 38:7; Isa
14:12-13?). Both stars and angels
are called the "hosts of heaven" (e.g., Deut 4:19 vs. 1 Kgs
22:19). Some see this as an
indication that the stars were thought to be angels, though the connection may
be no more than that angels, too, are bright objects in the sky. Others, with later rabbinic theology,
explain this usage by seeing angels in charge of each star, just as angels
are over various nations (Dan 10:20).
2.
The stars are created by God (Gen 1:16; Ps 8:3) and under his providential
control (Isa 40:26; Jer 31:35).
They were "to separate the day from the night" and "serve
as signs to mark seasons and days and years" (Gen 1:14). The sun, of course, marks off the days,
the moon indicates the months, and the stars (by their positions relative to
the sun) the seasons and the years.
They were also created to praise God (Ps 148:3-6), perhaps by their
brightness (Dan 12:3; Ps 136:9), purity (Job 25:5), height (Job 22:12) and
number (e.g., Gen 15:5). They form
a significant element in what the psalmist meant by saying, "The heavens declare
the glory of God, the skies proclaim the work of his hands" (Ps
19:1). Thus stars are a part of
God's self-revelation in nature, his handiwork pointing beyond themselves
to God's brightness, purity, greatness and power. The stars being merely created, God's
people are not to worship them (Deut 4:19) as the pagans do. They are not gods, nor are they
eternal, but rather (with the heavens) they are wearing out like clothing and
will one day be discarded (Ps 102:25-26).
The
number of stars is uncountably vast (e.g., Gen 15:5), yet apparently finite (Ps
147:4). They are often used
(occasionally with the sand of the seashore) to illustrate the
promise to Abraham of a multitude of descendants (Gen 15:5; 22:17; 26;4;
Exod 32:13; Deut 1:10; 10:22; 28:62).
Provisional fulfillment of this promise had already occurred when Israel
entered Canaan (Deut 1:10; 10:22) but might be lost again by disobedience if
Israel brought itself under the covenant curses (Deut 28:62). In his military census, David feared to
count all of Israel (1 Chr 27:23), perhaps thinking such a count would be
tempting God who had promised an uncountable multitude.
3.
In prophetic contexts, stars are used symbolically to represent prominent
individuals C Joseph's brothers in one of his dreams
(Gen 37:9-10), the coming ruler in Balaam's vision (Num 24:17), the king of
Babylon in Isaiah's taunt (Isa 14:12-13).
In the last of these, the symbol seems to represent the king's
exaltation, and his subsequent abasement is pictured by being cast down to
the earth. In Daniel's eschatological
promise to the wise (Dan 12:3), they are to "shine like the brightness of
the heavens . . . like the stars for ever and ever."
The
darkening of the stars, sun, and moon is a motif in curse contexts, including
Job's lament regarding the day of his birth (Job 3:9), his characterization
of God's power in judgment (Job 9:7), Qoheleth's picture of old age (Eccl
12:2), Isaiah's oracle against Babylon (Isa 13:10), the locust plague of Joel
(2:10), and the eschatological darkness which it foreshadows (Joel 3:15).
4.
The meaning of terms apparently used for particular stars, planets, and
star-groups are rather uncertain due to the infrequency of their occurrence in
the OT, the lack of specifying detail in such contexts, the rarity of
identifiable cognate expressions in the Sem. languages, and the diversity
of renderings in the ancient versions.
(a)
k”yyžn (#3962) occurs
only 1x (Amos 5:26), in a context of idolatry. The NIV renders the word "pedestal," from the root
kwn, be firm. More commonly this is assumed to be a
proper name k‘w~n for the planet Saturn viewed as a god. The Akk. cognate is kaiw‰nu, Syr. k‘w~n, Arab. kaiw~n. It is assumed
that the peculiar vowels in the Heb. k”yžn were substituted from šiqquş, abomination (#9199), one means by which
biblical scribes expressed contempt for paganism.
(b)
k”m‰ (#3966) occurs
3x (Amos 5:8; Job 9:9; 38:31), all in astronomical contexts. The LXX guesses or paraphrases the
first, gives Arcturus in the second, and Pleiades in the third. The Vulg. gives Arcturus in the first
two, but Pleiades in the last. BDB
and KBL3 favor the bright, closely grouped star cluster Pleiades on
the basis of Sem. cognates in Akk., Arab., Eth. and Syr. meaning heap, herd or
family. Other interpreters
suggest one of the bright stars Arcturus, Sirius, or Aldebaran.
(c)
kes”l II (#4068) occurs
4x, 3x in the sing. with k”m‰,
above, and 1x in the pl. (Isa 13:10).
The LXX paraphrases the first, gives Hesperus (evening star) for the
second, and Orion for the third and fourth. The Vulg. has Orion for the first and second, Arcturus for
the third, and splendor for the fourth.
The word kes”l
I is a common nom., occurring 70x (mostly in Prov) with the meaning fool,
shameless one. The Targum Jonathan
renders the Job passages nifila,
giant, which is consistent with Greek myths about Orion the giant hunter. Driver (1956, 2) connects these ideas
with the Pesh. rendering gabb~r‰ and the cognate Arab. jabb‰ru, sees in kes”l a nuance thick, stout, clumsy, and so
identifies the constellation as Orion.
The pl. occurrence is puzzling: "The stars of the heaven and their constellations will not show their light." It is not easy in such a context to see
a reference to the stars that make up Orion or to some few constellations
associated with Orion, given the first possessive "their." But if we think of the word as meaning
giants, then all the constellations are giant collections of stars, and many
are gigantic pictures of people.
So the NIV rendering is perhaps the best guess after all.
(d)
mazz~l (#4655) occurs only 1x (2 Kgs 23:5) and that as the pl. mazz~l™t, unless the word mazz~r™t (1x, Job 38:32) is just a variant
spelling of the same. The l/r variation does occur in Sem. languages,
and the LXX transliterates both occurrences as mazour‚th.
BDB (561) suggest the word may be loaned from Assyr. manzaltu, mazaltu, station, abode (of the gods). Later Heb. and Aram. have cognate words
meaning star of fortune, fate.
Syr. has two cognates meaning zodiac and stations of the moon. All in all, either zodiacal
constellations or planets (which appear only in the zodiac) would fit the
data. Driver (1956, 4-8), in fact,
opts for a distinction between the two words, suggesting mazz~l™t means planets, and mazz~r™t, zodiacal circle.
(e)
ma`adann™t
(#5051) occurs 2x, once in an astronomical context (Job 38:31) and once not (1
Sam 15:32). Both passages are
somewhat uncertain. Did Agag come
to Samuel haltingly (NRSV, NEB), confidently (NIV), cheerfully (RSV, NASB),
delicately (KJV), trembling (TEV), or struggling (NAB)? BDB and KBL3 suggest a root `nd which involves a transposition of
letters, but means bind. Thus Agag came to Samuel bound, and Job 38:31 asks "Can you bind
the chains of the
Pleiades, Or loose the cords of Orion?" (NASB), in agreement with the
parallelism in Job and with its rendering by the LXX and the Targum.
(f)
mišţ~r (#5428) occurs just once, in Job 38:33:
"Do you know the laws of the heavens? Can you set up [God's] dominion (mišţ~r) over the earth?" The verbal root šţr occurs in Assyr. and Arab. meaning to
write. Aram. and Syr. have cognate
nom. meaning document, and Akkad. another meaning inscription. The nom. š‚ţ‘r
in Heb. means official, officer.
KBL3 suggests Himmelschrift = Sternenhimmel (heavenly writing = starry sky), though
the idea of an written decree,
heaven's or God's, seems better to fit both the lexical background and the
parallelism in the context.
(g)
m‚šek™t (#5436) occurs just once, in Job
38:31. The root mšk has the force draw, drag, lead, proceed,
prolong, from which the idea arises that the nom. might mean cords, by which
such an action is accomplished.
BDB (604) see an allusion to an unknown legend in which Orion is dragged
by cords. Driver (1956, 3-4) proposes
the word should be pointed as singular (as implied by LXX, Vulg., Pesh.) and
read as Orion's belt.
(h)
nidg~l™t (#5609) occurs 2x, in Cant 6:4, 10, the former a
geographical context, the latter astronomical. The NIV renders the former "majestic as troops with
banners," the
latter "majestic as the stars in procession." The form is apparently a ni. part. used as a subst., from dgl II, carry or set up a standard #1839),
so "ones bannered" or "bannered hosts." The NIV rendering takes this in the
first context as referring to a human army and in the second to the
(astronomical) heavenly host.
Others derive the part. from dgl I, look, behold, to get things seen, or "awe-inspiring as visions" (Murphy, Hermeneia) or
"splendid as the heavenly phenomena" (Snaith, NCB).
(i)
`~š III (#6933) occurs 2x (if `ayiš is the same word), both astronomical
contexts (Job 9:9, 38:32). There
is considerable disagreement on its identification. In 9:9 the Vulg. gives Arcturus, brightest star in the
constellation Bootes; possibly the LXX agrees, if it did not translate the
three star groups in the order of the MT.
But in 38:32, they give Hesperus/Vesper (Venus as the evening
star). Ibn Ezra claimed it was the
Bear (Ursa Major), in which case its children (38:32) would probably be the 3
stars in the handle of the Big Dipper.
Hšlscher and KBL3 give Leo, taking the Arab. `ayžt, lion, to be cognate. Schiaparelli and Driver prefer
Aldebaran, the brightest star in Taurus, with the surrounding Hyades
cluster as its children. The Syr.
cognate `iyžta' given
in the Pesh. is so identified by Barhebraeus. And `~š I means clothes-moth, which when it
folds its wings, makes a v-shape rather like Aldebaran and the four brightest
stars in the Hyades.
P-B Babylonian
astronomy and astrology continued to develop, spreading into the G world where
the more sophisticated G geometry was applied to these studies. An emphasis on individual astrology
develops, based on the heavens at the time of one's birth, reaching its zenith
in the Hellenistic city of Alexandria. Numerous astrological papyri survive from this
period in Egypt.
In
the LXX, k™k~b is rendered about equally often by ast‘r
and astron, the
latter usually in the plur. There
appears to be no strong distinction between these terms.
The
Pseudepigraphal literature shows interest in astrology and astronomy. 1 Enoch and Jubilees indicate that
astrology was taught to humans by the angels who sinned in Gen 6:1-4 (1 Enoch
8:1-4; Jub 8:3). Serug and Nahor
practiced astrology, but Abraham was turned away from it by "a word which
comes to his heart" one night while watching the stars to make predictions
(Jub 12:16-21). Stars are mountains
of fire (1 Enoch 18:13-15), driven through the heavens by winds (1 En
18:4). A large section of 1 Enoch
(chs 72-82) is devoted to a description of the detailed movements and nature of
sun, moon and stars allegedly given to Enoch by the angel Uriel.
NT The most
famous star in the NT is the star of Bethlehem, which brought the Magi from the
east to worship Jesus (Matt 2:1-12).
The star has been variously identified as a (super)nova, a comet, a
conjunction of planets, an object like the pillar of fire which guided Israel,
an angel, or as purely fictional.
The behavior of the star after the Magi had consulted Herod (it
"went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child
was") best fits some localized
supernatural phenomenon, though some have suggested ways of interpreting this
as an object at astronomical distances.
Probably the star is to be understood as a fulfillment of Balaam's
prophecy (Num 24:17) and as symbolic of Jesus (see below).
The
NT follows the OT in connecting the vast number of stars with the promise to
Abraham of uncountable descendants (Heb 11:12); in associating stars with
angels (Rev 1:20; 9:1; 12:4?); and in seeing eschatological signs in the sun,
moon and stars (e.g., Luke 21:25), though here the emphasis is on the stars
falling (Matt 24:29; Mark 13:25; Rev 6:13) more than upon their being darkened
(Rev 16:10). One of the trumpet
plagues of Rev (8:10-11) consists of a star falling on the rivers and poisoning
their waters, an effect paralleled in the disastrous meteor fall that ended the
Cretaceous period (Cowen).
Symbolically,
"wandering stars" are used as a vivid picture of the heretics
denounced in Jude 13, probably in the sense of comets moving away from the sun
into the darkness beyond, rather than as planets which C
though erratic in their movements C always keep coming back. The "morning star" is explicitly
a symbol for Jesus in Rev 22:16 and probably also in Rev 2:28 and 2 Pet
1:19. In the first two of these,
the reference is apparently to the planet Venus as the morning star, a symbol
perhaps of Jesus' first advent as the bright light shining in the darkness
before the coming of day. In 2 Pet
1:19, by contrast, the reference seems to be to the sun as "morning
star," with Jesus' second advent in view, when darkness will be entirely
banished. The sun, moon and stars
of Joseph's dream (Gen 37) appear again in the heavenly sign of the pregnant
woman in Rev 12:1, variously identified as Mary, Israel, or the people of
God. Perhaps she and the dragon in
this passage are also to be associated with the constellations Virgo and Draco.
Other
astronomical terms: 6 š~mayim (heaven, sky, # 9028); 6 šemeš (sun, # 9087); 6 y~r‘a (moon, # 3734); 6 ab~' II (hosts, armies [of heaven], # 7372); 6 eder (constellations, # 2540).
Bibliography
KBL3
441-42; BDB 456; TWOT
425-26; IDB 4:236-44;
IDBS 76-78; ISBE 1:341-48; BEB 1:223-28; ZPEB 1:393-99; EJ 3:788-807; B. L. Van der Waerden,
"Babylonian Astronomy.
II. The Thirty-Six Stars," JNES 8, 1949, 6-26; "Babylonian
Astronomy. III. The Earliest Astronomical
Computations," JNES
10, 1951, 20-34; W. Hartner, "The Earliest History of the Constellations
in the Near East and the Motif of the Lion-Bull Combat," JNES 24, 1965, 1-16; G. Schiaparelli, Astronomy
in the Old Testament,
1905; E. W. Maunder, Astronomy of the Bible, 1908; F. Rochberg-Halton,
"Astrology in the ANE," ABD 1:504-07; G. R. Driver, "Two Astronomical Passages in
the OT," JTS 4,
1953, 208-12; G. R. Driver, "Two Astronomical Passages in the
OT," JTS 7,
1956, 1-11; E. L. Martin, The Star that Astonished the World, 1991; R. Cowen, "The Day the
Dinosaurs Died," Astronomy, Apr 1996, 34-41.
Robert C. Newman