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I. In the Old Testament: In the general mention of stars in the Bible nothing unusual appears. Men speak of their innumerability (Gen. xv. 5), brilliancy (Dan. xii. 3), lordship (Wisdom vii. 29), and

height above the earth (Isa. xiv. 13); z. General stars also figure in dream (Gen. xxxvii. Conceptions 9) and prophecy (Nom. xxiv. 17). Of in the a scientific knowledge of the stars there Old are no traces in the Old Testament,

Solomon knowledge of the position of the stars during the course of the year; nevertheless close observation of the heavens by the Hebrews is to be assumed, especially in connection with the seasons and agriculture by way of observing the days when certain constellations either disappeared or appeared in connection with the sun. Of course the Hebrews observed the changing course of the planets, though this does not receive specific mention; Jude 13 probably refers to comets. Two planets receive specific mention, Saturn (see R>;ivrrxnrr) and Venus. The latter appears in II Peter i. 19 as the announcer of the coming day, Christ appears Rev. xxii. 16 as " the bright and morning star," and receives (Rev. ii. 28) the morning star (i.e., its brilliancy) as the prize of victory, while the high priest, Simon, is compared with the morning star (Ecclus. I. 6). Venus is the symbol of a brilliant humanity (Isa. xiv. 12), where the Hebrew helel (or helal) is probably the morning star. Indeed it may also mean the moon, since its derivation from the verb halal, " to give light," might give rise to designation of either, but the waning moon only is visible in the morning.

Fixed stars appear to be mentioned in Amos v. 8 (the Pleiades); Isa. xiii. 10, where the English " constellations " adequately represents the Hebrew " Orions "; Job ix. 9, the Bear or Arcturus, Orion, the Pleiades, and " the chambers of the south "; Job xxxviii. 31-32, the Pleiades, Orion, the signs of

the Zodiac, and Arcturus or the Bear. 2. Filed Two pairs of Hebrew words occur, kesil Stars: and kimah, of which the first probably

Constella- is Orion and the second the Pleiades; to tions. this as the meaning of kesil the Septua-

gint testifies, as well as the Syriac and the Targum. The Hebrews saw in the constellation of Orion a .human form, a giant chained to the heavens, and post-Biblical tradition called him Nimrod. The Septuagint also testifies to the Pleiades as the rendering of kimah. Bar Ali (Gesenius, Thesaurus, p. 665) confirms this, though he points out other meanings for the word and many Syrians understood by it Arcturus. The Talmud's use si_ows that kimah is not to be understood of a single star

quent that the Pleiades were bound together by bonds, and were spoken of as a rosette or a nosegay, while the Talmud (in Berachoth 58b) speaks of the Pleiades as of 100 stars. Stern has supposed that kimah is Sirius, i.e., that the stars of Job ix. 9 are all in the same declination of the heavens. In that case, since kesal is surely Onion, the other names in the passage designate Sirius, the Hyades, and the Pleiades. Hoffmann, who in general agrees with Stern, then makes the " sweet influences " (Job xxxviii. 31) refer to the overflow of the Nile, preceded by the early rising of Sbius. But this must be rejected as impossible; no Hebrew could have understood " canst thou bind the refreshings of Sirius? " This and like interpretations are shattered on the imperative conclusion that kimah must mean a group of stars. The Arabic; equivalent of this word means " heaps "; the As:yrzan cognate kimtu is used for " family." Many, with the Syriac version, find mention of Orion and the Pleiades in Job xv. 27b, but this must be rejected. In Job ix. 9 and xxxviii. 32 there is mention of a constellation -Hebrew `ash or `ayish, Syriac `iyutha, Septuagint Hesperos, Vulgate Vesper-which is definitely identified either as the Hyades or as the chief star therein, Aldebaran, and this is confirmed by the Talmud (Berachoth, 58 b), although the latter would also lead to an identification with Aries. The identification of this with the Great Bear, attempted by some, has practically no support. The " chambers of the south " of Job ix. 9 is probably to be explained by the many bright stars in Argo, the Cross, and the Centaur visible on the southern horizon in the regal period of Hebrew history, out of which, however, definite figures had not been made. The Hebrew mazzaroth of Job xxxviii. 32 i;3 probably a scribal error for the mazzaloth of II Kings xxiii. 5, though it may represent a different pronunciation of the same word. It is of Assyrian origin, and denotes " position," i.e., of astral deitic;s, and then the deities themselves. The passage in Job is best explained by thinking of the zodiacal constellations, that in Kings by the planets in general; the rendering " Hyades " offered by Stern and Hoffmann does not recommend itself, nor does the Syriac rendering " Great Bear."

The Hebrews had no clear notion of the nature of the stars; in Gen. i. 16 they are: called " lights " set by God in the heavens, only ir, poetic literature do they appear as living beings. But that to them was

ascribed a causal relation in connection 3. Signifi- with the course of nature as they arose cants of or set may be plausibly suspected. It Stars for was a fast assumption that God was Hebrews. their creator (Gen. i. 14-18; Ps. viii.

3-4), that he appointed for them their rigidly appointed courses (Jer. xxxi. 35), and that they are in subjection to him (:Isa. xl. 26). Expressions like that in the last-cited passage to the effect that God calls then by name do not imply that they were conceived as living beings, while Job xxxviii. 7 is only a literary figure, as is that in Judges v. 20; Isa. xxiv. 21, " the host of the high ones," has nothing to do with the stars, as there is no connection immediately between verses 22 and 23 (see SABAOTH). Prophetic declarations of par-