God Almighty came into the world in the form of a man, The Man Jesus Christ, that He might die the death of all men, in order that man might be reclaimed to Himself. Even more important, with a view to:
HIM Being Made Known
As always, this was and is the supreme goal of the creation of all men.
The first man, Adam, was fashioned in the likeness of the True Image that He had initially assumed unto Himself. Even that One we know as "Elohim/Christ Jesus."
The One we also see as the very One that "formed" man of the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils "Neshamah-Life." Even the same One that Adam and his wife "hid" themselves from as He was walking in the garden in the cool of the day (Gen. 3:8); even that same One that also appeared unto Abram when he was ninety-and-nine years old, and God, Elohim/Christ Jesus, the One Creator, talked with Him and again the Lord appeared unto him, this time having two men, or angels, with Him (Gen. 18:1-22).
And again we see this same type or "Image" in the form of the man Melchizedek, the Priest of the Most High God (Gen. 14:18-22; also Heb. 7:1-28), the king of Salem, Jeru-Salem, King of Peace. The One without father (of unrecorded paternity), without mother (of unknown maternity), without descent (genealogy, unregistered as to birth), having neither beginning of days (as his birthday is not recorded), nor end of life (as the day of his death is also unrecorded).
Yes, from God's perspective, the One True Image of the One Invisible Deity is truly eternal, even as no one else can be "without beginning of days, nor end of life." Yet when we read these strange words:
"Then the Lord (Jehovah) rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the Lord (Jehovah) out of heaven" (Gen. 19:24).
This is revealed for our faith but does not attempt an explanation. Many who oppose the testimony of passage we have brought forward subscribe to the inspiration of all Scripture. To such, this appeal is made:
"Do you believe that Genesis 19:24 is a part of inspired Scripture revealing to man knowledge that otherwise he could never attain?'
If the answer is 'yes,' then we must acknowledge that in Gen. 19:24, we have a revelation that reflects upon the nature of the Lord and brings to light a constitution and an order of Being entirely foreign to our experience. But it is nevertheless True. Jehovah, here seen as a man, is represented in the verse as standing on the earth raining down fire and brimstone from Jehovah out of heaven, 'and He (not they) overthrew those cities.' In the New Testament, consider John 3:13, when a similar statement is made about Him being in Heaven and Earth at the same time.
In the presence of these passages, would it not be wise, humbly, to acknowledge that we do not know and cannot comprehend the essential nature of God and that any attempt to construct a system of Divinity that ignores this limitation is necessarily doomed to failure?
As the image of the True Image man can only be in one place at a time, yet we see there are so many men, or many, many images in different places at the same time. Thus, these living images of the One True Living Image of the One True God Almighty show His awesome power.
So God Almighty was born in the flesh to the end that The One Invisible, unknowable Creator could live among His man "that HE might be known."
In every way and at all times, this must be seen, must be understood, and must be fully appreciated so we become humbled before Him and thankful for His Grace. Amen and Amen.
And yet, in truth and in fact, the knowledge of Him is but another step forward in His great master plan. We use the term supreme or ultimate goal advisedly, and only because that is where the Out-called Body comes into view; for it is in This Body of Living Images of the One True Living Image that He is to make Himself known, even "unto principalities and powers...in heavenly places." (Eph. 3:9-11) Amen.
Let us now try to present a picture that we trust may help some folks to see better and understand what we are trying to say. In building a house, many goals may come into view. The planning of the house is a goal in itself. A good foundation is another goal, and a true, safe superstructure is a major goal. And each step can be a goal or purpose in its own right. But in the view of the owner, the goal is "move-in day," the occupying of the house and the making of a home.
That, too, may call for some consideration. Many have built and moved into one or a number of houses, and many have a goal to sell that house one day. Some might go beyond to a further purpose, providing a living for their family; and again, many have the purpose of having children as that is the only way we can have grandchildren.
So, we see that our real goals may call for some rethinking from time to time. But the Creator's Purpose is age-abiding. And yet, in knowing what we understand to be the Ultimate Purpose of the Ages, in Christ Jesus, that The One True God of all creation might be known, we must ask, "Why?" Yes, why does He have such a strong desire to be known? We find that we have moved up to a much higher plane of thinking; to learn of Him and to know Him is the only way that the created being can become more like Him. Nothing created can ever be deity. There is, and can only be, One Deity, even Elohim/Christ Jesus, our Lord. He is One Lord. (Phil. 2:11, Deut. 6:4).
That One has assured the faithful ones of Israel:
"... but we know that when He shall appear (in parousia), we shall be like Him; for we shall see Him as He is" (1 John 3:2).
And the Spirit also moved David, the king over the people of Israel, to write for our learning:
"... I will behold Thy face in righteousness: I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with Thy likeness" (Psa. 17:15).
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In the first mention of the heavenly bodies, the purpose of the Creator is clearly stated. Gen. 1:14-19 reveals the fact that they were created not only "to divide the day from the night, and to give light upon the earth" but they were set "for Signs, and for Seasons, and for Days and Years."
The figure of speech Polysyndeton emphasizes these four purposes and bids us to single them out and consider them separately and independently.
They are "for Signs'
Heb. 'oth, from 'athah, to come. Signs, therefore, of something or someone to come. They enlighten those who understand them.
Those who do not may well be "dismayed" (Jer. 10:2).
The stars are numbered and named. There are Twelve Signs of the Mazzaroth, the Hebrew word for what we know today as the Zodiac (which is a perversion of the original Signs God set in the Heavens), called "the stars" in Gen. 37:9 (eleven of which bowed down to Joseph's, the twelfth). The word Zodiac means the degrees or steps that mark the stages of the sun's path through the heavens, corresponding with the twelve months.
The stars were all named by God (Psa. 147:4). Most of these names have been lost, but over 100 are preserved in Arabic and Hebrew and are used by astronomers today, though their meaning is unknown to them. Many of them are used in Scripture as being well known, though the translations are somewhat speculative: e.g., Job 9:9. Heb. 'ash (Arcturus, R.V. the Bear), kesil (A.V. Orion), kimah (Pleiades).
John 38:31-32, Mazzaroth (margin, Zodiac). Cp. 2 Kings 23:5, 'ash (Arcturus with her sons, R.V. the Bear with her train, both versions being incorrect as to the names). See also Isa. 13:10; Amos 5:8.
These names and the Twelve "Signs" go back to the foundation of the world. Jewish tradition, preserved by Josephus, assures us that Adam, Seth, and Enoch invented this Bible astronomy.
We see evidence of it as early as Gen. 11:4, where we read of The Tower of Babel having "his top with the heavens." There is nothing about the wrongly supplied italics "may reach unto." The words, doubtless, refer to the signs of the Zodiac, pictured at the top of the Tower, like the Zodiacs in the Temples of Denderah and Esneh in Egypt.
The Babylonian "Creation Tablets" refer to them, though their primitive meaning had been either corrupted or lost. It is the same with Greek mythology, which is a corruption of the primitive Truth that had been lost and perverted.
We have to remember that our written Scriptures began with Moses, on or about 1490 B.C., and thus, for more than 2,500 years, The Revelation of the Hope that God gave in Gen. 3:15 was preserved in the naming of the stars and their grouping in Signs and Constellations.
These groupings are quite arbitrary. There is nothing in the positions of the stars to suggest the pictures originally drawn around them. The Signs and Constellations were first designed and named; then, the pictures were drawn around them respectively. Thus, The Truth was enshrined and written in the heavens, where no human hand could touch it. In later years, when Israel came into possession of the written "Scriptures of Truth," there was no longer any need for the more ancient writing in the heavens. Hence, the original teaching gradually faded away, and the heathen, out of the smattering they had heard by tradition, evolved their cosmogonies and mythologies.
Psa. 19:1-14 contains a vivid reference to the Heavens and the Scriptures, the two Books of Revelation. That is why there is a very sudden change of subject at Psa. 19:7, a change which still perplexes and baffles all the skill of commentators.
The teaching is preserved in the structure of the Psalm, where we have;
A | Psa. 19:1-4. The Heavens.
B | Psa. 19:4-6. "In them, the sun".
A | Psa. 19:7-10. The Scriptures.
B | Psa. 19:11-14. "In them (the same Hebrew word as in Psa. 19:4), Thy servant".
In this structure, every line emphasizes the elaboration of the design: for while, in the first half, all the terms are literary, in the latter half, they are all astronomical, thus welding the two portions of the Psalm into one harmonious whole.
For the meaning of the words, reference must be made to the Psalm itself. We can only note here that the first part does not refer to the wonders of creation but to the eloquence of its teaching and revelation: they "declare," tell, or narrate (Gen. 24:66; Psa. 71:15), they "utter speech," but without words (omit "where" in Psa. 19:3); they prophesy "day by day," "night by night." The question is: What do they prophesy?
What knowledge do they show forth? What Glory do they tell of?
The answer is -- Gen. 3:15. The One Great Central Truth of all prophecy -- the coming of The One, Who, though He should suffer, should, in the end, crush the head of the old serpent, the Devil.
But where are we to open this Book? Where are we to break into this circle of the Zodiacal signs?
Through the "precession of the Equinoxes," the sun gradually shifts its position a little each year, and then about every 2,000 years, it begins the year in a different sign. This was foreseen, and it was also foreseen that succeeding generations would not know when and where the sun began its course, where the teaching of this Heavenly Book commenced, and where we were to open its first page. Hence, the "Sphinx" was erected as a memorial. It had the head of a woman and the body and tail of a lion to tell us that this Book, written in the Heavens, begins with The Sign "Virgo" and will end with The Sign "Leo." The word "sphinx" is from the Greek sphingo, to join, because it binds together the two ends of this circle of the heavens.
The number of the Signs is Twelve, the number of governmental perfection or "rule": Gen. 1:18. They are divided into Three Books of four chapters (or Signs) each: twelve being the product of 3x4, i.e., of Divine Truth working in the heavens and in the earth.
Each book, therefore, consists of Four Signs, and these are all arranged by structure in exactly the same way. Each is an introversion. Thus, we have the Three Books:
First Book. The Redeemer
(His first coming)
A | VIRGO. The prophecy of the promised seed.
B | LIBRA. The Redeemer's work (grace).
B | SCORPIO. The Redeemer's conflict.
A | SAGITTARIUS. The prophecy fulfilled.
Second Book. The Redeemed
(His work and its results)
C | CAPRICORNUS. The prophecy of deliverance.
D | AQUARIUS. Results of work bestowed.
D | PISCES. Results of work enjoyed.
C | ARIES. The prophesied deliverance fulfilled.
Third Book. The Redeemer
(His Second Coming)
E | TAURUS. The prophecy of coming judgment.
F | GEMINI. The Redeemer's reign in glory.
F | CANCER. The Redeemer's position is safe.
E | LEO. The prophecy of triumph fulfilled.
Each of the Four Chapters in each of these Three Books consists of three sections, and a Constellation represents each section. There are thus thirty-six (3x12) Constellations, which, with the Twelve Signs, make forty-eight (4x12) in all.
They may thus be set forth :
The First Book. The Redeemer
"The sufferings of Christ."
I. VIRGO (A)
The prophecy of the promised seed.
1. COMA ( = The desired). The woman and child are the desired of all nations
(in the most ancient Zodiacs).
2. CENTAURUS (with two natures). The despised sin-offering.
3. BOOTES. The coming One with the branch.
II. LIBRA (B)
The Redeemer's atoning work.
1. CRUX. The Cross endured.
2. LUPUS. The Victim slain.
3. CORONA. The Crown bestowed.
III. SCORPIO (B)
The Redeemer's conflict.
1. SERPENS. Assaulting the man's heel.
2. OPHIUCHUS. The man grasping the serpent.
3. HERCULES. The mighty man victorious.
IV. SAGITTARIUS (A)
The Redeemer's triumph.
1. LYRA. Praise prepared for the Conqueror.
2. ARA. Fire prepared for His enemies.
3. DRACO. The dragon cast down.
The Second Book. The Redeemed.
I. CAPRICORNUS (C)
The result of the Redeemer's sufferings.
1. SAGITTA. The arrow of God sent forth.
2. AQUILLA. The smitten One falling.
3. DELPHINUS. The dead One rising again.
II. AQUARIUS (D)
The Blessings assured.
1. PISCIS AUSTRALIS. The blessings bestowed.
2. PEGASUS. The blessings quickly coming.
3. CYGNUS. The Blesser surely returning.
III. PISCES (D)
The Blessings in abeyance.
1. THE BAND. The great enemy, "Cetus."
2. ANDROMEDA. The redeemed in bondage.
3. CEPHEUS. The Deliverer coming to loosen.
IV. ARIES (C)
The Blessings consummated.
1. CASSIOPEIA. The captive delivered.
2. CETUS. The great enemy bound.
3. PERSEUS. The "Breaker" delivering.
The Third Book. The Redeemer
"The glory that should follow."
I. TAURUS (E)
Messiah coming to rule.
1. ORION. The redeemer breaking forth as Light.
2. ERIDANUS. Wrath breaking forth as a flood.
3. AURIGA. Safety for His redeemed in the day of wrath.
II. GEMINI (F)
Messiah as Prince of princes.
1. LEPUS. The enemy is trodden underfoot.
2. CANIS MAJOR. The coming glorious prince.
3. CANIS MINOR. The exalted Redeemer.
III. CANCER (F)
Messiah's redeemed possessions.
1. URSA MINOR. The lesser sheepfold.
2. URSA MAJOR. The fold and the flock.
3. ARGO. The pilgrim's arrival at home.
IV. LEO (E)
Messiah's consummated triumph.
1. HYDRA. The old serpent destroyed.
2. CRATER. The cup of wrath poured out.
3. CORVUS. The birds of prey devouring.
It will be noted that modern names are used, but only for the purposes of readier identification. Some of these names were given in ignorance by those who had lost the primitive signification of the Twelve Signs and of the thirty-six Constellations.
The Hebrew and Arabic names of these and of the principal stars contained in them are full of truth and eloquent in their teaching. Thus :
VIRGO (the Virgin). Here we have the star Al Zimach. Heb. Zemach, the branch (Isa. 4:2; Jer. 23:5-6; Zech. 3:8; Zech. 6:12). All the other stars have cognate meanings.
COMA. The Desired (Hag. 2:7); Num. 24:17; (Egyptian Shes-nu = the desired son).
CENTAURUS, Al Beze, the despised (Isa. 53:3).
BOOTES (Heb. bo, to come), Psa. 96:13; Heb. Arcturus (Job 9:9 = He cometh). Egyptian = Smat, one who rules.
LIBRA was anciently the Altar (accadian = Tulki). The two bright stars are today called in Arabic Zuben al Genubi = the price which is deficient, and Zuben al Chemali = the price which covers.
CRUX. Heb. karath, cut off (Dan. 9:26).
LUPUS. Greek name Thera, a beast. Lat. Victima. Heb. sabah, slain. In the Zodiac of Denderah = Sura, a lamb.
CORONA. Heb. 'atarah, a royal crown. Arab. Al iclil, a jewel. Its brightest star = Al phena, the shining one.
SCORPIO. Heb. 'akrab (Psa. 91:13). Coptic name = Isidis = the attack of the enemy. Arabic = Al aterah, the wounding of The Coming One. The brightest star is Antares (Arab. = wounding). Heb. Lezuth, perverseness.
SERPENS. The brightest star is called Heb. 'anak = encompassing. Heb. kelalah = the accursed. Arab. Al hay, the reptile.
OPHIUCHUS is from Arab. Afeichus = the serpent held. The brightest star is Ras al hagus = the head of him who holds. Other names are Megeras = contending. In the Zodiac of Denderah, he is Api-bau = the chief who cometh. Other stars are Triophas = treading underfoot; Saiph = bruised; Carnebas = bruised.
HERCULES. In the Zodiac of Denderah, called Bau = who cometh. Arab. Al giscale, the strong one. The brightest star, Ras al Gethi = the head of him who bruises.
SAGITTARIUS. Heb. kesheth = an archer (Gen. 21:20). The brightest star, Heb. channun = the gracious one (Psa. 45:2). Accadian, Nun-ki = Prince of the earth. In the Zodiac of Denderah, Pi-maere = graciousness, and Knem, He conquers.
LYRA. (Psa. 65:1.) The brightest star Vega = He shall be exalted. In the Zodiac of Denderah = Fent-kar = the serpent ruled. Originally an eagle, from confusion between Heb. nesher and shir (song, or music).
ARA, and alter upside down, pointing to Tartarus (Isa. 63:4-5). Arab. Al mugamra = the completing or finishing (Psa. 21:9-12).
DRACO. Ends the First Book. The dragon cast down. CETUS ends the Second Book. Leviathan bound. HYDRA ends the Third Book. The old serpent destroyed. Draco = trodden on. (Psa. 91:13; Psa. 74:12-14; Isa. 27:1). In the Zodiac of Denderah, it is a serpent under the fore-feet of Sagittarius and called Her-fent = the serpent accursed. The brightest star, Thuban = the subtle.
CAPRICORNUS = the goat of atonement. In the Zodiac of Denderah = Esneh, Hu-penius = the place of the sacrifice. Heb. Gedi, the kid, or Gada, cut off. The brightest star is Al-gedi = the kid. The next is Deneb al gedi = the sacrifice of the kid.
SAGITTA, the arrow. (Psa. 38:2; Isa. 53:4-5). Heb. Shamad, or shamem = destroying.
AQUILA, the eagle, pierced, wounded, and falling. The brightest star, Al tair = wounding.
All the others are similar.
DELPHINUS. Always a fish full of life, the head upwards. Heb. Dalaph = the pouring out of water.
Arab. Dalaph = coming quickly.
AQUARIUS. In the Zodiac of Denderah, he has two urns. The fish seems to have come out of one of them. Heb. name Dali = water-urn or bucket (Num. 24:7). Brightest star Sa'ad al Melik = the record of the pouring forth. The next Sa'ad al Sund = who goeth and returneth (cp. Isa. 32:1-2; Isa. 35:1; Isa. 35:6; Isa. 41:18; Isa. 44:2-6; Isa. 51:3).
PISCIS AUSTRALIS. The southern fish. Arab. Fom al haut = the mouth of the fish. Zodiac of Denderah = Aar, a stream.
PEGASUS. The winged horse. Zodiac of Denderah Pe and ka = Peka, or pega. Heb. pehah = the chief, and sus, a horse; name thus come down. The brightest is Markab, Heb. merhak = returning from afar.
CYGNUS. In the Zodiac of Denderah, Tes-ark = this from afar. A mighty bird, not falling dead like Aquila. The brightest star, Deneb = the Judge, also called Adige = flying swiftly. The second, Al Bireo = flying quickly. Two others: Azel = who goes and returns quickly, and fafage = gloriously shining forth.
PISCES. Egyptian name in the Zodiac of Denderah = Pi-cot Orion or Pisces Hori = the fishes (i.e., swarms and multitudes) or Him Who cometh. Heb. Dagim, the fishes (Gen. 48:16). Syr. name, Nuno = lengthened out (i.e., in posterity) (cp. Isa. 53:10; Psa. 33:12; Psa. 37:22; Psa. 115:14-15; Isa. 61:9; Isa. 65:23; Jer. 30:19; Ezek. 36:10-11; Ezek. 37:26). Note the two fishes = the earthly and heavenly callings (one fish horizontal, the other looking upward). 113 stars much of the same magnitude. The brightest star is Okda = the United. The next (Arabic) Al samaca = the upheld. (Isa. 41:8-10)
THE BAND. Egyptian name U-or = He cometh binding them together (Hos. 11:4), and breaking the band which binds them to their old enemy Cetus.
ANDROMEDA. The name in the Zodiac of Denderah is Set, which means seated like a queen—also, Sirco = the chained. The brightest star is Al Phiratz = the broken down. The next, Mirach = the weak. The next, Al amok (Arab) = stuck down (Isa. 54:11-14; Isa. 51:21; Isa. 52:3; Jer. 14:17).
CEPHUS. The king. In the Zodiac of Denderah Pe-ku-hor = this one cometh to rule. Cepheus is Greek from the Heb. zemah = the Branch. Ethiopian name, Hyh = a king. The brightest star is Al Deramin = coming quickly. The next is Al Phirk - the Redeemer. The next, Al Rai' = who bruises or breaks. (Jer. 31:1)
ARIES. The ram or lamb full of vigor. Not falling in death like Capricornus. The name in the Zodiac of Denderah is Tametouris Ammon = the reign of rule of Ammon. Heb. name Taleh = the lamb. Arab. Al Hamel = the sheep. Syr. Amroo, as in John 1:29. The Accadian name was Bar-Ziggar = the altar making right = the sacrifice of righteousness. The brightest star is El nath, or El natik = wounded or slain. The next, Al Sharatan, the bruised or wounded. Rev. 5:9-12.
CASSIOPEIA. The enthroned woman. Arabic name El seder = the freed. In the Zodiac of Denderah, Set = seated as queen. Arabic Ruchba = the enthroned. The brightest star is Schedir = the freed. The next, Kaph (Heb.) = the branch (Isa. 54:5-8; Isa. 62:3-5; Jer. 31:3-12; Psa. 45:9-17; Isa. 61:10-11).
CETUS. The sea monster. The great enemy bound (Rev. 20:10; Rev. 20:1-3). The name in the Zodiac of Denderah is Knem = subdued. The brightest star is Menkar = the enemy chained. The next is Diphda or Deneb Kaitos = overthrown or thrust down. Another is Mira = the rebel (Job 41:1-10; Isa. 51:22-23; Isa. 26:21-27; Psa. 74:12-14).
PERSEUS. The Breaker. Heb. Perez. Greek, Perses, or Perseus (Rom. 16:12; Mic. 2:12-13). The name in the Zodiac of Denderah is Kar Knem = he who fights and subdues. The brightest star is Mirfak = who helps. The next, Al Genib = he who carries away. The next is Athik = who breaks.
TAURUS. Messiah coming in judgment. Chaldean = Tor. Hence, Arabic Al thaur; Greek, Tauros; Lat. Taurus. The common Heb. name is Shur = coming and ruling and Re'em = pre-eminence. The brightest star is Al Debaran = The Leader or Governor. The next is El nath = wounded or slain. The group Pleiades is Kimah = heap or accumulation (Job 9:9; Job 38:31; Job 38:21; Amos 5:8). A bright star is Al Cyone = the center. Heb. and Syr. name is Succoth = booths. Another group, Hyades = the congregated (Deut. 33:17; Psa. 44:5; Isa. 13:11-15; Isa. 34:2-8; Isa. 26:21).
ORION. The coming Prince. Light breaking forth through the Redeemer. In the Zodiac of Denderah, it is Ha-ga-t = this is He Who triumphs. Oarion = Heb. 'Or, light; or coming forth as light (Job 9:9; Job 38:31; Amos 5:8). Heb. Kesil= a strong one (translated "Orion" in Job 9:9; Job 38:31; Amos 5:8). The brightest star is Betelgeuz = the coming of the Branch (Mal. 3:2). The next is Rigel or Rigol = the foot of him that crusheth. The next is Bellatrix = swiftly destroying. Another is Al Nitak = the wounded One—many others with names of cumulative meanings. (See Isa. 42:13-14; Isa. 60:1-3).
ERIDANUS. The river of judgment. In the Zodiac of Denderah, it is Peh-ta-t = the mouth of the river. The brightest star is Achernar = the after part of the river. So with the other names, going forth, flowing on (to the lower regions of the south) (Dan. 7:9-11; Psa. 97:3-5; Psa. 50:3; Hab. 3:5; Isa. 30:27-33; Nah. 1:5-6; Isa. 66:15-16; 2 Thess. 1:7-8).
AURIGA. The Shepherd (Isa. 40:10-11; Ezek. 34:22). Auriga = Charioteer. The brightest star is Alioth = a she-goat. Modern Lat. name is Capella, same meaning. The next is Menkilinon = the band of the goats, bound, never to be again lost (John 10:11). In the Zodiac of Denderah, the shepherd carries a scepter, the top with a goat, and the bottom with a cross (Mal. 4:1-3; Psa. 37:38-40).
GEMINI. The Twins. The name in the Zodiac of Denderah is Clusus, or Claustrum Hori = the place of Him Who cometh. The old Coptic name was Pi-Mahi = the united. Heb. Thaumim (from ta'am) = double. The root used in Exo. 26:24 (twinned together). The brightest star is Apollo = ruler or judge. The next is Hercules = who cometh to labor and suffer. Another is Al henah = hurt, wounded (Isa. 4:2; Isa. 32:1-2; Jer. 23:5-6; Jer. 33:14-15).
LEPUS (the enemy is trodden underfoot). In the Zodiac of Denderah, the name is Bashti-beki = falling confounded. Aratus says, "chased eternally." The brightest star is Arnebo = the enemy of Him Who cometh. Other stars are Nibal = the mad; Takis, the bound; Sugia, the deceiver (Isa. 63:3-4).
CANIS MAJOR. Sirius, the Prince. In the Zodiac of Denderah, it is Apes = the head. In Persian, Planisphere = a wolf (Heb. Ze'eb). The brightest star is Sirius = the Prince. In Persian Tistrya or Tistar = the chieftain. The next is Mirzam = the prince. Another is Wesen = the shining, and another Adhara = the glorious. Many other cognate names (Isa. 9:6; Isa. 55:4; Dan. 8:23; Dan. 8:25).
CANIS MINOR. The second Dog. In the Zodiac of Denderah, it is Sebak = conquering, victorious. The brightest star is Procyon = Redeemer. The next is Gomeisa (Arabic) = the burdened, bearing for others. Many other cognate names (Isa. 49:24-26; Isa. 59:19-20; Isa. 53:12),
CANCER. The Crab. Messiah's possessions held fast. In the Zodiac of Denderah and Esneh it is a sacred beetle. Its name there give is Klaria = cattle-folds. The Arabic name is Al Sarta'n = He Who holds or binds together (Gen. 49:11). The Greek name is Karkinos = encircling, the same as the Latin, Cancer, from Arabic Khan an Inn, and Ker, or Cer = encircling. The ancient Accadian is Su-kul-na = the seizer or possessor of seed. A bright cluster is called Praesepe = a multitude or offspring. The brightest star is Tegmine = holding. Another is Acubene = the sheltering or hiding place. Another, Ma'alaph = assembled thousands. North and south of Praesepe are two bright stars, Assellus North and Assellus South; their sign is 69, and called the two asses, thus connecting it with Cancer, which is the sign of Issachar (Gen. 49:14; Num. 2:5).
URSA MINOR. The Little Bear = the lesser sheep-fold. The brightest star of Ursa Minor is Dubheh = a herd. Arabic Dubah means cattle. Heb. Dober = a fold, from dobe' = rest or security, rendered "strength" in Deut. 33:25. See R.V. marg. All points to this Judges 5:16. The Heb. Dob = a bear. So Arabic Dub, and Persian Deeb or Dob. Hence the mistake.
The brightest star is Al riccaba = the turned or ridden on, denoting it as the Polar star. The Greeks called it Kunosoura = Cynosure, but this word is Accadian. An-nas-sur-ra = high in rising or high in heavenly position. The next bright star is Kochab = waiting for Him Who cometh.
URSA MAJOR. The Great Bear = the Fold and the Flock (Obad. 1:17-19). In Job 9:9 and Job 38:31-32, it is called 'Ash and her offspring. A.V. = Arcturus and her sons. R.V. = Bear and his train (marg., sons). Arabs still call it Al Naish or Annaish = the assembled together as in a fold. The brightest star is ubhe = a flock, which gives its name to the two constellations. The next is Merach = the flock (Arabic = purchased). The next is Phaeda or Pharda = numbered or guarded (Psa. 147:4). Another is called Benet Naish = which means daughters of the assembly. Another, Al Kaid = the assembled—many other cognate names (Ezek. 34:12-16).
ARGO. The Ship = the Pilgrims, safe at home. In the Egyptian Planisphere, there are two ships (like the two folds). they occupy one-half of the south meridians. The brightest star is Canopus = the possession of Him Who cometh. Other names are Sephina = the multitude. Tureis = the possession. Asmidiska = the released who travel, &c. (Jer. 30:10-11; Isa. 60:4-9).
LEO. The Lion. Messiah's consummated triumph. In the Zodiac of Denderah, it is Pi Mentikeon = the pouting out (of Divine wrath). The tree constellations crystallize the truth :
1. Hydra = the old serpent destroyed.
2. Crater = the cup of wrath poured out on him.
3. Corvus = the bird of prey devouring him.
The Denderah picture exhibits all four in one. The Syr. name is Aryo = the rending lion. Arab. Al Asad = the lion leaping forth as a flame. The brightest star is Regulus = treading underfoot. The next is Denebola = the Judge or Lord Who cometh. The next is Al Giebha = the exaltation. Another is Zosma = shining forth. All the others are cognate (Gen. 49:8-9; Num. 24:8-9; Amos 3:4; Amos 3:8; Isa. 42:13).
HYDRA. The Old Serpent. Hydra = he is abhorred. The brightest star is Cor Hydra = the heart of Hydra. Its ancient name is Al phard = the put away. Another is Al Drian = the abhorred. Another is Minchar al Sugia = the piercing of the deceiver.
CRATER. The Cup of wrath poured out (Psa. 75:8; Psa. 11:6; Rev. 14:10; Rev. 16:19). The constellation has thirteen stars.
CORVUS. The Raven. The birds of prey devouring. The name in the Zodiac of Denderah, Her-na = the enemy breaking up; there are nine stars. The brightest star is Chiba (Num. 23:8) = accursed. Another is Minchar al Gorab = the raven tearing to pieces.
Thus ends the Scriptures of the Heavens. This is the story they tell forth. This is the "speech" they "utter." This is the "knowledge" they "shew forth." There is no articulate speech or voice, and no words are heard, but their sayings have gone out into all the world (Psa. 19:1-6).
They are "for SEASONS"
Not only are the stars made for signs ('othoth, from the root 'athah = to come), but for Seasons. These are not the four seasons of the year but Cycles of time. The figure Polysyndeton in Gen. 1:14 emphasizes this: "and for seasons, and for days, and years." The word means appointed times (Gen. 17:21; Gen. 18:14; Gen. 21:2). Thus, the sun, moon, and stars are for "signs" (things to come) and for "seasons" (appointed times).
There are no less than ten of these cycles, all of them different, not concentric, but yet all of them coinciding at creation, but never since: like a number of hoops of different sizes hanging from a nail. This shows that they must have had a given simultaneous start.
1. The cycle of 24 hours for the day, and the evening and morning.
2. The revolution of the Moon around the earth.
3. The lunar cycle, which began at the same moment as the solar cycle.
4. The daily revolution of the Sun, which places it on the meridian at noon each day.
5. The Solar Cycle coincides with the first of the seven years of lunar motion and repeats itself every 365 days.
6. The beginning of a week of seven days on the first day of the week of the first month of the first year of the first solar cycle.
7. The first Eclipse of a cycle of eighteen years and eleven days, to which the ancient astronomers gave the name of Saros; each Saros containing an average of seventy eclipses, divided into two portions of 594 years and 666 years, making together 1,260 years.
8. Besides these, there is the period of the Heliacal rising of Sirius, in a cycle of 162 years.
9. The Transits of Venus.
10. And the grand cycle is known as the Precession of the Equinoxes.
All these combine and unite in proving that the inflated chronology of modern historians and theologians is entirely unscientific, being the hypothesis of men who dabbled in things outside their own sphere and of which they were incompetent to form a correct judgment.
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Genesis 6:2
That the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair;
and they took them wives of all which they chose.
The history of the Bible is largely that of the conflict between two seeds and the narrowing line through which the True Seed came. In the time of Noah, it was indicated that through the line of Shem, The Seed should come, and of the descendants of Shem, the family of Abraham was chosen. Ishmael is passed by, and Isaac is chosen. Esau is set aside, and Jacob is chosen. Of the sons of Jacob, Judah is chosen, and of Judah, came the family of David and so on unto the birth of Christ at Bethlehem. We are, however, conscious that in thus stating the case, we have narrowed our survey down to One, namely Christ, whereas it is perfectly clear from Scripture that the seed of Abraham was to be multiplied as the stars of heaven or as the sand of the seashore. We must return accordingly to Genesis 3, where the great prophecy concerning The Seed of the Woman is recorded and consider it more closely.
The Bible is the record of God's purpose in the Ages, a record that reveals a spiritual foe of great power and a conflict that involves two seeds, as indicated in the primeval prophecy of Genesis 3:
- I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her Seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise His heel (Gen. 3:15).
In this wonderful verse, we have the first mention of The Coming Christ Child and of His enemies. First, women do not have seed; they get seed from a man. Here is a prophecy of a Virgin Birth for this woman is to be found with Seed, and He will be so mighty He will bruise (crush) the head of the old serpent, and the serpent will bruise His heel. The bruising of His heel was the Crucifixion, and the bruising of Satan's head comes quickly.
The devil, now knowing God's plan, sets out to stop it, as our study will show. As a spoiler alert, he fails.
The Ark was prepared by Noah at the command of God with the express purpose of keeping seed alive upon the face of all the earth (Gen. 7:3), and the destruction of all flesh by the flood is intimately connected with the abnormal alliance of the sons of God, and the daughters of men (the Hebrew word for men = adam) (Gen. 6:1-4) and the resulting hybrid progeny, are the seed of the serpent. With the true seed thus preserved, the covenant of Genesis 9:9 was made. The next reference to seed is that of Genesis 12:7, where the promise of God to Abraham is expressed in one sentence: "Unto thy seed will I give this land."
Before we show what happened, we need to examine a very interesting Hebrew word. The word translated "began" (first in Gen. 4:26) is the Hebrew verb chalal, but the idea of beginning is entirely secondary. Chalal primarily means to perforate or pierce through. Thus, to wound as in Psalm 109:22, Isaiah 53:5. From this primitive meaning comes the derived sense of laying open, giving access to, and so to profane as one might a sanctuary (Lev. 19:8), and is used of profaning seed (Lev. 21:15. Chalal is translated in the A.V. be defiled, polluted, profaned, and prostitute, seventy times! The word chalal occurs in Genesis just eight times, and we give the references in order to provide every help possible in arriving at a true understanding of the passage before us:
Gen. 4:26 Then began men to call upon the name of the Lord.
Gen. 6:1 When men began to multiply.
Gen. 9:20 Noah began to be an husbandman.
Gen. 10:8 Nimrod ... he began to be a mighty one.
Gen. 11:6 This they begin to do.
Gen. 41:54 The seven years of dearth began to come.
Gen. 44:12 He searched, and began at the eldest.
Gen. 49:3-4 Reuben ... then defiledst thou it.
It is not without significance that on the one occasion in Genesis where the verb chalal is translated as defile, the reference is to Reuben, who committed a defiling sin against his father and so lost the excellency of the firstborn's position. Here was a most definite attempt to pollute the seed and is but one of many similar attempts that are recorded in the Book of Genesis. The second reference, Genesis 6:1, is recorded as a preface to the violation of God's will by the sons of God, another attack upon The Seed. Even the innocent record Noah began to be a husbandman is but a preface to his drunkenness and the illegitimate begetting of Canaan (Gen. 9:20-27), and Nimrod stands as the head of the abomination that is associated with Babylon throughout the entire Word of God.
Genesis 6 deals with a phenomenon so unnatural that the mind at first turns from it and searches for a more reasonable interpretation than that which lies upon the surface. As this chapter is to the world of Noah and his three sons, what Genesis 3 is to Adam and the entire race, we must spare no pains in our endeavor to understand its teaching. Who and what are the sons of God? In what way could such beings take to themselves, wives? And how could such wives bear them children? How are we to understand the word giants? And what is the meaning of the words "And after that" in Genesis 6:4? What is the significance of the word perfect when applied to Noah (Gen. 6:9), and what is the intention of the words all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth? (Gen. 6:12). These subjects should be studied by the student of the Bible in the context of the seed of the serpent.
The words "sons of God" found in Genesis 6:2 have been variously translated, but the translations fall into two main groups:
1. The sons of God refer to the descendants of Seth, whereas the daughters of men were the descendants of either Cain or the other sons and daughters of Adam whose names have not been recorded (Gen. 5:4).
2. The sons of God were fallen angels.
It is most evident that the word "God" in "the sons of God" is set over against "men" in "the daughters of Men"; the word translated "men" being a faulty rendering, for (a) the word in the original is singular, (b) it has the definite article "the," (c) it is the word adam, and the passage should be rendered "the daughters of the man Adam." Without the article, "Adam" denotes mankind in general, but with the article, it denotes the man Adam. Now, however godly the children of Seth may have been up to this time, they could never have been contrasted with the other descendants of Adam, for he was the father of all. Genesis is not putting into contrast two lines descended from Adam, but the sons of God, over against the children of Men.
Before Moses wrote Genesis, a man lived in the land of Uz whose name was Job, and the preface to his most terrible ordeal is given in Chapter 1 of that Book. There we find that there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan came also among them (Job 1:6). Now, if the sons of God here referred to the godly among men, surely Job, not Satan would have been among them (Job 1:1). It is assumed that the title "son of God" is used of men in the Old Testament, but this is not so. Job 1:6, Job 2:1, Job 38:7, Psalm 29:1, Psalm 89:6, and Daniel 3:25 all refer to angels. The passage in Hosea 1:10 is not the translation of the Hebrew Beni-ha-Elohim, but Beni-el-chai. Moreover, the Septuagint translates the expression in Genesis 6:2 as "angels." Jude 1:6 makes it clear that there was a fall among the angels; they left their own estate (Gr. oiketerion in 2 Cor. 5:2, a spiritual body), and their transgression was "in like manner" to the sons of Sodom. This fall took place "in the days of Noah" (1 Pet. 3:20; 2 Pet. 2:4).
The progeny of this union are called "giants" Nephilim or "fallen ones." They were monsters both in size and in sin, and it was the express purpose of the flood to blot them out and to recommence a new world with the children of the one man whose pedigree was uncontaminated, namely Noah. It is beyond the ability of any man to demonstrate how it could come about that the marriage of a man of the line of Seth to a woman descended equally from Adam should or could produce such a monstrous race. This subject is part of a larger one, namely the Truth about the presence of the Two Seeds on the earth, and the reader is directed to articles dealing with the Fallen Angels, Seed, and Giants for further teaching on the subject.
Nephilim
This word occurs three times in the original Hebrew and is translated as "giants." "There were giants in the earth" (Gen. 6:4); "There we saw the giants, the sons of Anak, which come of the giants" (Num. 13:33). These "Nephilim" were in the earth immediately before the flood, and "after that" as Genesis 6:4 continues: "And also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown."
The giants that the spies saw were evidently descended from those Nephilim that were on the earth after the flood. The word Nephilim does not of itself indicate a gigantic structure, and it rather looks to the height from which these beings have fallen. Naphal in Hebrew means "to fall," and the Nephilim are "fallen ones." Genesis 3:15 contains not only a promise concerning the seed of the woman but also a warning that there would be a seed of the serpent and that the conflict between these two seeds would constitute the conflict of the ages.
Another name given to this evil seed is the Rephaim (Gen. 14:5), which is translated as "giants" in Deuteronomy 2:11; Deut. 2:20; Deut. 3:11; Deut. 3:13; Joshua 12:4; Joshua 13:12; Joshua 15:8; Joshua 17:15; Joshua 18:16; 1 Chronicles 20:4, 1 Chron. 20:6, and 1 Chron. 20:8. These Rephaim (in Isa. 26:14 "deceased" in A.V.) have no resurrection.
The Preservation of the Seed in Noah
In direct contrast with the prevailing corruption, the patriarch Noah stands out in the record of Genesis 6 as a notable exception.
The wickedness of man was so great in the earth and every imagination of the thoughts of his heart only evil continually, that we read the extraordinary statement, "And it repented the Lord that He had made man on the earth, and it grieved Him at His heart" (Gen. 6:6).
This word repented challenges us, for in what way can God be said to repent? This is not the only occasion when repentance is predicated on the Lord. At the intercession of Moses, the Lord repented of the evil which He thought to do unto His people (Exod. 32:14); this repentance is repeated in the days of David (2 Sam. 24:16), and this repentance is commemorated in Psalm 106:45. It was the complaint of Jonah that he knew full well that God is merciful would repent if only Nineveh would turn to Him (Jonah 3:9-10; Jonah 4:2).
These gracious repentings we can perhaps understand, but it is strange indeed to read that the Lord repented that He had made man. In the first place, we may say that repenting and being grieved at the heart are instances of the figure of speech known as anthropopatheia, a figure which ascribes human attributes to God. The Hebrews called this mode of speech Derek Benai Adam = The way of Adam, and without such condescension on the part of God, man could never apprehend His revelation. But conceding all this and admitting that the use of such parts of the body as the face, nostril, eyes, ears, and hands with reference to God are accommodations to our limitations, we nevertheless believe that they stand for realities, even though we can affix to such spiritual realities no human name.
In like manner, though we may not take the words grief, anger, jealousy, and other similar affections and feelings at their surface value, we nevertheless know that they stand for something equivalent on the high plane of Divine experience. Consequently, we are to gather from Genesis 6:6 that something of extreme antipathy to the purpose of God and creation had come in and spoiled the work of God's hands, grieved His heart, and made Him repent that He had made man. In the language of the parable, the reason is found in the fact that "an enemy hath done this" and that with reference to two sowings of seed (Matt. 13:28).
Throughout the Bible, we have the consciousness of a conflict, a conflict between good and evil, darkness and light, God and Satan, and that the battle is intensely real, making demands upon the Wisdom and Power of The Almighty and culminating in the sparing, not of His Beloved Son.
If such inroads had been made into the nature of mankind by the evil one, that it could be said all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth, then God must act and act drastically if the situation were to be saved. The word translated corrupt in Genesis 6:11-12, and the word translated destroy in Genesis 6:17 is the Hebrew shachath. The only remedy was to destroy it (de facto) as it had become destroyed (de jure) (The Companion Bible). In the future, at the time of the sounding of the seventh angel (Rev. 11:15), the wheel has come full circle, as it was in the days of Noah, and we read that the time had come to destroy them, which destroy (or corrupt) the earth (Rev. 11:18).
Standing separate and almost alone in the midst of well-nigh universal corruption was Noah. It is not without significance that the name Noah is derived from the same Hebrew word translated repent. The Hebrew word is nacham and is found for the first time in Scripture in the words of Lamech, saying, "This same shall comfort us" (Gen. 5:29), and refers to the Ark and the Flood. The next occurrence of nacham is in Genesis 6:6, where it is written: "it repented the Lord." The reason why the one Hebrew word can have such opposite meanings is that, primarily, nacham means a change of mind or affection, and obviously, the mind may change sometimes in one way, sometimes in another. God changed His mind regarding mankind as a whole and destroyed them. He changed His mind about Noah in particular and saved him. What constituted the essential difference between Noah and the rest of mankind? We shall find upon examining the history of Israel that they are denounced as wicked, corrupt, and evil, yet even though enemies because of The Gospel, they are beloved because of the fathers, for the gifts and calling of God are without repentance (Rom. 11:29). Israel, for all their sins, were the chosen seed, and so were saved. Even after the Flood, the words are written, I will not again curse the ground anymore for man's sake; for (although, Heb. ki) the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth (Gen. 8:21). What was it that the Lord saw in the generation before the flood that demanded total destruction? It was the corrupting of the seed, and it is the separation of Noah from this that marks him out in Genesis 6.
- These are the generations of Noah: Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God (Gen. 6:9).
Noah, like Enoch, walked with God, but this was not all. Noah found grace, the first to so find in all Scripture, but in addition, Noah was perfect in his generations. As the word generations occurs twice in this passage, let us note that the first word is a translation of toledoth family history, and can read either forward or backward, and can speak of either one's ancestors or of one's descendants, but the second word is a translation of the Hebrew dor which refers to Noah's contemporaries, the men living at the same time as himself. With regard to his contemporaries, Noah was perfect. This word, which translates to the Hebrew tamim, means without blemish and primarily refers to physical, not moral, perfection. It is in constant use to describe the blemishless character of a sacrificial animal (Exod. 12:5; Lev. 1:3). Job was described as perfect, as well as upright (Job. 1:1, Job. 1:8; Job. 2:3) and Jacob is described as a plain man (Gen. 25:27), using the same word as is employed in Job and translated perfect, while undefiled is the translation of the word in Song. 5:2 and Song. 6:9. The testimony of Genesis 6:9 is that Noah was uncontaminated so far as his pedigree was concerned, and the channel through which The Seed of the Woman could come, though narrowed down by the well-nigh universal corruption that had set in, was still preserved.
So to cleanse the world of the wicked seed, The Flood had to come, and "eight souls were saved by water" (1 Pet. 3:30) so the human race could be sent a Savior in the form of The Seed of the Woman, Who is Christ Jesus our Lord.
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Matt. 27:38 and Luke 23:32
Misled by tradition and the ignorance of Scripture on the part of medieval painters, it is the general belief that only two were crucified with the Lord.
But these are not the events according to Scripture, for they state that there were two "thieves" (should be robbers for being a thief was not a capital crime, and the Greek word is lestes = robbers, Matt. 27:38; Mark 15:27) and that there were two "malefactors" or evil-doers (Gr. kakouryos, Luke 23:32).
It is also recorded that both the robbers reviled Him (Matt. 27:44; Mark 15:32), while in Luke 23:39, only one of the malefactors "railed on Him," and "the other rebuked him" for so doing (Luke 23:40). If there were only two, this is a real discrepancy; and there is another, for the two malefactors were "led with Him to be put to death" (Luke 23:32), and when they came to Calvary, "they" then and there ". . . crucified Him and the malefactors, one on the right hand and the other on the left" (Luke 23:33).
Another discrepancy is, according to Matthew 27:35-38, that after the parting of the garments, and after ". . . sitting down they watched Him there," then they ". . . set up over his head his accusation written, THIS IS JESUS THE KING OF THE JEWS" then, ". . . were there two robbers crucified with Him, one on the right hand and the other on the left" (Matt. 27:38; Mark 15:27). The two malefactors had already been ". . . led with Him" and were therefore crucified "with Him," and before the two robbers were brought.
The first two (malefactors) who were "led with Him" were placed, one on either side. When the other two (robbers) were brought much later, they were also similarly placed so that there were two (one malefactor and one robber) on either side and the Lord in the midst. The malefactors were, therefore, the nearer, and being on the inside, they could easily speak to one another. One rebuked the other for railing on Christ and then asked The Lord Jesus to remember him, as recorded (Luke 23:39-43).
John's record confirms this, for he speaks only of place and not of time. He generally speaks of the fact: ". . . where they crucified Him, and with Him others, two on this side, and that side, and Jesus in the midst" (John 19:8). In Rev. 22:2, we have the same expression in the Greek (enteuthen kai enteuthen), which is accurately rendered "on either side." So it should be rendered here: ". . . and with Him others, on either side."
But John further states (John 19:32-33): ". . . then came the soldiers and brake the legs of the first, and of the other which was crucified with Him. But when they came (Gr. = having come) to Jesus, and saw that He was dead already, they brake not His legs." Had there been only two (one on either side), the soldiers would not have come to the Lord but would have passed Him and then turned back again. But they came to Him after they had broken the legs of the first two.
There are two Greek words used for the "other" and "others" in John 19:32 and Luke 23:32. In the former passage, we read, ". . . they break the legs of the first and of the other." Here, the Greek is allos, which is the other (the second) of the two when there are more (see Matt. 10:23; Matt. 25:16-17; Matt. 25:20; Matt. 27:61; Matt. 28:1; John 18:15-16; John 20:2; John 20:4; John 20:8; and Rev. 17:10).
In the latter passage (Luke 23:32), the word is heteros = different: "and others also, two were being led with Him." These were different from Him with Whom they were led, not different from one another, for they were "in the same condemnation" and "justly," while He had "done nothing amiss" (Luke 23:40-41).
From this evidence, therefore, it is clear that there were four "others" crucified with the Lord; and thus, on the one hand, there are no "discrepancies," as alleged, while, on the other hand, every word and every expression, in the Greek, gets (and gives) its own exact value, and its full significance.
To show that we are not without evidence, even from tradition, we may state that there is a "Calvary" to be seen at Ploubezere near Lannion, in the Cotes-du-Nord, Brittany, known as Les Cinq Croix ("The Five Crosses"). There is a high cross in the center, with four lower ones, two on either side. There may be other instances of which we have not heard.
"In the Roman Catholic church ... the altar slab or "table" alone is consecrated, and in a sign of this are cut in its upper surface five Greek crosses, one in the center and one in each corner ... but the history of the origin and development of this practice is not fully known"
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Why do we call this holiday Easter? What is the meaning of the term Easter itself? It is not a Christian name? It bears its Chaldean origin on its very forehead. Easter is nothing else than Astarte, one of the titles of Beltis, the queen of heaven, whose name, as pronounced by the people of Nineveh, was evidently identical with that now in common use in this country and around the world.
That name, as found by Layard on the Assyrian monuments, is Ishtar. The worship of Bel and Astarte was very early introduced into Britain, along with the Druids, "the priests of the groves." Some have imagined that the Druidical worship was first introduced by the Phoenicians, who, centuries before the Christian era, traded to the tin mines of Cornwall. But the unequivocal traces of that worship are found in regions of the British islands where the Phoenicians never penetrated, and it has everywhere left indelible marks of the stronghold which it must have had on the early British mind.
From Bel, May 1 is still called Beltane in the Almanac, and we have customs still lingering to this day among us, which prove how exactly the worship of Bel or Moloch (for both titles belonged to the same god) had been observed. Today, we have festivals which, in fact, are a part of the ancient worship of Baal, and where in the past the person on whom the lot fell was previously burnt as a sacrifice, today they burn an effigy (think Burning Man). If Baal was thus worshipped in days gone by, will it be difficult to believe that our ancestors also adored his consort Astarte? And that from Astarte, whose name in Nineveh was Ishtar, the religious solemnities of April, as now practiced, are called by the name of Easter -- that month, among our Pagan ancestors, having been called Easter-monath.
The festival of which we read in Church history, under the name of Easter, in the third or fourth centuries, was quite a different festival from that now observed in the Church and, at that time, was not known by any such name as Easter. It was called Pasch, or the Passover, and though not of the Apostolic institution, was very early observed by many professing Christians in commemoration of the death and Resurrection of Christ.
Socrates, the ancient ecclesiastical historian, after a lengthened account of the different ways in which Easter was observed in different countries in his time--i.e., the fifth century--sums up in these words: "Thus much already laid down may seem a sufficient treatise to prove that the celebration of the feast of Easter began everywhere more of custom than by any commandment either of Christ or any Apostle." (Hist. Ecclesiast.)
Everyone knows that the name "Easter," used in our translation of Acts 12:4, refers not to any Christian festival but to the Jewish Passover. This is one of the few places in our version where the translators show an undue bias.
That festival agreed originally with the time of the Jewish Passover, when Christ was crucified, a period which, in the days of Tertullian, at the end of the second century, was believed to have been March 23. That festival was not idolatrous, and no Lent preceded it. "It ought to be known," said Cassianus, the monk of Marseilles, writing in the fifth century and contrasting the primitive Church with the Church in his day, "that the observance of the forty days had no existence, so long as the perfection of that primitive Church remained inviolate." Whence, then, comes this observance? The forty-day abstinence of Lent was directly borrowed from the worshippers of the Babylonian goddess. Such a Lent of forty days, "in the spring of the year," is still observed by the Yezidis or Pagan Devil-worshippers of Koordistan, who have inherited it from their early masters, the Babylonians.
Such a Lent of forty days was held in spring by the Pagan Mexicans, for thus we read in Humboldt, where he gives an account of Mexican observances: "Three days after the vernal equinox...began a solemn fast of forty days in honor of the sun." Such a Lent of forty days was observed in Egypt, as may be seen in consulting Wilkinson's Egyptians. This Egyptian Lent of forty days, we are informed by Landseer, in his Sabean Researches, was held expressly in commemoration of Adonis or Osiris, the great mediatorial god. At the same time, the rape of Proserpine seems to have been commemorated, and in a similar manner; for Julius Firmicus informs us that, for "forty nights," the "wailing for Proserpine" continued; and from Arnobius, we learn that the fast which the Pagans observed, called "Castus" or the "sacred" fast, was, by the Christians in his time, believed to have been primarily in imitation of the long fast of Ceres, when for many days she determinedly refused to eat on account of her "excess of sorrow," that is, on account of the loss of her daughter Proserpine, when carried away by Pluto, the god of hell.
As the stories of Bacchus, or Adonis and Proserpine, though originally distinct, were made to join on and fit into one another, so that Bacchus was called Liber, and his wife Ariadne, Libera (which was one of the names of Proserpine), it is highly probable that the forty days fast of Lent was made in later times to have reference to both. Among the Pagans, this Lent seems to have been an indispensable preliminary to the great annual festival in commemoration of the death and resurrection of Tammuz, which was celebrated by alternate weeping and rejoicing and which, in many countries, was considerably later than the Christian festival, being observed in Palestine and Assyria in June, therefore called the "month of Tammuz"; in Egypt, about the middle of May, and in Britain, sometime in April.
To conciliate the Pagans to nominal Christianity, Rome, pursuing its usual policy, took measures to get the Christian and Pagan festivals amalgamated, and, by a complicated but skillful adjustment of the calendar, it was found no difficult matter, in general, to get Paganism and Christianity--now far sunk in idolatry--in this as in so many other things, to shake hands. The instrument in accomplishing this amalgamation was the abbot Dionysius the Little, to whom also we owe it, as modern chronologers have demonstrated, that the date of the Christian era, or of the birth of Christ Himself, was moved FOUR YEARS from the true time. Whether this was done through ignorance or design may be a matter of question, but there seems to be no doubt of the fact that the birth of the Lord Jesus was made a full four years later than when our Savior was born. This change of the calendar in regard to Easter was attended with momentous consequences. It brought into the Church the grossest corruption and the rankest superstition in connection with the abstinence of Lent.
The origin of the Pasch eggs is just as clear. The ancient Druids bore an egg as the sacred emblem of their order. In the Dionysiaca, or mysteries of Bacchus, as celebrated in Athens, one part of the nocturnal ceremony consisted of the consecration of an egg. The Hindoo fables celebrate their mundane egg as a golden color. The people of Japan make their sacred egg to have been brazen. In China, at this hour, dyed or painted eggs are used on sacred festivals, even as in this country. In ancient times, eggs were used in the religious rites of the Egyptians and the Greeks and were hung up for mystic purposes in their temples. From Egypt, these sacred eggs can be distinctly traced to the banks of the Euphrates. The classic poets are full of the fable of the mystic egg of the Babylonians, and thus its tale is told by Hyginus, the Egyptian, the learned keeper of the Palatine library at Rome, in the time of Augustus, who was skilled in all the wisdom of his native country: "An egg of wondrous size is said to have fallen from heaven into the river Euphrates. The fishes rolled it to the bank, where the doves, having settled upon it and hatched it, out came Venus, who afterward was called the Syrian Goddess"--that is, Astarte. Hence, the egg became one of the symbols of Astarte or Easter, and accordingly, in Cyprus, one of the chosen seats of the worship of Venus, or Astarte, the egg of wondrous size was represented on a grand scale.
The Meaning of the Name Astarte:
That Semiramis, under the name of Astarte, was worshipped not only as an incarnation of the Spirit of God but as the mother of mankind, we have very clear and satisfactory evidence.
1. The name Astarte, as applied to her, has reference to her as being Rhea or Cybele, the tower-bearing goddess, the first, as Ovid says (Opera), that "made (towers) in cities"; for we find from Layard that in the Syrian temple of Hierapolis, "she (Dea Syria or Astarte) was represented standing on a lion crowned with towers." Now, no name could more exactly picture forth the character of Semiramis, as the queen of Babylon, than the name of "Ash-tart," for that just means "The woman that made towers." Ash-turit, then, which is obviously the same as the Hebrew "Ashtoreth," is just "The woman that made the encompassing wall." In confirmation of this interpretation of the meaning of the name Astarte, I may adduce an epithet applied to the Greek Diana, who at Ephesus bore a turreted crown on her head and was identified with Semiramis, which is not a little striking.
Semiramis, being deified as Astarte, came to be raised to the highest honors, and her change into a dove was evidently intended, when the distinction of sex had been blasphemously attributed to the Godhead, to identify her, under the name of the Mother of the gods, with that Divine Spirit, without whose agency no one can be born a child of God, and whose emblem, in the symbolical language of Scripture, was the Dove, as that of the Messiah was the Lamb.
Since the Spirit of God is the source of all wisdom, natural as well as spiritual, arts and inventions, and skill of every kind being attributed to Him (Exo. 31:3; Exo. 35:31), so the Mother of the gods, in whom that Spirit was feigned to be incarnate, was celebrated as the originator of some of the useful arts and sciences (Diodorus Siculus). Hence, the character attributed to the Grecian Minerva, whose name Athena, as we have seen reason to conclude, is only a synonym for Beltis, the well-known name of the Assyrian goddess. Athena, the Minerva of Athens, is universally known as the "goddess of wisdom," the inventress of arts and sciences.
2. The name Astarte also signifies the "Maker of investigations" and, in this respect, was applicable to Cybele or Semiramis, as symbolized by the Dove. This is one of the meanings of the name Astarte may be seen by comparing it with the cognate names Asterie and Astraea (in Greek Astraia), which are formed by taking the last member of the compound word in the masculine instead of the feminine, Teri, or Tri (the latter being pronounced Trai or Trae), being the same in sense as Tart. Now, Asterie was the wife of Perseus, the Assyrian (Herodotus), and who was the founder of Mysteries (Bryant). As Asterie was further represented as the daughter of Bel, this implies a position similar to that of Semiramis. Astraea, again, was the goddess of justice, who is identified with the heavenly virgin Themis, the name Themis signifying "the perfect one," who gave oracles (Ovid, Metam.), and who, having lived on earth before the Flood, forsook it just before that catastrophe came on. Themis and Astraea are sometimes distinguished and sometimes identified, but both have the same character as goddesses of justice. The explanation of the discrepancy obviously is that the Spirit has sometimes been viewed as incarnate and sometimes not.
When incarnate, Astraea is the daughter of Themis. What name could more exactly agree with the character of a goddess of justice than Ash-trai-a, "The maker of investigations," and what name could more appropriately shadow forth one of the characters of that Divine Spirit, who "searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God"? As Astraea, or Themis, was "Fatidica Themis," "Themis the prophetic," this also was another characteristic of the Spirit; for whence can any true oracle, or prophetic inspiration, come, but from the inspiring Spirit of God? Then, lastly, what can more exactly agree with the Divine statement in Genesis in regard to the Spirit of God than the statement of Ovid, that Astraea was the last of the celestials who remained on earth and that her forsaking it was the signal for the downpouring of the destroying deluge?
The announcement of the coming Flood is in Scripture ushered in with these words (Gen 6:3): "And the Lord said, My Spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years." All these 120 years, the Spirit was striving; when they came to an end, the Spirit strove no longer, forsook the earth, and left the world to its fate. But though the Spirit of God forsook the earth, it did not forsake the family of righteous Noah. It entered with the patriarch into the ark, and when that patriarch came forth from his long imprisonment, it came forth along with him. Thus, the Pagans had a historical foundation for their myth of the dove resting on the symbol of the ark in the Babylonian waters and the Syrian goddess, or Astarte--the same as Astraea--coming forth from it. Semiramis, then, as Astarte, worshipped as the dove, was regarded as the incarnation of the Spirit of God.
Why Christians would call a day remembering the Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ by the Pagan Easter is unforgivable.
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