The Astronomy of the Bible Part 19

"Men mark them (_i. e._ the Pleiades) rising with the solar ray, The harbinger of summer's brighter day."

They heralded, therefore, the revival of nature from her winter sleep, the time of which the kingly poet sang so alluringly--

"For, lo, the winter is past, The rain is over and gone; The flowers appear on the earth; The time of the singing of birds is come, And the voice of the turtle is heard in our land; The fig-tree ripeneth her green figs, And the vines are in blossom, They give forth their fragrance."

The constellation which thus heralded the return of this genial season was poetically taken as representing the power and influence of spring.

Their "sweet influences" were those that had rolled away the gravestone of snow and ice which had lain upon the winter tomb of nature. Theirs was the power that brought the flowers up from under the turf; earth's constellations of a million varied stars to s.h.i.+ne upwards in answer to the constellations of heaven above. Their influences filled copse and wood with the songs of happy birds. Theirs stirred anew the sap in the veins of the trees, and drew forth their reawakened strength in bud and blossom. Theirs was the bleating of the new-born lambs; theirs the murmur of the reviving bees.

Upon this view, then, the question to Job was, in effect, "What control hast thou over the powers of nature? Canst thou hold back the sun from s.h.i.+ning in spring-time--from quickening flower, and herb, and tree with its gracious warmth? This is G.o.d's work, year by year over a thousand lands, on a million hills, in a million valleys. What canst thou do to hinder it?"

The question was a striking one; one which must have appealed to the patriarch, evidently a keen observer and lover of nature; and it was entirely in line with the other inquiries addressed to him in the same chapter.

"Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth?"

The Revised Version renders the question--

"Canst thou bind the _cl.u.s.ter_ of the Pleiades?"

reading the Hebrew word _Ma'anaddoth_, instead of _Ma'adannoth_, following in this all the most ancient versions. On this view, Job is, in effect, asked, "Canst thou gather together the stars in the family of the Pleiades and keep them in their places?"

The expression of a chain or band is one suggested by the appearance of the group to the eye, but it is no less appropriate in the knowledge which photography and great telescopes have given us. To quote from Miss Clerke's description of the nebula discovered round the brighter stars of the Pleiades--Alcyone, Asterope, Celno, Electra, Maia, Merope and Taygeta:--

"Besides the Maia vortex, the Paris photographs depicted a series of nebulous bars on either side of Merope, and a curious streak extending like a finger-post from Electra towards Alcyone . . . Streamers and fleecy ma.s.ses of cosmical fog seem almost to fill the s.p.a.ces between the stars, as clouds choke a mountain valley. The chief points of its concentration are the four stars Alcyone, Merope, Maia, and Electra; but it includes as well Celno and Taygeta, and is traceable southward from Asterope over an arc of 1 10'. . . .

The greater part of the constellation is shown as veiled in nebulous matter of most unequal densities. In some places it lies in heavy folds and wreaths, in others it barely qualifies the darkness of the sky-ground. The details of its distribution come out with remarkable clearness, and are evidently to a large extent prescribed by the relative situations of the stars. Their lines of junction are frequently marked by nebulous rays, establis.h.i.+ng between them, no doubt, relations of great physical importance; and ma.s.ses of nebula, in numerous instances, seem as if _pulled out of shape_ and drawn into festoons by the attractions of neighbouring stars. But the strangest exemplification of this filamentous tendency is in a fine, thread-like process, 3'' or 4'' wide, but 35' to 40' long, issuing in an easterly direction from the edge of the nebula about Maia, and stringing together seven stars, met in its advance, like beads on a rosary. The largest of these is apparently the occasion of a slight deviation from its otherwise rectilinear course. A second similar but shorter streak runs, likewise east and west, through the midst of the formation."[229:1]

[Ill.u.s.tration: NEBULOSITIES OF THE PLEIADES.

Photographed by Dr. Max Wolf, Heidelberg.]

Later photographs have shown that not only are the several stars of the Pleiades linked together by nebulous filaments, but the whole cl.u.s.ter is embedded in a nebulous net that spreads its meshes far out into s.p.a.ce.

Not only is the group thus tied or bound together by nebulous clouds, it has other tokens of forming but a single family. The movements of the several stars have been carefully measured, and for the most part the entire cl.u.s.ter is drifting in the same direction; a few stars do not share in the common motion, and are probably apparent members, seen in perspective projected on the group, but in reality much nearer to us.

The members of the group also show a family likeness in const.i.tution.

When the spectroscope is turned upon it, the chief stars are seen to closely resemble each other; the princ.i.p.al lines in their spectra being those of hydrogen, and these are seen as broad and diffused bands, so that the spectrum we see resembles that of the brightest star of the heavens, Sirius.

There can be little doubt but that the leaders of the group are actually greater, brighter suns than Sirius itself. We do not know the exact distance of the Pleiades, they are so far off that we can scarcely do more than make a guess at it; but it is probable that they are so far distant that our sun at like distance would prove much too faint to be seen at all by the naked eye. The Pleiades then would seem to be a most glorious star-system, not yet come to its full growth. From the standpoint of modern science we may interpret the "chain" or "the sweet influences" of the Pleiades as consisting in the enfolding wisps of nebulosity which still, as it were, knit together those vast young suns; or, and in all probability more truly, as that mysterious force of gravitation which holds the mighty system together, and in obedience to which the group has taken its present shape. The question, if asked us to-day, would be, in effect, "Canst thou bind together by nebulous chains scores of suns, far more glorious than thine own, and scattered over many millions of millions of miles of s.p.a.ce; or canst thou loosen the attraction which those suns exercise upon each other, and move them hither and thither at thy will?"

FOOTNOTES:

[217:1] _Glossary of Greek Birds_, pp. 28, 29.

[221:1] R. H. Allen, _Star Names and their Meanings_, p. 401.

[223:1] _Berachoth_, fol. 59, col. 1.

[229:1] _The System of the Stars_, 1st edit., pp. 230-232.

CHAPTER VII

ORION

_Kesil_, the word rendered by our translators "Orion," occurs in an astronomical sense four times in the Scriptures; twice in the Book of Job, once in the prophecy of Amos, and once, in the plural, in the prophecy of Isaiah. In the three first cases the word is used in conjunction with _Kimah_, "the Pleiades," as shown in the preceding chapter. The fourth instance is rendered in the Authorized Version--

"For the stars of heaven and the constellations (_Kesilim_) thereof shall not give their light."

The Hebrew word _Kesil_ signifies "a fool," and that in the general sense of the term as used in Scripture; not merely a silly, untaught, f.e.c.kless person, but a G.o.dless and an impious one. Thus, in the Book of Proverbs, Divine Wisdom is represented as appealing--

"How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity? the scorners delight in their scorning, and _fools_ hate knowledge?"

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE STARS OF ORION.]

What constellation was known to the ancient Hebrews as "the fool"? The Seventy who rendered the Old Testament into Greek confess themselves at fault. Once, in Amos, both _Kimah_ and _Kesil_ are left untranslated. Instead of "Him that maketh the seven stars and Orion," we have the paraphrase, "That maketh and transformeth all things." Once, in Job, it is rendered "Hesperus," the evening star; and in the other two instances it is given as "Orion." The tradition of the real meaning of the word as an astronomical term had been lost, or at least much confused before the Septuagint Version was undertaken. The Jews had not, so far as there is any present evidence, learned the term in Babylon, for the word has not yet been found as a star-name on any cuneiform inscription. It was well known before the Exile, for Amos and Isaiah both use it, and the fact that the author of Job also uses it, indicates that he did not gain his knowledge of the constellation during the Babylonian captivity.

The majority of translators and commentators have, however, agreed in believing that the brightest and most splendid constellation in the sky is intended--the one which we know as Orion. This constellation is one of the very few in which the natural grouping of the stars seems to suggest the figure that has been connected with it. Four bright stars, in a great trapezium, are taken to mark the two shoulders and the two legs of a gigantic warrior; a row of three bright stars, midway between the four first named, suggest his gemmed belt; another row of stars straight down from the centre star of the belt, presents his sword; a compact cl.u.s.ter of three stars marks his head. A gigantic warrior, armed for the battle, seems thus to be outlined in the heavens. As Longfellow describes him--

"Begirt with many a blazing star, Stood the great giant, Algebar, Orion, hunter of the beast!

His sword hung gleaming by his side, And, on his arm, the lion's hide Scattered across the midnight air The golden radiance of its hair."

In accord with the form naturally suggested by the grouping of the stars, the Syrians have called the constellation _Gabbara_; and the Arabs, _Al Jabbar_; and the Jews, _Gibbor_. The brightest star of the constellation, the one in the left knee, now generally known as _Rigel_, is still occasionally called _Algebar_, a corruption of _Al Jabbar_, though one of the fainter stars near it now bears that name. The meaning in each case is "the giant," "the mighty one," "the great warrior," and no doubt from the first formation of the constellations, this, the most brilliant of all, was understood to set forth a warrior armed for the battle. There were _gibborim_ before the Flood; we are told that after "the sons of G.o.d came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men (_gibborim_) which were of old, men of renown."

But according to Jewish tradition, this constellation was appropriated to himself by a particular mighty man. We are told in Gen. x. that--

"Cush begat Nimrod: he began to be a mighty one (_gibbor_) in the earth."

and it is alleged that he, or his courtiers, in order to flatter him, gave his name to this constellation, just as thousands of years later the University of Leipzic proposed to call the belt stars of Orion, _Stellae Napoleonis_, "the Constellation of Napoleon."[234:1]

There was at one time surprise felt, that, deeply as the name of Nimrod had impressed itself upon Eastern tradition, his name, as such, was "nowhere found in the extensive literature which has come down to us"

from Babylon. It is now considered that the word, Nimrod, is simply a Hebrew variant of Merodach, "the well-known head of the Babylonian pantheon." He was probably "the first king of Babylonia or the first really great ruler of the country." It is significant, as Mr. T. G.

Pinches points out, in his _Old Testament in the Light of the Records from a.s.syria and Babylonia_, that just as in Genesis it is stated that "the beginning of his (Nimrod's) kingdom was Babel, and Erech, and Accad, and Calneh," so Merodach is stated, in the cuneiform records, to have built Babel and Erech and Niffer, which last is probably Calneh.

The Hebrew scribes would seem to have altered the name of Merodach in two particulars: they dropped the last syllable, thus suggesting that the name was derived from _Marad_, "the rebellious one"; and they prefixed the syllable "Ni," just as "Nisroch" was written for "a.s.sur."

"From a linguistic point of view, therefore, the identification of Nimrod as a changed form of Merodach is fully justified."

[Ill.u.s.tration: ORION AND THE NEIGHBOURING CONSTELLATIONS.]

The att.i.tude of Orion in the sky is a striking one. The warrior is represented as holding a club in the right hand, and a skin or s.h.i.+eld in the left. His left foot is raised high as if he were climbing a steep ascent, he seems to be endeavouring to force his way up into the zodiac, and--as Longfellow expresses it--to be beating the forehead of the Bull. His right leg is not shown below the knee, for immediately beneath him is the little constellation of the Hare, by the early Arabs sometimes called, _Al Kursiyy al Jabbar_, "the Chair of the Giant,"

from its position. Behind Orion are the two Dogs, each constellation distinguished by a very brilliant star; the Greater Dog, by _Sirius_, the brightest star in the heavens; the Lesser Dog, by _Procyon_, i.e.

the "Dog's Forerunner." Not far above Orion, on the shoulder of the Bull, is the little cl.u.s.ter of the Pleiades.

There are--as we have seen--only three pa.s.sages where _Kimah_, literally "the cl.u.s.ter" or "company,"--the group we know as the Pleiades,--is mentioned in Scripture; and in each case it is a.s.sociated with _Kesil_, "the fool,"--Orion. Several Greek poets give us the same a.s.sociation, likening the stars to "rock-pigeons, flying from the Hunter Orion." And Hesiod in his _Works and Days_ writes--

"Do not to plough forget, When the Seven Virgins, and Orion, set: Thus an advantage always shall appear, In ev'ry labour of the various year.

If o'er your mind prevails the love of gain, And tempts you to the dangers of the main, Yet in her harbour safe the vessel keep, When strong Orion chases to the deep The Virgin stars."

There is a suggestion of intense irony in this position of Orion amongst the other constellations. He is trampling on the Hare--most timid of creatures; he is climbing up into the zodiac to chase the little company of the Pleiades--be they seven doves or seven maidens--and he is thwarted even in this unheroic attempt by the determined att.i.tude of the guardian Bull.