Stars
The idea that the stars and planets are powerful rulers who govern
our destiny here below is a very ancient and surprising robust idea
that not only informs much of pagan theology, but even governs the
lives of some of our contemporaries here in America today, such as
Nancy Reagan:
"[Porphyry] 'For as to Chaeremon and the rest, they do
not believe in anything else prior to the visible worlds, since they
account as a ruling power the gods of the Egyptians, and no others
except the so-called planets, and those stars which fill up the
zodiac, and as many as rise near them: also the divisions into the "decani,"
and the horoscopes, and the so-called "mighty Rulers," the names of
which are contained in the almanacks, and their powers to heal
diseases, and their risings and settings, and indications of future
events. . .And most of them made even our own free will depend
upon the motion of the stars, binding all things down by indissoluble
bonds, I know not how, to a necessity which they call fate, and
making all things depend closely on these gods, whom, as the sole
deliverers from the bonds of fate, they worship with temples, and
statues, and the like.'" (Porphyry's Epistle to Anebo the Egyptian,
quoted in Eusebius, Preparation for the Gospel, Book
III, Chapter IV).
Many newspapers still carry horoscopes today, living down the
skeptics of antiquity who pointed out that twins, born at the same
time and place and thus with almost identical horoscopes, often have
very different destinies. This brings us to one of the odder entrants in the Watchtower pantheon:
'stars,' reputed by some amongst the Gentiles to be gods: "And beware, lest you
lift up your eyes to heaven and see the sun and the moon and the stars, all the
host of heaven, and be drawn away and worship them and serve them, those which
the LORD your God has allotted to all the peoples under the whole heaven." (Deuteronomy 4:19).
In times of apostasy, the faithless of Israel have adopted this
Gentile spirituality:
"Have ye offered unto me sacrifices and offerings in the wilderness forty years, O house of Israel?
But ye have borne the tabernacle of your Moloch and Chiun your images, the star of your god, which ye made to yourselves."
(Amos 5:25-26).
The proof-text for 'star-gods' is this: "The stars fought
from heaven, from their courses they fought against Sisera..." (Judges 5:20).
One wonders whether the brook 'Kishon' must be a god as well, as it bravely did
its bit in the battle, too: "The torrent of Kishon swept them away, the ancient
torrent, the torrent Kishon." (Judges 5:21). It may be that this text was spoken in mockery of the pagan
combatants, who may have numbered the stars in the pantheon, but were
abandoned by their champions in the conflict: their star-gods did not
save them. Why not? Loyal to their Creator, they fought on the other
side. But how do stars fight?
All of nature is in God's hands, the sun, moon, stars, rolling
tide, even the sparrow that falls from heaven. He may deploy these, His
creatures, as He chooses to work His will. If He had wished to annihilate Sisera's
armies with a Tunguska-magnitude asteroid crash from the heavens, who could stand in
His way? For purposes of ancient astronomy, 'stars' include 'wandering
stars', our planets, 'fixed stars', who now lay exclusive claim to the title
'star', plus meteorites, etc. The title 'fixed', in the Ptolemaic system, means
those stars whose positions relative one to another is constant, which is not true
of the 'wandering' planets. When in Egypt in 1911 a falling meteorite killed a dog,
'the stars' could accurately be identified as the cause of the dog's
demise.
It seems doubtful anything of Siberian magnitude happened on the
battle-field, because if it had, witnesses would not have come away telling stories
about somebody bashing somebody's brains out with a tent-peg. The military victory
was won, by the LORD, in the usual fashion, by the "edge of the sword": "And
the LORD discomfited Sisera, and all his chariots, and all his host, with the edge
of the sword before Barak; so that Sisera lighted down off his chariot, and fled
away on his feet." (Judges 4:15). So however the stars did their bit, it was in
a quieter, less obtrusive fashion, perhaps by alarming the enemy hosts with a
comet or 'nova,' a new thing in the heavens. However, if Sisera's people
were students of the widespread ancient pagan study of astrology, the
stars already have a voice by doing no more than entering into conjunctions and
oppositions in the normal pursuit of their courses.
As to how they fought, the text offers no blow-by-blow account of their battle.
Was it something along the lines of a meteor shower? No, because they fought "from
their courses" — no 'sky-gods' descended. The stars remained at
their stations. While this may be poetic language, it is
also possible there was some objective event in the heavens that
impacted events on the field. The sun and moon have done their bit
for Israel's military success: "O sun, stand still at Gibeon, and O moon in the
valley of Aijalon." (Joshua 10:12). But the planets and the stars do not
actually have to do anything that dramatic, or indeed to do much at
all, to impact the outcome of the battle, if one of the combatant
armies are pagan star-worshippers. Their unremarkable, non-miraculous
apparent conjunctions and divergences as seen from earth's perspective are already programmed into the
battle space as significant variables.
Ancient armies were easily spooked by portents in the heavens. Here a brave
soldier counsels retreat...because an bird suffered a mishap struggling with its
prey:
"While they were busy stripping the armor from these heroes, the youths who
were led on by Polydamas and Hector (and these were the greater part and the most
valiant of those that were trying to break through the wall and fire the ships) were
still standing by the trench, uncertain what they should do; for they had seen a
sign from heaven when they had essayed to cross it — a soaring eagle that flew
skirting the left wing of their host, with a monstrous blood-red snake in its talons
still alive and struggling to escape. The snake was still bent on revenge, wriggling
and twisting itself backwards till it struck the bird that held it, on the neck
and breast; whereon the bird being in pain, let it fall, dropping it into the
middle of the host, and then flew down the wind with a sharp cry. The Trojans were
struck with terror when they saw the snake, portent of aegis-bearing Jove,
writhing in the midst of them, and Polydamas went up to Hector and said,
'Hector, at our councils of war you are ever given to rebuke me, even when I speak
wisely, as though it were not well, forsooth, that one of the people should
cross your will either in the field or at the council board; you would have them
support you always: nevertheless I will say what I think will be best; let us not
now go on to fight the Danaans at their ships, for I know what will happen if this
soaring eagle which skirted the left wing of our with a monstrous blood-red snake in
its talons (the snake being still alive) was really sent as an omen to the Trojans
on their essaying to cross the trench. The eagle let go her hold; she did not succeed
in taking it home to her little ones, and so will it be — with ourselves; even
though by a mighty effort we break through the gates and wall of the Achaeans, and
they give way before us, still we shall not return in good order by the way we
came, but shall leave many a man behind us whom the Achaeans will do to death in
defense of their ships. Thus would any seer who was expert in these matters, and
was trusted by the people, read the portent.'" (Homer, Iliad, Book XII).
As can be seen from this episode, the heavenly bodies do not
actually have to do much of anything to produce a striking impact on
the behavior of a pagan military force. If some state or conjunction
is thought to presage defeat, this can induce panicked flight. To
devotees of the astrological system, the stars do not have to do
anything remarkable to deliver a message, encouraging or
discouraging; their normal courses are interpreted as fraught with
meaning. By appearing in a favorable conformation, they might
encourage rash aggression which can back-fire, or by lining up in a
baleful but still perfectly natural configuration, they can induce
hesitancy and over-caution. The stars are drawn into combat, willing
or not, by the beliefs of the astrologers. They have already been
'conscripted' into the military by their devotees; simply by being where
they are at, they are flashing commands; but once arrayed
on the battle-field, they are free to display their true loyalties. Whatever their input on
this occasion, it ultimately worked to Israel's advantage. Perhaps it was
'treachery:' they 'encouraged' Sisera then played him false. Perhaps
it was open warning: 'Retreat! Retreat!' (the stars do not actually say
'retreat,' but pagan astrologers 'interpret' them as saying such
things.
By contrast to pagan armies, those who put their trust in
the LORD are not easily spooked. Josephus retells the story of a pagan army
standing around waiting...for a bird to tell them which way to go:
"As I was myself going to the Red Sea, there followed us a man, whose name was Mosollam; he was one of the Jewish horsemen who conducted us; he was a person
of great courage, of a strong body, and by all allowed to be the most skillful archer
that was either among the Greeks or barbarians. Now this man, as people were
in great numbers passing along the road, and a certain augur was observing an
augury by a bird, and requiring them all to stand still, inquired what they staid
for. Hereupon the augur showed him the bird from whence he took his augury, and
told him that if the bird staid where he was, they ought all to stand still; but
that if he got up, and flew onward, they must go forward; but that if he flew
backward, they must retire again. Mosollam made no reply, but drew his bow, and shot
at the bird, and hit him, and killed him; and as the augur and some others were very
angry, and wished imprecations upon him, he answered them thus: Why are you so mad
as to take this most unhappy bird into your hands? for how can this bird give us
any true information concerning our march, who could not foresee how to save himself?
for had he been able to foreknow what was future, he would not have come to this
place, but would have been afraid lest Mosollam the Jew should shoot at him, and
kill him.'" (Flavius Josephus, Against Apion, Book 1).
So the Jew Mosollam was unimpressed with the bird's
hesitation. Mosollam was no atheist, but his understanding of bird
behavior was realistic and naturalistic, because his religion
dictated such an understanding. And doesn't it make more sense for the army to advance or retreat based
on its military interest, rather than to rely on the generalship of a bird?
So this is one way stars can take sides and fight: it may be there was a sign, conjunction, or portent meaningful to
pagan star-interpreters. Deborah's army was unimpressed by the portent in the
heavens, but the facing pagan army was scared witless, because the pagans take
the ordinary motions of the heavenly bodies either as portents of doom,
or as harbingers of victory. So the stars did their bit in the battle: the
military advantage went to Israel, when the stars alarmed their pagan
devotees by an unfavorable conjunction or other unsettling phenomenon.
The stars' contribution is paired with the brook
Kishon's activity, which appears not poetical but prosaic, perhaps the torrent
over-flowing its normal course, impeding the movements of the enemy army.
The brook Kishon does not have a mind and a will, but neither is
there any such thing as coincidence; no sparrow falls from the sky
apart from the Father, and the brook made common cause with Israel and 'helped' under God's command. In
parallel, the stars fighting in their courses must be, not 'poetic
language,' but some objective fact, something that actually happened. However, there is such language
in the Bible, and atheists who hope to discredit the Bible seize upon expressions
like, "Let the rivers clap their hands; let the mountains sing together for
joy..." (Psalm 98:8). While reading the 'fighting stars' as 'poetic
language' is not my preferred interpretation, those who hold
such a view have a right to it.
Skeptics trumpet, 'Rivers don't have hands to clap!' But
English poets say the same kind of thing, which carries the dreadful name of the
'pathetic fallacy.' Things that wouldn't ordinarily be expected to express
feelings and emotions do so, like "The moping owl does to the moon complain Of
such as, wandering near her secret bower, Molest her ancient solitary reign."
(Thomas Gray, Elegy Written in a Country Church-Yard). The owl isn't actually
complaining, nor does the moon care a whole lot whether people on earth are out
and about at night. The feelings are the poets'; they do it because it 'works.' Or,
"Dim moon-eyes fishes near Gaze at the gilded gear And query: 'What does this vaingloriousness down here?'" (The Convergence of the Twain, Lines on the
loss of the 'Titanic', Thomas Hardy). Fish are not noted for their inquisitiveness,
nor for moralizing about "vaingloriousness." It's the poet who is
struck by the incongruity of the glittery apparition from another world that has
settled down in the fishes' mud. One of the services humankind can perform for our
less vocal fellow creatures is to give them a voice. While I personally disbelieve
the 'fighting stars' are a case in point, one thing of which I am sure is that no
'star-gods' put in an appearance on the battle-field...because there ain't any.
Stars are creatures: "Praise ye him, sun and moon:
praise him, all ye stars of light. Praise him, ye heavens of heavens, and ye waters
that be above the heavens. Let them praise the name of the LORD: for he commanded,
and they were created." (Psalm 148:3-5). No creature is God; the true and living
God is the Creator: "And saying, Sirs, why do ye these things? We also are men of
like passions with you, and preach unto you that ye should turn from these
vanities unto the living God, which made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all
things that are therein:..." (Acts 14:15). Ergo, stars are not gods.
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