There's a Story in the Stars
“The Heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament showeth his handiwork. Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth knowledge.”
(Psalm 19:1,2)
A long time ago and far, far away, mankind had a deep desire to know God and his relationship to him. There had been prophets of God in the antediluvian world, as well as the time before Moses. There is much to be said about who has written scripture, and it is believed that Old Testament manuscripts were indeed written by the early patriarchs and then edited by Moses at a later time.
Therefore, the revelation of God had come to mankind long before Moses wrote the Pentateuch. Ancient prophecies such as Genesis 3:15, which promised the coming “seed of the woman” which would crush the head of the great serpent, while the latter bruised his heel, was one way in which God revealed himself to mankind. There is also the judgement prophecy of Enoch about the coming time when all rebellious and ungodly mankind would be weighed in the balance (Jude 14). Quite possibly, however, there are other prophecies that have not been written down and preserved for mankind but were nonetheless important in ancient times.
These prophecies also seem to be reflected in ancient traditions and mythologies, though usually distorted by pagan accretions. There must, therefore, have been a universal primeval revelation shared by all peoples in early times, at least up until the time of the Jewish dispersal at Babylon.
Could the Stars indeed be telling us something?
The most important of these revelations seem to have been entwined within the very stars themselves. It is quite possible that the prophets of those days before the great flood may have been looking into preservation of prophetic information by encoding their information upon the stars themselves, the only thing they could be certain of that would survive the world wide destruction to come.
Unobstructed by the intrusion of massive amounts of modern day city lights, the skies revealed nightly a vast array of grouped and clustered stars that had become as familiar as an old friend. The constellations marched across the skies each year, marking time and tide, and then disappearing for a time, only to reemerge as signs of the continuance of things outside of the Earth bound experience, things which provided a
comforting “We’re still here” message for those of the physical world who could only gaze skyward, and dream.
Someone somewhere, noticing this parade of the great heavens, got the brilliant idea to record the great events of mankind by marking the placement of constellations in the heavens during the age. Due to the permanence of the stars, great events could be recorded in their time and remain forever locked together in the mighty trek across time itself.
The Bible, of course, does not tell us who may have been the one to write the ancient prophecies on the stars themselves. The Jewish historian, Josephus, wrote about how this could possibly have been done by Seth or perhaps Enoch. But let’s not be too independent, for it is also quite possible that God himself was the author, for Genesis 1:14 does relay that the heavens were for marking time and seasons. Scripture also indicates the naming of Stars by God himself, (Psalm 147, Isaiah 40).
The book of Job is especially forthcoming with some of these names such as “Arcturus and his sons” (38:32), the sweet influence of the Pelaides (38:31) and the bands of Orion. But the most important reference in Job is 38:32: “Can you bring forth Mazzaroth in his season?” The revelation that these words were spoken to Job directly by God himself implies authorship of the speaker.
The word Mazzaroth is agreed upon by all scholars as a reference to all signs of the Zodiac and their complimentary constellations. Therefore, we can reasonably conclude that the star groupings and their symbolic counterparts had an ancient purpose for disseminating information to all peoples who would live far beyond the current age generation as they, themselves, would look up into the night sky and read a message of God’s plans for the distant future.
Dangerous Facts to Keep in Mind
The modern system of interpreting stars and their meanings is completely condemned by the Word of God. (Deuteronomy 4:19, Isaiah 47:11, Kings 23:5, Acts 7:42). Therefore, I shall endeavor to avoid any such meanderings into Zodiac mysticism.
Astrology is systematically attached to the ancient paganism of polytheists. Images of man and bird and beast, associated with idolatry, have their counterparts in many of the constellation groupings.
Worship of the heavens, is intrinsically tied to the worship of fallen angels. And we know who those guys are. Therefore, whatever may have been the initial use of the stars and signs in the heavens, it has been “hijacked” by the ends of paganism.
There are still so many points of familiarity between the prophetic themes of scripture and the astrological mythology of ancient times, the latter must be a corruption of the initial revelation, rather than a completely independent contrivance on the part of ignorant indigent of long ago. Now if we can still recognize the initial remnants of the original meanings and revelations of the stars from their inception, then we can gain further insight into the authenticity of scripture from ancient times.
Zodiac Signs
(Psalm 19:1,2)
A long time ago and far, far away, mankind had a deep desire to know God and his relationship to him. There had been prophets of God in the antediluvian world, as well as the time before Moses. There is much to be said about who has written scripture, and it is believed that Old Testament manuscripts were indeed written by the early patriarchs and then edited by Moses at a later time.
Therefore, the revelation of God had come to mankind long before Moses wrote the Pentateuch. Ancient prophecies such as Genesis 3:15, which promised the coming “seed of the woman” which would crush the head of the great serpent, while the latter bruised his heel, was one way in which God revealed himself to mankind. There is also the judgement prophecy of Enoch about the coming time when all rebellious and ungodly mankind would be weighed in the balance (Jude 14). Quite possibly, however, there are other prophecies that have not been written down and preserved for mankind but were nonetheless important in ancient times.
These prophecies also seem to be reflected in ancient traditions and mythologies, though usually distorted by pagan accretions. There must, therefore, have been a universal primeval revelation shared by all peoples in early times, at least up until the time of the Jewish dispersal at Babylon.
Could the Stars indeed be telling us something?
The most important of these revelations seem to have been entwined within the very stars themselves. It is quite possible that the prophets of those days before the great flood may have been looking into preservation of prophetic information by encoding their information upon the stars themselves, the only thing they could be certain of that would survive the world wide destruction to come.
Unobstructed by the intrusion of massive amounts of modern day city lights, the skies revealed nightly a vast array of grouped and clustered stars that had become as familiar as an old friend. The constellations marched across the skies each year, marking time and tide, and then disappearing for a time, only to reemerge as signs of the continuance of things outside of the Earth bound experience, things which provided a
comforting “We’re still here” message for those of the physical world who could only gaze skyward, and dream. Someone somewhere, noticing this parade of the great heavens, got the brilliant idea to record the great events of mankind by marking the placement of constellations in the heavens during the age. Due to the permanence of the stars, great events could be recorded in their time and remain forever locked together in the mighty trek across time itself.
The Bible, of course, does not tell us who may have been the one to write the ancient prophecies on the stars themselves. The Jewish historian, Josephus, wrote about how this could possibly have been done by Seth or perhaps Enoch. But let’s not be too independent, for it is also quite possible that God himself was the author, for Genesis 1:14 does relay that the heavens were for marking time and seasons. Scripture also indicates the naming of Stars by God himself, (Psalm 147, Isaiah 40).
The book of Job is especially forthcoming with some of these names such as “Arcturus and his sons” (38:32), the sweet influence of the Pelaides (38:31) and the bands of Orion. But the most important reference in Job is 38:32: “Can you bring forth Mazzaroth in his season?” The revelation that these words were spoken to Job directly by God himself implies authorship of the speaker.
The word Mazzaroth is agreed upon by all scholars as a reference to all signs of the Zodiac and their complimentary constellations. Therefore, we can reasonably conclude that the star groupings and their symbolic counterparts had an ancient purpose for disseminating information to all peoples who would live far beyond the current age generation as they, themselves, would look up into the night sky and read a message of God’s plans for the distant future.
Dangerous Facts to Keep in Mind
The modern system of interpreting stars and their meanings is completely condemned by the Word of God. (Deuteronomy 4:19, Isaiah 47:11, Kings 23:5, Acts 7:42). Therefore, I shall endeavor to avoid any such meanderings into Zodiac mysticism.
Astrology is systematically attached to the ancient paganism of polytheists. Images of man and bird and beast, associated with idolatry, have their counterparts in many of the constellation groupings.
Worship of the heavens, is intrinsically tied to the worship of fallen angels. And we know who those guys are. Therefore, whatever may have been the initial use of the stars and signs in the heavens, it has been “hijacked” by the ends of paganism.
There are still so many points of familiarity between the prophetic themes of scripture and the astrological mythology of ancient times, the latter must be a corruption of the initial revelation, rather than a completely independent contrivance on the part of ignorant indigent of long ago. Now if we can still recognize the initial remnants of the original meanings and revelations of the stars from their inception, then we can gain further insight into the authenticity of scripture from ancient times.
Zodiac Signs
Mazzaroth, the twelve signs of the Zodiac, are indeed the most important of all the star groups in the heavens. Each sign has its own month of the year, and corresponds to the Sun’s passage through the sky during the year. This transmogrifies, of course, throughout the year.
Because of the slight wobble of the Earth’s axis, the equinoctial points, those two times during the year when days and nights are equal in length, gradually shifts from one year to the next. This creates a procession of equinoxes that causes months and their various corresponding signs to change gradually.
If Mazzaroth tells a story in the stars, then it would be prudent to intel the beginning of the story. There actually is no reason to believe that January holds any more sway as the inception of this story than at any other time during the year.
Not only that, but there are many, many OTHER constellations that could have been used to tell this story besides the ubiquitous 12 signs of the Zodiac. Ancient Zodiacs not only include the 12 basic signs we all know but they also include 36 additional “decans” or “side kicks”, secondary constellations that accompany the major signs. As an example, take Ta urus, who has as decans: Orion the Hunter, Eridanus the fiery stream, and Auriga the Charioteer.
So, therefore, where did the story begin? There are actually four good reasons to believe that the story could have begun with the virgin.
1) Since the primeval promise of God to mankind was of the seed of the woman crushing the serpent, which was Genesis 3:15, it would make sense to start with a sign of the woman.
2) When God asks Job if he can bring forth Mazzaroth in his season, he follows it with “Can you guide Arcturus with his sons?” This displays something called Hebrew parallelism, which would equate both Mazzaroth and the star Arcturus, which being one of the brighte st stars in the sky, is also one of Virgo’s decans.
3) The symbol of the Sphinx is found on certain ancient Zodiacs, it is usually a creature with the body of a lion and the head of a woman. It is shown in the Zodiac circle with the head facing Virgo and the tail toward Leo.
4) If the story begins with Virgo, then it must end with Leo. Zodiac art often shows Leo attacking the heads of the Hydra in order to destroy him. And who is the Seed of the Woman and the Lion of the Tribe of Judah?
So what does it all mean in terms of the story? It is very difficult to say at this point, although there is enough evidence to suggest an original story line that could be followed by the march of stars across the sky. When writing a story of the stars, a Bible story, if you will, it’s very difficult to not indulge in some often times brilliant flights of imaginative fancy, and several have indeed done so. But this is also necessary, given the immense amount of literal and figurative characters involved.
Certainly ancient peoples who were looking to interpret the story in the sky would have needed some type of instruction book to guide them. But the theory is quite good, nonetheless, since drawing pictures in the sky with familiar meanings would indeed be re adily available to be read by all peoples at all times.
Corruptibility of the original symbols is, of course, a major concern in any consideration of the star clusters, and those we have today may be but a shadow of their former intent. Their sufficient similarity to ancient star charts indicates however, that despite their malleability over time, there was at one time an original directive chart. One chart.
Due to the requirement of imaginative star connecting, it is evident that someone somewhere arbitrarily selected symbols to coincide with certain star charts that have b een associated with them ever since. Such work was hardly the ramblings of some madman, but instead points toward the desire to tell a story.
Is the Zodiac a corruption from Hell itself? Numerous Babylonian ziggurats, pyramids, step towers and high places all have shrines at their apexes dedicated to the “host of Heaven”, decorated with Zodiac signs on their interior walls. Paganism, polytheism and occultism all have adopted the Zodiac in one fashion of another, so the hypothesis of its corruptive origin is not all that far fetched. This should be no surprise due to the fact that Satan has historically been a corruptor of religion instead of an innovator, which should be a revelation in and of itself if you are really paying attention.
If we accept that this is so, then we perhaps can ascertain the outlines of the original information meant for mankind by God himself. For instance, if you study the entire chart, you see the theme of the battle between the serpent and the Deliverer repeated over and over. This means something, not just an arbitrary point, for it is as classic a tale told by mankind as the battle between brothers.
Ancient zodiacs are probably the most similar to the original. And there are significant differences. For instance, Gemini may have at one time been the joined man and woman instead of a set of twins. Cancer the crab, may have also been a great enclosure into which people entered from all sides, like a church in the round. This lends significant credence to there having been changes all around to the major signs.
To try and recover the written story, we must rely upon latter written instruction, knowing of course that God would not contradict himself. We also need to think in terms of what would be meaningful to the antediluvian partiarchs who originally attempted to reveal this information.
Okay, so what IS the story???
Let’s try to tell it:
Virgo: A deliverer will arise within the human family someday, born as a man yet delivered by a virgin. Seed of the woman.
Libra: Since mankind has fallen and sinned, a price must be paid and the scales of justice balanced.
Scorpio: The Deliverer must pay the price of redemption and in doing so, must destroy the serpent who led man to sin.
Sagittarius: In order to halt his own destruction, the serpent will try to corrupt mankind by turning the race of man into demon possessed monsters, half man - half GOAT.
Capricornus: Man will become so sinfull as to leave no other recourse but the inundation of the whole Earth.
Aquarius: The floodgates will open and flood the whole world with only a remnant remaining.
Pices: From the waters will emerge the true people of God, despite all attacks by the enemy.
Aries: In the fullness of time will come the deliverer ready to die for the sins of mankind and to destroy the dragon.
Taurus: Having paid the price, the slain “RAM” (sheep) will rise as a mighty bull to execute judgement on all unrighteousness and rule supreme.
Gemini: As the Son of God and the Son of Man the second Adam will take his bride as did the first, taking her to himself forever.
Cancer: All those redeemed will come to him from all times and all places, secure eternally in his presence.
Leo: As King of Kings and Lord of Lords he will destroy the works of the serpent as a lion would and then rule for ever and ever.
This story of Mazzaroth is, of course, merely a suggestion based upon a cer tain parochial strain of logic. It is however, a reasonable reconstruction given what is known of the ancient patriarchs and the written scripture we have today. Sufficient correlation is provided fo r the assertion of the “Gospel in the Stars”.
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