Order Requires A Leader

            The knowledge of a consecutive, repetitive order suggests a cycle, the circle, which has no beginning and no end.  However, the process of naming, or numbering the units of that circle required a starting point.  The evidence all points to the fact that the constellation we call Taurus, the Ox, (from the Greek), was the leader or first of the signs of the year.  As the precession moved the equinoctial point, and/or as the methods of calculating the times varied, the constellation we know as Aries was incorporated into or replaced the Taurus configuration.

            If, as I propose, the graphic representations of these constellations were the first written numero-alphabet, used to identify the months or divisions of the ecliptic, it is probable that the graphemes representing these divisions first took their shape from the configuration of the prominent stars within these divisions.  There is evidence that this is true.  The aleph, which bears a resemblance in form to the head of an ox, is not only the numeral ‘one,’ but also is named aleph, which means ‘ox.’  (In the participle form aleph  means ‘gentle, tame.’  This ‘ox’ was tamed and in a pen.)

            The strong prohibition against images which might be used for idolatrous purposes would forbid the use of an image of a beast, at least among the Semitic heirs of the Scriptural tradition.  The original figure was probably abstract, therefore, rather than an overt image of a bull or ox.  The abstraction would have been an imitation of the figure that would result from joining the points represented by the prominent stars in the constellation, or perhaps the representation of the triangle (in Aries) as it crossed the prime meridian line.  The triangle would suggest a horn, therefore a horned animal.  Again, the figure would represent the idea of an earthly counterpart of the heavenly Pattern.

            There is a traceable basic identity of this constellation in many cultures and languages of the world.  For example, the ox, Taurus, is identical to the Akkadian “Bull of Light,” the point of the vernal equinox, according to some, approximately 4000 years ago.  The Persians designated the divisions of the ecliptic by the letters of the alphabet, and with them, too, the ‘A’ (or aleph) stands for the Ox as the first, or leader, of the signs.  The Beta star in Taurus is called ‘Shar-atan‘ meaning ‘a sign’ (Seiss, 91).  The name of the sign Taurus in Syriac is Amroo, ‘the Lamb,’ and ‘the Branch.’  The Arabs call it ‘Al-Hamal, the Sheep, the Gentle, the Merciful’ (ibid.).

The Beginning of Astrology

            In many ancient cultures the signs were prostituted to use as models for idols.  In Babylon there was widespread worship of Baal, represented as a bull, and his consort, Astarte, a cow figure.  This was probably a perversion of the use of the sign intended for time-telling into a form of idolatry: the sign we call Taurus was copied and worshipped as a god.  Baal was also worshipped in Canaan as a sun-god, its horns representing the sun’s rays.[1]  An ideograph for the Babylonian idol Merodach-Bel signifies “the bullock of the sun,” indicating that this figure was a symbol taken from the heavens.  In Egypt the sign ‘Aries’ is associated with the idol god Amen-Re and means ‘the Lord of the Head.’

            David Ulansey shows how the discovery of the precession of the equinox may have been the source of the religion of Mithraism.

            The sign we know from the Greeks as Aries is identical in some respects, at least in part, to the sign Taurus.  This may be accounted for by the fact that, as the precession caused some drift, the space which the sign occupied in the ecliptic, the “mansion” or “house” representing one-twelfth of the heavens, was adjusted also.

            Another reason that these two signs may overlap in meaning and symbolism is that different cultures divided the ecliptic differently.  It may be that the Semites who were in the lineage of the Scriptural tradition divided it by sevenths instead of by twelfths, or perhaps even by twenty-two, the number of the letters of the alphabet.  Whatever its divisions, its proper use was as a time-reckoning indicator and not for idol worship.

            We find what may have been the same process at work in the Hebrew names of the months ‘Ab‘ and ‘Abib;’ the first month ‘A’ has slipped into the second month, ‘B’ because of the precession, (although the modern order shows Abib as the seventh and Ab as the eleventh).  In fact, before the month was ‘Ab‘ it was probably just ‘A,’ (aleph), meaning ‘month one,’ just as the first day of creation was ‘day one.’

            The verb, ’âlaph, means ‘to speak.’  As a noun it means ‘word, logos’ or ‘a thing’, (Ges. Lexicon, s. v.)  Perhaps the first lesson that God taught to Adam was how to read the signs of the heavens, for the sun, moon and stars were created to be read.  These “signs” became the etymons of all future written words.

            Another form of the verb ’âlaph also suggests its role as the place where the years are joined together: it means ‘to join together, to associate,’ from whence comes the noun eleph, meaning ‘thousand, a family….’ and ‘the leader of a family or tribe.’  It also means ‘a family or tribe’ (Ges. Lexicon s.v.).

            The word ’âleph, (as distinguished from the letter), is used many times in the plural to denote ‘thousands.’  For example, Numbers 10:35-36:

And whenever the ark set out, Moses said, ‘Arise, O Lord, and let thy enemies be scattered; and let them that hate thee flee before thee.’  And when it rested, he said, ‘Return, O lord, to the ten thousand thousands (translating a plural form of ’âleph) of Israel.’ (RSV)

 Psalm 68 celebrates this movement of the ark, beginning with the words: “Let God arise, let his enemies be scattered; let those who hate him flee before him!” as in Numbers 10:35.  Psalm 68:17: “With mighty chariotry, twice ten thousand, thousands upon thousands, (again translating ’âlephim, plural of ’âleph), the Lord came from Sinai into the holy place.” (RSV)

            The Hebrew here could be literally translated “thousands (of) iterations, or repetitions.”  The word for ‘year,’ shanah, is a form of the word for ‘iteration, repetitions’; we might say ‘cycles.’  Thus the reference is to the God of time, to indicate His eternal nature as He rides upon the time-telling ecliptic as if it were a wheel of His chariot, (see Psalms 68: 4, 23).  Each revolution of the ‘wheel,’ (i.e. a year), brings around another ’âleph and He rides through thousands of these ’alephim, (plural), or revolutions of years.[2]

            In many cultures the beginning of the yearly cycle has often been pinpointed by using the prominent star named “Aldebaran” in Taurus.[3]  Aldebaran means ‘the leader,’ or ‘the first,’ denoting that which arranges or sets in order as a shepherd leads a flock.  The root of the word ‘Aldebaran’ is Hebrew dâbar, commonly translated ‘word’), the primary meaning of which is: ‘setting in a row, ranging in order,’ also ‘to lead, guide as a flock or herd to pasture,’ ‘to rule, direct a people, to bring into order or subdue.’  In Hebrew, Syriac, Arabic and Coptic, it also means ‘coming,’ or ‘who cometh.’  All of these are prominent images of Christ.  (See Commentary “Coming” on Revelation 1:7).

            In the imagery, then, the star Aldebaran is the head of the year, the shepherd of the flock, or the head of the families, many of which form a tribe.  Examples of this usage are found in Judges 6:15; 1 Samuel 10:19; 23:23.  The word is translated ‘thousands’ in the RSV, ‘clans’ in the NIV.  This word lies behind Ephesians 3:15: “The Father, (Hebrew Ab, the first two letters of the alphabet,) from whom every family, (or ’eleph, the first letter,) in heaven and on earth is named.“  This is again taking the idea that God’s Name is symbolized by the heavenly alphabet from which every name derives.[4]

            In time reckoning, the point of the beginning of one cycle is identical to the point of the end of the previous cycle if the cycles are consecutive.  That the years were calculated as consecutive occurrences is attested by the fact that the aleph and the tau, the first and the last letters of the alphabet are identical in meaning and are combined in the imagery of the signs of the ecliptic.

            The Hebrew word for the circle of the ecliptic may have been zeez, or mazzaroth, instead of the Greek zodiac.  The lexicographers see that these words carry the idea of “moving things” but are unable to deal with them other than as animals!  They obviously do not recognize that they are referring to the moving heavens.  The imagery of the ecliptic amongst the Semitic peoples is not of animals at all, but rather of buildings, such as palaces, mansions and rooms.

            With this view of the heavens, we can relate what Moses saw as the Pattern-in-the-Heavens with the building of the tabernacle and the ordering of the community.  The root meaning ‘to build’ is bânâh.  The feminine noun for ‘building’ is binyâh and the masculine binyan.  Two other forms from the same root are mibneh, ‘a structure,’ and the form tabnîyth, ‘construction, pattern, figure.’  It was this tabnîyth that the Lord showed to Moses while on the Mount and commanded him: “Make the tabernacle and all its furnishings exactly like the pattern I will show you.” (Exod. 25:9 NIV).  And again: “See that you make them according to the pattern shown you on the mountain.” (25:40 NIV).

            This concept was so important that Stephen referred to it in his final sermon. (Acts 7:44).  The writer of the book of Hebrews clearly shows that this heavenly Pattern was the true tent of which the earthly tabernacle was only a copy:

(Jesus) a minister in the sanctuary and the true tent which is set up not by man but by the Lord…. They (the priests) serve a copy and shadow of the heavenly sanctuary; for when Moses was about to erect the tent, he was instructed by God, saying, ‘See that you make everything according to the pattern which was shown you on the mountain.’  RSV (Hebrews 8:2, 5).

            The passage in Exodus chapter 24 through 26 shows us that God promised Moses both written instructions, (Exod. 24:12), the lûach, (tables), and a visual Pattern, the tabnîyth, (Exod. 25:9, 40; 26:30.).  In 26:30 the “plan” or “pattern” is also called the ‘mishpât,’ elsewhere translated ‘judgment.’  (The “judgment seat” was not only related to legal hearings on earth but was used to determine the times so that each year would have “perfect justice,” that is, its full number of days.)[5]

            Was the luâch the same Pattern as the tabnîyth?  Was the luâch simply the written version and the tabnîyth the tele-portrait?  I believe that they were, in a sense, the same, except that the luâch was the graphic, numerical record of the time-reckoning function whereas the tabnîyth included the legal, social, and religious order of the community.  In other words, the luâch, calendar, was only a part of the tabnîyth.

            The luchôth (plural of luâch, “two tables”) came to be known in later tradition as ‘the calendar.’  A possible alternate translation of the words “two tables of the testimony” could be “years of the shining (or joining) of the witness.”[6]  The phrase “written on both sides,” could be translated “written with the years of their Passovers.” (Exod. 32:15).

        These luchôth were “The work of God and the writing, the writing of God graven upon the luchôth,” (32:16).  In 31:18 we find that this writing was “written with the finger of God.”

            In Psalm 8:3 we find that “the heavens are the work of thy fingers.“  Since this was the work of God and written with His fingers, then we should understand that it was a copy of the “writing” which is the display of the stars of the heavens which was also called the work of His fingers.

            One of the things Moses was to make according to the Pattern was the ’êphôd, (Exod. 28), part of which was “the cunningly woven band (or girdle)”, the chêsheb.  The word comes from the root châshab meaning ‘to think, account….to count, reckon…compute.’  This “cunningly woven band” was to be in connection with the “breastplate of judgment.”  This carefully constructed accessory to the ’êphôd was for the purpose of counting, reckoning the times and seasons so that each year would have ‘perfect justice.’

            Ezekiel uses extensively the words derived from bânâh, ‘to build’.  It seems that he is sometimes viewing the heavenly “building” from the earth and sometimes viewing the earthly structures from the heavens, but always the one is “over against”, or corresponding to, the other, perhaps the mirror image.