Stars, Sun and Moon
Sitting in St Mary the Great Church, Cambridge (England, UK) a couple of years ago, I noticed an inscribed window which said: “Seek him that made the seven stars and orion,” which is a verse from Amos (5:8). YHWH made the stars, as my last few posts have discussed, but I know that what He has created has been used variously with a background of superstition by all humankind. So, wondering why this church had this particular inscription, I did some research.
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I had heard that the three stars of Orion’s Belt have been connected to the three pyramids at Giza. In his article, Giza Pyramids? Sorry, Not Orion’s Belt, Derek K Hitchins skeptically writes:
Robert Bauval, a Belgian mining engineer, wrote a fascinating book, ‘The Orion Mystery,’ in which he observed that the three stars in Orion’s Belt are not precisely in a straight line, and he noticed, that the Pyramids of Giza were not aligned, either. He saw a similarity between the stars and the Milky Way on the one hand, and the Pyramids of Giza and the Nile on the other. As if that was not enough, Alnitak was known to be associated with Osiris in the Osirian Legends, and Sirius with Isis, wife and sister to Osiris, and mother of Horus. So was borne the fascinating and romantic idea that the ancient Egyptians of the Old Kingdom were replicating their heaven and their legends on Earth. Bauval’s theory was first aired in 1983. Hitchins then goes on to write that the pyramids are, in fact, aligned and that the smaller of the three pyramids, Menkure’s Pyramid, is not really offset. Looking at an aerial photograph, it might be true that one pointed section of each of the three pyramids line up, but the overall observation is that because Menkure is a much smaller pyramid, it looks like it is out of sync as with the three stars in Orion’s Belt.
Hitchins also argues that over thousands of years the star positions have altered and so could not have been aligned at the time of the pyramid’s being built. I am not sure whether this point is valid as I do not think that the pyramids have been accurately dated and are older than we think (this is a whole trip down a rabbit-hole) and I am not sure whether Hitchins has looked at the idea of precession, which is cyclical.
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Scott Creighton writes that if we take into account the precession of the stars, then it could well be that when the pyramids were constructed by the pharaohs and they were made with Orion’s Belt and other surrounding stars in mind.
When we look at the night sky, we observe the stars slowly rotating in a continual east to west direction. Over some 13,000 years, however, the stars in our night sky actually slowly drift in a west to east (retrograde) direction before stopping and then, over a further 13,000 years, drift slowly back to their point of origin – like the swing of a clock’s pendulum…The end result of this ‘precessional drift’ is to slowly shift the rising and setting points of stars on the horizon over a long period of time – approximately 1º of precessional drift occurs every 72 years. One beneficial aspect of this precessional drift is that it can be utilized as a mechanism for ‘recording’ time; for marking important dates…when we now consider the pyramid structures at Giza we find a very clear and unequivocal alignment of those structures with the Orion belt stars as they appeared on the southwest horizon c.10,500 BCE. Specifically, this alignment involves the smallest of the three great pyramids – the pyramid of Menkaure – and its stellar counterpart, the belt star Mintaka in Orion’s belt. Mintaka is the ‘target’ star through which the pyramid of Menkaure is aligned.
Creighton goes on to state that effectively the pyramids of Giza, together with Orion’s Belt, form a large astronomical clock. (His article is very interesting and I recommend you to look at it using the link below). This amazing thought brings us back to what YHWH created on Day 4 of Creation: 14 Then God said, “Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs and seasons, and for days and years; 15 and let them be for lights in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth”; and it was so. Genesis 1:14-15.
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But going back to the window in St Mary the Great Church, I realize that there are most probably not only biblical associations with this verse from Amos, but also other society links (hmm). An anonymous writer blogs that Orion’s Belt, together with the Pleiades star cluster, has for a long time been worshiped and placed in great importance over the ages. One of the brightest stars is observed in the vicinity of the Pleiades cluster and was seen as a sun-like star. The writer goes on to state that this goes back as far as the Sumerians and Mesopotamians but is also at the very heart of Freemasonry which refers to it as the “Blazing Star” and perhaps more surprisingly appears to also be prevalent in some churches. What is perhaps more interesting is that we find the same symbology regarding Pleiades and this special star in many modern- day areas including wide scale city landscaping, buildings and in movies. Plenty of rabbit-holes there, then.
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From a very interesting website entitled, ;Mystery of the Iniquity,; we read some of the bible connections with the Pleiades and Orion’s Belt.
The Bible has much to say about the nature of stars, but there is a double meaning to most of it. In particular, it speaks of Pleiades star cluster. From time immemorial the Hebrews and the Christian Church have linked the constellations to the truths of scriptures. The Hebrews, for example, maintain that the constellation of Orion the hunter, which they call Kesil, (meaning fool), was usurped by Nimrod (Gen. 10:8-9) to immortalize himself in the sky. Indeed, most of the pagan accounts of the Pleiades even have Biblical overtones. The Pleiadian star system has been one of the most revered cosmic objects in history, poetry and mythology across all cultures. According to the cultural traditions, the seven visible stars of the Pleiades have been referred to by many names, such as the Seven Sisters, Krittika, Kimah, Flock of Doves, Hens, Virgins of Spring, Sailor’s Stars and the seven Atlantic Sisters. In the Bible, the Pleiades are mentioned.
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I have added the biblical references to the Pleiades:
Job 9:9 Which maketh Arcturus, Orion, and Pleiades, and the chambers of the south.
Job 38:31 Canst thou bind the sweet influences of Pleiades, or loose the bands of Orion?
Amos 5:8 Seek him that maketh the seven stars and Orion, and turneth the shadow of death into the morning, and maketh the day dark with night: that calleth for the waters of the sea, and poureth them out upon the face of the earth: The LORD is his name.
Returning to that window in the St Mary the Great church, this is a biblical verse which no doubt appeals to the Christian congregation but, I suspect, also has a great appeal to members of other societies (Freemasons, non-Christian cults, dignitaries, etc.) who might attend the church. I would add that this is the church where Professor Stephen Hawking’s funeral was held in March 2018 (his ashes were interned in Westminster Cathedral); a man who did not believe in YHWH (quote: I believe the simplest explanation is, there is no God. No one created the universe and no one directs our fate. This leads me to a profound realization that there probably is no heaven and no afterlife either). A cursory skim over notes on Wiki show us that Hawking was a member of the National Academy of Sciences (USA), a fellow of the Royal Society (UK), was awarded the American Franklin medal, made Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) and more…much more…not my rabbit-hole.
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Having briefly viewed Orion’s Belt, I was spurred on to discover more about what is going on above our heads and what we, as followers of YHWH and His creation, should pay attention to. From my previous posts, we know that the stars have been placed in the heavens (in the firmament- Genesis 1:14-15) to foretell that which was and is to come with a great example being the star which led the three Kings to find the infant Yeshua (Matt.2:1-12).
In the present days, we should heed the signs which YHWH has set in place for us as we have been warned about what must take place in the not-so-distant future. We read the warnings in Matthew 24:29 where Yeshua says: “Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken.” From John in the Book of Revelation Chapter 6 we read: ₁₂And when I saw the Lamb open the sixth seal, there was a great earthquake, and the sun became black like sackcloth of goat hair, and the whole moon turned blood red, ₁₃ and the stars of the sky fell to the earth, like unripe figs dropping from a tree shaken by a great wind. ₁₄The sky receded like a scroll being rolled up, and every mountain and island was moved from its place.…
We would be unwise not to heed the warnings placed for us in the skies as well as on the earth as we read from the Matthew Henry Commentary on the Revelation passage quoted above:
When the sixth seal was opened, there was a great earthquake. The foundations of churches and states would be terribly shaken. Such bold figurative descriptions of great changes abound in the prophecies of Scripture; for these events are emblems, and declare the end of the world and the day of judgment. Dread and terror would seize on all sorts of men. Neither grandeur, riches, valour, nor strength, can support men at that time. They would be glad to be no more seen; yea, to have no longer any being. Though Christ be a Lamb, he can be angry, and the wrath of the Lamb is exceedingly dreadful; for if the Redeemer himself, who appeases the wrath of God, be our enemy, where shall we find a friend to plead for us? As men have their day of opportunity, and their seasons of grace, so God has his day of righteous wrath. It seems that the overthrow of the paganism of the Roman empire is here meant. The idolaters are described as hiding themselves in their dens and secret caves, and vainly seeking to escape ruin. In such a day, when the signs of the times show those who believe in God’s word, that the King of kings is approaching, Christians are called to a decided course, and to a bold confession of Christ and his truth before their fellowmen. Whatever they may have to endure, the short contempt of man is to be borne, rather than that shame which is everlasting.
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But it is not only the stars which should be observed as omens of future events. The sun and moon indicate YHWH’s feasts and how, as Whole Bible Believing Christians, we should still consider the significance of the feast days which Yeshua himself followed whilst He walked on this earth. But added to that, YHWH’s creation of sun and moon are very important for sustaining us through our lives: YHWH put the sun and the moon in place to create warm, energising sunlight for us during the day and He put the moon in place to give us a cool, calming light at night. As I write this at the beginning of 2021, the importance of this should not escape any of us…
Interestingly, scientists have known for a long time that sunlight is one of the two most important climatic factors for ecosystems. From sciencing.com we discover that exposure to sunlight also helps humans synthesize vitamin D, which helps the muscular, skeletal and nervous systems work properly…The number of UVB photons absorbed by the skin dictates how much vitamin D is synthesized…The body initially produces a form of vitamin D called vitamin D-3, but some of it is converted into 25-hydroxyvitamin D by the liver, kidneys and other tissues. The human body uses vitamin D to transmit nerve impulses from the muscles, maintain normal phosphorus and calcium levels, and build strong bones. Meanwhile, plants need the sun because sunlight is made up of electromagnetic radiation which is given off as energy as the sun burns through its stores of hydrogen…The electromagnetic radiation that plants receive from the sunlight that reaches Earth and penetrates its atmosphere is the key ingredient in a process that is called photosynthesis. Photosynthesis is important because it is the way in which plants derive their energy.
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Light also is a trigger for waking the brain up from sleep and scientists have more recently found out that there is actually a complex chemical process going on inside your brain as you wake up. And scientists now think they’ve identified the part of the brain that ends periods of light sleep and brings us into a state of wakefulness. Researchers from Switzerland focussed their attention on a specific neural circuit located between the brain’s hypothalamus and thalamus. By stimulating this circuit with pulses of light in a group of mice, the academics could prompt rapid awakenings from sleep and then cause prolonged wakefulness (sciencealert.com). So, from this we can see that before we had access to the light-bulb, our bodies and brains would be awakened by natural sunlight.
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From an article entitled, “A dark night is good for your health” (theconversation.com), we read how both light and darkness play a part in our body rhythms. The physiological processes that control the daily cycle of sleep and wake, hunger, activity levels, body temperature, melatonin level in the blood, and many other physiological traits are called the endogenous circadian rhythm. On its own, the endogenous circadian rhythm is nearly, but not exactly, 24 hours. Our bodies rely on the Sun to reset this cycle and keep it at precisely 24 hours, the length of our days. The light – and the dark – are important signals for the cycle…During the night, in the dark, body temperature drops, metabolism slows, and the hormone melatonin rises dramatically. When the Sun comes up in the morning, melatonin has already started falling, and you wake up. This natural physiological transition into and out of night is of ancient origin, and melatonin is crucial for the process to proceed as it should.
YHWH’s creation of the sun and moon play an important role in His Creation:
Psalm 74:16: Yours is the day, Yours also is the night; You have prepared the light and the sun. Psalm 136:7: To Him who made the great lights, For His lovingkindness is everlasting.
Nehemiah 9:6:”You alone are the LORD You have made the heavens, The heaven of heavens with all their host, The earth and all that is on it, The seas and all that is in them You give life to all of them And the heavenly host bows down before You.
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Further reading about the sun and moon and their roles, I came across some information written on Gleason‘s New Standard Map of the World published in 1892 which I found really interesting and reads as follows:
December Solstice
On December 21st, the sun moves round the Tropic of Capricorn, and during the day lights up the southern portion of the Earth from the Arctic Circle to some portion of Antarctic ice. There is no “sunlight” beyond 80◦ south, but unknown regions of ice. On the 23rd of December, the sun commences his northward journey again, returning to his starting place, and thus completes his seasons.
June Solstice
In the figures June and December, the white represents the sun’s position in his respective months, at Noon. This shows sunlight inside the Arctic Circle for 24 hours. From June 21st, the sun moves round the Tropics in a spiral circle, widening every day until it reaches its destiny on the southern or outer Solstice, on December 21st.
Once again, I am reminded of a verse which gives us hope in the love of YHWH and His son Yeshua:
Again Yeshua spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” John 8:12.
If we put our trust in YHWH’s Son, Yeshua, we have an eternal hope that takes away the anxiety of what will take place, perhaps in our lifetime. For YHWH promises us: “Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the LORD your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.” Deuteronomy 31:6. Yeshua promises us: “And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” Matt 28:20.
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