Tag: Deuteronomy 4

Stars: Not People Nor to be Worshipped

On By TimIn Angels, Revelation 19Leave a comment

Now possessing a framework for understanding what qualifies the children of God, we can press forward. Let us begin with something peculiar from the book of Revelation. (As if this is the only peculiar thing in Revelation.)

Then he said to me, “Write: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.” And he said to me, “These are the true sayings of God.”
I fell at his feet to worship him. But he said to me, “See that you not do that. I am your fellow servant, and of your brothers who hold the testimony of Jesus. Worship God! For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.”

Revelation 19:9–10

In the context of this passage, an angel has led John in the spirit to view future events. The immediate scene before this text is the marriage supper of the Lamb. If you’ve heard Handel’s Hallelujah Chorus, this is that scene. Take a listen and understand this is but a meager and temporal attempt to convey what is happening in heaven.

John was most certainly overwhelmed. He fell at the feet of the angel to worship him. What the angel says to John leads right into this series. The angel basically says to John that he is a peer, “I am your fellow servant.” It’s a glimpse into the future reality for today’s believers. Worship God!

The angel didn’t accept any worship.

What Tripped Up Israel

So they made a calf in those days, and offered a sacrifice to the idol, and rejoiced in the works of their hands. But God turned and gave them up to worship the host of heaven, as it is written in the book of the Prophets:
‘O House of Israel, have you offered to Me slain animals and sacrifices for forty years in the wilderness?
Yes, you even raised the shrine of Moloch, and the star of your god Remphan, idols which you made to worship; therefore I will exile you beyond Babylon.’

Acts 7:41–43

In his remarkable preaching to Israel, Stephen said many things. Among them was this particular passage. Stephen is revealing why God turned away from Israel. They brought it upon themselves by worshipping the host of heaven. Stephen is paraphrasing part of the writing of Amos.

And beware, lest you lift up your eyes to heaven, and when you see the sun, and the moon, and the stars, even all the host of heaven, you are led astray and worship them, and serve them, that which the Lord your God has allotted to all nations under the whole heaven.

Deuteronomy 4:19

This is a verse that was part of a citation from an earlier post on the Divine Council. Israel was warned to not worship other gods. The host of heaven are the armies of heaven; they are angels.

We know that stars are angels. Another nagging thing is that these angels accepted the worship and did not point those doing so to worship God.

A Necessary Brief History Lesson

For a short history, after Solomon’s death the nation of Israel was divided into two kingdoms, the northern kingdom called Israel and the southern kingdom called Judah. The account of this is in 1 Kings 12. In verse 16 the people of the northern kingdom (all Israel) rejected Rehoboam as king. They chose Jeroboam as king. Jeroboam knew there would eventually be a problem, as the temple and Jerusalem remained in Judah, the southern kingdom. He had to do something to keep the hearts of the people from returning to Rehoboam, king of Judah.

At that point, the king got some advice and made two golden calves and said to the people, “It is too difficult for you to go up to Jerusalem. Here are your gods, O Israel, which brought you up out of the land of Egypt.” He set one in Bethel, and he put the other in Dan. This was a sin, for the people went to worship before the one, even all the way in Dan.

1 Kings 12:28–30

Idolatry was introduced into Israel after the covenant at Mount Sinai. This is a direct reference to what Aaron did for the undivided nation as they were saved from Egypt.

He received them from their hand, and fashioned it with an engraving tool, and made it into a molded calf. Then they said, “This is your god, O Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt.”

Exodus 32:4

What was God’s pronouncement on that?

The Lord spoke to Moses, “Go, and get down, for your people, whom you brought out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves. They have quickly turned aside from the way which I commanded them. They have made for themselves a molded calf, and have worshipped it, and have sacrificed to it, and said, ‘This is your god, O Israel, which has brought you up from the land of Egypt.’ ”

Exodus 32:7–8

They corrupted themselves. The angel with John said to see that you don’t do that. We are fellow servants. Worship God.

We also know that Judah began to accept idolatry. Part of where we get this is God witnessing to the southern kingdom of Judah through the prophet Jeremiah.

At that time, says the Lord, they will bring out the bones of the kings of Judah, and the bones of his officials, and the bones of the priests, and the bones of the prophets, and the bones of the inhabitants of Jerusalem out of their graves. And they will spread them before the sun and the moon and all the host of heaven, whom they have loved and whom they have served, and after whom they have walked and whom they have sought, and whom they have worshipped. They will not be gathered, nor be buried. They will be as dung upon the face of the earth.

Jeremiah 8:1–2

There were kings who attempted to remove the idolatry from Judah. Josiah was one who attempted to do just that.

Then he removed the idolatrous priests whom the kings of Judah had ordained to burn incense on the high places at the cities of Judah and around Jerusalem; those also who burned incense to Baal, to the sun, to the moon, to the constellations, and to all the host of heaven.

2 Kings 23:5

As a fascinating aside, the word Jew derives from the word Judah. We use it as a word synonymous with Israeli. I’m not using the word as an epithet, just showing the origin of it and the adjective Jewish.

But Stars!

The Bible attests to the numbers of the host of heaven as being allotted and countable.

He counts the number of the stars; He calls them all by their names.

Psalm 147:4

Their positions are fixed.

Lift up your eyes on high, and see who has created these things, who brings out their host by number; He calls them all by name, by the greatness of His might and the strength of His power; not one of them is missing.

Isaiah 40:26

What we can conclude is that angels are not humans. It would also be correct to assume that humans do not become angels when they die. Interestingly, science has never observed the birth of a star. Could that not be a testimony to the reality that the number of angels is fixed?

The Sun, the Moon, the Host of Heaven

Back to Stephen and his citation of the Prophets. He was using this passage from Amos.

Did you bring Me sacrifices and offerings those forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel?
But you will carry away Sukuth your king and Kaiwan your star-images, your gods that you made for yourselves, as I drive you away into exile beyond Damascus, says the Lord, whose name is the God of Hosts.

Amos 5:25–27

It becomes very clear that the entire nation of Israel, both northern and southern kingdoms, was led astray to worship stars. This text reveals some more information.

Sukuth mentioned here is from an Assyrian epithet of Adar-Ninip (Saturn.) Kaiwan is also another Assyrian loan word that is the planet Saturn. (Some translations use the English word Remphan from the Greek Septuagint translation of the Hebrew word.) The way Stephen says it via the Septuagint he is quoting connects it to Moloch. Saturn is Moloch. (Moloch is represented as a bull.)

So they made a calf in those days, and offered a sacrifice to the idol, and rejoiced in the works of their hands.

Acts 7:41

Other scholars have made this connection between Saturn and Moloch. What I know is mostly the work of Derek Gilbert. His book “The Second Coming of Saturn” shows how all of this comes together. Here is a short excerpt that helps us to understand.

It is important to also note how this is connected to the worship of El. He is the ancient god represented by the bull. Also, think back to the previous post where we referenced el from Psalm 89. There seems to be a purposeful and pernicious dissipation of the truth being put forward.

Star-Image

As Stephen referenced Amos, Amos points us to another intriguing revelation. It is the star-image or representation of that god. It is usually an idol.

What some may not understand is that the English name for the last day of the week is Saturday. It is literally Saturn’s Day. Is it any wonder Stephen cited this?

What’s more… Saturday is also Shabbat. The seventh day of the week. The day of God’s rest.

And what of the star-image?

This leads to the area of woo-woo. Because you know nefarious things are afoot. It is the star of the god they worship.

The star of Saturn is a six-pointed star. It is a talisman used in magick rituals called the talisman of Saturn. The symbol is ancient. Those same occult sources also call it the Seal of Solomon.

The star is a six-pointed hexagram. By extension, it is also represented by a hexagon and even a cube.

Saturn

Saturn worship has tripped up Israel from the beginning. I would be the one to opine that Saturn worship began way before the flood. Its inception was in the days of Jared when Cain’s progeny gained technology as recounted in Genesis 4.

Cain had relations with his wife, and she conceived and gave birth to Enoch. He built a city and called the name of the city after the name of his son, Enoch.

Genesis 4:17

We hurry past that verse without thinking. I am very guilty of that. God established the way to do things… A man leaves his family and cleaves to his wife. It was established patriarchy. One that pointed to the earthly father, whose ministry was to emulate the Heavenly Father.

When Enoch built a city, that was a subtle change of disestablishing patriarchy and supplementing and eventually supplanting the role of the father for the fulfillment of our needs and protection. Instead, the king of the city would provide protection and needs.

Enoch’s named progeny in the Bible gives us a hint as to being led astray. Born to Irad was Mehujael. Mehujael was the father of Methushael, and Methushael was the father of Lamech. Notice the suffix el. I think this to be evidence of the beginning of Moloch worship.

My conjecture also includes Cain’s progeny as the ones who traded wives for technology. That is, Cain’s daughters were taken by fallen angels. Eventually, the kings of these city-states were gods, titans of old… Giants.

Conclusion

The worship of the host of heaven is almost as old as time itself. It seems to have tripped up Cain’s progeny. It definitely tripped up God’s portion, Israel. The clarity of worship being solely to the Most High God is dissipated by some of the host of heaven.

These angels accepted the worship of themselves as gods. They failed to point the worship of men to the One True God. The Only One worthy of worship.

There are many aspects of history that are obscured. These point to dissipation and interference by fallen angels.

Angels are messengers. They are supposed to speak the truth of God. Perhaps it is this idea of worship that we can identify the veracity of the message told. Angels that speak the truth will not accept worship.

Please don’t take my word for it, check it out for yourself. See if what I give carries truth. We will finally move on to the final post. One that examines what the stars tell us about the ages.

The Divine Council in the Tanakh

On By TimIn Angels, Psalm 082, The Divine Council5 Comments

In the last post I introduced a term called The Divine Council. The members of the Divine Council are close advisors to God. Those are the ones that carry out the desires of God in the affairs of His creation. At least, that is what is supposed to happen.

We also know that there is none like God. He is El Elyon, the Most High God. He did introduce these lesser gods in His word.

God stands among the divine council; He renders judgment among the gods.
“How long will you all judge unjustly and accept partiality of the wicked? Selah
Defend the poor and fatherless; vindicate the afflicted and needy. Grant escape to the abused and the destitute, pluck them out of the hand of the false.
“They have neither knowledge nor understanding; they walk in darkness: all the foundations of the earth are shaken.”
I have said, “You are gods, sons of the Most High, all of you, but you all shall die like men, and fall like a man, O princes.”
Arise, O God, judge the earth, for You shall inherit all nations.

Psalm 82:1–8

To review, the Hebrew in the first verse uses the word elohim twice. It’s saying: Elohim stands among the divine council; He renders judgment among the elohim. Some of us have been taught that Elohim is the name of God Himself. I think the term is much broader than the name of God. It is similar to the English word God. Meaning it is used as a proper title of the Most High and it is also a descriptor of a class of beings.

This practice is seen with a different word as a similar concept. It comes in another Psalm.

Let the heavens praise Your wonders, O Lord;
Your faithfulness also in the assembly of the holy ones. For who in the skies can be compared to the Lord? Who among the heavenly sons is like the Lord? God is greatly to be feared in the assembly of the holy ones and awesome to all those who surround Him.

Psalm 89:5–7

As before, the juxtaposition of the word El translated to God and the word elim (the Hebrew plural of el) translated as heavenly sons is striking. It is also notable that there are many uses of the Tetragrammaton, that unspeakable name of God. Some say Jehovah, others say Yahweh.

Yet… This is where things start to get a bit blurry. It is not that they don’t make sense, but they tend to stretch the bounds of what we think we know.

As we saw in Psalm 89, Jehovah is in the midst of the assembly of the holy ones… The Divine Council. The text above provides us another descriptor of this assembly as heavenly sons. From these words, we bound off to a deeper truth.

Sons of God

Leave it to the Septuagint to help make a connection. The Septuagint was commissioned in the third century before the advent of Jesus. Tradition tells us 72 translators were tasked with transcribing the Hebrew Scriptures into the common language of the day… Koine Greek. Here is how those have translated this portion of the Psalm:

The heavens will confess your wondrous things, O Lord, and your truth in the assembly of holy ones. For who in the clouds will be likened to the Lord?
And who will be likened to the Lord among the sons of God?
God is glorified in the counsel of holy ones.
He is great and awesome upon all those who are around him.

Psalm 88:6–8 (Lexham English Septuagint)

The counting of the Psalms in the Septuagint is a bit different than it is in our Bibles. Those translators understood the Jewish mindset. The thinking at the time was Thai was an assembly of angelic beings. They were literally sons of God. In that Psalm, some of our modern translations use that exact phrase sons of God.

When examining the phrase sons of God in the Tanakh, the rare occurrences draw our attention. Those places where it is used have some importance in trying to understand what is being conveyed by the term. Many modern translations have incorporated the higher definition of meaning from an understanding of the Jewish texts. Texts and ideas which were in use long before the advent of Jesus.

For this endeavor, I am going to employ a different translation than I would normally use. It is the Lexham English Bible. This is a favorite study tool I use, because of the constant scholarship employed in translating it. The Bible is a product exclusive to Logos.

There are eight occurrences we will examine. So let’s go!

For who in the sky is equal to Yahweh? Who is like Yahweh among the sons of God.

Psalm 89:6 (Lexham English Septuagint)

This is our previous text. Let’s focus on the phrase sons of God. It is a literal translation from the Hebrew phrase bene elim. There is another, like it:

Ascribe to Yahweh, O sons of God,
ascribe to Yahweh glory and strength.

Psalm 29:1 (Lexham English Septuagint)

This psalm again translates the Hebrew phrase bene elim into the English sons of God. The phrase sons of God is the binding tie leading us to a seemingly synonymous Hebrew phrase.

Bene Ha Elohim

The majority of the appearances of the phrase sons of God is translated from the Hebrew bene ha Elohim. (I’m not a scholar in ancient languages, and don’t think the capital letter applies but I added it for clarity.) It occurred five times. These passages are examined next.

We are introduced to the phrase sons of God by its first usage in the Bible. The writer did not provide any definition. It’s as if he expected us to know what he meant. It would be akin to us writing, “I wrote a text to a friend on my phone.” Someone who has not ever encountered cell phone would have no idea behind the meaning the author assumes his audience has. It is like that here:

And it happened that, when humankind began to multiply on the face of the ground, daughters were born to them. Then the sons of God saw the daughters of humankind, that they were beautiful. And they took for themselves wives from all that they chose. And Yahweh said, “My Spirit shall not abide with humankind forever in that he is also flesh. And his days shall be one hundred and twenty years.” The Nephilim were upon the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God went into the daughters of humankind, and they bore children to them. These were the mighty warriors that were from ancient times, men of renown.

Genesis 6:1–4 (Lexham English Bible)

The phrase sons of God appears twice in this citation. The Hebrew it is translated from is bene ha Elohim. The author writes assuming his audience knows who the sons of god are. There are three more times the phrase is used. They are in the Book of Job. And the usage there helps us to understand who the sons of God are.

And it happened one day that the sons of God came to present themselves before Yahweh, and Satan also came into their midst.

Job 1:6 (Lexham English Bible)

And then one day the sons of God came to present themselves before Yahweh, and Satan also came into their midst to present himself before Yahweh.

Job 2:1 (Lexham English Bible)

when the morning stars were singing together and all the sons of God shouted for joy?

Job 38:7 (Lexham English Bible)

These are the three places where bene ha Elohim appears in Job. From this, our understanding of who they are becomes a bit more refined. These sons of God are clearly angels. This is the pattern that develops, sons of God as used in the Tanakh, is a term applied exclusively to angels.

The Septuagint offers more corroboration.

And Noah lived five hundred years, and Noah fathered three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth.
And it happened, when humans began to become numerous upon the land, and they had daughters, the angels of God, having seen the daughters of humans, that they were beautiful, took for themselves women from all whom they picked out. The Lord God said, “My breath will not at all reside.in these humans for very long because they are flesh, but their days will be one hundred and twenty years.” Now giants were upon the land in those days, and after that, whenever the sons of God visited the daughters of humans, they fathered children for themselves; those were the giants who were from long ago, the people of renown.

Genesis 6:1–4 (Lexham English Septuagint)

The underlying Greek is literal in the English. The difference is in the first translation of the Hebrew bene into the Greek angeloi (from which we get the English word angel.) The Septuagint moves the idea of sons to angels. The second usage literally translates the word bene to the Greek huioi (sons.) The 72 translators of the Septuagint rendered a faithful glimpse into the third-century BCE Judaism. In that mindset, these sons were angels.

Going back to the passage in Genesis 6 with some better background information, it stands out as weird, angels procreated with humans.. The language in Hebrew is far more coarse than what is translated. The word translated took using women as objects (to the verb) always has sexual connotations. It is used in Genesis 34 to describe Shechem’s rape of Dinah. The word translated as wives can also be translated as women regardless of their marital status. These angels took women as they desired.

Here is where what we know may be a bit blurry. We know the sons of God are angels. We know some of the sons of God acted immorally. We know that some (maybe all) of these sons of God were part of the Divine Council. These are collectively called fallen angels.

Circling back to Psalm 82 we see that this is an account where God judges the fallen angels. Fallen angels that were His viziers failed. Judgment is pronounced.

“They have neither knowledge nor understanding; they walk in darkness: all the foundations of the earth are shaken.”

Psalm 82:5

What happened with these fallen angels that were a part of the Divine Council had far-reaching consequences. The sin mentioned in Genesis 6 had ramifications affecting all of the Earth. There are other sins of other fallen angels that had the same far-reaching implications with the same consequences. All will be judged and more is said about this elsewhere in the Bible, that will come up in a bit. For now, we see God’s judgment toward these.

I have said, “You are gods, sons of the Most High, all of you, but you all shall die like men, and fall like a man, O princes.”

Psalm 82:6–7

There are things to note in the text here. The word fall is translated from the Hebrew word napal. The Hebrew language is consonantal. Vowels are inferred. Each word is based on a root word. In this case, our root for napal is the three transliterated consonants NPL. Looking back at the Genesis 6 passage, the Hebrew word nephilim is translated into the English giants. The word nephilim shares the same common root as napal. Nephilim are the hybrid progeny of angels and humans.

In Psalm 82 judgment comes. It seems as if God is saying something akin to, “Y’all caused humans to fall and die, now you will know what it is like to fall and die.” In other words, they will encounter the same bondage they inflicted on Adam’s race, from the garden on.

Arise, O God, judge the earth, for You shall inherit all nations.

Psalm 82:8

This closing verse in this psalm leads us to the last verse on the series of eight connecting the term sons of God.

Bene Yisrael

When the Most High apportioned⌋ the nations, at his dividing up of the sons of humankind, he fixed the boundaries of the peoples, according to the number of the sons of God.

Deuteronomy 32:8 (Lexham English Bible)

Here we have the final usage of the phrase sons of God. It is translated from the Hebrew bene yisrael. There are some versions of the Bible that render this as the sons of Israel. Again, the Septuagint helps us to understand. It translates the phrase to angels of God.

Using the immediate context of this passage, let us consider what Moses is saying.

Remember the days of old, consider the years of previous generations. Ask your father, and he will show you; your elders, and they will tell you: When the Most High gave the nations their inheritance, when He separated the sons of man, He set the boundaries of the peoples according to the number of the children of Israel. For the Lord’s portion is His people; Jacob is the allotment of His inheritance.

Deuteronomy 32:7–9

Moses admonishes the people to remember the days of old when God gave the nations their inheritance. He separated the sons of man and placed boundaries around them. But when was that?

The Inheritance of Nations

God gave the nations their inheritance after the flood when Noah’s sons had sons descendants. These are recorded in detail for us in Genesis 10. That chapter is referred to as the Table of Nations. It shows all people descend from Noah and his three sons. The Table of Nations is summed up with this:

These are the families of the sons of Noah, according to their generations, in their nations. From these were the nations divided in the earth after the flood.

Genesis 10:32

As is often the way it works in the Bible, we are given a high-level overview, sort of like an executive summary. What follows the overview can contain details into the minutiae. This is the case here.

We encounter another one of those notable occasions where something weird happened. The people of one language and one accord were led by a world leader named Nimrod (which means we will rebel) to build a tower. God came to see what they were doing (that language is for us to understand, it’s not meant to be intimate He had to learn.) He came down to stop the work and scatter the people.

So the Lord scattered them abroad from there over the face of all the earth, and they stopped building the city. Therefore the name of it was called Babel, because there the Lord confused the language of all the earth. From there the Lord scattered them abroad over the face of all the earth.

Genesis 11:8–9

That is how the nations got their inheritance. And this occurred long before Abraham was born. Which was long before Jacob was born. Which was long before God changed his name to Israel. It makes no sense for the term bene yisrael to literally refer to the sons of Israel when Israel did not yet exist. It seems as if those ancient translators knew this.

Now, some of us have a question. What is the inheritance?

It included the lands and languages given by God as already has been shown. There was another allotment to the nations.

Give good care to yourselves, for you saw no form on the day that the Lord spoke to you in Horeb from the midst of the fire, lest you corrupt yourselves and make a graven image for yourselves in the form of any figure, the likeness of male or female, the likeness of any beast that is on the earth, the likeness of any winged fowl that flies in the air, the likeness of anything that creeps on the ground, the likeness of any fish that is in the waters beneath the earth. And beware, lest you lift up your eyes to heaven, and when you see the sun, and the moon, and the stars, even all the host of heaven, you are led astray and worship them, and serve them, that which the Lord your God has allotted to all nations under the whole heaven. But the Lord has taken you and brought you out of the iron furnace, from Egypt, to be to Him a people of inheritance, as you are today.

Deuteronomy 4:15–20

Wait, isn’t that saying there were stars of heaven allotted to other nations?

That’s like the earlier posts in this series on stars and angels which demonstrate that stars are angels. God allotted angels to the nations. The role they serve is inferred from many ideas, namely that angels are messengers. Most likely they were to shepherd the nations they had been allotted. This inference comes chiefly from God’s relationship to Israel. God chose His portion as Jacob (Dt 32:9.) He is the shepherd of Israel. It follows that His desire would be for goodness toward those people.

He assigned other angels to steward the other nations. These were called to mete out justice. They were appointed to represent God and do His work among the people they shepherded.

Something happened, though. It seems to have occurred quickly. At some point, these stars took on the worship of men. Instead of pointing men to the Most High God, they took that worship to themselves.

If there be found among you, within any of your gates which the Lord your God gives you, man or woman, who has acted wickedly in the sight of the Lord your God, by transgressing His covenant, and has gone and served other gods and worshipped them, either the sun, or moon, or any of the host of heaven, which I have not commanded,

Deuteronomy 17:2–3

It is this continuous polluting of Adam. First in the garden. Soon after it was by genetics which had to be rectified by the flood. Then it came by ritualistic workings to corrupt the seed yet again at the tower incident. It is probably through the same old lie, “You shall be as gods.” It’s a recurring theme.

Now, these beings are polluting Adams’s race with false worship. I’m assuming to know that God would respond. Polluting other nations by taking the worship of men would become a stumbling stone for Israel. (I cannot help but think Rachel stealing Laban’s teraphim is more significant than we think.) It would be to pollute the Chosen incurring God’s wrath on them. It is a ploy to stop the Anointed One, the Seed of the Woman.

Conclusion

I know this was long. It is necessary foundational information. What we know so far, the Divine Council failed. The Divine Council consists of sons of God… Angels. There are fallen angels who work to pollute the seed of Adam… Chiefly the Seed of the Eve.

In the next post, we will examine these things in the New Testament. The understanding of what makes a son of God will become clearer. There will be new members of the Divine Council. God’s Master Plan has not yet been thwarted.