Tag: Psalm 147

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.

Stars: As Military and Messengers

On By TimIn Angels, Genesis 016 Comments

And God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night, and let them be signs to indicate seasons, and days, and years. Let them be lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth.” And it was so. God made two great lights: the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night. He made the stars also.

Genesis 1:14–16

There is a thought rattling around my brain. It has it’s anchor here in the Bible. I thought I could coax it all out in one post, but alas… It will be in a series of I do not know how many.

God made the heavens. He set the sun and the moon to indicate seasons, days, and years. He made the stars also. That is the point from which to launch.

Kokabim

The Hebrew word for stars here is kokabim. It is the plural of the Hebrew word kokab. The total amount of stars created is never given, but it is referenced as a number that is uncountable (Genesis 22:17.) Yet God counts them and calls them all by name.

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

Psalm 147:4

This is witnessed again for us in the prophets.

To whom then will you liken Me, that I should be equal to him? says the Holy One.
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 40:25–26

We have these two portions of Scripture that testify to the vast number of stars. We also see that stars are personified; they are given names. The prophet Isaiah reveals to us a different way to describe stars. He uses the Hebrew word tsaba, which is translated into English as host. To understand, the word host is a word that primarily refers to many persons assembled and appointed for military purposes.

The word tsaba was introduced in Genesis.

So the heavens and the earth, and all their hosts, were finished.

Genesis 2:1

The Bible speaks to many references of the host of heaven, like a favorite in 1 Samuel 17:45 where David names Him Jehovah Tsaba (LORD of Hosts.) David is speaking of God) as the Lord of Hosts.

A Star from Jacob

The Bible also likens Jesus to a star in a prophecy given by Balaam.

“I will see him, but not now; I will behold him, but not near; a star will come out of Jacob, and a scepter will rise out of Israel, and will crush the borderlands of Moab, and destroy all the children of Sheth. Edom will be a possession, and Seir, a possession of its enemies, while Israel does valiantly. One out of Jacob shall have dominion, and destroy the survivors of the city.”

Numbers 24:17–19

At His first advent, the birth of Jesus was heralded by His star.

Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, wise men came from the east to Jerusalem, saying, “Where is He who was born King of the Jews? For we have seen His star in the east and have come to worship Him.”

Matthew 2:1–2

When they heard the king, they departed. And the star which they saw in the east went before them until it came and stood over where the young Child was. When they saw the star, they rejoiced with great excitement. And when they came into the house, they saw the young Child with Mary, His mother, and fell down and worshipped Him. And when they had opened their treasures, they presented gifts to Him: gold, frankincense, and myrrh.

Matthew 2:9–11

I had to add that because of the phrase when they saw the star, it occurs to me that it may be a reference to Jesus as well as the star in the sky. That is my speculation… But back on topic.

The prophecy given by Balaam has a parallel with the one given by John.

I saw heaven opened. And there was a white horse. He who sat on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and wages war. His eyes are like a flame of fire, and on His head are many crowns. He has a name written, that no one knows but He Himself. He is clothed with a robe dipped in blood. His name is called The Word of God. The armies in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, followed Him on white horses. Out of His mouth proceeds a sharp sword, with which He may strike the nations. “He shall rule them with an iron scepter.” He treads the winepress of the fury and wrath of God the Almighty. On His robe and on His thigh He has a name written: KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS.

Revelation 19:11–16

I jumped a bit too far ahead but wanted to establish this firmly. The kokabim are an army led by none other than Jesus Christ. They were created at the beginning. There is another term associated with stars that we must also consider. That is sons of God. Tuck all these things into your memory banks, as you will need them to understand the next posts.

Kokabim as Messengers

“Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Declare, if you have understanding. Who has determined its measurements, if you know? Or who has stretched the line upon it? To what are its foundations fastened? Or who laid its cornerstone when the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?

Job 38:4–7

I have not begun to exhaust the references of stars as angels. I will leave that for your own endeavors. As it is the glory of kings to search out a matter. Yet amongst all those different references to stars as persons with a military calling, they also serve another purpose.

“Write the things which you have seen, and the things which are, and the things which will take place after this. The mystery of the seven stars which you saw in My right hand, and the seven golden candlesticks: The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven candlesticks which you saw are the seven churches.

Revelation 1:19–20

This is not the first reference of the Greek word that is translated to angel here. It serves the purpose of connecting stars to angels. The Greek word translated to star is then translated in other places as messenger. Not only are stars the host of heaven, but they also serve as messengers doing God’s bidding.

It is not then too difficult to connect some dots. Let us consider what is said in this psalm:

The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament shows His handiwork. Day unto day utters speech, and night unto night declares knowledge. There is no speech and there are no words; their voice is not heard. Their line has gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. In them has He set a tent for the sun, which is like a bridegroom coming out of his chamber; it rejoices as a strong man to run a race. Its going forth is from one end of the heavens, and its circuit extends to the other end, and there is nothing hidden from its heat.

Psalm 19:1–6

The firmament is the home of the stars. It shows His handiwork and proclaims a message. It is one not spoken aloud. Note the change to the personal pronoun. Their line goes to all the Earth. In other words, the messengers of heaven are telling us something not using words. Something that is available to the entire Earth.

Paul quoted part of this psalm. In it he provides another witness to the personhood of the messengers.

But I say, have they not heard? Yes, indeed:
“Their voice went into all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world.”

Romans 10:18

What is fascinating is that in this portion of Romans, Paul quotes a few other passages from the Tanakh. These passages are somewhat prophetic in nature as they speak of future truth that is revealed by Paul.

But I say, did Israel not know? First, Moses says:
“I will make you jealous by those who are not a nation, and by a foolish nation I will anger you.”
And Isaiah is very bold and says:
“I was found by those who did not seek Me; I revealed myself to those who did not ask for Me.”
But to Israel He says:
“All day long I have stretched out My hands to a disobedient and contrary people.”

Romans 10:19–21

Your Bible ought to reference the source to all those quotes. They would be easy to find. I will leave that for those inclined.

Who has believed us, and to whom has the lovingkindness of the Lord been revealed?

That is an apparent lament by these messengers. What they have conveyed is not believed. Now, I know that this idea might upset some of what y’all know. Clearly, Paul connects the messengers to the host of heaven, the angelic beings.

Is it not by hearing that brings belief and hearing is by the word of God?

But from stars (angels?)

Messengers to Witness

The charge by Paul is that Israel ought to have known. Because they did not know, they rejected their expected King. Now the ministry of God is being taken away from Israel and given to a different body. That is the beginning of Romans 9 and continues in Romans 10 and 11. It is the body of Christ, who are not a nation. And the people that speak the truth will be taken as foolish by Israel.

God revealed Himself to those that did not seek or ask for God, He revealed Himself to Gentiles as was hidden in the prophets. The arm of the Lord revealed is His mercy in that He has stretched out His hands to a disobedient and contrary people. If that is not lovingkindness, I do not know what that is.

And yes, angels were (and are) always involved.

Which of the prophets have your fathers not persecuted? They have even killed those who foretold the coming of the Righteous One, of whom you have now become the betrayers and murderers, who have received the law by the disposition of angels, but have not kept it.”

Acts 7:52–53

How was the Law sent?

Therefore we should be more attentive to what we have heard, lest we drift away. For if the word spoken by angels was true, and every sin and disobedience received a just recompense, how shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation, which was first declared by the Lord, and was confirmed to us by those who heard Him? God also bore them witness with signs and wonders and diverse miracles and with gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to His own will.

Hebrews 2:1–4

The inspired commentary from the New Testament tells us that angels are indeed the messengers to men. The stars are messengers. It is their witness that is plain to the whole earth. There are scholars who think that the position of the stars purposely relates a witness of the Gospel and the history of creation. This information was compiled long ago in an easily accessible work called Mazzaroth or The Constellations by Frances Rolleston.

Now the foundation has been laid. Taking what we now have gleaned, let us look back to the Tanakh.

Those who are wise shall shine as the brightness of the expanse of heaven, and those who turn the many to righteousness as the stars forever and ever.

Daniel 12:3

Do you see the witness of the heavenly host, and what it conveys?

Do you consider yourself as one of those wise?

Is it not the stars who turn the many to righteousness?

The many is synechdoche. It is used to mean Israel, and by extension in the New Testament… God’s people.

It is not my intent to shame any people. It is to show that the God portrayed in the Tanakh is the loving God of the New Testament. When I read the Tanakh, the tender mercies of God are everywhere. Just reading this song of Moses moves me to tears. It demonstrates the great mercies our Lord has extended to Israel. And by them, to all of us foolish Gentiles who believe Him, He calls wise.

He said: The LORD came from Sinai and rose up from Seir to them; He shone forth from Mount Paran, and He came with ten thousands of holy ones; from His right hand went a fiery law for them. Surely, He loved the people; all His holy ones are in Your hand, and they sit down at Your feet; everyone receives Your words.

Deuteronomy 33:2–3