Stars as the Hosts of Heaven
The stars were supposed to be living creatures. If the difficult passage (Judges 5:20) may be regarded as other than a poetical figure, the stars "walk on the way"; they "come out" in the morning, and "go in" at night. By a miracle, sun and moon are made to stand suddenly still (Josh. 10:12). They fight from their courses like warriors on the march (Judges ib.); the poet perhaps thinks of falling stars. In later times the stars are spoken of as "the hosts of heaven." This conception is paralleled among the Assyrians, kinsmen of the Hebrews, who likewise conceive of the stars as soldiers serving the god of heaven, Anu, and probably also the somewhat similar god Ninib, whose abode was the planet Saturn.
The stars stand in God's presence, to the right and the left of God's throne (I. Kings 22:19; II Chron. 18:18); they serve Him (Neh. 9:6; Ps. 103:21), and praise Him (Ps. 103:21), 148:2). Like the kings of earth, they may be consigned by God's judgment to the nether world (Isa. 24:21 et seq.); and God will in future execute judgment among them as among the nations of earth (Isa. 34:4 et seq.). Reverence is offered to the stars as living creatures (Jer. 8:2).
At the head of this starry host stands a "captain of the army" (Josh. 5:14; Dan. 8:11); according to the passage in the Book of Daniel, he was the star highest in altitude as well. By this designation the planet Saturn was probably intended, the farthest removed from earth and therefore the highest in the heavens, and which is held by the Assyrians to be the "bellwether" of the flock.
This starry army belongs to God; hence the frequent expression "God of hosts" indicates that God is the actual leader of the heavenly array. According to a later view, however (Zech. 4:2, 10), the seven planets are evidently termed the "seven eyes of God", just as the planet Saturn was the eye of Anu, lord of heaven among the Babylonians. It would appear, therefore, that they were no longer considered independent beings, and of course the other stars likewise.
Of planets, as far as ascertainable with any degree of certainty, only two are mentioned in the Hebrew Bible: Saturn, called by his Assyrian name "Kévan" in Amos 5:26; and "Meleket ha-Shamayim", "the queen of heaven," Jer. 7:18, 44:17, 25, etc. That the latter means Venus is shown by the cakes which are said to have been baked for her. Among the Assyro-Babylonians the cake-offerings were called "the bread of Ishtar" (Venus).
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