Biblical cosmology

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(Redirected from Astronomy in the Bible)
See: Cosmology (disambiguation).

The Bible says very little about cosmology, such as the position of the earth in the universe, the nature of the fixed stars and planets, seeing as its main emphasis was on the history of God’s dealings with man. Skeptics argue that the Bible is written from a flat earth perspective[1] although this is not made explicit in any of the canonical books of the Bible.

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Background

Much of what the Bible says concerning cosmology is couched in terminology whose definitions are uncertain and disputed by Hebrew scholars. Another difficulty in recognizing Biblical cosmology is that at times the Bible condemns as apostasy beliefs such as the worship of the sun, moon, naked eye planets and stars, cosmology derived from other religions and not from the Bible.

Some scholars claim that what is often taught as “Biblical Cosmology” is actually medieval cosmology, which was a bastardized mixture of Hebrew terminology and Greek philosophy. An example of that is the reference to the four elements, which is nowhere found in the Bible.

The material for the subject is meager, dependence for the most part having to be placed on ambiguous references chiefly in the poetical sections. As such, these poetic references could be taken as poetic exaggerations and the ancient writers had no intention that they should be understood as literal expressions of their cosmology.

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Sky, sun, moon and stars

The sky, the abode of the stars, is described as a "raqiya'" (rakia, Hebrew for a plate); that is, a rigid, broad, solid plate possessing a certain thickness. The translation familiar to most English speakers is "firmament." According to Genesis 1:14, this raqiya' was set in the midst of the waters, and it divided the waters above from those beneath. According to some readings, God made it of matter already existing at the time of Creation; that is, God did not "create" it at that time. The raqiya' representing the sky in Ezek. 1:22 resembled ice; therefore it is quite possible that the author of Genesis, like Ezekiel, regarded the sky as being composed of solidified water or ice. Such a sky, being transparent, would permit the stars, which are located above its vault, to be seen through it.

Other scholars believe that the sky (which is a plural noun in Hebrew) was made up of an expanse between the waters, and another above. Scholars differ on the definition of "raqiya'" (pronounced “raqiyya”): some say that it refers to a hard plate, others to an empty space or one filled with atmosphere.

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Stars as the Hosts of Heaven

Several Biblical passages refer to “hosts” around God and in the heights above. This phrase is commonly taken to refer to angels or other creatures, but an alternate interpretation takes it to mean the stars. Under this interpretation, 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 (Joshua 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, contemporaries 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 Chronicles 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 was 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.

Zechariah 4:1–10 recounts a vision of a menorah (ancient Hebrew lampstand) with places for seven lamps. (A menorah with seven lamps was a decoration in the Tabernacle from the time of Moses, and later in the Temple in Jerusalem.) Taking this interpretation to its extreme, this passage can be viewed as calling the seven planets 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. However, this vision is a visual parable, not necessarily a physical object, and it does not mention stars: therefore the interpretation that it refers to the seven planets is not obvious from the text (Compare Revelation 1:20)

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Planets

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). The Hebrew name for these cakes was almost identical to the name for Saturn, so was the “queen of heaven” Saturn?

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The Bible and the Big Bang

Current scientific views of the Big Bang basically say that the universe had a specific beginning, starting incredibly small and massively expanding incredibly fast, then the fast expansion stopped but the universe continues to expand because space itself stretches.

Below are similar quotes from the Bible. Note that they indicate two separate steps: First the heavens are created, then they are stretched out.

Job 9:8 He alone stretches out the heavens and treads on the waves of the sea.

Psalm 104:1 O LORD my God, you are very great; you are clothed with splendor and majesty. [2] He wraps himself in light as with a garment; he stretches out the heavens like a tent

Zechariah 12:1 This is the word of the LORD concerning Israel. The LORD, who stretches out the heavens, who lays the foundation of the earth,

Isaiah 42:5 This is what God the LORD says--he who created the heavens and stretched them out, who spread out the earth and all that comes out of it, who gives breath to its people, and life to those who walk on it

Isaiah 40:21 Do you not know? Have you not heard? Has it not been told you from the beginning? Have you not understood since the earth was founded? [22] He sits enthroned above the circle of the earth, and its people are like grasshoppers. He stretches out the heavens like a canopy, and spreads them out like a tent to live in.

Isaiah 44:24 "This is what the LORD says--your Redeemer, who formed you in the womb: I am the LORD, who has made all things, who alone stretched out the heavens, who spread out the earth by myself,

Isaiah 45:12 It is I who made the earth and created mankind upon it. My own hands stretched out the heavens; I marshaled their starry hosts.

Isaiah 51:13 that you forget the LORD your Maker, who stretched out the heavens and laid the foundations of the earth,

Jeremiah 10:12 But God made the earth by his power; he founded the world by his wisdom and stretched out the heavens by his understanding.

Jeremiah 51:15 reads almost the same as 10:12.
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Modern day biblical cosmologies

The Catholic Church after having rejected scientific cosmological endeavors during the Copernican revolution, has in the last century been ever more increasingly involved with scientific cosmology. A Roman Catholic Priest in the employ of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, Georges Lemaître was, in fact, instrumental in the development of the Big Bang theory of the universe. The Catholic Church and many other mainline Christian denominations accepts modern cosmology as acceptably in concord with interpretations of the Bible that are more allegorical than literal. The Conservative and Reform traditions within Judaism also accept modern cosmology as compatible with their reading of scripture.

In contrast, some modern-day Young Earth creationists have tried to create Creationist cosmologies that they claim are compatible with a plain reading of the Creation according to Genesis in order to explain observations that appear to refer to a universe that is older than they would prefer. There are also a limited number of radical creationists who believe that strict modern geocentrism or even a flat earth are the only acceptable cosmological arrangements in concord with the bible, though their numbers are vanishingly small and their arguments are rejected by the majority of creationists. Supporters of mainstream science dismiss all these cosmologies as pseudoscience.

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See also

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