The Witness of the StarsBullinger, E. W. (Ethelbert William)
Religion
The Witness of the Stars
Bullinger, E. W. (Ethelbert William)
Astronomy; Astronomy in the Bible; Bible and science; Constellations
The names of other stars, not identified, all give the same testimony: _El
Alcola_ (Arabic), _the sheep‐fold_ (as in Ps. xcv. 7; and c. 3); _Cab’d al
Asad_, _multitude_, _many assembled_; _Annaish_, _the assembled_;
_Megrez_, _separated_, as the flock in the fold; _El Kaphrah_,
_protected_, _covered_ (Heb. _redeemed_ and _ransomed_); _Dubheh Lachar_
(Arabic), _the latter herd_ or _flock_; _Helike_ (so called by HOMER in
the _Iliad_), _company of travellers_; _Amaza_ (Greek), _coming and
going_; _Calisto_, _the sheepfold set_ or _appointed_.
There is not one discordant voice in the rich abundance of this testimony.
We have nothing to do here with the Grecian myths about bears or wild
boars. We see only the innumerable seed _gathered_ by Him who _scattered_
(Jer. xxxi. 10).
Many are the Scriptures we might quote which speak of this gathering and
assembling of the long‐scattered flock. It is written as plainly in the
Book, as it is in the heavens. The prophecies of this gathering are as
conspicuous in the Word of God as the “_Seven Stars_” are in the sky. It
is difficult even to make a selection from the wealth of such promises;
but few are more beautiful than that in Ezek. xxxiv. 12‐16:
“As a shepherd seeketh out his flock
In the day that he is among his sheep that are scattered;
So will I seek out my sheep,
And will deliver them out of all places where they have been
scattered in the cloudy and dark day.
And I will bring them out from the people,
And gather them from the countries,
And will bring them to their own land,
And feed them upon the mountains of Israel by the rivers
And in all the inhabited places of the country.
I will feed them in a good pasture,
And upon the high mountains of Israel shall their fold be:
There shall they lie in a good fold,
And in a fat pasture shall they feed upon the mountains of Israel.
I will feed my flock,
And I will cause them to lie down, saith the Lord GOD. (Adonai
Jehovah).
I will seek that which was lost,
And bring again that which was driven away,
And will bind up that which was broken,
And will strengthen that which was sick:
But I will destroy the fat and the strong;
I will feed them with judgment.”
It is of this judgment with which this book, and indeed the whole
Revelation, ends, in the next and final chapter.
But before we come to that we have one more picture in the third
constellation of this Sign, which combines the first two in one.
3. ARGO (The Ship).
_The Pilgrims safe at Home._
This is the celebrated ship of the Argonauts, which HOMER sung nearly ten
centuries before Christ. Sir Isaac Newton puts the expedition of the
Argonauts shortly after the death of Solomon (about 975 B.C.). While Dr.
Blair’s chronology puts it 1236 B.C.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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