Biblical Hebrew Forum

[George Athas <gathas AT mail.usyd.edu.au>]

Ben Crick wrote:

> > Were there constellations in ancient Hebrew culture?
> > What sorts of figures were they? Were the ancient Jews astonomers?
> > Astrologers?
>
>  Dear Jane
>
>  What an interesting question!  [...]

>  Astrology was a no-no for the children of Israel;

But that doesn't mean it didn't exist. If it had to prohibited, it implies 
there was
some tendency to practise it.

Interestingly, Song of Songs may preserve a word which means 
"constellations", but
which is traditionally translated as "banners" or "bannered host". The word is
NIDGALOT (SoS 6:4; 10). Indeed, this seems to be the best way to understand 
the word
in SoS 6:10 where NIDGALOT are heaped together with the sun and moon. The 
root DGL
seems to imply "looking up", and so would fit the context. This would also 
fit the
context in which DEGEL implies a division of an army. A constellation would 
certainly
make sense if it seen as both something you look up at, and something which 
is an
ordered division of the starry host.

Best regards,
GEORGE ATHAS
Dept of Semitic Studies,
University of Sydney
- Email: gathas AT mail.usyd.edu.au
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