Hebrew astronomy is any astronomy written in Hebrew or by Hebrew speakers, or translated into Hebrew, or written by Jews in Judeo-Arabic. It includes a range of genres from the earliest astronomy and cosmology contained in the Bible, mainly the Tanakh (Hebrew Bible or "Old Testament"), to Jewish religious works like the Talmud and very technical works.
Some Persian and Arabian traditions ascribe the invention of astronomy to Adam, Seth and Enoch. Some scholars suggest that the signs of the zodiac, or Mazzaroth, and the names of the stars associated with them originally were created as a mnemonic device by these forefathers of the Hebrews to tell the story of the Bible.
Historian Flavius Josephus says Seth and his offspring preserved ancient astronomical knowledge in pillars of stone.Josephus, The Antiquities of the Jews, Book I:1–3.
In the Bible
Only a few stars and constellations are named individually in the Hebrew Bible, and their identification is not certain. The clearest references include: Kesil (),Isaiah 13:10; Amos 5:8; Job 9:9, 38:31. usually understood to be Orion, a giant angel. Kimā (),Amos l.c.; Job l.c. which may be the Pleiades, Aldebaran, Arcturus, or Sirius. ʿĀš or ʿĀyiš (),Job 9:9, 38:32 possibly the Hyades, Arcturus or Ursa Major, or even the Evening Star. Mezarim ( Məzārim),Job 37:9 which may be Ursa Major and Ursa Minor, or a synonym for mazzarot, in which case it would refer to the planets or the constellations of the zodiac.
Aside from the Earth, only two planets are named in the Hebrew Bible: The phrase "Sikkuth and Kiyyun" in Amos 5:26 refers to the Assyrian Sakkut and Kayawanu, names for Adar, representing Saturn. Venus, called the Queen of Heaven in Jeremiah 7:18 and elsewhere. That the latter means Venus is shown by the cakes, which are said to have been baked for her. In Assyria and Babylonia, the cake offerings were called "the bread of Ishtar". Hēlēl (), the "son of the morning" ( Ben-Šāḥar) in Isaiah 14:12, is also thought to be the Morning Star (Venus when visible before dawn). This identification is better known to many English speakers as its Latin name, Lucifer, the "light-bearer".
In the Talmud The information preserved in the Talmud does not emanate from one homogeneous system, as they are the accumulations of at least four centuries, and are traceable to various authors in the Jerusalem and Babylonian Talmuds, among whom many were inclined to mysticism.
Astronomy as a religious study The high value of astronomical knowledge is already demonstrated by the astronomical section of the Book of Enoch (about 72–80 BC), as well as by such sayings as those of Eleazar Hisma (about 100), a profound mathematician, who could "count the drops in the ocean",Horayot 10a and who declared that the "ability to compute the solstice and the calendar is the 'dessert' [auxiliaries] of wisdom.Pirkei Avot 3:18 Among the sciences that Johanan ben Zakkai mastered was a knowledge of the solstices and the calendar; i.e., the ability to compute the course of the Sun and the Moon.Sukkah 28a Later writers declare that "to him who can compute the course of the sun and the revolution of the planets and neglects to do so, may be applied the words of the prophet,Isaiah 5:12 'They regard not the work of the Lord, nor consider the operation of His hands.'" To pay attention to the course of the Sun and to the revolution of the planets is a religious injunction; for such is the import of the words,Deuteronomy 4:6 "This is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the nations".Shabbat 75a
Despite the general importance and religious significance attached to astronomy in the Holy Land, no notable developments in astronomy happened there during the Talmudic period. The starry heavens of the land of Israel interested the Jews as creations of God and as means to determine the holidays, but for a better knowledge of them the Jews were undoubtedly indebted to the Babylonians and their Hellenic pupils, as evidenced by the foreign term gematria used to designate the computation of the calendar. Probably this word represents a transposition of the Greek γραμματεία meaning "arithmetic, mathematics". Most of the observations of a scientific nature were transmitted by Samuel of Nehardea, who attended the schools of the Babylonians, and who claimed to possess as exact a knowledge of the heavenly regions as of the streets of Nehardea. Certain rules must nevertheless have existed, because Rabban Gamaliel (about 100), who applied the lunar tablets and telescope, relied for authority upon such as had been transmitted by his paternal ancestors.Yerushalmi Rosh Hashana 2 58b; Bavli Rosh Hashana 25a
Correspondence between Biblical numbers and astronomy The number seven is a recurring numerical theme in the scriptures. The Temple menorah's seven lamps on four branches correspond to the lights of the seven classical planets: the Moon, Mercury, Venus, the Sun, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn. Jewish mysticism recognized their great importance. Therefore, along with the four lunar phases being slightly over seven days (~7.4 days) each, the number 7 was held in very high regard. The Torah reflects this, as the beginning of the Genesis creation narrative, Genesis 1:1, has seven words and twenty-eight letters (7x4) in the Hebrew. In Genesis 1:14, it states, "And God said, 'Let there be lights in the heavens to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark seasons, days, years and festivals'...the 4th day (of 7)."
Scholars identify the twelve signs of the zodiac with the Twelve Tribes of Israel.(12 Signs, 12 Sons: Astrology in the Bible, David Womack, Harper & Row, San Francisco 1978, pg 43)
Conceptions of the Heavens and Earth In the Talmud, as in the Bible, the heavens and the Earth designate the two borders of the universe, with the heavens a covering over the Earth. One tannaitic authority believed that the sphere consists of a strong and firm plate two or three fingers in thickness, always lustrous and never tarnishing, another estimates the diameter of this plate as one-sixth of the Sun's diurnal journey, while another, a Babylonian, estimates it at 1,000 parasangs (approx. 3728 miles). Yet another authority states that the diameter of the firmament is equal to the distance covered in 50 or 500 years and this is true also of the Earth and the large sea (Tehom) upon which it rests.Yerushalmi Berachot 1 2c; Targum Pseudo-Jonathan Genesis 1:6
The distance of the firmament from the Earth is a journey of 500 years, a distance equivalent to the diameter of the firmament, through which the Sun must saw its way in order to become visible.Yerushalmi Berachot 1 2c, bottom; Pesachim 94a The firmament, according to some, consists of fire and water, and, according to others, of water only, while the stars consist of fire.Yerushalmi Rosh Hashana 2 58a East and West are at least as far removed from each other as is the firmament from the Earth.Tamid 32a Heaven and Earth "kiss each other" at the horizon and between the water above and that below there are but two or three fingerbreadths.Genesis Rabbah 2:4; Tosefta Hagigah 2:5 The Earth rests upon water and is encompassed by it.
According to other conceptions the Earth is supported by one, seven, or twelve pillars. These rest upon water, the water upon mountains, the mountains upon the wind, and the wind upon the storm, though this could easily be metaphoric.Hagigah 12b; Yerushalmi Hagigah 2 77a There is also mentioned the terrestrial globe, kaddur.
Chronology and the Mazzaroth
Chronology was a chief consideration in the study of astronomy among the Jews; sacred time was based upon the cycles of the Sun and the Moon. The Talmud identified the twelve constellations of the Mazzaroth (zodiac) with the twelve months of the Hebrew calendar. The correspondence of the constellations with their names in Hebrew and the months is as follows:
Aries - Ṭ'leh - Nisan Taurus - Shor - Iyar Gemini - Teomim - Sivan Cancer - Sarṭan - Tammuz Leo - Ari - Av Virgo - Betulah - Elul Libra - Moznayim - Tishrei Scorpio - 'Aḳrab - Cheshvan Sagittarius - Ḳeshet - Kislev Capricorn - Gedi - Tevet Aquarius - D'li - Shevat Pisces - Dagim - Adar
The first three are in the east, the second three in the south, the third three in the west, and the last three in the north; and all are attendant on the Sun. According to one account, in the first three months (spring) the Sun travels in the south, in order to melt the snow; in the fourth through sixth months (summer) it travels directly above the Earth, in order to ripen the fruit; in the seventh through ninth months (autumn) it travels above the sea, in order to absorb the waters; and in the last three months (winter) it travels over the desert, in order that the grain may not dry up and wither.
According to one conception, Aries, Leo, and Sagittarius face northward; Taurus, Virgo, and Capricornus westward; Gemini, Libra, and Aquarius southward; and Cancer, Scorpio, and Pisces eastward. Some scholars identified the twelve signs of the zodiac with the twelve tribes of Israel.
The four solstices (the Tekufot of Nisan, Tammuz, Tishrei, and Tevet) are often mentioned as determining the seasons of the year and there are occasional references to the rising-place of the Sun.Eruvin 56a Sometimes six seasons of the year are mentioned,Genesis Rabbah 34:11 and reference is often made to the receptacle of the Sun (ναρθήκιον), by means of which the heat of the orb is mitigated.Genesis Rabbah 6:6, and elsewhere The Moon was also a part of the calendar: "The moon begins to shine on the 1st of the month; its light increases until the 15th, when the disk [דסקוס (δίσκοσ)] is full; from the 15th to the 30th it wanes; and on the 30th it is invisible."Exodus Rabbah 15:26
The heavenly bodies and their motions Two different cosmologies can be found in the Talmud. One is a flat Earth cosmology resembling descriptions of the world in the mythology of the Ancient Near East. The other, is a geocentric model, according to which the stars move about the earth. According to Aristotle, Ptolemy, and other philosophers among the Greeks, the stars have no motion of their own, being firmly attached to spheres whose center is the Earth. A passage in the Talmud contrasts the pagan view with that of Jewish sages:
The Sun has 365 windows through which it emerges: 182 in the east, 182 in the west, and 1 in the middle, the place of its first entrance. The course described by it in a year is traversed by the Moon in 30 days. The solar year is longer by 11 days than the lunar year.Yerushalmi Rosh Hashana 2 58a The Sun completes its course in 12 months; Jupiter, in 12 years; Saturn, in 30 years; Venus and Mars, in 480 years;Genesis Rabbah 10:4 however, an objection is raised here (in a gloss) against the last-mentioned number. King Antoninus asked the patriarch why the Sun rises in the east and sets in the west. At the time of the Genesis flood narrative, it travelled in the opposite direction.Sanhedrin 91b, 108b Every 28 years it returns to its original point of departure, and on Tuesday evening of the spring solstice it is in opposition with Saturn, although Plato maintained that the Sun and planets never return to the place whence they started. This is a 28-year cycle.Berachot 59b The Moon cycle of 19 years may have been meant in Targum Pseudo-Jonathan, Genesis 1:14.
The names of the five planets, one star and one moon [planetary satellite] are:
Shabbatay שבתאי, Saturn Meaning: "of Shabbat" Tzedeq צדק, Jupiter Meaning: "righteousness" Ma'adim מאדים, Mars Meaning: "the red one" Ḥamma חמה, the Sun Meaning: "the hot one" Kokhevet כוכבת, Noga נוגה or Kokhav-Noga כוכב נוגה, Venus Meanings: "the she-planet", "the bright one", or "the bright planet", respectively Kokhav כוכב, Mercury Meaning: "the star" Levanah לבנה, the Moon Meaning: "the white one"