Chapter 2 | Table of Contents |
Chapter
4
The Witness of the Stars
E. W. Bullinger
The Third Book
The
Redeemer
(His Second Coming)
"The glory that should follow"
Chapter III
The Sign Cancer (The Crab)
Messiah's redeemed possession held fast
35. Cancer (the
Crab)
With regard to the sign of CANCER, one
thing is certain, that we have not got the original picture, or anything
like it.
It does not agree with the names either of
its three constellations which have come down to us, or of its stars.
In the ancient Denderah Zodiac it is
represented as a Scarabaeus, or sacred beetle. * In the Zodiac of
Esneh and in a Hindu Zodiac (400 BC) it is the same.
* The Scarabaeus, passing its
early existence as a worm of the earth, and thence issuing as a winged
denizen of heaven, was held sacred by the Egyptians as an emblem of the
resurrection of the body.
According to the Greeks, Jupiter placed
this Crab amongst the signs of the Zodiac.
In Sir William Jones's Oriental Zodiac we
meet with a crab, and an Egyptian Zodiac found at Rome bears also the crab
in this sign.
The more ancient Egyptians placed
Hermanubis, or Hermes, with the head of an ibis or hawk, as
the symbol of the sign now allotted to CANCER.
The Denderah name is Klaria, or
the cattle-folds, and in this name we have the key to the meaning
of the sign, and to the subject of this chapter.
The Arabic name is Al Sartan, which
means who holds or binds, and may be from the Hebrew to
bind together (Gen 49:11). There is no ancient Hebrew word known for
the crab. It was classed with many other unclean creatues, and would be
included in the general term "vermin."
The Syriac, Sartano, means the
same. The Greek name is Karkinos, which means holding or
encircling, as does the Latin, Cancer, and hence is applied
to the crab. In the word Khan, we have the traveller's rest or inn;
while Ker or Cer is the Arabic for encircling. The
ancient Akkadian name of the month is Su-kul-na, the seizer or
possessor of seed.
The sign contains 83 stars, one of which
is of the 3rd magnitude, and seven are of the 4th magnitude, and the
remainder of inferior magnitudes.
In the centre of the Sign there is a
remarkably bright cluster of stars, so bright that they can be sometimes
seen with the naked eye. It looks like a comet, and is made up of a great
multitude of stars. Modern astronomers have called it the Beehive.
But its ancient name has come down to us as Praesepe, which means
a multitude, offspring.
The brightest star, z (in the
tail), is called Tegmine, holding. The star a (or
a1 and a2), in the lower large claw,
is called Acubene, which, in Hebrew and Arabic, means the
sheltering or hiding-place. Another is named Ma'alaph
(Arabic), assembled thousands; Al Himarein (Arabic), the
kids or lambs.
North and south of the nebula
Praesepe are two stars, which Orientalists speak of by a name
evidently of some antiquity. Asellus means an Ass, and one
was called Asellus Boreas, the northern Ass; while the other,
Asellus Australis, is the southern Ass. *
* The Ass was the emblem
of Typhon, the king who smites or is
smitten.
This connects it with the Tribe of
Issachar, who is said to have borne upon the Tribal standard the sign of
two asses.
This is doubtless the reference in Jacob's
blessing (Gen 49:11, RV):
"Issachar is a strong ass,
Couching down between the sheepfolds;
And he saw a resting-place
that it was good;
And the land that it was pleasant;
And he bowed
his shoulder to bear,
And became a servant under task work."
Have we not here the gathering up of the
teaching of this sign--
Messiah's redeemed
possessions held fast.
Here we come to the completion of His
work. In CANCER we see it with reference to His redeemed, and in
the next (the last) Sign, LEO, with reference to His enemies.
The three constellations develop the
truth. What is now called Ursa Minor is the Lesser Flock; Ursa
Major gives us The Sheepfold and the Sheep; while Argo, The
Ship, shows the travellers and the pilgrims brought safely home--all
conflict over.
To accomplish this, we see the true
Issachar bowing his shoulder to bear. He could say, "My soul is bowed
down" (Psa 57:6). He became a servant, and humbled Himself to death. He
undertook the mighty task of saving His people from their sins. "Their
Redeemer is strong" (Jer 50:34); for help was laid on "One that was
mighty" (Psa 89:19). And His redeemed shall come to a resting-place that
is good, and to a land that is pleasant. No earthly Khan on earth affords
them a home. They look for a heavenly home, and in the many mansions of
the Father's house they shall find eternal rest.
Here we see that sheltering home to which
the names of these stars point; where the assembled thousands
(Ma'alaph) shall be received into the true Klaria, even the
"everlasting habitations."
These are now to be shown to us.
1. URSA MINOR (The Little Bear)
The lesser
sheepfold
36. Ursa Minor (the Little
Bear)
Here we come to another grievous mistake,
or ignorant perversion of primitive truth, as shown in the ancient names
of these two constellations.
It is sufficient to point to the fact that
no Bear is found in any Chaldean, Egyptian, Pesian, or Indian Zodiacs, and
that no bear was ever seen with such a tail! No one who had ever seen a
bear would have called attention to a tail, such as no bear ever had, by
placing in its very tip the most important, wondrous, and mysterious Polar
Star, the central star of the heavens, round which all others revolve. The
patriarchal astronomers, we may be sure, committed no such folly as this.
The primitive truth that there were
two, or a pair of constellations is preserved; and that of these
two, one is larger, and the other smaller. But what were they? We have the
clue to the answer in the name of the brightest star of the larger
constellation, which is called Dubheh. Now Dubheh means a
herd of animals. In Arabic, Dubah means cattle. In
Hebrew, Dohver, is a fold; and hence in Chaldee it meant
wealth. The Hebrew Dohveh, means rest or
security; and certainly there is not much of either to be found or
enjoyed with bears! The word occurs in Deuteronomy 33:25 "As thy days so
shall thy strength be." The Revised Version gives in the margin, "So shall
thy rest or security be." This accords with what we have
already seen under CANCER: "Couching down between the sheepfolds, he saw a
resting-place that it was good."
Here are the two Sheepfolds, then; the
Greater fold, and Lesser; and here is the rest and security
which the flocks will find therein.
But in Hebrew there is a word very similar
in sound, though not in spelling--dohv, which means a bear!
So we find in Arabic dub; Persian, deeb and dob. We
can see, therefore, how the Hebrew Dohver, a fold, and Dohv, a
bear, were confused; and how the Arabic Dubah, cattle, might
easily have been mistaken by the Greeks, and understood as a bear.
The constellation, which we must therefore
call THE LESSER SHEEPFOLD, contains 24 stars, viz., one of the 2nd
magnitude, two of the 3rd, four of the 4th, etc.
The brightest star, a (at the point
of the tail), is the most important in the whole heavens. It is named
Al Ruccaba, which means the turned or ridden on, and
is today the Polar or central star, which does not revolve in a circle as
does every other star, but remains, apparently, fixed in its position. But
though the star does not revolve like the others, the central point in the
heavens is very slowly but steadily moving. When these constellations were
formed the Dragon possessed this important point, and the star a,
in Draco, marked this central point. But, by its gradual recession,
that point is sufficiently near this star Ruccaba, in the Lesser
Sheepfold, for it to be what is called "the Polar Star." But, how
could this have been known five or six thousand years ago? How could it
have been known when it received its name, which means the turned
or ridden on? That it was known is clear: so likewise was it made
known in the written Word that the original blessing included not merely
the multiplicaiton of the seed of faithful Abraham, but it was then added,
"And thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies" (Gen 22:17).
This star was called by the Greeks the
"Cynosure." ARATUS seems to apply this term to the whole of the
seven stars of the Lesser Bear. Mr. Robert Brown, Jr., shows that
this word once supposed to be Hellenic, is non-Hellenic, and possibly
Euphratean in origin, from a word which he transliterates
An-nas-sur-ra, and renders it, "as it literally means, high in
rising, i.e., in heavenly position." (Euphratean Stellar
Researches). Is not this the primitve truth of the Revelation? Will
not this Lesser Fold be high, yea, the highest in heavenly position?
The Polar Star has been removed from the
Dragon, and is now in the Lesser Fold; and when the Dragon shall be
cast down from the heavens, the heavenly seed will be safely folded there.
But this is the Lesser Sheepfold. These are they who all through
the ages have been "partakers of the heavenly calling," who desired a
better country, that is, a heavenly; wherefore God "hath prepared
for them a city," the city for which Abraham himself "looked." This was no
earthly city, but a city "whose builder and maker is God" (Heb 11:10-16).
These have always been a smaller company, a "little flock," but the
kingdom shall be theirs, even the kingdom of God, for which they now look
and wait. They have not yet "received the promises; but, having seen them
afar off" by faith, they "were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and
confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth" (Heb 11:13).
Their Messiah has accomplished "the redemption of the purchased
possession," and in due time the redeemed will inherit it, "unto the
praise of His glory" (Eph 1:13).
The bright star b is named
Kochab, which means waiting Him who cometh. Other stars are
named Al Pherdadain (Arabic), which means the calves, or
the young (as in Deut 22:6), the redeemed assembly. Another,
Al Gedi, means the kid. Another is Al Kaid, the
assembled; while Arcas, or Arctos (from which we derive
the term Arctic regions), means, according to one interpreter, a
travelling company; or, according to another, the stronghold of the
saved.
But there is not only the heavenly seed,
which is compared "to the stars of heaven," but there is the seed that is
compared to "the sand of the sea"--the larger flock or company, who will
enjoy the earthly blessing.
This brings us to--
2. URSA MAJOR (The Great Bear)
The fold and the
flock
37. Ursa Major (the Great
Bear)
Of these it is written--
"But in Mount Zion there
shall be those that escape,
And it shall be holy:
And the house of
Jacob shall possess their possessions."
Obadiah 17-19, RV
It is a large and important constellation,
containing 87 stars, of which one is of the 1st magnitude, four of the
2nd, three of the 3rd, ten of the 4th, etc. It always presents a splendid
appearance, and is perhaps, therefore, the best known of all the
constellations.
In the Book of Job (9:9, and 38:31,32) it
is mentioned under the name of Ash. "Canst thou guide Ash
and her offspring?" which is rendered in the AV, "Arcturus and his sons,"
and in the RV, "The Bear with her train" (marg., "sons"). The Arabs still
call it Al Naish, or Annaish, the assembled together, as
sheep in a fold. The ancient Jewish commentators interpreted Ash as
the seven stars of this constellation. They are called by others
Septentriones, which thus became the Latin word for North.
The brightest star, a (in the
back), is named Dubhe, which, as we have seen, means a herd of
animals, or a flock, and gives its name to the whole
constellation.
The star b (below it) is named
Merach (Hebrew), the flock (Arabic, purchased).
The star g (on the left of
b) is called Phaeda, or Phacda, meaning visited,
guarded, or numbered, as a flock; for His sheep, like the
stars, are both numbered and named. (See Psalm 147:4)
The star e is called Alioth,
a name we have had in Auriga, meaning a she goat.
The star z (in the middle of the
tail) is called Mizar, separate or small, and close to it
Al Cor, the Lamb.
The star h (at the end of the
so-called tail) is named Benet Naish (Arabic), the daughters of
the assembly. It is also called Al Kaid, the assembled.
The star i (in its right foot) is
called Talitha.
The names of other stars all give the same
testimony: El Alcola (Arabic), the sheepfold (as in Psa
95:7; and 100:3); 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 innumeralbe seed
gathered by Him who scattered (Jer 31:10).
Many are the Scriptures we might quote
which speak of this gathering and assembling of the long scatterd 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" 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
Ezekiel 34:12-16:
"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
38. Argo (the
Ship)
This is the celebrated ship of the
Argonauts, of 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 BC). While Dr. Blair's chronology puts it at 1236
BC.
Whatever fables have gathered round the
story there can be no doubt as to its great antiquity. Some think that the
story had its origin in name, as well as in fact, from the Ark of
Noah and its mysterious journey. All that is clear, when divested of
mythic details, is that the sailors in that ship, after all their dangers,
and toils, and battles were over, came back victorious to their own
shores. The "golden fleece," for which the Argonauts went in search, tells
of a treasure that had been lost. "Jason," the great captain, tells
of Him who recovered it from the Serpent, which guarded it with
ever-watchful eye, when none else was able to approach it. And thus,
through the fables and myths of the Greeks, we can see the light primeval
shine; and this light, once seen, lights up this Sign and its
constellations, so that their teaching cannot be misunderstood.
ARATUS sings of Argo:
"Stern-foremost hauled; no
mark of onward-speeding ship.
Sternward she comes, as vessels do
When sailors turn the helm
On entering harbour: all the oars
back-water,
And gliding backward, to an anchor comes."
It tells of that blessed home-coming,
when--
"The ransomed of the LORD
shall return
And come to Zion with songs,
And everlasting joy upon
their heads;
They shall obtain joy and gladness,
And sorrow and
sighing shall flee away."
Isaiah 35:10
It tells of the glorious Jason (the
Graeco-Judean equivalent of Joshua or Jesus), of whom it is asked:
"Art thou not it which hath
cut Rahab,
And wounded the dragon?
Art thou not it which hath
dried the sea, the waters of the great deep;
That hath made the depths
of the sea a way for the ransomed to pass over?
Therefore the redeemed
of the LORD shall return,
And come with singing unto Zion," etc.
Isaiah 51:9-11
"For the LORD hath redeemed
Jacob,
And ransomed him from the hand of him that was stronger than
he.
Therefore they shall come and sing in the height of Zion,
And
shall flow together to the goodness of the LORD."
Jeremiah 31:11, 12
This is the return of the great
emigrant-ship (Argo) and all its company of travellers (for
this is the meaning of the word Argo).
In Kircher's Egyptian Planisphere
Argo, is represented by two galleys (as we have two sheepfolds),
whose prows are surmounted by rams' heads; and the stern of one of them
ends in a fish's tail. One of the two occupies four segments of the
sphere (from TAURUS to VIRGO), while the other occupies the four from LEO
to CAPRICORNUS. One half of the southern meridians is occupied with
these galleys and their construction and decoratons. Astronomers tell us
that they carry us back, the one to the period when the Bull opened the
year (to which time VIRGIL refers); and the other to the same
epoch, when the summer solstice was in LEO--"an era greatly antecedent to
the Argonautic expedition. How else, they ask, do we account for the one
ship having her prow in the first Decan of TAURUS, and her poop in the
last decan of LEO? or for one galley being freighted with the installed
Bull, and the other with the solstitial Lion?" (Jamieson's
Scientific Display, &c.)
These are the words of an astronomer who
knows nothing whatever of our interpretation of the heavens which is set
forth in this work.
It will indeed be a large vessel, the true
Argo, with its company of travellers, "a great multitude
which no man can number." All this is indicated by the immense size of the
constellation, as well as by the large number of its stars. There are 64
stars in Argo (reckoning by the Britannic catalogue); one of the
1st magnitude, six of the 2nd, nine of the 3rd, nine of the 4th, etc. Only
a small part of the ship's poop is visible in Britain.
Its brightest star, a (near the
keel), is called Canopus or Canobus, which means the
possession of Him who cometh. Other star-names are--Sephina, the
multitude or abundance; Tureis, the possession; Asmidiska, the
released who travel; Soheil (Arabic), the desired; and
Subilon, the Brach.
Is not all this exactly in harmony with
the rest of this sign? And is not this what is written in the Book?
"Therefore, fear thou not, O
My servant Jacob, saith the LORD;
Neither be dismayed, O Israel:
For, lo, I will save thee from afar,
And thy seed from the land of
their captivity;
And Jacob shall return and be in rest,
And be
quiet, and none shall make him afraid,
For I am with thee, saith the
LORD, to save thee."
Jeremiah 30:10, 11
"Lift up thine eyes round
about, and see;
All they gather themselves together, they come to
thee;
Thy sons shall come from far,
And thy daughters shall be
nursed at thy side,
Then thou shalt see, and flow together,
And
thine heart shall fear and be enlarged;
Because the abundance of the
sea shall be converted unto thee...
Who are these that fly as a cloud?
And as doves to their windows?
Surely the isles shall wait for me,
And the SHIPS of Tarshish first, to bring thy sons from far."
Isaiah 60:4, 5, 8, 9
The whole chapter (Isa 60) should be read
if we wish to understand the great teaching of this Sign, which tells of
Messiah's secured possessions, the safe folding of His blood-bought flock,
the blessed return of His pilgrims, and their abundant entrance into
everlasting rest.
"There is a blessed home
Beyond this land of woe,
Where trials never come,
Nor tears of
sorrow flow;
Where faith is lost in sight,
And patient love is
crowned,
And everlasting light
Its glory throws around.
O joy, all joys beyond,
To see the Lamb who died,
And count each sacred wound
In
hands, and feet, and side;
To give to Him the praise
Of every
triumph won,
And sing through endless days
The great things He
hath done.
Look up, ye saints of God,
Nor fear to tread below
The path your Saviour trod
Of daily
toil and woe;
Wait but a little while
In uncomplaining love,
His own most gracious smile
Shall welcome you above."
Chapter 2 | Table of Contents |
Chapter
4