I think Ive posted this study before but its been a long while so sense the subject came up the other day thought I'd repost it. This is not Astrology but How the Bible is written into the Stars................................................................. "THE STARS ALSO."In the first mention of the heavenly bodies, the purpose of the Creator is clearly stated. Gen. 1:14-19 reveals the fact that they were created, not only "to divide the day from the night, and to give light upon the earth"; but, they were set "for SIGNS, and for SEASONS, and for days and years". The figure Polysyndeton (see Ap. 6) emphasizes these four purposes, and bids us single them out and consider them separately and independently. They are "for SIGNS'.Heb. 'oth, from 'athah, to come. Signs, therefore, of something or some One to come. Those who understand them are enlightened by them. Those who do not may well be "dismayed" (Jer. 10:2). The stars are numbered and named. There are twelve signs of the Zodiac, called "the stars" in Gen. 37:9 (eleven of which bowed down to Joseph's, the twelfth). The word Zodiac means the degrees or steps, which mark the stages of the sun's path through the heavens, corresponding with the twelve months. The stars were all named by God (Ps. 147:4). Most of these names have been lost; but over 100 are preserved through the Arabic and Hebrew, and are used by astronomers to-day, though their meaning is unknown to them. Many of them are used in Scripture as being well known, though the translations are somewhat speculative : e.g. Job 9:9. Heb. 'ash (Arcturus, R.V. the Bear), kesil (A.V. Orion), kimah (Pleiades). John 38:31, 32, mazzaroth (margin, Zodiac). Cp. 2Kings 23:5, 'ash (Arcturus with her sons, R.V. the Bear with her train, both versions being incorrect as to the names). See also Isa. 13:10. Amos 5:8. These names and the twelve "signs" go back to the foundation of the world. Jewish tradition, preserved by Josephus, assures us that this Bible astronomy was invented by Adam, Seth, and Enoch. We see evidence of it as early as Gen. 11:4, where we read of the Tower of Babel having "his top with the heavens". There is nothing about the wrongly supplied italics "may reach unto". The words, doubtless, refer to the signs of the Zodiac, pictured at the top of the Tower, like the Zodiacs in the Temples of Denderah, and Esneh in Egypt. The Babylonian "Creation Tablets" refer to them, though their primitive meaning had been either corrupted or lost. It is the same with the Greek mythology, which is a corruption of primitive truth which had been lost and perverted. We have to remember that our written Scriptures began with Moses, say in 1490 B.C. : and thus, for more that 2,500 years, the revelation of the hope which God gave in Gen. 3:15 was preserved in the naming of the stars and their grouping in Signs and Constellations. These groupings are quite arbitrary. There is nothing in the positions of the stars to suggest the pictures originally drawn around them. The Signs and Constellations were first designed and named; then, the pictures were drawn around them respectively. Thus the truth was enshrined and written in the heavens, where no human hand could touch it. In later years, when Israel came into the possession of the written "Scriptures of truth", there was no longer any need for the more ancient writing in the heavens. Hence, the original teaching gradually faded away and the heathen, out of the smattering they had heard by tradition, evolved their cosmogonies and mythologies. Ps. 19 contains a vivid reference to these two Books of revelation. That is why there is the very sudden change of subject at verse 7; a change which still perplexes and baffles all the skill of commentators. he teaching is preserved in the structure of the Psalm, where we haveA | 1-4-. The Heavens. B | -4-6. "In them, the sun". A | 7-10. The Scriptures. B | 11-14. "In them (the same Heb. as in v. 4.), Thy servant". In this structure every line emphasizes the elaboration of the design : for, while, in the first half, all the terms are literary, in the latter half they are all astronomical, thus welding the two portions of the Psalm into one harmonious whole. For the meaning of the words, reference must be made to the Psalm itself. We can only note here that the first part does not refer to the wonders of creation, but to the eloquence of its teaching and revelation : they "declare", tell, or narrate (Gen. 24:66. Ps. 71:15), they "utter speech", but without words (omit "where" in v. 3); they prophesy "day by day", "night by night". The question is : What do they prophesy? What knowledge do they show forth? What glory do they tell of? The answer is -- Gen. 3:15. The one great central truth of all prophecy -- the coming of the One, Who, though He should suffer, should in the end crush the head of the old serpent, the Devil. But, where are we to open this book? Where are we to break into this circle of the Zodiacal signs? Through the "precession of the Equinoxes" the sun gradually shifts its position a little each year, till in about every 2,000 years it begins the year in a different sign. This was foreseen; and it was also foreseen that succeeding generations would not know when and where the sun began its course, and where the teaching of this Heavenly Book commenced, and where we were to open its first page. Hence the "Sphinx" was invented as a memorial. It had the head of a woman and the body and tail of a lion, to tell us that this Book, written in the Heavens, began with the sign "Virgo", and will end with the sign "Leo". The word "sphinx" is from the Greek sphingo, to join; because it binds together the two ends of this circle of the heavens. The number of the Signs is twelve, the number of governmental perfection or "rule" : cp. Gen. 1:18 (Ap. 10). They are divided into three books of four chapters (or signs) each : twelve being the product of 3x4, i.e. of Divine truth working in the heavens and in the earth (see Ap. 10). Each book, therefore, consists of four signs; and these are all arranged, by structure, in exactly the same way. Each is an introversion. Thus we have the three books: