WHAT'S THE 'MAZZAROTH'?

IOPNA’s series on the CONSTELLATIONS continues with our 6^th conversation :

 Okay. When we were talking about constellations you dodged the question: who or what is ‘Mazzaroth’?... in Job chapter 38, verse 32:

            “Canst thou bring forth Mazzaroth in his season…?”

Come on…what’s with this ‘Mazzaroth’?

Apparently it comes from a plural Hebrew word: mazzarah, meaning ‘distinction’ or ‘separated’.

So are there any constellations distinguished in season?

There certainly are! What distinguishes stars, to this day, is the apparent passage of the sun past the 12 major groups of stars lying on that ecliptic line in space, corresponding to the plane of Earth’s orbit. The moon and planets follow close to that line.

Ah! So that’s where the 12 signs of the Zodiac come from:  Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius, Capricorn, Aquarius, and Pisces.

Yes and remember we were looking for ‘the line’, like a measuring tape, in Psalm 19 verse 4?...

“Their line is gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world.”

So the Zodiac must be the line and the constellations speak to us!

 Of course the sun ‘visits’ each of the 12 once every year while our moon takes a month to orbit the Earth, hence 12 months in a year - recognised way back in Noah’s day.

You pointed out from Romans chapter 10 that the apostle Paul held Israel responsible as having heard the Word of God, even the gospel, by seeing the stars.                                   

Is there any other connection to be found between the stars and Israel?

There certainly is.

 

The 12 constellations on the ecliptic line followed by the sun, plus Ophiuchus

NEXT:  Israel in the stars

http://hotspuds.blogspot.com.au/2013/05/israel-in-stars_10.html 

Image credits: parablesblog.blogspot
Stellarium