Tuesday, 7 May 2013

ORION'S STARS


IOPNA’s series on the CONSTELLATIONS continues with our 5th conversation:

What about those bright stars in Orion?...weren’t there 4 with high magnitude?
Rigel, a supergiant blue-white star marks his left foot
Betelgeuse, a supergiant red star marks his right shoulder
Bellatrix, a white star, marks the left shoulder
Alnilam, another white star, lies in the centre of his belt

The other stars in Orion’s belt are Mintaka, and Alnitak which appears to be drifting away as if that sword’s getting too heavy - or the stout hunter is letting out his belt…

just like God said to Job...’loosening his bands’!

Perhaps God has a sense of humour after all, hey? 

Yeah, fancy getting a laugh out of looking thru a telescope!                          
So what about nebulas?

On Orion’s sword the Horsehead Nebula adorns the hilt, the Great Nebula glistens on the blade, and two more nebulas mark the handle.
So what do the names of the stars mean?

The pity is that not only has Man perverted the meanings of the constellations with mythology but we now use Greek, Latin or Arabic names and numeric codes rather than the names God originally gave the stars and constellations.  
You can try to investigate their original names and meanings in your spare time but here are those four as we know them:                                

Rigel means ‘foot’ from the Arabic word rijl

Betelgeuse is a French name from Arabic: yad al-Jauza – ‘hand of the giant’ (although some say it means ‘armpit of the giant’)

Bellatrix is Latin for ‘female warrior’

Alnilam comes from Arabic: al-nizam for ‘string of pearls’

What about the other stars?...surely they have meanings…

Mintaka comes from Arabic: mantaqah for ‘giant’s belt’

Alnitak above the sword, comes from Arabic: an-nitaq, for ‘the girdle’

Saiph comes from Arabic: saif al-jabbar because on his right knee it marks the tip of the ‘sword of the giant’

I guess the Scriptures don’t actually identify Orion with Jesus Christ but is there any parallel?
I think so…                                                                 
Orion is said to mean ‘Coming Light’ or ‘Dawning’ but obviously that didn’t come from the original Hebrew.                                                           
In Psalm 19 we found that the Creator God is described as the ‘bridegroom coming out’ and the strong man or champion rising.                                                              
God told the serpent in Genesis 3 verse 15 that the woman’s seed “shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.”                                      
Psalm 91 verse 13 says: “Thou shalt tread upon the lion and the adder: the young lion and the dragon shalt thou trample under foot.                                                                  
The devil is identified by Peter in his first epistle as: “a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour”. (ch5 v8)                                             
Paul tells the Romans: “And the God of peace will crush Satan under your feet shortly .” (ch16 v20)                                                                  
Finally, Jesus slew the enmity. (Ephesians ch2 v16)

Maybe there are other references you can find and tell us about.

                                                                
NEXT: What’s the Mazzaroth?


Image credit: Stellarium

 

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