Witness of the Stars
By Steven Montgomery
Apparently there are those, who believe that not only is the Torah
encrypted with information containing God's plan for man, but also that
the Sun, Moon, Planets and stars serve not just as signs and for seasons
and so forth, but within the stars or the heavens themselves is encoded
all of human history, the end from the beginning and the beginning from
the end., etc. For example, Freemasonry has a myth that the god Thoth
posessed all secret knowledge on 36,535 scrolls that were hidden under
the heavenly vault (the sky). Also consider that there are twelve
constellations which follow the ecliptic or the path of the Sun among
the stars. Each of these constellations has been said to represent a
different phase in the life of Jesus Christ (although you would be hard
pressed to find a Jew claiming such
among the stars as well. Personally I find this idea fascinating that
perhaps the "heavens", "which declare the Glory of God" (Psalms 19) and
"proclaim his righteousness" (Psalms 97) stands as an additional
witness, along with the Torah, Isaiah and the Book of Mormon which I
believe are also encoded to declare "all things" within their pages.
Abraham seems to serve as the archtypical divine "astrologer" in this
sense. It also sort of gives a whole new meaning to the term, "look to
the stars" (Anyone care to do an ELS examination, or some other
cryptological analysis of the stars?).
In connection with this idea consider the Ephod and the Urrim and the
Thummim. Urrim means "lights" and corresponds to the two main lights in
the sky, the Sun and the Moon. The Thummim, on the other hand means
"complete", "whole", or "perfections" which corresponds to the "whole"
number 5, the number of anciently known planets, Venus, Mars, Jupiter,
Saturn, and Mercury. Additionally the Urrim and the Thummim were held in
place by bows which correspond with the plane of the Sun, Moon and the
Planets.
The construction of the Ephod is also extremely interesting. According
to rabbinical sources the ephod was an astrological instrument that the
High Priest used to prophesy the future. There were twelve names on the
two stones of the ephod which correspond to the twelve constellations.
As mentioned earlier, Abraham is considered to be the archtype of
"astrologers" and in this connection consider that Abraham was from Ur
of the Chaldees. The word, "Ur" means light and the Chaldeans were those
elite Babylonians who studied astrology. Here is an excerpt from the LDS
Bible Dictionary concerning the word Chaldea: "In Dan. 2: 2, 10 the name
is applied to a learned class in Babylon who made a special study of
astrology."
Also consider this from Easton's Bible Dictionary:
"Chaldees or Chaldeans, the inhabitants of the country of which Babylon
was the capital. They were so called till the time of the Captivity (2
Kings 25; Isa. 13:19; 23:13), when, particularly in the Book of Daniel
(5:30; 9:1), the name began to be used with special reference to a class
of learned men ranked with the magicians and astronomers. These men
cultivated the ancient Cushite language of the original inhabitants of
the land, for they had a "learning" and a "tongue" (1:4) of their own.
The common language of the country at that time had become assimilated
to the Semitic dialect, especially through the influence of the
Assyrians, and was the language that was used for all civil purposes.
The Chaldeans were the learned class, interesting themselves in science
and religion, which consisted, like that of the ancient Arabians and
Syrians, in the worship of the heavenly bodies. There are
representations of this priestly class, of magi and diviners, on the
walls of the Assyrian palaces."
Next consider that Abraham possessed a Urim and a Thummim and received
revelations concerning the "stars" as recorded in Abraham chapter 3:
1 AND I, Abraham, had the Urim and Thummim, which the Lord my God had
given unto me, in Ur of the Chaldees;
2 And I saw the stars, that they were very great, and that one of them
was nearest unto the throne of God; and there were many great ones which
were near unto it;
3 And the Lord said unto me: These are the governing ones; and the name
of the great one is Kolob, because it is near unto me, for I am the Lord
thy God: I have set this one to govern all those which belong to the
same order as that upon which thou standest.
4 And the Lord said unto me, by the Urim and Thummim, that Kolob was
after the manner of the Lord, according to its times and seasons in the
revolutions thereof; that one revolution was a day unto the Lord, after
his manner of reckoning, it being one thousand years according to the
time appointed unto that whereon thou standest. This is the reckoning of
the Lord's time, according to the reckoning of Kolob.
5 And the Lord said unto me: The planet which is the lesser light,
lesser than that which is to rule the day, even the night, is above or
greater than that upon which thou standest in point of reckoning, for it
moveth in order more slow; this is in order because it standeth above
the earth upon which thou standest, therefore the reckoning of its time
is not so many as to its number of days, and of months, and of years.
6 And the Lord said unto me: Now, Abraham, these two facts exist, behold
thine eyes see it; it is given unto thee to know the times of reckoning,
and the set time, yea, the set time of the earth upon which thou
standest, and the set time of the greater light which is set to rule the
day, and the set time of the lesser light which is set to rule the
night.
Indeed, as Abraham found out, the Heavens do indeed "declare the Glory
of God" (Psalms 19) and "proclaim his righteousness." All that is needed
are prophetic "eyes" and "ears."