Stars

(Deut. 4:19) — by this term the Hebrews understood all constellations, planets, and heavenly bodies — in short, all the luminaries except the sun and moon — created by God together with the sun and moon on the fourth day of creation. The Psalmist, depicting the omnipotence and omniscience of God, says that He telleth the number of the stars and calleth them all by their names (Ps. 147:4 [146:4]). The sacred writers, to express an immeasurable multitude, use expressions such as: “Count the stars, if thou be able to number them: so shall thy seed be” (Gen. 15:5), said the LORD to Abraham; or another expression of equal force: “as the sand of the sea.” Nothing in the visible world speaks so eloquently of the glory and omnipotence of the Creator as the starry heavens (Ps. 19:1 [18:1]).

“The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork… When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained; what is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him?” cries the Psalmist (Ps. 8:3, 4). In the book of Job it is written that when the LORD laid the cornerstones of the earth’s foundation, then, amid the universal rejoicing of the morning stars, all the sons of God shouted for joy (Job 38:7).

The star of Bethlehem, which appeared to the wise men and led them to the birthplace of the Savior, was evidently not a natural phenomenon, but a miraculous one: having fulfilled its purpose, it then vanished from the sky. St. John Chrysostom says that in the form of the star that guided the Magi there was an angel. “The stars shall fall from heaven” (Matt. 24:29), said the Lord Savior, pointing to this as one of the signs of His second coming and of the dreadful Judgment. In Holy Scripture the following stars in particular are mentioned: the morning star (the planet Venus), called by the prophet Isaiah (14:12) the day star, or son of the morning; the Pleiades, Orion, and the Bear. “Which maketh Arcturus, Orion, and Pleiades, and the chambers of the south” (the constellations corresponding to these at the present time), it is said in the book of Job (9:9).

“Canst thou bind the sweet influences of Pleiades, or loose the bands of Orion? Canst thou bring forth Mazzaroth in his season? or canst thou guide Arcturus with his sons?” God said to Job. “Knowest thou the ordinances of heaven?” (38:31, 33). The dragon, or serpent: “His hand hath formed the crooked serpent” (Job 26:13). In the prophecy of Balaam: “There shall come a Star out of Jacob” (Num. 24:17) — by this star is meant the Messiah, Christ, who is also called in the Revelation of John the bright and morning Star (22:16), since He illumined the earth with the light of the day of the Gospel and fully revealed to men the mysteries of the kingdom of God.