In matters of mythical context that
illustrate the stories told and the beliefs held by the ancient Hebrews about
the planet Venus, there is an account, extant in the Bible, reminiscent of a
"war on heaven."
how are you fallen from heaven,
hyll bn-šḥr
how are you hewn to the earth,
who vanquished all the nations"
You said to yourself,
"The heavens will I scale;
Above the stars of God
will I set up my throne;
I will sit on the Mount of Assembly,
in the recesses of the north;
I will scale the heights of the cloud,
I will match the Most High."
but down to Sheol are you brought,
to the recesses of the Pit.
The epistle refers to an ancient myth
where hyll bn-šḥr, "the shining [star] of the Dawn," has
sought presumptuously to take a dominant position among the celestial bodies,
whose rulers have been (presumably) the sun and the moon. The rebel planet is
forced to yield, and its light is extinguished. The theme of "the war in
heaven" may refer in the form of a dramatic conflict in the heavenly
spheres to the periodical disappearance of the planet Venus from the sky during
periods of invisibility. it is possible too that this myth portrays and
symbolizes the phenomenon which ensues at dawn when the planet Venus, as the
last proud star to disappear from the night sky, defies the sun at sunrise. The
Mountain of the North which the shining star aspired to ascent, can be
identified with ṣpn, the holy mountain associated with Ba'al upon which,
according to Ugaritic mythology, was located Ba'al's throne. According to the
Babylonian conception, the Mountain of the north does not imply any
topographical reference but rather a cosmic space. Above this space was thought
to be located the dwelling place of the gods. In this story we have an isolated
fragment of a perhaps well-known myth which was familiar enough not to need
telling in full. As we know from the prophecy hurled against the king of Babylon,
this myth was adopted to serve as an allegory of the downfall of the ruler of
that city who sought to bring all the nations of the ancient Near East under
his way. (Luis I. J. Stadelmann, The Hebrew Conception of the World [Analecta
Biblica 39; Rome: Biblical Institute Press, 1970], 89-90)
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