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Question
Is astronomy, not astrology, the same as 'observers of time'?
Hi Gayle,
The phrase "observers of time" is found in Deu. 18:14. The Heb. word "anan" means "to produce clouds" as in magic or witchcraft.
The same word is used in the phrase "observed times", found in 2K. 21:6, 2Chrn. 33:6.
The same word, "anan", is also translated as soothsayers, sorceress, and enchanters in Isa. 2:6, 57;3, Jer. 27:9, and Mi. 5:12.
Genesius' Lexicon shows it to mean "to act covertly, (hence) use hidden arts, i.e. magic, to practice sorcery".
We do not have the citation available at the moment, but astrology and astronomy were considered the same thing until about the 5th cent. BC, about the same time when Jewish astronomers in Babylon began making detailed records of movements of the sun and moon in their efforts to calculate the Holy Days given by God in Leviticus. They thought that the Holy Days were to be recognized by astronomical events as seen from Jerusalem. Babylon is east of Jerusalem and the Jews in Babylon were trying to determine what could be observed from Jerusalem. The first crescent of the new moon, seen low in the western sky, just before sunset, is the first day of the new month.
Other cultures also observed and recorded astronomical movements and this was tied in with their local religious legends and traditions.
After the 4th or 5th c. BC, astronomy developed as a science separate from astrology.
Astronomers refer to the dark moon as the "new moon". We have a series of articles explaining the Jewish calendar and how God's Holy Days are to be calculated on line at http://www.geocities.com/changes1611/holydaylist.html
Hope this helps. If you have other questions, feel free to ask.
Sincerely,
Mel and Guyna
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Mel and Guyna Horne
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