Reviewing satan and who he is and what some aspects of his
character are, we find a few treasures in Isaiah. The planet Venus is mentioned
several times in the Septuagint and what we find might be enlightening. We have
to review just a bit. The Septuagint was written by Jews. Jews wrote the
Septuagint. Jews who spoke both Hebrew and Greek. Hebrew was nearly a lost
language in 300 BC, but the High Priest in the temple of Nehemiah and 72 Jewish
Scribes translated the near dead language into Greek which was the language of
the day. Jews wrote the Septuagint, which was commissioned by Ptolemy the Greek
ruler. The Greeks ruled the mid-east region at that time, and fast forwarding
to Jesus’ time, the first century, the Israeli people wrote Greek. All the
synagogues had the Septuagint and that is what first century people read,
heard, and quoted. The people spoke Aramaic, let me explain this detail. The
ten northern tribes went into captivity in Assyria. The two southern kingdoms
went into captivity in Babylon, but after 70 years Babylon was captured by
Assyria, and the Assyrians spoke Aramaic. The one generation, 70 years of
Daniel’s time, almost erased the Hebrew language from existence. Cyrus let the
captives go back to Israel’s southern kingdom, the northern kingdom had already
been inhabited by Jews and Assyrians. With this in mind, Jerusalem’s wall and
then the temple were rebuilt at the time of Ezra and Nehemiah. The region was
then taken over by the Greeks and later by the Romans. With all the changes in
rulership over Israel, Aramaic was the dominant language at the time of the
first century. The Greek Septuagint was written and translated by Jewish Scribes
in 300 BC and was read in every first century synagogue. Therefore when we read
the Septuagint, we are reading the Old Testament in the very language the Jews
wrote and translated 300 years before Christ. The Greeks did not know Hebrew
and did not volunteer as scribes in the temple, so let’s not be silly, the Jews
wrote the Septuagint.
With all this in mind, we regularly hear about the Jewish
Bible, and we mistakenly assume that was from the same time period as the
Septuagint, but in fact the Masoretic text is what men call the Jewish Bible.
But the Masoretic text wasn’t translated from Greek back to Hebrew until 600 AD
and was not finished until 1000 AD. Recognize a 1300 year difference in time
and evolving language. Greek was not the dominant language of 600 AD, Latin
was. Aramaic was not spoken any longer. And remember Hebrew was nearly lost at
the time of Daniel (400 years before Christ), so the Jews translating Greek
texts back to Hebrew used a mixed language that was not originally Hebrew. This
is why one Greek word can have 30 different Hebrew words. People speaking a
variant of Hebrew and translating the Bible over the course of 400 years leads
to less consistency in translation. There was no temple, no high priest, and no
scribes at the time of the translation of the Masoretic text, the translation
was done by individual rabbis and was subject to their own interpretations. So
when we see certain words in the Greek, we may incorrectly think that it is due
to Greeks translating the words that way, but that is not the case, Jews
translated the Hebrew words into Greek. And Masorete’s with a mixed Hebrew
language used whatever words they thought to use because they did not have the
language of the Jewish Scribes from 300 BC.
One such word is Hesperus,
or Venus. Hesperus is a Greek word
the Jews used in 300 BC for the planet Venus. The Masoretic texts use the
phrase “morning star”, or “star of the morning”. When we look at the Bible with
the actual word Hesperus in the text, it communicates a little differently to
us. Hesperus was also known as the evening star. Venus can be seen in the
eastern sky in the morning and the western sky in the evening. We will see that
the usage of the morning star for Hesperus is a translation error.
Isaiah 14:12G4459O how G1601[3fell
G15374from
out of G35885the G37726heaven
G35881the G2193.12morning
star] -- G3588the
one G4404[2 by morning
G3931rising];
G4937[7was
broken G15198unto G35889the G109310earth G35881the
one G6492sending
G43143toG39564all G35885the G14846nations]
To fall [1601] is
to go off course, and heaven [3772]
is the starry atmosphere. This reads “O how Hesperus went off course out from
the starry atmosphere, the one rising at dawn”. The Jewish Scribes understood
along with the Greeks that Venus was an evening and a morning star, they were
one in the same. However, the connotation of the evening star here, called
Hesperus, denotes something different than the morning star as we will explore.
When Hesperus went off course it sent away the people/tribes shattered unto the
earth, meaning it scattered all the humans on the globe.
Hesperus is Vesper
in Latin, again meaning “evening star”. Vesper in Latin denotes “evening song
and devotions”. In Greek Mythology Hesperus was the evening star, while his
brother Phosphorus was the morning star, which also means “light bringer”. The
Latin word Lucifer was used as a name
for the morning star, but Lucifer wasn’t a bad word or a bad name at this time.
Clearly we have an interesting idea here. The 300 BC Jewish Scribes used
Hesperus, evening star, here; while the Masoretic Jews 600+ AD used Phosphorus.
This may not seem like a big deal but let’s consider that Latin was already a
language that was used from the first century BC. The Masorete’s used the idea
of Phosphorus as the morning star, or Lucifer in their translation. The 300 BC
Jewish Scribes used Hesperus, the evening star. Now we can gain a bit of
understanding regarding what Isaiah was communicating.
While other planets rise into the sky, Venus sets; this
leads to myths of it being an inferior planet and it striving for a place among
the other planets. But instead, Venus is cast down while the others rise. Look
at the imagery here. Just like The Letter
to Aristeas, the picture tells the story. Here in Isaiah, satan and the
king of Babylon are attributed to a small planet that cannot attain to great
heights like the bigger planets. Instead, every night Venus falls down while
the other planets ascend to the heights of heaven, making anyone who is
associated with Venus smaller and weaker than the rest. When Hesperus fell off
course in the heavens, Hesperus shattered the ethnos/people/tribes all over the
earth. While the idea of two brothers,
Hesperus and Phosphorus are a way of communicating the one being bad and the
other being good, the Ancient’s knew they were one in the same planet. While
the morning star is bright and positive, the evening star is negative. Hesperus
was striving to be like the bigger planets, but could not rise, and instead it falls.
But why would the Masorete’s change that? The Masorete’s repeatedly changed the
Old Testament, especially the Book of Isaiah, to disregard Jesus as Messiah. The
Romans didn’t believe Jesus was the Messiah until the time of Constantine,
around 300 AD or so; the Masorete’s were already changing text in 300 AD.
However the Jews of 300 BC were noting Isaiah 14:12 as Hesperus, the evening
star who falls. It is also curious that some religions believe Jesus and satan
are brothers, but clearly that is not the case as we well know. The truths here
in this mythology of the two brothers is a way of telling a story since there
were no movies, televisions, printed publications, or computers. The imagery of
the falling weak one and the bright strong one is the story the Masorete’s were
trying to distort. Satan is the one who is the evening star spoken of here in
Isaiah 14:12. In fact as we will see next week, satan is not even a Cherub. But
let’s get back to the idea that is being communicated. The evening star is
satan, the one who fell, and the morning star is Jesus.
You might have wondered why Jesus is known as the “day star”
or the “bright and morning star” and why that is the same name as Lucifer, the
one who is known as satan. Lucifer was not really a proper name, but a
description until more recent years, as in Dante’s Inferno. The word lucifer means “light bearer”, and some
modern translators took the liberty to translate this in Isaiah as “Lucifer Son of the Morning”, but as we
see it should have been “Evening Star,
rising in the morning”. That description points to Venus. The Evening Star
is not the same as the Morning Star, however the Evening Star and the Morning
Star are both Venus which does rise in the morning in the east. Yet its story,
of Hesperus and Phosphorus, Hesperus is the fallen and Phosphorus is the one
rising.
It is hardly coincidental that someone attempted to make
Jesus like satan, but this is even more amazing. 2 Peter 1 clears up any
question as to who the fallen one is and who the bright morning star is. Jesus
is Phosphorus.
2 Peter 1:19G2532And G2192we
have G949more
firm G3588the G4397prophetic
G3056word; G3739which G2573well G4160you do
G4337heeding,
G5613as G3088a lamp
G5316shining
forth G1722in G850a
dismal G5117place,
G2193until G3739which G2250day G1306should
shine through, G2532and G5459the morning starG393should
arise G1722in G3588 G2588your
hearts
5459
Dodson: φωσφόρος light-bearing, radiant, the morning-star
(lit: light-bearing), radiant, the morning-star.
Strong's: φωσφόρος light-bearing ("phosphorus"),
i.e. (specially), the morning-star (figuratively)
Derivation: from G5457 and G5342; KJV Usage: day star.
Derivation: from G5457 and G5342; KJV Usage: day star.
Thayer:
1) light bringing, giving light
2) the planet Venus, the morning star, day star
3) metaph. Christ
2) the planet Venus, the morning star, day star
3) metaph. Christ
Trench's New Testament Synonyms
Vine's Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words
φωσφόρος phōsphoros foce-for'-os
From G5457 and G5342; light bearing(“phosphorus”), that is, (specifically) themorning star (figuratively) KJV Usage: day star.
Phosphorus should arise in our hearts, which is the steady,
stable, prophetic logos. Phosphorus is a substance that shines and glows in the
dark. Isn’t Jesus the light of the world? John 1. Jesus himself says he is the “bright
early morning star”, but he does not use either Hesperus or Phosphorus, he uses
the literal words for rising, bright, and star.
Rev 22:16G1473I G*Jesus G3992sent forth
G3588 G32my
angel G1473 G3140to
testify G1473to you
G3778these things
G1909unto G3588the G1577assemblies.
G1473I G1510.2.1am G3588the G4491root G2532and G3588the G1085race G3588 G*of
David, G3588the G792[3star
G3588 G29861bright
G44072early
morning]
He says “I am the root and race of David, the bright early
morning star”. Jesus is attributing himself to the stories of Hesperus and
Phosphorus, but is using different words to communicate the literal truth that
he actually is the bright early morning star. Jesus himself attests to
something interesting when he quotes David. As David is writing in Psalm 110,
it is the Father speaking to the Son, Jesus, as to his future but also to his
origin. The Masoretic alterations of the text here are used with the word Lord, both are the same Greek word,
which the 300 BC Jewish Scribes wrote, but the Masorete’s changed the second
usage of Lord to Adonai.
1G2036[3said
G35881The G29622 lord]
G3588to G2962my
Lord, G1473 G2521Sit
down G1537at G1188my
right hand G1473 G2193until G302whenever
G5087I
should make G3588 G2190your
enemies G1473 G5286a
footstool G3588 G4228for
your feet. G1473
The Father says to the Son who is David’s Lord, sit on my
right until I make your enemies a footstool. When will that be? The end of the
second half of the tribulation. The first half of the tribulation is the wrath
of the Lamb, the second half is the wrath of the Father. When the bowls have
all been poured, Jesus will come back with his bride, the army, on the Day of
the Lord. Let’s go on.
Psalm 110:2G4464[4a
rod G14115of
power G18212shall
send out G14733to you
G29621 The lord]
G1537from
out of G*Zion; G2532and G2634you
dominate G1722in G3319the midst
G3588 G2190of
your enemies! G1473
Jesus comes out of Zion and rules with a rod of power (dunamis), miracle working power and he
will dominate or exercise authority in the middle of his hateful adversaries,
or satan. Let’s continue.
Psalm 110:3G3326With G1473you G3588is the
G746sovereignty
G1722in G2250the day
G3588 G1411of
your power, G1473 G1722with G3588the G2987brightness
G3588 G39of
your holy ones .G1473 G1537From
out of G1064the womb
G4253before
G2193.1the morning
star G1080I
engendered G1473you
The word sovereignty
is arche, “beginning”. Here arche is translated with 24 different
Hebrew words, so it is all over the place in the Hebrew language, but note it’s
usages in Genesis 1:1 in the beginning…John 1:1, Eph 6:12 sovereignties, Rev
1:8, 22:13. Generally meaning “first”, or “beginning”, or “highest ruler”.
Jesus is the first and the last, the beginning and the end. Again, power is the Greek word dunamis, “miracle
working power”. Holy is “hagion” in
the Greek. The translators are implying one’s
as “people”, but one’s is not in the
text. This implies that Jesus is “the beginning, the first, the sovereign”, and
in the day of his miracle working power with splendor and holiness he will
(verse 2) exercise authority over his hateful adversaries. The first part of
verse 3 is a continuation of the idea of verse 2. Then verse 3 says “out from
the womb in front of Venus/Hesperus I birthed you”.
Now this understanding goes a little deeper. The womb of
the heavens is the Milky Way. Many ancient cultures saw the Milky Way as a
place of birthing, either spiritual beings or physical bodies like stars. The
Maya believed this dark rift was a two way road so to speak, as in birth and
death into the womb of the sky. The planets move counter clockwise across the
ecliptic, and at certain times it looks as if the planets are in front of the
womb of the Milky Way as if they were coming and going into the womb or dark
rift. Technically, that is not the case, but from an earth viewpoint the
planets rising movement in front of the Milky Way seems like they are going
into the Milky Way. All but one planet that is. Venus is either rising in the
east or setting in the west, remember? On the night of Jesus’ birth, September
11, 3BC, around 6PM, Venus was setting or coming out of the womb of the sky. It
is a fascinating detail, that simply by reading morning star instead of Hesperus,
we think of something different. Jesus was not born in the morning, but in the
evening. So the Father says to the Son prophetically through David, out from
the womb in front of Venus, the evening star, I birthed you.
Another understanding which is also true is that out of the
womb of Mary, in front of the fallen one satan, I birthed you. As we understand
from The Letter of Aristeas, written
in the same time period the Jewish Scribes were translating this, it is the imagery
that tells the story. It is not about clean and unclean animals as in their
flesh, but the “clean and unclean” pertains to the behavior of the animals. For
example do not be destructive like mice and weasels. Here both ideas are true,
prior to Jesus’ birth it is foretold he would be born out of the womb in front
of the evening star, Hesperus. He was born in the evening and born in front of
His enemy. Both wombs are applicable, the heavenly and the earthly. As the
Psalm indicates, Jesus was born in front of his enemies and will rule from Zion
in the middle of his enemies. When is that? The millennial kingdom.
Jesus quotes this as recorded in Matthew. It is something
the people of those days would have understood, as they would have known the
entire Psalm was a prophetic message of a Son being born and given to Israel
from the line of David. Unfortunately, they did not receive Jesus and missed
the time of his visitation, Luke 19:44. But David goes on to say that this one
being birthed would be a Priest unto the eon/ages in the order of
Melchisedek/Shem. Jesus asks:
Matt 22:42-46 Saying, What think ye of Christ? whose son is
he? They say unto him, The Son of David.43 He saith unto them, How then doth
David in spirit call him Lord, saying,44 The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou
on my right hand, till I make thine enemies thy footstool?45 If David then calls
him Lord, how is he his son?46 And no man was able to answer him a word,
neither durst any man from that day forth ask him any more questions. KJV
Jesus was saying that not only was the Christ the son of
David, he was the son of The Most High. David would bow to the Christ and the
Christ would come from David, but they were only thinking of the Messiah’s
humanity, not his divinity, as the Father says in Psalm 110:3, the son who will
rule from Zion will be birthed in front of Hesperus and be a Priest through the
ages.
And now another amazing application to the understanding of
Hesperus. From reading this in the Septuagint we might not think this is
correct as Hesperus having a tail. It does indeed have a tail.
Job 38:32G2228OrG1272will you open G3099.2Mazuroth
G1722in G2540its
time? G1473 G2532And G*HesperusG1909with G2864its
tail -- G1473 G71will
you lead G1473it?
People have had a rough time translating this verse
probably because they didn’t realize that Venus sometimes has a tail.
The planet Venus sometimes
looks less like a planet and more like a comet, scientists say.
Scientists with the European
Space Agency have discovered that a part of the upper atmosphere of Venus — its ionosphere — acts surprisingly different depending on daily changes in the sun's weather. The side of
Venus' ionosphere that faces away from the sun can billow outward like the tail
of a comet, while the side facing the star remains tightly compacted,
researchers said.
The discovery was made using
ESA's Venus
Express spacecraft, which observed Venus's ionosphere during
a period of low solar wind in 2010 to see exactly how the sun affects the way
the planet's atmosphere functions. In 2013, the sun is expected to reach the
peak of its 11-year solar activity cycle.
"As this significantly reduced
solar wind hit Venus, Venus Express saw the planet’s ionosphere balloon outwards
on the planet’s ‘downwind’ nightside, much like the shape of the ion tail
seen streaming from a comet under similar conditions," ESA officials
said in a statement today (Jan. 29).
It only takes 30 to 60 minutes
for the planet's comet-like
tail to form after the solar wind
dies down. Researchers observed the ionosphere stretch to at least 7,521 miles
(12,104 kilometers) from the planet, said Yong Wei, a scientist at the Max
Planck Institute in Katlenburg, Germany who worked on this research.
Follow Miriam Kramer on
Twitter @mirikramer orSPACE.com @Spacedotcom. http://www.space.com/19537-venus-comet-atmosphere.html
Also :
The data also provide new
insights into the processes which shape the ionosphere around Venus and the
rate of loss of atoms from the upper atmosphere.
It has been known for a long
time that tenuous solar wind has two competing effects on the night-side
ionosphere. The ionosphere above the terminator becomes higher, enabling plasma
to pass more easily from the day side to the night side, and the lack of
magnetic fields tends to enlarge the size of the night-side ionosphere.
On the other hand, the weaker
pressure may cause lower flow speeds of this plasma. The new Venus Express data
show conclusively that the first effect outweighs the second, enabling the
ionosphere to expand in the planet's wake.
"The observations show
that the night side ionosphere moved outward to at least 15 000 km from
Venus' centre over a period of only a few hours," said Markus Fraenz,
also from the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research, who was the team
leader and a co-author of the paper. "It may possibly have extended for
millions of kilometres, like an enormous tail."
"Although we cannot
determine the full length of the night-side ionosphere, since the orbit of
Venus Express provides limited coverage, our results suggest that Venus'
ionosphere resembled the teardrop-shaped ionosphere found around comets, rather
than the more symmetrical, spherical shape which usually exists."
What we see from this understanding of our modern science
is that the night side of Venus can have a tail depending on the activity of the
sun. This makes the planet look like it was beaten and broken and falling. Oh
Hesperus, Evening Star, how you have fallen trying to attain to the highest
heights of heaven. Yet every morning the Evening Star changes and rises
brightly in the east.
This is the way Douay-Rheims, which is translated from the
Latin Vulgate, interprets this verse.
Job 38:32 Canst thou bring forth the day star in its time,
and make the evening star to rise upon the children of the earth? Douay-Rheims
From the Latin perspective, Yahweh says to Job: “can you Job bring forth Phosphorus or make
Hesperus rise?” Interesting.
Are we saying that Yahweh knew Venus had a tail? Of course
he did. We have been so limited in our understanding of Astronomy and the
Bible. It seems like this subject has been labeled taboo, but really it shows
the magnificence of Yahweh. Not just from the idea that the Evening Star, Venus
has a tail, but also because the fallen one, satan, is associated with Hesperus
and Jesus associated with Phosphorus.
In the same chapter of Job, Hesperus is referred to with
the question from Yahweh; “did Hesperus perceive his own arrangement to seize
the wings of the earth to violently shake the ungodly profane out of it?”
Job 38:12G2228Or G1909by G1473you G4929have I
ordered G5338[2brightness
G44071 the early
morning]? G2193.1And did
the morning star G1161 G1492behold
G3588 G1438his
own G5010order;
13G1949to
take hold of G4420the wings
G1093of the earth, G1621to
shake off G765the impious
G1537from G1473it.
The answer is no, Hesperus the evening star did not
understand his own position or rank and could not seize and violently shake the
wicked off the earth. This idea goes deeper here as satan did not want to bow
to Adam, and saw Adam (who was made in the image of the Elohim) as an affront
to his, satan’s own magnificence. Satan then found a way to usurp authority over
Adam, but he could not get rid of mankind from off the earth. Satan tricks
mankind into sinning against Yahweh, then has the right to punish mankind for
sinning. But satan did not have the position or authority to rid the earth of
man.
As Job lamented over his calamity, he recounts his
birthday. He says “may not the evening
star be seen rising on his birthday”.
Job 3:9G4656May [4be enveloped in darkness G35881the G7982stars G3588 G35713of that night], G1565 G2532and G3361not G5278remain, G2532and G1519[3for G54624illumination G33611not G20642come]. G2532And G3361may [3not G14924 be seen G2193.12morning star G3931 the arising].
On the night of Job’s birth the stars should have all been
darkened. He is saying that he should have been consumed by evil at his birth
and the evening star should have kept him from being born. Job was in anguish
over the losses he suffered. Zophar tries to convince Job to repent, and he says
that once Job does he will rise like the morning star.
Job 11:17G3588 G1161And G2171your
vow G1473 G5618will
be as
G2193.1the morning
star; G1537and
from G1161 G3314midday
G393[2shall
arise G14733to you
G22221life]
Zophar says Job’s prayer would be like Hesperus, it would
go down at night and at midday would rise to life. So we see the connotation of
dying and rising being a simile to Venus. The expression of being like Venus
was probably a culturally understood term in those days. Jesus deserves the
same comparison as dying and rising again. Jesus died and rose, like Venus. As
we see from Yahweh’s explanation of the sea monster, he has eyes like Venus,
very bright.
Job 41:18G1722In G4417.1his
sneezing G1473 G2017[2shines
forth G53381brightness],
G3588 G1161and G3788his
eyes G1473 G1491are as
the appearance
G2193.1of the morning
star
We even see Venus being used as a time piece to note the
time of the day. Using the word Hesperus tells us that it was not morning but
evening, as the Latin texts note.
1 Sam 30:17G2532And G2064[2came
G19093upon G14734them G*1David],
G2532and G3960he
struck G1473them G575from G2193.1the morning
star G2532and G2193until G1166.2evening
G2532even G3588of the
G1887next
day
1 Sam 30:17 And David smote them from the twilight even
unto the evening of the next day: and there escaped not a man of them, save
four hundred young men, which rode upon camels, and fled. KJV
Because there was no television to watch, people watched
the stars. They knew the planets and their movements. It was common knowledge
that the planet Venus set in the evening and rose in the morning. Just as the
Hebraic day cycles from evening to morning. The evening star was communicated
as Hesperus, the one who attempted to rise above the other planets, but instead
fell and looked broken as it streaked under the horizon. Phosphorus was the
morning star, the day star, the bright star that rose in the morning. Both were
the planet Venus, but both the rising and setting of Venus told the story which
served as an example for people to live by. We should want to be like the
rising morning star, not the falling breaking star. And as Zophar suggests to
Job, if he would repent he would rise like Venus. That is the picture we should
understand. Then when we take into account the king of Babylon and satan, they
both fall from heaven, proud and haughty, thinking that they were more
important than they actually were. They both believed their own press, but they
both were broken on the earth and scattered all the tribes of the earth. Next
week we will look closer at satan as the evening star who was not actually as important
or impressive as we may have been led to believe.
