How The Past Prepared For The Future

 Nadene Goldfoot                                                 

Today we prepare for the future through our technology.  In the past, people prepared for the future with astrology.  The Romans used certain people who were adept at this.  The Chaldeans were famous astrologers. They had the reputation.    Babylonian astrology was solely mundane, and prior to the 7th century BCE the practitioners' understanding of astronomy was fairly rudimentary. Because of their inability to accurately predict future celestial phenomena and planetary movement very far in advance, interpretations were done as the phenomena occurred or slightly before. By the 4th century, however, their mathematical methods had progressed enough to calculate future planetary positions with reasonable accuracy, at which point extensive ephemerides (a table or data file giving the calculated positions of a celestial object at regular intervals throughout a period.) began to appear. 

Mankind has always looked up to the sky and wondered at its beauty and secrets. Human beings are also incredibly good at spotting patterns, so it is no wonder that we noticed the changing appearance of the night sky as the Earth and other planets revolve around the Sun. Paintings that mark the positions of the planets in the night sky have been discovered in Lascaux, France from around 15,000 BCE.   

                                                   

The fame of the Chaldeans was still solid at the time of Cicero (106–43 BCE), who in one of his speeches mentions "Chaldean astrologers", and speaks of them more than once in his De divinatione. Other classical Latin writers who speak of them as distinguished for their knowledge of astronomy and astrology are Pliny, Valerius Maximus, Aulus Gellius, Cato, Lucretius, Juvenal. Horace in his Carpe diem ode speaks of the "Babylonian calculations" (Babylonii numeri), the horoscopes of astrologers consulted regarding the future.

                                                 

Notice that Mesopotamia (today's Iraq) also Babylonia (land of Shinar or of the Kasdim (Chaldees) is the land following the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers and is also includes Israel's future land.   

Who were the Chaldeans?  Chaldea (/kælˈdiːə/) was a country that existed between the late 10th or early 9th and mid-6th centuries BCE, after which the country and its people were absorbed and assimilated into Babylonia.  Semitic-speaking, it was located in the marshy land of the far southeastern corner of Mesopotamia and briefly came to rule Babylon. The Hebrew Bible uses the term כשדים (Kaśdim) and this is translated as Chaldaeans in the Greek Old Testament, although there is some dispute as to whether Kasdim in fact means Chaldean or refers to the south Mesopotamian Kaldu. 

At any rate, Abram-Abraham was from the city of Ur of the Chaldees that was at the southern end of the Euphrates River. At the northern part of the river was Babylon.  The nomadic Chaldeans settled in the far southeastern portion of Babylonia, chiefly on the left bank of the Euphrates. Though for a short time the name commonly referred to the whole of southern Mesopotamia in Hebraic literature, this was a geographical and historical misnomer as Chaldea proper was in fact only the plain in the far southeast formed by the deposits of the Euphrates and the Tigris, extending about 640 kilometres (400 mi) along the course of these rivers and averaging about 160 km (100 mi) in width. There were several kings of Chaldean origins who ruled Babylonia. From 626 BC to 539 BC, a ruling family referred to as the Chaldean dynasty, named after their possible Chaldean origin, ruled the kingdom at its height under the Neo-Babylonian Empire. 

The Babylonians used horoscopic astrology. By observing the seasonal movement of the sun, moon, and planets, the Babylonians connected their beliefs of divine intervention in their everyday life to space and time.  Babylonian astrology was the first known organized system of astrology, arising in the second millennium BCE which was the time when Abram lived. 

 In Babylon as well as in Assyria as a direct offshoot of Babylonian culture, astrology takes its place as one of the two chief means at the disposal of the priests (who were called bare or "inspectors") for ascertaining the will and intention of the gods, the other being through the inspection of the livers of sacrificial animals (see omen).  

                                                    

Being Jewish and the daughter of a kosher butcher, this certainly reminds me of the law of Kashrut, where a trained religious-Jewish inspector is present at the time of the slaughter of a kosher animal; most likely a cow, and inspects the carcass. He is a shochet (שוחט, "slaughterer", plural shochtim) is a person who performs shechita. To become a shochet, one must study which slaughtered animals are kosher, what disqualifies them from being kosher, and how to prepare animals according to the laws of shechita). Before one is permitted to indulge in kosher Jewish delicacies such as chopped liver, liver steaks and onions, or sauteed chicken livers, raw liver must undergo various processes before the liver is deemed fit for kosher use. Firstly, as with all kosher meat, the liver must come from a kosher species of animal or fowl that has been schechted, slaughtered, in the proper manner prescribed by the Torah and healthy. If it is an animal liver, all the fats must be meticulously removed. Furthermore, the Torah forbids eating the blood of an animal or bird, therefore, it is necessary to extract the blood from the kosher slaughtered meat or liver. 

How is the blood removed? With meat, this process, commonly known as kashering meat, is accomplished by soaking the meat in water, salting it, and then rewashing it. With liver, this method of extraction is insufficient. Since liver contains such a large concentration of blood, the technique used for kashering liver for consumption is broiling.

The history of Babylonian astrology shows the development of astronomical knowledge within the context of divination. A collection of 32 tablets with inscribed liver models, dating from about 1875 BC, are the oldest known detailed texts of Babylonian divination, and these demonstrate the same interpretational format as that employed in celestial omen analysis. Blemishes and marks found on the liver of the sacrificial animal were interpreted as symbolic signs which presented messages from the gods to the king.

That's as far as astrologists could go with our Jewish Prophets as far as assimilating their culture being Abram came out of this culture.  The prophets condemned astrology.  The Book of Daniel calls the Babylonian astrologers "Chaldeans," and this term is found in the Talmud. 

 If you were to have anything to do with astrology in the Old Testament you would have been stoned to death. Astrologers and people who seek them are an abomination to God.                             

An arithmancer from Atalanta Fugiens (1618), by Michael Maier  An Arithmancer was a wizard or witch who specialised in the field of Arithmancy, a branch of magic that involved using complicated number charts to make predictions.

 Deuteronomy 17:2-3 “If there is found among you, within any of your towns that the LORD your God is giving you, a man or woman who does what is evil in the sight of the LORD your God, in transgressing his covenant, and has gone and served other gods and worshiped them, or the sun or the moon or any of the host of heaven, which I have forbidden.”

 Deuteronomy 18:10-14 There shall not be found among you anyone who burns his son or his daughter as an offering, anyone who practices divination or tells fortunes or interprets omens, or a sorcerer or a charmer or a medium or a necromancer or one who inquires of the dead, for whoever does these things is an abomination to the Lord. And because of these abominations the Lord your God is driving them out before you. You shall be blameless before the Lord your God, for these nations, which you are about to dispossess, listen to fortune-tellers and to diviners. But as for you, the Lord your God has not allowed you to do this.

. Isaiah 47:13-14 All the advice you receive has made you tired. Where are all your astrologers, those stargazers who make predictions each month? Let them stand up and save you from what the future holds. But they are like straw burning in a fire; they cannot save themselves from the flame. You will get no help from them at all; their hearth is no place to sit for warmth.

                                                 

The Sibylline Oracles (The Sibylline Oracles are a collection of oracular utterances written in Greek hexameters ascribed to the Sibyls, prophetesses who uttered divine revelations in a frenzied state),  praise the Jews for rejecting astrology together with war and immorality as the sins which the Nephilim (legendary race created by a union of the sons of G-d and the daughters of man, a term applied hyperbolically to the people of the land of Canaan by the spies dispatched by Moses.) brought upon mankind.                               

 Nevertheless, belief in the influence of stars upon the fate of men and upon the history of nations was prevalent among the great majority of Jews during the Talmudic period and after Josephus relates (Wars, VI: 5) that Jews were encouraged in their stubborn resistance during the period of the revolt against Rome by heavenly signs, favorably interpreted.  Even the rabbis of the Talmud, for the most part, believed in astrology as a science.  The Talmud related several stories about astrologers whose forecasts came true, although many  astrologers were also said to have failed to read the stars correctly. General Josephus wrote for the Roman audience.      

Every person, indeed, every blade of grass, was born under a special star which determined his or its fate.  Some rabbis saw significance in the day of the week on which a person was born;  others in the hour of the day.  Yet the rabbis, while admitting the effect of the stars upon the nations, taught that Israel stood above stellar influence.   

During the Middle Ages, many rabbis and philosophers studied astrology, and Jews were regarded by the occidental world as masters of the art, a considerable number serving as court astrologers, especially in Spain.  Among those who regarded astrology as a true science may be mentioned:  Saadyah Gaon, Shabbetai Donnolo, Abraham bar Hiyya, Abraham ben Ezra, Samuel Ibn Nagrela, Solomon Ibn Gabirol, and Abraham ben David of Posquieres.

Maimonides (or Moses Ben Maimon, called the Rambam (1135-1204)from Cordova, Spain; the rabbi who established the 613 precepts or Laws of Moses, philosopher, halakhist, and medical writer,  was the sole medieval figure to combat categorically the prevailing belief in astrology, declaring it forbidden by Scripture and bordering on idolatry.  He was nevertheless, not successful in eradicating the belief, and subsequent thinkers, including Nahmanides, Levi ben Gershon, Hasdai Crescas, Isaac Abravanel, and the Vilna Gaon gave it recognition, while Abraham Zacato was among the foremost astrologers of his day.

             
                                   Abraham's Astrolobe 

Abraham Zacuto(b: August 12, 1452-1515) was a Spanish astronomer, astrologer, mathematician, rabbi and historian who served as Royal Astronomer to King John II of Portugal. His astrolabe of copper, his astronomical tables and maritime charts played an important role in the Spanish and Portuguese navigation capability. 

The notorious Nostradamus (December 1503-July 1566) from France,  was also of Jewish descent. Nostradamus's father's family had originally been Jewish, but had converted to Catholic Christianity a generation before he was born.  He was a French astrologer, physician and reputed seer, who is best known for his book Les Prophéties, a collection of 942 poetic quatrains allegedly predicting future events. The book was first published in 1555.   On the other hand, Joseph Nasi,(1520-1579) from Portugal, Marrano-hidden Jew, a statesman, nephew and son in law of Gracia Nasi)  duke of Naxos, wrote a book condemning astrology.  

In some cultures, the role of the matchmaker was and is quite professionalized. The Ashkenazi Jewish shadchan, or the Hindu astrologer, were often thought to be essential advisors and also helped in finding right spouses as they had links and a relation of good faith with the families. In cultures where arranged marriages were the rule, the astrologer often claimed that the stars sanctified matches that both parents approved of, making it quite difficult for the possibly-hesitant children to easily object – and also making it easy for the astrologer to collect his fee. Tarot divination has also been employed by some matchmakers.

Astrological observation did much to advance scientific Astronomy.  The Zohar and Kabbalistic literature in general show familiarity with and belief in astrology. A number of Jewish customs, mentioned in medieval codes, have an astrological basis, like not starting a project on Mondays or Wednesdays.  The popular greeting, mazzal tov (good luck), is of astrological origin.   

Resource:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaldea

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sibylline_Oracles

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nostradamus

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Babylonian_astrology#:~:text=The%20Babylonians%20used%20horoscopic%20astrology,life%20to%20space%20and%20time.

-k.org/articles/articles/1133/kashering-liver/

https://www.ancient-origins.net/history-ancient-traditions/babylonian-astrology-0010806

https://biblereasons.com/astrology/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abraham_Zacuto

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Methods_of_divination

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shechita#:~:text=A%20shochet%20(%D7%A9%D7%95%D7%97%D7%98%2C%20%22slaughterer,to%20the%20laws%20of%20shechita.