DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.15#0265
252 SATURN AND THÈ
go down quickly, and come to the place where thou
didst hide thyself when the business was in hand^ or,
as in the Douay translation, ' in the day when it is
lawful to work.' '
We have evidence equally clear to show that
the seven days of the week were connected with the
seven planets, that is, with the seven celestial bodies
which appear to move among the stars. It was by
no mere accidental agreement between the number
of the days and the number of planets that so many
of the Oriental nations were led to name the days
of the week after the planets. The arrangement
of the nomenclature is indeed so peculiar that a
common origin for the practice must be admitted,
when we find the same arrangement adopted by
1 Tirin also asserts that the Jews observed the lunar system, and
that their months consisted of 29 and 30 days alternately (29J days,
within about three-quarters of an hour, being the length of the
mean lunar month). Hence the feast of the new moon came to be
called the thirtieth Sabbath, that is, the Sabbath of the thirtieth
day. Thus Horace (Sat. I. ix.) ' Hodie tricésima sabbata : vin' tu
Curtis Judaas oppedere?' Macrobius mentions that the Greeks,
Romans, Egyptians, Arabians, &c, worshipped the moon (Sat. I.
xv.) ? and it is probable that despite the care of Moses on this
point, the Jews were prone to return to the moon-worship, whence
the feast of the new moon had its origin. We must not, however,
infer this from the passage in Jeremiah vii. 17, 18, ' Seest thou not
what they do in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem ?
The children gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire, and the
women knead their dough, to make cakes to the queen of heaven,
and to pour out drink-offerings unto other gods. ' For the queen of
heaven is Athor, parent of the universe.
go down quickly, and come to the place where thou
didst hide thyself when the business was in hand^ or,
as in the Douay translation, ' in the day when it is
lawful to work.' '
We have evidence equally clear to show that
the seven days of the week were connected with the
seven planets, that is, with the seven celestial bodies
which appear to move among the stars. It was by
no mere accidental agreement between the number
of the days and the number of planets that so many
of the Oriental nations were led to name the days
of the week after the planets. The arrangement
of the nomenclature is indeed so peculiar that a
common origin for the practice must be admitted,
when we find the same arrangement adopted by
1 Tirin also asserts that the Jews observed the lunar system, and
that their months consisted of 29 and 30 days alternately (29J days,
within about three-quarters of an hour, being the length of the
mean lunar month). Hence the feast of the new moon came to be
called the thirtieth Sabbath, that is, the Sabbath of the thirtieth
day. Thus Horace (Sat. I. ix.) ' Hodie tricésima sabbata : vin' tu
Curtis Judaas oppedere?' Macrobius mentions that the Greeks,
Romans, Egyptians, Arabians, &c, worshipped the moon (Sat. I.
xv.) ? and it is probable that despite the care of Moses on this
point, the Jews were prone to return to the moon-worship, whence
the feast of the new moon had its origin. We must not, however,
infer this from the passage in Jeremiah vii. 17, 18, ' Seest thou not
what they do in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem ?
The children gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire, and the
women knead their dough, to make cakes to the queen of heaven,
and to pour out drink-offerings unto other gods. ' For the queen of
heaven is Athor, parent of the universe.