STAFF

cf. Job 362'). — Some fragrant gum collected in drops, either storaz, or, more probably, myrrh.

E. W. G. Mastekman.

STAFF. — See Rod, Sceptee.

STAIR.— See Hodse, 5.

STALL. — See Manger.

STANDARD. — See Banner.

STARS. — The stars form part of the Divine creation in Gn 1. They are invisible in the sunlight, but begin to appear about sunset (Neh 421). In poetical passages hyperbolical expressions are used concerning them. At the creation 'the morning stars sang together' (Job 38'); at the battle between Barak and Sisera 'the stars in their courses fought against Sisera' (Jg S"): in the former passage it may be that the angels are described as stars (cf . Kev 1'° ' the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches'). The difference of magnitude in the stars is recognized by St. Paul: 'one star differeth from another star in glory' (1 Co 16"). The stars were looked upon as innumerable: 'tell the stars, if thou be able to tell them' (Gn 15'). The appearance of a bright particular star was supposed to portend some great event. Thus Balaam prophesied 'There shall come forth a star out of Jacob' (Nu 24"), and this was afterwards interpreted as applying to the Epiphany star (Mt 2^; see Star of the Magi) ; and so in 2 P 1"' we read of the day-star arising in men's hearts. Caution is given against the worship of the stars, in the legislation of Deuteronomy (4"), and the punishment of death assigned for the convicted wor-shipper (see Host of Heaven). In Apocalyptic litera-ture (Rev 22") our Lord describes Himself as 'the bright, the morning star'; whilst 'they that turn many to righteousness' are to shine 'as the stars for ever and ever' (Dn 12'). The day of the Lord is to be heralded by signs in the stars as well as in the sun and moon (Lk 2125). The appearance of shooting stars, which come out of the darkness and go back into it, is alluded to in Jude " ' wandering stars, for whom the blackness of darkness hath been reserved tor ever.' Special numbers of stars are mentioned; in Rev (1" 12'), the seven stars and twelve stars illustrate a conventional use of those numbers common in apocalyptic literature. In the OT the seven stars of the AV of Am 5« are the Pleiades ; and the ' eleven stars ' which made obeisance to Joseph in his dream are simply a conventional number to correspond with that of his brethren.

Of individual stars or constellations, the Bear (AV Arcturus), Orion, and the Pleiades occur; all three in Job 99 38"- S2, the last two also in Am 5K The maz-zaroth (Job 38'^) are most probably the signs of the Zodiac (RVm; cf. 2 K 23'. margin). In 2 K 23' the Heb. form of the word mazzaloth is different, and RV (text) renders it 'the planets.' The chambers of the south (Job 9') are probably the stars of the southern hemi-sphere.

Of worship connected with the stars we have two notable instances. That of ' the queen of heaven ' was popular in Jerusalem (Jer 7") immediately before the Captivity, and to the neglect of it the captives in Egypt ascribed their disasters, in an address to Jeremiah (4415-23) at Pathros. This worship consisted of the offering of incense and drink-offerings, and the making of cakes, with her figure, apparently, upon them. This Queen of Heaven seems to have been without doubt Venus, or Istar, whose star was considered the most beautiful in the heavens. This goddess is identi-cal with Ashtoreth or Astarte. The second instance of star-worship is one that presents some difficulty. In Amos (5*) we meet with an image of Ohiun, if the word be a proper name, who is called 'the star of your god.' This passage is quoted by St. Stephen (Ac 7"), where the expression is rendered 'the star of the god Rephan.' There seems little reason to

STAR OF THE MAGI

doubt that Chiun is the same as the Assyrian Kaiwan, identical with the planet Saturn, to whom divine worship was paid. The form of name 'Rephan' seems to have arisen from a corrupt reading of the Hebrew, which is as old as the Septuagint. There are very few allusions to astrology in the OT, but m Isaiah (47'3) we have mention of 'the astrologers (Heb. 'dividers of the heavens ') the star-gazers, the monthly prognosticators ' ; all these persons drew their utterances and professed knowledge of the future from the heavens. The magicians and soothsayers of the Book of Daniel were a similar class, to which belonged the Magi or wise men who had seen the star which heralded the birth of the King of the Jews (Mt 2'- 2). See next article.

H. A. Redpath.

STAR OF THE MAGI. — The character of the star which was seen by the Magi has been the source of many conjectures. While some consider it to have been an absolutely miraculous appearance, others have tried to connect it with some recognized form of celestial phenomenon. Some have held that it was a comet [the Greek word for the 'star' is applied to comets], and if such a comet as Donati's of 1858, which the present writer remembers well, had been visible at the time of the Nativity, it would have fulfilled the conditions of the narrative, and the difficulties about the star standing over ' where the young child was ' (Mt 2') would have been lessened. None such, however, seems to have been recorded. Others, noting that there were conjunctions of two of the brighter planets, Jupiter and Saturn (b.c. 7) , and Jupiter and Venus (b.c. 6), have tried to connect this appearance with one of these. Others, again, have explained the appearance as that of what is known as a Stella nova, i.e. a star which suddenly flashes out with great brightness in the firmament and then either dies out again altogether, or diminishes in the magnitude of its brightness, so as to be scarcely, if at all, visible to the naked eye. The difiSculty connected with all these interpretations is due to the necessity that has been felt for giving a literal interpretation to the account that ' the star . . . went before them, till it came and stood over where the young child was.' But we may take it that the language here is of the same character as that which we constantly use about the sun or moon rising and setting. If, then, we assume that the star, whatever it was, was near the horizon in front of the wise men when they started on their journey, its relative position to them, so long as they kept a direct course, would vary but little. The place in the heavens of any fixed star varies only about one degree, or four minutes, each succeeding day.

A somewhat more difficult question than that about the appearance of the star is, Why did the wise men connect it with the birth of a king of the Jews? The traditional answer to this question is that there had been handed down from generation to generation among the wise men of Babylon a knowledge of Balaam's prophecy, ' There shall come forth a star out of Jacob ' (Nu 24"), and that, when this notable star appeared, it was considered to be the herald of the appearance of a great person. There certainly was a Jewish population in Babylonia in our Lord's day, and if this prophecy was recognized as coming from a Hebrew document, and reference was made to the Jews, it would be most natural for the wise men, if they were Babylonians, to set their faces towards Jerusalem. There is this difB-culty, however, about referring the 'star' of Balaam's prophecy to a phenomenon in the heavens, that from the parallelism of the Hebrew poetry we gather that the ' star ' is intended to refer not to a star in the sky, but to some great prince or ruler (cf., for this use, Dn 8'"). Still, the explanation of the journey may be much the same. There was a great ferment in the East and a wide-spread anticipation, even in the Roman world, of some great Saviour or deliverer to arise, as the poets Virgil and Horace testify, just about the time when the Saviour

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