Moon

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MOON.—The moon is ‘the lesser light to rule the night’ of the cosmogony of Genesis (Gen_1:16). Its importance was in part due to the recurrence of its phases, which formed a measure for time. Each new moon, as it appeared, marked the commencement of a new period, and so in Hebrew the word for ‘moon’ and ‘month’ is the same. Sun and moon occur side by side in passages of Scripture, and to the moon as well as to the sun is ascribed a fertilizing power over and above the gift of light which comes from them to the earth. Just as we have in Deu_33:14 ‘the precious things of the fruits of the sun,’ so we have there ‘the precious things of the growth of the moons.’ As a consequence of this, the re-appearance of the new moon was eagerly looked for, and trumpets were blown and sacrifices offered on the day of the new moon. We gather also from Psa_81:3 (RV [Note: Revised Version.] ) that something of a similar kind took place at the full moon. The moon took its part with the sun in one of Joseph’s dreams when it ‘made obeisance’ to him (Gen_37:9); and it stood still, ‘in the valley of Aijalon,’ at the command of Joshua, at the battle of Gibeon (Jos_10:12-13; cf. Hab_3:11). Language which must have been derived from the appearance of the moon during eclipses is used by the prophets. The moon is to be darkened or turned into blood (Joe_2:10; Joe_2:31) before ‘the day of the Lord’; and similar language is used by our Lord (e.g. Mar_13:24). We are told of the redeemed Zion that the light of the moon is to be as the light of the sun (Isa_30:26), and that there is to be no need of the moon, because the glory of God is to be the light of His people (Isa_60:19; cf. Rev_21:23). Cautions against the worship of the moon, and punishment by death for the convicted worshippers, are to be found in Deu_4:19; Deu_17:3; whilst a superstitious salutation of the moon by kissing the hand, not quite unheard of even in our own day, is mentioned in Job_31:26-27. Moon-worship by the burning of incense was offered in Jerusalem, and put down by Josiah (2Ki_23:5).
Mount Sinai is supposed to have derived its name from the moon-god Sin, to whom worship was paid there.
For the worship of the ‘queen of heaven,’ see under Stars.
In the OT we meet more than once with crescent-shaped ornaments (Jdg_8:21, Isa_3:18); whether these are an indication of the worship of the moon is uncertain.
It has been always considered baneful in the bright clear atmosphere of the warmer regions of the earth to sleep exposed to the rays of the moon (Psa_121:6). The influence of the earth’s satellite has long been considered burtful. Our word ‘lunatic’ reproduces the idea of the Western world of our Lord’s time, that lunacy was due to the influence of the moon: the Greek word used in Mat_4:24; Mat_17:15 shows this. In the RV [Note: Revised Version.] the word is translated ‘epileptic.’ There are many still to be found who believe that the violence and recurrence of epileptic fits vary with the phases of the moon.
H. A. Redpath.
Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible
Edited by James Hastings, D.D. Published in 1909

yareach "yellow," and lebanah; "white" (Gen_1:14-16, "the lesser light".) Instead of being regarded as a person and worshipped, as it was by the surrounding nations, in Scripture it is God's creature "made for signs, seasons, days, and years" (Psa_104:19). The brightness of the moon in the East, guiding the traveler by night when the heat of day is past, gives it a prominence which it has not with us (Psa_8:3). In Psa_89:37 however the moon is not the "faithful witness," but God is witness to His own oath; translated "and the witness in heaven is faithful," so Psa_89:35. So Job_16:19, "my witness is in heaven," namely, God knows my innocence. The church is "fair as the moon, clear as the sun" (Son_6:10). As the moon shines in the night, reflecting the sun's light, so the church in this world's night (Rom_13:12) reflects the light of "the Sun of righteousness" (2Co_3:18).
Her justification in Him is perfect (1Jn_4:17 ff); in herself sanctification is yet imperfect, as the moon has less light than the sun on the illuminated part, and is but half illuminated. At His coming she "shall shine forth as the sun" (Mat_13:43). It influences vegetable growth; Deu_33:14, "moons," namely, its phases, others explain "months" as the times of ripening fruits. The cold night dews (Gen_31:40) and moonlight hurt the eyes and health of those sleeping under it; so Psa_121:6, "the moon shall not smite thee by night"; moon blindness is common in the East. The moon was worshipped as Isis in Egypt; as Karnaim, "two horns," of Ashtoreth, wife of Baal the king of heaven (the male and female symbolizing the generative powers of nature), in Syria; as Sin, "lord of the month," in Babylon.
Sabaism (from tsaabaa' "the heavenly hosts") was the earliest of false worships; it appears in our pagan names Sun day, Mon (moon) day; and in Job_31:26, "if I beheld the sun ... or the moon walking in brightness, and my heart hath been secretly enticed, or my mouth hath kissed my hand" in adoration. Josiah put down those who burned incense to the moon (2Ki_23:5). She was called "queen of heaven" (Jer_7:18), though that may mean Venus Urania. "Cakes" (cawanim) round like her disc were offered to her. So far from being an object of worship, it unconsciously worships its Maker (Psa_148:3; Psa_8:3).
The moon in Rev_12:1 is the Jewish dispensation, borrowing its former light from the Christian but now become worldly, and therefore under the church's feet (Gal_4:3 end; Heb_2:1). The sea, earth, and its satellite the moon, represent the worldly element in opposition to the sun, the kingdom of heaven. Before Jehovah the moon has no brightness (Job_25:5; Isa_24:23; Isa_60:19-20). He shall be His people's everlasting light when sun and moon shall have ceased to shine.
Fausset's Bible Dictionary
By Andrew Robert Fausset, co-Author of Jamieson, Fausset and Brown's 1888.

Moon. The moon held an important place in the kingdom of nature, as known to the Hebrews. Conjointly with the sun, it was appointed "for signs and for seasons, and for days and years;" though, in this respect, it exercised a more important influence, if by the "seasons," we understand the great religious festivals of the Jews, as is particularly stated in Psa_104:19 , and more at length in Sir_43:6-7.
The worship of the moon prevailed extensively among the nations of the East, and under a variety of aspects. It was one of the only two deities which commanded the reverence of all the Egyptians. The worship of the heavenly bodies is referred to in Job_31:26-27, and Moses directly warns the Jews against it. Deu_4:19.
In the figurative language of Scripture, the moon is frequently noticed as presaging events of the greatest importance, through the temporary or permanent withdrawal of its light. Isa_13:10; Joe_2:31; Mat_24:29; Mar_13:24.
Smith's Bible Dictionary
By Dr. William Smith.Published in 1863

Particular sacrifices were enjoined by Moses at every new moon, which day was also celebrated as a feast. It is promised in Psa_121:6, “The sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon by night.” The effect of a coup de soleil, or stroke of the sun, is well known; and in some climates the beams of the moon are reputed hurtful. Anderson, in his “Description of the East,” says, “One must here (in Batavia) take great care not to sleep in the beams of the moon uncovered. I have seen many people whose neck has become crooked, so that they looked more to the side than forward. I will not decide whether it is to be ascribed to the moon, as people imagine here.” In some of the southern parts of Europe the same opinions are entertained of the pernicious influence of the moon beams. An English gentleman walking in the evening in the garden of a Portuguese nobleman at Lisbon, was most seriously admonished by the owner to put on his hat, to protect him from the moon beams. The fishermen in Sicily are said to cover, during the night, the fish which they expose to dry on the sea shore, alleging that the beams of the moon cause them to putrefy.
Biblical and Theological Dictionary by Richard Watson
PRINTER 1849.

From early times people recognized the importance of the moon, as well as the sun, in helping to produce a variety of weather and a cycle of regular seasons (Gen_1:14-18; Psa_104:19). Early calendars were based on the phases of the moon (see MONTH), and so were Israel’s annual religious festivals (see FEASTS). The new moon marked the beginning of the month, and the full moon the middle of the month (Lev_23:24; Lev_23:39).
The day of each new moon was a holy day on which the Israelite people offered sacrifices and held a feast. Like other holy days, it was announced by the blowing of trumpets (Num_10:10; Num_28:11; 1Sa_20:5; Ezr_3:5; Psa_81:3; Eze_46:1). The Israelites were guilty of the same wrong attitudes towards the ceremonies of the new moon as towards other religious ceremonies, and as a result God’s prophets condemned them (Isa_1:13-14; Hos_2:11; Amo_8:5; cf. Col_2:16; see also SABBATH).
God strictly prohibited any worshipping of the moon. Again there were times when the Israelites broke his commandment (Deu_4:19; 2Ki_23:4-5; Jer_8:1-2).
Bridgeway Bible Dictionary by Don Fleming
PRINTER 1990.

mōōn (ירח, yārēaḥ; meaning obscure - probably ?wanderer?; by some given as ?paleness?; σελήνη, selḗnē): The moon was very early worshipped by the nations of the Far East as a divinity or the representative of one or more deities. These deities were both masculine and feminine. In Assyria and Babylonia the most common name for the moon-god was Sin or Sen. In Babylonia he was also called Aku and Nannara. In Egypt the moon was representative of several deities, all masculine. The chief of these was Thoth the god of knowledge, so called because the moon was the measurer of time. Babylonia has, also, Aa, the goddess of the moon, as the consort of the sun, while her equivalent was known in Phoenicia as Ashtaroth-karnaim. This personification and worship of the moon among the nations who were neighbors to Palestine was but part of an elaborate Nature-worship found among these people. Nor was this worship always separated from Palestine by geographical lines. It crept into the thought and customs of the Hebrews and in a sense affected their religious conceptions and ceremonies. They fell into the habit of making direct homage to sun, moon and stars, as is evidenced by Job_31:26, Job_31:27; Jer_44:17, and even Isa_8:18 (see CRESCENTS). Moses seems to have forewarned his people against the danger of this form of worship (Deu_4:19).
The actual worship of the moon and the idolatry consequent thereon seems to have touched the Hebrews, though this is disputed by some. It would seem difficult to explain 2Ki_21:3 upon any other supposition, and in 2Ki_23:4, 2Ki_23:5 we have a clear statement that Josiah put down the worship of the moon among the people and silenced the priests of this form of worship.
Certain forms of the adoration of the moon, or superstitious fear of baneful influences as coming from the moon, still abound in some sections of the world. In fact in nearly all sections modified forms of old superstitions still hold sway and yield but slowly to scientific knowledge.
The eclipses of the moon were naturally given a religious significance inasmuch as the Hebrew knowledge of them did not rise much above awe and wonder (Isa_18:1-7 :10; Joe_2:31; Mat_24:29; Mar_13:24). Other passages causing interference with the constancy of the moon to foreshadow great events can be found in Jer_13:16; Eze_32:7, Eze_32:8; Rev_8:12. An interesting passage and most difficult of interpretation is Rev_12:1. It is frequently interpreted as a revelation in symbolism of the glory of the church clothed with the light and radiating the truth of God. See also ASTRONOMY; ASTROLOGY.

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
PRINTER 1915.

The worship of the heavenly bodies was among the earliest corruptions of religion, which would naturally take its rise in the eastern parts of the world, where the atmosphere is pure and transparent, and the heavens as bright as they are glowing. In these countries the moon is of exceeding beauty. If the sun 'rules the day,' the moon has the throne of night, which, if less gorgeous than that of the sun, is more attractive, because of a less oppressively brilliant light, while her retinue of surrounding stars seems to give a sort of truth to her regal state, and certainly adds not inconsiderably to her beauty. The moon was therefore worshipped as a goddess in the East at a very early period; in India under the name of Maja; among the Assyrians at Mylitta; with the Phoenicians she was termed Astarte or Ashteroth, who was also denominated the Syrian mother. The Greeks and Romans worshipped her as Artemis and Diana. Job (Job_31:26) alludes to the power of the moon over the human soul: 'If I beheld the sun when it shined, or the moon walking in brightness, and my heart hath been secretly enticed, or my month hath kissed my hand: this also were an iniquity, for I should have denied the God that is above.' The moon, as being mistress of the night, may well have been considered as the lesser of the two great lights of heaven (Gen_1:16). It was accordingly regarded in the old Syrian superstition as subject to the sun's influence, which was worshipped as the active and generative power of nature, while the moon was reverenced as the passive and producing power. The moon, accordingly, was looked upon as feminine. Herein Oriental usage agrees with our own. But this usage was by no means universal.
The epithet 'queen of heaven' appears to have been very common. Nor was it, any more than the worship of the moon, unknown to the Jews, as may be seen in a remarkable passage in Jeremiah (Jer_44:17), where the Israelites (men and women, the latter exert most influence) appear given over to this species of idolatry: 'We will certainly burn incense to the queen of heaven, and pour out drink-offerings unto her, as we have done, we and our fathers; for then had we plenty of victuals, and were well, and saw no evil. But since we left off to burn incense to the queen of heaven, we have wanted all things.' The last verse of the passage adds to the burnt-offerings and drink-offerings, 'cakes to worship her.' Vows were also made by the Jews to the moon, which superstition required to be fulfilled (Jer_44:25).
The baneful influence of the moon still finds credence in the East. Moonlight is held to be detrimental to the eyes. In Psa_121:6 we read, 'The sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon by night;' so that the impression that the moon may do injury to man is neither partial nor vague. Rosenm?ller refers this to the cold of night, which, he says, is very great and sensible in the East, owing, partly, to the great heat of the day. If this extreme (comparative) cold is considered in connection with the Oriental custom of sleeping out of doors, on the flat roofs of houses, or even on the ground, without in all cases sufficient precautionary measures for protecting the frame, we see no difficulty in understanding whence arose the evil influence ascribed to the moon.




The Popular Cyclopedia of Biblical Literature
by John Kitto.

Son_6:10 (c) This orb is probably a type of the church. It may also be considered as a type of the Christian. It shines in and upon a dark world as we should do. It has no light of its own, but reflects beautifully the light of the sun. We have no light of our own, but reflect the light of the Son of GOD. When the shadow of the earth gets in the way, the light of the moon is hindered. So when worldliness enters and clouds the church, the light of her testimonies obscured.
Wilson's Dictionary of Bible Types
press 1957.

Moon
( יָרֵחִyare'ach, so called from its paleness; Chald. יְרִח, yerach', Ezr_6:15; Dan_4:26; poetical לְבָנָה, lebanah', the white, Son_6:10; Isa_24:23; Isa_30:26; Gr. σελήνη), the lesser of the two great celestial luminaries. SEE ASTRONOMY.
1. It is worthy of observation that neither of the terms by which the Hebrews designated the moon contains any reference to its office or essential character; they simply describe it by the accidental quality of color. Another explanation of the second term is proposed in Rawlinson's Herodotus, 1:615, to the effect that it has reference to lebenah, "a brick," and embodies the Babylonian notion of Sin, the moon, as being the god of architecture. The strictly parallel use of yareach in Joe_2:31 and Eze_32:7, as well as the analogy in the sense of the two words, seems a strong argument against the view. The Greek σελήνη, from σέλας, expresses this idea of brilliancy more vividly than the Hebrew terms. The Indo-European languages recognised the moon as the measurer of time, and have expressed its office in this respect, all the terms applied to it — μήν, moon, etc.-finding a common element with μετρεῖν, to measure, in the Sanscrit root ma (Pott's SEym. Forsch. 1:194). The nations with whom the Hebrews were brought into more immediate contact worshipped the moon under various designations expressive of its influence in the kingdom of nature. The exception which the Hebrew language thus presents would appear to be based on the repugnance to nature-worship which runs through their whole system, and which induced the precautionary measure of giving it in reality no name at all, substituting the circuitous expressions "lesser light" (Gen_1:16), the "pale," or the "white." The same tendency to avoid the notion of personality may perhaps be observed in the indifference to gender, yarmiach being masculine, and lebanah feminine. See below.
2. The moon held an important place in the kingdom of nature as known to the Hebrews. In the history of the creation (Gen_1:14-16) it appears simultaneously with the sun, and is described in terms which imply its independence of that body as far as its light is concerned. Conjointly with the sun, it was appointed "for signs and for seasons, and for days and years;" though in this respect it exercised a more important influence, if by the "seasons" we understand the great religious festivals of the Jews, as is particularly stated in Psa_104:19 ("He appointed the moon for seasons"), and more at length in Sir_43:6-7. Hence, as a measure of time among the Israelites. a lunation was the period of their month; and many of their festivals were on the new moon, or on one of its quarterly phases (Sir_43:6 sq.; comp. Sohar in Gen. fol. 236). SEE MONTH.
This was especially the case with the Passover, their chief festival (see Bihr, Symbol. 2:639). SEE PASSOVER. Besides this, the moon had its special office in the distribution of light; it was appointed "to rule over the night," as the sun over the day, and thus the appearance of the two founts of light served "to divide between the day and between the night." In order to enter fully into this idea, we must remember both the greater brilliancy of the moonlight in Eastern countries, and the larger amount of work, particularly travelling, that is carried on by its aid. The appeals to sun and moon conjointly are hence more frequent in the literature of the Hebrews than they might otherwise have been (Jos_10:12; Psa_72:5; Psa_72:7; Psa_72:17; Ecclesiastes 12:2; 24:23, etc.); in some instances, indeed, the moon receives a larger amount of attention than the sun (e.g. Psa_8:3; Psa_89:37). The inferiority of its light is occasionally noticed, as in Gen_1:16; in Son_6:10, where the epithets "fair" and "clear" (or, rather, spotless, and hence extremely brilliant) are applied respectively to moon and sun; and in Isa_30:26, where the equalizing of its light to that of the sun conveys an image of the highest glory. Its influence on vegetable or animal life receives but little notice; the expression in Deu_33:14, which the A.V. refers to the moon, signifies rather months as the period of ripening fruits. The coldness of the night-dews is prejudicial to the health, and particularly to the eyes of those who are exposed to it, and the idea expressed in Psa_121:6 ("The moon shall not smite thee by night") may have reference to the general or the particular evil effect: blindness is still attributed to the influence of the moon's rays on those who sleep under the open heaven, both by the Arabs (Carne's Letters, 1:88) and by Europeans. If this extreme (comparative) cold is considered in connection with the Oriental custom of sleeping sub divo, out of doors, a la belle etoile, on the flat roofs of houses, or even on the ground, without in all cases sufficient precautionary measures for protecting the body, we see no difficulty in understanding whence arose the evil influence ascribed to the moon. In the East Indies similar effects result from similar exposure. The connection between the moon's phases and certain forms of disease, whether madness or epilepsy, is expressed in the Greek σεληνιάζεσθαι (Mat_4:24; Mat_17:15), in the Latin derivative "lunatic," and in our "moon-struck." The various influences anciently attributed to the moon in her different phases (Pliny, 2:102), not only in changes of the weather (Varro, R.R. 1:37; Virgil, Georg. 1:275, 427; comp. Hos_5:7; Isa_47:13), but also in physical effects upon the human system (Macrob. Sat. 7:16; comp. Psa_121:6), is a superstition (Horat. Ars Poet. 5:454; Virgil, En. 4:512) still very prevalent in the East (Rosenmuller, Morgenl. 4:108), and has not even ceased among modern Occidentals (comp. Hone, Every-day Book, 1:1509; Shakespeare, Mids. N. D. 2:2; Othello, 5:2), although science has shown that this planet has no specific influence either upon meteorology or health. See Hayn, De Planetar. in Corp. hum. Influxu (Frckf. 1805); Kretschmar, De Astror. in Corp. hum. Imperio (Jena, 1820); Raschig, De lunae imperio in valetud. coip. hum. nullo (Vit. 1787); Krazenstein, Einfluss des Mondes in d.m. Kirp. (Halle, 1747); Reil, Archiv f. Physiol. 1:133 sq. SEE LUNATIC.
3. The clearness of the Oriental atmosphere early led to the worship of the heavenly bodies (Herod. 2:47; Strabo, 12, page 557; Pliny, 8:1, etc.), among which the moon received special honors (Job_31:26; comp. Julian, Orat. in Salem. page 90), as the most conspicuous object of the nocturnal firmament (comp. Deu_4:19; Deu_17:3; 2Ki_23:5; Jer_8:2; see Selden, Dii Syr. 1:239 sq.). If the sun "rules the day," the moon has the throne of night, which, if less gorgeous than that of the sun, is more attractive, because of a less oppressively brilliant light, while her retinue of surrounding stars seems to give a sort of truth to her regal state, and certainly adds not inconsiderably to her beauty. There is to the same effect a remarkable passage in Julian (Orat. in Salem. page 90): "From my childhood I was filled with a wonderful love for the rays of that goddess; and when, in my boyhood, I directed my eyes to her ethereal light, I was quite beside myself. By night especially, when I found myself under a wide, pure, cloudless sky, I forgot everything else under her influence, and was absorbed in the beauties of heaven, so that I did not hear if addressed, nor was aware of what I did. I appeared solely to be engaged with this divinity, so that even when a beardless boy I might have been taken for a star-gazer." Accordingly the worship of the moon was extensively practiced by the nations of the East, and under a variety of aspects. In Egypt it was honored under the form of Isis, and was one of the only two deities which commanded the reverence of all the Egyptians (Herod. 2:42, 47). In Syria it was represented by that one of the Ashtaroth (i.e., of the varieties which the goddess Astarte, or Ashtoreth, underwent) surnamed "Karnaim," from the horns of the crescent moon by which she was distinguished. SEE ASHTORETH.
In Babylonia it formed one of a triad in conjunction with Ether and the sun, and, under the name of Sin, received the honored titles of "Lord of the month," "King of the gods," etc. (Rawlinson's Herodotus, 1:614). There are indications of a very early introduction into the countries adjacent to Palestine of a species of worship distinct from any that we have hitherto noticed, viz. of the direct homage of the heavenly bodies —sun, moon, and stars — which is the characteristic of Sabianism (q.v.). The first notice which we have of this is in Job (Job_31:26-27), and it is observable that the warning of Moses (Deu_4:19) is directed against this nature-worship, rather than against the form of moon-worship which the Israelites must have witnessed in Egypt. At a later period, however, the worship of the moon in its grosser form of idol-worship was introduced from Syria: we have no evidence indeed that the Ashtoreth of the Zidonians, whom Solomon introduced (1Ki_11:5), was identified in the minds of the Jews with the moon, but there can be no doubt that the moon was worshipped under the form of an image in Manasseh's reign, although Movers (Phonie. 1:66, 164) has taken up the opposite view; for we are distinctly told that the king " made an asherah (A.V. 'grove'), i.e., an image of Ashtoreth, and worshipped all the host of heaven" (2Ki_21:3), which asherah was destroyed by Josiah, and the priests that burned incense to the moon were put down (2Ki_23:4-5). At a somewhat later period the worship of the "queen of heaven" was practiced in Palestine (Jer_7:18; Jer_44:17). The title has generally been supposed to belong to the moon (comp. Horace, Carm. Sac. 35; Apuleius, Metam. 2, page 254), but some think it more probable that the Oriental Venus is intended, for the following reasons:
(1) the title of Urania "of heaven" was peculiarly appropriate to Venus, whose worship was borrowed by the Persians from the Arabians and Assyrians (Herod. 1:131, 199);
(2) the votaries of this goddess, whose chief function was to preside over births, were women; and we find that in Palestine the married women are specially noticed as taking a prominent part;
(3) the peculiarity of the title, which occurs only in the passages quoted, looks as if the worship were a novel one; and this is corroborated by the term kavvan (כִּוָּן) applied to the "cakes," which is again so peculiar that the Sept. has retained it (χαυών), deeming it to be, as it not improbably was, a foreign word. Whether the Jews derived their knowledge of the "queen of heaven" from the Philistines, who possessed a very ancient temple of Venus Urania at Ascalon (Herod. 1:105), or from the Egyptians, whose god Athor was of the same character, is uncertain. SEE QUEEN OF HEAVEN.
The moon was regarded in the old Syrian superstition as subject to the sun's influence, which was worshipped as the active and generative power of nature, while the moon was reverenced as the passive and producing power. The moon, accordingly, was looked upon as feminine. Herein Oriental usage agrees with our own. But this usage was by no means universal. The gender of mond in German is an exception in modern days, which may justify the inference that even among the Northern nations the moon has masculine qualities ascribed to it. By the people of Carran, in Mesopotamia, the moon was worshipped as a male deity, and called Lunus. Spartian tells us these people were of the opinion that such as believe the moon to be a goddess, and not a god, will be their wives' slaves as long as they live; but, on the contrary, those who esteem her to be a god will ever be masters of their wives, and never be overcome by their artifices. The same author tells us that there were remaining several medals of the Nysaeans, Magnesians, and other Greek nations, which represented the moon in the dress and under the name of a man, and covered with an Armenian bonnet. The Egyptians also represented their moon as a male deity, Ihoth; and Wilkinson (Anc. Egypt. 5:5) remarks that "the same custom of calling it male is retained in the East to the present day, while the sun is considered feminine, as in the language of the Germans. Ihoth, in the character of Lunus, the moon, has sometimes a man's face, with the crescent of the moon upon his head supporting a disk." Plutarch says the Egyptians "call the moon the mother of the world, and hold it to be of both sexes: female, as it receives the influence of the sun; male, as it scatters and disperses through the air the principles of fecundity." In other countries also the moon was held to be hermaphrodite. Another pair of dissimilar qualities was ascribed to the moon — the destructive and the generative faculty — whence it was worshipped as a bad as well as a good power. The Egyptians sacrificed to the moon when she was at the full. The victims offered to her were swine, which the Egyptians held to be impure animals, and were forbidden to offer them to any other deities but that planet and Bacchus. When they sacrificed to the moon, and had killed the victim, they put the end of the tail, with the spleen and fat, into the caul, and burned them on the sacred fire, and ate the rest of the flesh on the day of the new moon. Those whose poverty would not admit of the expense of this sacrifice moulded a bit of paste into the shape of a hog, and offered up that (Herodotus, 1:2). In India this goddess bore the name of Majra; among the Syrians, Mylitta; among the Phoenicians, Astarte or Ashtoreth; among the Greeks, Artemis; and among the Romans, Diana (see Bithr, Synbol. 1:436 sq., 478; 2:222, 232). In these nations, however, the moon was usually the representative of the benign or prolific power of nature. See Carpzov, Apparat. page 510; Frischmuth, De Melecheth Cceli (Jen. 1663); A. Calov, De Selenolatria (Vit. 1680). SEE ASTROLOGY.
In the Western world also the moon has been, and continues even now to be worshipped or superstitiously regarded. In Europe there are several countries in which untold superstitious acts are performed, depending upon the moon's rotation (see Brand, Popular Antiquities of Great Britain, Index in volume 3). In Great Britain and the Northern wilds the moon is placed highest in the scale of nature-worship. In America the wild man, like other heathen, both of civilized and barbarous races, has been long accustomed to the thought that all the heavenly bodies are possessed of animation, and even gifted with some measure of intelligence. To each, accordingly, has been ascribed an independent, vitalizing soul. The sun- god, for example, is the living sun itself, and worship is never paid to it symbolically, as if it were the representative of some invisible or absent spirit, but because it is an actual depository of the supersensuous, an embodiment of the divine. As the sun stands for the Creator, so the moon is connected, as in Babylonian mythology, with the thought of some evil principle. Says Miller (Anzerikanische Urreligionen), "The rude American was haunted by the thought of some co-equal and coordinate array of hostile deities, who manifested their malignant nature by creating discord, sickness, death, and every possible. form of evil. These were held in numerous cases to obey the leadership of the moon, which, owing to its changeful aspects, have become identical with the capricious. evil-minded spirit of American Indians" (page 53; comp. 170, 272; comp. also Brinton, Myths of the New World, pages 130-140). In Africa moon-worship prevails to a considerable extent, and is spoken of by Livingstone (Travels in South Africa, page 235).
4. In the figurative language of Scripture the moon is frequently noticed as presaging events of the greatest importance through the temporary or permanent withdrawal of its light (Isa_13:10; Joe_2:31; Mat_24:29; Mar_13:24): in these and similar passages we have an evident allusion to the mysterious awe with which eclipses were viewed by the Hebrews in common with other nations of antiquity (comp. Jer_13:16; Eze_32:7-8; Rev_8:12). With regard to the symbolic meaning of the moon in Rev_12:1, we have only to observe that the ordinary explanations, viz. the sublunary world, or the changeableness of its affairs, seem to derive no authority from the language of the O.T., or from the ideas of the Hebrews.

CYCLOPEDIA OF BIBLICAL, THEOLOGICAL AND ECCLESIASTICAL
press 1895.

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