Wasn't the Zodiak also at one time used as a teaching device by the ancients? Perhaps you know whether it was developed by Pagans and coopted or vice versa.
Yes, that is certainly the case. The Babylonians and Medo-Persians, had an elaborate understanding of the Zodiac. The Hebrews did as well in the Mazzaroth, which was also included in mosaics in ancient synagogues. The difference between the Hebrews and the Pagans was that the Hebrews certainly thought the heavens were declaring the glory of God and that He had put them there “for signs and for seasons” (Gen. 1), but that they didn’t control the fate of humanity. They were also subject to something higher than themselves — Namely, the God who is above all things.
I'm interested in what Josh says about this, but IMO from reading Ward, I would think the zodiak was stolen by pagans, in the same way that Jupiter was orcified into a false god, Zeus. I think there is a real Jove, king of the planets, who serves God, but Satan orcified him to us on earth and we started worshipping him as Zeus, a created thing instead of the creator. Carrying that to the zodiak, I can see how pagans probably stole the concept of heavenly influence and mixed it with signs, omens, and divination. Like how it seems throughout the Odyssey, Illiad, and even Bernard Cornwell's the Last Kingdom, pagans keep looking to birds in flight as omens. Thus too with stars in motion.
Wasn't the Zodiak also at one time used as a teaching device by the ancients? Perhaps you know whether it was developed by Pagans and coopted or vice versa.
Yes, that is certainly the case. The Babylonians and Medo-Persians, had an elaborate understanding of the Zodiac. The Hebrews did as well in the Mazzaroth, which was also included in mosaics in ancient synagogues. The difference between the Hebrews and the Pagans was that the Hebrews certainly thought the heavens were declaring the glory of God and that He had put them there “for signs and for seasons” (Gen. 1), but that they didn’t control the fate of humanity. They were also subject to something higher than themselves — Namely, the God who is above all things.
I'm interested in what Josh says about this, but IMO from reading Ward, I would think the zodiak was stolen by pagans, in the same way that Jupiter was orcified into a false god, Zeus. I think there is a real Jove, king of the planets, who serves God, but Satan orcified him to us on earth and we started worshipping him as Zeus, a created thing instead of the creator. Carrying that to the zodiak, I can see how pagans probably stole the concept of heavenly influence and mixed it with signs, omens, and divination. Like how it seems throughout the Odyssey, Illiad, and even Bernard Cornwell's the Last Kingdom, pagans keep looking to birds in flight as omens. Thus too with stars in motion.
All speculation, of course.