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In Job 38, God asks Job if he can guide the Bear with its cubs. Rabbinic tradition in tractate Berakhot interprets guide as comfort, a promise that God will return two stars he took from the Bear to replace two removed from the Pleiades for the flood.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Job 38:32
Hebrew Bible
31 Can you tie the bands of the Pleiades or release the cords of Orion? 32 Can you lead out the constellations in their seasons or guide the Bear with its cubs? 33 Do you know the laws of the heavens, or can you set up their rule over the earth?
Berakhot 59a
Babylonian Talmud
Rabbinic
as if it was appended onto it. The Gemara explains: And the fact that Ursa Major follows Pleiades, it is as if Ursa Major is saying to Pleiades: Give me back my children, my two stars. As it is related: When the Holy One, Blessed be He, sought to bring a flood into the world, He took two stars from Pleiades and brought the flood upon the world. And afterward, when He wished to fill the void, He took two stars from Ursa Major and filled the void with them. Consequently, the constellation of Ursa Major attempts to persuade Pleiades, seeking to get its stars back. The Gemara asks: And return it, why did the Holy One, Blessed be He, not restore the original two stars to Pleiades? The Gemara answers: A pit cannot be filled by its own earth; when a pit is excavated, the earth that was excavated from it is insufficient to refill it. Alternatively, one could say that a prosecutor cannot become an advocate; since these stars caused the flood it is not appropriate that they facilitate the end of the flood. The Gemara argues: Then God should have created two other new stars for Pleiades. The Gemara responds: “There is nothing new under the sun” (Ecclesiastes 1:9). Rav Naḥman said: In the future, the Holy One, Blessed be He, will restore those same stars to Ursa Major, as it is stated: “Or can you guide [tanḥem] Ursa Major with her sons?” (Job 38:32), which is interpreted homiletically in the sense of consolation [tanḥumim] apparently due to the restoration of those stars.
Date: 450–550 CE (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
“... The image of Pleiades and Orion makes use of a popular legend [...] which appears in b. Berakhot 58b-59a: What is meant by Kimah (Pleiades)? ... What is meant by ‘Ash (the Bear)...`Ayish will be comforted for her children... she is saying to her, give me my children.. The woman (or the midrash that attributes the prayer to her) was familiar with the aggadah that mentions consolation for the mother whose two children were taken from her, in a situation similar to that of Obadiah's wife, and she included the legend in her prayer. ...”
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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