Texts in Conversation
Nehemiah looks back on Israel’s history and describes the promise of many descendants to Abraham as already fulfilled, interpreting Genesis 15:5 as a past reality and connecting it to early Israelite theology of the stars and patron gods.
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Genesis 15:5
Hebrew Bible
4 But look, the Lord’s message came to him: “This man will not be your heir, but instead a son who comes from your own body will be your heir.” 5 The Lord took him outside and said, “Gaze into the sky and count the stars—if you are able to count them!” Then he said to him, “So will your descendants be.” 6 Abram believed the Lord, and the Lord credited it as righteousness to him. 7 The Lord said to him, “I am the Lord who brought you out from Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to possess.”
Nehemiah 9:23
Hebrew Bible
22 “You gave them kingdoms and peoples, and you allocated them to every corner of the land. They inherited the land of King Sihon of Heshbon and the land of King Og of Bashan. 23 You multiplied their descendants like the stars of the sky. You brought them to the land you had told their ancestors to enter in order to possess. 24 Their descendants entered and possessed the land. You subdued before them the Canaanites who were the inhabitants of the land. You delivered them into their hand, together with their kings and the peoples of the land, to deal with as they pleased.
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Notes and References
"... There is a rich literature about Mesopotamian astronomy, and an even richer one about Greek astronomy. No previous scholarly discussion has addressed the astronomy of Genesis 1. Biblical literature about stars is familiar enough. The stars fight from their courses against Sisera. The stars are YHWH’s hosts. The host advise YHWH in counsel. The stars are the gods, and most of them descend to the underworld, as they descend below the horizon, some to rise on the opposite side. Hence the comparison of Israel to the stars – the reference ties Israel to its ancestors, by suggesting that each Israelite, on earth as in the underworld, is represented by a deity (Compare Genesis 22:7, Exodus 32:13, Deuteronomy 1:10, Nehemiah 9:23) ..."
Halpern, Baruch, and Matthew J. Adams
From Gods to God: The Dynamics of Iron Age Cosmologies
(p. 428) Mohr Siebeck, 2009
* 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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