Planetary Judgments

In his lectures on Comparative Religion, Eugen Rosenstock-Huessy points to five fundamental gods that were over ancient man and still can dominate us today, and which must be respected. When we sin, we respect these gods more than we respect the Creator, disobeying the First Word: “You will have no other gods before Me.” Nevertheless, these gods (powers from God) are real. They are, according to Rosenstock:

Saturn, the power of natural catastrophe Jupiter, the power of government Mars, the power of warfare Venus, the power of romantic infatuation Mercury, the power of rhythm, movement, and dance

Each of these can overwhelm a person if he is not careful, as Helen’s beauty overwhelmed Paris and caused the Trojan War.

What follows is cool, but speculative. It is a speculation arising from Mark Horne’s brilliant insight that God had sent His lightning bolt to destroy the world at just the moment when human evil had reached its nadir, but that at just that precise moment, at around noon on a particular Friday, Jesus Christ went up on a cross between heaven and earth and took all that judgment onto His own breast, becoming the New Protective Firmament ( hilasterion ) over the earth.

And yes, this is speculative. The Marching Moron Minority out in Calvinistic Blogland will say, “Oh, that’s speculative.” Well, yes, it is. We, at least, have our brains turned on. Adults investigate stuff; and even when it turns out to be a blind alley, grownups learn from it.

Now for you grownups: It occurs to me in light of the Biblical usage of the synodical periods of the planets in Genesis 5 and in the censuses of Numbers; and in the light of progressive judgments in history, that God’s arrow of wrath can be seen as moving from heaven to earth in a kind of physical-symbolic way. That is to say: Part of the Biblical vocabulary is the system of “moving stars” (planets) that rule the sky. The ancients, including the Israelites, knew full well that space has depth and that Saturn was farthest from the earth. I suggest that the judgments and covenants of the Bible can be seen, in one aspect, as God’s judgment drawing nearer and nearer to the Earth.

God’s first judgment was at the Flood, initiating the Noahic Covenant. This was the Saturnine judgment of total catastrophe. Never again would there be total catastrophe, though there would be plenty of local ones. In terms of the ancient understanding of the cosmos, this was the most distant from the earth.

God’s second judgment was at Babel, initiating the Patriarchal Covenant. This was the Jovian judgment against total government. Never again would God allow a one-world government, though He would often judge smaller ones. We are moving toward the earth.

God’s third judgment was at Egypt, initiating the Mosaic Covenant. God made war on the gods of Egypt, and the period of the Judges is a time of repeated wars against other gods and their nations. So, we have arrived at Mars.

At this point we arrive at a quandary. The heavenly bodies progressively near to Earth are the Sun, Mercury, Venus, and the Moon. The Lampstand, with its lights lined up between the near side of the firmament and the far side, would have that configuration. Yet there is reason to consider an alternative that is of equal value. The Sun being the brightest could be the closest form of judgment, with the Moon just behind. And, to the ancients it was not clear whether Venus or Mercury was nearer to the Earth. So, let us see what we can see.

With David it seems we come to Venus. David continually goes after women, without restraint. So does Solomon. In better days, Solomon wrote a song about love, the Song of Songs. Beyond this, David and Solomon were supposed to “love” the foreign nations and bring them to God. I suggest that Venus, and the judgment upon false love, fits the Davidic Covenant era.

With the Prophetic era, initiated by Elijah and Elisha, I suggest we come to Mercury, the Messenger. It is Mercury whose fleet feet transport the words of the gods to men. It is just at this time that the prophets begin to send messages to the surrounding nations. God brings judgment on those false prophets who corrupt His message and tell the nations that they need not repent. The lightning bolt is getting closer to the Earth.

The Oikumenical era after the exile is a Lunar time. The lesser light of God’s grace shines over the larger areas of the imperial powers that serve His purposes. The Jews spread out into the Oikumene carrying God’s word. Yet, when they darken His word, and make their converts into disciples of hell, judgment draws closer.

Finally comes the Sun of Righteousness. Yet men esteemed Him not, and sought to blot out His fulsome light. Now the arrow of wrath has finally come to Earth. Yet, the Earth is not destroyed. The Righteous One takes the wrath upon Himself, and starts a New Universe.

This article was originally published at the Biblical Horizons blog .