|
The Old Testament offers abundant testimony of the ancient belief that certain stones were animated by a divine spirit. In regard to this, Benzinger writes: "It was not Yahweh who found Jacob at Bethel but rather Jacob who found Yahweh there. He anoints the stone; that is, he sacrifices to it, for the divinity residing in the stone has caused his dream." According to Benzinger's opinion the Ark of the Covenant originally served as receptacle for a stone of this type, and was hence regarded as sheltering a divinity.
One of the very earliest references to meteorites appears in the Book of Joshua (chap. x, verse 11), where we read, in the account of the battle fought by the Israelites against the Amorites and their allies, that "the Lord cast down great stones from heaven" upon the Amorites, so that more of the latter were killed by these stones than by the weapons of the Israelites. Admitting the historical character of the account, this fall of meteorites probably took place in the twelfth century B.C. In an Assyrian cuneiform inscription, there is mention of the seven black stones of the city of Urka in Chaldea. These were baetyli and were regarded as representations of the seven planets. |
You are here:
JJKent Home >>
Precious Stones Guide Vol 8
>> All About Biblical References to Meteorites
| <<About Babylonian Royal Astrologers | About Chinese Records of Meteors>> |