4 ms·
Context and culture suggest the latter interpretation. It's definitely talking about descendants, not agriculture, and it's definitely using "as many as the sta
by LeifCarrotson 9y ago
Context and culture suggest the latter interpretation. It's definitely talking about descendants, not agriculture, and it's definitely using "as many as the stars" in a fashion that suggests a lot more than 9000. Some clearer quotes:
> Deuteronomy 10:22: Your fathers went down to Egypt seventy persons, and now the LORD your God has made you as numerous as the stars of heaven.
Shortly before that quote was written, a census numbered the men at around 600,000, for a total population of 1.5-2.5 million.
And there's also the New Testament interpretation of the same events:
> Hebrews 11:12: Therefore from one man, and him as good as dead, were born descendants as many as the stars of heaven and as many as the innumerable grains of sand by the seashore.
- alphydan 9y agoAgain. That's the whole point of science. Leaving interpretations out. Neither you nor anybody here can know if the author meant "There are around 600,000 stars" or "There are around 5,000 stars". Also, exactly who tracked the geneaology to make sure those 600,000 men were direct descendants of the 70 people? Is that sentence possibly false? Was the author aware of the census? etc, etc. I don't think there is any point discussing it when there are actual star catalogues produced as early as 1800 BC by early astronomers: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_astronomical_maps,_catalogs,_and_surveys https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_astronomical_maps,...
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]