No. XXIII.
ASTROLOGY.
The favourite Jewish objection to the claims of Jesus of
Nazareth is that passage at the beginning of the thirteenth
chapter of Deuteronomy: "If there arise among you a
prophet, or a dreamer of dreams, and giveth thee a sign or
a wonder, and the sign or the wonder come to pass, whereof
he spake unto thee, saying, Let us go after other gods, which
thou hast not known, and let us serve them, thou shalt not
hearken unto the words of that prophet, or that dreamer of
dreams." In citing this passage, the Jews take for granted
that the religion of Jesus is essentially different from that
of Moses; that it leads to the worship of strange gods: and
that it is in fact a species of heathenism, whilst the religion
of the oral law, which they now profess, is utterly free from
all heathen elements, and identical with the religion of their
prophets. All this they take for granted; but the subject
is capable of being inquired into. The oral law and the
New Testament are both extant, and a little examination
will enable us to decide, on rational grounds, whether
Judaism or Christianity savour most of heathenism. In
our last number, we saw that Judaism contains magic for
the Sanhedrin and magic for the people, whilst the New
Testament utterly forbids it: in this respect then Judaism
resembles the heathen religion. Our business in this number
shall be to point out, in astrology, another feature of resemblance.
The Talmud and its doctors all agree in asserting
the influence of the stars over the fates and fortunes
of men. In the first place, the Talmud lays down these
general maxims:—
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"Life, children, and a livelihood depend not on merit, but on the influence of the stars." (Moed Katon, fol. 28, col. 1.)
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"The influence of the stars makes wise, the influence of the stars makes rich." (Shabbath, fol. 156, col. 1.) But it also tells us the following particulars:—
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