Is the Star of David a Pagan Symbol?
There is a great deal of debate in the Hebrew Roots movement whether or not the most recognizable symbol in the world, the Star of David, is of a pagan origin.
Arguments to prove that the Star of David is a pagan symbol have been found in a verse from Amos 5. We read,
But ye have borne the tabernacle of your Moloch and Chiun your images, the star of your god, which ye made to yourselves. Therefore will I cause you to go into captivity beyond Damascus, (Amo 5:26-27 KJV)
In this article, we will attempt to join this debate in which, we have to admit, there is no lack of opinions on the matter. But unlike other approaches to this polemical topic of the Star of David, we will adhere to the Hebrew text as the main source of wisdom, as we have always done so.
As seen from the KJV translation above, the English text clearly cites two idols, Moloch and Chiun, which are called the star of your god apparently referring to the idolatry the children of Israel fell into.
And, this is how the Jewish Publication Society (JPS) translation renders the same verse:
So shall ye take up Siccuth your king and Chiun your images, the star of your god, which ye made to yourselves. (Amo 5:26 JPS)
The Septuagint (LXX) of Amos 5:26, however, reads,
And you took up the tabernacle of Moloch, and the star of your god Raephan, the images of them which you made for yourselves. Therefore I shall send you into exile beyond Dammesek.
The corresponding text of underlined phrase in the LXX in Greek is: θεου υμων ραιφαν.
So, we see that there are differences between the English and Greek texts of Amo 5:26. For instance, “Moloch” and “Remphan” appear in Amos 5:26 in the Septuagint (LXX), while in the Leningrad Codex of the Tanak we find “Sikkuth” and “Kiyyun” respectively.
Also, “sikkuth” is translated from Hebrew to Greek as “tabernacle” although the Hebrew for a tent is “sukkah” the plural form of which is “sukkot” hence the similarity of the pronunciation of “sikkuth” and “sukkot.” In the Hebraic school of thought “sikkut” is an idolatrous booth which became an idol but it is also a Babylonian deity, hence both meanings should be correct: a tabernacle and Sikkut.
Therefore, we see that the Jewish translators of JPS had not translated “sikkuth” to mean a tent, but the Greek speaking Jews of the LXX had. Also, JPS renders “moloch” as “king, while the LXX renders it as “Moloch.” Hence, we may deduce that the JPS translators have understood Sikkuth and Chiyyun to mean idolatrous deities, while the LXX says: Moloch, and Raephan.
To add to the complexity of the matter, the Greek text of Act 7:43, the only reference of Amo 5:26 in the Apostolic Writings, quotes the LXX, not the Tanak, but has a “small” difference:
And you took up the tabernacle of Moloch, and the star of your god Remphan, figures which you made to worship them: and I will carry you away beyond Babylon. Act 7:43
Therefore, we may say that the Greek in Act 7:43 is identical to the Greek of LXX and appears to be a paraphrase of Amo 5:26 with the only exception that it reads “Babylon” instead of “Dammesek” (Damascus), as it is in the Tanak.
In order to collect more information on this difficult verse below, we will also refer to non-Biblical sources for more understanding.
Isaac Newton, a famous British physicist but also a brilliant Bible scholar, had this to say referring to Act 7:43:
The falling of the stars & departure of the heavens according to the precedent interpretations of stars & heaven will signify the fall of great men & the departure of the glory of a kingdom. And because idols are sometimes considered as men by Fig 63 therefore this emblem may be applied either to a kingdom of idols or to a kingdom of men as the circumstances shall require. Thus Saint Stephen calls the idol of Rempham a star, saying: Ye took up the tabernacle of Moloch & the star of your God Rempham, figures which ye made to worship them. Isaac Newton
What can we suggest from the all said above, but to say that there is no definitive answer as to the Star of David being a pagan symbol?
None of these sources (the Leningrad Codex and the Septuagint (LXX) of the Tanak, Acts of the Apostles, and also Isaac Newton) even remotely links the Star of David with paganism which can only show us that that was not their understanding of Amo 5:26.
Since we could not reach a definitive conclusion whether the Star of David is a pagan symbol, we need to go into the Hebrew text and do a textual criticism in order to find any solution. Below is the literal, word-for-word, interlinear translation of Amo 5:26,
(Amo 5:26) וּנְשָׂאתֶ֗ם and you (pl) lifted up אֵ֚ת סִכּוּת Sikkut (or tent) מַלְכְּכֶם of your (pl) king וְאֵת כִּיּוּן and Kiyyun צַלְמֵיכֶם of your images
כּוֹכַב star of אֱלֹהֵיכֶ֔ם your gods אֲשֶׁר which עֲשִׂיתֶם you made לָכֶם for yourselves
In order to give a correct interpretation to this difficult verse, which has been explained by some in a way to mean that the star in question is the Star of David, it is necessary to bear in mind the Hebrew grammar and the simple meaning of the text we will work on.
So, we need to notice that where in the first half of the verse the two objects of the sentence, Sikkut and Kiyyun, are connected together by the linking word ו (וְאֵת) meaning “and”, the omission of ו (וְאֵת) before star indicates that star of your gods does not introduce a third object in the sentence, namely a star, in addition to the two preceding ones, Sikkut and Kiyyun, but the grammatical function of star is to define those two objects more precisely. Here is the place to remind that אֵת has a pure grammatical function to link a verb with a direct object in a sentence and ו is the linking word “and .”
From this it follows, that Sikkut your king and Kiyyun your idols do not denote two different kinds of idolatry, but simply two different forms of the very same idolatry. This is required by the parallelism of the members; for צַלְמֵיכֶם your idols stands in the same relation to כִּיּוּן Kiyyun as מַלְכְּכֶם your king to סִכּוּת Sikkut. From this parallelism, therefore, we see that Sikkut is as an idol as Kiyyun and king is not an actual king but an idol as it parallels with your idols.
The plural form your idols, however, cannot be in juxtaposition to the singular Kiyyun your images, but must be in a possessive form: “the Kiyyun of your images.” And by the same token, your king is a possessive form after Sikkut: “the Sikkuth of your king.” It is incumbent to notice that מַלְכְּכֶם, usually translated as your Molek (KJV), should be translated as your king, since מֶלֶךְ simply means “king.”
Therefore, we read from a new and more accurate translation, as this:
And you lifted up Sikkuth of your king and Kiyyun of your idols, star of your gods (or, your astral gods), which you made for yourselves.
And now, it is apparent to see that by star we have to picture not a man-made star as a representation of an idol, because if that had been the intent of the prophecy, the linking particle וְאֵת would have been repeated before כּוֹכַב to read and star (again, אֵת links the verb with the direct object).
But the intent of the prophecy is the following: Sikkut of your king and Kiyyun of idols they carried, were like astral gods which they had made, i.e., star-deities, because אֲשֶׁר “which” refers to אֱלֹהֵיכֶם “your gods”, not to כּוֹכַב “star.”
After, and only after, we have cleared the simple meaning of the text, we can proceed to find the lesson of this prophecy.
The prophecy begins with the downfall of the Northern Kingdom in Amos 5 and Amo_6:1-14 whose purpose was to impress upon the people the impossibility of averting the coming destruction. The proclamation of the judgment returns in a form of greater and greater intensity, until it reaches to the banishment of the whole nation, and the overthrow of Samaria and the kingdom (Amo_5:27; Amo_6:8).
Now, let us read Amo 5:26 in the context of verses 25 through 27:
Did you bring Me sacrifices and offerings in the wilderness for forty years, O house of Israel, and you took up Sikkuth of your king and Kiyyun of your idols, the star of your gods (or, your astral gods) which you made for yourselves! Therefore I shall send you into exile beyond Damascus, said Yehovah Elohim of hosts – His Name. (Amo 5:25-27)
The question here in verse 25, “Did you bring Me sacrifices?” is rhetorical and is equivalent to a denial, and these words apply to the nation as a whole. The forty years are used to denote the time during which the people were sentenced to die in the wilderness after the rebellion at Kadesh, as in Num_14:33-34, and Jos_5:6, but in actuality, this time amounted to thirty-eight years, the years they were exiled in the Arabian desert. During that time even the circumcision of the children born during the thirty-eight years was suspended (see Jos_5:5-7), and the sacrificial worship was not perform, hence, the rhetorical question, “Did you bring Me sacrifices?”
Having said that, we see that the first sentence of this prophecy takes us back to the time of the Exodus from Egypt, and what would be more natural than to connect the following verse 26 to the Exodus when the Israelites took up with them the Egyptian idols of Sikkuth and Kiyyun.
The Israelites defiled themselves with the abominations and the idols of Egypt, although YHVH had sworn before their father Ya’akov and to his seed and made Himself known to them in the land of Egypt to bring them out of the land of Egypt into a land flowing with milk and honey. But they rebelled against Him, and did not obey Him.
So, Elohim resolved to pour out His wrath on them to complete His displeasure against them in the midst of the land of Egypt, as we red in Eze 20:5-8.
Thus said the Master Yehovah, ‘On the day when I chose Israel and lifted My hand in an oath to the seed of the house of Ya’akov and made Myself known to them in the land of Egypt, I lifted My hand in an oath to them, saying, ‘I am Yehovah your Elohim.’ On that day I lifted My hand in an oath to them, to bring them out of the land of Egypt into a land that I had searched out for them, flowing with milk and honey, the splendor of all lands. And I said to them, ‘Each one of you, throw away the abominations which are before his eyes, and do not defile yourselves with the idols of Egypt! I am Yehovah your Elohim.’ But they rebelled against Me, and would not obey Me. All of them did not throw away the abominations which were before their eyes, nor did they forsake the idols of Egypt. So I resolved to pour out My wrath on them to complete My displeasure against them in the midst of the land of Egypt. (Eze 20:5-8)
Therefore, we see that Israel was rebellious and disobedient over those years in Egypt and wrath was poured over them. And probably, that was the reason why Elohim brought the slavery upon them: to stop the assimilation, because the persecution by the Egyptians was the only way to prevent further assimilation.
At any rate, the mingling of the Israelites into the paganism and the disobedience to the command to circumcise their children brought the wrath of YHVH and the slavery upon them, as seen also in Jos_24:14 and Eze_20:33-36.
For more insight on the years Israel was in Egypt, refer to the article Will All Israel Return?
This disbelief in return led to the exile in the time of Amos, because they most apparently kept those idols in their hearts all those years. Therefore, we may concluded that those idols were not physical ones, but of a spiritual nature, and also we may conclude, for the purpose of this study, that the star in Amos 5 is not an actual star, like made by human hands, but more of a spiritual nature, too.
And indeed, this is why Apostle Stephen made the same connection between Sikkuth and Kiyyun and the life in Egypt in his speech in Acts 7. Had they not fallen into idol worship in Egypt, there would be unnatural for him to refer to Amo 5:26.
This is also true: had Stephen had the Star of David in mind, he would have linked it to David’s or Solomon’s times, not to the slavery in Egypt.
Therefore, the conclusion of the whole matter is that there is no evidence that the Star of David is the star of your gods in Amo 5:25-27, not something which we can derive from the Scripture. Clearly the prophecy refers to the idols Sikkuth and Kiyyun as your astral gods, as this can be another possible translation, and does not even remotely links them to King David or King Solomon, much less “the Star of David”.
Last but not least, the commonly known “Star of David” is actually known in Hebrew as Magein David or the Shield of David, not “Star of David”, and probably was unknown during the reign of King David, but in the reign of his son Solomon.
At any rate, judging by the two sources where these idols appear in the Scripture, namely Amo 5:25-27 and Act 7:43, and by the context in which they appear, namely the fall of Israel in idolatry of Egypt, we may say with certainty that the alleged “star” is actually a star-deity, Sikkut and Kiyyun, which are not two different kinds of idolatry, but simply two different forms of the very same idolatry.
This study would be incomplete, if we do not make mention of some historical references to a star of an idolatrous nature.
The image below is of an Egyptian relief depicting Egyptian priests worshipping their sun god Amon Ra. Notice the six-pointed star (the worshiped sun) surrounded by planets. The worship of the sun was the oldest kernel and most general principle of the religious belief of Egypt and this was regarded even to the very latest times as the culminating point of the whole system of the main religions.
Egyptian priests worshipping sun god Amon Ra
Although, this is a six-pointed star, it does not look exactly like the Star of David which depicts two triangles. This star is more of a circle depicting the sun and six triangles depicting the radiating sun rays.
In contrast, in the image below, this is undoubtedly the Star of David carved into first century artifacts. The base of the Temple menorah overlaps with an artistic depiction of the ancient Paleo Hebrew Script (Hebrew pictographs) of alef and tav: embedded crossed sticks “+” (tav) in the center of alef, a pictograph of a head of an ox. Alef and tav are the first and the last letters of the Hebrew alphabet.
This is not “the Christian fish.” Notice, the same symbol on the second artifact, where the diamond shape of “the Christian fish” can hardly depict a fish.
No. This is the symbol of faith of the first believers of Yeshua the Messiah who says, “I am the alef and tav. The first and the last.” This is an artistic depiction of the most recognizable image the Temple of YHVH, the menorah and Alef-Tav, Yeshua the Messiah of YHVH. The common image of both is the Star of David, King David the beloved of YHVH.
Star of David carved into first century artifacts
Navah
May we merit seeing the coming of our Mashiach speedily in our days.