Just thought I’d get it out of the way that I believe Astrology is a load of hokum, therefore I agree with the prophets that preoccupation with Astrology is an idolatrous waste of time.
But I find it interesting that the Biblical writers did not outright deny the existence of Astrology, they just denied that the Israelite should worry about it, since the stars were appointed to rule over the pagan nations (Deut 4:19), whilst Israel had YHWH.
According to Judges 5:20-21, the movement of the stars ‘in their courses’ caused a river to overflow and destroy Sisera’s army.
Seems like yet another part of the Bible’s pre-scientific worldview
I’m not sure how to interpret that verse, but what you say does sound similar to the way “other gods” are treated in the Old Testament. The authors also don’t deny the existence of other gods or that some miraculous signs can be done in their names (Egyptian priests, etc.) – they just reiterate that God is more powerful than all of them.
I classify astrology as what I call a “personality game” and as such it serves a very important function in psychological health in getting people to reflect or think about themselves (both positive and negative aspects). Like religion it gets people to make decisions about what kind of person they want to be and thus astrology becomes a tool for building their identity. I have little doubt that astrology can go a bit too far, such as when it makes prophesies, or it is used to manipulate people.
People love to sort themselves into groups or categories that help them better understand themselves. There are many different systems for sorting, for example Enneagrams, Gardner’s domains of intelligence, the Myers-Briggs Personality Types, and the tried and true astrology systems (to name just a few of the systems that are floating around out there). So I agree with @mitchellmckain that astrology can be a useful identity-building tool when added to other tools and not used for purposes of prophecy or manipulation.
Says me, the Taurus Sun/Taurus Ascendant super stubborn Naturalist Investigator Advocate.
People often interpret the Old Testament verses quoted as a condemnation of astrology. It is something quite different, being rather the condemnation of the worship of celestial bodies as gods. In both Old and New Testaments, astrology has a place because that was part of the thought world at the time. Archaeological digs of ancient synagogues in the centuries following the time of Jesus frequently reveal tiled mosaic floors showing the zodiac in their entrance foyers.The ancients believed that God spoke through the Law and the Prophets, as well as through the star-studded sky. When the psalmist says, “The heavens are telling of the glory of God” they are thinking about an astrological message from the stars.
This view carries over to the New Testament in one place, namely the infancy narrative in Matthew’s Gospel, with its story of the wise men, or “astrologers from the East”. Compare the size of the Sun, not to speak of many much larger stars, and you can easily see the problem in the idea of a star bobbing around above the wise men and coming to a halt over Bethlehem. Matthew’s story is about the way in which the Word and the World (Universe) combine to point to Jesus. In other words, the Scriptures and the Stars combine to point to Jesus.
Alas, this is cringe-worthy for us, as we have moved beyond this belief in astrology, and our surveillance of the stars proceeds under the banner of astronomy and astrophysics, which should not be confused with astrology. As usual, this progression from astrology to astronomy was led by Christians, and we can see the change occurring in the thinking of the German theologian and astronomer, Johannes Kepler. What then do we do with Scriptures that speak from an astrologically influenced world. We might pause and consider the way in which our scientific knowledge advances century by century and we are still trying to figure out the universe. Most of the universe is made up of dark matter, but we don’t know what it is. It is also powered by dark energy, but we don’t know what that is. If God can only speak to us through the universe when we have a complete knowledge of the universe, then God wouldn’t be able to speak to us for a long, long time. But it would appear that God accommodates to our level of knowledge and speaks to us just where we are in the long road to scientific know-how.
“Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.” -Colossians 4:6
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