orion Summary and Overview

Heb. Kesil; i.e., "the fool", the name of a constellation (Job 9:9; 38:31; Amos 5:8) consisting of about eighty stars. The Vulgate renders thus, but the LXX. renders by Hesperus, i.e., "the evening-star," Venus. The Orientals "appear to have conceived of this constellation under the figure of an impious giant bound upon the sky." This giant was, according to tradition, Nimrod, the type of the folly that contends against God. In Isa. 13:10 the plural form of the Hebrew word is rendered "constellations."

(the giant), a large and bright constellation of 80 stars, 17 large ones, crossed by the equinoctial line. It is named after a mythical personage of the Greeks, of gigantic stature and "the handsomest man in the world." The Arabs called it" the giant," referring to Nimrod, the mighty hunter who was fabled to have been bound in the sky for his impiety. #Job 9:9| Also alluded to in #Job 38:31|

ORI'ON , a constellation of about eighty stars, south of Taurus, and, partly, of the equator. Job 9:9. The Arabs called it the "Giant," meaning thereby Nimrod. The constellation is also mentioned in Job 38:31 and Am 5:8.

The constellation (Job 9:9; Job 38:31-32; Amos 5:8). Kecil, "a fool" or "wicked one." The Arabs represent Orion as a mighty man, the Assyrian Nimrod, who rebelled presumptuously against Jehovah, and was chained to the sky as a punishment; for its rising is at the stormy season. (See NIMROD.) Sabaism or worship of the heavenly hosts and hero worship were blended in his person. The three bright stars which form Orion's girdle never change their relative positions. "Canst thou loose the bands of Orion?" is God's challenge to self sufficient man; i.e., canst thou loose the bonds by which he is chained to the sky? The language is adapted to the current conceptions (just as we use the mythological names of constellations without adopting the myths), but with this significant difference that whereas those pagan nations represented Orion glorified in the sky the Hebrew view him as a chained rebel, not with belt, but in "bands." Orion is visible longer and is 17 degrees higher in the Syrian sky than in ours. Rabbis Isaac, Israel, and Jonah identified Hebrew Kesil with Arabic Sohail, Sirius, or Canopus.