Celestial Astronomy

Some days, I only study one or two verses from the Book of Abraham because there is so much scriptural nourishment in feasting upon these words.  Just as with nutritionally dense foods, this food for the soul is best enjoyed slowly to allow for the digestion of the material.  However, the next place Abraham takes us in Chapter 3 are 6 related verses explaining his first lesson in Celestial Astronomy.  This is so intense, it my take me days of study and I may end up with a headache!  So let's get started.

In verses 5 - 10, the Lord seems to have several objectives for what He is teaching Abraham.  These are a few I have gleaned and I'm sure, as I think and pray about it more, other ideas will come to mind.

• When you compare two similar things (in this case, God's dwelling pace and earth) one of them will be greater than the other. 
• The greater light to rule the day is, for us, the Sun.  For other planets, it is the star/sun associated with that planet, for example Kolob.
• The lesser light to rule the night is the moon (or in some cases moons) that orbit the planets.
• Times and seasons are determined by the orbits of the moons around the planets and the planets around the sun.  A day orbiting Kolob is like a 1000 years of our Earth orbiting the Sun.
• All of the stars in the universe are connected in a hierarchy (known only to God) which is in contrast to the chaos theory proposed by some scientists.
• The star, Kolob, "rules" over all of the stars and planets in our (the Earth's) "order." [1]

And the Lord said unto me: The planet which is the lesser light, lesser than that which is to rule the day, even the night, is above or greater [longer] than that upon which thou standest in point of reckoning, for it moveth in order more slow; this is in order because it standeth above the earth upon which thou standest, therefore the reckoning of its time is not so many as to its number of days, and of months, and of years.

  

And the Lord said unto me: Now, Abraham, these two facts exist, behold thine eyes see it; it is given unto thee to know the times of reckoning, and the set time, yea, the set time of the earth upon which thou standest, and the set time of the greater light which is set to rule the day, and the set time of the lesser light which is set to rule the night.

Now the set time of the lesser light is a longer time as to its reckoning than the reckoning of the time of the earth upon which thou stand. [2]

And where these two facts exist, there shall be another fact above them, that is, there shall be another planet whose reckoning of time shall be longer still;

And thus there shall be the reckoning of the time of one planet above another, until thou come nigh unto Kolob, which Kolob is after the reckoning of the Lord’s time; which Kolob is set nigh unto the throne of God, to govern all those planets which belong to the same order as that upon which thou standest.

And it is given unto thee to know the set time of all the stars that are set to give light, until thou come near unto the throne of God. (Abraham 3: 5-10)

Oh, wow!  God gave Abraham the knowledge of all of the stars and galaxies until He came to Kolob near unto the throne of God!  How did one mortal man absorb that?  The above picture is just one galaxy - ours.  The greatest living astronomers know only the tip of the iceberg, even with their sophisticated instruments.  I know only slightly more than nil.  No wonder Abraham could teach the Egyptians so much about astronomy that archaeologists today still marvel at the precision of the pyramids in relationship to the heavens.

Now I do have a headache!  See you all tomorrow!

[1] Does this mean there are other orders of stars and planets?  There is a scripture in the Doctrine and Covenants that says there are no empty spaces where there are not orders and kingdoms.  How did Joseph Smith absorb all of this?
[2] Does this mean that the orbit of the moon of God's planet is longer than one Earth year?

© Gebara Education, 2016