The principal interpretations and commentaries of the Cabalists, are contained in the book ZOHAR, said to have been written by Rabbi Simeon Ben Jochai, who died about A. D. 120; but it is probably of a much later date. An edition of it was printed at Mantua, 1558, 4to. and another at Cremona, 1559, folio. Those English readers who wish for further information relative to the Cabala, may consult Basnage's History of the Jews, B. iii. c. x—xxviii. pp. 184-256. London, 1708, folio,-and Gaffarel's Unheard-of Curiosities, passim, 8vo. both of them translated from the French.*

See Surenhusii Mischna, in Præfat.-Waltoni Prolegomena.-Basnage's History of the Jews.—Buxtorfii Bibliotheca Rabbinica.—Relandi Analecta Rabbinica.-Levi's Ceremonies of the Jews.-Kennicott's Dissertations on the State of the Printed Hebrew Text.-Lewis's Hebrew Antiquities.Prideaux's Connexion of the History of the Old and New Testament.— Clarke's Succession of Sacred Literature.-Horne's Introduction to the Critical Study of the Scriptures, &c. &c.

DISSERTATION II.

ON THE

ZABIAN IDOLATRY:

OR,

ANCIENT WORSHIP OF THE STARS.

ZABIANISM; or, as it has been variously denominated

Zabaism, Sabaanism, or Sabaism, consisted in the worship of the Sun and Moon, and of the other planetary bodies, and was the most ancient and most widely spread

of

any of the forms of Pagan idolatry. From the period of its origination, it appears to have been associated with superstitious rites and ceremonies of a symbolic or incantatory nature, and not unfrequently of the most obscene and revolting character, varying according to the circumstances and habits of the people by whom they were practised. By the Jews, these idolaters were designated, from the nations in their vicinity, and their superstitious practices condemned, as "the ways of the Amorites." In subsequent ages when other modes of idolatry prevailed almost universally, this more early practice was denominated ZABIANISM, most probably from the Hebrew word y (tzaba, a host,) the sun, and moon, and stars being usually called the Host of Heaven.*

* Pocockii Specimen Hist. Arab. p. 139.

. Intimations are given in the Holy Scriptures, that this deviation from the worship of the ONE TRUE GOD, and that its attendant practices, took place at a very early period. Job vindicates himself from all suspicion of idolatry by the most solemn asseverations :-"If I beheld the Sun when it shined, or the Moon walking in brightness, and my heart hath been secretly enticed, or my mouth hath kissed my hand: this also were an iniquity to be punished by the judge; for I should have denied the God that is above." (Job xxxi. 26-28) From this passage Dr. Hales argues, that Zabianism was at that period punishable by the public law; and the Rev. G. Townsend, in his learned Dissertations "On the Origin, Progress, and Decline of Idolatry,"* observes, that "Moses, it is well known, wrote the Pentateuch, to continue the knowledge of the true God among the Israelites. As they were surrounded by idolatry in its most corrupt and odious form, he never loses sight of its superstitious observances. Unless, indeed, we understand the history of the times when Moses wrote, we lose much of the beauty and interest of his narrative. In perusing the Pentateuch, we must never forget, that idolatry had become almost universal, and that Moses, by his laws, as well as by his example, constantly endeavoured to guard his people from the contagion. Many expressions therefore, which otherwise, in a narrative so brief, as that of Moses, might appear unnecessary, were, at the time they were written, of the utmost consequence. Thus, when in the account of the Creation, Moses adds, He made the stars also ;'-and, thus the heavens were finished, and all the host of them;' he evidently means to say to the wor

* Classical Journal, No. XLVI. p. 332, and No. XLIV. p. 324. See also, "Young's Historical Dissertation on Idolatrous Corruptions in Religion," vol. i. pp. 30-35.

shippers of the Tsabaoth,* Your gods are inferior to Jehovah, for they are the work of his hands."

ment.

Some learned men have even supposed, that the worship of the heavenly bodies prevailed, almost universally, at the the time of the general Deluge, and was the occasion of the destruction of the old world by that dreadful judgThis was the opinion of Onkelos, Maimonides, and other celebrated Rabbins, who interpret the words relating to the birth of Enos, (Gen. vi. 11.) "Then began men to call on the name of the Lord;" by translating them, "In those days men seceded from calling on the name of the Lord," by which they understand, "that the most glorious name of God was then given unto creatures." In this interpretation, they are followed by the very learned Selden. Lightfoot also translates the passage, "Then began profaneness in calling on the name of the Lord :" and Heidegger, in his eighth Dissertation on the Theology of the Cainites, and the Antediluvian Idolatry, adduces many arguments to prove that Idolatry was the corruption before the flood. This view of the perversion of Divine worship by the Antediluvians, has likewise been thought to be forcibly corroborated by the degree of perfection attained by the Chaldeans at so very early a period after the Deluge, and at a time when the Postdiluvians must have been much occupied in choosing their new settlements. "Burnet, justly observes in his Archæologia," says Mr. Townsend, "that, it is reasonable to believe that the Antediluvian fathers were not utterly foolish, and ignorant of the sciences. Of these, whatever they might have been, Noah was the heir.' Whatever the aged Patriarchs knew, was most probably communicated to Noah. He was the inhabitant of both worlds, and transferred the lamp of the sciences from one to the other. Mr. Maurice too, in his Memoir on the Ruins of Babylon,' very justly observes, (p. 22,) The very early proficiency of

Or Host of Heaven.-ED.

the Egyptians and Chaldeans in astronomy, can only be accounted for by the supposition that a considerable portion of the Antediluvian arts and sciences, among which must be numbered astronomy, was, by the permission of Providence, preserved on tablets of stone to illumine the ignorance and darkness of the earliest Postdiluvian ages.' To suppose that our Antediluvian ancestors, for sixteen hundred years together, could be uninterested spectators of the celestial bodies, would be to imagine them destitute of common curiosity."*

Gale (Court of the Gentiles) supposes the Zabian idolatry to have arisen from indistinct and misunderstood traditions; his words are:-" It will be necessary to consider, though but cursorily, the rise and progress of all Idol-Gods and Idolatry: all of which is comprehended, by some learned men, under these two common heads of Zabaism and Hellenism. Zabaism, so termed from the Zabii, a sect of Chaldean philosophers, was the first and more natural piece of idolatry, which consisted in a religious worship given unto the sun, moon, and stars, stiled in Scripture, the Hosts of Heaven. Hellenism, which superadded hereto an infinity almost of fictitious and coined gods, was of more late date, and proper to the Grecians, most skilful in the art of making gods. As for Zabaism, which gave a Deity and Divine worship to the sun, moon, and stars, it began very early, even in the infancy of the church, and had made good progress in the world about the age of Job and Moses, as appears by Job xxxi, 26, 27; as also by Deut. xi. 6.-and as Owen, (Theolog. Lib. 3. c. 4, p. 188, &c.) observes, this Pagan humour, of idolizing these glorious celestial bodies, seems to have had its rise from some broken traditions, conveyed by the Patriarchs touching the dominion of the sun by day, and of the moon by

Classical Journal, No. XLII. pp. 323, 324.-Young On Idolatrous Corruptions in Religion, vol. i. pp. 7, 8, 15, Lond. 1734, 8vo.-Waltoni Polyglott. tom. i.-Onkelos in Gen. iv. 26.