Torah Study Blog

Conventional wisdom might tell you not to put too much stock in astrology. However, a 2009 Harris poll found that 26% of American people believe in the art of astrology. In biblical times, astrology was accepted as a legitimate way to try to divine information. And, in fact, our ancestor Abraham was a practitioner of astrology.

Genesis 11 tells us that Terah, the father of Abraham was a native of a place called Ur of the Chaldeans. Ur was an important city in ancient Mesopotamia, located in modern-day southern Iraq. The Chaldeans were a Semitic tribe, but they were not Israelite. And the Chaldeans were known practitioners of astrology, a fact we know from two biblical passages:

1. 1)  In Isaiah 47, the prophet Isaiah rails against the Chaldeans and says, “You are helpless, despite all your art. Let them stand up and help you now, the scanners of heaven, the star-gazers, who announce month by month, whatever will come upon you. (Isaiah 47:13)

2. 2)  In Daniel 2, Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon had a bad dream, so he called for “the magicians, exorcist, sorcerers and Chaldeans to be summoned in order to tell the king what he had dreamed.” (Daniel 2:2)

The Torah tells us that Abraham and Sarah left Ur of the Chaldeans with Abraham’s father and the rest of their extended family members. They were going to go to the land of Canaan, but the stopped at a place called Haran, instead. After a series of adventures, Abraham had a vision where God spoke to him and said, “Fear not, [Abraham] I am a shield to you; Your reward shall be very great.” (Genesis 15:1) Abraham responds, “O Lord God, what can You give me, seeing that I shall die childless?” (Genesis 15:2)

Abraham does not understand the purpose of any “reward” because he and Sarah do not have any children to pass their wealth to. But God says to Abraham, “Look toward heaven and count the stars, if you are able to count them.” And He added, “So shall your offspring be.” (Genesis 15:5)

The ancient Rabbis understood that astrology was an art that people put faith in, and they were not surprised that Abraham would have used astrology. In fact, the Talmud, the collected works of the ancient Rabbis, contains a section that explains how astrology works – so they were definitely aware of it. But the Rabbis taught that people need to put ultimate faith in God, not in the stars.

The Rabbis of the Talmud created a midrash (a teaching story) that acknowledged that Abraham was able to read the stars. And when God told Abraham to count the stars, Abraham responded that he had already looked at his astrological map and saw that he would not have children.

God responded by saying, if that is what you read in the stars, I will simply reorder the stars! The midrash goes on to say that astrology does not work for the Jewish people – it is faith in God that works. The Prophet Jeremiah was also not a fan of astrology. He said, “Do not be dismayed by portents in the sky ... Be not afraid of them, for they can do no harm; Nor is it in them to do any good.” (Jeremiah 10:2-5)

In fact, the story in Genesis goes on with a pivotal line: “And because he put his trust in the Lord, He reckoned it to his merit.” (Genesis 15:6) Because Abraham followed the word of God, instead of his astrological chart, God saw the merit in Abraham. This particular passage was used by Paul in his formation of Christianity. Paul says faith is the most important thing, and people need to have faith without requiring God to do anything to prove his might.

There is another angle to this story, which is about the power of names. When Abraham and Sarah left Ur of the Chaldeans their names were actually Abram and Sarai. Their names were not changed until Genesis 17, after Abraham, age 99, and Sarah, age 90, have continued to show their faith in God even though they have not had children. In this chapter, God changes their names to Abraham and Sarah. Perhaps by changing their names, God also changed their destiny.

In some orthodox communities there is a tradition of changing the name of a sick person. They believe that changing the name of a sick person will make it harder for the angel of death to find them. The medieval Jewish sage, Rashi, acknowledged that Abraham engaged in astrology, but he must have mis-read the stars because he used the wrong names.

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misquotes or misunderstandings in what Rabbi Jaech taught us are the responsibility of Tara Keiter