184 
seems all foreshadowed in the history of Nimrod and the 
early apostasy of which he was the head.* 
The contrasted Conqueror in the Revelation is the Lamb as 
it had been slain in the midst of the throne (having there the 
fulness of power and the fulness of vision and receiving 
universal homage), and subsequently presented as coming forth 
to conquest as “ King of Kings and Lord of Lords.” 
A further contrast (I do not say intended) is that the claim 
of Nimrod was, as above, to have identified himself with 
“ the star of Merodach ” and consequently to have been 
worshipped as such in the great temple of Babylon, and to 
have descended to rest on the golden couch at the summit. t 
The prophet Isaiah apostrophises the king of Babylon thus : — 
“How art thou fallen from heaven, 0 Lucifer , son of the, 
Morning .” JDilgan was the patron star of Babylon, the star of 
Merodach, i.e. the planet Jupiter, { the same with the 
Phoenician Gad , the star of good luck.|| See Isaiah lxv. 11, 
margin. 
The claim of Christ is to be the Bright and Morning Star 
leading on to the eternal day and the worship of the heavenly 
city. Lucifer and Christ thus stand in contrast. 
I am very much impressed with the permanence of concep- 
tions early fixed in the memory of the race of Adam. I should 
instance as above the names of the heavenly constellations, but 
observe further that the formation of the zodiac^f dates from 
the same period, as also the names of the days of the week. 
The figure of a star, as indicating a royal personage, familiar 
to the Magi, dates from Nimrod. There is, moreover, a 
whole catalogue of Eastern legends originating thus far back. 
# Another interesting connexion, serving to illustrate the subject, is the 
following : — Nergal “ the ancestral god of the Assyrian kings,’ 1 “ the god 
of the chase,” from whom the kings both of Babylon and Nineveh would 
trace their descent through, according to the boast of Sargon, 350 genera- 
tions, is simply the great beast, Nir, signifying an animal (or beast), and gula 
great, the first having a peculiar adjunct to distinguish Nir, the animal, from 
Nir, the man, forming together the great hero the god of Katha, iden- 
tified with the planet Mars. Soc. Bib. Arch. Trans., iii. 175. 
f S. B. A. Trans., iii. 167, 171. 
X Bawlinsons Herodotus, i. p. 253. § S.B.A. Trans., Ill, 141. 
|| Specially “ the shining one ” : “ Les A ssyriologues Modernes Font identi- 
fy avec la planete de Jupiter. Le nom de Nimrud, ou Marduc le brillant, 
donne a cet astre par les astronomes Assyriens, justifie l’identification des 
Assyriologues et en rnerae temps la justice de mon interpretation. Chacun 
sait que Jupiter est la plus brillante des planetes ” (J. Grivel, Bib. Arch., 
iii. 141). I think Is. xiv. confirms this. It is the Shining One, Son of the 
morning. 
IF “ The Chaldean origin of the Zodiac is a fact henceforth incontestable.” 
Lenormant, Les immures Civilisations, vol. ii. 67. 
