How was the Bible able to tell us that the stars are essentially innumerable in number, before science?

Question

Consider the field of astronomy. Before the invention of the telescope, man actually believed that the stars could be numbered. The great Ptolemy gave the number as 1,056. Tycho Brahe cataloged 777 and Kepler counted 1,006. The astronomers of those days were certain that they could count the number of stars. Since the invention of the telescope by Galileo in 1608, we now know that the number of stars are limitless. Today, astronomers estimate that there are 100 billion stars in our galaxy with an additional 20-100 billion galaxies in the universe!

But long before the telescope was invented, the Bible had put forth the notion that the stars are countless in number. God spoke to Abraham that his descendants would be "as numerous as the stars of heaven and as the grains of sand on the seashore" (Genesis 22:17). Jeremiah 33:22 states: "The host of heaven cannot be numbered." Thousands of years later we see the confirmation of the Bible by modern astronomers.

Michael - I said in my details that it is a finite amount. When I referred to what science now knows. And the Bible just says that the number is huge LIKE the sands, or similar to sand. You just sound like you are bothered by the fact that prophets were able to write things like this, proving that they were inspired by the Spirit of God.

Phoenix - Again, you are not understanding here, it does not even come close to saying the number is infinite. My use of the words countless and limitless are CLEARLY just extreme expressions, and thats proved by the fact that I explained what science now believes, that the number, although VERY large, is not infinite. I think the lies that you believe about the Bible are preventing you from talking intelligently about this.

Also, my use of the word innumerable here IS appropriate. Because it can simply mean uncountable, which is the case regarding this topic, with our current technology.

YDoncha - My point is that it is inspired by God. Your implying that because they were not perfect, that means they were not inspired, in spite of the good things. The God things. I disagree.

Answer 1

its simple because the bible is guided by the spirit of God. the star out there and other planet show how great God is. And for those who do not believe that there is God, they are foolish.

Answer 2

The Bible also:
Says the Earth is Round
Says there are 10 planets in the Solar System
Says that the planets revolve around the Sun
Says that the solar system revolves around in a Galaxy
Says the exact age of the Earth as figured by scientists, and gives accurate numbers for the creation of the crust, oceans, atmosphere, and beginings of life (there are conversion equations between God's time, Angel time and Man's time)

Says that Evolution is the way that all life is created
Says the Modern Man is the 5th intelligent lifeform created on Earth, and was created by genetic manipulation from the 4th lifeform - CroMagnon Man
Gives the equation for Pi
Gives the time for the Earth to revolve around the sun at 365 1/4 days

Gives the basics for doing higher level math equations
Gives the mass of the earth
Gives equations for gravity and orbits

There is SOOO much in there, and of course it was all suppressed by the Vatican, and given out only in Latin so nobody could read it for centuries so the Vatican could control how technology advanced.

Answer 3

a most useful piece of information indeed! a sage warning to all not to waste time and effort attempting to count stars! though it is perhaps a little unfortunate there wasnt space on the same page to go on to explain how the planets travel in ellliptical orbits round the sun and likewise the moons of saturn and jupiter, thus saving poor galileo a great deal of unncessary work, not to mention an uncomfortable interview with the inquisition! but there you are! priorities change! i am sure it was considered most important to devote most of chapter 6 to precisely who begat who, and it was just pure bad luck that noone thought it important to include a short paragraph on how the bubonic plague could be spread by fleas on the backs of rats and thus avoid the agonising deaths of tens of millions of god-fearing folk in the middle ages from the black death who's names we shall now never know. but never mind! anyone who has anything to do with publishing knows how one has to work to a deadline! but perhaps in the next edition a brief summary of how to deal with global warming could be included as a footnote?

Answer 4

And your point is?? Dont make me point out the FACT that the Bible 1) claims the earth is flat SEVERAL TIMES, 2) calls bats birds, 3) states that Pi is equal to 3, 4) calls whales fish....

It isnt a stretch to imagine that cave dwelling simpletons looked above their heads and, possessing no ability to count higher than 20 (the number of digits on one's hands and feet), would call the heavens "uncountable." It certainly doesnt make them soothsayers of the future.

Answer 5

You are wrong. The Universe is finite, and contains a finite amount of stars. While humans will probably never be able to count them all, there is indeed a finite number of them.

Basically, I see your Bible verse at the end as anti-intellectual. It's like saying 'well, we don't know now, so we'll just say the answer in unknowable'.

While it may be extremely difficult, maybe even impossible, to count the number of grains of sand on a beach, there is still a finite number of grains of sand. Do you understand that concept? The difference between finite and infinite?

Answer 6

Since God created the heavens and earth, he knew the number to be so great that mere man would not be able to fathom the amount, let alone to count them or be able to see all of them. Of course, God does know the number.

Answer 7

Um, since stars are objects, they could be counted if we had the right tools. There is a certain number of stars out there. New stars can form and old stars can die, changing that number, but there is a certain number of stars out there.

Your understanding of science is appalling.

Answer 8

The bible also says that the Earth is flat and the Sun rotates around it and that bats are birds. So, what, exactly, is your point?

.

Answer 9

SPACE
Job.38:1, [ The LORD said ] 30 The waters are hid as with a stone, and the face of the deep is frozen. 38:31 Canst thou bind the sweet influences of Pleiades, or loose the bands of Orion? 38:32 Canst thou bring forth Mazzaroth in his season? or canst thou guide Arcturus with his sons? 38:33 Knowest thou the ordinances of heaven? canst thou set the dominion thereof in the earth? 38:34 Canst thou lift up thy voice to the clouds, that abundance of waters may cover thee? 38:35 Canst thou send lightnings, that they may go and say unto thee, Here we are?


http://www.astro.uiuc.edu/~kaler/sow/orion-p.html

http://www.naic.edu/~gibson/pleiades/

http://www.mazzaroth.com/Introduction/MazzarothDefined.htm

Answer 10

Any person who goes outside and looks up and recognizes he thick multitude of stars of the milky way will assume that it is many more than can be counted. They just counted what they could see...