Whose Star?
2Ki 18:1-6; Now it came to pass in the third year of Hosea, son of Elah, king of Israel, that Hezekiah, the son of Ahaz, king of Judah, began to reign. He was twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. His mother's name also was Abi, the daughter of Zachariah. And he did that which was right in the sight of the LORD, according to all that David, his father, did. He removed the high places and broke the images and cut down the groves and broke in pieces the brazen serpent that Moses had made; for unto those days, the sons of Israel burned incense to it; and he called it Nehushtan. He trusted in the LORD God of Israel; so that neither after him nor before was there any like him among all the kings of Judah. For he cleaved unto the LORD and did not depart from following him but kept his commandments which the LORD commanded Moses.
What is this Nehushtan, and why did Hezekiah break it to pieces? Nehushtan is translated as, thing of bronze. To gain understanding of this situation, we must go back to the wilderness wanderings. Let us turn our attention to Numbers 21:4-5; Num 21:4 And they journeyed from Mount Hor by the way of the Red sea, to go around the land of Edom, and the soul of the people was much discouraged because of the way. And the people spoke against God and against Moses, why have ye brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? There is no bread, neither is there any water; and our soul loathes this light bread.
The Lord sent fiery serpents among the people and they bit the people, so that many people of Israel died. So, the people came to Moses and said, “We have sinned, because we have spoken against the Lord and you; intercede with the Lord, that He may remove the serpents from us.” And Moses interceded for the people. Then the Lord said to Moses, “Make a fiery serpent, and set it on a standard; and it shall come about, that everyone who is bitten, when he looks at it, he will live.” And Moses made a bronze serpent and set it on the standard; and it came about, that if a serpent bit any man, when he looked to the bronze serpent, he lived. Num 21:6-9
Thus, we see that the bronze serpent which YHWH used to heal those who were bitten by serpents in the wilderness was now being venerated by the descendants of those individuals. To venerate means to revere, worship, adore, and idolize something. Venerate rhymes with elevate which is exactly what we do when we venerate someone or thing. Time and again in scripture we are told to keep our eyes off the creation and on the Creator! But man, in his fallen state sadly does not seem to have capacity to do this! Even those on whose behalf the Almighty has worked vastly incredible miracles seem too often stray and venerate something other than Him. Moses admonishes Israel to “watch yourselves carefully, since you did not see any form on the day the Lord spoke to you at Horeb from the midst of the fire, so that you do not act corruptly and make a graven image for yourselves in the form of any figure, the likeness of male or female, the likeness of any animal that is on the earth, the likeness of any winged bird that flies in the sky, the likeness of anything that creeps on the ground, the likeness of any fish that is in the water below the earth. And beware not to lift up your eyes to heaven and see the sun and the moon and the stars, all the host of heaven, and be drawn away and worship them and serve them…” ~Num 4:15-19
It is possible that the worship of heavenly objects may indeed be one of the oldest forms of idolatry.
The purpose of this topic is to consider the Star of David, otherwise known as the Magen David or Shield of David in Hebrew, from a balanced Biblical perspective. This star adorns the national flag of Israel and is an identifier of the Jewish people. The use of the star and its validity is a subject which often surfaces in the Hebrew Roots Movement. We love to dispute matters in this walk and often these matters are nothing more than disputable disputations. By that I mean, there is no clear Biblical conclusion one way or another regarding the disputation. This is one of these topics, however we will consider the star from a balanced perspective to put this matter to rest here at LevY’shua. If you are an anti-star of David proponent, I ask that you prayerfully consider this teaching and receive it with the love intended. I have earnestly sought the Lord on this subject matter seeking that He give me enlightenment from a Biblical perspective with an openness to understand this topic either way.
Starting with the Biblical account let us endeavor to determine an understanding of this subject.
Stars, both plural and singular are mentioned a total of 67 times in the scriptures. Ten times referencing Abraham’s seed as becoming as numerous as the stars in the sky. Thirteen times they portend Yahweh’s end times judgement. Four reference the star of Bethlehem upon our Lord’s Incarnation.
We know that in the beginning, the stars were created on day four by The Almighty. It’s as if they were created almost as an afterthought as Genesis 1:18 indicates by stating “He made the stars also” after creating the sun and the moon, and after which, God saw that it was good.” If God calls something good, so it is, and we ought to undoubtedly do the same. Thus, it is wise that we begin our exploration from this perspective. In Psalm 33:6 we read “By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, their starry host by the breath of his mouth.” And Psalm 147:4 says, “He determines the number of the stars and calls them each by name.” Psalm 148: says “Praise Him, sun and moon; praise Him, all you shining stars.”
Looking at creation we in fact we see the Star of David occurring in nature. Many snowflakes contain the star, there are Star of David flowers, Star of David Cactus, and even starfish shaped like the Star of David! One of the seven species of the Promised Land is the Pomegranate as noted in Deuteronomy 8:8. The Pomegranate flower is a six-pointed flower. Could this flower be behind the inspiration of the Magen David? No way to know, however it is evident that Our Father Created this six-pointed star! And His creation is good!
In Genesis chapters 15, 22, & again in 26, as the Almighty cut His covenant with our forefathers, He said He would multiply their seed making their offspring as numerous as the stars in the sky. And in fact, the reference to Abrahams seed being as numerous as the stars in the sky is referred to 10 times throughout scripture. Daniel 12:3 states that “Those who are wise will shine like the brightness of the heavens, and those who lead many to righteousness, like the stars for ever and ever.”
Is there a prophetic mystery to be uncovered in the fact that the preponderance usage of stars biblically relates to both Abraham’s offspring and end times judgement? Scripture indicates that YHWH will use his sons, both Ephraim and Judah to mete out judgement upon the Earth in the final days and while that is not the subject at hand, it does appear that there may be something to this as 40% of references to stars deal directly with these two issues.
In Balaam’s amazing prophecy about Israel, he proclaims “A star shall come forth from Jacob, A scepter shall rise from Israel… ~Num 24:17a A direct reference to The Messiah, and Messiah himself says in Rev 22:16b that He is the root and descendant of David the bright morning star” Note, as the root, He came before David, and as the descendant, He came after David! Only our Elohim can do that! And as importantly, He titles Himself the Bright Morning Star!
In several places we are warned against worshipping the heavenly host. As previously stated, the worship of heavenly objects may indeed be one of man’s oldest forms of idolatry, thus we go back to Moses admonishing the people of Israel in Deu 4:15-19 “Take ye therefore good heed unto yourselves - for ye saw no manner of form on the day that the LORD spoke unto you in Horeb out of the midst of the fire -lest ye deal corruptly, and make you a graven image, even the form of any figure, the likeness of male or female, the likeness of any beast that is on the earth, the likeness of any winged fowl that flies in the heaven, the likeness of anything that creeps on the ground, the likeness of any fish that is in the water under the earth; and lest thou lift up thine eyes unto heaven, and when thou see the sun and the moon and the stars, even all the host of heaven, thou be drawn away and worship them, and serve them…. In fact YHWH called for the death penalty for his called out people who chose to worship as the pagans do as we see in Deu 17: 2-5 If a man or woman living among you in one of the towns the Lord gives you is found doing evil in the eyes of the Lord your God in violation of his covenant, and contrary to my command has worshiped other gods, bowing down to them or to the sun or the moon or the stars in the sky, and this has been brought to your attention, then you must investigate it thoroughly. If it is true and it has been proved that this detestable thing has been done in Israel, take the man or woman who has done this evil deed to your city gate and stone that person to death.
This is the focus of Amos 5:26, where we witness veneration of a star that represents the god Rompha, “You also carried along Sikkuth your king and Kiyyun, your images, the star of your gods which you made for yourselves. And, likewise, veneration is the focal point in Acts 7:42, “You also took along the tabernacle of Moloch and the star of the god Rompha, (and if you search for an image of Rompha, you will find a six pointed star), BUT let’s keep reading! The verse goes on: the images which you made to worship…” They were venerating these images and using them in the worship of pagan gods, just as was done with Nehushtan.
When one walks into a Catholic church, before entering the pew, it is expected that you will genuflect. This is the act of dropping to one knee and making the sign of the cross. This is done by the faithful in adoration of the transubstantiated eucharist which is kept in a tabernacle on the altar in the church. This tabernacle typically sits under a crucifix depicting our Messiah on the cross. This is an example of the worship of objects played out in the body. We do not worship the star of David.
Acts 7:42 and Amos 5:26 are the two verses that the anti-Star of David proponents hang their argument upon. Erroneously, I believe. As I noted, when reading the text for what it is, we see that it is the worship of these images that our Elohim deplores. Emphatically, categorically, and unconditionally let me state that we do not worship the star of David, the Magen David here at LevY’shua. This star represents 2000 years of persecution. Pogroms and the Holocaust. It represents a people who have been true to Torah, the Sabbath and the Feasts throughout all of this persecution. This star says we stand with Israel, our brother Judah. If it were not for the people whom this star represents, we would not have the first inkling of how to observe YHWH’s set apart times. Paul asks in Romans 3, “what advantage has the Jew?” And he immediately responds, “Great in every respect”. “First of all, they were entrusted with the oracles of God.” And I praise God that they were faithful and true to those oracles. This star represents six million plus murdered Jews under Adolf Hitler’s maniacal reign of terror. This very symbol that marked Jews for death has become a symbol of freedom and protection over the nation of Israel today standing as a silent sentinel stating, “never again.”
Our God is a God of redemption. He redeems people whom the enemy has used for his purposes. Can He not do the same thing for a symbol if indeed there is a connection between this symbol and darkness as some believe? How many of us even in our redeemed state are co-opted by the enemy and perform deeds of darkness although we have been saved? While that ought not happen, we trip up and are fallible. But a symbol is a symbol, a star is a star. It is the meaning we assign to items that confounds us. In fact, if we become so fixated and focus on items such as this, are we not in effect worshipping and venerating these items? Do we end up assigning power to these objects that that they do not have? Inanimate objects have no power!
We need to be zealous for things of the Lord. Let us focus on what He tells us focus on; things that are true, honorable, right, pure, lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence, and if anything is worthy of praise, think on, dwell on these things. (Phil 4:8)
Ultimately it appears that when referenced in the Bible, stars are neither good nor evil. They are part of the creation and as such have their place in the created order.
There is no Biblical reference whatsoever to the star of David. Therefore, everything we determine about the star of David is extra Biblical. The one thing we know for certain from the Biblical text is we are not to worship stars or anything in the creation except for our Creator. Ultimately, this issue comes down to extra-Biblical haranguing which takes our eyes off Y’shua. There is no way we can accurately determine where the Star of David originated. It is nothing more than a geometric shape which represents a star. It ultimately comes down to hermeneutics, the method or theory by which you choose to interpret this subject manner.
Is it possible that those who desire to bring disrepute to this symbol are promoting replacement theology, which is really a form of anti-Semitism? Consider that there are those in our walk who will dispute just about anything deemed Jewish. The calendar, the Sabbath, the star of David and even the Jews themselves residing in Israel are deemed to not be the real Jews in some circles! We need to be careful. Only in this walk do such teachings get traction. 2Tim2:15 tells us to rightly divide the word of truth. Insisting the Bible demands we disdain the Magen David is a mishandling of Yah’s word to us and is a destructive error that hurts and brings discredit to the Messianic and Hebrew Roots Movements.
In addition to its religious significance the star indicates that we stand with Israel, showing love, support, and solidarity with the State of Israel.
In Isaiah 5:20 & 21 we read, Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter! Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight!
We live in a corrupted world where this prophesy is being fulfilled and things that are meant for good are referred to as bad. In our day good is called evil and evil good. Look at how the rainbow, God’s symbol to mankind that He would never again destroy the earth with a flood is now used as a sign of homosexual pride. Consider how Sunday is now called the Sabbath day when in fact it is not. How about the Hindu worship of cows? Should we eliminate beef, milk, and cheese from our diet because this? Should we avoid pictures and images of cattle because of pagan worship practices? The American flag has stars on it, 50 five pointed stars. Pentagrams. These are used as a sign of faith by many wiccans. Ought we abandon the American Flag? The dollar bill has the star of David on it, what do we make of that?
Now if, perhaps the Magen David was used corruptly somewhere else, or that its origin portended less than honorable use and Judah ended up using it through a series of missteps, is it possible that such a symbol can be redeemed? Consider the fact that in Gen_49:10 we are told that “The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be”. Israel has chosen to use this symbol on his flag, his standard. This standard which flies over the promised Land, the Land of Israel, in fulfillment of Isa 11:12, And He shall set up an ensign for the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the Earth” Notice the language, Outcasts of Israel (northern Kingdom) and the dispersed of Judah (Southern kingdom). And
Isaiah 13 stresses that the envy also of Ephraim shall depart, and the adversaries of Judah shall be cut off: Ephraim shall not envy Judah, and Judah shall not vex Ephraim. This envy may be at the root of this disdain for the star, or anything Jewish, for that matter of fact, and is the rudimentary building block of replacement theology which states that the church has replaced the Jews.
For years, the church has firmly believed that it has replaced the Jews as the chosen people. With the reestablishment of the state of Israel in 1948, the church suddenly had an identity crisis. Israel was back in the land! Where does that leave the church? What the church has a hard time realizing is that it is included as part of Israel. Inclusion theology rather than replacement theology. Eph 2:11-13 explains it like this; “Wherefore remember, that once ye, the Gentiles in the flesh, who are called Uncircumcision by that which is called Circumcision, in the flesh, made by hands; that ye were at that time separate from Christ, alienated from the Commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of the promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus ye that once were far off are made nigh in the blood of Christ.” This means that we are part of the Commonwealth of Israel and as such Israel’s flag is our flag. Spiritual Israel as opposed to physical Israel is an oxymoron. Once saved, you are part of God’s Kingdom and His kingdom is called Israel and is manifest through the nation as it exists today. As in the physical, so in the spiritual. Yet there is nothing new under the sun and Replacement theology is actually cancel culture 101. It started in the garden with “did God really say?”
A talisman is defined as an object held to act as a charm to avert evil and bring good fortune. On the other hand, the opposite of talisman is hoodoo, something that brings bad luck or casts a spell. People will give the star of David hoodoo properties thinking it brings a spell on people. Does it really? It is an inanimate object and cannot do anything of itself. One must give it those properties! That is the essence of idol worship, and 1Cor 8:4b says that ‘we know that no idol is anything in the world, and that there is no God but one.” Therefore, any item that we give these types of powers to is something we do of our own volition. We venerate that item by thinking it has powers that it can never have and in the end profess a false worship which is pagan. Yet there are those who will say this symbol brings curses. Let us look at some history regarding this symbol to determine if that is accurate.
“How Israel got its flag”
The flag design recalls the Tallit (טַלִּית), the Jewish prayer shawl, which is white with blue stripes. The symbol in the center represents the Star of David (Magen David, מָגֵן דָּוִד), a Jewish symbol dating from late medieval Prague, which was adopted by the First Zionist Congress in 1897. While preparing for the First Zionist Congress held in Basel, Switzerland in 1897, David Wolfson, Zionist leader Theodor Herzl's second in command, had the first Zionist Flag made. It too had two blue stripes, although thinner. It was different in other ways too. The Star of David in its center had six smaller stars in each one of its points and another little star over it. These were supposed to symbolize the seven-hour workday Herzl envisioned for the future Jewish state. In addition, in the middle of the Star of David was a lion. Regardless, this flag and its later adaptation was chosen by the nation of Israel as its official ensign. If the star brings curses as some say, a review of the history of modern Israel does not prove it. In fact, just the opposite. Israel has experienced miracle after miracle. Israel declared its independence on May 14, 1948. Immediately its Arab neighbors attacked Israel with the intent of pushing the nation into the sea. Never happened and in fact, the war of independence ended with Israel obtaining more land than the UN granted him in the resolution. The six-day war, the Yom Kippur war, time and again the story is told of God’s miraculous hand upon this nation. In fact, Israel’s first Prime Minister David Ben Gurion is quoted as saying: “In Israel, in order to be a realist, you must believe in miracles”. Would this be the case if this were indeed the symbol of the god Rompha which portends curses as some claim? I do not think so.
Martin Kramer writes in a blog for the Times of Israel entitled; 1948: Why the name Israel? On May 14, 1948, David Ben-Gurion declared statehood in what is now Independence Hall, on Rothschild Boulevard, in Tel Aviv. The climax was this sentence: “We hereby declare the establishment of a Jewish state in Eretz-Israel, to be known as the State of Israel.” Until that moment, very few people knew what the state would be called. In the various drafts of the declaration, the space for the name was left blank. When the diplomats of the Jewish Agency in Washington went to secure an advance promise of recognition for the state, they couldn’t tell the Americans what the name would be. As Clark Clifford, Truman’s legal advisor, later recalled: “The name ‘Israel’ was as yet unknown, and most of us assumed the new nation would be called ‘Judaea.’”
Other names that were considered for the new nation included, Zion, Ever, the root of Ivri which means Hebrew, and Eretz Israel. In fact, I read an account that postage stamps were printed with some of these very names to accommodate whatever name Ben Gurion’s cabinet in waiting chose. We of course all know, they chose Israel. Why do I share this? Israel was of course the name of the United Kingdom under David and Solomon. It was the name taken by the 10 northern tribes upon the Nations split into the northern and southern kingdoms, with Judah identifying the southern kingdom. Upon the Jews return to the land in the 20th century in fulfillment of the Balfour Declaration which called for a Jewish Homeland Preserve, it makes sense that Judah ought to have been the nation’s name. Consider the fact that this name selection seems to portend a prophetic declaration pointing to the restoration of the entire house of Israel and the ingathering of all 12 tribes. This visual picture of restoration would be no different than how the Almighty had Hosea marry Gomer and Ezekiel lay on his side to visually illustrate to the people his prophetic word to them.
In Num 24:17, Balaam prophesies in favor of Israel and says: “I shall see him, but not now: I shall behold him, but not nigh: there shall come a Star out of Jacob, and a Scepter shall rise out of Israel.” A star shall come out of Jacob. Of whom is he referring? None other than Messiah! Interestingly, Messiah’s birth was announced by a star. Could it be that the star on the Israeli flag is a prophetic symbol of Messiah who in revelation 22:16, the very end of the book, identifies Himself as the bright and morning star? Our Elohim works in mysterious ways and perhaps, just perhaps, the message to the nations as they look at His star placed upon His ensign is that YHWH has placed Salvation in Zion! (Is 46:13)
Alright, now, truth is you can find anything you want on the internet to argue any topic anyway you want. Even the Catholics have a spin on the star! But what is interesting is our early teachers in this movement are either silent on the subject or when they teach on it, it is with a positive view toward the star. In 1995 Batya Wooten, wrote a book entitled “The Star of David” where she explores this topic and recognizes its positive significance. Batya, and her husband Angus of blessed memory, are cofounders of the Messianic Israel Alliance now known as ARI (Alliance of Redeemed Israel). Batya’s book is out of print however I received permission to make copies and they are here for those who would like to explore this topic in greater depth.
This view that the star is inherently evil had not gone mainstream until 119 Ministries, established in 2010, published a teaching in 2016 refuting the star. Yet all their teaching on this subject is based on conjecture. I quote from their 15-minute teaching; “Proving the origins of the star of David is quite difficult.” “Evidence is circumstantial.” They conclude by stating, “in the end these matters are not provable”. Still, why has this teaching gotten any traction? Is it because many in our movement feel they always need some new word of knowledge to hang their hat on and in the end, risk of having their ears tickled? Why do we take the word of someone we do not know, someone with whom we’ve never interacted, someone who can sit in their basement, use a green screen, pontificate and then take that teaching as gospel? We now hear that the star causes division.
The star does not cause division, people cause division, and Our Father hates the grumbling and murmuring this attitude elicits.
Allow me to share my heart with you. I desire to see us walk in the unity of the Holy Spirit. It breaks my heart to see us get all twisted up over issues that do not have a clear Biblical directive one way or another. We spend so much time and effort in this movement, chewing on these type issues which I believe at the end of our days will prove to be meaningless. Is it possible that this type of haranguing shuts up the kingdom of heaven before our brethren? How about concentrating on the positive things of this walk. How about channeling all this energy into outreach, writing tracts from a messianic perspective, ministering to those who are hurting, being compassionate, meeting needs within and without our community? How about fortifying the Feasts and seeing what new things our Father wants to reveal to us with each passing season so we can go deeper with Him? I so desire to see us walk in love. But it is not love when demands are made, and immediate action is pushed without allowing for due diligence and proper study. Love is patient, love is kind. Demanding action is impatience which is not love. I so desire to see us walk in unity and love. There is an old hymn that we used to sing when I was a boy in Catholic Church. This Song came back to me very recently and I believe it is YHWH’s clarion call to us today in our little, but growing congregation here at LevY’shua. The song is titled, “They will know we are Christians (may I be bold enough to substitute Messianic) by our love” Fr. Peter Scholtes. In summary: We are one in the Spirit, We are one in the Lord, and we pray that all unity may one day be restored. We will walk with each other , we will walk hand in hand, and together we will spread the news that God is in our land. We will work with each other, we will work side by side, and we’ll guard each man’s dignity and save each man’s pride. And they’ll know we are Messianic by our love, by our love, yes they’ll know we are Messianic by our love!
In Conclusion:
We see that the worship of anything other than our Creator is prohibited; summed up as “you shall have no other gods before me.”
That the Israeli flag design recalls the Tallit (לִּית), the Jewish prayer shawl, which is white with blue stripes.
We see prophetic utterance in the name Israel as chosen for the land now occupied by Judah.
We see prophetic expression in the fact that Messiah identifies Himself as the Bright Morning Star and Israel has emblazoned a star in the middle of his ensign, his national flag.
Finally, we do not worship the star of David but rather understand it as a symbol of the Jewish people, indicating that we stand with Israel, showing love, support, and solidarity with the State of Israel.
End Notes:
1948: Why the name Israel? By Martin Kramer https://martinkramer.org/2020/04/27/1948-why-the-name-israel/
How Israel got its flag. Elan Gilad, Haaretz https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-how-israel-got-its-flag-and-what-it-means-1.5381190
The Star of David, By Batya Ruth Wooten
https://www.119ministries.com/teachings/video-teachings/detail/testing-the-star-of-david/
They'll Know We Are Christians" (also known as "They'll Know We Are Christians By Our Love" or "We Are One in the Spirit") is a Christian hymn written in the 1960s by then-Catholic priest, the late Fr. Peter Scholtes. It is inspired by John 13:35. The title of the hymn They'll Know We Are Christians By Our Love originates in a phrase that non-believers used to describe Christians believers of early Church: "Behold, how they love one another." ~Wikipedia
Researched & written by: Mark Ostrowski