of the word
_Mazz[=a]r[=o]th_ with the Babylonian _mizr[=a]t[=a]_, the "divisions"
of the year, answering to the twelve signs of the zodiac, points in
exactly the same direction as the correspondence in idea which is
evident between the "chambers of the south" and the Arabic _Al
man[=a]zil_, "the mansions" or "resting-places" of the moon in the lunar
zodiac.

Mazzaroth are therefore the "divisions" of the zodiac, the "chambers"
through which the sun successively passes in the course of the year, his
"resting-place" for a month. They are "the chambers of the south," since
that is their distinctive position. In Palestine, the sun, even at
rising or setting at midsummer, passes but little to the north of east
or west. Roughly speaking, the "south" is the sun's quarter, and
therefore it is necessarily the quarter of the constellation in which
the sun is placed.

It has been made an objection to this identification that the Israelites
are said to have worshipped _Mazz[=a]l[=o]th_, and we have no direct
evidence that the signs or constellations of the zodiac were worshipped
as such. But this is to make a distinction that is hardly warranted. The
Creation tablets, as we have seen, distinctly record the allocation of
the great gods to the various signs, Merodach himself being one of the
three deities associated with the month Adar, just as in Egypt a god
presided over each one of the thirty-six decades of the year.

Again, it is probable that the "golden calf," worshipped by the
Israelites in the wilderness, and, after the disruption, at Bethel and
at Dan, was none other than an attempt to worship Jehovah under the
symbol of Taurus, the leader of the zodiac and cognizance of the tribe
of Joseph; regarded as a type of Him Who had been the Leader of the
people out of Egypt, and the Giver of the blessings associated with the
return of the sun to Taurus, the revival of nature in spring-time. It
was intended as a worship of Jehovah; it was in reality dire rebellion
against Him, and a beginning of the worship of "_Mazz[=a]l[=o]th_ and
the heavenly host;" an idolatry that was bound to bring other idolatries
in its train.

A three-fold symbol found continually on Babylonian monuments, "the
triad of stars," undoubtedly at one time set forth Sin, the moon-god,
Samas, the sun-god, and I[vs]tar, in this connection possibly the planet
Venus. It has therefore been suggested by Prof. Schiaparelli that
_Mazz[=a]l[=o]th_ is the planet Ven