JUDAH AND THE SIGN OF LEO"STARS OF ISRAEL SERIES" - Part 2

Having ascertained that God has set thestars for SIGNS and that the twelve signs of the Zodiacrepresen~_ twelve tribes of Israel, let us proceed tothe individual tr1 1r indivi ual ensigns. Weare not taking the signs in sequence but ratherbasing our remarks upon the order of Israel's encampmentin the wilderness. This account is given in Num. 2, andas you read it, you will find that three tribes are loca-ted on each of the four sides of the Tabernacle. Further-more, every man was to pitch or camp by his own standardwith the ENSIGN of his father's house. This word ENSIGNis the same word as is translated SIGNS in Gen. 1:14 re-ferring to the stars or constellations. The reckoning ofthe camp was from the east side, so we shall begin there.

"And the Lord spake unto Moses and untoAaron, saying, Every man of the children of Israel shallpitch by his own standard, with the ENSIGN of their fath-er's house •••••• And on the EAST SIDE toward the rising ofthe sun shall they of the standard of the camp of JUDAHpitch throughout their armies: and NAHSHON the son of M~-MINADAB shall be CAPTAIN of the children of JUDAH ••••••• "Num , 2:1-3. One cannot arbitrarily say that such and sucha sign belongs to such and such a tribe without the cor-roboration of the scriptures. Why therefore do we say thezodiacal sign of Leo is the sign of Judah? Leo is thesign of the lion, and according to Gen. 49:8-12 where isgiven the prophecy of Judah, he is referred to asa LION'SWHELP, a LION, and an OLD LIOR. Furthermore, our Lord iscalled "the LION of the tribe of Judah" which further con-nects the lion with Judah as that tribe's particular en-sign. Perhaps the zodiacal sign of Judah is the easiestto determine because the references are so clear.

The dates of the sign of Leo are from ~~24 to Aug. ~ and a person born under Judah's sign willbear some of the marks of Judah, but that does not meansuch a person is of the tribe of Judah. Many are callusedthinking they can determine their tribal lineage in Is-rael by their natural birthdate, but this can be no moredone than you can determine whose son you are by the dateyou were born. Being born during the power of Leo's signwill influence you, but be sure you know your tribal lin-eage by the Spirit of God who can reveal it to you indeed

if there is no way to trace it-otherwise. Some have -beenfortunate enough to be able to trace their lineage backthrough the centuries and discover their tribal geneology,but the vast majority have no way of doing this. Thus theyare left to the revelation of God to make it plain whichis precious knowing that He knows who we are and can revealit in such a wonderful way. Occasionally someone is bornunder his particular tribal sign, and that is grand, butbe it known: those who are usually do not have as severeconflicts within themselves as those who are born natural-ly under one tribal sign and yet belong to another tribe.Thus the two signs cause inner battles to bring forth theperfection of God that might not otherwise be accomplishe~

In the Syrian language Leo is THE RENDINGLION, and in the Arabic it is THE LION LEAPING FORTH AS AFLAME. So even the ancient languages bear out the truthconcerning Leo the lion. In the constellation of Leo thereare some bright stars whose names are indicative of Judahand his characteristics. These we want to briefly consid-er:

(1) REGULUS, one bright star, means TREAD-ING UNDERFOOT. This speaks of conquering, and Judahitesare a conquering people, but they cannot conquer nor treadunderfoot without the battles. Judahites are battlers,andthey battle until they conquer. They are warriors of un-determined fortitude and strength. In Gen. 49:9 Judah isreferred to as a lion's whelp going up from the prey, orconquering and taking the prey. Judah's spiritual battlesare great and-many, but he needs to be reminded that hav-ing begun in the Spirit he should never end up in fleshfights.

(2) DENEBOLO, meaning THE LORD WHO COMETH,is another bright star in Leo. Judah'~ vision is ever up-on the coming of the Lord knowing that He is the LION OFTHE TRIBE OF JUDAH who shall come and shall not tarry. Heknows that "the sceptre shall not depart from Judah ••...••until SHILOH comes." The vision of Judah is what sustainshim in the battles.

(3) AL GlEBA means EXALTATION and is anoth-er lovely star in Leo. The name JUDAH means PRAISE, andin this manner does Judah EXALT the Lord. He shall con-tinue to exalt Him in praise until the Lord comes. Praiseis a great weapon of the Judahites.

(4) And, 20SMA, another bright star in Leo,means SHINING FORTH. How apt this is in view of the factthat Judah was placed on the EAST of the Tabernacle, the

position of the nSlng sun, or the SHINING FORTH of thelight. Judah cannot help but shine forth, for the lightofthe breaking day fills him, and though battles are his lo~still the light of revelation thrills the inner being withglory.

In these four bright stars of Leo we can ~some of the characteristics of Judah. Let us compile themin one sentence thus: Judah, the warrior, fights becausehis vision is fixed upon the coming of the Lord whom he ex-alts in praise while the light of revelation shines forth.Isn't that precious!

There are three constellations associatedwith Leo, and they also are indicative of Judah's traits.They give a picture of Judah's enemy and the conflict thatensues.

(1) HYDRA meaning the ABHORRED SERPENT. Ju-dah's battle is not against flesh and blood but against theserpent, the deceiver. He sees deception perhaps quickerthan others, and he recognizes what is back of it.

(2)CRATER, another constellation associatedwith Leo, means the CUP OF WRATH OUTPOURED. Judahites arenot satisfied with a simple battle without meaning, ratherthey must fight until the cup of wrath is outpoured whichin its outpouring destroys the evil but not the people inwhom the evil is found. If there is one thing Judah can-not stand, it is unrighteousness with inequality, and Ju-dah will fight this "tooth and toenail", until the wrathoutpoured burns out such things.

(3) And, CORVUS, another constellation as-sociated with Leo, means RAVEN, or BIRDS OF PREY DEVOURING.Judah must see the destruction of evil and the exaltationsof righteousness. This is why Judahites are often bombas-tic in their words and actions. They cannot bear that un-like the nature of God. Sometimes they try to fight it inthemselves to their own sorrow, but they learn in time toonly do it in the Spirit and thus conquer through Christthe Lord.

Now, we want to consider the prince or cap-tain of Judah, for the meaning of the name bears import inthis study. God is not gathering all of Judah at this timebut is preparing a remnant or the "first of the first-fruits" which this prince or captain represents. I saythis because the scriptures teach us about a special gath-ering of the princes of the people. The Lord told Mosesto make silver trumpets for a specific purpose, such as,the journeying of the camps, the going forth to battle,

etc. But, one thing was specifically given, that when onetrumpet sounded, the princes were to gather themselves un-to Moses to receive whatsoever instruction the Lord had toimpart to them. We are in that time of the sounding of asingle trumpet, which trumpet speaks of a fresh revelation,and this is not to be given forth generally to all of Is-rael but to specially prepared vessels, the princes or cap-tains of God's people. Thus these princes represent "thefirst of the firstfruits" who are to be gathered togetherunto Him for further enlightenment. According to Num. 1:3the prince of Judah was NAHSHON which means ORACLE, and hewas the son of AMMINADAB meaning WILLING PEOPLE. In otherwords, God is not just looking for Judah's warriors at thepresent moment, but He is preparing those of Judah who in-deed shall "speak as the oracles of God", or better yet,who shall be the oracles of God. An oracle is never hearduntil first God speaks, and the princes of Judah are beingtaught to hold their peace until the voice within speaksfirst that the truth might be issued forth by His decre~These Nahshons, or princes of Judah, are born of Ammina-dab, or born out of willingness, a will submitted whollyto the will of God. Such is the nature of the princes ofJudah who pitch under the ENSIGN OF LEO, and who are ful-filling that portion of Judah's prophecy, "As an old lion,who shall rouse him up?" Through battles and preparationsthe princes learn to abide God's time and move not at ev-ery rustle of activity, but only at God's direction, speakat His speaking, and live in the realm of a surrendered andobedient will.

All you of Judah, and especially you who arebeing prepared for the princely company, recognize you areassuredly affected by the force of the constellation thatrepresents Judah, even Leo, and in its mysteries will youfind unfolding truths concerning your own lineage. Remem-ber the stars speak their glorious message, and he who hasan ear to hear will hear! (To be continued)

Norene C. Nicholls

P.O. Box 184Provo, Utah 84601