Meaning of PLEIADES

The Hebrew term. "Kimah" designates a bright star, or also a constellation (Jb. 9:9; 38:31; Am. 5:8); Most ancient commentators have believed that it refers to the Pleiades, a group of stars in the constellation of Taurus.

Tablets from the Ebla excavations (see MARDIKH [TELL]) provide additional evidence in favor of this identification. M. Dahood, S. J., has pointed out the identity of the Sumerian term "mul-mul" (Pleiades) with the Eblaite (Semitic language) "ga-matù" or "ka-ma-tù."

This last term can be easily identified with the Heb. "kimah." The academic equivalent. from "mul-mul" is "zappu", "Pleiades" (tables TM.75.G1825; 2003; 3131; 3171; see G. Pettinato: "The Archives of Ebla", p. 250, and the appendix by M. Dahood, S. J., in the same work, "Ebla, Ugarit, and the Bible", pp. 302-303 [Doubleday, Garden City, N.Y., 1981]).

The ancients counted seven stars, not knowing why, since only six can be seen with the naked eye. Through the telescope you can distinguish a hundred stars.

Josephus saw the position of the Pleiades as an indication of the time (Ant. 13:8, 2), and their rise indicated to sailors the favorable time for navigation.