Encyclopedie , Jewish Encyclopedia, , One of
the constellations. The Septuagint translates "Kesil" in Isa. xiii. 10
and Job xxxviii. 31 by "Orion"; the Targum renders it in these two
passages and in Job ix. 9 by "Nefila" (lit. "giant"), while the
Peshi?ta in Amos v. 8, Job ix. 9 and xxxviii. 31 uses "Gabbara" (lit.
"hero"), both of which names likewise denote "Orion." There are
therefore four references to this planet in the Bible. The Talmud
likewise regards "Kesil" as denoting Orion (Ber. 58b), as does Jerome,
who translates Amos v. 8 and Job ix. 9 according to Jewish tradition.
This tradition was not uniform, however, for Saadia Gaon (10th cent.)
and Abu al-Walid (11th cent.; "Kitab al-Uṣul" and Hebr. transl., s.v.) interpret the word as "Canopus" (Arabic, "Suhail"), while more recent exegetes (see Gesenius, "Th." s.v.,
and Ideler, "Sternnamen," p. 264, cited in Schiaparelli, "L'Astronomia
nell' Antico Testamento," p. 77) have identified it with another
constellation. At present, however, the opinion represented by the
oldest tradition is generally accepted (G. Hoffmann, in "Zeitschrift
für die Alttestamentliche Wissenschaft," ii. 107; Schiaparelli, l.c.).
In Amos v. 8 and Job ix. 9 Orion is mentioned together with the
Pleiades and with two other constellations whose identification is
still doubtful, and which are merely said to have been created by God;
in Isaiah (xiii. 10) occur the words, "the stars of heaven and the
Orions [A. V. "constellations"] thereof shall not give their light";
and in Job xxxviii. 31 mythological conceptions seem to be contained in
the verse, "Canst thou bind the sweet influences of Pleiades, or loose
the bands of Orion?"The Aramaic and Syriac names of Orion have been connected with the ancient Oriental tradition that Nimrod,
who is called in the Bible a hero and mighty hunter, was fettered by
God for his obstinacy in building the tower of Babel, and was set in
the sky (Winer, "B. R." ii. 157). It is possible that the ancient
Hebrews saw in this constellation the figure of a man who was naturally
regarded as extraordinarily tall and strong, exactly as the Greeks
named it "Orion," the Egyptians "Sahu," and the ancient Hindus
"Triçanka" (Schiaparelli, l.c.). The Targum to Job xxxviii. 31
speaks of the "bands which lead Orion." The Babylonian scribe and
physician Samuel (d. 257), who was celebrated also as an astronomer,
said: "If a comet should pass over Orion the world would perish" (Bab.
Ber. 58b; Yer. Ber. 13c), and in the same passage of the Babylonian
Talmud further declares that "if it were not for the heat of Orion, the
world could not exist on account of the cold of the Pleiades, and if it
were not for the cold of the Pleiades, the world could not exist on
account of the heat of Orion." See Jew. Encyc. ii. 246a, 250b