ABSTRACT
From the earliest times men have contemplated the starry skies and wondered what it all means. They noticed that most of the stars are in a fixed pattern relative to each other, and they grouped them into constellations. Other bodies, called the planets, move relative to the starry background, and they wondered if they had some influence on our lives, a belief still widespread today. There is evidence of systematic observations of the skies by early man. At a
palaeolithic site at Ishango in the mountains of central equatorial Africa there was found a bone tool with engraved marks along the edges. The marks were in groups that suggested that they were not just decoration but had a definite numerical purpose. These marks were studied in detail by Alexander Marschak1 and he concluded that they refer to the days in the lunar cycle, and the groups to the phases of the moon. It did not seem likely that these markings were unique to that particular part of Africa, so he read widely in the literature and looked through collections of artifacts in museums. He found a large number of bones, antlers and stones inscribed with a variety of marks that could be connected in similar ways to the lunar cycle. Such markings are thus a ubiquitous feature of the artifacts of early man. For the Israelites, the regularity of the movements of the stars and of the
seasons provided an impressive witness to the power and reliability of the Creator. This power is emphasized in the words of Yahweh to Job:
The doctrine of creation is the most basic of all Judeo-Christian beliefs. It affirms that God made the world out of nothing, that He is absolutely distinct from His creation, and that all creation depends completely on Him.
