The Rising Star
By
Dewey Maggard
My interest in the Lyre on coins stems from the fact there are so many of them dating as early as 385-400 BCE that I have been able to locate. What strikes me is the historical significance of the Lyre in the biblical connection especially with King David and the early Israelites.
As those who know me know, I have been researching the Lyre with various Numbers of strings and learning the earliest number of strings go from 5 as shown on Image above, then sometimes 6 and 8 and 9 were used for a considerable length of time. What has brought this about is my hobby of coin collecting. In a book "The Witness of Stars", by E W Bullinger, he has documentation of a Lyre in the heavenly charts dating back more than 2500 B C E. The brightest star of this Lyre is called Vega Which means, "He shall be exalted".
There is a connection of the meaning "He shall be exalted" that occurs in the opening of the Song of Moses according to Bullinger. The Lyre as we may see from the earliest times had a tremendous symbolic significance with the people. We especially see this with the Israelite people, then later among the Jewish people who were a part of ancient Israel.
There are several points of significance to ponder in connection with the use of this instrument and the star on coins. From earliest times, we find the Celtic people make great use of the Lyre. The early Brits, Irish and Scots all seem to have a special fondness for this instrument. If you look at the various designs on their coinages especially Hibernia, and Great Britain, you will find a generous display of this Lyre. Primarily, these occur on the Florins, Half Crowns and Crowns of Great Britain in the seal on the reverse of the coins. On Hibernia or Irish coins, from some of their earliest mintages to current times, the Lyre is on all the reverse sides of their coins.
What I have noticed in the migrations of the early Jewish people the Lyre does appear on coins of the countries where they have settled. The migrations of the early Jews after their Babylonian captivity, shows their influence among the people where they went. By 300 BC there seems to have been a compulsion for some coins to have the Lyre as part of the design- as shown on my above example. Was that a symbol of their presence in strange lands under pagan rulers? Wherever they were, this may have been a silent way of saying we are still present with our original hope. It is well known many of these people became tutors and artisans for those who held the power. Be it Greeks or Romans.
During the time of King David many centuries before coinages made their appearances; this Lyre had become a sacred symbol to a people who had become subjected to extreme cruelties in many different lands. For it's appearance in such a conspicuous place, yet a joyful note of hope could be found simply by the symbolic meaning of what it meant on the little coin. Rejoice! Do not think of your hardship but look for the hope within our people. This is message. The star symbolizing the coming of a King.
In the centuries that have past, the symbolic meaning has become almost lost-but if we look closely there are some interesting ethnic connections also. For example, these early Jews and Greek Christians migrated everywhere as time and place permitted. As these people moved, they brought with them their own beliefs, which obviously had impact, where ever they went. Hence, we have their subtle way of telling their fellow countrymen in strange lands a message of hope on coins. This Lyre was a symbol of hope for their return to a homeland. It wasn't long before they attached a rising star to these coins. The artisan who first conceived this idea has become unknown but his idea to convey a message of hope was well-grounded in biblical texts The Jewish people of the Babylonian Captivity had known from the scriptures about a rising star that was to foretell the birth of a King. It was from this well believed and deep routed teaching in their scriptures that later spread to the Magi. This saying about a rising star to signify the coming of a King became a tremendous propaganda tool for many kings before the actual fact.
This fact reveals the faith these early kings had in their astrologers, astronomers and seers, as they were known. We find these terms applied to them in our bible, especially in the book of Daniel. As time wore through these centuries, by the time of Augustus Caesar, this star idea was firmly planted in their minds. To such an extent that Caesar himself had a rising star zodiacal symbol placed on one of his coins (A silver denarius) which was minted in Antioch a short time before Christ was born. But as I have shown on the example above here we have I think a beautiful symbolic piece of evidence attesting to this. On the right is a star- the right always signifies the east. We were told of a star to rise out of the east. And so it does appear. It rises to the Exaltation of the Glory of God symbolized by the Lyre. There are numerous references to the Lyre in our bible and it is always connected with Joy and exaltation.
Now I realize there will always be some folks who will be skeptical-for what purpose does skepticism serve? When we read Psalms there can be no doubt in our minds as to what the Lyre meant to people of the times. Let us take a look at Psalms 33. Just read down beginning with verse. Sing for joy in the Lord, O you righteous ones; Vs 2- Give thanks to the Lord with the LYRE; Sing praises to Him with a harp of ten strings. (Some of the coinages I have seen do have ten strings) VS 3 Sing to Him a new song: Play skillfully with a shout of joy. Let us read one more in Psalms 71 Vs 22: "I will also praise Thee with a harp, Even Thy truth, O my God; to thee I will sing praises with the Lyre. Etc; so here we see there is a distinction of the Lyre and a harp. Here we are dealing with the Lyre. The above bible verses are taken from the NAS Version.
Some other references will help us to see their deep routed belief in these texts or prophecies and symbols as they occur. For example, when the last of Israel ceased to be a nation due to their captivity by the Babylonians, they were in despair. Notice! Ps 137 Vs 1, "By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept, when we remembered Zion. Vs 2 "We hanged our harps upon the willows in the midst thereof. Vs 3- For there they that carried us away captive required of us a song and they that wasted us required of us mirth, saying, Sing us one of the songs of Zion. Vs 4- how shall we sing the song of the Lord? (KJV) Was this a taunt? Very likely- yet, we can it could also mean their captors actually enjoyed their song- as they have referred to it as one of mirth-also one of the Songs of Zion. The hanging of their harps (lyres) in the willows tells of their woe very well. They really had nothing to sing about. How could they sing the song of the Lord- that was to their mind also the Song of Moses - the song of triumph. In Ex 15; 1, we read in part"I will sing unto the Lord, for he hath triumphed gloriously. They had nothing to sing about at this time.
Yet, going back to Ps 137 in the KJV. In Vs 5 and 6 we see a determination, a vow as it were to keep in remembrance their homeland to prefer "Jerusalem above my chief joy." In every social strata since those days, we see these people have had this compulsion to return to their own homeland. In our day we are seeing this come to pass.
To illustrate, In days before newspapers, radio, television and the Internet how better than to spread good tidings among your fellows on a durable piece of metal. These tidings would be seen by many over a long period of time. This is exactly what these people did. They used coinage to get some of their proclamations out. Emperors would cause a coin to be minted to tell the people that a certain tax was forgiven, as did Emperor Nerva (96-98 AD) when he abolished the Poll Tax. Many examples have come to us through these ancient pieces of metal so old that we have lost the meaning of their buying power; yet, many of them speak loud and clear of certain reforms, peace pacts, victories, celebrations. No newspapers made this the only practical way to get a message across to the people when it was necessary.
The Rising star symbol made the greatest impact on the public probably of any other symbol. We know from the story in the books of Acts that King Herod certainly had no doubts as to the veracity of these old old scriptures fortelling of a King who would come. So much so that he had all the baby male infants killed hoping to do away with this King.
My curiosity concerning the Lyre really began when I began to notice many different countries with Lyres of anywhere from 5 strings (As above) to 14 strings, which Ireland now has on their coinage. The coins of Modern Israel show 12 strings.
David apparently was familiar with the Lyre of ten strings as he makes frequent mention of them. The most ancient ones must have had only nine as the earliest zodiacal charts (Denderah) of Babylon depicted this number in the constellation of the Lyra.(Please note!,the Ancient's had a keen sense connecting future event with these constellation)
The time finally came when the prophecy was was at hand. For centuries man had anticipated a star. This was no ordinary star as the world was to learn. This star would lead the Magi. These men had complete faith in where this was taking them. "When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy."Matt: 2:10 (KJV) When the Magi had accomplished their purpose. There was no doubt in their minds as they left by a new (different ) way, they knew they had seen the King, the one who will ultimately be our Monarch and more- forever. In a new place, a new land where there will be joy and peace
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