Narnian Astronomy: What a Star Is

“In our world,” said Eustace, “a star is a huge ball of flaming gas.”

“Even in your world, my son, that is not what a star is but only what it is made of…”

(The Voyage of the Dawn Treader)

In the tenth chapter of the book of Joshua we read of the war between Israel and the five Emorite kings who inhabited the southern part of the land of Canaan. God supports Israel and they achieve a great military victory. In order to provide Israel time to chase and destroy the retreating Emorites, Joshua commands, “Sun in Givon be silent (stop), and Moon in the Valley of Ayalon!” By halting the sun and moon in their usual track across the Heavens, Joshua provides light for the Jewish army to hunt down the fleeing Emorites.

Our Sages in the midrash comment on the utilization of the word “silent” to mean stop moving across the sky. The midrash states:

Joshua wanted to silence the sun. He did not say to sit, “Sun in Givon stand still,” rather, “Sun in Givon be silent!” Why did [Joshua] say, “Be silent!”? At all times when the sun moves, it praises God,” and the whole time it praises, it has the power to move. Therefore, Joshua told [the sun] to be silent… The Sun said to Joshua, “You are decreeing upon me that I should be silent?” He said to it, “Yes.” The Sun replied, “And who will sing the praises of God?” Joshua said, “You be silent and I will sing the praises of God.” 

In midrashic lore, the sun, as it follows the laws of physics, sings the praises of God, what we might call the music of the spheres. Were it to abstain from following those laws, the music would stop. Therefore, Joshua can only order this miracle if he himself takes the responsibility to sing the praises of God in the sun’s place. The midrash, then, sees in the luminous bodies, not just as man’s timepieces, but creations that sing as they serve God by following His laws.

Returning then to our original question, “What is a star?” the answer would be servants of God that sing His praises as they follow His laws.

Elsewhere, the Psalmist advances another view of the luminous bodies:

My soul blesses the Lord; the Lord, my God, You are very great. You are clothed in Splendor and Majesty. You robe Yourself in light, you spread the heavens like a tent. (Psalms 104:1-2)

There are two seemingly opposing views in the classical commentaries as to the explanation of this verse. R’ David Kimchi explains that the spheres created by God serve to clothe Him, and from their glory one glimpses the glory of the Creator. R’ Abraham ibn Ezra disagrees. He makes the following analogy: just like clothes serve to cover a person from the view of others, so to the splendor of the Heavens serve to cover God from view. Rather than demonstrating the greatness of the Creator, the spheres actually hide it. Which position is correct?

I think it is clear that it depends on who is looking. There are those who look towards Heaven and do not see God. Instead they see the sun, the moon and the stars following the laws of physics. No doubt there is glory in the grand scale of space and people are entranced with the beauty of the heavens. But to such people, this glory serves to hide God. Others look to the Heavens and see the sun, moon, and stars dancing through the Heavens to the music of the spheres. They also see that these Heavenly bodies follow the laws of physics and are awed by their intricacy. But to such people the splendor created by these laws are a song, and the song is in praise of God. 

Narnian Astronomy: The Purpose of the Stars

“In our world,” said Eustace, “a star is a huge ball of flaming gas.”

“Even in your world, my son, that is not what a star is but only what it is made of…”

(The Voyage of the Dawn Treader)

Humanity’s relationship to the stars has evolved significantly over the millenium. Certainly, the scientific approach of the past few centuries has offered us great insight into what a star “is made of” based on mechanics, electromagnetism, astronomy, cosmology, nuclear and particle physics. Nonetheless, the pre-scientific perspective of our ancestors may provide more insight into what a star is, rather than what it is made of.

Maimonides asserts that the awe felt by early man when looking at the Heavens, led them to idol worship. At the time of Enosh (Adam’s grandson) humanity reasoned as follows. God created the stars to guide our world, and honored them by placing them in the heavens to serve Him. Therefore, we too should praise and honor the stars. After all, were a king to appoint an officer, it would be the king’s will that the people honor the officer. So too, since God appointed the stars as his officer’s, we who honor God should honor the stars. As time went by, however, false prophets arose telling people that God had commanded them to bring sacrifices and perform service to the various stars. As the service to the stars became even more ingrained, false prophets arose saying that a particular star had come to him and is requiring from man a specific type of worship. This continued until eventually the true God was completely forgotten.

The concept introduced at the time of Enosh, that the stars who serve God should themselves be honored, led to a slippery slope that, at its nadir, resulted in total ignorance of the true God. Yet, without question, God did create the stars, sun, and planets. Was this done directly to serve Him or are these heavenly bodies created to serve man?

The creation story in the first chapter of Genesis records the creation of the sun, moon, and stars on the fourth day. The rationale given for the creation of the sun and the moon is, (Genesis 1:14-15) “To separate the day from the night; and they should be as signs for set times, and for days and years. And they should be sources of light in the sky to shine upon the earth.” From this description it would seem that the sun and moon were created as timepieces and luminaries to serve (as of yet created) man. Upon actual creation the verse also notes that these luminous bodies (and the stars) dominate or rule over the day and the night. There is no hint that they were created to serve God.

The Psalmist, however, explicitly calls to the sun, moon and stars (as well as the rest of creation) to sing in praise of God. 

Praise Him all of His angels; Praise Him all of His Host
Praise Him sun and moon; Praise Him all stars of light
Praise Him highest of heavens, and the water that is above the heavens (Psalms 148:2-4)

From the Psalm it certainly appears that the stars and other Heavenly bodies do sing praises to God. Perhaps there is a way we can synthesize these two approaches...

Narnian Astronomy: What Stars are Made Of

“In our world,” said Eustace, “a star is a huge ball of flaming gas.”

“Even in your world, my son, that is not what a star is but only what it is made of…”

(The Voyage of the Dawn Treader)

Throughout the Chronicles we learn much about the Narnian stars. The stars of Narnia were grouped into constellations such as the Leopard and the Ship. They sing the music of the spheres which, at the dawn of creation, was audible to man and beast. The dance of the Stars as they traverse the upper sky also indicates coming events, and their message could be divined by centaurs and other creatures wise in astrology. Perhaps most importantly we learn that Narnian stars are sentient beings who can take on human form.

In “The Voyage of the Dawn Treader” the crew and passengers on the Dawn Treader meet two stars in their human form. Due to what he perceives as a sharp contrast between our world and the Narnian one, Eustace demonstrates particular surprise upon realizing that what he perceived as a human was actually a star. “In our world,” said Eustace, “a star is a huge ball of flaming gas.” Stars in our world are not alive, they do not think, and they do not sing to their Creator as the star Ramandu (now in human form) certainly does.

However, Ramandu, speaking for Lewis, disagrees. “Even in your world, my son, that is not what a star is but only what it is made of…” A star is made of flaming gas, but that does not speak to its essence. This assertion raises the obvious question: if, in Lewis’ view, a star is only composed of flaming gas but that does not actually define its nature, what is a star?

We will return to this question in the next post.