Today we all know that the earth rotates on its axis, the north and south poles being the ends of this axis, this knowledge is comparatively new. In 1543 AD. the astronomer Copernicus, disputed the common belief that the earth was the stationary center of the universe, with the sun, stars and planets revolving around the earth. This view was condemned by the Catholic church as heresy.
When Galileo, by his own studies and experiments reached the same conclusions, he was tried for his life before the Inquisition in Rome. Galileo only escaped death by making a public recantation of this idea. Nevertheless, these men in the 1500 and 1600s A.D., laid the foundation for modern astronomy, with the knowledge that the sun is the center of our solar system and the earth revolves around the sun. The apparent rise of the sun and stars in the east, and their setting in the west, is really due to the rotation of the earth on its own axis.
Yahuah God took notice of this fact in the book of Job, about 2000 B.C. Job [38]12-14 records Yahuah saying, “Hast thou commanded the morning since thy days: and caused the dayspring to know his place; that it might hold the ends of the earth? It turns itself, as clay of a seal.” In other words, have you held onto the ends of the earth’s axis, while it turned itself? This was over 3,500 years before science discovered the fact of the earth’s rotation on its axis.
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The center of gravity of the galaxy is marked by the star Alcyone, which is the brightest star in the constellation Pleiades. Considering that this is 410 light-years away from us, it wasn’t easy to get acquainted with it. Our knowledge on the subject came within recent history. It is amazing, but in Job 38:31 Yahuah asks Job, “Canst thou bind the sweet influence of Pleiades?” Yes, it is a sweet influence, for it keeps us on our course so we don’t wander aimlessly through space until we collide with some mighty solar system. It is also worth noting that the Hebrew word for Pleiades, is kim-ah, which also means pivot or hinge.
