Astrologer

(Heb. and Chald. אִשָּׁŠ, asshlaph’, an enchanter, Dan 1:20; Dan 2:2; Dan 2:10; Dan 2:27; Dan 4:7; Dan 5:7; Dan 5:11; Dan 5:15; once Heb. הוֹבֵר שָׁמִיִם, hober’ shama’yim, sky- divider, i.e. former of horoscopes; Sept. ἀστρόλογος τοῦ οὐρανοῦ; Vulg. augur caeli, Isa 47:13), a person who professes to divine future events by the appearance of the stars. SEE ASTROLOGY. The Babylonians were anciently famous for this kind of lore (Rawlinson’s Herodotus, i, Essay x; Simplicius ad Aristot. De Calo, ii, 123; Pliny, Hist. Nat. 7:56; Vitruv. 9:9). SEE ASTRONOMY.

1. In Dan 1:20; Dan 2:2; Dan 2:10; Dan 2:27; Dan 4:7; Dan 5:7; Dan 5:11; Dan 5:15 the Hebrew word is ashshaph, signifying ’enchanter, magician;’ one who practised occult arts. This word occurs nowhere else.

2. habar shamayim , one who viewed or divided the heavens, an astrologer, who professed to foretell events by the position of the planets. Isa 47:13. Babylon was wearied with its various counsellors, who doubtless often differed one from another; but it had no other resource, so it turned to its astrologers, stargazers, etc. See DIVINATION.