“for behold, the wicked bend the bow,
they have fitted their arrow to the string
to shoot in the [moonless night] at the upright in heart” (Psalm 11:2)
In most translations of this verse the English is not rendered as “moonless night,” but rather simply “the dark”. You can just as easily render it as the dark and understand the significance of this verse; but for the sake of this exposition, lets investigate the real meaning of this word which I have rendered as “moonless night”.
In the Septuagint the word here is σκοτομήνη, which can be very accurately rendered as “moonless night”. Homer uses this word to describe exactly this, a moonless night. Interior to scripture itself we also see this word associated with the darkening of the heavenly bodies (Ecclesiastes 12:2, Matthew 24:29; Mark 13:24; Luke 23:45). It is also used, in this context, as analogous to the darkening of the mind in other places. The Hebrew isn’t as straightforward, but nonetheless demonstrates the same point. In the Hebrew the word used is אֹפֶל (ophel). It is not a very commonly used word in scripture and if we investigate its uses we can see how this comes into alignment with the Septuagint. Of particular note is its use in Job 3:6 which describes a dark night which is to not be counted in the months. Think about what governs the months in the Hebrew calendar? It is the lunar cycle. Thus, a dark night which is to not be counted among the months is very easily described as a night which is not easily integrated into the lunar cycle – a moonless night. One last instance I want to note before really getting into the meat of this article is its use in Isaiah 29:18 where it is used to describe the failure of Israel to read and understand God’s Word. This is where we see everything start to come together.
Consider the symbolism of the moon. The moon exists as a heavenly body which does have light in itself, but rather reflects the light of the sun. This symbolism is used by many Church Fathers (and non-Christian writers as well) to describe creations' reflection of the divine light. The sun is the masculine initiative principle with sends forth its light and the moon is the feminine principle which receives, embodies, and reciprocates this light. This is why Sol is masculine and Luna is feminine. This is also a very biblical symbol, as I discuss in this article. St. Augustine makes this exact point – the analogy of the moon to our task in creation as receivers and reflectors of divine light – in his exposition of psalm 11 (10 in the Septuagint). St. Augustine describes the moon as a symbol of the church, which is a very intuitive connection to make given the scriptural significance of the moon and its association to Mary, Rachel and the more general task of creation to receive and embody God’s light. Consider this in light of Isaiah 29:18 which associates the moonless night with Israel’s inability to read and understand God’s Word. The very thing which constitutes this moonless night over Israel is their failure to act as a moon, who receives (reads) and embodies (understands) the light of God.
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