And He shall execute judgment and righteousness in the land.”
(Jer. xxxiii. 14, 15, r.v.)
This is what we see in this sign—Messiah's peaceful reign. All is rest and repose. We see “His days,” in which “the righteous shall flourish; and abundance of peace, so long as the moon endureth” (Ps. lxxii.).
But, for this blessed time to come, there must be no enemy! All enemies must be subdued.
This brings us to the first section of this book.
1. LEPUS (the Hare), THE ENEMY.
The Enemy Trodden under Foot.
The names of the three constellations of this Sign, as well as the pictures, are all more or less modern, as is manifest from the names being in Latin, and having no relation to the ancient names of their stars. To learn their real meaning, therefore, we must have recourse to the ancient Zodiacs. In the Persian planisphere the first constellation was pictured by a serpent. In the Denderah (Egyptian) Zodiac it is an unclean bird standing on the serpent, which is under the feet of Orion. Its name there is given as Bashti-beki. Bashti means confounded, and Beki means failing.
