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There is controversy over the Star of David as a symbol, in both its origin and its use. Some see it as an appropriate, secular representation of the Jews, and of the nation of Israel, as it is used on its flag, for example. Some see it as a religious symbol, either for good or evil. Still others see it as an evil image in God’s sight, to be shunned at all costs, primarily because they identify it with idolatry, witchcraft, and the occult, all in which it has indeed been used.
In casually researching some of the alleged histories and origins of the Star of David, I have seen much confusion and many contradictions. Opinions vary and are speculative, drawing unwarranted conclusions, whether for or against the Star. Can anyone truly declare who first designed the Star and why it was formed? For example, it is said that the star of Remphan (Acts 7:43) is the six-pointed Star of David. Does anyone really know? Whether a six-pointed star was used or not, I do not know. However, the point of this paper is that these things do not really matter. We do not need to know.
Because men have used things for evil does not make those things evil.
To determine the right or wrong of something based on a study of what men have done with those things in the past is to declare that God reveals things to the wise and prudent, and to deny that the Lord reveals them unto babes (Luke 10:21). It is to nurture self-righteousness and superstition. It is the exercise of one who eats from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, in rebellion to God, serving the serpent. Such conduct in itself is witchcraft and idolatry. Better to eat from the Tree of Life, which is worshipping the Lord Jesus Christ.
Three key factors to consider with images in general are: one, whether or not they are used in a worship context; two, whether or not God personally ordained and directed them; three, whether or not they are an idol of the heart, wittingly or otherwise, apparently worshipped or otherwise.
One, are the images used in a worship context? If not, and if they do not have visible religious or spiritual appearances in and of themselves (such as, for example, an image of Jesus or Buddha does), then there is not a problem in that regard. An image of a Nike swoosh on a shirt is not evil or idolatrous, in and of itself.
Two, clearly God did not condemn images altogether. He Himself ordained some images, like the serpent on the pole, cherubim on the Mercy Seat, pomegranates, bells and almonds, even as used in a worship context. The main consideration here is that God and not man directed these. The problem comes when men decide on their own to use objects in worship, such as emblems, crosses, and pictures of Jesus, for examples.
If God ordains the images, fine; if not, yet they are used in so-called worship activities, then it is idolatry and lawlessness, as declared in the Second Commandment. The only likenesses or images I am aware of that God ordained for religious purposes are those mentioned in the Old Testament – not that we are permitted to reproduce them. They had their time and place. However, I must say that we should not be so presumptuous and religious as to deny, unequivocally, that the Lord would not ordain others since then, even today. He lived then, He lives today, and He can, and does, in all goodness, do as He pleases.
There can be no doubt that the six-pointed star has been, and is still, used in many ways, such as in New Age teachings and practices, the occult, witchcraft, various religions, as have so many other figures, symbols, images, icons, likenesses, pictures and statues. However, it does not justify trashing this symbol or image, or any other. Some go so far as to condemn the use of star images altogether because men have worshipped the stars in the sky.
Shall I destroy my son, because sons have been worshipped?
Here is a truth: Because men have used things for evil does not make those things evil. The brazen serpent Moses shaped and placed on the pole for healing Israel was not made evil because Israel worshipped it. Yes, it was destroyed, but because the people did evil, and not because the image itself was evil. The sin lies not with the idol, but ever with the idolater.
Shall I destroy my son, or pictures of him, because sons have been worshipped? Shall I destroy him, because sons have been sacrificed to false gods that were worshipped, or even if my very son had been worshipped?
There are times when images should be destroyed regardless of the circumstances. For example, images of Ashtoreth, the many-breasted sex goddess of fertility and prosperity, were made expressly for worship, and they ought to be destroyed, without question. However, other objects, whether in natural, original, created form (such as a tree) or designed by men for legitimate use (such as a triangle) were not originally formed for worship purposes, and therefore should not be condemned.
Three, is an object or image unduly prized? One can be worshipping a piece of art, a car, jewelry, antique furniture, an image, a movie star, a symbol…anything, often without realizing it. In such cases, the idolatry must always go and sometimes both the idolatry and the idol.
While it is argued by many that some objects used in a worship context are not worshipped, there can be no doubt with those who love the Lord and who have understanding that He certainly condemned the use of likenesses and images in a spiritual worship context, according to the Second Commandment. Those who differ are not interested in worshipping the Father in spirit and in truth. It is that simple.
Out of the fires and trouble arose Israel.
Some argue that if a symbol or image is not specified in the Word of God, regardless of its purpose and use, it is forbidden. With that logic, we shall not have any image or symbol not mentioned. Taking that righteousness to its logical and reasonable conclusion, it eliminates much clothing, many goods purchased every day in our society, including most foods, most if not all cars, books, tools, etc., which all have various identifying symbols on them. I am amazed at the darkness and lack of reason with idolaters who think to make these propositions in the name of worshipping God.
We have decided to use the Star of David. It is noteworthy to mention how this decision came about. The nation of Israel came about through the acts of the enemies of Israel, creating a necessity for a haven, a homeland for Jews. Had there been no Blavatsky, Hitler, Nazi persecution, Holocaust, and other negative influences, there might still be no resurrected nation of Israel today. Out of the fires and trouble arose Israel.
We were going to use the Star of David as a marker on our business brochure to identify Harvest Haven’s location. It was one of several options, such as an X or a dot. That was it. We had no other ideas in mind. The Star was not so important to us that we needed to use it. However, criticism arose as to the use of images and the former usages of this symbol. Not wishing to identify with or partake in any evil, the criticism drove us to research, but more importantly, to seek the Lord on this matter. As a result, we began to realize that there was much more to this simple event than we were aware.
They are God’s chosen in this world, which world hates them.
Therefore, as Israel was formed in trouble, so we have come, in trouble, to accept the use of the Star of David, in greater measure than a simple location marker on a business brochure, though not as a religious symbol.
Why have we decided to use this symbol?
- The Star of David represents Israel. This is an obvious way of showing solidarity with them publicly.
- We want to make the statement that we sympathize and stand with Israel, not in its unbelief, darkness and sins but in the fact that they are “beloved for the fathers’ sakes”:
“The people of Israel are treated as God’s enemies, so that the good news can come to you Gentiles. But they are still the chosen ones, and God loves them because of their famous ancestors” (Romans 11:28 CEV).
They are God’s chosen in this world, which world hates them, and we do not stand with the world in that hatred, nor are we neutral. We want both Israel and the world to know it.
- While others see evil in the Star, we see great and good meanings, and are persuaded it is under the sovereign will of God that Israel should have this symbol for its nation today, regardless of how it has been used or abused in the past.
- God has commanded us to take the land, to extricate it out of the hands of the enemy, to make it once again a good land, a wholesome and godly land, our land, and God’s land. Those who would give up this symbol or any other thing to the enemy, simply because the enemy has taken and abused it, might be consistent and declare that this earth should remain in the power of the prince of this world, seeing “the whole world lies in wickedness” and that Satan has been its usurper and prince, defiling and destroying.
I hereby publicly serve notice to Satan that we will let him keep nothing.
Going farther in such thinking, they should cast off all mankind, seeing the serpent has defiled it. Truly, those who think this way serve Satan, and walk in his spirit, though not knowing it, seeing they are blinded by the prince of darkness. But we pay them no respect, none whatsoever. It is written, and truer words were never spoken:
“Everything is clean to the clean-minded; nothing is clean to dirty-minded unbelievers. They leave their dirty fingerprints on every thought and act. They say they know God, but their actions speak louder than their words. They’re real creeps, disobedient good-for-nothings” (Titus 1:15-16 MSG).
I hereby publicly serve notice to Satan and his minions that we will let him keep nothing, not the Star of David, not any symbol, not any soul, not the food, not the agricultural, or the medical, educational, political, economic, financial, religious, governmental, national, international, social, psychological, environmental, earthly, heavenly or any other category or entity. We claim and do reclaim everything for the Lord of lords, in Whom we stand, without fear or hesitation or apology. As it is recorded:
“The seventh Angel trumpeted. A crescendo of voices in Heaven sang out, The kingdom of the world is now the Kingdom of our God and His Messiah! He will rule forever and ever!” (Revelation 11:15 MSG)
If, as some say, the one triangle of the Star of David pointing down represents the kingdom of this world, and the other pointing up the Kingdom of our God and His Messiah, wonderful! He did not come to destroy but to redeem and to reconcile all things unto Himself, quite contrary to those who “know not what spirit they are of.” As the apostle Paul declares:
“Not only that, but all the broken and dislocated pieces of the universe–people and things, animals and atoms–get properly fixed and fit together in vibrant harmonies, all because of His death, His blood that poured down from the Cross” (Colossians 1:20 MSG).
We will have a new clean, holy, godly definition and cause it to prevail.
I have red that the six points of the Star give all six directions, east, west, north, south, up and down. There is nowhere that the Kingdom of God does not reign supreme.
There are those who condemn the Star as signifying the infamous number 666, representing the man of sin, the antiChrist. I say, “Hogwash,” no matter how many devil worshippers would lay claim to such a notion! Let them define and defile all they want. We will have a new, clean, holy, godly definition and cause it to prevail.
Has Jesus Christ come to destroy man or to redeem him? If 666 is the number of a man, did not God create man? Did He not humble Himself and take upon Himself the form of a man and come to earth, even to die for us? He shared in that 666, bearing the sins of the world that gave the substance to that number. All things are His. As it is recorded:
“For all things were created in Him, the things in the heavens, and the things on the earth, the visible and the invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers, all things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and by Him all things consist. And He is the Head of the body, the church, Who is the Beginning, the First-born from the dead, that He may be pre-eminent in all things” (Colossians 1:16-18 MKJV).
Now what do I, or can I, see in the Star of David?
Firstly, I do not need to call it by that name. However, the name identifies it as pertaining to Israel, by which came the Son of David, Jesus Christ, the Promised Seed of Abraham. Here is what I make of the Star with its features:
There are twelve sides to the Star, the boundaries encompassing the entire symbol, representing the twelve tribes of Israel, the 12 apostles and the 12 thrones upon which Jesus promised they would sit, judging the tribes of Israel. These are the 12 gates to the City of God, the New Jerusalem.
I cannot think of a better way to represent symbolically what God is doing.
Twelve stands for rulership, which can only be truly exercised by Heaven and heavenly citizens, those washed in the blood of the Lamb, the God of Israel.
There are not six, but eight triangles in all, contrary to those who assert only six. Eight signifies a new day, a new creation.
There are seven spaces or sections in the Star. The seventh is central. Seven represents rest and fulness, totality, completeness, or all-inclusiveness. Is that not what the reconciliation of all things is all about? I cannot think of a better way to represent symbolically what God is doing with His creation, including all mankind. As Paul the apostle writes:
“This plan, which God will complete when the time is right, is to bring all creation together, everything in heaven and on earth, with Christ as head. All things are done according to God’s plan and decision; and God chose us to be His own people in union with Christ because of His own purpose, based on what He had decided from the very beginning” (Ephesians 1:10-11 GNB).
And: “Through the Son, then, God decided to bring the whole universe back to Himself. God made peace through His Son’s blood on the cross and so brought back to Himself all things, both on earth and in Heaven” (Colossians 1:20 GNB).
I have given you very little by way of positive number significations concerning the Star of David compared to those that exist and which are communicated to the world by many skilled and learned in numbers. I am aware of certain others, some of them marvelous indeed, but I have primarily expressed only those that have occurred to me, which I have not seen elsewhere, not that they are not known and publicly announced by others.
There are the unlearned that identify the hexagram with the curse, called a hex. They are confused. The “hex” came from the Pennsylvania Dutch German word, “hexe,” which means witch. In hexagram, “hex” stands for “six.”
Anyone having a problem with the hexagon has a problem with his Creator!
This same mistaken thinking, which labels the hexagram evil, would also lead to trashing other “hexes.” What about, for example, the hexagon? It is the most efficient geometrical configuration known for containment. It is the wisdom of God, manifest in His creation. The honeycombs of bees are hexagonal. Shall we curse the bees and destroy their honeycombs, because they dare to incorporate the “hex”? Bees give us life. Without them, there would be a great lack of pollination. As for the honey they produce, it is a marvelous food, full of flavor, healing and nutrition. It lasts indefinitely, unlike almost all other foods, particularly those with which man has tampered. What a curse there is on those who curse the “hex” (hexagram and hexagon)!
Not only do we find the hexagon in the sweet and wonderful world of bees and honey, we find it as a prime structural design in water in all its forms. Consider the beautiful, breathtaking, hexagram patterns of snowflakes. Because we are more than 70% water, as is the earth, we too are “hexagonal” in nature. Anyone having a problem with the hexagon or the hexagram has a problem with himself and his Creator!
There are twelve sides, eight triangles, and seven spaces to comprise the whole of the Star of David, the total being twenty-seven, a number derived by the three cubed. Three signifies the will or purpose of God and the testimony from Heaven. As it says:
“The Lord is not slow concerning His promise, as some count slowness, but is long-suffering toward us, not purposing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9 MKJV).
The defiled have a problem with it, while the pure rejoice.
Turn the Star upside down and it remains the same. Whether above or beneath, in darkness or light, in cold or heat, all is God’s. Have not God’s people been turned upside down, whether they be the spiritual or the physical seed of Abraham? Yet God’s purpose will prevail in all things. Indeed, Paul declares:
“In Whom also we have been chosen to an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of Him Who works all things according to the counsel of His own will” (Ephesians 1:11 MKJV).
Some say that the two triangles represent the male and female factors of creation, that it has a sexual significance. Good! Is that not the way God has created all living? But the defiled have a problem with it, while the pure rejoice.
Contrary to those who do not believe that the nation of Israel is descended from Abraham, and that his descendants have been returned to the land promised to him, we do. The timetable of history, in harmony with the times mentioned in Daniel, Revelation and other places in the Scriptures, agrees with us, and we with it. God does not make mistakes. God is not a liar. God is not a wimp that succumbs to the will of the deceiver. He created and rules the deceiver. God is God, Lord of lords, King of kings, Creator and Operator of the universe. By Him all things consist. “He made all things, and without Him there was nothing made that was made.”
Israel, we stand with and for you.
Furthermore, we see that the people of Israel are contemned and condemned, hated by the world, especially by the more wicked of it, more than any other people are hated. There are no other people like Israel and the Jews, who have contributed so much to humanity and yet are so universally hated. Knowing that the world is at enmity with God and His people more than with anyone else, what does that tell us? As Jesus said:
“If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own. But because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hates you” (John 15:18-19 MKJV).
The design of the flag of Israel is peacefully simple, though full of significance, the colors wonderfully refreshing, yet meaningful. The white background declares that there must be righteousness, which white represents. The blue signifies that which is from above, in, from, and of, the heavenlies. All we have is the simple, yet wealthy in meaning, Star of David.
We acknowledge this symbol and identify with it before the world this year, 2006, our twelfth in possession of the farm we have been given of God.
While you have been unfaithful to Him, He has been faithful to you.
Israel, we stand with and for you. Stand up! Trust your God, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, Jacob, and Moses, the God of Israel. Your enemies may be greater than you, but they are not greater than your God. You may think you must please your friends and acquaintances in the world to survive but it is not they that can or will sustain you. Don’t trust the arm of flesh, or in tanks and missiles. Trust the Father of Spirits and you will live. Do not compromise yourself. Begin to taste the goodness of God reserved for you, as you turn from your sins and unbelief to Him. None in the world can help you but your Maker can and will. It was not they that gave you the land, but Yahweh. Do not be afraid. Believe!
Israel, you will know your God. You will be ashamed and mourn that you have rejected and despised Him. You will see and understand that while you have been unfaithful to Him, He has been faithful to you, and will keep all His promises, though for the time and times, you have suffered.
Satan, in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ, we come against you. We call on the armies of the Lord of hosts to drive out the enemies of Israel. We claim all the land, both literal and figurative, earthly and heavenly, which the Lord God of Israel, the Lord Jesus Christ, Yehoshuah HaMashiach, has predetermined for His people, according to His promise to Abraham. We pronounce judgment on you, Satan. Release your grip on Yahweh’s people. You are finished. I command it to be so in the Name of Jesus Christ. Be off with you. The Lord rebuke you vehemently.
“There shall come a Star out of Jacob, and a Scepter shall rise out of Israel.”
Lord, redeem Your people speedily, and demonstrate Your power and glory to all the world, that all may fear Your Great and Wonderful Name! Let all dominion and power coming against You be vanquished, that all in Heaven, in earth and under the earth may fear Your Name! Truly, You are the Star of Jacob, of Israel! As You have declared:
“I, Jesus, sent My angel to testify these things to you over the assemblies. I am the Root and Offspring of David, the bright and morning Star” (Revelation 22:16 LITV).
As You promised from before Your people ever took possession of the land:
“I shall see Him, but not now. I shall behold Him, but not near. There shall come a Star out of Jacob, and a Scepter shall rise out of Israel, and shall strike the corners of Moab, and destroy all the sons of tumult. And Edom shall be a possession. Seir also shall be a possession for his enemies. And Israel shall do valiantly. Out of Jacob shall come He Who shall have dominion…” (Numbers 24:17-19 MKJV).
“Praise Yah! Praise God in His holy place, Praise Him in the expanse of His strength. Praise Him in His mighty acts, Praise Him according to the abundance of His greatness. Praise Him with blowing of trumpet, Praise Him with psaltery and harp. Praise Him with timbrel and dance, Praise Him with stringed instruments and organ. Praise Him with cymbals of sounding, Praise Him with cymbals of shouting. All that breathes does praise Yah! Praise Yah” (Psalms 150:1-6 YLT)!
Victor Hafichuk