.
According to Gen 1:15-18, God set stars in the sky for illumination.
Well; the only stars whose shine is of any practical use as illumination on the
Earth are those of the Milky Way: in point of fact, every star in the sky
visible to the naked eye is a Milky Way star. Stars in other galaxies are too
far away to be seen without a telescope; which is actually a relatively recent
invention. Jesus and the apostles didn't have telescopes, nor did anyone
before them, including Abraham.
● Gen 15:4-5 . .The word of The Lord came to him in reply: That one shall
not be your heir; none but your very own issue shall be your heir. He took
him outside and said: Look toward heaven and count the stars, if you are
able to count them. And He added: So shall your offspring be.
In Abraham's day, prior to the invention of optics, the only stars that people
could see with their own eyes were those in our home galaxy; the Milky
Way; which consists of an estimated 100-400 billion stars. But many of
those estimated billions of stars appear to the naked eye not as stars but as
glowing clouds; viz: they cannot be individually distinguished by the naked
eye so those didn't matter to Abraham when it came to actually tallying the
heavens.
The entire global sky contains roughly five or six thousand stars visible to
the naked eye. However, they can't all be seen at once; only the ones out
after dark. So then; Abraham could see maybe three thousand discernable
stars from dark till dawn.
God had said "if you are able to count them". Well; even at only three
thousand, the task would be difficult; and for him to count all six thousand
would be nigh unto impossible without losing track of where he left off.
_
According to Gen 1:15-18, God set stars in the sky for illumination.
Well; the only stars whose shine is of any practical use as illumination on the
Earth are those of the Milky Way: in point of fact, every star in the sky
visible to the naked eye is a Milky Way star. Stars in other galaxies are too
far away to be seen without a telescope; which is actually a relatively recent
invention. Jesus and the apostles didn't have telescopes, nor did anyone
before them, including Abraham.
● Gen 15:4-5 . .The word of The Lord came to him in reply: That one shall
not be your heir; none but your very own issue shall be your heir. He took
him outside and said: Look toward heaven and count the stars, if you are
able to count them. And He added: So shall your offspring be.
In Abraham's day, prior to the invention of optics, the only stars that people
could see with their own eyes were those in our home galaxy; the Milky
Way; which consists of an estimated 100-400 billion stars. But many of
those estimated billions of stars appear to the naked eye not as stars but as
glowing clouds; viz: they cannot be individually distinguished by the naked
eye so those didn't matter to Abraham when it came to actually tallying the
heavens.
The entire global sky contains roughly five or six thousand stars visible to
the naked eye. However, they can't all be seen at once; only the ones out
after dark. So then; Abraham could see maybe three thousand discernable
stars from dark till dawn.
God had said "if you are able to count them". Well; even at only three
thousand, the task would be difficult; and for him to count all six thousand
would be nigh unto impossible without losing track of where he left off.
_