The Star of David is also known as the Seal of Solomon, and Star of Zion. It can be found on the flag of Israel that was instituted for use five months after the establishment of the country on October 28, 1948. The flag’s design date from the First Zionist Congress in 1897, and since then has been known as the “Flag of Zion.” 

Israel_Flag

The shape of the Star of David (Zion) is that of a hexagram, the compound of two equilateral triangles which has been in use as a symbol of Judaism since the 17th century.

star of david on window

The meaning of the name Zion is ‘stone’, and the meaning of Mount Zion is “The Mount of Stone.”(1) In the bible, Zion was the hill in Jerusalem on which the city of David was built; and to the Christians, it is the heavenly city or kingdom of heaven. In – Isaiah 28:16, it is written, “Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner [stone], a sure foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste.”

David was the second king of the United Kingdom of Israel and Judah, and also an ancestor of Jesus. In Revelation 22:16 it is written; “I, Jesus, have sent my angel to give you this testimony for the churches. I am the Root and the Offspring of David, and the bright Morning Star.”

The Star of Zion David is also known in Hebrew as the Shield of David or Magen David which is the most commonly recognized symbol of Jewish identity and Judaism. The term “Shield of David” is also used in the Siddur (Jewish prayer book) as a title of the God of Israel.

The star of Babylon is detailed in inscriptions as the star of Marduk, or Jupiter. This term appears in the context of an oracle against a dead king of Babylon, who is addressed as הילל בן שחר (hêlêl ben šāḥar), rendered by the King James Version as “O Lucifer, son of the morning!” and by others as “morning star, son of the dawn“. The Vulgate translation of the Hebrew word הֵילֵל (helel) – meaning brilliant, bright or shining one – in Isaiah 14:12, where the Septuagint Greek version uses, not Φωσφόρος, but Ἑωσφόρος.

The Jewish Encyclopedia calls its the Magen David (“David’s shield”); “The hexagram formed by the combination of two equilateral triangles; used as the symbol of Judaism. It is placed upon synagogues, sacred vessels, and the like, and was adopted as a device by the American Jewish Publication Society in 1873 (see illustration, Jew. Encyc. i. 520), the Zionist Congress of Basel (ib. ii. 570)—hence by “Die Welt” (Vienna), the official organ of Zionism—and by other bodies. The ḥebra ḳaddisha of the Jewish community of Johannesburg, South Africa, calls itself “Ḥebra Ḳaddisha zum Rothen Magen David,” following the designation of the “red cross” societies.

The Jewish view of God, which permitted no images of Him, was and still is opposed to the acceptance of any symbols, and neither the Bible nor the Talmud recognizes their existence. It is noteworthy, moreover, that the shield of David is not mentioned in rabbinical literature. The “Magen Dawid,” therefore, probably did not originate within Rabbinism, the official and dominant Judaism for more than 2,000 years.”

SECRET SOCIETIES AND THE STAR OF DAVID

The Star of David is featured within and on the outside of many Masonic temples. This photo of a Masonic Temple was taken in Ballycullenbeg, Co. Laois, Ireland.

masonic temple star of david

The Ulster Banner flag of Northern Ireland, used from 1953-1972. The six pointed star, representing the six counties that make up Northern Ireland.

ULSTER FLAG

Freemason and author, Albert G. Mackey had written in Encyclopedia of Freemasonry; “The interlacing triangles or deltas symbolize the union of the two principles or forces, the active and passive, male and female, pervading the universe. The two triangles, one white and the other black, interlacing, typify the mingling of apparent opposites in nature, darkness and light, error and truth, ignorance and wisdom, evil and good, throughout human life.” 

Manly P. Hall had written in An Encyclopedic Outline of Masonic, Hermetic, Qabbalistic, and Rosicrucian Symbolical Philosophy; “Man’s three bodies are symbolized by an upright triangle; his threefold spiritual nature by an inverted triangle. These two triangles, when united in the form of a six-pointed star, were called by the Jews “the Star of David,” “the Signet of Solomon,” and are more commonly known today as “the Star of Zion.”

In Rosicrucian and Hermetic Magic, the seven Traditional Planets correspond with the angles and the center of the Hexagram as follows, in the same patterns as they appear on the Sephiroth and on the The Tree of Life. Saturn, although formally attributed to the Sephira of Binah, within this frame work nonetheless occupies the position of Daath.(wikipedia)

Smbols - The Sephirothic Tree or Tree_of_Life

The Star of David or Zion was adopted by the the Theosophical society as the part of their symbol. The Society’s seal incorporated the Swastika,Star of David, Ankh, Aum and Ouroboros symbols. The Theosophical Society was officially formed in New York City, United States, in November 1875 by Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, Colonel Henry Steel Olcott, William Quan Judge and others.

Theosophical society logo

Helena Petrovna Blavatsky says that the six-pointed double triangle symbolizes the macrocosm:

“The six-pointed star which is the figure of the macrocosm . . . composed of two triangles respectively white and black—crossed and interlaced (our Society’s symbol)—known as “Solomon’s Seal” in Europe—and as the “Sign of Vishnu” in India—is made to represent the universal spirit and matter, one white point which symbolizes the former ascending heavenward, and [the lower point] of its black triangle inclining earthward.

The double triangle representing symbolically the MACROCOSM, or great universe, contains in itself besides the idea of the duality (as shown in the two colours, and two triangles—the universe of SPIRIT and that of MATTER)—those of the Unity, of the Trinity, of the Pythagorean TETRAKTYS — the perfect Square—and up to the Dodecagon and the Dodecahedron.”

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