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Chapter IV. The Sign LEO (The Lion)
Messiah’s Consummated Triumph

Here we come to the end of the circle. We began with Virgo, and we end with Leo. No one who has followed our interpretation can doubt that we have here the solving of the Riddle of the Sphinx. For its Head is Virgo and its Tail is Leo!

In Leo we reach the end of the Revelation as inspired in the Word of God; and it is the end as written in the heavens.

Bailly (Astronomy) says, “the Zodiac must have been first divided when the sun at the summer solstice was in 1° Virgo, where the woman’s head joins the Lion’s tail.”

As to its antiquity there can be no doubt. Jamieson says, “the Lion does not seem to have been placed among the Zodiacal symbols, because Hercules was fabled to have slain the Nemean Lion. It would seem, on the contrary, that Hercules, who represented the Sun, was said to have slain the Nemean Lion, because Leo was already a Zodiacal sign. Hercules flourished 3,000 years ago, and consequently posterior to the period when the summer solstice accorded with Leo.” (Celestial Atlas, p. 40).

There is no confusion about this sign. In the ancient Zodiacs of Egypt (Denderah, Esneh) and India we find the Lion. The same occurs on the Mithraic monuments, where Leo is passant, as he is in Moor’s Hindu, and Sir William Jones’s Oriental Zodiacs. In Kircher’s Zodiacs he is courrant; in the Egyptian Zodiacs he is couchant.

In the Denderah Zodiac he is treading upon a serpent, as shown in Mr. Edward Cooper’s Egyptian Scenery.

Its Egyptian name is Pi Mentekeon, which means the pouring out. This is no pouring out or inundation of the Nile, but it is the pouring out of the cup of Divine wrath on that Old Serpent.

This is the one great truth of the closing chapter of this last Book. It is

The Lion of the Tribe of Judah aroused for the rending of the prey.

His feet are over the head of Hydra, the great Serpent, and just about to descend upon it and crush it.

The three constellations of the Sign complete this final picture:

1. Hydra, the old Serpent destroyed.
2. Crater, the Cup of Divine wrath poured out upon him.
3. Corvus, the Bird of prey devouring him.

The Denderah picture exhibits all four in one. The Lion is presented treading down the Serpent. The Bird of prey is also perched upon it, while below is a plumed female figure holding out two cups, answering to Crater, the cup of wrath.

The hieroglyphics read Knem, and are placed underneath. Knem means who conquers, or is conquered, referring to the victory over the serpent. The woman’s name is Her-ua, great enemy, referring to the great enemy for which her two cups are prepared and intended.

The Hebrew name of the sign is Arieh, which means the Lion. There are six Hebrew words for Lion, and this one is used of the Lion hunting down his prey.

The Syriac name is Aryo, the rending Lion, and the Arabic is Al Asad; both mean a lion coming vehemently, leaping forth as a flame!

It is a beautiful constellation of 95 stars, two of which are of the 1st magnitude, two of the 2nd, six of the 3rd, thirteen of the 4th.

The brightest star, α (on the Ecliptic), marks the heart of the Lion (hence sometimes called by the moderns, Cor Leonis, the heart of the Lion). Its ancient name is Regulus, which means treading under foot. The next star, β, also of the 1st magnitude (in the tip of the tail), is named Denebola, the Judge or Lord who cometh. The star γ (in the mane) is called Al Giebha (Arabic), the exaltation. The star δ (on the hinder part of the back) is called Zosma, shining forth.

Other stars, not identified, are named Sarcam (Hebrew), the joining; intimating that here is the point where the two ends of the Zodiacal circle have their joining. Another star has the name of Minchir al Asad (Arabic), the punishing or tearing of the Lion. Another is Deneb Aleced, the judge cometh who seizes. And another is Al Dafera (Arabic), the enemy put down.

What can be more expressive? What can be more eloquent? All is harmony, and all the names unite in pointing us to what is written of “the Lion of the Tribe of Judah.”

And why is Messiah thus called? Because it is applied to Him in Rev. v. 5 in connection with His rising up for judgment: and because the Lion is known to have been always borne upon the standard of Judah, whether in the wilderness (Num. ii.) or in aftertimes.

In Israel’s dying blessing the prophetic words foretold of Judah:

“Thy hand shall be on the neck of thine enemies; …
Judah is a lion’s whelp;
From the prey, my son, thou art gone up.
He stooped down, he couched as a lion,
And as an old lion; who shall rouse him up?”
(Gen. xlix. 8, 9.)

In the prophecy of Balaam (Num. xxiv. 8, 9), we read:

“He shall eat up the nations his enemies,
And shall break their bones,
And pierce them through with his arrows,
He couched, he lay down as a lion,
And as a great lion; who shall stir him up?”

The same testimony is borne by the Prophet Amos:

“Will a lion roar in the forest when he hath no prey?
Will a young lion cry out of his den, if he hath taken nothing?…
The lion hath roared, who will not fear?”
(Amos iii. 4, 8.)

When “the Lion of the tribe of Judah” is roused up for the rending, the Spirit describes the scene in Isa. xlii. 13:

“The Lord shall go forth as a mighty man,
He shall stir up jealousy like a man of war;
He shall cry, yea, roar;
He shall prevail against His enemies.”
And this is what is meant and included when the Elder says for John’s comfort, “the Lion of the Tribe of Judah hath prevailed,” and hence, is “worthy … to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing” (Rev. v.).

Whether we look, therefore, at the primeval Revelation in the heavens, or at the later Revelation in the Word, the story is one and the same.

And what we see of Leo and his work in both, we find developed and described in the three constellations of the Sign.