[Avodah] moon and sun

[Joel C. Salomon]

On 08/24/2011 09:40 PM, kennethgmiller at juno.com wrote:
> What I've been describing are NOT the characteristics of thinking
> beings. They are characteristic of objects. Dull, dead, inanimate objects.

Not quite.  Inanimate objects stay put, or move in straight lines & fall
when thrown.  Even assuming that the heavenly bodies have circular
motion as their “natural state”, or that the stars are fixed in place on
a giant sphere, the motions of the seven planets¹ are complex. 
Predictable, yes, but so is the motion of the guards at Buckingham
Palace.  This complex behavior may be exactly why some (most?) of the
ancients believed the planets to be intelligent beings, that they were
literally “ששים ושמחים לעשות רצון קונם” in their motion.

—Chesky

1: Sun, Moon, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, & Saturn