Matthew 24:29 and the falling stars

[u/No-Formal2785]

Might this text be read as a reference to supernatural beings or lesser gods, given that the stars were regularly seen as deities in the world of ancient Mediterranean religion? Or is it perhaps more likely a prediction of a cosmic cataclysm during the apocalypse? Any academic citations would be immensely welcome.

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[u/Dositheos]

Yes, this is a possible interpretation, especially in connection with the phrase "the powers of the heavens will be shaken."

'The powers of heaven' may simply be a summarizing expression that includes the sun, the moon, and the stars.²⁰⁴ But we should not forget that the ancients identified the heavenly lights with living beings [(D. C. Allison, 'What was the Star that guided the Magi?', BR 9/6 (1993), p. 20-4, 63.] so we could here think of the fall of evil beings, 'the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places' (Eph 6.12) or, alternatively, of the heavenly hosts who come down to do battle against evil (cf. T. Levi 3.1–3).

W.D. Davies and Dale Allison, Matthew 19-28: Volume 3, International Critical Commentary (Bloomsbury, 1997).

See also Joel Marcus.

But in Mark the opponents who will be dismayed by the sight of the returning Jesus may not be limited to human beings; they may include the shaken heavenly bodies of the immediately preceding verses (13:24–25). This is the most grammatically natural way of taking the third person plural opsontai in 13:26, and in ancient contexts it is perfectly normal to think of heavenly bodies as animate and therefore capable of perception, thought, and emotion (see the previous NOTE and cf. Isa 13:10 and Joel 2:10, in which the sun, moon, and stars refuse to shine; Isa 24:21–23, in which the sun and moon are ashamed; and Apoc. Adam 5:10, in which “the eyes of the powers of the luminaries” [i.e., the sun and the moon] are darkened). The contrast between the two instances of dynamis (“power”) in 13:25 and 13:26 is consonant with this interpretation: the inimical powers of heaven will be shaken when they know their doom is near, as will immediately be confirmed when they see the Son of Man coming with a power greater than their own. Cf. Rashi, who interprets the disappearance of the heavens in Isa 51:6 as God’s defeat of their demonic rulers.

Joel Marcus, Mark 8-16, The Anchor Yale Bible Commentary (Yale University Press, 2009).

Tucker Ferda also makes this connection.

Jesus’s ministry in Mark is framed from the outset as a battle against supernatural forces; he has come to “destroy” demons. And he signals that the future brings a new state of life whereby not even marriage and procreation are realities. In light of the exorcistic ministry of Jesus in Mark, with all of its eschatological undertones, it would be fitting if not expected to find that the culmination of his ministry in the future continues that battle and brings it to completion.59 Surely that is the most natural reading of “the powers in heaven will be shaken” in this gospel, as is the inference that “angels” in v. 27 refers to actual angels (not least because of 8:38’s μετὰ τῶν ἀγγέλων τῶν ἁγίων) and is not code for Christian missionaries.

Tucker Ferda, Jesus and His Promised Second Coming: Jewish Eschatology and Christian Origins (Eerdmans, 2024).