The dog’day’s of summer.
Canicular Days, or Dog-days: This was an old name of Canis Minor and used to mean Sirus, or the dogstar. It is the largest and brightest of all the stars, and situated in the mouth of Canis Major. In the minds of the ancient Egyptians, the rising of the dog-star began a period of 40 days of extreme heat and disease. The dog-days commenced at the latter part of July, and ended in the beginning of September.
The Nile River in these ancient days was the principal divinity of the Egyptians. They paid honor to the river because it was the first of their gods, declaring him to be the rival of heaven since he watered the country-side without the aid of the clouds and rain.
The summer solstice: Solstice meaning the point in the path of the sun at which the sun is farthest from the equator either north or south. His principle festival was at the summer solstice, when the inundation of the Nile River began. In this season of dog-days the Egyptians practiced a cruel idolatrous rite, sacrificing red-haired persons, principally foreigners to Typhon, or the power that presided over tempests, at both the cities of Busiris and Heliopoles. The victims were burned alive and their ashes scattered into the air supposedly for the good of the people.
In the days before the Exodus, God’s judgment was inflicted upon the river Nile, and all the waters of Egypt, this taking place in the presence of Pharaoh as foretold to him by Moses. As soon as Aaron had smitten the waters of the river, they were turned to blood and remained that way for seven days. Thus all the fish died, and the people deprived of the sacred water, forcing them to dig wells.
This was God’s sign of judgment upon the Egyptians, He expressing His displeasure for this senseless idolatry in their worship of the river Nile . This was also God’s manifest reproof of the Egyptians bloody edict whereby infants were also slain.
Phil LaSpino www.seekfirstwisdom.com