Kolob is a star or planet described in the Book of Abraham, a sacred text of the Latter Day Saint movement. Several Latter Day Saint denominations hold the Book of Abraham to have been translated from an Egyptian papyrus scroll by Joseph Smith, the founder of the movement. According to this work, Kolob is the heavenly body nearest to the throne of God. While the Book of Abraham calls Kolob a “star”, it also calls planets “stars”, and therefore some Latter Day Saint commentators consider Kolob a planet.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kolob
The hypothesis [Birthplace for the Earth] is also based on a passage from the Book of Abraham stating that in the Garden of Eden, time was measured “after the Lord’s time, which was after the time of Kolob; for as yet the Gods had not appointed to Adam his reckoning”.
https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/pgp/abr/5?lang=eng&id=13#p13
Abraham 3
Chapter 3
Abraham learns about the sun, moon, and stars by means of the Urim and Thummim—The Lord reveals to him the eternal nature of spirits—He learns of pre-earth life, foreordination, the Creation, the choosing of a Redeemer, and the second estate of man.
1 And I, Abraham, had the aUrim and Thummim, which the Lord my God had given unto me, in Ur of the Chaldees;
2 And I saw the astars, that they were very great, and that one of them was nearest unto the throne of God; and there were many great ones which were near unto it;
3 And the Lord said unto me: These are the governing ones; and the name of the great one is aKolob, because it is near unto me, for I am the Lord thy God: I have set this one to govern all those which belong to the same order as that upon which thou standest.
4 And the Lord said unto me, by the Urim and Thummim, that Kolob was after the manner of the Lord, according to its atimes and seasons in the revolutions thereof; that one revolution was a bday unto the Lord, after his manner of reckoning, it being one thousand cyears according to the time appointed unto that whereon thou standest. This is the reckoning of the Lord’s dtime, according to the reckoning of Kolob.
5 And the Lord said unto me: The planet which is the lesser light, lesser than that which is to rule the day, even the night, is above or agreater than that upon which thou standest in point of reckoning, for it moveth in order more slow; this is in order because it standeth above the earth upon which thou standest, therefore the reckoning of its time is not so many as to its number of days, and of months, and of years.
6 And the Lord said unto me: Now, Abraham, these atwo facts exist, behold thine eyes see it; it is given unto thee to know the times of reckoning, and the set time, yea, the set time of the earth upon which thou standest, and the set time of the greater light which is set to rule the day, and the set time of the lesser light which is set to rule the night.
7 Now the set time of the lesser light is a longer time as to its reckoning than the reckoning of the time of the earth upon which thou standest.
8 And where these two facts exist, there shall be another fact above them, that is, there shall be another planet whose reckoning of time shall be longer still;
9 And thus there shall be the reckoning of the time of one aplanet above another, until thou come nigh unto Kolob, which Kolob is after the reckoning of the Lord’s time; which Kolob is set nigh unto the throne of God, to govern all those planets which belong to the same border as that upon which thou standest.
10 And it is given unto thee to know the set time of all the stars that are set to give light, until thou come near unto the throne of God.
11 Thus I, Abraham, atalked with the Lord, face to face, as one man talketh with another; and he told me of the works which his hands had made;
12 And he said unto me: My son, my son (and his hand was stretched out), behold I will show you all these. And he put his hand upon mine eyes, and I saw those things which his hands had made, which were many; and they multiplied before mine eyes, and I could not see the end thereof.
13 And he said unto me: This is Shinehah, which is the sun. And he said unto me: Kokob, which is star. And he said unto me: Olea, which is the moon. And he said unto me: Kokaubeam, which signifies stars, or all the great lights, which were in the firmament of heaven.
14 And it was in the night time when the Lord spake these words unto me: I will amultiply thee, and thy bseed after thee, like unto these; and if thou canst count the cnumber of sands, so shall be the number of thy seeds.
15 And the Lord said unto me: Abraham, I ashow these things unto thee before ye go into Egypt, that ye may declare all these words.
16 If atwo things exist, and there be one above the other, there shall be greater things above them; therefore bKolob is the greatest of all the Kokaubeam that thou hast seen, because it is nearest unto me.
17 Now, if there be two things, one above the other, and the moon be above the earth, then it may be that a planet or a star may exist above it; and there is nothing that the Lord thy God shall take in his heart to do but what he will ado it.
18 Howbeit that he made the greater star; as, also, if there be two aspirits, and one shall be more intelligent than the other, yet these two spirits, notwithstanding one is more intelligent than the other, have no beginning; they existed before, they shall have no end, they shall exist after, for they are bgnolaum, or eternal.
19 And the Lord said unto me: These two facts do exist, that there are two spirits, one being more intelligent than the other; there shall be another more intelligent than they; I am the Lord thy God, I am amore intelligent than they all.
https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/pgp/abr/3?lang=eng
Dog star
There are two prominent etymological theories held by LDS scholars on the derivation of Kolob.(1) The first, as represented by Michael D. Rhodes in his “The Joseph Smith Hypocephalus…Twenty Years Later” at p. 8, suggests that “The word most likely derives from the common Semitic root QLB, which has the basic meaning of “heart, center, middle” (Arabic qalb “heart, center”; Hebrew qereb “middle, midst”, qarab “to draw near”; Egyptian m-q3b “in the midst of”). In fact, qalb forms part of the Arabic names of several of the brightest stars in the sky, including Antares, Regulus, and Canopus.” Nibley also favored this view, and given Nibley’s tremendous influence it has probably been the most widely held position historically.
The other common theory, held to by John Gee(2) and certain other LDS scholars, and which I myself favor, sees Kolob as deriving from the Semitic root KLB “dog,” which is an allusion to Sirius.(3) Both anciently and today Sirius was known as the “dog” star, or more technically in astronomical terminology, Alpha Canis Majoris (which means the brightest star in the constellation Canis Major, or the “Bigger Dog”).
I like this view because:
The Semitic root works for Kolob.
Sirius is indeed the brightest star in the night sky from the perspective of earth.
Sirius is extremely important in Egyptian astronomy, since it was at its heliacal rising that the Nile began to rise
https://bycommonconsent.com/2006/11/18/kolob-as-sirius/
Sirius
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sirius
Sirius is the brightest star in the night sky. Its name is derived from the Greek word Σείριος (Latin script: Seirios), meaning lit. ‘glowing’ or ‘scorching’. The star is designated α Canis Majoris, Latinized to Alpha Canis Majoris, and abbreviated α CMa or Alpha CMa. With a visual apparent magnitude of −1.46, Sirius is almost twice as bright as Canopus, the next brightest star. Sirius is a binary star consisting of a main-sequence star of spectral type A0 or A1, termed Sirius A, and a faint white dwarf companion of spectral type DA2, termed Sirius B. Sirius appears bright because of its intrinsic luminosity and its proximity to the Solar System. At a distance of 2.64 parsecs (8.6 ly), the Sirius system is one of Earth’s nearest neighbours.
Sirius is colloquially known as the “Dog Star”, reflecting its prominence in its constellation, Canis Major (the Greater Dog). The heliacal rising of Sirius marked the flooding of the Nile in Ancient Egypt and the “dog days” of summer for the ancient Greeks, while to the Polynesians, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, the star marked winter and was an important reference for their navigation around the Pacific Ocean.
In Chinese astronomy Sirius is known as the star of the “celestial wolf” (Chinese and Japanese: 天狼 Chinese romanization: Tiānláng; Japanese romanization: Tenrō; Korean and romanization: 천랑 /Cheonrang) in the Mansion of Jǐng (井宿). Many nations among the indigenous peoples of North America also associated Sirius with canines; the Seri and Tohono Oʼodham of the southwest note the star as a dog that follows mountain sheep, while the Blackfoot called it “Dog-face”. The Cherokee paired Sirius with Antares as a dog-star guardian of either end of the “Path of Souls”. The Pawnee of Nebraska had several associations; the Wolf (Skidi) tribe knew it as the “Wolf Star”, while other branches knew it as the “Coyote Star”. Further north, the Alaskan Inuit of the Bering Strait called it “Moon Dog”.
Sirius is mentioned in Surah, An-Najm (“The Star”), of the Qur’an, where it is given the name الشِّعْرَى (transliteration: aš-ši’rā or ash-shira; the leader). The verse is: “وأنَّهُ هُوَ رَبُّ الشِّعْرَى”, “That He is the Lord of Sirius (the Mighty Star).” (An-Najm:49) Ibn Kathir said in his commentary “that it is the bright star, named Mirzam Al-Jawza’ (Sirius), which a group of Arabs used to worship”. The alternate name Aschere, used by Johann Bayer, is derived from this.
Throne of God
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Throne_of_God
The throne of God is the reigning centre of God in the Abrahamic religions: primarily Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. The throne is said by various holy books to reside beyond the Seventh Heaven which is called Araboth (Hebrew: עֲרָבוֹת ‘ărāḇōṯ) in Judaism.
The concept of a heavenly throne occurs in three Dead Sea Scroll texts. Later speculation on the throne of God became a theme of Merkabah mysticism.
Distant planet
ID p. 8
‘Where do you come from?’
‘From a distant planet about which I will tell you nothing for fear that men of the Earth might be unwise enough to disturb our peace.’
‘Is your planet very far away?’
‘Very far. When I tell you the distance you will understand that it is impossible to reach it with your present level of scientific and technical knowledge.’
ID p. 13
By observing the stars and the sun they could measure the duration of the days, the months and the years on Earth. This helped them regulate their life on the new planet - so different from their own where days and years did not have the same duration. Research in astronomy enabled them to locate themselves precisely and to understand the Earth better.
ID p. 89
That is the “height of the creator’s heels”, the distance at which his heels, so to speak, rest on a planet. The creators’ own planet is 236,000 parasangs from its sun - a very big star - or seventy billion, eight hundred million kilometers. This is what is meant by the “height” of the creators.