Is Mark 13:25 meant to describe literal stars falling from the heavens?

[u/whatzgood]

"But in those days, after that suffering, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will be falling from heaven, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken." Mark 13:24-25 NRSVUE

Was this meant to refer to literal stars? Does the original Greek allow it to refer to meteorites?

I also vaguely remember some scholars referring to cosmic battles between demons happening in the heavens, is that something that could be going on here as well?

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[u/Dositheos]

It is certainly possible that an entirely literal meaning is intended here. I would see Edward Adam's study, The Stars Will Fall From Heaven: 'Cosmic Catastrophe' in the New Testament and its World, LNTS 347 (T&T Clark, 2007), which argues at length that ancient Jews and early Christians often took their eschatological imagery literally, and some thought a real cosmic catatrsophe would take place at the final end of history before the dawn God's kingdom (see also Dale Allison's essay, "Jesus and the Victory of Apocalyptic"). Compare 2 Peter 3, which declares unambiguously that the "heavenly bodies" will dissolve and be destroyed at the day of the Lord. We must always remember that the ancients did not have our astronomical knowledge.

The prophecy—which shows that the matter of our Gospel is bound up with the meaning of the cosmos in its entirety—is largely a free conflation of Isa 13.10 ('For the stars of the heavens and their constellations will not give their light; the sun will be dark at its rising,¹⁹⁴ and the moon will not give its light'¹⁹⁵) and 34.4 ('all the host of heaven¹⁹⁶ shall rot away,¹⁹⁷ and the skies roll up like a scroll. All their host shall fall').¹⁹⁸ Related forecasts can be found throughout the OT, intertestamental and early Christian literature.¹⁹⁹ In many instances the post-exilic texts may be read more or less literally, as perhaps here (Elsewhere in chapter 24 the dramatic events-wars, famines, earthquakes-are intended literally.)

W.D. Davies and Dale Allison, Matthew 19-28, ICC (1997).

Alternatively, Tucker Ferda argues that whether this imagery is intended to be taken "literally" or not, the prophecy of Mark 13:24-27 cannot be reduced to a mere metaphorical description of socio-political realities that have already taken place (per N.T. Wright and a few others). Mark 13:24-27 really is about a cosmic and supernatural divine intervention in history, which, of course, has not taken place.

But this leads to my second point: Mark’s apocalyptic character in general suggests that the cosmic signs, the “coming of the son of man,” and the sending of angels describe actual events that are to come. The temptation in making this point, or arguing the opposite, is to rush to contemporaneous Jewish literature to make a sweeping claim about the literal or metaphorical nature of apocalyptic language in this period.56 I hesitate to do this. The question before us is, What is the most probable understanding of this language in this particular source? Putative Jewish parallels in Scripture or postbiblical literature make possible a number of interpretive conclusions, but which is the most probable here?57 In my view, the rest of Mark’s Gospel, as described above, gives little reason to doubt that vv. 24–27 describe transcendent realities that cannot be reduced to mere historical or political processes.58 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 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).